A New Year.. A New Beginning

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andromeda had the most bizarre Yuletide break yet, enjoyable of course but completely bizarre. She had spent her holidays with Essie, Harrison and Fenton and had even gone to see her mother , Luthor and the new members of her family Micah and Maya. They were simply adorable and thanks to Luxen though it was his fault in the first place, Andy and her mother had all but patched up their rocky relationship. She would never leave The Gables though and would certainly not ever consider moving to Tremain Manor, no matter how often her mother had asked her to. It was simply out of the question. She had gone to the Silver Snake to look around and instead of discovering untold horrors and discovered a new friend.

She refused for now to call him anything else, for she simply didn't know where he fitted into her life. A life that only now seemed to be coming back on track after so many mishaps. As she walked around the cliff top she sighed, allowing the wind to blow her deep red hair about her and not bothering to pull it back. She knew deep down that she could not and should not encourage any kind of relationship with him, she liked him she knew that much but every night when she closed her eyes there was only one image she saw. A great big grizzly bear ripping her heart out and holding it so tight until he squeezed the life out of it completely. Andy usually woke after those dreams with tears pouring down her face or simply shaking uncontrollably.

Once she had wandered down to the kitchen pale and wide eyed and had found Fenton and Harrison there. After they had eventually prized out why she looked so striken they had wanted nothing more than to clobber Bruin, give him a damn good thumping to make him see sence. But Andy had only shook her head and told him he had obviously seen sense and that was why he had not bothered with her.

She looked down at her wrist at the bear pendant that she still wore and wondered why she hadn't taken it off yet. Her heart told her she should, there was no reason to keep wearing it now. No reason at all.

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera had not had what she would call a good Christmas break. She had found out her mother had a boyfriend and that she would now be teaching at the school. To say the least, she was not thrilled like her sister Katheryn was. Kiera was wandering around, lost in her own thoughts, when she came to the cliffs.

Kiera saw her friend and roommate, Andromeda, out on the cliffs all alone. Kiera walked out to her and shrank down to her knees. She smiled at Andy, trying to put her best face forward. "Care if I join you?" she asked in a half hearted voice. Kiera could tell something was different about Andromeda. Did something bad happen again? Kiera couldnt help but wonder.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy sighed a little, there didn't seem much choice at this point in her academic career but to simply forget about the male race as a means of happiness for now and concentrate soully on her studies. She was just about to untie the clasp when she heard a familiar voice, looking up she smiled. It was always good to see her roomies outside of their dorm and she really hadn't had much of a chance to speak to any of them since they returned from Christmas break.
"Kiera! Pull up a rock girl and sit down, the view is spectacular" she smiled at her, noticing that Kiera wasn't exactly her usual bubbly self and this was worrying. She couldn't remember a time when Kiera wasn't effervescent, except perhaps the times she had been worried or upset about her mother.

"How was Yule break then?" she smiled at her, hoping Kiera would fill her in on what was bothering her.

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera sat down indian style next to her friend. Andromeda certainly seemed to be in better spirits than the last time she had talked to her alone. Kiera sighed as Andy asked about her break. The younger girl had a lot on her plate during the last term and Kiera wasnt sure she should burden her with own problems. But then it was a double standard of Kiera only heard Andromeda's problems.

"Well..." Kiera began slowly. "Jacqueline demanded my presence over the break to tell me two new peices of information. One, ironically enough, she is dating an auror. This auror claims he knows my mom has changed because he is a seer. ...Two she is the new Transfiguration professor for years 5-7." she said with a roll of her eyes. Who would hire her mother to teach children?

Kiera smiled at Andromeda. "Enough about me though. How was your break?" she asked.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy turned to face Kiera a bit better as she sat down. It wasn't long before her mouth was hanging open in astonishment though.
"Are you serious? Ok is this seer guy for real? And hello... your mother, your mother is going to be teaching... good grief she'll be teaching you! Are you still doing transfiguration?"

This was all just way too bizarre, how Kiera had taken the news was beyond her as she seemed to just want to tell the main bits and get on to Andy's boring Yule break.
"Don't mind me, come on Kiera. This is massive. Are you alright with this? How are Katheryn and Cameron taking it all? More importantly you though, how are you going to cope with her being here at the school?"

