[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Arrival at Shell Cottage



Ermalene stared out the window in wonder as the plane sailed over the Atlantic Ocean. Andy snored in the seat beside her, unaware of her excitement as she watched the stretch of water below. It seemed to go on and on forever there below the clouds and Ermalene thought of how deep it went and the creatures that haunted the floors of it, way down in the trenches, and how insignificant everything was in perspective.

She turned to nudge Andy as the land came into view and little houses dotted the ground and colorful dots that represented cars and the people within them, headed to all of the places that people come and go. "Are we there?" Andy murmured through his disoriented sleepiness. When Ermalene pointed excitedly at the window, he groaned and said, "Every Flavor Beans, Erma," and turned for the barf bag in the seat back before him.

When they landed, Andy was still looking a little green around the gills as he pulled their luggage from the racks above their heads, but still he insisted on carrying both of the bags. She clutched the bottle of water the flight attendant had given her and followed Andy into the hustle-bustle of Heathrow. They walked past all of the muggles that rushed about, trying to make it to flights and departing trains, until they made it to a quiet alcove a few turns away from a tube stop and cloistered themselves in a corner behind an especially large ficus.

Andy glanced both ways to be sure they were alone. "Okay, are you ready to apparate, then?" he asked her, his voice nervous. He held out his hand to her. Because she had never apparated outside of practice before, they'd agreed that it was best if they were to use side-along apparition until she felt more comfortable about it.

"You have done this before, haven't you?" she asked.

"Loads of times," he said. "Nate uses side-along apparition all of the time around back home. And I've apparated side-along before now and then with Paisley and Jack after I got my license." Paisley and Jack were the other Weasley siblings.

Ermalene nodded, more afraid of being splinched than she'd been of that great iron bird landing in the middle of the ocean, and grasped Andy's hand, squeezing her eyes closed as tightly as she possibly could. "Okay, go on then."

Andy took a deep breath and paused and he'd been paused just long enough that Ermalene was about to open her eyes and ask him what the matter was when a great twisting, squeezing, swirling, dark sensation overtook her and she felt as though she were being pulled by her navel through a very tiny space and suddenly, with an effect of a lifting migraine, she found herself standing on soft ground. The air smelled of salty seawater and she opened her eyes to find that they were standing on a beach in the misty morning light, green-tinged tide rolling toward them with a foaming edge.

"Wow, you did it," Ermalene marveled.

"Didn't trust me to apparate you safely?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow, "Doubt me, did you?" He shook his head, "Please Ermalene, as though I'd let a single piece of you get left behind." He turned then, before she could finish being amazed at his feat of apparition and waved his hand at a shabby, but comfortable looking cottage on the heights of a nearby hill, surrounded by waving grass and dunes. "This," he announced, "is Shell Cottage."

Ermalene stared in awe at the place, at the thatched roof and little shuttered windows. It was made of stone to stand the storms that surely rose up off the coast and a weather vane spun from the roof of a small shed to one side as if to emphasize this. Andy led her across the grass, up a stone walkway that wove through the sandy beach front toward the house. At the door hung a beautiful wind chime made of collected shells and beaded ribbon, and Ermalene studied it as Andy knocked and they waited.

The door swung open and an old man stood in the frame of it, staring down upon them. His thinning, shoulder-length red hair was streaked here and there with pale white, like the sand along the beach, and his green eyes were dimmed with age. Across his face were long, haunting scars, skin that had never quite healed closed completely caused long gauges, channels that crossed over the bridge of his nose to the line of his jaw. He might've been menacing, had he not cracked a smile upon seeing them, his eyes twinkling. "Fleur, my darling," he called over his shoulder, "We've got company!"

Bill Weasley, Andy's grandfather, quickly ushered the pair of them into the house as a stunning woman came across the room toward them. She looked no older than thirty, though she was truly twice that age. Her pale gold hair was woven into a long braid which hung over her shoulder and her blue eyes were just as piercing as they had been in the photographs in the text books Ermalene had read. There was no mistaking Fleur, one of the four champions of the last Triwizard Tournament ever to be held. It'll be the veela blood in her veins that makes her look so young, thought Ermalene.

