Slytherin Chronicles : The Desire of Darkness

Almost two months had passed since Neve had visited Diagon Alley and they had elapsed most uneventfully. Now it was the thirty-first of August - the day before she would be leaving Coulden Manor for Hogwarts. She had only started anticipating the day a couple of weeks ago, though she knew it would be less detrimental to her health if she controlled her emotions and didn't let her excitement show.

She knew that her father wouldn't share her enthusiasm and that her mother would just start rambling on about how much fun she had when she was at Hogwarts. This, for Neve, a very dull way to pass the time as she had learnt to detest her mother's gossip sessions and avoided them whenever she could.

Neve had learned long ago to conceal her true emotions and remain, on the outside, impassive. Many of her mother's friends had called her a cold and unfeeling child because she never shared the emotions that other children expressed, was never as loud as the other children, but instead was docile and reserved.

Neve knew well that if she did uncover her inside feelings neither her mother nor her father would listen or understand them - her mother being too self-centred and her father unaffectionate. What was the point of showing her emotions if there wasn't anyone who was interested in them? But it was Mr Coulden's insatiable and uncaring attitude towards her was what bothered Neve the most.

When she was younger she would continually try to appease him by getting the highest marks at school or by making herself learn how to do things to the best of her ability, but nothing she did seemed to make him proud of her. When she was old enough to realise that, Neve stopped trying to please him.

She lost all love that she ever had for her father. And the only way she could deal with it all was by living life for herself, for the pleasure of it. That is, if any pleasure could be found in her life. She resolved to get the most out of life, to be the best of the best, with or without any affection.

And yet Mr Coulden's indifference towards her made a very pronounced change in Neve. Although she had never really been a lively or happy child, she became progressively quieter and gloomier than ever. Mrs Coulden often liked to complain about this aspect of Neve, saying that it was this sullenness that gave Coulden Manor its sombreness.

Neve had also acquired a rather sarcastic manner which her mother didn't approve of at all. But Neve didn't change her ways. She had grown to used to them - they had formed her into who she had become - and she wouldn't let anything change that. She liked being surly and antisocial. Not only did it keep people from pestering her too much, but it also provided her with an endless supply of morbid things to brood on.

There was no denying that she was a strange child. Darkness and depression suited her much better than brightness and joy: this was common knowledge in the Coulden household and its circle of associates. Neve, though, managed to see beauty in the most morbid thing, even where others were repulsed and appalled.

It was nine o'clock in the evening, on August thirty-first, and Neve was sitting on her bed, her Hogwarts trunk lying open at her feet, with books, robes, and other magical equipment all packed neatly into it. A cage on the mahogany desk by the window held a handsome silver-white owl, who was watching Neve as she checked off all the items on her necessities list.

"Well, I think that's all, Nyx," she said to the owl. "And even if I've forgotten something, I can get it sent over, so no big deal."

Nyx hooted in a reassuring way and rearranged his wings. Neve had bought him from Diagon Alley after she bought her wand from Mr Ollivander. She suddenly remembered his words about the power of her wand, and her eyes fell on the long purple box which lay tucked into a space between her school books and uniform.

She hadn't told anyone about what Mr Ollivander had said to her because she knew that her father would deny there was anything special about her and her mother would start prattling about how something quite like this had happened to her when she bought her wand.

Mr Ollivander appeared so sure that she wasn't quite the ordinary witch, though! What about all those great deeds she was going to do? There had to be something more to her, there just had to be!

~ ~ ~

It was a of a young girl from a television show called The Addams Family and the girl was called Wednesday Addams. Neve thought there was quite a resemblance between the girl and herself, the only differences being that Neve never braided her hair, which was uncharacteristically straight and never confined into a pony-tail by its owner, and of course, Neve had to wear robes.

She was quite unruffled by the similarity of appearance between her and the Muggle girl because she didn't mind Muggles at all. They were all human beings, after all, the only difference between wizards and Muggles being the fact that wizards could do magic and Muggles couldn't. There were even more similarities between them! Both had tried to persecute the other just for being who they were. But, of course, most wizards overlooked that fact, being in favour of wizard domination.

Both Mr and Mrs Coulden, however, had exactly the opposite views from Neve on the matter, just like a number of other pure-blood families. Neve hadn't even bothered to convince them otherwise because she knew it would be quite a pointless exercise, as both her parents had had it drilled into them from their youth and weren't very likely to abandon the opinion, not even at their deaths.

When Neve had finished contemplating herself in the mirror (which she normally never did because she despised all vanity), she hurried downstairs for her breakfast. She wasn't the only one up. The Coulden's house-elf, Botty, was busy scurrying about, cooking breakfast for the rest of the family. He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice Neve until she greeted him.

