Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:

 

Author's Notes: Hey Everyone this is my first fanfiction ever so criticism is welcomed and appreciated. 

**This story does have OCs so if you don't like then please don't waste your time writing scathing reviews.**

I disclaim. 

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

I own nothing except for Zora and Samson and Cecile.

Please enjoy and thanks for reading :)

 




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


 


Time is a strange thing. Whether a person is a muggle or wizard it is the ultimate mystery. The time it took for the actual first war to take place did not compare to the emotional and physical scars it left behind. Families were torn apart. Feelings of strength and confidence were replaced with feelings of uneasiness and insecurity. The wizarding world was still in the process of rebuilding itself. Our story begins in a moderately sized house just outside of Bristol. The clock had just struck 10 and the streets were empty. A man with half-moon glasses had come to the McQueen residence. Zora Noel McQueen watched from her bedroom window as he walked closer and closer. Her father apparently knew the man with the funny clothes and they spoke in whispers. They thought that she had gone off to bed, and she should have been since she was only six years old, but she couldn't stay away. That man…that man who was talking to her father was dressed so strangely… She could have sworn that she saw him before, maybe from the pictures from that school her mother is…was teaching at. He seemed like a nice man, he had a soft voice, like her grandpa. Unable to sleep, she sat at the top of the staircase and listened in on the conversation.

"Albus, if I have told you once I have told you a thousand times, I will not have Zora at Hogwarts."

" Samson, please, I implore you to see reason. I understand your feelings…" Albus Dumbledore looked at the man before him. He remembered the spark that was in the young man's eyes. He remembered the look of wonder that was on his and his would-be wife's faces when they first entered into the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. That spark was hiding (Dumbledore refused to believe that it was completely gone). "But you cannot allow you feelings to rule over what is best for your daughter."

"Do. Not. Tell me what is best for my daughter Albus. know what is best for my daughter. I am her father. It is my job to protect her." Samson McQueen was and always will be a stubborn man. He stood at 6'2, with a pale white complexion and thin frame. He had determined but sorrowful blue eyes along with a neatly trimmed head of brown hair. His face was slightly narrow, and it didn't help that he had a seemly permanent frown on his face.

"Samson, what happened to Cecile was tragic, the wounds of the first war have taken a toll upon all of us but we cannot stop living. If we do then there will be no hope left in us for when we do have to face the evils that are soon come."

"What are you going on about Albus? I thought Lord—He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was dead."

"Weakened, my dear boy, not dead. I fear that Tom may have managed to slip away before he was completely destroyed." Dumbledore sat down at the kitchen table and sighed. Oh, he wished that he could share the enthusiasm that others felt when they heard the news of what happened to Voldemort. Call him suspicious but he could not afford to be so carefree, especially since Harry…

"If he is still out there then why the hell would I would allow my daughter out of my sight? I have already lost Cecile and I refuse to lose my daughter to him as well."

"Samson, don't be daft. If Voldemort does come back do you think for one moment that you would be able to stand a chance against him? You barely made it out alive when that swarm of death-eaters…In any case, Hogwarts is the safest place for the children to be, I highly doubt that he much less anyone else would try to attack the castle. Please Samson think long and hard, what would Cecile want for Zora?" The two men stared at each other for a moment.

" I will do what's best for my daughter Albus, please do not contact this house again." Samson walked to the front door with Dumbledore following slowly behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a little nymph,dressed in her yellow polka-dotted pajamas, on the staircase and smiled to himself. Zora was Cecile's daughter alright and then the small smile that was hidden underneath his snow white beard slowly turned to a slight frown, Merlin help that girl if and when her powers started showing up. Hopefully whatever choice Samson did decide to make was actually the best for the young girl.

"Goodbye Albus."

"Goodbye Samson." Merlin protect you both….

