Chapter Text
The sound of a newspaper rustling filled the Ambrose house in London along with the sound of a spoon rhythmically hitting against the side of a teacup as the contents inside were stirred. “Nine people have gone missing in the past month. Two of the bodies that went missing last week have been recovered but dismembered horribly.” Howard read off of that morning's newspaper.
Ada let out a sigh, placing down a teacup on top of a saucer for her husband. “This keeps getting worse and worse. And law enforcement doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere with the investigation.” She sighed.
“Says they were barely able to identify the bodies. That’s not a comforting thought.” Howard said, letting out a deep exhale. His hand went to rest over his mouth as he read the rest of the section in the newspaper.
The entire month of August, people had gone missing left and right. And the only time they turned up, they were lifeless. These terrible crimes had struck this side of London quite terribly. Children no longer ran to play in the streets, most people didn’t dwindle outside anymore, only coming out to do what they needed before immediately heading back in.
Law enforcement had repeatedly ensured that they were on the case but that did nothing to calm the hearts of the people. A curfew had been enforced along with several other things, but nothing seemed to be helping.
“It doesn’t seem to be getting any better,” Ada spoke, finally sitting down at the table. “Even with the curfew they enforced or the group system they recommended. More and more people just seem to go missing.” She rested her head on her fist, letting out another sigh. She’d be lying if she said this string of murders hadn’t given her a couple of grey hairs.
“Matty, what do you think of this?” She asked, looking up at her daughter.
Ada’s voice snapped Matty out of her train of thought as she looked up at her mother. “Huh?” she asked, completely missing the question.
“The missing people,” Ada replied. “And the bodies recovered.”
“Oh,” Matty said. She still felt groggy from earlier that morning after she had been woken up early by another nightmare yet again. “It’s pretty terrible. And I’m not exactly sure why one would even do this. I mean, none of the victims had any connections, did they?”
Howards shook his head. “Reportedly, not a single person in any of the victim’s families could recall ever hearing about the other victims until they were killed.” He stated. Were these murders planned with reason or were they just the sadistic spree of someone very corrupt?
Either way, it had thrown life off for several citizens in the area, including Matty herself. Near the end of July, she began working as a teacher's aide but because of the risk in the area, her parents had pleaded with her to resign because they were afraid something may happen to her while she was out.
“Well, I suppose now is the best time for school to start, isn’t it?” Ada commented. “It seems like you’ll be safer there than here for once.”
September first was almost here which meant Matty would be going back to school. Matty chuckled a bit at her mother’s words. “Considering how the last two years of mine have gone at school, I’d be shocked if something didn’t happen.” She said to her mother.
“Be lucky your father and I aren’t keeping you home from school this year because of that very reason,” Ada said but her tone had a bit of teasing to it. “But if we had, I know you would’ve talked our ears off about it and begged us to go.”
This was indeed very correct. Somehow, regardless of what she had had to deal with in her past two years, Hogwarts was still a place Matty always yearned to be. Not to mention, she was practically buzzing to be reunited with her friends by now. Being around Eugenia and Nora was wonderful, of course, but she noticed that her connections with her friends at school were much stronger and more sincere. Which was only natural.
And what Howard and Ada had come to realize between their decision to allow Matty to return to school was that Matty was now considered of age in the Wizarding World, now able to magic outside of the school, and was on the cusp of being an adult here in the muggle world. They couldn’t keep her for forever. She was growing up and the reality of it was settling in.
“Well, in my defense you and Da always told me education was important,” Matty said, a small grin settling in on her face.
Ada rolled her eyes but let out a small chuckle, standing up from the table and collecting her dishes. Howard also stood, announcing that he needed to get on with his work. He ruffled Matty’s hair and kissed Ada on the cheek, bidding them both goodbye before heading out the door, promising to his wife and daughter that he’d make it back completely fine that night.
Matty wondered what she should do with the day that she had. She had enjoyed her time working as a teacher's aide, helping the children with their schoolwork and the other mundane things they asked her help with, and it was a shame that she had to resign. The children had been so sweet and eager to learn. She hoped that one day her future children would be as eager to learn as those children had been.
