Comfort
Chapter 2 of 21
baylor713Witches and wizards have always carried the burden of their allegiances to the dark or to the light. The choice to follow one or the other dictates a person's character. Attica Flamel pays fealty to neither. When grief morphs into an irrepressible need for vengeance, Attica will stop at nothing until the debts are paid.
“You’ve been very brave through this whole ordeal, my dear,” McGonagall whispered to the frightened young girl beside her. Her navy blue eyes were hidden by golden curls, and she fervently hoped that the hair hid her tears from the formidable older woman.
The imposing farmhouse was just up the road from the Apparition point. They reached the front door and McGonagall lifted the heavy brass doorknocker, letting it fall into place with a bang that startled the girl beside her. Augusta Longbottom answered the door. She was wearing one of the silliest outfits the girl had ever seen, complete with a stuffed vulture perched atop her dusty purple hat. The sight of the vulture caused the girl to grab McGonagall’s hand in desperation. The professor squeezed the small hand in reassurance.
The sight of the Longbottom matriarch made even the head of Gryffindor house seem less imposing. McGonagall greeted the woman standing in the doorway with a curt nod. “Hello, Augusta. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Likewise, Minerva,” the woman responded with an almost imperceptible twinkle in her eyes. The girl looked back to her teacher, navy eyes wide, and then took a deep breath as she pushed her unruly curls from her face. She extended her hand to the older woman and spoke in a small but confident voice. “Hello, Mrs. Longbottom. I am Attica. Attica Flamel.”
~~~
June 17 rolled around with the same languid humidity that had plagued the beginning of the month. A twelve-year-old Attica sat on her bed, running her fingers across the faded quilt her grandmother had made for her. She remembered receiving the quilt for her birthday five years ago to the day. This year, she had awoken not to the smell of her grandfather brewing potions downstairs but to a pang of loneliness that gripped her on this day more than ever. Slowly, she counted out twelve bare threads on the quilt, pretending she was counting out the twelve sparkling candles her grandmother would have carefully arranged on her birthday cake.
She stood and crossed the room to her dresser. She reached out and straightened one of the picture frames sitting there. The picture depicted five smiling faces looking out at her. In the background, her grandfather held a protective arm around his wife, her head nuzzled against his chest in contentment. Attica as a baby was sitting on her father’s lap while her mother whispered something in his ear. The couple burst out in a fit of laughter that Attica couldn’t hear and began to wave at the camera before the whole scene began to replay itself.
A single tear rolled down her cheek before Mrs. Longbottom called up the stairs for her to join them in the kitchen. Before heading downstairs, she opened the top drawer of her dresser and pulled out a small object that she hadn’t touched since the night she had arrived at the Longbottom house. She wanted to carry something with her that reminded her of the people she had loved and lost, but the picture evoked tears whenever she looked at it. So instead, she settled on the sparkling green gemstone she had hidden in her dresser. She placed the stone in her pocket, wiped the tear away, and steeled herself for another day of pretending she lived a normal life. She pretended that her family was only away for a short time and that they would soon return for her. She pretended that she wasn’t completely alone in a house filled with people. And she pretended that she wasn’t scared.
~~~
She skipped down the stairs, pretending to be happy. She was as far from happy as she thought a person could be, but she didn’t want to appear to be ungrateful to Mrs. Longbottom and Neville. They had been so kind to her since she had come to live with them. There was a birthday cake waiting for her on the kitchen table. Augusta and Neville clapped for her when she entered the room and Neville enthusiastically began singing the birthday song in a decidedly off-key pitch. One look from his grandmother silenced him and an embarrassed blush reddened his cheeks. Attica plastered a smile on her face that she didn’t feel in her heart and joined in the festivities.
Neville’s Uncle Algie came over from his house across the valley to help them celebrate. He handed Attica a brightly wrapped box and he seemed very eager for her to open it. When she did, several dozen chocolate frogs sprang from the box and began hopping all over the furniture, climbing up the drapes, and clinging to the windows. If Augusta was irked by the frogs invading her pristine living room, she didn’t let on. Instead, she handed Attica a long thin box wrapped in pretty paper. Attica opened the box, revealing her own wand, made of ash wood, 11¾ inches long, and unicorn hair core. She looked up at the older woman with confusion. Augusta smiled and explained that since it was her birthday, she would be allowed to perform some magic for fun. She had a few spells up her sleeve that she would like to teach her.