Samson closed the door and locked it. How could Albus ask something like this of him? Part of him knew that he was being unreasonable, but he didn't care. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his daughter…she was all that he had left of his life with Cecile. Zora was named after Cecile's favorite author, an American muggle writer by the name of Zora Neale Hurston. They shared the same smile, the smile that made him instantly melt. He remembered when he first met Cecile. Working diligently as ever in her favorite class Herbology, so full of life and enthusiasm. She looked amazing in her Hufflepuff uniform… the yellow looked lovely against her dark mahogany skin…

" Papa?" the small voice broke him out of his train of thought. He turned around and looked down.

"Zora, princess, what are you doing up it's way passed your bed-time." The tone of his voice instantly softened, which wasn't unusual. Samson was known in the Aurors Department for being unrelenting and stubborn but not when it came to his family.

"Papa who was that man you were talking to, he sounded like grandpa but he was wearing such funny clothes and had such a long beard…"

"He was an old acquaintance darling…now," he said as he picked her up in his arms, "You should be tucked into your bed and off in dreamland."

"But papa why were you so sad when you were talking to him?" she looked him straight in the eye, Merlin those eyes. They were the perfect mixture of his blue and Cecile's brown. Her skin was a like a caramel milk-dud and her hair was brown and soft like his but was wild as Cecile's. He loved his daughter very much but even in his darkest moments he hesitantly admitted that it hurt to look at her sometimes.

" He was asking me to do something that I don't think I can do." that was an understatement but it seemed to quell her curiosity…for now anyway.

"But that's silly you can do anything." she looked at him like he was crazy. The amount of admiration and trust that she put into him made him grasp her tighter in his arms. A gentle smile swept across his face while a few small tears glossed over his eyes but they refused to fall.

"I always try darling, and that is what makes the impossible possible." He carried her up the stairs, pass the multitude of family pictures, and to her room. He laid her gently on to her bed, tucked her in and kissed her on her forehead. He stood up straight and turned the nightlight on her side table off.

"Goodnight princess, see you in the morning."

"Goodnight papa, I love you."

"I love you too." he closed the door behind him and left Zora in her bed to dream.

Zora stared at her ceiling; she vaguely remembered (or dreamed, she wasn't sure) when her mother enchanted the ceiling to look like that one at the school where she used to work. The moon peaked behind a few clouds that happened to pass by and the night sky was seasoned with stars. She hoped that whatever was making her father sad went away soon. She hated it when people were sad it took out the glow that seemed to surround them when they were happy. Yes, she liked it best when people were happy. Her mother always told her that happiness was a song that everyone knew the words to, its just that sometimes people forget the words so we have to help them remember the words.

"Good night mama, and don't worry about papa I'll help him remember I promise." She blew a kiss to the enchanted ceiling and turned to her side and fell asleep.

~ HP ~

Ding-Dong…Ding-Dong

" THEY'RE HERE, THEY'RE HERE!" a newly turned eight-year-old Zora screamed, the excitement was practically beaming off her entire being. She ran down the stairs like a lightning-bolt. It had been a month since the Lovegood family had come to visit.

Her father wasn't exactly keen on traveling on the magical side of life anymore. For being a family of wizards there wasn't much active magic going on. Aside from the pictures of Samson and Cecile with Zora, the married couple with their group of friends from school and the Order you would think that they were a muggle house. She loved it when the Lovegood family came to visit. Mrs. Lovegood was always experimenting with new spells and Mr. Lovegood talked about his new paper the Quiz-no-Quibbler. But the best thing about the visits was being able to see her best friend Luna, she was always so much fun. She was the only one her age that she could talk to about magic. The kids at her muggle school didn't understand her the way the way that Luna did, but how could they? The way they knew and saw the world was completely different from the way that a person who was exposed to magic and all its wonders saw it.

Ding-

"Luna!" Zora catapulted her self into her friends' arms; both of them giggled happily as the swung each other around. Mr. and Mrs. Lovegood smiled at the two girls. Mr. Lovegood cleared his throat and raised his left eyebrow.

"And what about us Queenie, don't we get a hug? Honestly." His eyes gleamed with joy not malice, a smile budding on his face.

"Of course Uncle." She let go of Luna and catapulted herself in between the adults she considered family.

