An Unpleasant Task

The night was dark and cold and the young girl shivered as she rushed along the streets of this dismal neighbourhood. Glancing over her shoulder a couple of times she looked nervous.

She looked young, maybe 20 years old. Walking briskly, she looked as if she wanted to get to her destination quickly.

She had thought long and hard about this decision and had decided that it was for the best. In a time like this, it was all she could do!

She had only told Harry, no-one else and especially not Ron.
‘He would just overreact’ she thought to herself. Harry had thought she should tell him and had said she couldn’t hide it forever but yet she had! Even she thought that it was an incredible achievement, to hide something this big!

She had wrestled with the thought of telling Ginny but the fewer people who knew the better and given Ginny’s pregnancy it was probably not a good idea. This was not a secret that should get around. And if the Daily Prophet found out… she shuddered to think! A member of the order of the phoenix involved in this kind of scandal! They would have a field day!

She had almost reached her destination and she was beginning to experience feelings of doubt about the decision she had made. She lifted the bundle in her arms and gazed at it with mingled feelings of love, terror and sorrow. She stopped looking at the bundle quickly and tried to harden her resolve, she had to do this, there was no other option.

Thoughts of life if she didn’t go through with the act came into her head. Her relationship with Ron would suffer and if Ron found out that Harry had known their friendship would suffer. She couldn’t live with something like that, no, she would do this! No matter how hard!

Her destination was a home of one trusted confidant, friend and family member. She was a lovely old woman who lived alone, she was a spinster. Having never married, she had said it was better that way; she had never had the opportunity to have or raise children. Many had said this was sad as the woman possessed many qualities which would have made a good mother even if a father was not around. The woman’s name was Ellen Elizabeth James and was the girl’s great aunt on her mother’s side. At a young age the girl had been close to her great auntie Ellen but hadn’t seen her in long time, too long she thought to herself, too long. She owed her great auntie a favour and now it was time to pay it back.

Suddenly the house she sought appeared in front of her, it jumped out at her and seemed to gaze at her disapprovingly as her aunt would have done. The house itself was tall and in the dark surrounding her it had an eerie presence and feel to it. She had visited this house many times as a child, but that seemed so long ago now. The house was nearly exactly how she remembered it, from the patterned curtains in the windows to the neat little flowerbeds in the front garden.

Even the gnarled, leafy oak tree in the corner of the garden was still there and looked as beautiful as it always had. She had loved the tree then and in her heart of hearts the tree sparked a feeling of deep affection inside her, not only for the tree but for her great auntie Ellen as well.

Hanging from the branch of the tree was a makeshift rope swing her and her aunt had put together. She had spent hours swinging on the tree swing, reading books or simply daydreaming.

Shaking herself from her reverie, she gathered her thoughts.
‘Can’t bottle out now’ she said quietly to herself. She headed toward the shiny red gate and the end of the intricate crazy paving path. Trying to make as little sound as possible she opened the gate, balancing the bundle in her arms at the same time.

The walk to the buttercup yellow door seemed endless and she just wished it would end, yet still the door seemed miles away. She resisted the urge to look at the bundle knowing that it would weaken her resolve, not really a thing she could afford to happen at this point.

Unwanted memories and feelings flickered into her mind, not ones she looked back on with great happiness, quite the opposite in fact. She shoved them to the back of her mind, and determinedly walked to the door.

And so Hermione Granger placed the little baby girl on the doorstep of the house and placed a letter under the mat. Little did she know that this action had been done many years before, leading to an unpleasant life.

Innocence

It was a mild morning and a little girl was playing in the front garden of her house. She was running, jumping, having loads of fun, her light brown hair streaming behind her because of the speed she ran at. When you looked at her face you saw a picture of happiness…

Watching the little girl, Ellen pondered. She wondered at the carefree attitude of the little girl, she tried to remember the last time she herself had had that feeling.
‘Too long’ she said to herself quietly. Too long.

Paige herself was oblivious to the gaze of the woman she called Granny. She just carried on playing, enjoying the freedom of body and mind.

Ellen continued watching her ‘Granddaughter’ even if their relation to each other was far more complicated that Granny and Granddaughter. She sighed to herself, if only it were that simple. To the outside world she was a kindly old lady who had fostered a little girl, but kept the little girl herself ignorant of that fact. In reality she was her great, great niece. Obviously she could not share that tiny fact with the girl or anybody else, she had to follow the wishes of the mother. Oh the mother…

Paige stopped playing and headed to the tree swing. Her Granny had always looked upon the tree fondly and when she had asked why, her Granny had just smiled and answered,
‘It reminds me of someone I used to know, that’s all dear’. She had pondered on who, but as far as she knew, there wasn’t anyone. Her Granny tended to be a solitary woman and wasn’t really very sociable. She sat on the swing, deep in thought.