Attica protested that they had been expressly told in school that they were not allowed to perform magic outside of Hogwarts. Augusta laughed. “Well,” she said, “I spoke with Dumbledore, and he has agreed to lift the rules against you performing magic, just for today. I would consider this a pretty special occasion, wouldn’t you?”
She giggled and nodded. She had a feeling that she was only allowed to do magic on her birthday because Dumbledore had felt sorry for her. Augusta felt sorry for her too, she could tell, and the grandmotherly woman had been trying very hard to cheer her up. The prospect of performing magic did cheer her up, like nothing else had since she had gone to stay there. Attica was good at magic. It was something she could control. Lately, her circumstances had been plummeting in a downward spiral, and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. Some control was nice, for a change.
After some pleading on Neville’s part, he was allowed to join in the fun as well. Brandishing his own wand in triumph, he sent sparks flying across the living room while attempting to levitate Trevor, his pet toad. Attica giggled again and offered to help Neville get the spell right.
“It’s all in how you say it,” Attica offered. “Watch this.”
She took the gemstone out of her pocket and placed it on the coffee table. With a perfectly enunciated “Wingardium Leviosa,” the emerald elegantly rose two feet above their heads. With a flick of her wand, the emerald began to spin slowly in midair.
“I know that, but I just can’t ever say it right. I can’t do spells the way you do. And I’ll never be able to find Trevor now,” he moaned. Attica patted him on the back and offered to help him look for the toad. And then maybe help him review some spells for their second year at Hogwarts.
Shaking her head, Attica smiled the first real smile that she had mustered since the night she had fled from her home and watched in terror as it burned to the ground. When she closed her eyes, she could still smell the pungent fumes rising from the burning manor. Even more memorable was the spicy scent of the man who held her as they escaped from the flames and into the starless night.
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Alchemist's Agenda
45 Reviews | 7.56/10 Average
So much progress has been made since Attica wrote her goodbye letter to Neville, and much more needs to be made before all is said and done, I think. I happy that Neville will not give up on her and will be with her from now on.
Now I find myself wondering what Severus is doing and whether he has found peace.
Thank you for this very intricate and well plotted tale.
Beth
sad that attica been wearing a horcrux all this years.. that her thought were evil in nature.. hope they can destroyed it.. great narrative of her thought, imagines..
the evil emerald is like controling attica.. onward to find what severus on this new dilemma..
weird that attica's drak mark is darker, but not severus! onward to see if answered will be shown...
why didn't the curse work! what going to happen to attica, now? happy that voldie was killed.
She not afraid of Bellatrix! Now, she apart of the inner circle of voldmort's followers! She feel what voldmort's emotion, wonder has she share with severus or albus.. love learning the background of attica..
maybe attica is spy like severus..
onward to see what next...
Lovely chapter, with this turn of, or rather, arrival of and realization that his act of kindness has reverberated and affected her on levels unknown during all this time.... Hmm... the depth and profoundness of Severus' effect on her and in her life seems to have been underestimated and still to be fully revealed--although, a part of me is a bit wary about how such an intertwined horcrux could be destroyed without destroying the vessel *biting nails* Baylor, I know you could take this tale one way or another, so... Can't wait for the next chapter!!!
'The force that had convinced her that it was necessary to kill an innocent person was dark and savage and absolutely evil, but it had been bred in her own heart.'.. so powerful and provocative and profound are her torturous thoughts she is continuously being berated by--both she and Severus have had their paths guided by forces beyond their control and carried along on the currents of events... but this truth that is controlling and guiding her? Whose truth will it be, hers or alone, or shared with another? Lovely, lovely work!
Love this memory of the past, a rare glimpse and insight into a shared exchange between Attica and Severus that she is able to have her own connection with unhindered or untainted by Voldemort. There is a profound connection and understanding between Severus and Attica that is captured, and which seems to accentuate both's emotional wounds and hesitancy and delicateness--lovely, lovely work!
The narrative is so full of concise, poignant and powerful moments and realizations, such as (one of many) 'Feeling like she was someone other than the person she had been all her life, someone dark.' I just love experiencing both Attica's and Severus' revelations and inner-thoughts--the heaviniess, horror, sympathy and empathy is so very moving... Lovely, powerful work--looking forward to more and more!
