The Chaos Manor

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Daphne Chaos

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Daphne paced around the living room waiting for her husband to come back from a business trip. She knew he was supposed to be home any minute, though the clock almost seemed to go backward in time as she waited.

She'd just found out that Isabella had written to their maid, Pamela, and seemed extremely upset, enough not to come home for the holidays. She had very important matters to discuss with Charles and he seemed to be taking his sweet time.

She sighed and sat down on the large, white couch and rubbed her temples. "Pamela, get me a drink please. Don't forget the ice!" she called out to the kitchen.
 
Charles Apparated in his lawn around midday and looked around to see Isabella's duck, Henry, swimming in their pond. Home, sweet home, he thought, chuckling a little. He walked towards the door and mumbled the password they had set when they first moved in.

"Daphne, I'm home," he called out from the entrance way. She had owled him saying Isabella was being stubborn and to come home immediately to take care of the situation.

He saw her in the living room and went over to her as she stood up facing him and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Stop worrying so much, your face will stay that way," he joked with her, hoping to lighten the tense mood she seemed to have created on her own. "Now what's wrong?" he asked her.
 
After Pamela had given her the drink she took a sip of it and set it on a coaster on the glass coffee table. She then heard the door open and immediately turned around. Finally!, she thought. When she heard her husband call out to her she said, "I'm in the living room."

She stood facing him and he came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She rolled her eyes slightly at his little joke; she wasn't in the mood and when he finally asked what was wrong she sat him down.
"Isabella wrote to Pamela that she's not coming home," she said upset, almost shoving the letter with Isabella's untidy scrawl under his nose. "We have to tell her! I don't blame her for not wanting to come home," she said bitterly, throwing angry glares towards a room upstairs. "Oh if she only knew she was staying in her room!" she said angrily, throwing her hands up and pacing the room again.
 
Charles sat down willingly and scanned the letter Daphne had shoved at him. He furrowed his brow at it and looked up at her when she began to get angrier. "Daphne, calm down. You said you were past this," he added sternly.
He sighed, knowing it was his fault, but their therapist said admitting and accepting was part of their recovery. "We'll simply write to Isabella, I'll write to her if you prefer, and tell her if she won't come home, we'll simply go get her ourselves. It's that simple Daphne. I've been informed that their exams are in a week and soon after it'll be the holidays. We'll only keep her waiting for about a week or so," he said trying to reason with her.

"Now," he started, picking up his briefcase from the floor and opening it to take out an agenda book, "Who's going to pick her up. She can't Apparate yet," he said, looking at her.
 
Daphne huffed, threw another dirty look upstairs, and sat back down next to Charles. "We'll both go," she said calming down. "I know this isn't going to be easy, but it'll take all of us to convince her to come home, so we'll need to bring Pamela as well." Daphne stood up and went to the study to pick up her agenda book and scribbled a few notes in it.

"Owl her and tell her she's coming home," she said, pointing in the direction of his study so he could write a letter. "And tell her," she said, looking in the upstairs direction again, "that she better be out of there before Bella comes home." Daphne almost wanted to see Bella's reaction if she found out someone had been staying in her room while she was away, but thought it too risky to even chance.
 
Pam walked in from the kitchen and cleared her throat to show that she entered the room. "Um, excuse me, but, Isabella just sent me a letter saying she'll come home," she said, holding up the newest letter. She hoped it would cheer the couple up and relieve them of their troubles.
 
Daphne looked back at Pamela and saw the letter she held in her hands. "Very well, thank you Pamela." She looked down at her watch and said, "Would you be a dear and please wash out Isabella's sheets and blankets....again," she said to Pamela. She made her do this every week to get the smell out of Isabella's bed so she wouldn't notice someone else was sleeping in her room, when they had guest rooms readily available but Charles insisted she slept there. She rolled her eyes at the thought.

Although it was a procedure she made Pamela weekly, she had an ulterior motive. She just wanted to talk to Charles alone. Once Pamela had left she turned back to Charles and said, "What if Pamela is lying to us? You know how close she is to Isabella and she may be protecting her and letting her stay!"
 
Charles grew angry this time and stood up aggressively. "Daphne will you stop! I don't know what's gotten into you but ever since I brought her--" he stopped immediately, knowing it was a sore subject. He breathed out roughly and said, "I KNOW it's MY fault, and I know I "ruined" everything but you have to forgive me! It was twelve years ago! We had finally started piecing our relationship back together and I figured it was a good time to be completely honest with you for the first time in my life!" He realized he had gotten louder the whole time and exhaled loudly. He finally let it out to Daphne and she could do nothing but stare at him.

