A Memory Of The Melody
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─────────────── xxx A MEMORY OF THE MELODY xxx ──────────────── |
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| x | mentions ; @Lauren Vanes | 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓯𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓹𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭. |
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XXXXX𝕭rookline had to drop everything when her mother told her. It was the morning of August eighth, 2021, and she had to get ready. She was reading when her mum came in her room with a tiny figure at her heels. It was Winmy, the Quinns’ very own house elf.
“Bore da¹, Brooke!” Brookline’s happy mother clapped as she smiled. “Tidy up and time to get sorted. Don’t you forget the hair grip.”
Brookline nodded at Amy, and carefully sat her book down at her night stand. She didn’t wish to lose her page in such a large book. “Right. Mum, do I know these people?”
Amy pursed her lips. “I don’t reckon so. The Vanes family are overflowing with Ravenclaws, and I knew Sabrina and her husband, Astote, when I was in school. They’re quite proper and they have two daughters and a young lad, and one is around your age. You make sure you show them round, yeah?” She finished her statement with a glowing grin. Amy was pretty excited, wasn’t she?
“Yes, I will. I think I’ll be done shortly.”
Amy gave her daughter an approving nod, and exited the room. All the while, calling for little Chase and Lizy. All Brookline hoped is that her father shared the same excitement.
Winmy piped in with a squeak of her own. “Winmy will help Brooke tidy too!”
“All right! Thank you, Winmy!” Brookline hopped off her bed, socked feet landing firmly on carpet floor. Turning to the little female, she studied her carefully. She was thinking of a job for Winmy to complete. Their house elf always told the family that she felt better when she had something to do. “Uh. Could you perhaps fetch my brush from the landing? And I think that’s all I need, thank you so much!” Honestly as much as she treated the house elf like family, it wasn’t all very comforting having an elf, or human for that matter, up her butt while she got ready.
Winmy nodded. “Yes ma’am.” The young Quinn smiled at her friend.
Brookline was a little nervous. She wasn’t sure if she wanted a family roaming around or chatting with her parents. She was much more used to having either lots of purebred families around her or she was usually at someone else’s manor. Gatherings wasn’t all a ball either. It was mostly adults and the children were either way too young or older than her. Anyways, Brookline was much better suited in her room, reading or doing her own thing. Usually she asked her mother if she could bring Winnie along, but she wouldn’t dare ask. Her mum had provided a family with children. Hopefully this purebred family weren’t stuck-up like some wizards and witches.
Grabbing her too-tight frock out of her closet, Brookline wrestled inside. Then she grabbed the light rouge that resided on her nightstand. The other day she had stolen it from her mother’s room. She liked applying a tint of light cosmetics on her cheeks and Brookline thought she was pretty good at it.
The nine-year-old cringed when she saw the dress in the mirror. She looked like she was six again and her mum was forcing her into a fluffy dress robe. Brookline lifted an eyebrow as she twirled. The gown was a checkered white-and-yellow dress with long blouse-like sleeves. It was tight, yet, at least it wasn’t a freaking corset. Oh, well. Not the end of the world.
She hugged Winmy when the house elf returned with her wooden brush. With a delightful thank you, Brookline reverted back to her tasks. Brushing through her lush brunette locks, she realized how tangled her hair really was. Sighing, she kept brushing. With her hair, you just have to keep brushing.
After five minutes, Brookline knew she couldn’t ignore this any longer. “Mum!! I need help,” the Quinn cried into the empty house. Everyone was in their rooms, most likely getting tidied. Her mother and father’s room was down the hall, near the guest room.
“Mum!” Brookline exclaimed, still brushing her hair. Her frantic combing strokes were a way to cope. If Brookline needed help with her messy hair, Amy would usually charm her curly locks to stay down and not be so frizzy.
“Yes?” Her mother’s one word reply rang like a melody. Oh, how Brookline would miss her mum’s beautiful voice later on.
Brookline Quinn bounded into her parents’ room. She held up her brush and hair in annoyance. “My hair, Mum. My hair!”
