Storm Bringer (Rewrite)

Sleep drifted in and out of Azalea's conscious mind, and for most likely the first time in her life as a child, she didn't move to fight staying asleep. For the first time, she felt safe and warm. She felt absolutely comfortable, until the exact moment she finally decided to open her vivid green eyes. The first thing that greeted her blurry vision was the sight of a completely unfamiliar room. Instinctually she began to panic as she took in that she was lying in the center of someone's bed, which was unallowed by Aunt and Uncle. She continued to panic over the visible sunlight that was much too bright for her sensitive eyes. It meant two things. She was not in her cupboard under the stairs, and that she had done the even more unthinkable. She had slept in. Aunt and Uncle, and Dudley especially... They would be downright furious. 

She began to try and figure out who's of the three bedrooms at her home that had beds in the room she was in. She could rule out Dudley's, there were no toys thrown about or a telly in the room, and the room was much too large. That also ruled out Aunt and Uncle's room, from the little she had seen of it on the few times she changed the sheets for Aunt when she was allowed in the room. She also knew this was not the guest bedroom for when Aunt Marge came to stay either. That meant she was absolutely somewhere she was not supposed to be and she did not know where she was. It was while she was having a panic that a quiet pop announced the entrance of Zilly, something Azalea didn't notice until a small boney hand had reached out and grabbed the scared child's small shoulder. Azalea let out a small scream at the sudden movement and reared back, preparing herself to be struck. Aunt would never dare to let her make such a noise; surely she was about to be struck as she had been many times before. 

When no such pain came at her, only after a long moment did she dare to open her eyes, and take in the sight of the first familiar thing inside of this strange room. It was... It was.... Azalea couldn't remember what the thing was called but it was decidedly not a human. The startled child stopped crying in her surprise, trying desperately to try to remember what had happened the night before. 

The last thing that she remembered, she was in Aunt and Uncle's kitchen, cleaning up from another dinner that she made, another one she never got to eat. Aunt and Uncle would feed her the next day, a stale tasting piece of bread and water from the bathroom tap. It was the only thing she ever was given to eat and she only ever dreamed of what the food she cooked for them tasted like. She tried hard to think but her head was very fuzzy to think and her face hurt something bad. She was in the kitchen.... She was in the kitchen and she had dropped a platter. Then it rushed back to her in a series of flashes of memory. There was the sound of the dish crashing to the floor, shattering into unrepairable shards that would forever change her life. She remembered being struck hard by her Uncle, not a first to happen. He threw her out into the storm, and it was raining so hard that she felt the pellets of rain hit into her bones. She remembered how she had landed hard into the mud, and how hard she had started crying, knowing she would be left outside, locked out in the middle of a terrifying storm with no shelter, no protection from the elements. And she had prayed and cried to anything, anyone listening, for her salvation. She had asked anyone listening to shelter her from harm, and just as a crack of lightning had happened, she was suddenly somewhere else entirely. 

She remembered wandering through crowds of people, dressed in clothing in a way she had never seen in her entire life. She was somewhere she didn't know, with no way home and she cried harder than ever. She would die there, with no way home, no food or water, and in so much pain. She was soaked to the bone and tired, not paying attention to where she was going when she quite literally walked into her rescue. 

The kind woman... Azalea tried to remember her name, and cheered internally when she finally remembered what the woman had said. Her name was Cassiopeia Lyra Black. That was what the woman said when she did that thing with the stick in her hand and said those funny words. She even told her what her own name was. It wasn't weirdo or f-freak. It was Azalea. Her name was Azalea ! Azalea decided she would just call the women Miss Black, like she heard her cousin do with his instructors. 

Miss Black had done strange things, but she had called for a doctor and the doctor actually came and healed Azalea, which was a first in her lifetime. When Aunt and Uncle or Cousin hurt her.... No one helped, no one healed her. 

Miss Black had introduced the thing in the strange room as something called a house elf. She tried to think harder but her head was pounding and it was still so hard to think. 

"Good morning little Azalea!" The house elf said in only what she could describe to be a high pitched squeaky voice, startling her out of her thoughts entirely. She jerked back out of reflex, wincing at the sudden dizzy feeling she felt. 

"G-good morning..." She trailed off into a frown. She felt awfully rude and she knew she would be struck for not remembering the house elf's name, surely.

"I apologize.. I do remember you, but I do not recall y-your name." She said in her most polite tone of voice she could muster at the moment. She watched as the house elf literally jumped at being addressed directly, and braced for the expected blow that she knew would come. If she were to dare not remember a guest's name that Aunt or Uncle had over, she knew what punishment would come in the end. But still, no pain was felt and she slowly opened up her scrunched up eyes that she didn't notice that she had closed. 

"My name is being Zilly! Mistress Cassiopeia be assigning me to take care of you for the moment." The house elf squeaked out excitedly. 

"Thank you Miss Zilly. Would you be so kind as to lead me the way to the kitchen so I might cook for Miss Black? Surely she must be hungry by this time of morning. I know it will be expected for me to do the cooking and cleaning. That's what Aunt and Uncle told me. My job is to cook and to clean. I am to keep the home spotless." Azalea said with a frown. She didn't like cleaning; it was hard to do some of the chores with her small hands and short height, but she didn't mind cooking some. She was getting rather good at it lately, but that came with the daily forced cooking that Aunt and Uncle expected of her.

"Cooking? Oh no, silly Miss Azalea. Us house elves are the ones to cook for Mistress Cassiopeia. She is to be asking me to help you get dressed to come down and join her for breakfast." Zilly carefully explained seeing the clearly written distress on the little girl's face.

