Blackeyed Girl

Ok, I thought "Pains of Becoming" would remain to be my only story, but here we go, I obviously couldn't help myself. I find myself on another HP fan fiction journey. Here is the first chapter of my new story.
And thanks to Maryssa for betaing again!
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Chapter 1
Somewhere in Romania…

“Avada Kadavera.”
A tiny green flame hit a beetle on the dusty wooden floor of a bedroom. The blast threw it a few inches into the air, then it landed on its back, dead.
A young girl was clutching her wand, sitting back on her knees on her bed. She was staring wide-eyed at the dead insect. She did not move, as though fascinated but the tiny life form’s fate.

The room she was in was a sad example of a girl’s bedroom. The walls were of cold grey stone and the floor dusty. The girl did not seem to have many possessions. The room was empty, except for the not very comfortable looking bed, a night stand and thin wardrobe that was unlikely to hold many dresses. The girl was about 14 or 15 years old, very pale and dressed in a very plain black dress with long sleeves. Her jet black waves of unruly hair framed her face, stopping just short of her jaw line, and parted only a few inches above her left ear. Those thick waves that seemed to want to go wild on the left side of her head were harshly pinned down with a hair clip. All in all she looked like a gothic caricature of a pretty girl from the 1930ies.

The girl moved again as she reached for a glass of beetles on her night stand and freed another beetle from its cage and sat it on the floor. Her big and glossy black eyes narrowed a moment as she observed the insects attempt to seek cover in the shadow of the bed.
“Avada Kadavera”, she spoke again in a calm and unspectacular voice, her wand pointed at the beetle and another tiny life was spent. Again she did not move as she watched the dead animal as though she was gaining important information from the sight of death.
It was silent again. Only a cold wind howled through the gaps of the window and made the old curtains dance lazily.

It was day outside but there was no sun shining through the small window.
This room was only a tiny part of a massive old castle in the middle of the Romanian mountains. Somewhere else in this castle a tall, middle-aged visitor in a thick traveling cloak was taken along the cold and dirty corridors. With a critical but not judgemental gaze he took in the poor state of the place. The old women who led his way was talking animatedly.

“I was so pleased to hear that you teach at Hogwarts. As you can clearly see our school cannot compete with yours. We don’t receive much support from our government, I’m afraid”, she paused, “I think it will be really good for the girl to be there with you, under your close watch… That is to say… I hope you don’t get the wrong impression, she is a very special girl but I do think she needs someone to look after her more than we are able to. That of course is only natural, after her father’s death five years ago she has never been the same and the mother now gone too, she needs more attention… But you will find she is a very talented, smart girl. You can be proud of her, really! But as I say, I am so glad she is going with you. She does need a father figure.”

The stranger remained quiet and left the old lady with the echo of her own words, which seemed to make her uncomfortable. So she continued:” She has extraordinary talents, but…I don’t want to frighten you but… she is a bit difficult…we had a few incidents… and as they reach a certain age things always become more difficult… well she does worry me”, the woman laughed nervously as silence left her alone with her words once more, “but I will miss her, such a special girl.”

It did not take the stranger legelimency to see through the nervous babbling of the old Headmistress. She was excited at the prospect to get rid of the girl and nervous about something going wrong.

The stranger breathed deeply to brace himself for what was to come. He had not seen this coming. He had not expected to get an owl from an unknown Romanian wizarding school, informing him that he had a very young relative who had no family left except for him. And that he had to suddenly become guardian to a teenage girl. He had seen a lot of possible, terrible fates for him involving curses and terrible death, -but he had not seen that. Already days before his travels to Romania for his first meeting with his cousin’s daughter he had fought a deep sickness in his stomach. Now, he had accepted his fate. He was prepared, he held himself upright and radiated confidence and complete control. A little girl would not turn his life upside down, he would not allow it.

He had been silently listening to the Headmistress's babbling and gained a lot of information through it, about what the girl had to be like. Now they had reached a dark and claustrophobic corridor right under the roof. It was even dustier than the rest of the castle. The stranger looked around.

