Rebirth

Rebirth

Chapter 10: Awakening

"Come on, girl, you're not eating!" Brennan Faraday nudged his niece, who was absentmindedly staring at her wine.

"I'm not that hungry," Julia replied.

"Nonsense," her Aunt Mary said, putting an enormous amount of rice on her plate. "This is meant to be a happy occasion. We should all be celebrating, and celebrating implies eating as much as your stomach can hold!"

Celebrating... Julia's eyes examined the large dinner table, where a huge cake with "Happy 35th Anniversary" written on it served as a colorful centerpiece. Her parents' wedding was, in her opinion, nothing worthy of celebration. Her mother had been physically and psychologically abused by her father for as long as she could remember, and the way they both faced the situation so lightly was one of the reasons why she always signed up to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas during her schooldays, and why she left home as soon as she had the chance.

She stared at everybody else joining dinner. They all looked so happy, and she was miserable as hell. She had no idea what she was doing there. She certainly had no intention of celebrating her parents' anniversary when she arrived; actually, she had absolutely no idea of the date. It had all been a huge coincidence.

Her sister Kathleen, obviously, had been the only one who realized this.

"Trouble with the trophy boyfriend?" she asked mockingly, with that air of big-sister superiority Julia hated.

"He's not a trophy boyfriend," she replied dryly, with absolutely no intention of going along with the joke. Besides, she didn't want anyone else at the table to know about her private life.

"But he's the reason why you're here, isn't he?" Kathleen insisted.

"I got angry at him, and decided to get away for a while until things cool off. End of story."

But Kathleen was in absolutely no mood to give up. "Come on, what happened?"

"None of your business."

"Did he cheat on you?"

"No."

"Did he get into trouble... again?"

"No."

"Are you pregnant?"

"No."

"Did he make someone else pregnant?"

"No!"

"Did he -"

"He didn't do anything, okay?" Julia snapped, in a voice louder than she had wished, though no one else seemed to have noticed. "There's nothing wrong with him - everything's perfect."

There was silence between both of them for a while, broken only by the excitement of the others.

"Ah," Kathleen said with a smile after a minute. "So that's it?"

"What?"

"You're scared."

"What?"

"You're scared," she repeated. "Scared it won't be so perfect after all, aren't you? Scared of this." And she pointed at their parents, who, at the moment, were looking like the portrait of happiness, instead of the portrait of violence the two sisters had grown up with.

Julia sighed. "Maybe I am," she said, her voice faint. "Oh, I don't know. I'm all confused."

"Why did you come here, Jules?"

"What?"

"You could have gone to any other place in the world. Grandma's farm, to Kenmare, to that friend of yours, what's her name -"

"Rosie."

"Rosie," she repeated mechanically. "Anyway, why here? And don't tell me it's because of Mum and Dad's anniversary, because you know as well as I do that you had absolutely no idea it was today."

"You're the brains in the family. You figure it out."

"I don't need to," Kathleen said. "It's just like I said. You're scared, and you wanted to see this place again and make sure their relationship," she pointed at their parents again, "is nothing like the one you have with Gilbur."

"Gilderoy," Julia grunted.

"Look, I don't know him that well, but I can tell you this: you picked a guy who has absolutely nothing to do with Dad. Play the cards right, and he'll do anything you want. Even that 'jump off a bridge' thing."

"He already did that in our seventh year," Julia said with a smile. "Broke his collarbone."

"There you are. Your problem, Jules, is that you can't tell a good thing when you have it. You have found the perfect guy. Be thankful."

"Yeah, you're right," she said, with a smile. She wouldn't call Gilderoy "perfect", but she knew what her sister meant. As a light dawned upon her spirit, she got up and prepared to leave the table. "I better send him a note saying I'll be back tomorrow morning. Where's Donat?"

"My bedroom, obviously."

"Thanks, Kathy."

Kathleen smiled and winked at her younger sister's sudden change of mood.

"Where are you going?" Aunt Mary asked, as every eye turned to Julia.

"I'll be right back. There's something I need to do right now, but it won't take long," she replied, as the doorbell rang.

"Well I hope so," her mother said, as she got up from the table to open the door.

Julia climbed up the stairs and ran to her sister's bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Kathleen's fat barn owl, Donat, was fast asleep in his cage.

She ripped off a page from a notebook and began to write. She thought for a bit, crumpled the paper and threw it to the wastepaper basket. She was about to take another piece of paper when a loud crash was heard from downstairs.

"Dad," she thought, as another crash was heard.

