FicWad

Evelyn was not a fan of traveling by Portkey, it was rough and gave her considerable nausea, but given the somewhat urgent circumstances, she decided that the old flowerpot located at the edge of the Forbidden Forest would be the best mode of transport.



The flower pot Portkey had been created by some of the Skylar’s of yore as a way of traveling to and from Hogwarts. Evelyn had learned of its existence after reading a diary of a distant family member from the mid 17h century at the extensive library at High Park in the summer after her first year. It had taken much diligent searching throughout most of her second year but she eventually found it and used it to travel between Hogwarts and High Peak that Easter. A stray flowerpot at the edge of a forbidden forest doesn’t generate much interest, you could tell the Skylar’s are a long line of Slytherins with such cunning.



She led Miranda to its location, making sure they didn’t run into Hagrid who would certainly inquire as to their reasons for going near the wood.



“Surely the Portkey hasn’t got any less reliable than it was 3 years ago” Evelyn muttered to herself quietly as to make sure Miranda wouldn’t hear it. If Miranda had any doubts about her safety, she wouldn’t do it.



The two girls arrived at the Portkey and Miranda was far from sure about the idea. The flowerpot which Evelyn had described to Miranda was more of a ceramic disk after its years of exposure to the elements.



“I don’t know about this, are you sure this is the only way?” Miranda asked with clear concern in her voice.



“It’ll be fine Miranda, sure I have used it before, twice for that matter,” Evelyn said confidently.



“Did you not get transported 10 miles from the estate and had to walk the rest?” Miranda retorted.



“Yes, but the second time was fine”, Evelyn responded slightly more unsure this time. She had remembered it going wrong but she had forgotten it going so badly wrong.



Miranda was clearly backing out. “No Evelyn, I can’t do it. Is there not something you can do to make sure this Portkey is safe,” she whined.



“Look Miranda, this is the best I could come up with, so if you still want to go to High Peak, you can either take hold of the pot voluntarily or I will “help” you,” Evelyn asserted.



Begrudgingly Miranda took a step forward towards the “pot”. Evelyn gave an optimistic smile, Miranda returned a less optimistic half-smile.



Both girls grabbed the Portkey together.

The next thing they knew was crashing into a leafy undergrowth beside a tall crumbling concrete wall.



Though the leaves had cushioned their fall, the wind had been knocked from both their sets of lungs and the nausea Evelyn expected was in full swing.



Miranda was first to get up and she immediately noticed a crumbling and weather-worn wall. After a few seconds of inspection, she also saw a severely overgrown wooden hut just in front of where they landed.



The hut was so overgrown Miranda only knew it was a manmade structure from a gap where the window had been.



“That stupid Portkey has messed up again, we are at some abandoned public gardens or something,” Miranda asserted with hints of anger. “How do we get to High Peak now,” she snapped at Evelyn who was still trying to readjust.



Evelyn’s head and stomach eventually stopped spinning after a further minute or two, all of which Miranda had spent ranting.



“Well then?” Miranda barked at the still slightly disorientated Evelyn.



“Well then, what?” Evelyn replied slightly angrily back.



“How are we going to get to High Peak Park? I don’t want to be here when it’s dark. There could be wild animals or who knows what,” Miranda shouted in near hysteria and in complete panic.



“Miranda this is High Peak,” Evelyn replied with a faint depressive tone in her voice. She had suddenly realised that High Peak was hers now and she had absolutely no idea what to do with it.



Miranda stopped panicking immediately, “Oh,” she said quietly.



High Peak had obviously taken her by surprise, she knew not to expect a fairy tale castle, but this place looked abandoned.



Evelyn got up and began walking towards the wall, “That’s the old gardeners shed from my great-grandfathers time,” she said pointing towards the overgrown hut, “Which means we are at the western wall. There should be a gap not too far along into the old greenhouse.”



The girls began walking north along the wall for five minutes until they came to a gap. From this gap they climbed into the back of the greenhouse.



Most of the plant trays were empty, some contained dead plants and others wooden legs had rotted straight through and they now just sat in a jumble of compost, rotten wood and rusty nails. Most of the glass on the walls and roof was gone, it was more of a metal frame than actual greenhouse. All in all, it looked like it had suffered decades of neglect.



From the greenhouse, the girls made their way into the orchard of the walled garden. Again, most of the trees were dead and those that did bear fruit hadn’t had it picked. Instead it had just rotted off the branches and became putrid piles of buzzing flies and maggot food.



Miranda nearly stepped into one of said piles until Evelyn pulled her back at the last minute.



The girls emerged from the orchard onto the main avenue.



At one end of said avenue was the main gate. This was rusted to the point that it had twisted and was falling off its hinges. Beyond the gates was the woods and the road which seemed to lead down the hill. High Peak Park may not have strictly been on a high peak but it was on top of a hill. The oversized trees however hindered whatever pleasant views there may have been of the surrounding countryside.