"This has nothing to do with Isabella and Pamela, I know you better than that Daphne. You're afraid I'll choose her over you and Izzie...You're afraid that I don't care about Isabella not wanting to come home because now she's here," he said, motioning upstairs just as Daphne often did.
"But you guys are my life," he said, silently. He walked over to her and stroked her face gently. "I'll never leave you two."
 
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~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~​
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Pam nodded her way out of the living room and made her way upstairs. "Accio white laundry basket," she said, pointing her wand where the laundry room was. When it flew to her she caught it with her hand and retreated to going up stairs. She reached the double doors that lead to Isabella's room and opened them. "Good morning Sunshine," she said brightly as she picked up a few random items off the floor. "I'm here to clean the sheets again," she said with the hint of sarcasm, as she made her way over to the bed.
 
Wendy kept her head under the blankets the entire time, trying to drown out the now loud voices coming from the living room. She wanted to cry but she was stronger than that. She just wished they would stop referring to her as "her."

Then she heard Pammy coming in and she felt better. "Pammy!" she said out loud. She pulled the covers off of her and popped up, propping herself up with the many pillows, giggling as she scared Pammy. "What took you so long, I've been dying here!" she said half exaggerated.
 
Pam made her way to the bed and just as she was about to grab the covers, Wendy popped out. "Woah, hey you," she said. "You've been in bed all morning?! Sweetie, you know you can just roam the grounds freely!" she said to her, though she understood why she always waited to be accompanied with Pam, with such a delicate situation lingering in the house. "And besides, I half expected you to be ransacking Isabella's wardrobe by now," she added with a smirk.
 
Wendy blushed guiltily. "Well...I have," she said as she smiled. "But I didn't take anything and I put it right back where it was exactly!" she added hurriedly, knowing that they'd give her the same lecture about Bella freaking out. She was really worried about meeting her. She bit her lip and anxiously asked, "When is Bella coming home?" She looked around at the small things she'd been leaving around the room and thought nothing of it, but as soon as Isabella came home and saw a hair out of place, she'd notice right away. She got out of bed and helped Pammy clean up her things and started throwing them in her huge suitcase, as she waited for Pammy to answer her.
 
Pam continued to pick up things and once Wendy got off the bed she pulled the sheets, covers, and pillowcases off and magically stuffed them in the small laundry basket.
"She'll be home in a couple of days, or a week at the most I believe," Pam said simply.
She knew Wendy was nervous and to be quite honest, Pam was too, but she didn't ever let Wendy know that for fear of scaring her even more. Daphne had already embedded it in Wendy's brain that Isabella would rip her to shreds, the last thing she needed was for the one person she liked talking to, to confirm that thought.

Before Daphne and Charlie could start yelling again, she said, "Alright, get clean and showered up so you can help me feed the animals! You've been in bed all day sleepyhead!" she said, ridding her mind of any thoughts of the coming days.
 
~~~~~~Back Downstairs~~~~~~​
Daphne listened to Charles pour out his thoughts and after the shock wore over, she let a single tear fall. Once he came over and stroked her cheek she smiled weakly up at him to show that she was okay. He really did know her well.

"I'm sorry," she said to him. She didn't know what else to say. She felt foolish for letting herself think horrible things. "Please forgive me," she said, apologizing again and giving him a kiss.

She sighed and let go of him and shook her head, ridding it of any bad feelings and trying to cheer up again. "Well, I've got a Christmas party to plan, I should get to that," she said to him quietly, wondering if all was well yet.
 
Charlie took his wife's face in his hands and kissed it once more to show her that he understood completely about her fear. When she mentioned the party he nodded and went off to his study to write the letter to Isabella about their plans to pick her up.

~~~~~~

Almost instantly, Izzie had written back and they'd received her letter the next day. Charlie had been in his study talking to a client through the fireplace when he heard an owl tap on his window.
"Let's continue this conversation another time," he said to the head floating in the fire. "My wife will want to know about this," he said, now reaching for the letter when he recognized Isabella's writing.
Once he had the letter, he summoned an owl treat from their backyard where they kept the animal food and gave it to the owl. "Thanks," he murmured.
"Daphne!" he called out to her when he read the extremely short letter. Once she arrived at the doorway he said, "It seems Isabella has made a few conditions for us regarding her stay during the holidays," he said, with the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice. "Honestly that child...more and more like a Chaos each day," he said with a smirk.
 