"Oh yes, morning is good, Miss. Especially for you, Miss. You is going to Hogwarts, Miss!" he squeaked good-naturedly.

"Yes, I am, Botty. This is my last breakfast here until I get home next summer," replied Neve.

"So it is, Miss. And so Botty is making Miss a special breakfast! Botty knew Miss would get up early today."

"Well - erm - thanks. That's really - er - nice of you," said Neve, causing Botty's eyes to become misted over with tears of gratitude.

Although Neve had become quite used to Botty's kindness she sometimes wanted to discourage him from being so nice to her because she knew it would come to no good. But whenever she saw his round, elfish face glazed over with happiness, she just couldn't bring herself to wipe it off with harsh words. Which was very odd, as she rarely hesitated to do so with people.

Neve then moved out of the kitchen and left Botty to it. She came into the dining room, which was already ablaze with sunlight, as the crimson drapes had already been drawn back from the windows by Botty. She went to the window nearest her and looked out onto the sunny bedewed lawn in front of Coulden Manor.

It was the first time Neve had left the Manor for more than a few hours and she was not at all sorry to go. In fact, she was rather gratified that it was so, for she would be away from both her parents for a whole year and the pattern would continue for six years more. And then, then she would be able to leave it forever and make her own way in the world.

She could hardly wait to get to Hogwarts now. There she could meet, shock and repel other students, and learn as much as her brain could hold. She nearly sighed with content.

However, she was not looking forward to socialising with one particular person.

The Malfoy family lived about the same distance from Tidworth as the Couldens, and were on very good terms with Mr and Mrs Coulden. But such was not the case with Neve.

Whenever the Couldens visited the Malfoys or the favour was returned by the former, Lucius Malfoy always looked upon Neve with a leer on his face, as if he was mocking her for a reason that Neve was not aware of. She had never learned to like him. With his long silver hair, expensive robes and snake-topped cane, he was always too unctuous and conceited for her approval, and she always stayed as far away from him as was possible.

His coldly beautiful wife, Narcissa Malfoy, had something of a similar expression when she set her sharp grey eyes on Neve, but hers was one mixed with curiosity. However, she rarely said a kind word to Neve except for the usual niceties. Apart from being the most beautiful and elegant witch Neve had ever encountered so far, Narcissa Malfoy had a reputation for having the most venomous tongue of all the witches in Britain, and Neve was only too happy to stay out of her way.

The Malfoys lived in a manor as well. It was about the same size as that of the Couldens and much the same style, though a little more gloomy and dark. Neve suspected that the only reason Coulden Manor wasn't as dreary as the Malfoy home was because of Mrs Coulden, who liked a properly lit house. This was because she judged how much pride a family had in their home and how rich they were by the way the house was illuminated and decorated.

Neve thought this very silly and presumed that Mrs Malfoy thought so too because she seemed to judge people by their garments, size of home, and blood. The Malfoys looked down horribly on anyone who couldn't live up to their style of living, as well as anyone who had less than pure-blooded ancestors.

The Malfoys' son, Draco, was by now the same age as Neve, but she had hardly ever seen him, much less talked to him. She suspected that his parents would convince him to be of the same opinion of Neve as they were and, truth be told, she didn't really care much about it as she had never been too keen on establishing any kind of ties with them. So she prepared herself for nothing but enmity from the youngest Malfoy and smiled a little bitterly - she had acquired an enemy without even setting foot in Hogwarts.

When Neve turned away from the window she found that her breakfast had already been lain on the dining table, waiting for her. So, without further ado, she sat down and began to devour it with relish.

It was already half past seven when she'd finished and Mrs Coulden entered the room, wearing a mildly irritated expression and exquisite grey silk dressing-gown with silver trimmings. She looked up and saw Neve.

"Your father Disapparated for work half an hour ago," she said by way of greeting, "so you won't be seeing him until next summer. And you'll be going to Hogwarts today! Aren't you excited? I remember the day when I was going to Hogwarts! I was so happy that I could barely contain myself! My mother had to give me an Appeasement Potion to calm me down!" She continued on in this vein for quite some time but, as usual, Neve had stopped listening when she detected yet another reminiscing session coming on.

She was thinking about Mr Coulden. If he had gone to work half an hour ago, then it was six o'clock, and Neve had risen at sunrise which, that day, was at half past five. Then suddenly it hit her; like a grim wave of realisation, it hit her over the head and she mentally staggered - he had deliberately left early so that he wouldn't have to see her off. He didn't even want to say goodbye to her, and he wasn't going to see her for a whole year.

