epiphanies - sirius black

chapter 10

After having a brief 3 hours of sleep, Maggie was abruptly woken up at 8 o'clock sharp, and dragged out of bed by her mother.

She was sat down at the table by her mother, and practically force fed her breakfast.

Her parents weren't usually like this, but considering the occasion, she was to be absolutely perfect, no matter the circumstances, or consequences.

The rest of the morning was spent by her mother picking at her appearance, making sure the was not one single stray hair on her face. Using charms her mother plucked her eyebrows, and trimmed her nails, before forcing the girl into a long cold bath.

After lunch, Maggie was fitted into her dress. The green silk did in fact reach her ankles, and she also discovered it pinched to her waist quite uncomfortably. Her hair was painfully pulled back into a neat and tight bun, not a single hair out of place.

A dreaded, awkward silence enclosed the room, as her mother powdered the bruise on Maggie's face, the cut on her cheek still visible.

The girl could feel the guilt building inside of her mother, but not a single word of comfort was offered, there was no 'I'm sorry' or 'are you okay' or 'I tried to stop him', and in a way, Maggie was glad, because if anything, it gave her an excuse to hate her mother even more.

"Good evening Mr and Mrs Green" a deep voice bellowed from the front door.

A wave of panic rushed over Maggie, and she quickly hid the book she had been reading under her bed.

She unwillingly forced herself down the stairs and made her way into the dining hall, where the Avery family, and her own were seated around their long wooden table.

"Margret, sit" her father said, urging her to take the empty seat next to her mother.

As she sat down she made an awkward glance towards Alex Avery. He had an evil smirk on his face, as though he knew something she didn't, it made her uneasy.

As dinner proceeded, the Avery's kept questioning Maggie, much to her confusion. Usually during these dinners she was completely set aside, practically ignored, but here, she seemed to be the centre of attention, and she wasn't sure why.

"So, Alex tells me that your daughter has been acquainted with some Mudbloods, I do hope this isn't true, for it may mean an end to our agreement" spat Mr Avery, cunningly.

Maggie's father went pale with embarrassment, her mother froze, but the girl herself couldn't help wondering what on earth this agreement was.

"Ahh yes, well the truth is, is that Margret was actually cornered by some Mudbloods, forced to speak with them, they threatened her, it was truly terrible, traumatising for her" her father lied.

Maggie began twiddling with her fingers, trying hard to surprise the growing rage inside of her. She hated the way her father spoke of her friends, how all of them spoke of her old friends. This stupid prejudice they held was becoming extremely hard to ignore.

"But we had it all dealt with, and they certainly will not bother her any more, we have made sure of that" her father said sternly, followed with a angry side glance at his daughter.

This was a warning.

Dinner lasted a few more hours, and Maggie was growing increasingly suspicious that her parents were hiding something from her. Mr Avery had mentioned an 'agreement' between him and her father, what this agreement consisted of she had no idea.

Before leaving Mr Avery had also left her puzzled. As they parted at the door he had looked down her and said:

"I'm certain we will be seeing you very, very soon".

What did he mean by this?

There was no point in asking her parents, they would simply yell at her for being nosey and banish her up too her room, yet again.

Maggie spent the rest of the holiday trying to think of a reasonable explanation to all of this, but no matter how hard she tried, she had nothing.

Before she knew it, the break was over and she was packing her bags for school. Lizzie had not made a single appearance over the holiday, much to her parents dismay.

Her mother made sure to supply her with extra powder, so she could cover up her still reddening bruise. She was grateful for this, she didn't want to attract any attention, or have anyone ask any questions, it was better to just act like it didn't happen.

She had barley spoken to either of her parents since the dinner. It was as if they no longer had a use for her, and therefore didn't matter, and as Maggie thought this, she decided that it was probably actually true.

The morning she left for school she said a brief goodbye to her mother, before she was apparated to the station by her father.

Before even saying goodbye she turned to leave, but was grabbed firmly by her father, and turned towards him.

She found this was happening to her a lot lately.

"I want no trouble, do you understand, or your punishment will be worse" he uttered under his breath.

Maggie nodded her head, before being freed from his tight grasp.

She approached the crimson red train, and without even glancing back at her father, she boarded it.

After finding herself an empty carriage, she sat down, and was suddenly washed over by a horrible feeling.

Maggie wasn't sure what was happening.

Usually boarding the train removed a massive weight off of her shoulders, for she could finally be freed from the tourment of her parents, but this time was different, she felt-

alone.

But, why was this affecting her, why did she feel sad? Maggie had been alone almost all of her life, and it had never made her feel like this before. Why now was being alone afflicting her emotions in such a way?

She just didn't know, but one thing she knew for sure as the train continued to plough on, was that she didn't like being alone anymore.