Zilly watched as the girl let out wordless sputters, not being able to sound out any coherent words that the child was trying to make. Zilly could feel the rising magic in the child rise up in reaction to her panic and distress, and tried her best to sooth the little girl. 

"Shh- Shh it's being okay little Azalea. What is being wrong? What can Zilly do to help Miss Azalea? Little Miss Azalea mustn't be crying like that. She mustn't be crying like that at all." Unfortunately her attempts at comforting the little child were falling on deaf ears and she could tell. Zilly wasn't worried about what Mistress Cassiopeia would do to her; her Mistress had never laid harm to her or any of the other house elves ever in her lifetime as an elf, and she felt safe in that fact. But she was worried for the very distressed child and she was unsure of what to do with her limited knowledge of magical children. 

The child had begun to hyperventilate in a fit of pure panic so Zilly did what her own mother had done when she was a little one. Zilly rubbed her small boney hand on the upset girl's back and shoulders in small circular movements, in a gesture she had felt the same effects of when she herself was small and upset over something.

"The spider and the mouse; the spider and the mouse. One lays a web and the other craws about. " She began to sing to the crying child a nursery rhyme that she remembered from her younger years and watched as it slowly worked it's own kind of soothing magic on the child. Slowly, the girl stopped crying, and her breath evened out with the random hiccup or two mixed in. Zilly moved slowly, as to not upset the child again, and wiped away a big fat tear that had begun to roll down Azalea's face. 

"It is being okay little Azalea. It is being okay." She continued to soothe the girl in her care until the child was calm enough for her to try to speak again.

"A-Aunt and Uncle a-always expect breakfast to be on the table before they come to the kitchen. H-how can I cook for M-Miss Black if I don't know where the kitchen is?" Azalea finally got out, with only a few stutters. Everything she thought she knew was mixing up on it's end. Nothing she knew to be normal was happening and she was very upset about it. 

"Miss Azalea, it is being your job to be a child. A child does not cook; a child does not clean the house. It is not expected of you. Mistress Cassiopeia has been sending me to help you dress so that you are to be eating breakfast with her in the dining hall." Zilly continued gently, sensing the hidden danger in how this conversation could go. She would need to be cautious in how she used her words around the new charge. Clearly the little witch was upset, and Zilly could both see and sense the healing injuries of her new charge. It was bad ill to harm a wizarding child; only the worst kind of people did that. 

"M-Miss Black wants me to eat with her? Not to c-cook her b-breakfast?" Azalea asked after a quiet moment. She used all of her bravery to ask that question. Aunt and Uncle had ingrained into her a very simple set of rules for her to follow and to not ask any questions ever was the third given rule. They had ingrained nine separate and very important rules into her memory through a series of painful lessons that she was never likely to forget. 

Rule one was that she was to never talk back, ever. That had been a quickly learned rule that she had come to live by. After the first time she protested the mistreatment she had received by her Aunt, she was hit and she was hit hard. It was the clear way in which Dudley was given a plate of delicious looking brownies while she had gone nearly five days without any food and she was starving , and she had voiced the fact that she was hungry and that he in fact had just finished lunch himself before Aunt had handed Dudley an entire plate of brownies just for him to eat.  Aunt swung and hit Azalea across the head with a heavy metal frying pan, hard enough for Azalea to feel sleepy and confused for the next day or so, with a very dark bruise that has quickly bloomed across the entire right side of her face. She hadn't ever repeated that action again, even if she was oh so hungry. 

The second rule followed that one soon after; she was to do exactly as she was commanded no matter the cost to her. Even if she was told to do something that she knew would cause harm to her, Azalea knew that she must do as she was told or else the price would be worse than whatever would have happened to her otherwise. That lesson was in the form of being locked outside in the baking sun of the August heat until the back door was unlocked for her to come in and make them all breakfast the next morning. Azalea had been terribly sunburnt and was so very thirsty after that, but she had learned her lesson. She was told to prune the rose bushes but didn't prune them all well enough to Aunt's liking. While she hadn't been struck that time, she had ended up with a physical injury and the resulting sun poisoning that she went through in return wasn't something she would ever want to experience again.

The third rule given was that she was never to ask a question, even if she needed clarification on a command that she was given. The one and only time she asked her Aunt a question about something she overheard on the telly about something, resulted in Azalea going almost an entire week without food, and only the water she could steal from the tap in the bathroom when she was allowed to use the restroom for that day. By day six, she had been so tired and sluggish that her performance was being affected and that was the one and only reason that her Aunt decided that she was allowed to be given food again.

The fourth rule she has learned was still a strange one to her to this day. She was to never speak to any of the neighbors or any stranger outside of the house, even if they spoke directly to her. It was told to her that she would spoil their day with her filth if she opened her mouth to them. To be fair, she had only ever come across a situation for that rule two times in her life, as she wasn't typically allowed outside of the house with the exception for caring for the front gardens. 

The first time she had ever left the walls of what she knew to be her home, she had all but been dragged by her ears to the church three streets down and was commanded to dig through a bin of donated glasses after she had told her aunt that she couldn't read the words in the cookbook because they were too blurry. It had been the one and only time that Aunt had never punished her for speaking out about something. Azalea figured that it was because it directly affected her ability to properly cook a meal for Aunt, Uncle, and Dudley. Azalea dug through the bin of discarded glasses, trying on three different pairs before she had put on a pair of spectacles with round shaped lenses that were made of thin metal wires, and it was the first time Azalea ever could see something clear enough to read words properly. She had always tried her hardest to squint and make out what the blurry words said but it had gotten worse and worse over time to the point that she could no longer see right. 