Donat woke with a start and let out a huge shriek, as if something had tried to kill him. When a third crash took place, the owl got out of the cage in a hurry and flew away, disappearing into the Dublin sky.

"Donat!" Julia shouted. "Get back here, you stupid -"

WHAM! The window shut itself violently on her. Julia stepped back instinctively. Then, a cold shiver went down her spine, as she realized that the loud noises coming from downstairs had nothing to do with the celebration.

Something was terribly wrong.

She ran towards the bedroom door and tried to open it. Nothing. She pushed, pulled, tried to slam it, but it was no use. It was as if someone had locked her in, but she hadn't heard it being locked. She moved towards the window. Nothing either.

It was then that she heard her mother scream. In desperation, she threw herself at the door, yelling at the pain she felt, and at the frustration of not being able to open it.

Suddenly, it dawned upon her - the wand! As a norm, she never used it outside of the wizarding world, but this was an emergency. She took it out of her pocket and pointed it at the lock.

"Alohomora," she said, but the result was not the one she was expecting, as an explosion occurred and she was thrown back by the impact.

She tried to get up, but the pain was too strong. Looking down at her stomach, she realized that she was bleeding heavily. She couldn't find anything nearby that might have caused it, though. She also couldn't understand how the Alohomora charm could have caused that destruction. It was as if her magic was scrambled.

"Death Eaters," she whispered, as she tried to advance towards the door, which by now had been blasted to bits. Yes, it had to be it. After all, this was a Muggle family with two witches, both of them very popular in the wizarding world - an easy target. Too easy, Julia realized.

She tried to get up. A rush of pain, like an electric shock, traveled from the wound to her entire body. She felt blood dripping from her mouth and had an urge to throw up, but managed to contain herself. Her only thought was to go downstairs. To do what, she had no idea, but she had to go.

She reached the top of the stairs with extreme difficulty. Blood was beginning to soak her clothes, and she felt as if she was about to faint - though sometimes this feeling was replaced by a sensation that her body was about to shatter into a million pieces, as if she was made of glass.

Halfway down, she heard the most horrible scream of agony coming from the dining room.

Kathleen.

With the hurry to reach her sister, and with her current limitation of movement, she tripped and fell, rolling down the rest of the staircase. It took her a few seconds to be able to recover and try to get up again, all of her body sore with the experience.

She slowly managed to drag herself to the dining room, and was faced with the most horrible vision.

Kathleen was suspended in mid-air, screaming in agony, as their father held his hands in her direction. At least, it looked like her father, but it seemed like he had aged fifty years. At his feet were several skeletons, which she recognized from the clothes as being the other members of her family. The dining table had been smashed, and the food on it (including the majestic cake) looked shriveled. Also, a smell of decay filled the air, which made Julia's urge to throw up return.

The man who looked like her father noticed her presence and smiled.

"Hello, my dear," he said. That was his voice, but his accent was no longer Irish. He dropped his hands, and Kathleen fell violently to the floor.

"Kathy -" Julia managed to shout out, but was again invaded by pain as she said it.

"Do not worry about her," her father said. "She is not what I want, but you might be... Gwendolyn."

She looked at him in confusion. "W-what?" a whisper abandoned her lips.

"I have been looking for you for centuries, Gwendolyn. You said you would be back, but I didn't believe you."

"W-what are you tal... talking about?" she asked, her voice not more than a pained murmur.

Her father advanced towards her, now looking even older than before. "You are back. I knew you would return. It was foreseen. And now I must find you and destroy you before you destroy me."

"I-I'm n-not Gw-Gwendol... Gwendolyn," Julia stuttered. She had no idea what her father was talking about. Everything around her was revolving inside her mind and she couldn't think properly, let alone react.

"We will see about that," he said, raising his hands. Soon, Julia found herself floating the same way Kathleen was when she had entered the room.

Then, pain like she had never felt before traveled through her whole body, making her scream in agony. She had never felt the Cruciatus curse, but was sure the feeling could not be any different from what she was feeling at that very moment. After a few seconds, the pain stopped. Her father, his body now looking worn and consumed, frowned. He was obviously disappointed.

"You are not Gwendolyn either," he said. "My revenge will not take place today." His bony hand touched her face. "But you are a magnificent specimen - much more interesting than your sister. You will make a great host."

Julia couldn't face him, so she looked down. She saw Kathleen, still lying on the floor, but completely awake, looking at the two of them and pointing her wand. Remembering what had happened when she tried to unlock the door, Julia tried to shout out, but her voice didn't obey.

