An interesting letter

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Grause Hitchins

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Holly/Ebony Wand 12 1/2" Essence of Griffin Feather
Vydráel walked into the library a day after his last encounter with Ford. He found a table near the back where no one could find him easily and took out some books he had heard were good, one of them was a history of magic which he had found in the library. As he sat down to read, he remembered there had been a letter for him at the great hall. Setting down his books and pulling out the letter, it didn't seem to be familiar handwriting however it did have his name spelt letter perfect and decided to open it.
Vydráel, you don't know me and i don't know you but we are of the same blood. Your mother; Eloise Wyvernblood is the first born child of Marian Wyvernblood whom had a daughter two years afterwards; my mother. I had heard you lived in New Zealand and were attending the hogwarts there. I need to know, are you my cousin? the first born son of the first born daughter to Marian Wyvernblood? Please write me back.

Stephanie Wyvernblood
Click to expand...

Vydráel stared at the letter for some time, he felt numb but at the same time he felt cold. What has my mother been hiding from me? Why didn't she tell me she had a sister? He didn't seem to notice anyone around him any more, even if they talked to him. The letter slipped out of his fingers onto the table, "Who am i?" he whispered
 
Andromeda walked into the library oblivious once again to all about her, she always seemed to be on a mission of sorts these days. She made her way to the section for Magical Creatures when she walked past a table. Glancing quickly she saw it was Drae, Andy hadn't had much opportunity to talk to him recently or anyone really. She was about to walk on when the piece of paper in his hand slipped and he murmured something. Something which Andromeda was almost certain had been "who am I?"

She stood there hesitant, he looked like he needed someone but that someone might not necessaryily mean her. Andy didn't feel as if she had been any use at all lately to any of her friends. She had been so wrapped up in her whole situation.
"Right" she mumbled and walked around the table to be beside him, she rested her hand gently on his shoulder so as not to scare him and softly (as it was the library after all) spoke.
"Drae are you ok?" she pulled a seat a bit closer to him and sat down, she didn't need to look at the paper to know it's contents had upset him. She looked at him now concerned.
 
Vydráel felt a hand softly placed on his shoulder and a familiar voice ask him "Are you ok?" and then the sound of a chair sliding closer next to him. Wordlessly he slid the letter to the speaker without looking.
"My parents lied to me." he whispered as he turned his head and noticed it was Andy. "I haven't spoken to you in a few days." He added
 
"No you haven't!" she said as if lightly reprimanding him, she took the letter he pushed towards her and read it. When she had finished she looked at Drae quizzically.

"You don't know your own cousin? Your first cousin at that" Andy said bewildered she came from a very large family and all were as tight as peas in a pod.
"I don't understand Drae. Do you want to tell me about it? What you're parents lied to you about" she didn't want to pry but he had let her read the letter and she wanted to be there for him, she didn't know why it just felt the right thing to do.
 
"I don't understand it either." he replied. "A cousin i don't even know of, knew my name and knew my mother, it seems all of my family..." He stopped talking for a moment. I was an only child, my sister died in childbirth with my mother. Was his mother's words.
"It doesn't seem like a big deal from the outside but if you knew what happened to me.. If you knew of the past then maybe.." He couldn't get it together. This didn't make sense, none of it did. He wanted to scream.
 
Andromeda became more than a little concerned for him now. Her hand instinctively went to cover his as she pushed the letter back to him with her other hand.

"I'm a good listener Drae" she didn't know if anymore needed to be said than that, one of her newer house members, someone she thought was a lovely person was terribly upset and seemed to be getting more and more agitated because of this letter. She didn't know if she was ready to hear what his past was like, since she arrived here Andromeda had discovered that though hers had it's share of hiccoughs it really had been idealic compared to some of these children.

She looked at him biting her lip. How could anyone hurt a child, she thought as her eyes scanned his face.
 