Well, screw him, thought Neve, mentally shrugging. If he doesn't give a damn about me, then so be it. The least he could do was to say goodbye but, he, the sodding bastard, was too heartless to even do that little thing. And, for Neve, little things always counted.

She had often wondered what exactly he did at work. She didn't even know where he worked or whom he shared his occupation with for Mr Coulden would never tell her and Mrs Coulden didn't seem to know or care about it at all. Neve hoped that it didn't have anything to do with the Dark Arts but, knowing her father, it most certainly would as he had spent so much of his youth studying them and perhaps had his own business.

But Neve had no way of knowing for sure; Mr Coulden's profession was never discussed in the Coulden household. Neve couldn't help but think that, whatever it was, his job probably wasn't the most law-abiding. And if Mr Coulden wanted Neve to take the reins when he had retired (which she sincerely doubted), then he was in for a big surprise.

Neve didn't really want a profession of practising the Dark Arts; she wasn't one to risk spending half of her life in Azkaban. And she couldn't even imagine her father retiring; he'd probably either keep working till the day he died or sell it to someone trustworthy for an exorbitant price - anything other than let Neve run it for him. Perhaps he would allow Mrs Coulden to take care of it ... but then again, probably not, because Mrs Coulden never concerned herself with jobs and found the whole matter extremely dull, even though she really loved her money.

Neve had read in some fiction book or another about how many fathers wanted sons so that they could carry on with the family business when their parents had died, and she used to think that maybe this was the reason why Mr Coulden didn't seem to want her - because she was a girl. She had asked her mother once why they didn't have any more children, and Mrs Coulden laughed and said that they didn't want her to become jealous; she was their own child and they didn't need more.

But Neve couldn't help thinking that there was more to the issue than that; she had detected a look of guilty panic in her mother's eyes, even though her face masked all other emotions except amusement. Neve knew she would find out someday because she wouldn't leave the Coulden Manor with a past full of lies, but she didn't think that she'd like the truth, whatever it was. However, she could wait a while more if need be; after all, she had waited up till now, hadn't she?

When Mrs Coulden had finally finished chatting about her first day at Hogwarts, Neve excused herself with the explanation that she still had to get some packing done as she had left it last night because she was too tired.

This, of course, was a lie; she had packed everything needed, and just wanted to get away from her mother's incessant prattling which, after being reminded that they would be leaving at eight o'clock, she finally did. At least at Hogwarts she could have some peace.

Neve whiled away the hours leading to eight o'clock by reading up on various curses and their counter-curses which she could use on any enemies that she might make. She hoped that her life at Hogwarts would not entirely be based on studies. And at precisely two minutes past eight she heard Mrs Coulden's voice shouting that it was time to go. She laid her book on her desk, took hold of a handle on the side of her trunk and began pulling it downstairs, along with Nyx inside his cage.

At long last she found herself in the entrance hall of the Manor with an extremely harassed-looking Mrs Coulden and a velvet-clad bearded man who was staring around the hall, his expression torn between disapproval and amazement. As soon as he caught sight of Neve, the man dropped his examination of the hall and hurried over to her saying, "Let me help you with that, Miss Coulden. It must be awfully heavy!"

And he was right; the trunk was now almost unbearably heavy and Neve couldn't lift it at all. The man drew out his wand, muttered a spell of some sort, and the trunk was immediately lifted off the ground. It hovered in front of the man as he briskly strode out of the door towards the emerald-green car outside and lowered the floating trunk into the open boot of the car. He then closed the boot and jumped into the driver's seat.

Neve instantly recognised the car as one from the Ministry of Magic, which occasionally allowed their enchanted means of transportation to be borrowed by certain important people and Neve's first thought on the matter was that her mother must've organised it all. Her father wouldn't have bothered his head about it unless her mother proposed it herself. But, as Mrs Coulden loved taking all the credit of doing good jobs, she hardly ever asked Mr Coulden to do anything she couldn't do herself.

So Neve trotted out of the door and got into the backseat of the car while Mrs Coulden got into the front beside the driver. The Ministry car was very luxurious with smooth leather seats and shiny tinted windows. Botty would approve, she thought. He always loved polishing things till they shone and had a bit of a mania with silver objects, making him rather like a magpie.

Then suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't said goodbye to him! I'm almost as bad as my father, she thought bitterly. But she'd be seeing him again in a year's time; it's not like she was leaving this house forever.

But, in a dark secluded corner of her mind, she wished she was leaving it for good because it hadn't really brought her much joy. Neve took one last look at the Manor, silently bidding it goodbye with her eyes. She put the thought right back into its dark corner before turning away and settling herself for a two hour drive to King's Cross station, where she would be departing onboard the Hogwarts Express, the train that took Hogwarts students to their first destination - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.