Phoena
When Ollivander came back after talking to Flitwick, he had looked somewhat more disheveled than before and Phoena followed in behind him. This confused Nerine, as she had thought Phoena had never left the house. Then she realized she must’ve left out a back door. Ollivander didn’t pay mind to his daughter or formally introduce her to the Champagnes, she just quietly went to her puzzle and continued to work on it.
At this, the Champagnes and Ollivander started to discuss logistics that bored Nerine. The Champagne family couldn’t argue against spending the night after Ollivander gave the couple his leftover “muggle money” for their hotel cancellation fees. They were hesitant to accept it until Ollivander told them he uses the polymer in the cash for his potion recipes. It was an amount they couldn’t refuse. They were all standing next to the dining table, talking about how long they'd be staying, how wizarding real estate works, and how they would be getting their luggage back. Ollivander had asked for the photo the family took at the airport, and later that night, the luggage had arrived at their door. Nerine never got an explanation.
Nerine strayed off to Phoena and decided to introduce herself to the girl.
“What is this a puzzle of?” she said, kneeling down and looking at the pieces. She had thought there was a person in the portrait before, but now it seems to be a blank beige background.
“Circe, she might come and talk to us when I finish.” Phoena’s brown hair was long and voluminous but beautiful like an old painting.
“How do you know it's Circe? Where is she?” Nerine picked up a puzzle piece and started to help.
“It came on the box,” she looked away from the pile of puzzle pieces to the flipped box on the floor ahead. “See,” she flipped it over.
“Oh, so is she going to come back?” Nerine asked.
“Maybe one day, I assume she must be busy in Hogwarts though. She has a portrait there too, and I can’t imagine how many other portraits she has around her, or around the world. She is very respectable, the first witch that was written about in literature.”
Nerine remembered the story of Circe from her literature class.
Phoena slowly stopped working and turned nervously to Nerine, like she was building the courage to say something.
“My dad really wants you and your family to move into that house,” she said in a whisper. “I think he is hiding something from me about it though.”
“What? Why?” Nerine whispered back, she was getting afraid it was all too good to be true.
“I don’t know, well…” she looked at her father and the Champagnes, “Do you want to see my room?” she said in a normal tone.
“Yeah, sure!” Nerine replied.
Phoena’s room was magical. There were many hanging things, star decorations, sparkles, pinks and blues, and purples and golds. A toy carousel had horses that moved, like real horses. The stars on her ceiling looked like real stars, almost like Nerine was looking up at the night sky, and the night sky was much closer to earth, and in Phoena’s room.
She closed the door behind the both of them and started to explain her theorizing.
“There’s a boy who lives across the village named Iago. At first, I hated him because my dad hated him. I would tease him and he would tease me. I didn’t think much about why. We went to different schools and I didn’t see him often, only in the summer.” She explained.
“Then, his dad went to the ministry and tried taking my dad’s old house, the one he wants your parents to move into. Iago’s dad said there had to be someone living in the house. So, my dad has been trying to get someone to move in. However, people think it's haunted… well not actually, maybe cursed. People have stopped trusting my dad, I hear things… well it's mostly the pureblood families. What is left of them after the war.”
“Pureblood?”
“Witches and wizards whose families are all witches and wizards, no muggles. Iago is pureblood, he tells me that the families go out of the United Kingdom to get their wands now.”
“Why do you trust Iago if he is against your father? Why listen to his father? Doesn’t your dad not like him?” It sounded to Nerine that Phoena was getting in over her head.
“Well, if I told all this to myself a year ago, I would think I was crazy. However, my mom… disappeared shortly after I was born, I don’t remember her. I only have pictures.” Phoena went to sit on her bed, slumping her shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” Nerine didn’t know what to say, she was never good at giving sympathies.
“My dad told me he doesn’t know what happened, that she must have gotten lost in the search for a cure for my aunt. I don't know, he doesn’t really talk about it, but, her sister or my aunt had a blood disease that ran in the family. I don’t get to talk to her much either. She doesn’t like my dad, thinks he has something to do…” Phoena trailed off, she seemed distant in how she spoke about it.
“It’s all confusing and no one really tells me anything about it, but Iago told me what his father says about mine. He said my dad was hiding something, he did something to her. I didn’t want to believe it but my dad never tells me anything. Last summer Iago and I got a lot closer, we have been sneaking back and forth places, trying to figure it all out. I trust him, he is just as curious about my mother as I am.”
“Iago's dad doesn't like yours. Do you think Iago is just saying whatever his dad tells him?”
“No, no, he isn’t close with his dad. He didn’t care about any of this till we got closer and my dad got stricter on seeing him. Now, we both are trying to figure out what really happened with my dad and his, and it has all come down to my mom.”
“So, Mr. Ollivander and Iago’s dad… Mister…”
“Nott”
“Nott, have some weird history about a house and your mother and don’t want you two hanging out because of it?” Nerine had to connect the details in her mind.
In response, Phoena got up and went to her closet. There were some books strewn on a shelf and she picked up the red one.
The title had something to do with “magical creatures” and when she flipped it open, Nerine spotted a drawing of a unicorn. Phoena picked up a photo that was wedged in between the unicorn drawing and some paragraphs. She put the book down and moved to Nerine. They both now sat on Phoena’s bed.
The moving picture showed Ollivander with a blonde girl and a brunette boy. There was writing on the bottom corner that read, “Gerbold, Daphne, and Theodore.” They all seemed happy, the blonde girl, wearing a long sparkly black dress and standing between two boys, Nerine assumed, was Phoena's mother, Daphne. The other brunette that wasn’t Ollivander must be Theodore. He had deep brown eyes that even with his smile, seemed to glare. Ollivander looked so much younger, he had his short brown hair and blue eyes, but was clean-shaven and his smile seemed wider. He was still quite tall, standing next to the other two.
“That’s my dad, that’s my mom, and that's Iago’s dad, Theodore.” She pointed at each. “This was at the last annual yule ball, they all kind of went together. My mom and Theodore were Slytherins and my dad was a Ravenclaw… you’ll find out about the houses when we get to Hogwarts, I think I'll be in Ravenclaw… you seem like a Gryffindor… The House Hat decides though.” Phoena looked back at the picture and continued telling Nerine everything she knew.
“Iago said that Daphne and Theodore were supposed to be married since they're both purebloods, but Daphne had other plans. Me and Iago, from what we’ve heard, think she wanted to marry both.” Phoena’s expression began to match those in the photo she held, the three students smiling and snickering as people moved around in the background. Nerine giggled too, but she also couldn’t shake the feeling similar to watching a true crime documentary.
“My dad started researching this wand that… we still don’t know what it does. I think my mom thought it would be able to cure her sister and tried helping find it too. Theodore says that they went to an old shop in Hogsmeade called “Vesters and Venum” and Daphne never returned. There was no trace of where she went, and sometimes with magic, it can be hard to track what happened. A house elf owns the shop named Penny, she was out that day and my parents broke in. I was with Theodore back at the old house. No one was there to witness her disappearance except my dad.”
“Anyways, this winter break, Iago and I went into the old house. He says it was where my parents and Theodore lived after graduating from Hogwarts and around when I was born. Nothing was in there, no furniture, no decorations, not even a scrap. We hung out there, brought enchanted blankets and pillows that emitted heat, and made forts. We brought some other kids too and it was a winter hideout. Then, we noticed a loose floorboard with a compass under it. It didn’t point north though, and we still don’t know where it follows. It’s still there… we should go sometime, but we have to be extra careful. Just before winter break ended, my dad caught everyone in the house and warded it off. Now that you and your parents are moving in though… me and Iago thought maybe you could get us in.”