Coral

Strangers in love must a star fall from the sky

It's stranger than most and stranger when we try

to understand it all, why we fall,

As strangers in love,

Strangers in love.



Straight from the farm and a world apart and ready for-

Someone to take her arm, she's never seen a movie

What an innocent face, what an innocent place.

It's natural, it's an easy thing to do,

Natural, it's an easy thing to do.



Strangers in love and a star fell from the sky

Don't know which way to turn, don't know which boat to burn

Don't know which way to turn, don't know which boat to burn.

Strangers in love.





--Petition--



Neither of them had heard Eloise open the door. She had come into the parlor to invite Martin to stay for tea, only to find the room empty. Assuming that Amanda might have shown him out, if he had decided to leave, she had stepped into the entryway hoping to call them back.



Seeing through the sidelight, a strand of Amanda's recognizable hair blowing, she had sneaked to the door in hopes of at last discovering Amanda and Martin on friendly terms. Too say that she was startled by what she did see, would be a drastic understatement.



" Get into the house IMMEDIATELY!!" she ordered, her face grey and verging on the outbreak of extreme negative emotion. " You too, Edward Ollivander! In here!"



She pointed at the parlor floor where she wanted them to stand, and then pulled them both through the door, and slammed it shut behind the two guilty looking persons.



" In the street! Of all the...Amanda, I...I thought you...I thought you had been taught better!!" she sputtered. " and...just what is this all about? I left you on cool terms with Martin Ashwell, and return not ONE HALF HOUR later to find you...you..." she couldn't quite bring herself to finish her sentence. Her eyes darkened by emotion, looked like brown saucers.



Amanda was still glowing inside from her first kiss. Her first true kiss. Hannigan had not kissed her. Martin had tried...but that was so long ago, wasn't it? No, it was only an hour ago.



She had enjoyed this kiss, and in that too brief moment of it's occurrence, she had almost fallen in love. Wasn't that odd, she wondered? She couldn't even be ashamed.

Seeing that Amanda was impervious, Eloise rounded on Edward. " You ought to be ashamed too. Are you?"



" Not particularly." he admitted.



" Well...you should be. Kissing people right in the street. Everyone was gaping. I'll never live down the scandal!"



Edward ignored her, and turned to Amanda, who was watching him with a strange expression.



" My dear," his deliberate use of the endearment caused Eloise to snap her teeth shut around whatever she was about to say. " Could you please excuse us? Eloise and I have much to discuss. And.." he caught her hand before she could step out of reach. " if you are still inclined, please ask Winter and Estella to join us."



" Of course." Amanda said, removing her hand with slight reluctance. She felt a wicked pleasure in Eloise's distress. Earlier, she had been remarkably angry at her aunt for matchmaking her with Martin Ashwell. And for dangling an inheritance behind her back, as though she were too undesirable for anyone to want otherwise.



That anger had dissipated, as soon as she had seen Eloise. She had unwittingly shocked and hurt her aunt. But she felt that at the same that by making a decision for herself, she had also gained a step toward earning her aunt's respect.



Or she would, at least, after Eloise could breathe again.



" Oh...Edward!" Eloise groaned as Amanda stepped out of the door. " Tell me that this isn't happening! Tell me it isn't what I think?!"



" Prepare yourself Eloise...I am about to petition for Amanda's hand."



***



Amanda hurried to find her mother and grandmother. They were both in the sewing alcove, arguing over a crochet pattern.



It was not like Amanda to interrupt, or to be in such a fluster, so when she began telling them everything, breathlessly, they were concerned. She held a hand to her throat, and her teeth were still chattering, making it difficult to understand a word she was saying.They made her slow down and repeat the whole story.



As soon as Winter did grasp what was being said, she dropped her yarn into the basket at her feet.



" Edward Ollivander!?" she was one of those strange people who smiled, even when she was angry or upset, so Amanda couldn't determine how she felt. " are you serious, child?"

Amanda nodded fervently.



" Oh..." Winter clapped her hands to her cheeks. " is Edward in the parlor with Ellie? Alone?"