Amy shook her head. Again? her little smirk on her face seemed to tell. She twirled around in her long dark green dress. Ever since Lizy got Slytherin (and got expelled), Amy was embracing the new change in the family with the house’s colours. Once she had gotten her wand, Amy pointed the wand towards her daughter, whispering an unknown word. Instantly, Brookline’s greasy hair became untangled and gorgeous curls lightly ticked her cheeks. Down and unstyled, in case the young Quinn wanted to plait her hair. Brookline loved when her mother used magic. With a huge grin on her face, she skipped out the room, fingers already forming a waterfall braid.
Moments later, Brookline was all ready, and she was stuck with doing her sisters’ hair. This usually happened because she was the only one who knew how to braid (except their mother), but she adored plaiting so she kept a positive attitude. Lizy wanted a fishtail, Minnie preferred waterfall as well, and Marie wanted Brookline to try a new kind of braid. Soon, when Brookline was just about finishing Marie’s hair, when their mother (Chase Junior on her hip) told them to sit in the den to wait. Apparently the guests were here or would be here quite shortly. Shoving little Chase on Lizy’s gown-clad knee, Any Quinn fluttered to the door. She seemed rather happy. Yet another thing Brookline would miss.
As the children gossipped quietly in their mother tongue, Brookline quickly wrapped the hair bubble around Marie’s plait. “Ydych chi'n ei hoffi?” She handed her seven-year-old sister a handheld mirror (that would become cracked and practically broken in a couple of years), and a huge smile cracked on the girl’s face. It made Brookline smiled and she sweetly wrapped her arms around Marie. The little girl chattered a little thank you before grabbing Minnie’s hands, and the twins ran to another room. Brookline rearranged her sitting position as Lizy babied their little brother. Chase was wearing the most adorable bowtie and Lizy was fiddling with the accessory, while still occupying the toddler.
“Mami³! They’re here! Everyone, they”re here!” Marie raced back into the den, her little voice bouncing off the walls.
Minnie didn’t bother walking back to the den. She just called from the window in the other room, sounding bored. “Mum wants you lot to come to the door.”
Lizy peeled herself and Chase Junior off the couch, with Marie trailing behind her. Marie had been shy since birth and Brookline would bet forty sickles that her little sister wouldn’t speak to this pure-bred family once. While Marie and Lizy trotted to the door, the nine-year-old stayed seated for a good second. Would these kids even like her? Are they kind and proper? Why were they inviting just one family? Why not three? Why not two or five? Just call this a ball now. The young girl rolled her light eyes and forced herself to comply to her mother’s commands. It’s not like her father would come to the door. It would be a wonder and definitely a first if her mum got her father in formal clothes for this clearly vital gathering.
As Amy opened the door, a decent-sized family were standing, waiting patiently to enter. “Helo⁴! Morning, Sabrina and Astote. Come in, come in!” Her arms became wide as if she was welcoming a ton of orphans in her beloved home. Turning to the other kids, she smiled warmly, “Make yourselves at home, and leave your shoes on the carpet, children. Why don’t we introduce ourselves? I’m Amy.” Brookline waved automatically, but didn’t offer her name first. She wanted to be friendly yet not seem eager.
Minnie exclaimed an extremely excited hello, and it seemed like it was their first time meeting other kids. Minnie stated her name and her twin’s whereas Lizy beamed, “Hi, everyone. I’m Lizy, and this little ankle biter is Chase Junior.” Lizy grabbed Chase’s small wrist and waved at the Vanes family.
“And I’m Brookline! Pleased to meet you.” Of course the outgoing child remember her manners!
[ coded by elena clark ]
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occ notes: this thread is backdated to 2021 when brookline is nine years old.
welsh translations: ¹good morning, ²do you like it, ³mummy, ⁴hello
lovely banner is created by haven bohannon.
A Memory Of The Melody
"ℳom, do we have to take Lauren Loratrix Vanes to the Quinns' house? I don't want her singing their tables! It'll embarrass the whole Vanes family! Can we just please tell Mr and Mrs Quinn that you only have two children? She's gonna be disowned anyways!"
