The Other Side|| Blaise Zabini

* A LETTER *

Lacy sat there impatiently, wiggling her fingers and toes every few seconds as she waited for the so called 'guest' to arrive, it had been a whole 10 minutes since her uncle revealed there would be a guest, and now her stomach was growling at her as she waited.

Then, as though her prayers were answered, a knocking rung throughout the entire building and her mother rushed towards the door to answer it and let the guest in.

Lacy and Zach met each other's eyes in a silent conversation, asking if they knew who it was, and then Lacy asking why they were here, but Zach shook his head at that one. Lacy huffed as she leaned back in her seat, trying to get a view of the voices she could hear talking.

"Lacy, Lacy" her uncle tried to sound scolding as he watched his niece tilt her chair backwards, but it was too late. He watched as she fell down on the floor, the chair going with her as her uncle cursed loudly and she let out a crashing sound.

"Oh Lord!" She could hear her mother curse out before the two figure ran into the room, watching as Zach helped the girl up.

"That was fun" Lacy grinned as she met her uncle's eyes, who instantly rolled his eyes at her behaviour, she gave him a playful shove before looking over at her mother, who pounced forward onto her arms and examined the girls face. "Mummm, I'm fine, just fell off my chair"

Lacy's eyes drifted off to the figure who stood in the doorway, and her eyebrow's furrow in confusion, there stood a strange man with black...well, everything. He seemed to be frozen as he stood in the doorway, and she didn't understand why.

"This is why I tell you not to tilt in your chair" Her mother scolded once she concluded that there was no injuries, other than an incoming bruise on her right cheek, but Lacy smiled proudly.

"Can we eat now mum? I want to go collect the red helleborine flowers before somebody else finds them, you know how rare they are" Lacy resorted as she suddenly turned serious, she had an odd attraction to rare flowers and herbs, and always loves to press them into a journal that she had kept since she was seven.

"Yes, yes" her mother nodded, before suddenly realising the other person in the room, she let go of her daughter suddenly. "Oh! This is Severus Snape, he goes to the secondary school that you should be attending"

"Pleasure to meet you, sir" Lacy held her hand out to the strange man in all black, and he hesitantly handed her his hand, they shook each other's firmly before she pulled away and looked at her mother expectingly, his eyes continued to watch her in shock. "Can we eat now? I'm starving"

"Of course, you can take a seat on the end, Severus" Lacy watched her mother in confusion, the woman seemed nervous and she didn't like it as her mother was often seen as the stern and strong figure in this family. She didn't like how she seems around this stranger.

They all took their seats quickly, Lacy seeming hesitant as she observed everybody, the curious look on her face didn't go unnoticed by her uncle, who kicked her foot under the table, the two were locked in a silent battle again.

"Zachery, Lacy" They stopped at the woman's stern voice, turning their attention to grabbing some food instead, which Zach could finally do without his hand being slapped at.

Lacy awkwardly chewed on a piece of bacon as the strange man sipped some black coffee, her mother clearly her throat every so often, her uncle's continuous scraping across his plate-with a fork-was beginning to get on Lacy's nerves, as she still didn't know why the man was here.

"So, Severus, what exactly are you doing here?" Lacy finally spun in her place to talk to the man, who met her eyes instantly, he could tell she was curious, and it seemed that she often was quite rebellious and on an adventure....she seemed a lot like him when he was younger.

"Lacy, manners" Her mother reminded her, only for Zachary to kick his sister's leg, telling her to back off from Lacy. As she deserved to know what was going on.

"I'm here to deliver a letter to you" Lacy almost cringed at how deep and bored his voice sounded, but she guessed that he had no soul, due to the 'all black' statement that he seemed to have going on.

"A letter?" Lacy quizzed, and he soon revealed a letter from his cloak, which he handed to her-rather gently in fact, she took it hesitantly before she glanced at her family, who gave her a nod in response.

She looked at the strange letter with a curious look, noticing that it had her bedroom alongside her address, she spun it around to see a strange and unknown symbol with four animals inside it. She slowly placed her finger under the loose paper and ripped off the envelope.

Lacy opened up the letter so she could read the words closely.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and
WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Williams,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy headmistress

Lacy almost laughed upon reading the letter, but as she looked up at the three adults in the room with her, she could tell that they weren't joking around, and they were being serious.

"No" Lacy denied, shaking her head in denial as she placed her letter on the table and slid her chair back, the adults stood up cautiously as they watched her walk backwards with wide eyes. "This isn't real"

"Lacy-" Her mother tried to sooth, but Lacy shouted at her to stop, onto for a glass to smash on the kitchen table.

Lacy ran out of the room, both in shock and terror by what she had done.