"Vy 'ello," Fleur smiled graciously as she greeted them, "Andy," she said happily, drawing out the last syllable of his name, "'ow very nice eet eez to see you again, 'ow we 'ave missed you." She held out her arms and wrapped them around her grandson, hugging him tightly to her. "'Ow is our Louis?" she inquired.

"Dad's good," Andy replied, "And so's Nate and Paisley and Jack," he added. "I hope you don't mind us coming unannounced."

"Don't be silly, you are always welcome here," Bill said.

"Always," agreed Fleur, "And 'oo eez your charmante mademoiselle?"

Andy answered, "This is my friend, Ermalene Talon."

"The muggle the Notts adopted?" questioned Bill.

"Not a muggle after all," Andy replied, "I met Ermalene in classes at Flamel Academy when I transferred."

Fleur smiled, though it seemed to falter slightly at the news that she was of kin to the Nott family. Ermalene realize it was that family prejudice that had sent her parents overseas to begin with and understood, personally for the first time, exactly how strong the distaste for the name was in Britain. But Fleur's smile quickly returned, "'ow nice eet eez to meet you, Ermale'." The way she pronounced Ermalene's name was closer to Emily.

Ermalene smiled back, determined to overcome the name and prove herself worthy of their welcome. "Thanks. It's so great to meet you, too." She wondered if good manners would dictate that she should curtsy now or something as she felt awkward simply standing there before Bill and Fleur Weasley. Honestly, it felt a bit like standing before a celebrity or royalty.

"And 'ow do you like zat Amereecan school?" Fleur questioned, turning back to Andy, "Eet cannot be as good to study at as 'Ogwarts or Beauxbatons?"

Andy shrugged, "It's school," he replied.

"You should 'ave stayed with us until you finished ze learning instead of going to that uzzer school," Fleur lamented, "So that your scolarité was completed correctly..."

"Look at us, just keeping you in the doorway," Bill said hurriedly, as Fleur was about to question further about the studying habits that Andy clearly was uninterested in talking about. "Come in, come in, you must be tired after such a long journey all the way from America."

Bill ushered them into a cozy little sitting room and Fleur excused herself to get drinks and they all settled into overstuffed chairs that didn't match at all, but surrounded a warm fire that smelled sweet and chased the dreariness of the misty weather outside away.

Ermalene allowed herself the pleasure of looking about at the wizarding pictures on the walls of the cottage as Bill and Andy caught up, talking about the Quidditch team that Andy played for and the latest goings-on in the American branch of the Weasley family. There were so many photographs that the walls seemed to be throbbing with movement as various pictures waved and grinned from their frames, which were all shapes and sizes, an eclectically beautiful mess. Ermalene recognized many of the faces, though she'd only met a couple of those who smiled back at her. She spotted a baby photo of Andy among them and grinned at the tiny fiery-haired baby clutching a tiny toy dragon, making it zoom around the framed photograph with silent giggles that shook his entire body's pudge with delight.

"'ere you are, Ermale'," Fleur said, interrupting Ermalene's appraisal of the photographs by arriving at her side with a glass of ice cold butterbeer. She followed Ermalene's gaze to the picture of Andy. "Wasn't 'e just ze most adorable?" she cooed, her eyes getting dreamy, "I mees this day when he was so leetle as zat." She turned around and looked at Andy, "'ow quickly zey grow," she mused, "It seems only yesterday 'es papa was zat size and how look at 'im, ze whole next generation, already grown." Ermalene looked back at Andy, too, nodding along with Fleur. "But 'e is very 'andsome, I am sure you agree?" she grinned conspiratorially. Ermalene continued nodding in agreement. "'e looks like 'is grandfazzer did, when first I met him, in his face," she said, "But he's got 'is Great-grandmuzzer Molly's curly hairs." She laughed, and continued on, passing out glasses of butterbeer to the boys.

"So what brings the two of you abroad?" asked Bill, reclining in his seat, the talk of quidditch closing as Fleur settled herself onto the arm of Bill's chair.