Vydráel tried to lean his head to his right hand before remembering the cast. He made a weak smile as he noticed her hand on his, touched by the sentiment and for once realising what Ford meant by hitting on.
"My mother said that i was an only child with no extended family, as they were all dead. She insisted that since i was the first born and in the end, only born of hers that i should carry her maiden name, Wyvernblood. I was bullied all my muggle schooling because of my name, my lack of height and stature. If you pull back my robe sleeve, you will see more then one break scar across my wrist and along my arm. I've had it broken many times and not by accident."
He was pulling left arm closer to her but keeping her hand on it.
"My chest, my collar and even my neck has scarring from multiple accidents. If i had been raised alongside my family then i wouldn't have suffered because of my mother's actions."
His voice held no heat, they were empty. He was defeated inside.
 
Andromeda didn't know what else to do, she squeezed his hand gently with hers. Andromeda was not an affectionate person by nature and since her incident she definitly wasn't. But something about Drae's voice the emptiness, the lack of any emotion made Andy realise how resigned to his fate he had been.

She was no stranger to bullying but she had had her families love and support throughout her life and they as far as she knew had never lied to her.

"Do you think your mother had some huge arguement with her sister that was never resolved?" she asked as she very carefully with her other hand began roll back his sleeve. The scarring was indeed severe and Andy gasped when she saw the extent of the damage that had been done to him physically. Andy may not have been a very affectionate person to people but she was extremely compassionate. Her eyes filled with tears that she fought hard not to shed.
'How could someone do this?'
It seemed the most ridiculous thing to say but for some reason she said it anyway.
"I'm sorry you were tortured because of your name. I love your name" she didn't look at him but kept her gaze on his scarred arm. Then remembering where they were, she carefully and gently pulled his sleeve down. Noticing only then that their hands were still entwined.
 
Vydráel shook his head at her question. "Mum isn't angry by nature, she resolves things with words. I know her actions well enough to say that." He wanted so badly to ask her right then. Why? Is our name more important than i thought? Why me? Why didn't you have a daughter.. Daughter!
"The letter mentioned that my mother was the first born daughter of her mother, maybe there is something to that. I'm the first born of my mother, maybe I'm not the only child of hers." He wanted so desperately to have more then just the family he had, he always did. Someone to talk to when he was down, someone to confide in when he needed to confide. His music was the only escape he had.
His gaze fell onto her hand and he felt a strange longing to hold her close like he would as a child to his parents. I'm not weak! But he couldn't stop thinking about it.
"What is it like to have family?" he asked quietly
 
Andromeda's heart broke as she heard his question. Her eyes began to well up again and it took all of her strength this time not to let them fall.
"I don't want to upset you further" she told him honestly, "Every family is different. Mine... well, I was one of the lucky ones Drae".

She knew that she spoke truthfully because she was she had only ever been surrounded by love. Even the cousins who teased her did so playfully and she knew this.

"I'm an only child at least I am now. I was supposed to be a twin but she died in child birth. I think my family tried to make it up to me every year after that", she smiled, her thumb beginning to stroke the skin of his thumb very gently, absentmindedly.

"We lived with my grandparents and my aunts and uncles. It seems now like a very strange arrangement, almost like a giant commune. The house we all lived in, my cousins as well is huge. It has a farm and an animal sanctuary and every one chips in to do their share. We through huge Christmas parties even bigger Halloween parties and our birthdays were always a big deal", she said earnestly, "we were never spoilt. My uncles or aunts or my mom or dad would all make our presents. The only shop bought ones I ever had was what I got when I came here. My broom and this pendant" she touched the small ruby dragonfly that hung about her neck.
"My father made me a dolls house for my seventh birthday, my grandmother would knit me sweaters and scarves. All mad lovely gifts like that. On my tenth birthday my father gave me his old broomstick..." Andy now became choked up with emotion. She hadn't talked so much about him in a while and though it didn't hurt her too anymore, the thought of him now on top of Drae's pain in her heart was hurting excruciatingly.
"I am one of the lucky ones with my family" she kept her gaze riveted to their hands. Watching her thumb caress his and finding an odd comfort in it.
 
