The third instalment of the three book series -
Read Harry Potter and The Time Keeper & A Common Ground to understand the finer details said in the book , enjoy this prequel. ( this book starts during the Maurders reign 1970s-? )
After the events o...
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"Days at home weren't horrible. Difficult maybe with my sister away and my aunt growing older and deafer by the day, responsibility called and I worked hard. My home was in the middle of a glen, far from anyone and my house and farm was the only one for four miles. The people I had for company were the workers of the field and my aunt , of course poor little biscuit, he grew old and barely moved from bed.But what helped were my letters, my most prized possessions"
She awoke. Her blue eyes adjusting the cool morning air. Biscuit curled up on the pillow next to her. She yawned, stretching her legs and arms. But only to turn and face Biscuit , his own brown eyes fluttered. "Good morning my handsome boy" She said raising a finger up and stroked back the fur of his nose between his eyes. Then she balled her hands , rubbing her eyes from sleepiness. She had much to do.
Rising , she dressed in a old dress belonging Minerva and tied back her hair in a rather fluffy looking bun. She pulled comfortable bland shoes and a apron, which Biscuit used the pocket for a napping place. She greeted her aunt with a kiss and made them breakfast. Then while her aunt was away,she took out a cigarette and lighting and then her and the hazel shaded ferret were outside, seeping in the dreadful barely summer.
She let the dogs out for runs and fed with the workers the other animals. She walked up to the field were two horses grazed, whistling them over. The first , her black mare named Rina. She stroked the horses long face, and fed her long turning yellow grass, feeling it's soft mouth brush her hand. Then , the larger of the two, Renner the male, grey and splattered with black. His blue eyes studied Horatia and soon softened enough. She kept her patience and stroked his face, fixing his mane from his eyes. She conversed with them jokingly, and Renner even grew interest in Biscuit who he first mistakenly thought was a apple. She laughed, wrapped her arms around Rina's neck, kissing her nose and then bidding them both farewell.
She walked to the duck pond. The one her and her father made for their rescue duck Nigel. Who swan about carelessly with his family. Tossing them bread and checked that all baby ducklings were accounted for.
Her day stated at 7am and it was near noon in the field when her aunt left the house with cups of tea for everyone on a tray. "Horatia, their is a letter for you hen, from somebody named Rupis? Remos? Renus?" Horaita's eyes doubled. "Remus?" "That's it!" Her aunt laughed handing her a cuppa. "It's..uh..its um..where did I put that" she checked over herself. "Aha!" She cried with a laugh grabbing it from her cardigan pocket. Horatia took the letter and drank the tea rather quickly burning her throat and chest. "Calm down las your gonna burn 'yersel" Her aunt proclaimed. Horatia coughed placing down the cup back on the tray. "Too late for that"
She took to the large empty field where the grain was still growing. One hand holding the letter, the other feeling the grain as she walked. The sounds of birds flying above her in the gloomy skies and sticky humidity filled her and made her feel like she was in Hogwarts again. Hearing Remus's voice as she read.
"Remus wrote the most. He didn't have a lot to do and his father and him have been estranged since the death of his mother. They loved each other but a cloud followed him and people were something he needed, a sense of normality, that was like air to him, I couldn't help but relate."
He Inclosed a small picture of his house. Thousands of oaks standing high and the weather must be beautiful down there as the sun seeped through the leaves and bathed the ground. But it seemed to her, a very sad place. One he grew up in pain and hatred of himself. Unlike another home full of love, much like James's, her and Remus, never had that homely feel. For so much was buried beneath the ground and both were terrified that the past might shoot a hand from under the soil and rise again. Remus, though in many ways different, had many things in common with Horatia. For her, and him and even Sirius could right a horror book of their nights at home. For sure she was fine now , better in fact. But when her father left this world, it felt all the good was sucked out of the earth. Horatia never had nightmares of the monster under her bed or in her closet. Because even at that age she knew that the monster did not hide, but slept next door to her room. Everyone has loved a monster in their life, Horatia's just happened to be her mother. She replied his letter and sent him a picture of her own land.
The next day, after returning from a cycle trip down to the town. Horatia entered with a bag of groceries and placed them on kitchen counter. An owl pecked at the window and she quickly went to it and near scared the poor thing. Apologising and handing the bird a piece of bread, she took the letter and sat at the counter with a fresh made cup of tea. This one was from Lilly.
"Lilly as often as she could. Her mother and father booked a holiday to Spain every summer and this year was no different, but she still managed to send one every week."
Lilly's letter was much like Remus. Woes accidentally rippled the pages and Horatia could dissect it. For Lilly was good at hiding everything with a spunky positivity and after each bad thing she wrote, she'd scroll "but everything will be fine, just needs time that's all' Horatia dreams of the day she could visit Lilly and give Petunia what for. The brattish girl was cruel now, names like 'freak' where so common that sometimes Lilly caught herself answering to them. But Horatia grabbed her paper and ink and soon wrote an uplifting letter she hoped would help her friend. Then in the envelope, Likly had placed a Polaroid of her on the beach with her father. Horatia smiled as she gazed at it and again picked up her camera . She asked one of her old family friends and main workers, to hold the camera as she took a magical picture with horses and held Biscuit in her arms, blowing a kiss to the camera. When it printed she placed in the letter, closing it and sending it off to Spain.
Nearly a week into the summer and Horatia finally got a letter from James and Sirius, who were staying at James's house this year, or had been for the past four. She found, two separate letters, both addressed to her and both from two best friends.
"James was a better writer than Sirius any day of the week. And made me laugh the second I opened them. Sirius on the other hand was slow but his letters were worth it. For if you didn't know, secretly and unknowing to his fellow Gryffindors, Sirius Black was a poet, a romantic poet and his love letters made me grin with each word."
She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. Their picture had made her laugh for a half hour. At first everyone seemed fine, they stood arms around each other's shoulder, but then James's mother, came from behind and screamed, scaring them both and their faces were priceless. Horatia then knew who James got his rambunctious nature from. She remembered to tell each one how much she missed him. But maybe more Sirius than anyone. She replied quickly afterward, inclosing of a picture of her and newborn lamb that was just born, but it suddenly changed and the lamb cried out it in bizarre fashion that made Horatia laugh. She kissed the letter, like she did with all of them and sent it back to the Potter's.
The Potters were a family she had much respect for, for what they did and do for Sirius. Hoping for day she could thank and meet them in person. For they were so special, Sirius addressed them as mum and dad in his writings. And so, she did too.
"But like most things in life, the summer didn't stay bright. For my aunt grew ill on the beginning of the second week and would pass away at the end of the week. For my last carer gone, I now was by myself, handling Scotland on my own and my letters, my greatest and most precious possessions, the only thing that helped me get through. That was until the forth week came and I was all the better for it"
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