Seeing Lives

Friday, June 11, 2004

A girl of sixteen with blondish brown hair and crystal blue eyes named Elizan Shandot wrote in her journal. She had only started keeping one when she turned fourteen. She wrote about things that were important to her. Tonight for some reason Elizan didn't know, her parents had told her to go to her room and stay there for the rest of the night. They hadn't explained anything to her, just kissed her and said goodnight. She thought maybe she'd done something wrong, but she couldn't think what it might've been. Elizan wasn't the sort of teenager who loved to party. She loved to read, write, and listen. She was also a witch. Her parents were wizards and witches so Elizan was pureblood. She never referred to herself as that but lately she noticed at her school kids had started to know people by whether they were mudbloods or purebloods. Elizan had never called someone a mudblood, her parents had told her never to. She always listened to her parents so she could probably be referred to as a goody two shoes. She had no problem with that, but lately she had just wanted to be free and have some fun. But lately her parents were keeping her on a leash. They didn't live in an all muggle neighborhood. There were some witches and wizards who lived nearby.

Elizan had been upstairs when she heard a knock at the door. Who could that be so late at night? Then she heard the doorbell ring. Elizan went to the top of the stairs just in time to see her father looking out the front door. He then stepped back and had a curious look on his face. Was anybody there or was it just some prankster? He opened the door and he was thrown backwards by a brilliant green flash of light. Elizan jumped backwards, half scared to death. What the hell had that been? Her father wasn't getting up and Elizan stared at him from the top of the stairs. Then the man who had cast the spell on her father stepped inside, followed by another man who looked curiously like a rat with his huge buck teeth and his long dirty nails. But the man in the front was to be feared, and then Elizan knew who he was. The wizard everybody called You-Know-Who, but Elizan always referred to as Voldemort even at the flinches on her friends' faces. He didn't see her, but the rat looking man saw her and continued to follow Voldemort. Elizan headed to her room.

"Honey, is everything-"she heard her mother say as she came out of the kitchen.

Elizan grabbed her wand and went back to the top of the stairs. Her mother was staring at Voldemort.

"I've come, so everything is not alright. You were once in an Order that was because of me, so I've come to kill you," Voldemort sort of hissed softly.

Elizan's mother saw her at the top of the stairs as Voldemort uttered the curse that would kill her mother in an instant. Her mother dropped to the floor, dead. Elizan had started to believe this was some sort of dream, or most likely a nightmare. Elizan ran back to her room, and opened her window. She crawled out onto the roof, her wand in her hand. It was not a big drop from this roof to the ground. Below her she heard voices from the open window of the living room.

"The-there was a gi-girl Lord," one voice that sounded like it was the rat like man's voice said.

"Let her go. I distaste letting someone go, but it would only take more of my energy to get you to stop cowering and kill her, or kill her myself. Too much energy wasting for me. And I have but one person I will go out of my way to kill. Harry Potter," the voice Elizan guessed as Voldemort said.

Harry Potter, where had she heard that name before? Was he a famous singer or something? Then she remembered hearing the last name of Potter before by her father. He'd said James Potter though. Elizan wasted no more time; she jumped off the roof and landed hard on her feet, then fell over because of the jolt it sent through her feet. She started to walk, only to find one of her leg's hurt. She knew she'd probably hurt it on the jump, but she would make it. Where was she even going? There was no one around that could protect her. All the muggles would do was call the police, and they only made things worse because then there even more bodies for the Ministry of Magic to clear up. Then it struck Elizan. The Ministry of Magic was the only place to go. But it was miles and miles away from here. She couldn't yet Apparate, though she'd watched her father do it many times. The only thing to do was call the Knight Bus. She stopped and thought. How had her father told her to summon the bus if she ever needed it? Was it lighting up her wand? But she'd lit her wand many times before and the Knight Bus had never come. She said," Lumos!" and her wand lit up. Elizan was starting to get frustrated. What if her parents were somehow still alive? She started waving it around her. It'd been so long since her father had told her what to do. She walked out into the street a little, still messing with her wand. Then headlights lit her up. She stared at the huge bus that was coming for her. She fell out of the way as it came to a stop in front of her.

"We just blew past here. Saw you waving yer wand around. Whatcha doing?" a man said, stepping out from the entrance to the bus.

"Can you take me to The Ministry of Magic?" Elizan asked the man wearily, tears coming from her eyes as she stepped aboard the purple bus.

"Ministry of Magic? We got another going there too! His names Amos Diggory. Oh and my name's Stan Shunpike," the man said.

The bus took off again, throwing Elizan slightly backwards. A man stood up in front of her. "I'm Amos Diggory. I can help you find your way to the Ministry," Amos said, and she could tell he was tired.