Their mother, Sabrina Vanes, shook her head, though it was clear that she would have given anything to abandon her youngest daughter out in the streets and to spare the family from having to see her every day. Lauren Vanes was cursed and thought to be a monster -- in her family's eyes, she was more cursed than Loratrix Vanes could ever have been. And Loratrix Vanes, being the only Slytherin in the family and the first to discover her Parselmouth ability, had naturally been hated by the family for years.
Being a Ravenclaw was a must in the Vanes family, who had spent centuries priding on their pureness. Never in the history of the family had a son or daughter been sorted into a house that wasn't Ravenclaw. And neither had the family produced a monstrous being who could communicate with snakes before. Loratrix Vanes had broken these sacred rules, and thus she wad shunned and treated as an outcast.
No one ever knew where it came from, and neither were they interested in the topic. A few years ago, the majority of the family had come up with the theory that whoever broke those rules were to be hated and would be disowned, effective immediately. But Lauren had not been officially disowned yet. The family tree, engraved on the walls of the Vanes manor, still had 'Lauren Vanes' printed in gold, next to the names of 'Felix Vanes' and 'Arianna Vanes'.
Felix and Arianna were... perfect sons and daughters, but of course that was in the eyes of the Vanes family. Felix was, in truth, a selfish, lowly brat, ungrateful for all that he owned and a frequent tormentor of Lauren. Yet he abided by every law of the Vanes household, and especially by the newly added one -- Lauren [and her aunt, Loratrix] were to be hated and humiliated, and anyone in the family, regardless of their age, could do anything to them. Lauren never had anyone to stick up for her in her family, except for her aunt, who also had her own problems to deal with.
If Felix was bad, then Arianna was ten times worse, but ten times better in the eyes of the Vanes family. Being Ravenclaws, the members of the Vanes family were intelligent in general, but had a horrible conscience despite their unmistakable hatred for Slytherins. If anyone deserved to gain the title 'cunning and malicious' and whatever the Vanes family hated about Slytherins, it was her. Arianna Vanes, one of their favourites. Yet they had only treated her as a golden child because she hated Lauren and actively sought to make her life miserable.
And the terrifying truth was that, Lauren Vanes was only seven. It had been a little over one year since her family started hating her. What for? She wasn't able to communicate with snakes [not yet]. She wasn't sorted into Slytherin [not yet]. It had all been based on a prediction. None of it was confirmed, yet her family was already acting like she was a monster.
And what had caused the Vanes family to make the assumption that she was going to turn out a Parselmouth and a Slytherin? Her obvious affection with her aunt. But what had been the cause of that? Her first instance of magic a year ago, when she singed her bedside table and burnt it, almost killing the family cat Blaze. But Blaze had started it all. She hadn't told Blaze to (almost) slice her arm in half! She hadn't told Blaze to disturb her sweet dreams! And she most certainly wasn't provoking Blaze and looking for trouble!
But the Vanes family would not listen to her explanations. All they cared about was Blaze, and Blaze was the one that had made her look like a monster. Every single member of her family treated her like she was some kind of monster now. And she didn't deserve it. Not a single bit of it. Blaze had started it all, and he was lying on the mat playing around with his tail at this moment, enjoying the family's affection. But Lauren would never look at Blaze the same way again.
Then she drifted into sleep. Her dreams were troubled, as always. Blaze had been -- quite surprisingly, talking to her.
--The room was dark, and shadows loomed around her.
Blaze was at her bedside again. Its eyes gleamed, and Lauren turned to look at them. But they weren't the natural amber they once were. They were gleaming gold, like the galleons she had seen on Aunt Loratrix's purse -- quite an unnatural eye colour. She opened her mouth to ask Blaze about his eyes, but he raised his paws and tried to claw Lauren's face. The seven-year-old leaped out of her bed and scrambled downwards, but Blaze was already there when she reached the ground. She looked up, wondering how Blaze could've gone that quickly, but his eyes were gleaming brighter than they were previously as he sat, triumphant, on her bed. Lauren opened her mouth to scream, but no words came out.
