Children of Fate

When Ana and Tinkerbell were once again in the attic, Tinkerbell remained silent in Ana's pocket for the rest of the day, watching Ana work. Even when the young girl tried to engage in conversation the small faerie/ballerina ignored her. Finally, after what seemed like hours of working, there was a knock on the door. For the first time in some in some twelve hours Tinkerbell talked.

"Grab the diary and hide it in your dress. We'll need it later," she hissed before disappearing into the breast pocket on Ana's apron. Ana grabbed the diary and ran to the door, only too eager to get away from the boxes of junk that filled Mrs. Davies's attic.

Throwing open the door, Ana found Liza there, a guilty look on her face. "When I heard you had been thrown in here I volunteered to come and get you. Rey and me feel awful for waking you up late. I'm so sorry your birthday turned out like this," Liza mumbled, flushing pink and looking more sorry than anything or anyone ever had.

"It's all right, Liz. I know you and Rey didn't mean to do any harm," Ana said. She had already decided to keep quiet about Tinkerbell. It just didn't seem like the best moment to tell Liza that she had made friends with a three-inch, wingless, sarcastic faerie dressed as a ballerina and nicknamed after a Peter Pan character. She had also chosen to keep quiet about going into a seven by five inch diary to explore the memories of a girl named Kaitlyn Lowell. So, after assuring Liza forty-three times that she wasn't in the least bit mad, Ana followed her friend through the cold and dreary manor and out into the warm night air.

"I never did get to wish you a happy birthday, An," Liza said after a while.

"Well, I know you meant it spiritually," Ana said, grinning at Liza when she turned around. They burst out laughing for no reason apparent to either girl other the fact that they were best friends and sometimes best friends just laughed.

"Well," Liza said after they had stopped laughing, "to make everything up to you Rey and me filched some eggs and flour and sugar and stuff to make you a cake! We even got some chocolate to make it chocolate cake!"

Ana's dark blue eyes were wide with both amazement and fear. "Liz, you didn't have to do that! In fact you shouldn't have! I mean, what if Amber-Lyn or Mrs. Davies finds out? You could get in a lot of trouble!"

Liza shrugged and grinned. "It would be worth it, at least. Now stop worrying and start walking! Rey was just putting the cake in the oven when I left so we should make it back just in time to see it come out!" With an excited giggle the two girls set off down the lawn at a swift pace, heading for the cluster of cabins in the distance.

***

Though the cabins were small and sometimes crowded, Liza, Rey, and Ana never complained. Theirs was by far the best servant's shed there was, with running water, an oven, and three beds. Whenever one of the elder age groups tried to weasel the three friends out of the nice cabin, claiming it was theirs by age right, Mrs. Davies would appear to tell them to kindly leave them alone. It was the only nice thing she ever did so it hardly made up for the fact that she was a Class A monster the rest of the time.

When Ana and Rey reached the door to their cabin the lovely smell of fresh baked cake was wafting from the windows, which were cracked open just enough to let some air breeze through. "I hope none of the Davies meander by this evening," Liza muttered as she rapped lightly on the door. "Then they'd know for sure something was up."

Ana just nodded, grinning when the door was thrown open and she found a short boy with knobby knees and, like her, an annoyingly scrawny build. His untidy black hair (which, no matter how much Mrs. Davies tried to comb it down, claiming it was "scruffy", stood up at all ends) was turned a light gray from the flour in it and his face was smudged with chocolate. "Hello, ladies!" Rey cried, grinning his heart-warming grin that won over so many. "You're just in time for dinner!"

Besides nicking ingredients for a cake, Rey and Liza had also gotten a loaf of bread, three slices of steak left over from last night's dinner and three peaches. They had even gotten Ana's personal favorite, Clam Chowder, which they must have taken the ingredients for, seeing as all the Davies (save Amber-Lyn) were allergic to clams. "Ooh! It looks great!" Ana said, hugging both of her grinning friends.

"Only the best for our girl," Liza said, pulling out one of the three chairs seated around their tiny table.

Rey nodded. "Yeah! Come on, An, let's dig in!"