The second and only other time she had ever left the property had been when she was forced to visit her neighbor Mrs. Figg's house for an overnight stay. The house was very cluttered, and had cats all over the place inside and out. It reeked too, of boiled cabbage and cat pee and Azalea had been downright miserable and uncomfortable. She was given normal food and even an entire glass of water for dinner. She figured at the time that Mrs. Figg wasn't aware of the rules that Aunt and Uncle had given her. Azalea would have almost preferred to stay home alone at the house, but Aunt and Uncle must have been worried that she would dare to break rule number four. 

The fifth rule was to never steal food or any water from Aunt or Uncle, because she wasn't able to pay for it so she wasn't allowed to have it unless they had the kindness in their hearts to give her some of their food that was paid for with Uncle's 'hard earned' money. Stealing was a crime and they told her she would end up rotting in jail just like where her drunk driving parents should have been. That was when Azalea learned that her mother and father had died in a horrible car accident that took their lives. It explained the green flash of light that she saw in the worst of her nightmares, ones she had to hold herself back from screaming as she woke up in a fit of terror. 

The sixth rule was to keep the entire house in pristine condition. That meant that she was to make up the beds except her Aunt and Uncle's own bed which her Aunt would do herself, have all the laundry cleaned, hung and to iron the clothing when needed, clean the various rooms and keep up on all of the dusting. She had learned from a young age to use an electric sweeper, how to sweep the kitchen with the broom and mop the floors, and how to wash and hang the curtains, all of which were done every week on a specific schedule that Aunt had commanded her to follow. 

The seventh rule was much the same as the sixth, as Azalea commanded to keep the front and back gardens in a pristine state. She was to water the plants, cut the lawns, weed the gardens and prune and keep up the different flowers and rose bushes. Azalea liked gardening enough, but she dreamed and wished for gardening gloves, ones that would protect her small child sized hands from the sharp thorns of the rose bushes. There had been many times in her life that she had caught her fingers on thorns, and had drawn blood each time. They were sharp and pointed, and Azalea dreaded pruning the rose bushes each and every time for that reason. No matter how careful she was, she always ended up bleeding a little bit at the very least each and every time. She had quickly gotten used to licking her own blood, and now found that while she didn't prefer it to happen, she was rather good at keeping the blood on her fingers off of the plants by licking her own wounds. 

The eighth rule was also very firmly ingrained into her mind through a very heavy handed lesson. She was to never sit on anyone's furniture ever, unless it was the cot under the stairs in her cupboard. The only exception she ever had to this rule was the time she did stay over at Mrs. Figg's home, where she was forced to sit on a very stiff vinyl covered couch that squeaked loudly as she shifted in her seat. She had been in a moderate deal of pain from being disciplined the previous day. Dudley had made a mess, and she hadn't cleaned it up quickly enough for Uncle's liking. When he decided that she was purposely being too slow, she had been struck on her rear and had been made to count each and every one. If she was to miscout, or not talk loud enough for Uncle's liking, he was to start over until he was satisfied that Azalea had learned her lesson. 

And that led to the ninth and final lesson. She was not allowed to cry. She wasn't allowed to cry if she was in pain or was being disciplined, or if she was injured or hungry or thirsty either. Crying in front of Aunt or Dudley... or especially Uncle... she shuddered at the memory of the discipline she had received from one of the few times she had ever cried. She had been very little and was very hungry. It had been three days from the last time she had been so graciously fed by her Aunt out of the goodness of her Aunt's heart. Azalea had watched as her Aunt fed Dudley some freshly baked cookies, one of the only things her Aunt ever cooked or baked, and her stomach growled hard in response to the sight and smell of the freshly baked sweets. She had been young enough, and naive enough to ask Dudley for one of his cookies. He had thrown a fit in response to her asking him to dare to share his treasured cookies, and with her especially, a Freak , and in the process had dropped his cookies. He had become hysterical and Azalea had been blamed for his accident, as was what always happened. That was the first time that her Aunt had ever struck her head. She had been swatted at with a sturdy wooden spoon that left a welt for more than a few days before it disappeared and began to fade away. The lesson had been learned though. When Azalea had cried out in pain from the strike against her cheek, Aunt had made it even more clear that she was to never cry again, in front of Aunt or Dudley, Uncle especially, or even in her cupboard when she was alone. It just wasn't worth it and never ended well for her in the long run.  

"Mistress Black wants you to dress and join her in the dining hall for breakfast. She be waiting for you so that you might be eating. Mistress Black said to be dressing warm, you are to be going out today and it is beginning to be colder outside." Zilly said gently, slowly leading the child off the bed and to where there was a wardrobe directly across the room from the bed. Azalea just followed along, allowing the small house elf to push and prod at her to move. She was reeling in shock of the change in her situation. Everything that Azalea had come to know... Her entire life, her entire routine of how things were.. It had come to a fast and startling end the moment she had appeared suddenly in that street and run quite literally into Miss Black and Azalea was just starting to realize that. She didn't know whether it would be a good thing yet but she did know that she never wanted to go back to Aunt and Uncle and Dudley if she could help it. 

The house elf opened up the wardrobe and produced out from it, a silk lined coat hangers were clothing exactly her size. The first hanger held a pale green silk blouse with shiny pearlescent buttons going down the front, and the second one behind that one held a small pair of black dress slacks, pressed neat with no wrinkles, much like she had done many times for Aunt and Uncle with a hot steam iron. The third hanger held something she didn't recognise at all, but it was clearly some kind of long jacket. It was a soft looking dove grey cloth that had two black buttons near the neck, with loop fasteners on the other side to catch the buttons and hold the jacket shut. The only items that were hanging neat on the hangers were her underwear that she had been wearing the day before. They were the ones she had worn forever, and they were very loose on her body and had quite a few holes from the previous wearer's wear and tear that were there when she had gotten them second hand from the same church she had gotten her glasses from. 