As she looked around, nervous, the Blaze next to her raised its claws. They weren't ordinary ones -- they were gleaming and were as long as Lauren was tall. She gulped, then jumped back. Unfortunately, she hit her head on something, and the ground gave way beneath her. She looked up, trying to get a grasp on whatever she could find (she was willing to even grab Blaze by the scruff to haul herself back up), but there was nothing. The only thing she saw were Blaze's golden eyes, lit up with glee as she tumbled down the abyss.
She braced herself, then looked down to see what awaited her beyond. But as she did, fire blazed from every angle and were reaching towards her. She looked up at the silhouette of Blaze for mercy, but his eyes were cold and gleaming with amusement. The fire reached towards her, and she closed her eyes, but everything was still the same as it was before. Orange. Blazing. Reaching towards her.
Then she found herself touching something soft, and let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the soft thing, whatever it was, would rescue her. Unfortunately for her, it was Blaze, and he was whispering into her ear.
"You tried to cause flames to have revenge on me. It was an honest mistake. I had loved you. I wanted to apologise. But you wanted to kill me because of that. But you wanted to burn me alive. You never felt the pain I was in, the horrible realisation that the Lauren I adored so much wanted me dead. This is just the beginning. Things will be a lot worse from now on."
"Worse?" she spluttered, not even spared the chance to question how Blaze knew how to talk. "How can things get any worse? It was all your fault in the first place! Yours and only yours! No one else's!"
"It can," Blaze whispered. "Wait and see."
Blaze vanished out of view, and something sharp prodded her. The interactions with Blaze -- that had been a dream. It wasn't real. It wasn't real life, but still it worried her.
--"What!" she said, annoyed. The sharp thing prodded her again, and so she looked up to see Felix holding a piece of silverware that Lauren didn't know the name of. He was grinning ear to ear, and somehow that ticked the seven-year-old off. Why did Felix have to go bothering her when he wasn't trying to apologise for being mean or anything? Why did he have to make her life miserable? What did she even do to him?
"Why can't you leave me alone for once?" she said, but as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she regretted it. Her brother was three years older than her. His status within the family was much better than hers. If they broke into a fight, the family would take his side and probably abandon her on the streets. But Lauren didn't even know why her family hated her so much, apart from the fact that she singed her bedside table. But it's not their table; it's mine! Why do they have to care about it?
Lauren didn't know; she would never know. All she knew, in that moment, was that her family hated her, and that she would have to make do with it. But her mind was full of questions. Why did they have to care about her bedside table? She was just six; she didn't know better! Didn't they know that she was impulsive? They had lived with her for so long; they really should know how to distinguish between whether it was a genuine mistake or intentional? What did she even do to deserve it, seriously?
Part of her still wanted her family to tell her that they were just testing her patience and that. She wanted to believe that they still loved her, and that they wouldn't abandon her in the streets, whatever they had said. She wanted to hear them apologise to her and tell her that everything was fine. But Blaze had told her that everything won't be fine. Was that hinting to her family? Was this part of Blaze's revenge? Maybe. Lauren didn't know, but she really wanted to kick Blaze now, in this very moment. Unfortunately, she still had Felix to worry about.
She turned her attention to her brother, not wanting to provoke him further. She stared at him for a full minute, and noticed that he seemed to still be stunned that Lauren had been so rude to her the moment before. But Lauren had endured more rudeness than Felix would ever have! Why can't Felix just brush it off and get used to her? Why did everyone have to think that she was a monster? She was just seven! She was just a little girl who her family apparently hated? Why couldn't things turn around? Why did she have to be the one to endure all the torture every single time?
She remembered the times when her family loved her more than anything. She was the golden child of her family. She was loved by everyone. No matter what she did, she was always right. If she had gotten into this sort of argument with Felix before she singed her bedside table, the entirety of the Vanes family would've taken her side and given Felix a piece of their minds. Both Felix and Arianna were jealous of her from when she was born, but they were still... nice, because they didn't want to risk their standing in the family.