So, ever since she had to resign from her job, she had tried her best to pass the time to make her summer go faster. She’d spend lots of time up in her room, writing detailed letters to her friends and to her lover. Or she would spend time outside, fixing up some of the bushes or the flowers, or rearranging some of the pottery for the one-hundredth time. Last summer, she had been occupied traveling to Ireland to visit her family again, but this summer had just been quite mundane when it came to entertainment.
What wasn’t mundane about it were the nightmares or the random lightheadedness that made her trip over her own feet so many times. She had never had so many nightmares back-to-back before as she had in these past couple of months, and they were always so similar.
Sometimes, she’d get so ill she’d considered getting medical attention but then the next day she would be magically fine, as if nothing had happened. This confused both her and her parents. But since she seemingly felt fine after it quickly passed, she told them she’d be fine.
Sometimes she wondered if her acting as a vessel for the traces of ancient magic she had come into possession of five months ago had something to do with it, but she wasn’t sure. She still felt in control, so she doubted that that was it. Perhaps her brain was playing tricks on her because she was yearning for some form of excitement.
To pass the time, Matty went up to her room and began to draft up all the supplies she’d need for the coming school year since the school had sent out the list for the seventh years, although it wasn’t as long since seventh years would be taking N.E.W.T level classes and so one of the only required books was The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7. A simple book every student got each year at their own level.
She made a mental note to ask Hope if she’d like to accompany her to Diagon Alley to acquire these items soon since the first of September was approaching quickly.
***
Sebastian’s POV:
Same hard, old bed, same old cottage with a bit of a different feeling. My home in Feldcroft sometimes still kept the same odd feeling as it had for many years, even after all the fixing up I did on it. But I was proud to say that the old uncomfortable mattress was one of my biggest problems in life at the moment. But sometimes it made me wonder how I grew up sleeping on that old thing. And yes, it was the same bed I slept on as a child.
If it weren’t already obvious, Solomon was quite well, frugal, one might say, when it came to raising Anne and I. But that was all behind me now.
I stood up from the old bed and stretched, then walking over to the fireplace, pointing my wand at the already charred wood, and cast incendio to start a flame.
Not too much of the old Feldcroft cottage was different. During the summer, I did some mild fixing up. Mostly replacing old, rotting wood or other old things. I had thrown out the old second bed to make more room since it wasn’t like anyone else would be staying here anytime soon, converted the place down across my bed into a place of study, and just tried to make this house feel a little less void as it had for so many years.
It was nearing the end of August and honestly, I haven’t felt so proud of myself in quite a while. I had managed to keep myself from a depression slump by keeping myself busy. I had been working at a Blacksmith in Brocburrow for a man named Mr. Laurier, the owner of the place, since the beginning of June.
He had honestly helped me through and taught me a lot, whether it was about the job or things about life. He was the kind of man I wish could’ve raised me. He somewhat reminded me of my own father who had passed a long time ago and I felt as if my younger self could’ve benefited a lot from learning a thing or two from Mr. Laurier.
And when I’d finish up at work, I’d put my mind to something else that was productive, keeping myself from being alone with my own thoughts for too long. And speaking of work—
I loved my job. To be honest, a part of me didn’t want to go back to school simply so I could keep working. I had learned so much and benefited a lot from it as well. Not to mention working manual labor had worked wonders for my body. I’m not usually the kind of guy to compliment my own appearance or care much about it really, but I will admit that this was the best I’d ever looked.
And sometime in July, Mr. Laurier told me a story about how one of his first projects working as a young Blacksmith was making a set of rings—something very simple. But these rings would later on be used for him and his wife and I suppose he caught on that piquing my interest because he taught me how to make them.
So, of course, I proceeded to make a very special ring for a very special person. But that will become much more relevant much later.
But I suppose my whole reason behind saying these things is because I’m actually very happy for once in my life. I find that things are a lot easier when my attention is caught by things I’m actually interested in and things that keep me busy. Also, an honorable mention is that what I’m learning on this job was very beneficial.
Mr. Laurier told me if Curse-Breaking didn’t work out for me, I could come and work full-time for him and the offer was tempting, I’ll admit.
I did my usual morning routine before throwing on some work clothes and heading out. Some days I walked all the way to Brocburrow if I left the house early enough. Part of that was because I was nervous about making a good impression my first couple of days at work and didn’t want to show up covered in soot from the Floo System.