Azalea felt a strong pang of embarrassment at the idea of having to wear them ever again, especially with them on display next to the nice new and pristine looking clothing that she was being allowed to wear instead of the muddy soaking wet ones she had arrived in. 

"I-I... I don't." She started to speak but her words caught in her throat as more tears welled up in her eyes. 

"Little one, would you like new underwear?" Zilly asked softly, a gentle understanding in her eyes at the sight of her new young charge. 

"I.. Yes please. I'll wear anything, please. Just... Just not these." Azalea said softly, gesturing to her only physical remnant of the life she was trying so hard to escape, even at the very tender age of six. 

Zilly nodded. "I is being right back. Do not move." She said before disappearing in a quiet pop, the characteristic echo of a house elf's teleportation. She returned after a moment with a plain white tea towel, something that Azalea would have used while serving afternoon tea for Aunt and her gaggle of awful loud friends who came over every Sunday to gossip and mock any of the other neighbors who didn't fit their exact standards for that week. Azalea looked at the house elf, a clear look of confusion displayed across her face. 

"Just watch." Was the only thing that Zilly said as she placed the tea towel down before the child as if it was made of fine china. Azalea watched as the house elf again moved, and raised her hand up just above the towel, and watched with eyes wide in wonder as the fabric glimmered, and slowly changed shape into a simple pair of underwear that looked to be exactly her size, something that Azalea had never experienced before. Zilly moved with clear intentions, and grabbed the newly transfigured pair of undergarments, and handed the pair of underwear to Azalea.

"Will this be okay, Miss Azalea?" Zilly asked with baited breath, willing that her sudden decision to create a pair of undergarments for her new charge to wear, rather than allowing that pitiful excuse of a garment to grace the child's skin again would not further upset her new charge. Only the worst kind of house elf would allow her charge to wear such a disgusting bit of fabric that they dared to call clothing. Even the most mistreated house elf would have worn a better bit of cloth. 

"I-I..." Azalea looked up between the pristine white pair of underwear and the house elf in front of her who had literally created the item from another thing, in a pure display of magic. Magic... It was something Azalea had inside of her, Miss Black had told her that yesterday; this house elf in front of her was proof that magic existed. The house elf, Zilly, had gone out of her way to create something for Azalea that she didn't have to do. It was a gesture that completely won Azalea over. Zilly was her new friend and she would do anything for her. 

Friend... Azalea had never been allowed to have a friend before. She nearly never left the property of wherever her old home was. She never interacted with anyone except Aunt, Uncle, Dudley, and that awful person Uncle called Sister. Dudley had called her Aunt Marge once or twice while Azalea was around, but Azalea had learned quickly to stay out of sight of the vile woman and her vicious pack of dogs. The disgusting woman had commanded her pack of rabid dogs to charge and corner Azalea more than once, while Dudley watched on and laughed at her pain and misfortune. She decided then and there that she would do the unthinkable, at least it would have been in her previous lifetime. Azalea lurched forward and embraced the house elf into a very tight hug; it was an action that startled the house elf into freezing stock still, a startled squeak coming out from Zilly at the sudden movement from her new charge.

"Thank you Zilly! Thank you so much. N-no one has ever-r..." Azalea began but once again the tears welled up in her eyes and she began to weep, still holding on tightly to the small house elf. 

"Oh nos! Zilly didn't mean to be upsetting Miss Flower more. Please! It is being okay. Zilly will take the underwear away again. It's being okay. Shh. Zilly is being sorry." The house elf blabbered on, thinking that her action had insulted the child rather than making her feel more comfortable. 

"N-no, no. Zilly... No one has ever given me such a kind gift. Aunt and Uncle would never have given me such a nice thing like this. You're so kind to me Zilly. You're going to be my friend right?" Azalea asked the house elf, pulling back to look at the house elf more clearly.

The house elf was short, only a little shorter than she was, with pale pink skin and nearly glowingly bright blue large orb like eyes. She was an odd looking creature, but Azalea had nothing else to compare Zilly to but her Aunt and Uncle, who were obviously not a house elf. She had nothing else to compare her new friend to. Her first friend.. Azalea was so happy, she couldn't contain the grin that had spread across her face. When she pulled back and finally let go of the house elf, she noted the startled look on Zilly's face. 

"Miss Azalea must be getting dressed soon. Mistress Cassiopeia is be expecting Azalea soon enough to come down for breakfast. Miss Azalea should go behind the privacy screen and put her clothing on. Zilly will be right on the other side waiting incase of Miss Azalea if she requires my assistance." Zilly gently but firmly instructed the child, guiding her across the room to the screen partition that was standing in the corner of the room near the vanity. It was to give the child privacy to change in and out of clothing as she liked. 

Azalea all but glided along with the house elf, as she felt like she was on cloud nine. She had never felt so happy; she felt warm and safe and she had made her first friend, something that she only ever could have dreamed of before. She all but glided behind the partition, with the clothing held carefully in her hands, as to not crease or wrinkle the fabrics. Azalea carefully undressed from the night clothing she had been dressed in the night before, and folded them neatly into a pile on the vanity that was within reach to the side. She held the shirt out in front of her and inspected the pale green blouse, gently fingering the silky fabric. It was smooth and soft to the touch, with a pleasantly cool texture that she had never felt before. Azalea decided that she quite liked it. 