Coming to think of it, they actually liked her back then because of how cute she was -- it had just been impossible not to like her. She was everything that symbolised a future Ravenclaw. She loved books. She had a thirst for knowledge. There was literally nothing in the 'Ravenclaw Requirements' list that she didn't feel. So why did her family think that she was going to get into Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw? She really didn't know, but maybe it was just twisted thinking in their part. Once they come back to their senses, they might -- just might -- love her once more.
But it really wasn't all that likely. Her family had made it clearer than crystal that they hated her, and often did things that... made her feel tormented. She brushed away the thought, not wanting to bring the memory up again. It was all so painful -- no, she was enduring it every day. That sort of thing had happened to her in every single day of the past year. And she had already grown used to it, but there was still that tiny flicker of hope that her family would love her once more...
No. Of course they would never. Because Felix had precisely chosen that moment to start talking, and there was still irritation in his voice. But it had been much, much better than the usual.
"I can. If you want to go to the Quinns' house, then you'd better not talk back. This wasn't my idea. I didn't want you to go with us, and neither did Arianna. You're so going to embarrass the family. But mom's word is law, and even though you don't abide by it, me and Arianna aren't going to be as lowly, so I'm telling you to get yourself ready. Or I'll just tell mom that I did my job and leave you home. That's the better alternative, hope mom will agree." He turned around, ready to stalk off with his head held high, but Lauren called him back in the last second.
"What?! Don't make any more stupid noises!"
"No, brother, please, I'd like to know about this Quinn family and why we're going there, and when are we leaving and everything --" The seven-year-old seemed to have forgotten her brother's hostility towards her, and started pestering him with questions. Naturally, Lauren's questions were not something Felix appreciated, because he glared at her and practically shouted the answer into her ear.
"WE ARE LEAVING IN -- I DON'T KNOW, TEN MINUTES OR SO. REMEMBER THAT WE ARE BEING VERY NICE AND GIVING YOU A CHANCE TO GO THERE, SO IF YOU BEGIN TO PESTER EVERY KID IN THAT HOUSEHOLD I WILL KICK YOU OUT OF THE DOOR IN FRONT OF EVERYONE, UNDERSTAND?"
The seven-year-old was privately annoyed that her brother didn't answer her other questions, like who were the Quinns and why the Vanes family were going there. She didn't see her father anywhere, but out of the corner of her eye, her mother, Sabrina, was combing Arianna's hair and making her look like a princess. Lauren stared at her billowing blonde hair, flailing all over the place, and felt a pang of jealousy. But there was no time to bring back the memories of when she was the 'golden child' and would have gotten treatment a that was thousand times as good as Arianna's. Sighing, Lauren grabbed a comb and tried to get the hair in place. The last thing she needed was to embarrass herself in front of the Quinns because of her hair.
She normally preferred it to be flailing because it was more refreshing than keeping her hair together, compressed inside the circle of a tie. But she really didn't need her mother or father or Felix or Arianna telling her that she was embarrassing the family and kick her out of the Quinn Manor or whatever it was called. Lauren couldn't have cared less about the name.
With great difficulty, the seven-year-old managed to keep her hair in place. Cursing under her breath, she pulled a silky white dress out of the drawer in her room, examined it for any specks of dirt, found that there was none, and decided to put it on. She dabbed makeup on her face, not caring about when the set was from, and went out of the door as quickly as she could. Her family usually didn't let her go on gatherings with other families because they, for some stupid reason, wanted to make her miserable or thought that she would embarrass the family. Whatever the case was, she didn't like it.
What had she even done wrong to deserve to be miserable? Lauren didn't know and decided that she wouldn't be given the answer any time soon. She looked at the stylised clock in her room, flicked her hair in annoyance, and went out into the living room.
Or maybe... was her family trying to tell her that they accepted her by bringing her to the Quinn Manor (or whatever it was called?) Or were they regretting their decision to try and make Lauren's life miserable? She hoped so, but after seeing and hearing her mother shout swears at her for taking so long, she guessed not. Maybe never. So she would just have to make do with it.
