MARVEL [draco malfoy]

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: Born Under a Bad Sign.
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Alexandrine Beckenbauer often wondered if Emma was born under a bad sign. It wasn't that she was unlucky, or that she was a bad seed. It was just that she'd met boatloads of misfortune in all of the twelve years she'd existed on Planet Earth.

At the tender age of one, Emma lost both her parents to war. At two, she was bitten by a rattlesnake— and miraculously enough, survived. At three, she caught scarlet fever— she survived that too. At four, she got locked in a stuffy closet at a relative's party for hours, and was unconscious when she was found. At five, she fell down the stairs and broke her arm. At six, she was in a car accident and ended up with two broken ribs and twelve stitches. At seven, she was physically bullied by neighboring children for having 'too blonde' hair and 'too blue' eyes. At eight, she was mistaken for a quite famous child-celebrity and had to spend nearly a whole day locked in a boutique in central London to avoid the throes of paparazzi outside. At nine, she fell into a river. At ten, she was attacked by a hornets' nest. At eleven, she was sent off to boarding school in a completely unfamiliar territory. And at twelve, she was attacked by a terrible monstrosity in said school, and had gotten turned to stone.

Then again, Alexandrine wondered if she was just spectacularly bad at parenting. But that last one had nothing to do with her. She'd sent her dearest Emma off to a wonderful, magical boarding school that was run by the most powerful Wizard she knew; Albus Dumbledore— Alexandrine honestly could not have anticipated that Emma would get attacked by a monster—of which, the concerned authorities knew nothing—and then petrified. Even Dumbledore himself couldn't have anticipated that.

But here they were, with Alexandrine in Albus Dumbledore's office, agitated and upset beyond words, and Dumbledore trying his best to make her any less upset— he was failing miserably at it. It was just a few short hours after Emma, along with Hermione and Penelope Clearwater, was found petrified near the Library. Dumbledore had sent his fastest owl to Alexandrine almost as soon as they'd found the newest victims, with the message of Emma's misfortune— he had once made a promise to Giselle Hawthorne that he would always look out for her daughter, and if he couldn't do that, then he'd find the next best person to do it, and he was merely keeping his word. Alexandrine had arrived in Hogsmeade via a Portkey as soon as she'd received the letter and was then allowed entrance into Hogwarts upon sending a Patronus to Dumbledore.

"—Professor, you truly can not expect me to just accept this. My Emma's been turned to stone— stone, Dumbledore!" Alexandrine said, her brow knitted together with worry, and her hands worrying her poor lace handkerchief.

"Now, now— I realize how truly terrible this is, Alexandrine, believe me. But you have to know we're doing the best we can. The Mandrakes are almost ready—"

"With all due respect, Albus, to hell with the Mandrakes. Emma is in the Infirmary right now, still as a statue, because that's what she's been turned to— and you are trying to get me to calm down." Alexandrine knew she was speaking out of turn, and she knew she had no right to take it out on Dumbledore— Emma herself wouldn't have liked that, but she was upset beyond comprehension, and sick with worry.

Dumbledore nodded in an understanding fashion, his hands laced together on the table in front of him, "I understand your feelings, Alexandrine, I do. But remember that Emma Marvel is not the only one who has been attacked— a number of other students have also fallen victim to this terror."

Alexandrine chuckled dryly, "That truly does not make me feel any better about this, I hope you know."

Dumbledore smiled his wise, all-knowing smile and nodded, "Perhaps I could have chosen my words more carefully."