Again, Amanda nodded.



Winter's eyes, met Stella's, and Winter began hurrying for the door.



" Oh, she'll be simply furious! I better go rescue him. Come along shortly, Stella!"



After Winter left, Stella took Amanda's hands...searching her face, while expressing herself neither approval, nor disapproval. Amanda's eyes were wide.



Estella tilted her head first to the left, then to the right. Then she took her touched Amanda's cheek, examining the marks.



" Martin?" she asked.



" Yes..." Amanda winced as her mother touched her blackening eye. Stella frowned.

" It was an accident...that he hit me, mother." she said. Her eye twitched slightly. That wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't entirely false, either. " He did take my chin and shake me, though."



" Here, let me ease it. We can't have you beginning your engagement with big bruises on your pretty face." she took out her wand and aimed it at Amanda's face. She flinched, still uncomfortable with having healing spells aimed at her.



" Are you angry with me?" she asked, quietly.



" No." her mother answered truthfully. " Just surprised. Naturally. In my opinion...even a radish would be a better companion than Martin Ashwell. I just don't want you to marry because of a law Amanda. If you change your mind, if you want to leave instead, don't tie yourself down. I'll even go with you, if that's what you really need."



Amanda smiled, and embraced her mother.



" I don't believe now that I can leave.' she admitted." And...I have the strangest feeling, that this is what I am supposed to do."



Stella, smiled.



" That sounds like something your father would say! Trusting to gut feelings..." she shook head. " Well he was unusually lucky with his feelings, maybe you are as well. But please, go change into a dry dress...and wipe that silly smile off of your face, child. You look tipsy." Stella gave her wry smile and started to leave. " Oh, and you aren't allowed to come down until after the negotiations, I'm afraid."





She paused to give Amanda the chance to change her mind, but Amanda was decided. She gave her a small wave, and turned to follow Winter down the stairs.



Amanda was left alone, wondering how her life could have changed so dramatically, in so short a time. She was sure she had discerned a sort of tightness in Stella's expression--and no wonder, This was remarkably sudden.



She couldn't explain why she herself felt so calm about it, except that it was sudden. Tomorrow, she thought, I might be nothing short of devastated. Oh well... It will be too late by then, she thought, as she went into her room,and locked the door.



While a hot bath was pouring, she went to her record cabinet. She chose something old, and comforting, dropped it onto the turntable and set the needle. When the music began, she adjusted the volume to where it couldn't be heard downstairs, and she couldn't hear anything over it's grainy, mellow lyrics.



Stripping out of her wet clothes, and sinking chin deep into the foaming water, she began to contemplate herself.



In her old world, people sat down to watch television. In the new world, wizards stood to watch Quidditch. Amanda had to satisfy herself with watching people, for she was neither a Muggle, nor a wizard.



She belonged to both worlds, and yet to neither, and had to be at all times her own self, and belong wholly to herself as well.



She had kept what she liked best from her own world, her records, her sheet music, and her stories; the Muggle fiction which had accompanied her through her dreamy childhood and into her young romantic womanhood.



She also shed all that she did not like, like a garden snake shrugging off it's old skin, only to dress in the scales of another species.



She left behind trinkets, and television, and milkshakes and board games, and showers, and acquired in their place fans and gloves, and real quills with ink that dripped if you weren't perfectly careful.



Between the pages of old books, in the patterns of old lace, in the gleam of polished antiques, and the ticking of heirloom clocks, Amanda had found a lost part of her self.

An old part of herself that had been lost between lives. Not that she thought of it as reincarnation, in her mind; she was merely aware that she had always been wondering and wandering, through the world and her mind, searching for some little thing.



Something laid aside, or packed in a trunk, perhaps. She searched for it in corner stores, and antique sales, and in poetry.



She should have been upset after finding her place, that it was so anti-climatic. She wasn't. She was relieved at it's simplicity. She had decided to be content, being Stella's daughter, listening to the gossip of old women. Crochet beside her on the window seat, a volume of Keats on the ottoman in front.