Daphne came into the study and looked over her husband's shoulder to read Isabella's letter.
Dear Dad, and whoever else may read this,

I'm making another condition....
I'll come home if we can go shopping sometime during the break in Obsidian Harbor and visit my friends there as well.
Hope you reply soon, break's almost coming,

Love,
Bella
Click to expand...
Daphne sighed and smiled too. "Fine. Tell her...fine!" she said, unsure of her emotions. "That little brat beat us at our own game," she whispered to her husband and laughed. "But she better not think it'll happen often!"
With that she made her way out of the study, still shaking her head at Isabella and went back to her private room to finish working out party details.
 
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~~~~~~A couple of days later--Isabella's Arrival~~~~~~​
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Wendy was freaking out, triple and even quadruple checking Bella's room to make sure she didn't leave anything of hers freaking out. She'd stopped wearing any scented perfume so she wouldn't leave the scent lingering in the room and Pammy had already washed all her sheets and blankets. Pammy had told her not to keep going into the room, that she had it all under control and everything was fine, but Wendy still couldn't help but worry.

She had moved into the guest room downstairs and it was quite lonely there, but she did had a nice view of the backyard and the animals they had. She sighed and sat at her bed, looking at a picture of her and her mother, wishing she could still be with her, especially for the holidays.

She then heard the sound of the front door opening and foreign voice she'd never heard before. That must be her! Wendy thought, panicking all over again. She quickly ran to the door and locked it so she couldn't come in. She could hear her talking louder and going up the stairs but her parents stopped her so they could introduce each other in the living room. Wendy put her head against the door to listen but could only hear the loud thundering of her own heart.
 
Isabella had met her parents at the Hogwarts Express train station and grabbed a hold of both of their hands so she could Side-Apparate with them. She didn't like the feeling but it was pretty fast. When she saw her huge house she smiled; she hadn't realized how much she'd missed it. "Henry!" she squealed when she saw her duck in the lawn. "It's freezing how come you haven't migrated yet?" she asked him. Then her father mumbled, "Probably waiting for you to get home," and Isabella nodded in agreement. "I've missed you Henry, but you should go some place where it's warm okay?" she told the duck while stroking it.

Finally she whispered the password to their door and it appeared, so she could open it. When she walked in she saw Pammy standing there waiting for their arrival. "Pammy!!" she squealed even louder than she did for Henry the duck. She ran up to her and hugged her tightly. She grabbed Pam's hand and started pulling her upstairs, talking the whole way. "Oh my gosh Pammy I have so much to tell you! The letter I sent you did absolutely no justice! The TriWizard tournament, my classes, the Yule Ball!" she said, squealing at that last part. She noticed Pammy restraining and almost pulling her back and she said, "What's the matter?" She looked from Pammy to her parents and her dad told her to sit down in the living room. "Oh no," she said quietly. The living room was always where they had their "serious" talks. She had planned to avoid this whole "situation" for as long as she could while she was home for the holidays but it seemed that they thought the opposite, they wanted to tell her the second she got home.
Slowly she made her way over to the sofa and sat down. "Okay, what is it?" she asked, looking back and forward to all three of them.
 
{God-modded with permission of course. :p}

Charlie knew it was all his fault that this had to be done so he decided he was the one to speak. He had so much to explain to Isabella and he knew she wouldn't take it lightly.
He sat down beside her and took her hand. "Okay well, first I want you to know that no matter what, I love your mother and you very much, forever okay?" he said looking at her. Isabella pulled away and said "I know Dad, what's this about?"

He cleared his throat and said, "Well, a couple years ago, about 11, to be exact, when your mother was away during her Unspeakable's training, and was a couple of months pregnant with you...I was still working with the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and I had gotten called down all the way to New Zealand for a serious case involving many shrinking, flying, and invisible cars," he said, starting off the long story. "They needed as many of us as possible," he said by way of explanation as to why he was in New Zealand when he worked for the Italian Ministry of Magic. "And well, there was a police officer on the case--that's what Muggles call their law enforcers...and well," he said, taking a glance at Daphne and looked down at his feet. He felt foolish that he couldn't face his 11-year-old daughter but he knew her well enough to know that she'd look at him with disgust once he revealed what his secret was. "And then well, it was a one-time thing, but I, er, got..involved with the woman," he ended lamely.
He glanced at Isabella to see if she understood what he meant and then saw her shocked face. He quickly added, "It was once and I've never seen, heard, or spoke to her ever again and honestly I wasn't going to tell you guys but she contacted me! And besides, your mother and I were going to couple's counseling and I felt like I could be honest with you all now and beg for your forgiveness!" He said it all hurriedly in case anyone decided to interrupt him.
Then Daphne said through gritted teeth, "Tell her why she contacted you Charles." He looked at his wife and saw the anger in her face again and he rubbed the back of his neck while clearing his throat again. "Yes um, well...Isabella, how do you feel about having a..er...sister!" he said, trying to sound excited though anxiety was written all over his face.
 