"I wish i could say i was lucky." he whispered. "I learned how to take insane amounts of pain and not blink an eye - Figuratively speaking - I gave back what was dished out in ways that would never get me caught. As the ones who hurt me always managed to do." He relived the moment the chair had cracked Ray's collarbone, the day before end of school year. He could hear the snap and then the scream. He didn't relish the thought of having gotten payback, but Ray never touched anyone again, not with the speed Vydráel could control when need be.
"I broke someone's collar as pay back for an entire school year of teaching me to ignore pain. He was in hospital with major skull fractures too." He was speaking so softly, he didn't know if anyone could hear him. "No one but the students knew who was hurting me. I wouldn't tell, i felt it was my burden to bare but now i'm not sure." He still felt empty all the way through, except a place slightly outside of his body. He called it his soul as he knew no one could touch it. His soul still felt, though he barely knew what it was feeling.
"I'm glad one of us had a mostly pleasant childhood." he carried on. "But what about this broom? why the sadness?"
 
Andromeda heard him and couldn't believe what he was saying. She removed her hand from his placing it now on the table inches from his hand. Her eyes were angry. She ignored his question about her broom and went right for the jugular.

"How could you? No matter what someone else does to you resorting to their type of violence is just as bad" she told him. "You could have killed him and for what revenge? It never pays and it's not sweet. You used magic to hurt him didn't you?" she spoke as low as he did but with more conviction behind her words. She stood up and tugged on his robe.

Andromeda walked down one of the aisles which was empty of students and beckoned him to follow her. People had begun to look at them. At least this section very few people bothered to come near. Shelves wasted for the books of Gilderoy Lockehart. She waited for him to follow her.
 
Vydráel was shocked at her statement. If it was something so trivial as revenge then he would be dead. I wanted him to stop before he killed me. He couldn't speak to her so far from him so he closed his open mouth. He watched her get up and beckon him to another part of the library. Do you want to give me a lesson on how to deal with muggles now? He thought vehemently. Magic!? I didn't know how to use any of my magic until i got here. He followed her to the secluded part of the library and looked at a book of a grinning blond man who seemed like he was grinning as if to say to the world he was an idiot.

"You think I would have wasted magic on a fool like Ray? Or Brian? No." He hissed.
"I did it so that it would stop. I may not fear pain, but i fear death. A boy who dies from an over-active muscular function is a wasted death." He felt a jab slightly ajar from his body, as if she had stabbed him with a shard of glass. "If i had used magic i didn't know how to control then i would be dead. Not them." He was in a library but wished he could shout. She had no right to scold him, he did what was necessary and did not let his emotions get involved. "The first and last time i allowed any magic to spill from me, I flew backwards and missed hitting the window and falling down three stories by inches. The one who had caused my loss of control was thrown back into the principal who punished him and thought i was defending himself. You don't know how much control i exercised to get THIS far." His voice was slightly edgy but still calm, his throat was dry and tears were welling up where he thought they wouldn't, in HIS own eyes.

He so wanted to walk away and leave her there. Cut away whatever sentence she would retort with, but he had all those books to put back before he left. He was not going to be slack for his or someone else's emotions, it wasn't in his character.
 
Andromeda's face flushed with embarresment as he quite vehemently put her in her place. She had had no right jumping to conclusions, it was one of her major downfalls. Andy saw him trying to control the tears that came into his eyes and she cursed herself for being the reason they were there. She felt more humiliated than ever.

She moved a step closer and with so much sincerity and earnestness in her voice she said the only thing possible for her to say.
"I'm sorry."

Andromeda looked at him, expecting him now to walk away from her and chided herself for ruining what might have been a possibly very good friendship. Her mouth spoke as always before Andromeda's brain had even a chance to catch up.

"I don't fear death any longer."

It was only when the words came out and hung in the air between them that she realised what she had and she took a step back from him again.
 
"If you saw what I've seen then you wouldn't say that." He whispered. No one knew his secret yet and he wished to keep it so. His Deathly experiences were getting and more violent but at least most of them were like a tv which he could turn off if he kept focused.
He felt angry at himself for losing any control with Andy, he enjoyed talking to her whenever the occasions would arise. She was a good person and a caring friend.
"Don't be sorry for being human. How many people would believe me when i say i meant no harm to them? They almost killed me, all the ones who hurt me. Yet i only stopped it when they go too far." He shook his head to emphasis his point.
Why don't you fear death he thought idly. Hoping their rift would heal quickly.
 