This is me, she had thought languidly. All I ever wanted was just to not have to be who I had to be. I wanted a life more composed, and less harsh. Why was is it so wrong to seek peace and prettiness?



Now, everything had changed once more. Who would she be now? What was to be expected of her? Doubts tried to bubble up in her mind, but she suppressed them. She had given her word. She was a Garrett, and the Garrett's had never been cowards. They faced their anxieties head on, whether that anxiety was a Union army invading their home, or the novelty of approaching wedlock....



And she was a Rookwood, too. She stopped to think what that might mean. Why, it meant that she had the blood of some of the most pure, irascible, and undefeatable witches and wizards coursing through her veins!



She felt confident suddenly, that she could and would face her future with courage and a smile.



She began singing with the music.



***



" Eloise! Put that away for heaven's sake! We do not threaten people in this house!" Winter gave her sister a strong and reprimanding stare.



It was too ironic to have her sister threaten the wandmaker with a weapon of his own making. And Winter detested irony when it was too obvious.



Eloise looked startled, and sheepish.



" I was only summoning us a drink." she mumbled.



Winter only raised a doubting brow, and gestured for everyone to be seated. They had just bent their knees when Stella rushed in. Agnes and Demogene, hearing the commotion, had tried to follow, but Stella shut and warded the door in their curious faces. After a moment's thought, she cast a silencing charm over it as well.



Agnes immediately attempted to break the ward, only to receive a powerful jolt, that burned her fingers, and caused her to yelp.



Demogene giggled.



" You hush!" Agnes barked.



" Serves you right for trying to eavesdrop. I'll bet that Martin Ashwell is in there making his petition."



" Hmmph. Well, let's go interrogate Amanda and find out."



Demogene had to hurry to keep up with her leggier sibling, but they were disappointed to find Amanda's door locked. Agnes beat on it loudly, and even threatened to blast the knob off, but there was no response, other than the steady strains of Barry Manilow muffled behind the thick wooden door.



Agnes needed no reason to be offended, or to hate her cousin, but she pretended that being ignored hurt her feelings.



" She thinks she is better than us now, for sure." she sniffed. She felt a strong pang of anger, which would only strengthen once she learned who was really in the parlor.

As they began to march downstairs again, Agnes gave a snicker.



" Do you know what I am going to do?" she asked Demogene, leaning against the rail a moment " I am going to relieve Amanda of that green dancing dress.You know, the one that LeBonne woman made for her with the princess waist?"



" Why? It...it's not your color." she had started to say that it would not fit, but thought better.



" Because I want it, and it would take me months to afford one like it. I couldn't even get that gypsy bitch to discuss it with me.She said I was rude! Besides, Ashwell can buy her a dozen dresses, for what good it will do him. She doesn't dance anyhow."



Demogene only shrugged. There was nothing to be said to Agnes when she was in these moods.She knew Agnes would not take the dress; but she might do something else that was undeniably mean instead. There were so many possibilities.



***



Edward knew that Eloise could be shrewd. Even cold and ruthless when it came to her determination to have her wishes followed, and life adjusted to her unique standards.

This did not prepare him for the tyrannical fervor with which she interrogated him about his intentions. First she demanded a complete explanation of what had occurred between the time she left Amanda and the time she found her again.



" And just how long has this been going on?" she demanded sharply, almost nose to nose with him.



His assurance that it had only been 'going on' for maybe fifteen minutes did very little to soothe her wrath, and she began stormy dialogue. Surprisingly, it was Stella that interfered, and informed Eloise that Amanda was her daughter, and a grown woman. As such, she was perfectly capable of making her own decisions, no matter how spontaneous or unusual those decisions might be.



" She's made her bed, and she's the one that must sleep in it. She's no different than me in that respect. And despite your predictions, I never regretted my decision."

Winter covered her mouth to hide a smile. It always amused her to see a person brave enough to stand Eloise down.



Eloise fumed for a moment, but Stella held her gaze, not lowering her own dark, flashing eyes. Edward felt a growing admiration for this woman. As soon as Eloise lowered her eyes, though, Stella flashed him a stern look as well. He understood it to mean that she was on Amanda's side, and Amanda's side only, at the moment.