Ana pulled out a chair and for a while the three friends ate in silence, savoring the wonderful tastes of the meal, which, for them, was a gourmet dinner. Usually all the maids and servants got was a cold slice of cornbread, a cold slice of chicken, and some kind of over-watered soup. It wasn't until Rey got up to slice the cake that Ana remembered Tinkerbell.

"I made a friend today," Ana said, and immediately she winced. She already sounded a little crazy.

Rey stopped stuffing his third piece of cake down his gullet and Liza set her fork down slowly. They both stared at Ana as if had grown a third head. "You made a friend? When?"

Ana looked down at her hands. "In the attic."

Rey and Liza exchanged worried looks. They obviously thought their friend was feeling a bit off. "And just where was this friend?"

"In a music box," Ana replied, reaching in her shirt and dropping Tinkerbell on the table. For a moment, no one spoke. Liza's mouth hung open, Rey was rubbing his eyes, Ana was staring at her feet, and Tinkerbell was grinning broadly at all three of them. Ana couldn't help but notice how kind and faerie-like she looked when she smiled.

"My god," she whispered, staring at Rey, "you look just like your father...except for the glasses. Your father had glasses. I can see a bit of your mother in you, too. You smile like her."

Rey stopped rubbing his eyes and bent his face down so that it was even with Tinkerbell's. "You knew my parents?" he asked, and Ana detected a slight quiver in his voice. When Tinkerbell nodded, Rey frowned and said, "That's impossible. My mother abandoned me on Mrs. Davies front step. My father's probably long gone by now. How can you be so sure about my parentage?"

Tinkerbell sighed and sat on the table. "Well," she said, "it's very complicated. And it's a long story. A sad one, too. One that has to do with your mothers and fathers." Tinkerbell turned to Ana. "It has to do with the diary."

Ana's stomach jumped. It was a very unpleasant feeling. "What diary?" Liza asked, speaking for the first time since Tinkerbell had been dropped on the table.

"When I was cleaning today, I found a box of things belonging to a young girl named Kaitlyn Lowell. In the box was a diary of hers. To make a long story short Tinkerbell here knew Kaitlyn Lowell. She was able to help me travel into the past to view Kaitlyn's memories. Are you with me so far?"

"More or less," Liza answered, though she looked more than a little doubtful.

"Alright, I'll continue. Kate Lowell was the daughter of two wealthy purebloods. I don't know that much about her, really. I do know that she was engaged to a man named Draco. The very same man that Mrs. Davies calls Dragon. You know, D. Malfoy?" Ana looked at her friends expectantly.

"But D. Malfoy isn't married. What happened to Ms. Lowell, then?" Liza asked. This time she sounded intrigued, as she often did one someone told her about an important historical fact. Liza was very much the smart, shy, bookworm type.

"He never married?" Tinkerbell asked, her eyebrows arched. "Not once? Has he any children? What about his father and mother? Are they still alive? And how much do you know of Draco Malfoy? And what of a man named Ron Weasley? Do you know anything about the Weasley family?" The questions seemed endless, so, when the small faerie did stop to catch her breath, it took the three friends a few moments to answer.

"Well," Liza said in a very matter of fact tone, "Dragon Malfoy has had many girlfriends but not one marriage. His mother, Narcissa, died three years after the rise of Voldemort. Her husband, Lucius, wasted no time in getting remarried to one Lucita Moss. She bore him three children within the next five years. Tamara, Pandora, and Serpens. Despite the addition of three siblings, though, Dragon Malfoy remains the Malfoy heir." The young girl also had to stop for a breath of air.

"We don't know tons about Dragon Malfoy other than the gossip that circulates through the manor. He's a very powerful wizard, though. So powerful that he was named godfather to the Dark Lord's heir. As for the name Weasley...I've heard it once or twice. He was friends with Harry Potter." Rey added.

At the mention of an heir, Tinkerbell's eyes grew wide. "And heir? Voldemort has an heir?"