" How are you doing Queenie? My you've gotten so big Xenophillius we have been away too long." Solidad Lovegood sighed, it seemed like time was slipping by so quickly. In only two years the girls would be off to Hogwarts, well Zora would be anyway (Luna was a year younger). Samson wouldn't keep Zora from attending Hogwarts she would make sure of it. Solidad was best friends with Cecile even though they were in different houses. They dreamed of having their fantasy jobs, getting married and having children the whole shebang. It wasn't fair that her best-friend's life was cut so short because of some group of small-minded blood-elitists.

She and her husband both made the effort to try and convince Samson that by not immersing Zora into her culture they were doing a disservice to both Cecile and Zora. Part of the reason why they had been gone so long was because of a little argument between Solidad and Samson. Solidad was a spitfire but normally she did not have a temper. It seemed that it was only when she was around Samson and his stubbornness was she easily irritated.

"Hello Xenophillus...Solidad, it is nice to see again." The cheerful tone in his voice did not connect with his eyes. Personally, he had no problem with Xenophillius but his wife…that was a whole other story.

"Same here Samson." Xenophillius shook his old schoolmate's hand and followed him into the house. Tension was mounting and he would rather not expose the girls to the animosity. Solidad followed him in silently, promising herself that she would behave if Samson did.

" Zora is very happy that you all are here, she hasn't stop talking about today." Samson sat down at the kitchen table while he waited for the coffee to finish brewing. Last time they had all sat down at the kitchen table it didn't end so well. Zora didn't talk to him for a week after that little debacle.

"Well you know how much we love Zora, she and Luna are like sisters which means she is like one of our own." Solidad said stiffly. She wanted to bring up the subject of Hogwarts, because according to Luna Zora had been demonstrating signs of magic, powerful magic. Hogwarts was becoming less of a question of "if" and more like a question of when.

" Yes…how have you all been?" Talking was beginning to become uncomfortable, normally this was where either Cecile or Zora would come in and the focus would be off him. When things were quiet bad things usually followed. Sometimes he couldn't control his tongue especially when he knew what they (and when he said "they" he meant specifically Solidad) wanted to talk about. The coffee was done and Samson gave each Lovegood a cup.

" We have been well, when Luna hasn't been in that muggle school she has been either with me at the Quibbler or with Iddy. She has been watching Iddy do her…less dangerous spells. Oh, Luna is starting to show her powers, very exciting as you can imagine." Xenophillius sipped his coffee. His eyes flitted between his wife and his friend. This doesn't look it will end well.

" Good, good…Zora has been showing some powers as well." 1:00 wasn't too early to drink was it?

"Yes, it is a very exciting time for us all, soon we'll be helping to shop for school supplies and what not at Diagon Alley and then off to Hogwarts she will go and as will Luna after her…"

"Iddy darling…"

" Solidad I don't want to talk …"

" Samson you will have to talk about it some time Zora is growing up and showing powers, you can't keep her held up in your ivory tower forever."

" I'm doing what I think…"

" Your doing what you think is best for yourself Samson, what would Cecile think about all of this?

"Do not bring Cecile into this…"

" How can I not…?"

" Iddy, Samson..." Xenophillius was being drowned out, usually he allowed them to argue but this was getting absurd, " SOLIDAD, SAMSON YOU BOTH ARE BEING RIDICULOUS!"

Samson and Solidad quieted down, it wasn't often that Xenophillius shouted and they had to admit that he was right…on some level.

" It is obvious that we all care about Cecile and Zora. And we must look past our own wants and desires and see what is best for Zora. Samson, you have to agree that there would be no better place for Zora than Hogwarts its where we learned it all, its where we all met. Do you not want the same for Zora, do you not want her to have the same wonderful experiences?"

" Of course Xenophillius.."

" And Iddy, darling you must not push Samson, he is her father and he has a right to do what he feels is best for her be that Hogwarts or somewhere else."

"Hmph, I suppose your right…"

"Now, the girls are coming in from playing outside now can we all be civil?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Good. Today is for Luna and Zora and I will not have either of you ruining their good time." And that was the final word of Xenophillius Lovegood.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, Zora and Luna were outside in the backyard picking flowers and talking about Hogwarts. Both of them knew it was coming and only one of them felt somewhat prepared.