He granted her a slight nod.



Without any further argument, Eloise began drawing up the contract draft. She left no stone unturned, no corner overlooked. The Ministry had provided a rather thick pamphlet for it's victims, explaining the appropriate procedure to follow. This booklet, Stella and Winter took up and began perusing while Edward and Eloise squabbled over income and allowance.



After the scroll was signed, which would magically bind him, without exception, he would have to present it to the Ministry as soon as possible, placing a petition for her, Amanda Garrett/Rookwood. Then, the Ministry would send a witness and Edward would offer a formal proposal to Amanda, complete with a ring.



If a girl lived alone, she could accept of deny, up to five times before she was ' matched up' by the Ministry to someone of their choosing. If she had guardians or was dependent on others, she had to turn to the master or mistress of her house of residence, and ask permission.



Then to her mother, and her grandmother as her line of kinswomen. Then, with approval, she accepted the formal engagement, a bond would be placed over their joined hands to 'hold' until actual wedding.



Reading all of this, Eloise had snorted in dainty contempt.



" Preposterous. How long did it take them to write this tripe? It's a pretty piece of ceremony for a law that is supposedly still in in it's infancy."



Winter and Estella however had been suitably amused by the numerous stipulations.



" How complicated is the actual wedding? Do we need to build guest houses? " Stella had asked drily.



" It's here, " Winter pointed at a paragraph. " It's comparatively simple. They exchange vows."



" Oh, that's unique." Stella replied drolly.



At the writing desk, Eloise had written down to the bottom of the scroll.



" Now...what about living arrangements? " Eloise asked. " You can't expect her to set up housekeeping in that shabby flat over the shop?"



" Well...no. I suppose I'll open up the family home again."



Winter, reading the page dedicated to the etiquette of the three month engagement, suddenly snorted with barely suppressed laughter.



" It has a chastity clause! They must have pulled this from the medieval archives. Listen Stella. ' A chastity charm is placed on both parties, at the time the bride-to-be becomes officially engaged to the groom-to-be. Thereafter, neither party can participate in any sexual act that will render the-"



" WINTER!" Eloise snapped.



Winter and Stella looked up from the parchment to see a very horrified, Edward trying to pretend as though he wasn't listening. Eloise was red-faced and frowning.



" Sorry." they muttered, and continued to laugh between themselves.



Eloise returned her attention to the contract.



" This house...where is it exactly?"



" Between here and London. You know the village...P----?"



" This was not where Dinah lived, was it?"



" No. Well, briefly, but she preferred to live closer to society." he waved all thought of her away impatiently." I own a smaller shop in the village as well. It's been closed since...since I returned to London. I would be able to re-open it." Eloise knew that much of course, as she had been the one to assist him in investing in the shop, but any diversion from the subject of chastity clauses was welcome.



" The house was most recently mother's, and still retains all the original furnishings,linens, china...I had it closed up and warded after her death, just as she left it."



Satisfied at last, Eloise turned the parchment around for him to sign. After quickly reading over it, not one to trust her absolutely, he took the quill and signed his name quickly, before he could change his mind.



Then he stood and checked the time.



" If everything is to your satisfaction, ladies...I suppose I make my appearance at the Ministry. I heard that the lines were backed into the street, this morning."



The women stood as well, Eloise rolling up the paper tightly.



" Of course. You have quite a task ahead of you." she offered on of her rare smiles. Edward took her hand and kissed it, still wary. Then he bade a familiar farewell to Winter, and another polite nod to Stella, who now seemed intimidating and authoritative as his future mother in law., despite being much younger than himself.



She merely raised her chin challengingly, and watched.



" Please excuse me to Miss...to Miss Amanda. "



Her name was warm and sweet to say, he realized. And as he exited, he repeated it to himself over and over, forgetting in his preoccupation to open the damned umbrella that so mysteriously altered the course of his entire life.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Strangers in Love, lyrics-Air Supply