Slowly, as to not rip or tear the fabric, she slid the blouse on and frowned as her small adolescent fingers stumbled over the glistening buttons that held the blouse shut. Azalea was almost unfamiliar with the motions, as she had never worn a garment that required buttons before. Sticking out her tongue in concentration, she smiled to herself at the victory of putting on the shirt with all of the ten small buttons buttoned correctly. She felt rather victorious at her achievement, no matter how small it would seem to someone else. The newly gifted underwear went on rather quickly after that, and then she moved onto the dress pants. The fabric was a pleasant woolen texture that she knew would be comfortable and warm to wear without being itchy. The quality of the wool was so high that Azalea knew it was a very expensive garment, so she took great care to be gentle with the pants as she stepped into them and pulled them up. Smiling to herself at the feeling, she preened at the feeling of properly fitting clothing, another first for her in this lifetime. 

She left the odd cloak like jacket for last, more than a bit confused at what the jacket could possibly be. It was the same kind of outer clothing that she had remembered seeing the other people that she now knew to be witches and wizards wear when they were out on that market street, so she knew it was certainly a coat of sorts. The only thing that she hesitated about was if she was to put it on over her new blouse and trousers at that moment, or was it to be worn at a later time of the day. Her introspection was interrupted by a loud resounding knock that echoed throughout the room, announcing to the two occupants that someone was at the open bedroom door and was asking to come in. Azalea peeked from around the screen and saw the blurry outline of what she had come to recognise as Miss Black, the kind woman who was changing Azalea's entire life for the better by every second that she was here. She had experienced more firsts in that morning alone than she had in her entirety of her aware life so far.

"Good morning Zilly, good morning Azalea. I was coming to see if you were ready to head down to breakfast this morning. We have much to do this day, but we must start with getting some good food into that stomach of yours.

Azalea emerged from behind the privacy partition and Cassiopeia's breath caught in her throat a the visage in front of her. Azalea, the small child, was the spitting image of what her older sister looked like when they were children themselves. The small child looked picture perfect in her pale green blouse and black trousers, a well dressed child ready to go take care of the business they would have to do that day. The only noticeable differences that she noted between what she remembered her sister Dorea looking like was the mess of jet black loose curls that framed the little girl's face. The hair texture was a distinct mixture of James Potter's classic messy hair, a trait he had received from his father no doubt, and the traditional Black family curly texture that most of the women and even some of the men displayed.  

"You look absolutely perfect, little one. I see the clothing fits you well. I had it taken from my personal wardrobe, and sized down to fit your smaller frame. I see you haven't put on your outer robes yet. It's okay if you would prefer not to wear them while inside of the Manor, but I do ask you to please wear them while we are out and about. It will be rather chilled today, and the cloak has warming charms on them to keep you from getting a chill in your bones." Cassiopeia said with a relaxed smile. 

"What is this jacket? It looks almost like a bath robe but it's much too... it's too proper looking to be a bathrobe." Azalea asked in confusion, not quite understanding the purpose of wearing the strange garment.

"It's called an outer robe, and it's a garment that nearly every witch and wizard wears as a daily clothing option. To us, it is just another piece of clothing that we wear to be dressed for the day. It's one of our customs. Truthfully, I have never thought about it being an out of place thing." Cassiopeia said with a thoughtful look. "I understand it must be strange to you, since you have lived the majority of your life in the muggle world." She smiled down at the little girl. 

"You know, little Azalea, you look absolutely picture perfect in that outfit. You are the exact image of a china doll, all dressed up in those neat clothing. You look so pretty." She couldn't help but coo at how adorable her new charge was. 

She watched as the child blushed under her scrutiny, and flushed a deep pink at the compliment she had given her. "Thank you ma'am." Azalea said, trying to use every bit of her manners that had been drilled into her. This kind woman had quite literally rescued her from a nightmarish situation, and Azalea would use every ounce of herself to not upset the woman in any way if she could help it. Azalea didn't want to go back to that... She shuddered at even the thought of it. 

"Hush now child, I will have none of that. You may call me by my name, Cassiopeia, or Cia for short if you would prefer that instead. I will have none of that calling me ma'am thing. It makes me feel much too old, like I am my mother." Cassiopeia chided the girl gently, a smile on her face letting Azalea know she had no ill intentions towards her. 

"Okay ma'-" Azalea cut herself off at the words that automatically were coming out of her mouth. She stopped and thought carefully for a moment. 

It was at that exact moment that Azalea's stomach growled in a loud low rumble that was just loud enough to be picked up by everyone's ears. Azalea looked down in shame, face flushed with embarrassment at the fact that she was not in control of how her body was reacting. If she was back with Aunt and Uncle... She would have been severely punished for her rude interruption to their peace and quiet. 

Cassiopeia picked up on the direction that the child's thoughts were heading and she knew right away that she would have to nip any of those thoughts in the bud while she could.

"Shh. Come now sweetling, I will have none of that. Your stomach growling is a natural and healthy sign that your body needs food. I am sure of it. If you are hungry, I will always feed you. No matter the time or situation, if you want a snack or even a meal at midnight, it will be as you wish." Cassiopeia said firmly.

"Come now child, be honest with me. How many times did your Aunt and Uncle feed you a day?" She asked gently, understanding that this would absolutely be a sensitive topic for the little girl. She watched as Azalea's face darkened, and she shifted in her place, remaining silent.

"How many times a week?" Cassiopeia tried again, silently taking notes on how much damage those disgusting muggles had done.

Azalea remained silent for a very long moment before quietly mumbling an answer to Cassiopeia. The woman had asked a question and it was ingrained into Azalea to answer her.

"I ate... Uncle fed me three times a week." She frowned at the memory of it.

"And how many times did your cousin eat a day... how many times did he eat a week?" Cassiopeia dreaded the answer.