Ellen saw the little girl sit on the tree swing and she smiled fondly. If only she could tell her about another little girl who had sat on the swing for hours. But she couldn’t. Well, she could but she shouldn’t, not really. I mean the girl had a right to know where she came from, didn’t she? Well, she would find out eventually, I’m sure. Although maybe she wouldn’t be too happy with what she found. Ellen herself didn’t really understand the big deal but she wasn’t like ‘that’. Whatever ‘that’ was.


Swinging on the little swing she went deep into thought, as she often did while swinging. Her Granny said she was a dreamer when she wasn’t a bookworm.
‘A worm!’ she giggled to herself.
Her Granny said many things about her personality, sometimes it felt like she was being watched or analysed. Her Granny had said she was determined and was sly but also had said she was very intelligent. Her Granny said confusing things sometimes…

Glancing again at Paige she saw she was deep in thought, Ellen smiled slightly. She was a dreamer and not like other 8 year olds. She was special and was sometimes so like a daughter to Ellen it was unbelievable, sometimes she even forgot that they weren’t as closely related as she felt. If only she was a mother to this little girl, things would have been so different and life would have been better for her, the little girl and especially…the mother.

Still deep in thought Paige wondered if she should ask her Granny about her mummy again. She had asked many times over the years but had never really got a proper answer. Her Granny either made an excuse not to talk about it or was very vague…
She said things like,
‘Your mummy loves you very much’ or,
‘Mummy would love to look after you… but she can’t’. These answers were very frustrating; she wanted to know the truth!

Looking at Paige’s face, Ellen winced. She knew that look, it was her ‘who’s mummy?’ look. It usually followed with endless questions which she did her best to avoid. It was so hard! She didn’t want to lie, it was so hard to avoid the questions and she knew she disappointed with the answers she gave, they were so vague and noncommittal. It broke her heart to see those deep brown eyes fill with a look of disappointment and her little pale face that had been so lit up, all the light just drifted away. Ellen’s heart wept for her.

The little girl knew that her Granny wanted to answer the questions she asked, you could see by her round face looking uncomfortable and she wandered away looking depressed. She didn’t ask very often, because she was a good girl really and didn’t like to upset her Granny.

What confused Ellen was that Paige was always very interested in what her mother was like, what she looked like etc but never mentioned a word about her father. Ellen thought it was only natural for a girl to be more interested in her mother but never to mention her father? That was slightly unusual, wasn’t it? She supposed it must be a small miracle from God because in all honesty, she didn’t know anything about the father, not even his name! So it was just as well Paige didn’t ask, she would have to be ever more vague than usual, oh life was complicated sometimes!

Paige decided that she would wait a while to ask her Granny again, it seemed only polite to wait. She liked to be polite to her Granny but she was determined to get her information in whatever cunning and sly way possible. She was like that sometimes and sometimes it scared her.

Still thinking about the father of her beautiful angel, Ellen wondered if he was a bad person. Bad seemed such a mild word but that was the essence of her curiosity, was he that horrible that her darling Hermione had hid it from her? Did she herself know this man? He could live down the street! No, now she was living in flights of fancy!
‘Get a grip!’ she scolded herself.

Getting a book out from under the bush next to the tree, Paige began to slip into the fantasy world of her favourite author. All thoughts of her mother disappeared.

Ellen glanced over at Paige, she had stopped thinking whatever thoughts she had been thinking and was devouring her latest book. Ellen sighed to herself,
‘How innocent children are’

A White Van

The afternoon was cold, and at such an early hour the sky was growing dark. Paige walked along the road out of school, later than everyone else. She had had a meeting with the teacher but he had mysteriously ‘forgotten’ what it was about! Weird!

The little lane was lonely and isolated and Paige shivered but not particularly for the cold. The quiet lane was spooky when it was empty, and the leaves rustled loudly in the wind.

She hated to walk home alone but as she had had a ‘talk’ with the teacher, her friend had left without her. A twig cracked behind her and she jumped, startled. Always jumpy, she was. Quickly forgetting about her fright, she began to walk faster, the cold affecting her.