“I am sorry about this”, apologized the old lady, “We do not usually accommodate students here, but we felt it was best to isolate her from the other children but I am sure this is only a phase.”

From the tone in her voice the stranger was very confident that she did by no means believe it was only a phase. She was scared and she had no idea what other to do with the girl then to lock her out of other people’s sight.

By now the girl had placed a third beetle on the floor and watched it like a cat it’s pray.
There was knocking on the door. The girl’s black eyes shot up and the beetle ran into safety. The girl quickly crawled off the bed and stood, facing the door, her wand hidden as she crossed her hands behind her back. The door opened and the old headmistress reluctantly entered followed by a towering stranger.

“Eleanor, this is Professor Snape. He teaches at Hogwarts, that famous school in Great Britain that we spoke about in class, remember? He knew your father and he would like to get to know you.”

The girl remained silent only her big eyes shifted to the stranger’s face. She doubted very much that he wanted to get to know her. She knew the headmistresses voice and she had always found her an easy person to read. Her little introduction had sounded falsely positive and then had she hardly ever met someone who looked as unfriendly as this stranger. She would not show what she was thinking. She knew it was a weakness to lay open thoughts or feelings. So she only glared at him.

“Eleanor, dear”, the headmistress started again, embarrassment in her voice; “it is polite to welcome guests, isn’t it?”

Eleanor ignored her. Snape stepped forward and extended his hand silently. She looked at it for a short moment and took it.

“Would you mind leaving us alone”, asked the stranger without breaking eye contact with the girl.

The Headmistress closed the door behind her without another word.
“I am sorry about your mother.” He said.

“Did you know her?” asked the girl. She sounded controlled, almost adult.
“No, I did not.”

“Then why are you sorry?” Professor Snape did not oversee the slight trace of anger in the girls’ voice now, and decided not to go down this path.

“Do you like living here?”
“Sometimes I do… sometimes I don’t.”
“I hear you are the best in your year in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
She did not answer.

“They were also my favorite subjects. It is potions I teach at Hogwarts”
“Who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts?”, she asked immediately.

Snape’s face darkened and he said through gritted teeth: “That remains to be seen”, he paused, “How would you like to come to Britain with me and attend Hogwarts instead of this…” he did not finish his sentence.

Eleanor turned away from him and looked out of the small, dirty window. She could see lonesome lights outside, far down in the valley and in the mountains. She felt that the view matched how she felt inside these days.

“I remember Britain very well, from when things were ok. Mother and I left when father died”, she paused, “but… I would like things to be ok again. I would like to go to Britain very much.”

She had said this without turning back to him, and without passion or longing in her voice. Snape frowned.

“Going back will not bring your parents back. You know that. It will not be the same.”
She slowly turning her pale face to him: “You don’t want me there.”

Snape was caught of guard by her sudden assumption and did not reply, after all she was right. But her big black eyes kept looking at him waiting patiently so he finally said:
“This is a family matter. I have not had the best experience with family. I am responsible for you now. I take all my duties very seriously and I can not take responsibility for you here.”

She hesitated, then she said: “I had the impression it was the school that asked you to take me away with you.”

Again Snape was a little unprepared for her assumption, but this time he decided to simply ignore it. He felt as though she was trying to dominate the direction of their conversation, as though she was manipulating him. Yet she seemed completely unaware of it herself, as though she was acting entirely subconsciously.

“I will make travel arrangements for you for the 31st of August. School starts on the 1st of September. I will take care of your school materials and I will see you at Hogwarts. If you have any questions, send me an owl.” He turned around and left. He closed the door forcefully behind him.

Eleanor remained staring at the door for a moment, and then she turned back to the window and gazed over the dark mountains. She knew she would find it hard to leave, but she knew it was the right decision. Here was her shell to hide in from the future and to live with her memories and punish herself with painful sadness for those thoughts that creped up on her all the time, what about her was so nasty that her parents had to die so early?

It was her strong instinct and sense of reason that told her she had to leave Romania and return to her home country and live her life, maybe making friends, learning things and gaining some kind of perspective for the future. She had no choice; this was her chance to escape the darkness.