"Dudley is fed five times a day.... Sometimes more if he throws a fit. Aunt gives him any food he wants.." Azalea finally supplied, looking very much uncomfortable.

"Azalea... Azalea, look at me." She asked softly, waiting for the little girl to look up and meet her eyes. "It is okay for you to be hungry. It is normal for your stomach to growl. I will never punish you for your body's own reactions and I will never withhold food from you, ever." She smiled softly at the child. "Now, one last thing before we both head down for breakfast. I see the bruise on your face has faded wonderfully, but it's still there and I am sure of it that it must be painful. Answer me honestly, little flower. Are you still in any amount of pain?" Cassiopeia asked, already formulating what she would have to do to further heal the child. Of course, she would follow her close friend Gavina's instructions to the letter, but Cassiopeia wasn't a Mistress at potioneering for absolutely nothing. 

"If I am honest..." Azalea began, clearly having a hard time with finding the right words to use. She was so well spoken for a child at the age of six, but even she was allowed to have struggles with using adult words. "If I am completely honest with you, my face is still sore to the touch, but it is no longer painful to smile or talk, like how it was last night. Thank you for healing my face for me." Azalea finished, taking her time to think through every word she used carefully. 

"Thank you for being honest with me. It will help me know how to help you better myself. Come here little one, sit with me in front of the vanity. I have more of the bruise healing salve that I can apply onto your skin. Did it help relieve any of the discomfort and pain last night?" Cassiopeia asked as she gestured for the child to follow her over to the vanity, where Cassiopeia patted the seat in front of her. Azalea quietly followed as she was asked, and sat down gently on the chair facing Cassiopeia.

Azalea was quiet as she observed Cassiopeia retrieving a jar of the now familiar paste from her robe pocket, seemingly coming from out of nowhere. Azalea would have to get used to all of this new magic that suddenly existed all around her. If she was honest, she didn't mind quite one bit though.

Azalea was proud of herself when she withheld the automatic flinch at the feeling of Cassiopeia's fingers applying the cold paste to her bruised cheek. It was an odd tingly feeling, as the salve sunk into her skin and disappeared. Slowly, she felt the concoction work its own form of magic and her face began to not feel as sore and tight. She felt the muscles in her face loosen up and return to their natural slack, no longer injured in any shape or form. It was an oddly pleasant feeling if she was honest. 

"Thank you ma'-. Thank you Cassiopeia." Azalea said honestly. No one else had ever taken the time to take care of any of her injuries before this so Azalea was very much grateful. 

"Hmm... Now, onto the mess that is your hair. We absolutely must do something to fix it. Sit here darling. I will comb out your hair. I can see so many tangles and little knots; it absolutely must be fixed before it becomes matted even more than it's already become." Cassiopeia was absolutely adamant about taking absolut care of the little girl that had quite literally stumbled into her life, all for the better.

"Will it hurt much? Aunt tried to brush my hair once and it hurt so bad. The brush got stuck and tangled into my hair. It hurt even more when Aunt yanked the brush back out. Aunt cut off all of my hair after that, but the next morning it had all grown right back to where it was. Cassiopeia, was that magic? Did I do magic to grow my hair back?" Azalea asked inquisitively. She was nervous, and rightfully so, when all of her previous experience with someone brushing or combing out her hair had ended up with her in a great deal of pain. 

Cassiopeia smiled at the child. "No dear child, I do swear that I will not hurt you in any way. I am not going to use just any regular comb. And yes, dear Azalea. What you did to grow your hair back the next day was a form of magic, that we collectively call accidental magic. It's when an underaged witch or wizard feels an outpouring of a strong emotion and the magic that resided within your magical core reacts to how you are feeling. Many witches and wizards do it throughout their adolescent years. It is completely natural." Cassiopeia instructed, going slightly into teacher mode. 

"This is an enchanted comb." Cassiopeia held up the hair comb in question to show Azalea, allowing for the nervous child to inspect the item in her hands. "It is imbued with a combination of runes and a charm that work together to detangle your hair as I run it through. Here, see the words?" Cassiopeia showed the comb to Azalea, who could make out faint words that spelled out capillus extricatio, which Azalea figured to be the engraved spell . 

"I myself use one, and I can guarantee that it will cause you no pain. Is it okay if I start now? The sooner you are taken care of, the sooner we might eat and continue on with our day. I must admit, I have much planned that needs to be done today. There are things that require my immediate attention both at St. Mungo's Hospital as well as Gringotts Bank, but I would also truly like to take you to be fitted for proper clothing that will suit you much better than what you had arrived in yesterday. Those rags aren't fit to be worn by even a Malfoy's house elf, let alone a pure blooded witch as you are." Again, Cassiopeia waited for the explicit confirmation from her new charge before she began to work the hair comb through the child's well past shoulder length mess of black curly hair. 

Azalea prepared herself for pain as she knew how knotted her hair had become, even if Cassiopeia had assured her that it wouldn't hurt a bit. When the pain never came, she opened up her eyes that she never even noticed she had scrunched shut. All she felt was small gentle tugs as Cassiopeia ran the comb throughout her hair, working from the bottom to the top in small sections, until soon enough her hair was entirely knot free. She ran her fingers through her own hair in a mixture of wonder and amazement. It had been.. She didn't actually think that she had ever had her hair completely knot free before. It was such a pleasant, wonderful feeling. It was another first for her, one of many for that day alone.

"Now then, let us go down to the dining hall together shall we? Oh! I see we are forgetting one very important thing. For a matter of shoes. I know the ones you arrived in were in absolutely deplorable condition. You have two options. You may wear the ones you arrived in until we reach the tailor's shop, or you might pick a pair of any of my dragonhide boots and I will size them down to fit you for the moment. It is your decision little one, and I will not punish you for choosing either decision." She reassured the child while giving her two safe options. She could see Azalea clearly working it over in hear head, and knew exactly when the girl had made her own decision. 