At the other end lay the house. The mansion looked a lot like a typical 16th century English country house with three stories, a large heavy wooden door and many windows. The house was in considerable neglect however with most of the windows in the west side of the house smashed and the walls being a dur grey clearly as whatever paint that had been, had peeled off long ago.



Matched with the absurdly large overgrown flower beds to the left and right along the remaining mile of the avenue, the whole scene looked like something from a horror story.

Miranda mentioned however, that in its day, this had been a spectacular garden and a pretty large one at that, perhaps one of the largest in the country. There certainly was no shortage of flowerbeds.



Evelyn remained dead silent, not responding.



The two girls climbed the steps onto the terrace and started walking towards the main door.



The terrace-like the rest of the property was in bad shape, littered with leaves and an abundance of grass and moss growing out of the cracks in the bricked floor. Evelyn noticed Miranda staring at a concrete shield above the door that had a very faint outline of what was possibly once a painting.



“That’s the family crest,” Evelyn suddenly piped up after moving through most of the property in a solemn silence, “a white daffodil on a black background. The gardens used to be full of them apparently, the house too, everywhere you looked there were white daffodils.” There was a definite sense of sadness in her words.



It suddenly seemed to dawn on Miranda why Evelyn had always had a seemingly irrational hatred of flowers.



They were symbolic for her, representing what her family used to have before her time, what the Skylar name and crest had brought to her ancestors, a thriving house, immaculate gardens and presumably a high place in society.



Evelyn had never, and would never know any of this, her name and crest were a curse to her, all it had brought was overgrown flower beds, a half-ruined empty mansion and social exile. What was most excruciating was that this was through no fault hers, but because of the actions of her parents and late grandmother. Most of which were taken before she was even born.

“Alohomora”, Evelyn said pointing her wand at the lock.



The door began to swing open with a blood-curdling screech but suddenly stopped. “It’s old, it does that sometimes,” Evelyn stated.



Miranda looked apprehensive as to what to expect of the house’s interior and she also was concerned at how Evelyn was so openly defying the ban on underage magic. “Is it a good idea to use magic outside of school?” Miranda asked with a worried voice.



“The door has always been magically locked and therefore magically unlocked. You know as well as I, the Ministry only knows where underage magic is used and not who by, I would highly doubt they will step anywhere near this place anytime soon,” Skylar replied.



Evelyn then pushed the door open with a shove.



The interior turned out to be not much better, though still largely intact in comparison to the gardens. The main entrance hall had no furniture which wasn’t covered in white sheets and an abundance of cobwebs and dust.



“It’s good I am not asthmatic,” Miranda joked, appearing to be trying to distract herself from the fact she would have to stay in what someone could best describe as a classical haunted house.



They began making their way up the grand staircase.

“Asthmatic, is that some kind of Muggle affliction?” Evelyn replied inquisitively. She was making a clear effort to try to better understand Muggles before spending Christmas with Miranda's family.



“It doesn’t matter,” Miranda replied.



She was too preoccupied with having just noticed a long corridor at the top of the staircase with portraits lined up along both sides. A vast majority had Evelyn’s rare platinum blonde hair, high cheekbones, refined facial features and unmistakeably green eyes. These were the portraits of the Skylar family.



“My beloved family, we stand amidst their great accomplishments,” Evelyn added sarcastically outstretching her arms mockingly as if she was presenting a palace of wonders.



“How many are there?”, Miranda asked in awe of the seemingly endless corridor.



“I don’t know, I have never counted”, Evelyn replied, “All I know is that it begins with the dynasties founder Pompeius Skylar in the portrait closest to us, he was born in 1105, and it ends with my portrait near the other end of the corridor. There are gaps of course, anyone who caused embarrassment was ostracised from the family and had their portrait removed. This includes my parents. There’s room for more but the Skylar name will die with me, I certainly don’t seek to pass it on if I have any children.”



“I still am just shocked you agreed to have a portrait,” Miranda joked, trying to make light of the situation.



“I was eight and my grandmother said if I agreed to it, she would refrain from putting Jeffrey in a stew,” Evelyn quickly added. “Speaking of Jeffrey, where is he I wonder? I hope he is okay after last night,” Evelyn said with a sense of urgency and even a hint of panic for someone who was often perfectly composed.



Suddenly a loud bellowing male voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs, “If he has any sense, he will run for it the little rat, now Madame Skylar is gone, I will get to stuff him and put him above my fireplace.”



Evelyn and Miranda went over to the banister and saw, the loud-mouthed, brawny but fat, bald mountain of a man that was the Groundskeeper standing in the open doorway. The Caretaker was also with him. They had clearly somehow been alerted to their arrival.



This rather odd couple were aging squibs, a man and wife who had been employed in the house for decades and her grandmother even had let them live in the old cottage beside the front gate. Evelyn had a rocky relationship with both.