Mr. Laurier picked up on this and sat me down one day, asking me why in Merlin’s name I’d take this job if I didn’t want to get dirty. I obviously knew what he meant. It was his way of saying he didn’t care how I showed up as long as I got the work done. So most mornings I showed up with soot all over my old work shirts and Mr. Laurier said he’d rather work with a rugged-looking man than one who was too afraid to get his hands dirty.
So, I took the quick way to work this morning and used the Floo System, going from Feldcroft to Brocburrow. I always enjoyed showing up to the little hamlet as it was very peaceful, a sort of ambiance I enjoyed I supposed. And the people there were just as charming. If I didn’t live in Feldcroft, Brocburrow would be my first choice.
I always stopped by the Laurier’s home before heading to work with Mr. Laurier. He and his wife, Celene, had three kids together. A boy and two twin girls. The twins, Elodie and Alice were outside playing around when they saw me walk up to the house, Elodie ran inside to tell her father I was here while Alice rushed up to me and snatched my hand before I could even react, pulling me towards the front door.
“MUMM, SEBASTIAN’S HERE!” Alice called out loudly, not realizing that her mother was already coming down the stairs.
“Alice, inside voice please.” Her mother begged. However, when she saw me, she gave me a polite smile. “Sebastian, it’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Laurier,” I said politely.
Mrs. Laurier was a very cheerful and welcoming woman. Sometimes I wondered how she could deal with the twins so easily—and so calmly. As a twin myself, I knew just how rowdy twins could get. Although Alice and Elodie were much louder than I could ever recall being in my adolescence. But I was much more turned to causing chaos rather than being loud. That I will admit.
Elodie pulled her father into the room, practically dragging him by his hand. They did this most mornings if Mr. Laurier wasn’t already near the kitchen when I would arrive.
“Elodie, you’ll pull my arm off.” Mr. Laurier said as his daughter dragged him into the room. He then glanced up and saw me, getting his arm free from Elodie’s grasp to shake my hand. The handshake was firm—per usual. “Sebastian, good to see you. Ready for work?”
I nodded my head. “Yes sir.”
Off to the side, Mr. Laurier’s oldest, his son Peter sat at the table. The twins were distracting him from whatever he was focused on as he was trying to tell them to knock it off so that he could get back to whatever he was doing.
“What are you working on?” I asked, glancing over at what he was doing. I recognized that the book he was reading had a cover that was from J. Pippins Potions from Mr. Pippins's shop in Hogsmeade. “Why are you reading a book on potions?”
Mr. Laurier walked up to Peter, putting his hands on his son's shoulders. “Well, Peter is attending his first year at Hogwarts this year.” He said, answering the question on Peter’s behalf. “He insisted on reading up on some things before he attended so we swung by a couple of shops to get him some things.”
It dawned on me that Peter was eleven and would be attending Hogwarts for the first time in just a couple of days. “Oh, that’s right,” I said, looking at the boy. “What house are you wanting to get into?” That was usually the question I asked anyone who would be attending Hogwarts for the first time.
“Anything really. I think I could fit into any of the houses.” Peter answered. “As long as it’s not Slytherin.”
The moment the words left his mouth, I held in a laugh, and I could tell Mr. Laurier was holding back one as well, glancing up at me with a knowing look while trying his best not to make a noise. “Well, Sebastian here is a Slytherin. I hope you know that son.” Mr. Laurier said, trying his best not to laugh through his words.
Peter looked surprised and then looked up at me sheepishly. “Oh…” He said as the realization set in. “Well, I guess getting into Slytherin wouldn’t be so bad.”
I cracked a bit of a smile and Mr. Laurier finally began to laugh at his son's sudden switch-up. But I was just glad to know that I was the reason he so quickly changed his mind. After Mr. Laurier laughed himself to tears, his wife insisted that he and I get going. She was kind enough to have prepared us both lunches—which were never disappointing. Granted, I cooked all of my food myself and I deemed myself to be a pretty decent cook but there was something else about her food that was just so much better.
After some complaining from the twins, Mr. Laurier and I set out for work. It’d be another long day, but I’d enjoy it. I was finally at peace with myself and how my life was going and that was all that mattered.