"Tell me what you've seen then" she asked him, thinking it couldn't be any worse than what she had been through.

"We all have our own experiences Drae and mine allows me the luxury of being able to say that" she said to him her voice slightly shaking now.
She turned her gaze to the shelves of books beside her, trying to keep her eyes averted from his. She had no soul now, she knew this and yet she was so afraid that one day someone would look into those amber orbs of hers and recognise the soulless beast that she was.
 
Vydráel shook his head with force. "No, I can't tell anyone, i haven't told anyone. If i tell anyone what i've seen I.. I.." He stopped and hung his head, he didn't know what would happen and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to or not. He didn't know his place anymore, his father was muggle through and through, lost and incredibly annoying with his ignorance of anything non musical. His mother was always talking plants and animals, she loved them and his dad very much, though he wasn't sure if she loved HIM anymore.
"I don't know if i could tell even the headmistress. She may send me to St. Mungos thinking i was dangerous." He shook his head but slowly this time. I have to be sure!
His head shot up. "You would think that my experiences were enough to know death, coming here and seeing what i see. I know death. It is unkind and uncaring, a force that takes the souls of those who are meant to die. I do not want to live forever, but i do not want to die early." He had said more then too much and he was now feeling anxious and hatred for himself. His soul was apart from his body for a reason, it was another way to not feel anything but now.. now he was feeling too much and it was overwhelming.
 
Andromeda listened as he spoke, raising her head slowly inch by inch to look at him. 'Why would he get sent to St. Mungo's?' she thought, her forehead creasing slightly as she listened and then...he said something that tore her.
"I know death. It is unkind and uncaring, a force that takes the souls of those who are meant to die"

She paled and rocked back on her feet slightly, grabbing onto the book shelf to stop any further movement. Her soul had been taken as soon as she had turned, she was cursed to walk the rest of her days as a werewolf. Death had indeed not been kind or caring to her, it had laughed at her. Threatened to take her but had released its hold and sent her back to the world as an empty dangerous shell.

Andromeda could speak no more. Who was this boy infront of her who seemed to know so much of what was tormenting her? She knew he didn't know her secret but it felt like he did, so very much. She opened her mouth to speak, to say anything at all. But words failed her. Andy's knuckles went white from the hard grip she had of the book shelf.
 
Vydráel had already lost control for too long and was lost in another death. He was a sixty year old man who was dying slowly inside, he knew that he was and was in the fifth floor corridor. He had something important to tell his son, something Vydráel couldn't work out. He had scribbled a note on parchment and tucked it inside the folds of clothing. He began crawling up the steps to the north tower, it was slow and agonising to the man and Vydráel could sympathise. He reached the tower with heavy regret. He wished he could have told his son, he wasn't adopted. The air rushed up to meet the man as if he were a longtime friend, the ground seemed to rise up and kiss him.

Vydráel gasped as he came back to himself. The memory was very fresh, more fresh then most others. He realised he had been kneeling on the ground, his brow was covered in sweet in the middle of the semi cold library, his breath was coming in ragged gasps. "I hate this." he whispered. "Why can't you tortured things just leave me alone."

He got up slowly, avoiding Andy's gaze before he noticed that she seemed petrified, her eyes were wide, she was almost leaning on a shelf for support. Vydráel felt a pang in his heart. What did she see?!
"..Andy?" he asked
 
Andy watched as Drae fell to the ground kneeling. She gasped and watched not sure what to do. She moved closer to him not relinguishing her grip one bit. He whispered how he hated something and Andy couldn't even begin to imagine what it was he hated as he called for some 'tortured things to leave' him alone.
He stood again and looked as if he had just come out of a daze, a cold sweat having matted his face.

Her own shock at his earlier comment and now this was making her feel very tired and very anxious. She reached her other hand out to him, trying to ascertain if he was alright. Her recently paling features were even more so now.

"Drae?" she said in responce to her own name, "what happened to you?"
 
