The Slowest Heart

Prologue

It wasn't unusual for ten-year-old Keoghan to sneak out of Mercury Manor by any means. The atmosphere was rather strangling for someone of her age, but Donnabella and Edric never let her out. Small adventures on the grounds became routine once it was made clear that the old house-elf Ren couldn't care less where she went as he had better things to tend to (such as Mistress Mercury's fine silver), beginning with the large maze behind the house and soon graduating to the nearby pond surrounded by rocks and trees.

What was unusual was eleven-year-old Keoghan's insistence on staying in. Whether it was to appease her parents or to escape her (slightly) older cousin's shenanigans, Keoghan became a permanent fixture at Ren's side.

Keoghan consistently pestered him about Hogwarts, from the short time he had been employed in the kitchens to her parents' own experiences. Ren answered until he had nothing more to tell, happy to have a bit of help with cleaning.

With her head full of thoughts promising a ride with the best, a handsome man (or pretty lady), and nothing but the finest things in life, Keoghan began her first year at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry.

With her head full of thoughts promising a disastrous school career, Keoghan left the Sorting ceremony in yellow. A Hufflepuff.

Why Hufflepuff? Her parents would have accepted Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff? They just sat around and did nothing.

Keoghan waved goodbye to her family status, the marriage that was surely planned for her, the spot she'd have in the alliance between her family and the Malfoys. The only person she found solace in was an American-raised child named Clementine Oseman. Their parents had become famous in America for spellcrafting but were relatively unknown in Britain. They had no idea about British hierarchy and had no idea that she was, in any light, a failure.

Twelve-year-old Keoghan was prepared for another year with no one but Clementine with her when she was shocked by Ginny Weasley. A red-haired, hand-me-down-robed, Weasley. In Slytherin.

Ginny made her own friends quickly and the group of two became a group of five. May Laine and Red Johannson were exactly what the group needed in Ginny's opinion, and Keoghan trusted that.

Thirteen-year-old Keoghan had a loyal following. She had begun to grow into her last name and it showed. Still, the group of five was not opened to anyone new. It remained as it always had, a circle of desire for those outside and a group of trust and platonic love for those inside.

Even so, Keoghan felt the strain of being a Hufflepuff Mercury. The correspondence with her parents steadily decreased over the years and she had the feeling that soon she would see the last letter they sent while she was away.

It was only when she found herself alone with Ginny one evening that she found the true benefits of her unfortunate placement. The two girls sat beneath an old willow tree, basking in the shade of its many leaves, when the other turned to her with an earnest look on her face.

"Kay, I-"

She was cut off by a loud crack, startling both of them. Keoghan turned around and fired a spell, the first one that came to her mind.

"Reducto!"

A splintering noise, and the being in front of her reduced to dust. She turned around to face Ginny, about to ask what she had done, and was answered by the look of sheer horror on her friend's face.

"Ginny..." she began, her sentence trailing off before she could say anything coherent.

"Kay, let's get out of here," Ginny told her. "Now."

The two ran, though Keoghan was still not sure what they were running from as she hadn't seen anyone else around. They kept running until they were safe in Ginny's dorm room. Huffing and panting, Ginny collapsed onto her bed. Keoghan remained standing.

She waited until Ginny sat up again, then posed a question. "What did I hit?"

Ginny looked at the ground. "I don't think it was a student..."

"The crack sounded like house-elf magic. Do you think it was a house-elf?"

"Let's just say it was a house-elf. Both of us will sleep easier if we decide that it was just one of them."

Keoghan nodded, and the pair descended into silence.

She thought that accidentally disintegrating a house-elf was the worst thing that could happen to her in her life. However, it was only a taste of the future she would hold, the unfortunate reality of what she would grow into.

Such is the life of Keoghan Mercury.