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera was glad she had a friend like Andy. Normally, Kiera would just like to pretend that she was fine but her friend knew differently. She supposed it was because Kiera had spent too much time complaining about her mother to Andromeda. Kiera was glad she wasnt the only one astonished by the news.

"Im completely serious." she reply with a roll of her eyes. "I dont know much about this seer guy except that his name is Raziel and for some reason he seems to be in love with my mother. Why should she like the auror more than she liked my dad? I mean he's such a wonderful man. Why should she be happy when he's still miserably alone?" she said frustrated. Kiera didnt understand why the fates had chosen her dad to be the one to be alone when her mother was the one who wasnt a nice person!

Kiera sighed. "Katheryn was thrilled. You know she has been convinced that mother was a good person ever since we found out she was still alive. Kat is just so good-natured and warm-hearted, which was infuriating at first but its just the way she is." Kiera said shaking her head. She had long since made her peace with Katheryn trusting their mother so completely. "Cameron likes the guy. He's still unsure about Jacqueline but he thinks Raziel is 'a totally cool dude.'" Kiera said imitating his voice.

Kiera thought about Andromeda's question. How was she taking it? Kiera didnt know how to deal with it. It wasnt exactly good news. "I dont know how to handle it." she said honestly. "I dont want to stop transfiguation. I like the subject and theres only one more year. I mean I dont know what I should do?" she said with a sad, confused look on her face. "I dont know if I trust this man my mother is with anyways..I mean so what he's an auror. He could be bewitched or something. Jacqueline was Head girl she knows her fair share of magic. I just dont think she should be teaching anyone." she said utterly lost at what to do.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

Andy didn't know what to tell her friend, so leaned across letting her shoulder lean against Kiera's one.
"Maybe he'll be good for her, I don't know Kiera. I don't know what to tell you sorry. My mothers new husband died before the summer break and I couldn't stand him but he left me his store and apologised in a letter for being such a jerk. I felt guilty over never really giving him a chance though to be honest, he never gave me one either. I'm sorry about your dad but maybe someday he'll find someone worthy of him. Some one really nice, who will care for him the way he should be cared for"
she looked out over the cliff top knowing she was mucking up, Andy had never been much good or had never considered herself much good at this sort of stuff though she would try time and again for her friends.
"Who knows maybe she has seen the error of her ways" Andy didn't really believe this but thought she would put it out there anyway, if only to try to cheer Kiera up.

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera sighed. She knew or at least hoped Andy was right. Maybe the man would be good for her mother. There was nothing she could do about it. She needed to stop letting her mother's decisions affect her like they did. Kiera just couldnt help it. She needed to fogive but she didnt think she was capible of that at the moment.
"I really really hope you are right. My dad deserves to be happy after all these years alone." she said softly.

Then she heard what Andy had said. "What? Your stepdad died and You got a shop?" she asked baffled. "What's it called?" Kiera couldnt imagine owning a store. Who was running it while Andy was at school? Kiera wanted the full story.

 

[Andromeda Fiorelli]

"If I could do those rune things I'd bet you they'd say he'll meet someone wonderful someday" she smiled and couldn't help but laugh after that at Kiera's reaction to her own news.
"Oh don't get me started. The Silver Snake it's down Bleak Street. At the moment it's lying empty, it had to get refurbished and during the next Brightstone weekend I'll be meeting with some lawyers or something to finalise the details with the paper work. I haven't a clue what to do with it but that's only half the news. I'm a big sister again, well half sister but who cares. Twins too. Maya and Micah. They're gorgeous. Would you believe that my mother who I've been estranged from since first year is now trying her hardest at rebuilding some semblence of a relationship with me? So there is hope Kiera".

She rooted around in her back pocket but realised that she didn't have any with her.
"Sorry I thought I had a picture of them with me".

 

[Kiera Kaster]

Kiera couldnt believe she had let Andy listen to her problems when she had big news of her own. Kiera had seen that shop before. "I know where the Silver Snake is. My mother's shop is across the street. I went there once with Bellatrix." she said remembering.
Kiera smiled as Andromeda talked about her mother and her new additions to her family. She knew how much that must mean to Andy.
"Wow, thats really great." she said enthusiastically. "How old are the twins? Im glad there is hope for you but I am not to sure about myself." she admitted. She was happy for her friend. The girl deserved happiness after so much sorrow.