Legacy Disowned - Book 2

Chapter 25 - Unravelled

Maggie's fingers clenched into the unnaturally clean hospital sheets as she tried to process what the old man was telling her. It had been two weeks. Two whole weeks. Everything up in flames... well no... by now it was all just ashes.

"I know this is a lot to take in," the old man was telling her, "but Hogwarts is a wonderful place—"

"Where's Hiyashi?"

The man's face fell slightly, but she persisted. "I'm sure your school is real fancy and all but I don't think a place like that is for me. I want to go with Hiyashi."

The old man let out a deep sigh as he rummaged for something in his robes. "I'm afraid your friend thought it best he not linger," the man said gently, handing her a long slim box. "But he did leave you this. It seems he wanted to make sure you were not left defenseless."

Maggie lifted the lid to find a single aspen branch and one silvery whisker. Her chest tightened as the reality of the situation started to set in.

"It will make a fine wand," the man was saying, but she didn't hear him.

She had lost everything, the only family she had ever known. Reduced to ashes. And the last fragment of that broken family, the last broken piece that could fit to hers, had chosen to abandon her.

The pressure of tears began to well in her eyes and on practiced instinct she clapped her hands harshly to her cheeks twice to stop them falling.

"My dear," the man said alarmed, getting up from his chair and reaching out.

She met him with a murderous glare, daring him to come closer. He stopped, and after a moment his blue eyes softened. "I'll give you some time."

And with that he left her. Alone. The last broken piece of all she had ever known.

***

Maggie let the cold wind slap her harshly in the face as she flew out over the place that she had been so certain was not for her.

Hogwarts.

The sight of those castle towers against the warm pastels of the morning sky had become almost unsettling in their familiarity. It was a sight that made her feel strangely warm inside— comforted. It was what had brought her out here now, seeking relief from, well, everything.

Because lately, the inside of those castle walls had been far from welcoming.

Sebastian had managed to talk her down after her secret had gotten out, reminded her that those who would whisper about it didn't matter anyway. Those who did matter would stand by her. But when they had returned—

A distant whistle sliced through the air, and Maggie looked down to see the telltale plumes of steam rising from the Hogwarts Express roaring along the track, likely on its way back from an unscheduled run...

Pain clenched her insides like bony fingers, tightening around her chest and squeezing the air from her lungs.

Natty.

Maggie could feel her vision begin to blur and angled her broom down toward the nearest source of solid ground she could find. She landed shakily on a ramp leading into the boathouse. Stumbling inside, she swung around a wooden beam and huddled into a shadowy corner, knees drawn to her chest as she fought to remember how to breathe.

The Daily Prophet and Hogwarts staff had been vague about what had happened. But in the tight-knit Highland hamlets of the Valley, secrets tended to get out. Now everyone knew the whole story— Natty's body had been found in Officer Singer's flat, in possession of documents incriminating one Alphonse Burke.