Wincing at the name of the much feared dark wizard, Ana replied, "Yes. Actually three of the Dark Lord's children are vying for the position of his heir. The first two were given to him by the Queen of Darkness, Valicent. One is a boy and the other is a girl, Titus and Mercutia. The third child is the daughter of one of Voldemort's lowlier wives. Her name is Senna. It's all very complicated, really."Â Â

Tinkerbell nodded understandingly before returning to the subject of the diary. "As I said, Ana, the story, and your mothers as well, are very much connected with the diary."

Ana raised an eyebrow. "If you're so bloody wise then who is my mother?" she asked. Never in a million years did she expect the answer that was given to her.

"Your mother," Tinkerbell said in a subdued tone, "was Kaitlyn Lowell."

For a moment no one spoke. Ana stared in shock at Tinkerbell. Kate Lowell was her mother? The young woman--more of a girl than anything, really--was her mum? What did that make Draco Malfoy, her father? And then, with a flare of hope, an idea struck Ana. One that she had wished many times over.

Maybe her mother hadn't abandoned her.

"Ana, you alright?" Ana was brought back into the world when Rey shook her rather hard.

"I'm fine," Ana was able to mumble. "Tinkerbell, how did you know that I was the daughter of Kate Lowell?" Ana asked.

"Like I said, it's a long story. And, before we begin, I do believe that I should tell your friends about their parents," Tinkerbell answered, crossing her legs and turning to smile at Liza. "You look so much like your mother," she whispered, grinning. Liza blushed. Ana knew how much that must have meant to Liza. "Her name was Cho. Cho Chang. She was a pretty, kind, quiet young thing, Cho was. It took everyone by surprise when Lee Jordan, a loud, jaunty, outspoken young man came and swept her off her feet."

Liza was only able to nod.

Then the small sprite looked Rey in the eyes. "You're father was a great man, Rey. A very great man. And your mother was equally as noble," she murmured.

Rey nodded slowly but Ana could see the tears in his eyes. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Your father was Harry Potter and your mother was Hermione Granger."

Liza choked on the piece of bread she had just swallowed and Rey fell back in his seat. He scrambled around on the floor, trying in vain to stand up. Ana was too shocked to even move. Rey?

Her best friend Rey?

The son of the great Harry Potter?

"You're joking!" Rey finally managed to cry.

"No, I'm afraid I'm not. And now that the three of you know your parents then I guess-"

"Who's my father?" Ana asked, cutting Tinkerbell off. "Is it Draco Malfoy?"

Tinkerbell's face fell. "Well, you see, that's part of the story, Ana. It's something you won't fully understand until you three know about the events leading up to the fall of the good side of the wizarding world. Now, if you will all remain quite, I'll fill you in on a few details of the story."

When nobody spoke, Tinkerbell continued. "A little under twelve years ago Harry Potter and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, graduated from Hogwarts. They were in the same year as Draco Malfoy, who also graduated from Hogwarts. Cho Chang had graduated the year before and Lee Jordan three years before. Kate Lowell, however, still had a year of school left to go. She attended Beauxbatons, which was a school in France. Ana informed me that Beauxbatons is no longer running."

"That's right," Rey muttered.

"Anyway, Kate was the daughter of Lynette Francine Lowell-called Francine-and Julius Ivan Lowell. She also had eight sisters and no brothers. It was a tradition in pureblood families that if no sons were born to the parents then the father would choose his favorite daughter to be the heir. Kate told me her father never had favorites. He chose based on whom he thought would run the family best. That, surprisingly, was Kate."

"Why would that be so surprising?" Liza asked.

"Because," Tinkerbell said, shooting the three kids meaningful glances, "Kate wasn't very good at many hexes or curses or jinxes. She was pretty good at charms and stuff like that, but otherwise she was pretty hopeless. Francine threw a fit when she heard who the heir was. She highly favored her daughters Amelia and Sophia, the two eldest girls, as well as the two most annoying. And so, when Julius died in an explosion at one of his factories, Kate became very rich very fast."

"And her mother married her off to Draco Malfoy because she needed help to keep her husband's businesses afloat," Ana concluded.

"She tried to," Tinkerbell said, sighing sadly. "But then Kate met him and everything changed. Her opinions on life, her views of social status...But that doesn't come until later. I suppose I should begin where Ana and I left off. When Kate met Draco Malfoy! "