"Ermalene, actually," Andy replied, taking a sip of his drink.

Bill looked at Ermalene.

"I want to find out who my family is," she explained. "Like my blood family. I plan to go to the orphanage and search my records, find out where my roots lie... if I'm muggle born or not."

"A noble cause," Bill noted, "Just beware not to get too caught up in the importance of blood status; remember, we've already fought that battle." He smiled. "There's been many a man who sought answers about lineage and didn't get the ones they so desperately wanted... Lord Voldemort not the least infamous among them."

Fleur visibly shuddered at the name. "Bill," she scolded softly, "Please, eet ez He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named around ze children."

"Hardly children any longer, are they?" Bill pointed out, waving his glass at Andy and Ermalene.

"I don't care if I'm muggle-born, half-blood, pure blood, whatever, it's all the same," Ermalene said quickly, "It's not about blood status; I just want to know who my family is. That's all that matters - who, not what."

"Eezn't eet enough, having ze Notts to love you?" Fleur questioned, "'Ow will knowing ze name of ze people who left you zare 'elp you?"

Ermalene shrugged, "Not help me, really. I just want the knowledge."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," quoted Bill.

"Exactly," Ermalene agreed quickly, "Just knowing is the treasure, the intelligence."

"Too bad the Hall of Ancestors is yet to be found, sounds as if you seek the knowledge it contains," Bill said with a smile to his voice, and he took a long gulp of the butterbeer.

"The Hall of Ancestors?" Andy and Ermalene both repeated in unison.

"Yeah," Bill explained, "It's this great room supposedly some place in Hogwarts castle, though I never have been in it myself, nor do I know of anyone who has. They say the Hall contains all of the wizarding family trees and genealogy books that follow family lines from eons ago." He smiled to himself thoughtfully, "George said once that even he and Fred couldn't find the thing, even with that map of theirs. They wanted to search it out once to see which of the girls at Hogwarts were related by blood, you see," he chuckled, "They were afraid of falling for some nearly related cousin of ours, a true danger among pureblood families." Bill shook his head, remembering the antics of his twin brothers.

Ermalene glanced at Andy. The eagerness in her eyes was obvious. This Hall of Ancestors was exactly what she needed to find the answers she craved.

"So... so how does anyone know it exists if they've never found it?" Andy asked.

Bill answered, "The same way we know that any legendary things exist. The stories have been handed down. I heard of it from old Professor Binns, a ghost that taught at Hogwarts for years. He said that he had had a hand in collecting the contents of the room, though he was so old he didn't pay any attention to any of the students who asked where it was. Mostly Ravenclaws and Slytherins that cared where the Hall was at," he added, "They're always the ones that seek knowledge and bloodlines, those two houses." He glanced at Ermalene, "I'm sure the sorting hat would have put you into Ravenclaw at once, were you to be sorted." He smirked.

"I've thought that a thousand times," Andy laughed.

"There's nothing wrong with being smart," Ermalene said in a dignified voice, "Nothing wrong with putting learning and knowledge first."

"Zat I must agree with," nodded Fleur, "Intelligence eez ze most valuable weapon with which you can fight."

"Bravery," Bill argued, "You can't think through a true battle of good and evil, you can only walk into it with your guts and your strength... until you are courageous enough to fight the fight, you can only analyze it."

"Having all of ze courage and cunning in ze world cannot 'elp you if you cannot think in what ways to use them."

Bill answered, "Touche."

"So how might one maybe try to find the Hall of Ancestors?" Andy asked, bringing the conversation back around to where it had begun.

Bill laughed, "It's been missing for centuries, as far as I know," he answered, "I wouldn't set store upon anyone finding it any time soon. Much better to trace the lineage the old muggle way... Pay a visit the orphanage the Notts adopted you from," he suggested, turning to Ermalene, "They'll have the records of the people who left you there, and you can trace them the old fashioned, muggle way. Besides, unless you were of pure blood wizarding descent there's probably little record in that Hall of your family."

Ermalene nodded, though the idea of a Hall of Ancestors still burned within her.