Beginning to fret, she walked even faster, nearly jogging. Her Gran would be worried; she hated it when Paige was late. She was always very protective over Paige; Paige saw it as over protective.

Finally she reached the main road, relieved to leave the spooky road, and then shuddering slightly she remembered the next part of the journey. A walk through a small wood. Paige was a wimp really in her heart but she was determined not to show it, her thoughts drifted to an incident which proved that fact…

1 month ago

It was a mild winter day, slightly chilly but not freezing. Paige was walking home with a few friends, Alisa, Phoebe and Aneliese when they approached the shortcut through the wood. They all stooped and gazed into the depths of the small wood. Phoebe started to say she didn’t want to go through it and privately Paige agreed, the wood was not the nicest place in the world, spooky really. Alisa always liked to play dares and predictably she set a dare, ‘I dare someone to walk through the woods alone!’ she said with a fiendish glee.
‘Of course, Alisa would never complete the dare herself!’ Paige thought silently to herself.

Phoebe obviously refused immediately and Alisa made her excuses as always. Aneliese said she would do it but talked herself out of it before she even a neared the wood. So, it was left to Paige.

Looking into the wood, it seemed a whole lot scarier now she was going in it. The wood frightened her to the core but she really wanted to make herself look good.
‘Shallow, really.’ Paige thought.

She nearly bottled out but the determination to reach her goal won over all fears. But even determination needs courage. Paige showed the courage and determination she had to her three best friends and without another word marched into the wood.

The wood itself was deeply scary to the newly turned 10-year-old. To her the trees looked like wizened old men and she thought all old men were frightening, no matter how many loving tales her friends told her about their grandfathers. Though only early afternoon, the wood was dark due to the heavy canopy the leaves created and the dark, spooky shadows she saw provided her imagination with ammunition. Vivid mental pictures came into her mind, and she saw atrocities that could have been committed here. Breaking into a run, she reached the other edge of the wood quickly before her friends reached it. Gasping for breath she congratulated herself on her strong determination to reach her goal.

* * *

Her mind returning to her present situation, she realised she had reached the edge of the wood. A nondescript white van was parked outside the wood and Paige looked at it. A memory came to mind, a younger Gran shouting at the driver of a white van, a white van parked outside their house. She was shooing a toddler version of herself into the house. This white van looked identical to that van that day but her memory couldn’t be trusted from that long ago and honestly don’t all white vans look the same?

Curiosity overcame her and she peered into the passenger seat window. The van was empty. Losing interest quickly she turned around disappointedly. A loud crack sounded behind her as she walked onwards. Scaring her she ran into the wood, the fear of the noise surpassing the fear of the wood itself.

Slowing suddenly, Paige scolded herself for freaking out like that.
‘Someone probably dropped something heavy!’ she thought to herself.

Continuing her walk, she began to enjoy the trees. Losing herself in the beauty she didn’t notice a man approaching her until it was too late…

Slamming Paige against a big oak tree, the man glared at her menacingly. He had short bristly hair and his gorilla like arms held her firmly against the tree. Starting to cry out, Paige was kicked in the shins. The man started to grunt out a sentence,
‘Tell Ellen, she had better come around or we’ll be paying the girl another visit’ the sentence had clearly been memorized and Paige started at her Gran’s name. Obviously not caring for her health he knocked Paige out, leaving her lying on the forest floor.

* * *

‘Come on Paige! Wake up, please!’ a voice called through the black. Blinking furiously, the world started to form around her. Paige began to make out trees and a friendly face looking at her concernedly. Sighing with relief, Ellen smiled at Paige. Beginning to sit up, a massive headache hit Paige like a tidal wave and she grimaced. A worried look crept on Ellen’s face and she began to question Paige,
‘Paige, what happened here? Are you hurt? How’s your head? ‘The questions came like bullets in her head.

Clutching her head, she started the story. About how the man with gorilla arms had attacked and left her with a message and how he had knocked her out and left her on the forest floor. Ellen’s face was a picture of horror and she looked very upset. Then, she asked for the message.
Paige with a 10-year-old innocence, gave her the message and Ellen’s mouth tightened. Before Paige could ask about it, she was being led by the hand home, bewildered and quite scared.

When they reached the house Ellen sat Paige down on the chair and sat opposite.
‘It time I told you about who you really are.’

A/n - Thanks to my friend Kate for helping me with the names of Paige’s friends.