"I would prefer to very much wear a different pair of shoes than those ones. They are too tight and they rub my feet and make them hurt when I wear them too long. They never fit right if I am honest." Azalea said slowly. Cassiopeia nodded at her decision and called out for one of the floating house elves that resided inside the Manor. 

A stout and plump house elf appeared in front of Cassiopeia and Azalea, waiting silently for her orders. "You are to gather up one of my best spare pairs of dragonhide boots and bring them to me." Cassiopeia commanded firmly, but never rudely. She had been taught to treat her house elves with respect, much as her mother had done when she was alive. Every pureblood known to be worth their salt knew that they should keep their good decorum. The house elf returned after a moment with a pair of black glistening boots that Azalea could almost make out to be covered in smooth flat scales, almost as if they were really made from a dragon's skin.

Cassiopeia placed the boots on the floor and pulled out her wand, gently waving it over the shoes. Azalea watched in fascination as the shoes began to glimmer and shrink down more than half a dozen shoe sizes. When Cassiopeia was done with the boots that the house elf had gathered for her, Azalea could see that they would very likely fit her feet perfectly, as if they had been made just for her, and her alone.

"Here, little one. Do you need help putting them on? There are many laces, but I am able to use a spell to tie them up properly for you if you would prefer for me to do that instead." Cassiopeia asked gently, giving Azalea the option of control.

"I would like for you to tie them for me please. I am not the best with tying laces much. The shoes that Aunt got for me are velcro and I am not completely comfortable with that many laces on shoe by myself." Azalea answered honestly, 

Cassiopeia nodded, and helped the child slip on the boots, before she took a step back and looked at Azalea. "I am going to cast the spell on your boots now, okay?" She said gently, waiting for a nod of confirmation, before she crouched down and cast the spell on each boot, watching as the laces of the shoes squirmed and moved to secure themselves up so that her shoes wouldn't fall off her feet or become too loose and uncomfortable to wear.

"Can we go to breakfast now? I am actually very hungry if I do admit it. Can I have some more of that milk that I was given last night? It was most delicious, and if possible I would like another glass of it if I am allowed." Azalea smiled at the adult in front of her. Azalea was beginning to like it here. She felt safe and protected, and so far no one had yelled at or struck her with anything, or moved in any way to cause her harm if she was honest. She was slowly lowering her guard, even if it was faster than she would have ever expected to do. Azalea just had a feeling; she knew deep down she would never ever again feel the harm that was caused to her by her Aunt and Uncle. Not now, and not ever under Cassiopiaa's careful watch.

Cassiopeia led the child by her hand through the hallways, taking the time to point out the different rooms such as the potion's laboratory, the dueling room, the main library, and her own bedroom, which Azalea took comfort in knowing was directly across from her own, and down the set of grand stairs that led them into the main hallway. Together they made their way into the dining hall and Azalea gazed around in delightful wonder. She had never seen such a grand, beautiful home before. In the center of the dining hall was a long mahogany dining table draped with fine white linen, and was displayed with more varieties of foods than Azalea had ever had the pleasure of seeing in one place before, and then it sank in. All of this, the food laid out in beautiful china bowls filled to the brim, were for her and Cassiopeia. She was nearly overwhelmed at the mere thought of eating all of this food. 

Cassiopeia led her over to one of the chairs seated at the table and gestured for her to sit down. "Cassiopeia... What are all of these different foods? I've never seen most of them before?" Azalea asked quietly, unsure of what of the foods in front of her that she would like. Azalea was not a picky eater by any means, given the surroundings she had grown up in so far. She had eaten whatever scraps she was given, without a second thought or complaint. She had never had the luxury before to decide that she didn't enjoy the taste, texture, or smell of any given food before today.

"Cassiopeia, what is the white food in that bowl? It looks like milk but it seems too thick to be what I drank last night." Azalea asked curiously, gesturing to what Cassiopeia could see to be a bowl of vanilla yogurt. It was one of her favorites to eat in the mornings when she was feeling sluggish. "That is vanilla yogurt. It's made of cow's milk. Try it. It's thicker than milk, yes, but it's also sweet and very creamy. Here, put some of these berries in it. It's how I prefer to have mine. Nothing beats a bowl of yogurt with fresh fruit in the morning. But you should try more foods than just the yogurt." Cassiopeia said, helping Azalea gather up a small portion of the dish she had described. "Try this, it's something you might recognise. The house elves made fresh scrambled eggs this morning with eggs from the chickens. It's delightful." And so it went on, with Cassiopeia offering up small bits of the different foods and Azalea even asking what a few of them were. Azalea had quickly become full up, not used to nearly at all this much food and Cassiopeia took quick notice of her discomfort. 

"Healer Gavina said to me that this might happen when you began to eat foods. Is your stomach bothering you, little one?" Cassiopeia asked gently, seeing the girl shift in clear discomfort.

"Yes ma'-. Yes Cassiopeia. I think I ate too much. I feel like i might sick up if I move around too much. I'm sorry Cassiopeia." Azalea apologized, and Cassiopeia frowned.

"Little one, it is completely okay for you to feel this way after eating more than a small portion for the first time. Honestly I expected as much to happen. Here, drink this potion. It will soothe your stomach and help ease away the nausea and stomach pains. Healer Gavina told me to give you half a vial at every meal until you are able to comfortably eat your meals without nausea or discomfort." Cassiopeia pulled out a small pointed glass vial with a cork in the top. The liquid inside the bottle was thin and shimmered a sliver glitter in the light of the room, She handed it to Azalea who looked up at her nervously. "Just take three sips or so. You'll begin to feel better soon enough, I guarantee. This is a special potion designed to help people begin to eat again after they've been sick for a long while. It'll help." She smiled reassuringly at Azalea, who must have gathered her courage, as she nodded and took exactly three sips of the bottle, leaving half of it behind as instructed. 

