Searching Light (Remus Lupin)

1: A Closer Look

"Hey! Wake up, Diamanté!" A voice shrieks in my ear. I lift up my head, my eyes blinded by the light. They sting, and I turn over in attempt to go back to the warmth of sleep and darkness.

"Leave me alone," I mumble into the quilt. The next thing I hear is a growl and then I am being attacked with pillows.

"Alright, alright, I'm up," I groan, sitting up, and my eyes begin to adjust. My cousins are all standing around my bed, staring me down.

"About time," Narcissa says, flipping her long blond hair. "Go make breakfast, we're hungry, and the house elves are too slow."

"I'm going, Cissy," I groan, getting out of bed and changing out of my pajamas. I pull my long brown hair into a high ponytail and walk downstairs, tapping on the marble railing down the staircase.

It's really quite a beautiful manor; the chandelier sparkles in the sunlight, and the marble staircase and floors compliment the high ceilings and windows overlooking the nearby forest. Paintings of relatives from the Oh So Noble and Most Ancient House of Black decorate the walls, along with aging blue wallpaper. Outside, a garden is kept by our house elves, who normally like to stay out of sight to avoid Bellatrix's torment.

Andromeda is reading at the table, probably preparing for the school year. She's always been studious like that; she would have been placed in Ravenclaw if she wasn't so damn heartless sometimes. Bellatrix is playing a muggle game with her sister where she put her hands facing up under Narcissa's hands, whose were face down. Bella had to slap Cissy's hands before Cissy pulled her hands away. It's quite amusing actually, watching Bellatrix get so deeply irritated and frustrated over nothing and trying so hard to win, but Narcissa is too quick for her. Cissy giggles as Bella threatens to turn over the table.

I start breakfast, placing some bacon and eggs on the stove along with fixing up cereal for my sisters and I, placing it on the table in addition to the food the house elves made. My uncle likes bacon and my aunt likes eggs. We all like to have a little bit of everything, now that there are six of us.

My uncle is always at work at the ministry. He takes the night and the early shift most of the time, leaving work around noon, coming back, and leaving again at six pm. It annoys my aunt and they're always fighting, fighting, fighting, all day long, always having a go at each other. My real parents never fought, but I'm not with my real parents. When I first got here, it wasn't so bad, but it's gotten worse over the years. Thankfully, I've gotten used to it.

My uncle should be getting home soon, since Cissy, Bella, Andromeda, and I usually sleep until they get hungry, which is around 11:00 and they don't know how to use a stove, so they ask me. 

We eat in silence. My aunt comes down the stairs, and I know I really shouldn't be saying this, but she looks like she had just been through a tornado. She only ever comes down to get food and water.

Her eyeliner is smudged all over her face, and dark, purple circles are under her eyes. Her hair is all over the place. Her clothes have holes and are battered. She looks like she hasn't washed herself in weeks.

She picks up her food and carries it upstairs without another look at her daughters or me.

"Amber, I'm hungry! Make me more food!" Bellatrix demands, banging her fists on the table. What a child.

I roll my eyes. "Alright, fine. Anyone else want anything?" My other sisters raise their hands.

I sigh, turning the stove on again and going through the same routine every morning until they're all full. I am too nice to decline.

My uncle stumbles inside after while, a firewhiskey bottle clutched in his hand. It isn't the first time he's come home drunk; it is starting to be a daily routine. He sits in his usual chair where the food I made him is and falls asleep, snoring loudly.

After my cousins start to ignore me, I go down by the river to practice. I take off my sandals and soak my feet in the cool water. I place a hand a few inches above the river and absorb the cool energy it offers.

Water lifts up in a thin motion like string, tons and tons of string. I twirl it around me, forming it into different patterns and shapes. When I put it back into the river, I start my practice and routines. I turn water into ice with just a pull of my wrist.

Earth is harder than water, because in water it's mainly the movement of my arms, but with earth it's my whole body. Same with wind and fire.

I do my earth routine, lifting up rocks and pebbles and pelting them where I wanted them to go. I even make a boulder and turn it into a map of Britain.

Then I do wind. Besides water, wind is the most fun. I move your body as if I'm dancing; I've always loved that about it. I control the rush of the wind around me and even made a ball of wind so sharp it cuts holes in the ground. You really don't want that thrown at you.

By far, fire is the hardest. It is a lot easier when there's fire around me; however, when there's not, then I have to make my own. That's the hard part.

I have to be extremely careful when I handle fire, and I'm not even being paranoid. I have this nasty scar on my left arm from burning myself when I was five because I didn't know how to handle it. My mother taught me, though. Now I know how, because of her.

To make my own fire, it takes an emotion. Emotions are the thing I start with while making fire. It's not about discipline. It's about feelings; it's all about what I feel.

Anger: that's the strongest emotion besides love, according to the rectornatura people. That's what makes fire. It's anger towards someone, or something, or it will even work if it's yourself. I have to take this anger, let it fill me up, and I start to feel me palms heat up. Then, fire is shooting out of my hands. It hurts my palms a little, but I've gotten used to the pain.

None of my cousins know about me being a Rectornatura. They never wonder why I ever disappear during the day. All they care about is me making food for them. Only my aunt and uncle know, but they don't care. My aunt never does anything but cry and lay around the house feeling sorry for herself and my uncle never does anything but work and drink himself blind. I wish I had my real family back. I wish they were here with me, helping me practice.

But they aren't. They're dead.

A werewolf killed them.