Elizan sat down on one of the beds and looked at the man. "Not to be rude sir, but didn't you lose a son about two years back?" Elizan asked him quietly.

"I did. But tell me girl why are you crying?" Amos asked her, and his eyes seemed to look away from her, even though they were still staring at her.

Elizan only stared at him, and then looked away. "I'd rather wait to wake up," Elizan said finally.

The bus pulled to a quick stop. Amos grabbed his things and Elizan put her wand into her denim jeans. She followed him outside next to a telephone booth. She'd never been inside the Ministry before. Amos took her inside and after he spoke on the phone the booth started to descend slowly into the ground. A minute later they were there. There were busy wizards and witches all around. Nearby Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge were talking quietly.

"Mr. Fudge, sir, I need to speak with you," Elizan choked out tears streaming down her face now.

Fudge faced her slowly and took her in. "My parents were just killed by Voldemort," Elizan rushed on, but Fudge clamped his hands over her mouth.

"We received word minutes ago. I will escort you to Arthur Weasley, where you will stay for a few hours while we sort this out," Dumbledore said to her, leading her off down a hall.

"But my parents, what if they're still alive? Can't you send someone?" Elizan almost yelled at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stopped now. "I'm sorry dear girl, but if Voldemort used the Avada Kedavra curse then your parents are dead. If a green light hit them, they are dead," Dumbledore told her softly, then seeing her eyes glaze over he continued to walk.

When they arrived at the department where this Mr. Weasley worked, Dumbledore told her to go into the office where Arthur would be.

"I appreciate this, Arthur," Dumbledore told Arthur Weasley when they walked into Mr. Weasley's small but cozy office.

Arthur nodded and Dumbledore left. "I'm Arthur Weasley. It's great to meet you," Mr. Weasley said, and Elizan saw he had red hair.

"Elizan Shandot," Elizan said quietly.

"Shandot did you say? Your father was a good man. There was once an Order when Voldemort first came to power, about fifteen or sixteen years ago. Yes, your father was friends with James Potter and Sirius Black," Mr. Weasley told her, sitting on his small desk.

"He was friends with James and Sirius? I always thought my father was always good in school," Elizan said, now interested in this Arthur Weasley, since he had known her father.

"Oh he was good, mind you. Always got good grades. Of course, after their fourth year I believe, the trio lost touch. Then a little after you and Harry Potter were born, they found each other again when the Order started. It was sad when James died. I think your father, Robert, was the only one who hadn't been out for vengeance. Now Sirius Black on the other hand . . .," Mr. Weasley trailed off.

"Black's innocent though," Elizan whispered.

"How did you know that?" Arthur asked her.

"What? I don't know. It just came to my mind. I saw Black and instantly knew he was innocent. I just saw him in my mind," Elizan said, and now she was suspicious of herself, which shouldn't have been happening," But if my parents are dead where will I go?"

"Dumbledore will have the answer to that. They may take you to a spare room and ask you questions even though they know it was Voldemort," Mr. Weasley said, and he was also peering at her suspiciously.

Elizan held her head in her hands. Tears fell from her eyes once again. Mr. Weasley laid a hand on her shoulder and said," I'll let you alone to grieve. If you need me I'll be outside the door. I have to run a quick errand and I'll be back." He left then, leaving Elizan to weep silently.

*** *** ***

In a huge room where about a year ago Harry Potter had been . . . well the only word for it was interrogated, or more simply questioned, Dumbledore stood across from Fudge.

"I've decided to take her to a secret place I know of," Dumbledore told Fudge.

"Now Dumbledore, this girl is witness to a murder. Two murders! We need to ask her questions," Fudge said, taking the losing argument in this conversation.

"What could she know that all of the other murder witnesses wouldn't? She's been put through a hard time. I'm going to put her into Hogwarts where she will be safe. If you really need to question her, come by Hogwarts when she is situated," Dumbledore said his voice calm and serene.

Fudge thought about it, then nodded his head. Dumbledore was right, as he usually was.

*** *** ***

Elizan watched Arthur Weasley do his work quietly. The whole time she was wondering what would happen to her and she couldn't help but imagine her parents' bodies. Apparently from the picture of nine redheads on his desk he had seven children, and the others were Arthur and his wife. She searched the faces for what she didn't know. They all seemed rather happy from what she could see. The first person she looked at was one of the taller looking children.

"Ah, that's Charlie," Mr. Weasley said from behind her.

Elizan stared at Charlie for a moment. Then she said," Works with dragons doesn't he?" and she had no idea how she knew that.

"Do you know Charlie?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Nope," Elizan replied and Mr. Weasley was left to wonder how she knew.

She didn't know, it had just come into her mind. She passed it off as just hearing where he'd worked before. But she still couldn't help but wonder as she sat back down, thinking of her dead parents once again.