As soon as she got into her father's car, Sabrina Vanes started talking about the Quinn family to get her, Felix and Arianna 'prepared' so they wouldn't be 'kicked out of the door' by the Quinns. Lauren knew that the last part was directed at her, but she just bit her lip and waited for what her mother had to say. It was most likely going to be about something she wanted to know about, after all.
"So!" her mother was saying. "I know you two are anxious to get into their house, Felix and Arianna, but this ride is going to take about an hour and a half. As you already know, we're going to the Quinns' manor and I want you all to be on your best behavior. They have -- what, five daughters -- no, four daughters and one son. Arianna, I've heard that there's a girl who's the same year as you, so I expect that you two will become best friends or something, since you're both going to Hogwarts. I think her name is Brookline or something, but I'm not sure so you remember to ask her for her name." She paused, nodding to Arianna.
"Right," she continued, "I know that you're all wondering why I decided to bring, ah, Lauren Loratrix Vanes --" Lauren flinched when her mother spoke her full name out loud -- "and this is because I do know their parents, Amy and Chase Quinn, from when Lauren was small, and they do know that she exists, so I can't just not let her go because, ah, I believe that the Quinns do not appreciate exclusion that much." Lauren's heart practically leaped when her mother said that. Maybe she would blend in with the Quinns, but she doubted if her parents or siblings would let her. That Brookline girl sounded nice enough; Lauren would want to start by being friendly with her.
Felix was shooting the seven-year-old dirty looks from the other side of the car, which caused Lauren to bite her lip in unease. Maybe her family fed the Quinns bad information about her. And Lauren did not want that to happen, because the Quinns seemed to be a decent starting point for building good relationships for someone who would actually like her. If they had a bad impression of her before she actually met them, then... she didn't want to think about any future Hogwarts relationships. Everything would be ruined.
"Okay, we're there. Remember your manners, and don't embarrass the family. Anyone who does will be kicked out of the house with a real foot, so make sure to give the best impression possible." Their mother looked inside, and seemed to have been noticed immediately. Lauren could see a small girl bouncing around, chanting 'they're here'. She seemed to be... enthusiastic. Maybe Lauren could find a friend in her.
A woman, who seemed to be the mother, opened the door and let the Vanes family in, offering everyone the chance to introduce themselves so that they would get to know each other better. She looked at the Quinns' mother and scanned her face for a side-eye or eye-roll towards her, but there was none. Maybe her mother hadn't fed her bed information about Lauren after all. She breathed a sigh of relief.
She nodded her head as the girls introduced themselves, keeping her ears pricked for the name 'Brookline'. She wanted to make friends with the girl before Arianna did, since she knew that her sister was toxic and would feed her bad information about Lauren the first chance she got. Being the same age as Arianna, it was easy for them to get along.
Once she heard the name, she saw Arianna's lips curve into a smile, as if she was imagining what gossip she could spread to the other nine-year-old. Lauren bit her lip, and started introducing herself as soon as Brookline finished speaking. From the disapproving gaze of her mother, she guessed that she had ruined Sabrina's plans, but her mother had dared not say it in front of the Quinns.
"Nice to meet you too, Brookline." Her voice was surprisingly pleasant and calm, like ripples of water. She wanted to tell the nine-year-old that whatever she did, she shouldn't listen to Arianna, but was worried that it would make her seem like the toxic one. So she just kept her mouth shut and prayed that Brookline would be more interested in her than her sister. Because she really needed some friends to spend time with, as she was not a fan of having a miserable life.
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| 𝓼𝓽𝓪 2 | 𝓮𝓿𝓪 3 | 𝓼𝓽𝓻 1 | 𝔀𝓲𝓼 8 | 𝓪𝓻𝓬 8 | 𝓪𝓬𝓬 8 | XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | lauren vanes | parselmouth |
| ❝kill them with success and bury them with a smile.❞ |