There are four entities in that study, and only one of them deserves to die— and he entombed himself in the emerald. I hope Vlodemort is experiencing many times the agony that Attica, McGonegall, and Severus have felt over all the years that the Dark Lord has been terrorizing the world.
I very much hope that the remaining three of them will be left alive and well!! Pretty please?
Thank you for this wonderful chapter. I'm looking forward to the next update.
Beth
My heart is breaking for Attica. I'm glad that Severus was able to talk to long enough for her to recall some happy memories–he had drowned out the whisperings of Voldemort.
I hope Minerva arrives with Gryffindor's sword soon!
Beth
Plausible and well-written. Particularly without a beta. Any more? Unpredictable and fresh.
Great chappie! ;)) nice opening shot!
I think Severus and Attica have a long, hard slog ahead of them as they try to make things right– individually and together. I hope he will try to discover more of her memories. It would be a very uncomfortable thing for Attica, and I can envision her trying to stop him simply because of the lasting effects that harboring Voldemort's Horcrux for so many years has caused, but I'm afraid she will fall back into trying to do the Dark Lord's will instead of what her own unaffected heart would choose to do.
Hopefully Minerva will be able to quickly arrange for the destruction of this remnant of Voldemort's soul. And hopefully it is the last remnant.
I can't wait for your next update.
Beth
Brilliant chapter in revealing the state of things and poor Attica's dilemma... Love Severus control and Attica's struggle. Looking forward to more of this intriguing, original tale!
I enjoyed reading about Attica's memories of her first class with the Potions Master. Her bravery to stand her ground with him in class made me smile right along with the Professor.
The extracting fluid had begun as a pearly ivory liquid but had changed to a pale red by the end of the third week. Perhaps the the fact that they got a convoluted, murky brown color by treating that last test tube with sap from the juniper bush doesn't mean that they hadn't learned anything from the test. Although Attica was disappointed that it hadn't turned red like the ruby or blue like the sapphire she had written on her list of possible components, maybe the emerald stopper had reacted with the liquid. If you mix red and green in the right ratios you can create various shades of brown. Perhaps ruby is one of the components, after all. And with amber being another ingredient, that could have further influenced the formation of a muddy color tending toward brown.
Did she neglect to roll up her sleeves because she didn't want him to see that her Dark Mark was turning darker? He did comment that she seemed quite attached to the vial– I wonder what Severus was thinking when she replied only that she needed it as she left the room.
Hummmm... lots of clues here, but I'm not quite sure what is what and how they fit together. Thanks for a wonderful chapter!
Beth
There is something so poignant, and yet, harrowing about Attica's grandmother's rhymes--it stikingly contrasts her childhood innocence with the dire reality of what has happened to her when older...
Loved her first day in Snape's class and that his lips turned upward--HA! So Severus is aware of how she must have the vial with her at all times... Looking forward to more!
It's a truly horrid realization that her Dark Mark has only darkened... One can feel her level of distress as she compares Severus' mark to hers. Brilliant writing, brilliant story! Looking forward to more!
Bloody hell! The emerald is another one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, isn't it? If that is so, then in trying to recreate the Stone, they may actually be bringing the Dark Lord back...
I did NOT see this coming. Well done, baylor!
Beth
Reading this chapter gave me the shivers and made me sad at the same time. I don't know if the voice Attica hears is really Voldemort's or just a cruel figment of her imagination, but I'm hoping like the dickens that it is Severus who has broken the wards. Please let it be him!
Beth
OMG! I'm glad Attica's curse didn't kill Harry, but I'm not sure why. What's going to happen to her now? Please let Neville or Severus or McGonagall find her before something horrible happens to her.
I hope the next chapter updates soon!!!
Beth
I was glad to see Attica show her emotions when Neville stepped forward to stand up to Voldemort. When the Sorting Hat settled over his eyes and she just caught the look of utter fear on his face, it gave me hope for her that she allowed the tears to fall.
If she were to try to kill Voldy now, he wouldn't really die, would he? Nagini is a horcrux, too. I guess she doesn't know that yet.
Good chapter!
Beth