Envy (Sequel to Deceit)

Love and Stars

Amelia

In the past few days my life had been hectic; sorting out so many things, sending letters, receiving them, poor Missy had been all over the country.

One of the early letters had been from one of Xander's muggle friends, Lucas. He always sent me gifts, useful things but my favourite was a small wrist clock. The gold muggle wrist clock that Lucas had sent me sat on my unit and I gazed at the time: ten past two. A sliver of sunlight lit my room and a fire blazed in the hearth though the room didnt need it. I smiled fondly, clutching the muggle mobile telephone that Missy had brought back for me in my hand. I didn't quite understand how it worked but I knew one thing: it connected me to Xander. The screen lit up, showing a few lines of message:

'I love you babe, everything is sorted. Caden and Lucas are so talented, I can't even tell the difference. I can't wait to be with you'

Grinning, I tapped out a reply and hit the send button. It amazed me how these things worked, I mean you certainly couldn't see the message travel. It puzzled me.

A heap of letters was spread across my desk with different seals and stamps; each written in a different hand. Carefully I picked up the one from Rantham Morgue and tossed it into the fire, watching as the hungry flames devoured the damning Muggle letter; one by one I burnt every other piece of paper: the order forms, the letter from Lucas, the bank statement. The flames licked at the paper, slowly blackening the edges. The paper shrivelled and soon became nothing. It was so easy to destroy something material, everything can be destroyed, everything but the past.

~

Slowly I breathed in and out, counting in my head as I did so. Twelve fifty eight. I watched the tenuous path of the second hand on my small Muggle wrist clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. I tucked the delicate silver dagger into my left boot and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. Twelve fifty nine. I shoved my scarlet cloak into the small bag that I carried.

Carefully I lifted the window, slowly enough that it didn't creak. A thin crescent moon lit a small patch in the night sky, delicate stars flickered here and there like diamonds embroidered into a carpet of ebony silk. In the reflection of the glass of the window I noted my pale, worried expression and my lips that had become plump and red through my anxious chewing on them.

The night air caressed my body as I precariously edged myself onto the window ledge, for a moment I paused sitting there just enjoying the splendour and freedom of the night world. Midnight. My window was a good eight feet above the ground and I was reluctant to use magic to aid my descent due to the light that would accompany it. Instead I lowered myself until I hung from the ledge by just my fingertips then let go landing with a soft thud in a cluster of bushes.

The fall caused me little pain and I quickly got up and started off at a sprint towards the heavy iron gates that guarded the manor. In the dim light of a candle a figure stood at the top window unmoving. Unaware of their gaze I shifted into my Animagus, a tiny fennec fox, small enough to slip through the bars and away from Malfoy Manor. Once I had escaped I didn't stop running until I reached the forest, where I returned to my human form and apparated. The beach where I ended up had no significance to me but I supposed that it must have been a place that Xander knew well; if it were not he would not have chosen it.

While I waited I watched the steady lapping of the tide and the elegant white horses that rode the waves then crashed into the shore disappearing in the dull sand. The thin moon reflected in the huge body of water making the surface sparkle. Light droplets of rain began to fall from the sky and as each drop met the sea it sent circular tendrils spiralling in every direction creating the illusion that the sea rippled and danced under the weak moonlight.