"Zora, I wouldn't worry about too much it. There are plenty of muggle-borns that won't have a clue about Hogwarts…"

" But Luna that just makes it worse. Both of my parents are magical but my dad…ever since mum…passed he's been so tight lipped about magic and her. I don't think he likes the idea of me doing magic and he definitely doesn't like the idea of me going to Hogwarts."

The girls were laying on their backs in the grass watching the clouds go by, the wind was gently swaying causing the her mum's wind chimes to play a beautiful melody. Merlin, she missed her mum so much sometimes. Questions galloped through Zora's mind, specifically the question of what her mother do in this situation. She loved her dad and understood why he was so vague when it came to magic but at the same time every time he went off to work at the Ministry she felt that he was going to place that she was forbidden to go.

" Tell him."

" What?" they turned their heads to each other.

"Tell him how you feel. Zora he's your dad, the things he does are only going to last as long as you let them. The next time you have a free day off school demand that he take you with him to work. He's not an active Auror anymore so it's not like you'll be in any danger."

" Hm..." Maybe Luna was right, maybe it was time for her to start fighting for what she wanted. Confrontation usually wasn't her thing. He always said that he was glad had an easy child, unlike "the unruly children" that she went to school with. She thought that by being agreeable she was making his life easier, which is true but at what cost to herself? He held on so tightly that she was afraid of doing anything that she wanted to do. He was her father but times he seemed more like warden more than anything else. It was time for a change, finding out who she really was/ who she could be and going to Hogwarts was too important to her to just give up.

" Come on Zora you can do it, I'll be there and so will mum and dad. We'll be right behind you." Luna smiled. Zora smiled back and plucked up her newfound courage, hopefully it would last long enough to actually talk to him.

"Alright let's do it."

The girls got up and dusted their sundresses off and walked back into the house. Apparently the grown ups were talking about something important because they instantly stopped talking when they entered the room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Dad, I have something that I want say."

" Yes, what is it princess?" Here we go

" Dad I love you very much but I feel as though the reason why you don't allow much magic inside the house…or in any conversation is because you're afraid. I mean ever since mum died your so anxious about anything magic and that includes me. Every time I show you a bit of magic I've done you brush it off. I know that you don't like to think about me going off to Hogwarts but it has to happen whether you like it or not. And, and I hope that when I do go you won't cut me off from you life. I don't want you to feel like I don't appreciate everything that you've done because I know that it was all out of love but…but." she began to get choked up.

Samson rushed to his daughter from his seat and held her tightly. Tears that he had held began running down his face, he knew this day would come. His little girl, his wonderful girl was growing up. Solidad was right when she said that he was doing a disservice to Cecile and especially to Zora. Ignoring magic wasn't the answer. Magic did not kill his wife, people did. He blamed magic for taking away his wife and mother of his child and in an effort to protect his daughter he made her feel like she couldn't be who she was. He had made the mistake of pushing magic out of their lives but he would not risk pushing his daughter out his life by extension.

"Zora, baby, I—I'm sorry I'm so sorry I never meant you to feel so closed off. I just wanted to protect you and your right I am afraid, but my fear won't stop me from showing all the good things that magic can do. Merlin, your mother would have my head for allowing my bout of insanity to go on for this long." he pushed her away enough to look her directly in the eye. "But no more, I promise you Zora whatever questions you have about magic, your mother, anything don't be frightened to ask me, okay? I love you princess, please forgive your mental old dad."

"Oh dad." Zora cried and collapsed into her father's arms. This is what Samson needed. People for years have been telling him that needed to let Zora know more about the wizarding world but he didn't listen. It was only until his own daughter plucked up the courage to talk to him honestly that he could see what he was doing wrong. In the background, there was not a dry eye. Finally, their friend Samson, the man who loved magic and all the beautiful things it created, was coming back.

Somewhere, in some unreachable ethereal plan, an angel sighed with relief.

~ HP ~

 












Enter the security code shown below:
Note: You may submit either a rating or a review or both.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.