Isabella listened with a puzzled look on her face the entire time until her dad finished his whole story. How dare he, no, how could he! She was so mad she couldn't even speak. She glared at her father the whole time but instead, lashed out at her mother. "How could you stay with him after knowing this?! As much as I'd always want you guys to stay together, this is unforgivable! You taught me to be a better woman that this and look what you are? How can you stand to be married to such a..such a...a traitor!" she screamed, finally finding the right word. Yes he was a cheater, but he was also a blood traitor. A Muggle?! she thought unbelievably, after he lectured her over and over about staying within the Pureblood line.

Then she rounded on her dad and said, "You disgust me, you're not even my father anymore. I leave to New Zealand with a father and come back to Italy to discover you are no longer my father! My father would never do this to us. A Muggle?! After everything you told me about blood! I can't believe you just expect me to be happy that I suddenly has a "sister." I am an only child. I am the last one to carry the Chaos name," she said proudly sticking out her chest, though still breathing heavily. Inside she wanted to cry. This is just all a big prank, a 'Welcome home, we missed you' act, she thought but then she looked into Pammy's eyes which were filled with sincerity and sympathy and she knew Pammy wasn't one to side with her parents often, so she knew it was no joke.
 
{God-modding permitted.}

Charlie felt horrible. For the first time in his life, he wanted to cower away, and from his daughter? He felt like less than a man. "Izzie, I'm sorry--" he said but Isabella cut him off with a "Don't 'Izzie' me! Only my father called me that, you're a traitor!" He sighed and let her go off on him some more. She was right, he was being a hypocrite because he had constantly told her to marry within the Pureblood line, but he had told her many times so something like this wouldn't happen...

Bella mentioned being the "only Chaos" again and he laughed nervously. "Actually, uh, Bells, er, I mean, Isabella...she..also bares the Chaos last name. Her name is Wendy Chaos," he said, trying again at a pitiful attempt to sound cheerful again. He gritted his teeth, ready for more of an explosion from Isabella but before she could go on again he said, "Her mother decided to give her the last name in case she ever wanted to trace her family line," he said as an explanation. He looked at his wife for help but her cold gaze was fixed on her hands, he was on his own to take this Bella bomb.
 
Isabella's throat was a little hoarse from yelling so much. She also realized she was standing up, leaning over her father and she pulled away and sat back down, listening to him again.
"You let her bare our name?" she said, eerily calmly though her eyes becoming slits by the second. She turned again to her mother and said, "I can't believe you're okay with this. I'm surprised you didn't leave him!" she hissed at her, looking her up and down, wondering what overcame her mother.
 
Daphne looked up from her hands for the first time. She had kept her mouth shut because she was finally coming to accept Charles' "honesty" and didn't want to lash out at him again.
She looked straight into Bella's eyes and said, "Bella, don't you remember?" she whispered, a smile forming on her face but not quite reaching her eyes. "When you were 7 you made us do an 'Unbreakable Vow' that we would never get a divorce! We tried faking it but apparently someone, most likely your aunt, told you how it is done and you insisted we perform it in front of you. We didn't think anything of it because we never thought we'd get a divorce, we were happily married with the perfect child," she said, smiling at Bella again.
"If you think that I would allow myself to be degraded like that by him," she began, through gritted teeth but stopped herself and inhaled. "We couldn't break the 'Unbreakable Vow' Bella," she said simply.
 
Isabella stayed quiet for a long moment, not knowing what to say. She was processing everything her parents were telling her and it was taking a while for the procession, as they had just given her a full load. She could vaguely remember the "Unbreakable Vow" her parents performed years ago and wanted to smile, but didn't because she wasn't done being angry at them.A Muggle sister...she thought, not accepting, just processing.

"But wait," she finally said after a long, painful silence in which only their breathing could be heard. "If she traces her family history, it's bound to come up that we're wizards, that'll blow the Muggle-secrecy thing Dad!" she said to him. "You'll get in trouble!" Surely someone who used to work at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office knew that, she thought sarcastically.
 
"Uh, you see Isabella, that's the thing..." he began, feeling uneasy all over again because she had finally began calming down and now this was going to rile her up again. "Well, she is now 11, and uh, her mother contacted me saying she er, she received a letter from Hogwarts New Zealand." He realized his voice was getting lower and lower each time and he cleared his throat once more, "So uh, I can't 'break the law' if she's a witch too!" he said, clapping his hand on his knee for emphasis. He sighed and wait for the Bella bomb to go off again.
 
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