"Goodbye," her father said, as his hand moved her face in order for her to look at him. But before they could make eye contact, Kathleen's voice shout out, "Protecto!" and she was surrounded by a golden light. Then it was darkness.

When light returned, Julia realized she was now lying down. Everything was still blurry, so she had no idea where she was, but it was obviously no longer her parents' house. A smell of lilacs filled the air, and a familiar voice seemed to be singing. It took her only a few seconds to realize it was a song she absolutely hated, but which Gilderoy was obsessed with singing to her. That, and the feeling of a warm hand holding hers, were the most soothing feelings she could have received. She was safe.

She tried to speak, but it took her several minutes for her voice to finally leave her lips.

"G... Gil...?"

Gilderoy's voice, filled with relief, answered. "You're awake."

She tried to focus her eyes on him. He looked different, a bit older, with dark rings around his eyes and an unshaven face, but his expression was the best greeting she could have ever received. She tried to speak, but her voice failed again.

"It's all right," he said, comforting her. "Professor Ventura said it would take a while for you to recover."

Who was professor Ventura? she asked herself, and later realized that she didn't care. Gilderoy was here, and that was all that mattered right now.

"I missed you," he said. Tears began to roll his eyes.

Why are you crying? She tried to speak again. Stop crying, you stupid git! Now you're making me cry, too!

As tears began to invade her as well, her mind drifted back to the attack, and the death of her family.

It was too much for her. She sat upright, tried again unsuccessfully to speak, and hugged Gilderoy with all the strength she could manage at the moment.

"Julia!"

She then began to cry violently: for Kathy, for her parents, for the rest of her family, for herself. Grief for their deaths was mingled with the relief of being alive. After a while, she felt Gilderoy hugging her back, and begin to cry with her.

***

Professor Ventura was about to go to bed. She doubted she would get any sleep, however, since worry for her students was rattling on her mind. After all the things that had happened during the holidays, and everything she was forced to tell them, she doubted that they were going to sleep as well, or at least have pleasant dreams.

The one that upset her the most was Petrova. She had been worried about her from the very first day - it was hard enough being lost in a new country, with a different language, and then suddenly being thrown into a different world. And now her family was gone. She didn't tell Petrova exactly how they died, but she had a feeling the girl knew.

A voice suddenly broke out from the silence, interrupting her thoughts.

"So, you've told them."

She turned to face Rodrigo Zagalo, who was sitting on a stool. She frowned.

"How did you find out?"

"My dear Ventura, you forget what we are. We always find out these things."

She turned for a hairbrush. "After what Elektra did to them, I had no choice. They would begin to question things, and the lack of answers would make their imagination go overboard."

"I still think there should have been another way."

She turned to her mirror (which was clearly shocked with the idea of a man being there at that time of night) and began brushing her hair furiously.

"Of course," she said in a dry tone. "Memory charm the children and start on a clean slate."

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Coming from a pupil of Orestes, I know that's exactly what you meant."

"Elektra is nothing like Orestes."

"Finally realized it, have you?" She stopped brushing her hair and moved towards him. "You know there was no other choice. And I think it would be best if you tried to explain to your daughter why you never told her about it."

He sighed. "First thing tomorrow."

"And another thing: the Petrovs are dead."

Zagalo's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"I contacted the Tagids. I expected two search parties would be better than one. It looks like they were found near the Spanish boards, by the Tagus bank, so it was easy for them to find."

"And they were murdered?"

"Obviously. And you remember that Mrs. Petrova was pregnant when she disappeared? Well, it looks like she had the baby before she died."

"It's Larissa Coleraine's case all over again."

"Yes," she agreed, glancing again at the mirror, "but this time the murderer was lucky and managed to take the child."

"I expect you don't want me to tell Hector."

"Obviously. He'll turn this into blind revenge, and it will disturb the search for the culprit. I don't know how long it will take for him to add things together, though."

"That's obvious. What about the child?"

"We still have to think about this. While she's here, everything will be fine, but we have to find some place for her to stay during the holidays."

"The Ministry will probably have to be told about her situation."

"Of course. Now, if you don't have anything else to say right now, I must ask you to leave. I don't agree with conversations after curfew, and if this applies to the students, I believe it must also apply to the teachers and staff."

He smiled. "I'll talk to Dulce tomorrow. Make arrangements for this."

"I will," Ventura said, but when she turned Zagalo was already gone. She frowned and returned to brushing her hair.