Vydráel felt flustered. His took slow steps backwards. Gazing into her eyes and noting how they defined her as a person, she was worth better then someone as crazy as him. He felt his leg catch on something, the death had caught him unaware, he couldn't think properly anymore. He felt like an animal surrounded by humans, humans that wanted to tear at him, they all wanted his attention. He knew fear now for what it was.

He couldn't breath properly, his eyes wouldn't blink for a moment. He desperately wanted to ask someone, anyone! He wanted to know why him?

He gazed into Andy's eyes, wishing he could sink into them. He wished more then anything to be even slightly normal, he wished he could say what he felt. Some of the Irish verses from the song his father had taught him were spilling out of his mouth, he had lost control. He wanted to hold onto someone and let go. He only became dimly aware of his knees hitting the ground, or that his healing hand had smashed into the floor, re-breaking his wrist. He kept gazing into Andromeda's eyes.
"Beautiful." he whispered.
 
Andromeda was startled out of her own meandering thoughts when Drae crumbled to the ground again infront of her. She looked quickly up but they were so far out from view that no-one was paying any blind bit of notice of them. She could almost hear the hand that was in a cast crunch as it came down.
"Drae!" she gasped and knelt down beside him.

She looked taken aback as he looked into her eyes without flinching or shuddering at what he saw there, instead he said the word 'beautiful'.

Andy shook her head slowly, he must be ill or something. Something must definitly be seriously wrong if he could look into her lifeless eyes and say the wolf in her was beautiful.

She put her hand to his cheek. Her cool hand against his cold cheek and she looked at him.
This seemingly inocquous trip to the library had dealt her more than she could have imagined. Andromeda waited for Drae to speak. Not sure if she could trust herself too.
 
Vydráel felt his body shudder. He felt cold, colder then was safe. His hand was completely numb again and possibly worse and his sight was going black. His head hung down and he felt sobs wrench from his throat, they were quiet and barely strained but he couldn't control himself. His body was jerking with all the turmoil inside him and his outside was in agony, where his heart was it felt like it wrenching apart and he couldn't ignore it.

He felt his throat squeeze painfully shut and everything else was in a similar state of chaos. It was like drowning again and again, he couldn't control the slightest movement it seemed and he wasn't sure he wanted to. It was slowly tearing him apart, the memories of all the things that had happened to others, that he lived through. Their final moments that were generally selfless or extremely selfish. He wanted them gone! Get out!! was all he could think. Everything else was a blur, he wasn't sure if Andy was there any more. It was becoming too hard to concentrate, to think.
 
[[ click on this make sure you have sound up.. then continue you reading as you listen! Dante's Prayer ]]

Andy felt torn, she wanted to go for help but she didn't want to leave him here either. She thought to cry out for help but for some reason she didn't. Instead Andromeda moved closer to where Drae knelt. His head hung low and his body convulsing with emotion. She sat down, leaning her back against the shelves and very very gently urged his body down, so that his head was resting on her lap.

Slowly and gently she stroked his hair that was now matted with sweat, as she did so the songs of her grandmother came back to her. Her training as a seanachai from quite an early age as was custom in Ireland helped her now to keep her voice low and gentle for the boy before her.
 
Vydráel hardly felt his body move. His eyes were now squeezed shut and his convulsing had taken him further down a painful half dream. He could picture himself as a smaller child, shivering and cold and all alone. It pained him to even look at his younger and yet more pathetic self, a self who hadn't yet learned to deal with what others put him through. As his self disgust grew, he heard a song. One of the songs he learnt around this age, he crooned slightly as the familiar words filled him with a sense of peace wherever it touched, except a deep part of him that nowhere could go.

He yearned to feel properly, like ones his age, below and above. He wished he could still keep what little he had learned from the ones who sought to harm him, in case he needed those lessons again. He wanted some sort of middle, where he could have parts of both. Th child like him that he remembered, was so fragile. He had been what he hated at the time, weak and puny..

Vydráel's eyes snapped open. He was in the library, is arm felt numb and his head was a little stuffy. He was half laying on someone's lap and he felt.. an elation of a sort rising from his heart. "Dante's Prayer." He whispered. "Loreena McKennit"
 
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