The liquid she had sipped down had a surprisingly pleasant minty taste, and was cool against her mouth and throat as she swallowed it down. Nearly as soon as it was in her stomach, she began to feel almost completely better, with only the faintest lingering of discomfort, which she ended up solving in the form of a small burp. Azalea covered her mouth in a mixture of shock, embarrassment, and horror at the thing she had just done in front of Cassiopeia. 

"Shh, hey there little one. It's okay. I figured that might happen. It happens to me too when I take it, every single time. No worries, okay Azalea?" Cassiopieia reassured the distraught child. Slowly, Azalea nodded at Cassiopeia and Cassiopeia announced that it had become time for them to leave for their first appointment of the day, as the clock had stuck thirty minutes past ten a.m.

"Accio blueberries.." Cassiopeia said quietly as she cast a summoning charm pointed towards her charge. Azalea watched in a mixture of both amazed wonder and abject horror as the small amount of blueberries that she had sneakily stashed away in her trouser pockets levitated up and out of them, through the air and into Cassiopeia's open and awaiting hand. It was the third blatant display of magic that she had seen alone that day. Azalea had discovered during breakfast that she sincerely enjoyed eating the sweet berries and her survival instincts screamed at her to sneak some of the fruit from the seemingly overflowing bowl when she thought that Cassiopeia wasn't looking her way. 

Cassiopeia saw the deeply hidden fear on Azalea's face and immediately explained. "It's okay Azalea. Please never feel the need to hide food away from me or anyone else. I promise you I will never take the ability to eat foods away from you, but you just ate to the point that you said you might sick up. I wouldn't want you to sick up; that would be most unfortunate and very uncomfortable.  

Cassiopeia held out her hand and Azalea didn't hesitate to take it, as the adult led her through the Manor once more, this time into a room that Azalea had not seen yet. Once they got through the beautifully carved wooden doors, Azalea was kind of shocked that the inside of the room was nearly empty. There were four single clawfoot chairs, one set in each corner of the room facing inward, gilded and adorned with silver glistening fabric. Up in the air, in the very center of the room hung a grand crystal chandelier, which carried dozens of ever lit candles, illuminating the room in a pleasant glow, but nothing took away from the obvious main feature of the room itself. In the center of the far wall was a massive fireplace crafted of white marble, with a matching stoop and mantle piece. On the mantle of the fireplace were multiple silver inscribed urns filled with the same floo powder that Azalea had seen Cassiopeia use to call Healer Gavina the night before. 

"This is the floo room. The fireplace is connected to the floo network, which allows us to travel between connected fireplaces using the special powder in those urns. You grab a pinch of powder, and toss it directly into the lit fire, and when it lights up green, you speak out loud clearly where you want to go, and step through the fire. It's magic at its finest." Cassiopeia explained to the six year old. 

"This is how we will be traveling for the meantime, as I do not believe that you are in stable enough condition for side-along apperation at the moment. I will go through first. Remember, grab the powder, throw it into the fire and wait for it to flare up green. Speak out loud and speak clearly. We are going to the Leaky Cauldron. If you are unable to come through or feel like you are not able to do it safely, stay here. If you do not come through within three minutes of me, I will immediately come right back to you. Are you ready, Azalea?" Cassiopeia asked softly.

They would be heading to the Leaky Cauldron, and would be entering through into the muggle world of London. It was a short walk through the city, really, only a block and a half to travel. It was odd to get to St. Mungo's Hospital, but they sure did make sure it was a secure and hard to ambush location, which was the purpose of all of the necessary running around. 

"Okay, I can do this. I'm ready to go, Cassiopeia." Azalea said firmly, her voice filled with determination.

Cassiopeia walked up and approached the fireplace, taking down one of the silver urns and placing it on the fireplace's stoop where Azalea would be able to access it on her own. She grabbed a handful of powder from one of the other urns and tossed it with intention into the lit fire in the fireplace. Cassiopeia waited exactly three breaths until the flames of the fire roared up in a flash of vivid green. "The Leaky Cauldron." She called out clearly and crisply, making sure there was no room for error, and so that Azalea would hear her as a final reminded before she left the child behind momentarily. She stepped through and into the bustling pub, taking a step back from the fireplace she had just stepped out of, and waited patiently on the other side for her charge to come through. She had full confidence that Azalea would be able to do it. The girl was something else entirely. She was unlike any other six year old Cassiopeia could ever remember meeting. 

Azalea watched her caretaker step through the lit flames, and kept telling herself that it was completely safe. "It feels like a cool tickling sensation." Cassiopeia had explained when she asked what it would feel like if she touched the green flames. She picked up a full hand of the floo powder. It was probably way more than she would actually need but it was better to be safe than sorry in her eyes. Azalea approached the fireplace with the lowly lit fire inside it flickering lazily, as if it was almost sentient in its own way. Building up her courage, she thought about what she had to say, and threw the powder into the flames, and waited just like how Cassiopeia had done in front of her. After three long seconds, the fire flashed to life in a show of green flames and sparks. It was a much bigger fire than what Cassiopeia had displayed but Azalea didn't have time to sit and stare in wonder. "The Leaky Cauldron." She said as clearly and loudly as she could, and closed her eyes as she took her leap of faith and stepped through the flames to meet Cassiopeia on the other side.