In days gone by, High Park had dozens of squibs at any time as staff, despite their rarity. This was strange as witches and wizards had little need for cleaners and footmen. Was it to give these otherwise forgotten people employment and a home? Or was it because they liked bossing those, they deemed inferior about? Evelyn had heard conflicting accounts but to her it was most likely the latter.



“If you have touched him or even think of touching him in future, then I swear I will kill the two of you in a heartbeat,” Evelyn threatened in her cold and icy voice.



“Always the same with you girl, showing no respect to your elders even after all we have done for your family and this house,” the Caretaker said loudly and spitefully as if she had just given the shirt off her back to Evelyn who had spat in her face as a thank you.



The Caretaker was a short but slender woman with a sour face and greying hair. She had homeschooled Evelyn before she had gone to Hogwarts at Evelyn’s grandmother's request. The Caretaker’s idea of homeschooling however, was making Evelyn do the caretaker jobs while she sat in the groundskeeper’s cottage reading the newspaper or rummaging through old Skylar jewelry boxes looking for things to sell. This ended when a young and prone to mischief Evelyn did most of the job purposely badly in order to invoke the wrath of her oblivious grandmother on the squib.



Evelyn started walking down the stairs while both the Groundskeeper and Caretaker made their way further into the entrance hall, they seemed to have gotten bolder now Adelaide Skylar was gone.



Evelyn and the couple ended up almost face to face. Miranda just watched anxiously from her current position, far away from the top of the staircase.



“Yeah the little girl comes back and acts like she owns the place, like we are house-elves to order around as she pleases,” The Groundskeeper bellowed.



“I do actually own the place now you half-wits,” Evelyn replied snidely, “Do you really think they allow Azkaban inmates to inherit property? You two may have been able to take advantage of my grandmothers’ hospitality, but she is gone and unless you start doing as I tell you then feel free to look for a new job and place to live” Evelyn threatened.



Suddenly both their faces dropped, they hadn’t considered that Evelyn could have been their new boss, they somehow expected it had passed to her father.



After an uncomfortable pause, the Caretaker eventually spoke up, “We are so sorry em…Madame Skylar, we are eh…just so emotional due to the passing of Miss Adelaide,” she grovelled awkwardly and unconvincingly.



“Erm…yes very sad”, the Groundskeeper quickly added, also unconvincingly.



“So if anyone sees my cat, will they be so kind as to inform me?”, Evelyn stated with a condescending smirk.



“Erm...yes,” the Caretaker mumbled.



“Good, because if he doesn’t reappear tonight, or any night I return home for that matter, the two of you will wake up far away from here and in a lot of pain,” she snarled.



They both quickly retreated out the door as fast as they could.



“They are an interesting bunch,” said Miranda as she joined Evelyn at the bottom of the stairs.



“They may be lazy, thieving and stupid but they aren’t the worst people in the world. Besides I need someone to be about here while I am at Hogwarts.” Evelyn stated. “Looks like we have to cut the tour short, it is getting late and we should get food from the pantry and head up to the third floor before it gets dark. There’s no working lights on the lower levels and this place is a maze in the dark,” she added.



“What’s on the third floor?” Miranda asked as they made their way to the pantry.



“I have seen you worrying Miranda, don’t, not all the house is like this, the eastern half of the third floor is where me and my grandmother….” As soon as she said it, she stopped talking immediately, realizing what had just came out of her mouth.



“Are you…” Miranda began but Evelyn interrupted her “I’m fine.”

The girls entered the pantry, it was mostly empty besides some longer life tinned goods.



As they were browsing the limited selection Evelyn heard a familiar sound, it was a cat meowing, it was Jeffrey. A huge, happy grin came across Evelyn’s face as her beloved cat appeared at the bottom of the stairs.



She ran over to him and lifted him into her arms, “I just knew you were okay, Jeffrey. I hope you missed me as I missed you, yes I did” she said in a babyish voice while hugging Jeffrey.



Evelyn heard Miranda giggle quietly, she had never seen Evelyn so happy and affectionate.



Evelyn aware of this, snapped quickly back to her classic self and returned the formality to her voice, “Miranda this is Jeffrey, Jeffrey this is Miranda. Now let’s go I’m hungry,”.



The two girls picked whatever they fancied and some sardines for Jeffrey and headed up to the third floor.



The third floor of the house, the old servant’s level, was a lot cleaner and more homely looking than the rest of the mansion, there was even a modest amount of uncovered furniture. It was however still dangerously cold with both girls being able to see their breath, and the walls were moldy.



Evelyn led Miranda to what appeared to be a makeshift kitchen/living area in the first door to the left. There was a stove, some cupboards, a sink a small table and an old battered sofa in the corner.



Miranda appeared to be beginning to wonder how her friend ever lives in such a place.



Evelyn produced some pots and pans from the cupboard nearest the sink. She lit the stove and place them on top. “There’s a leak in the roof above the sofa so I wouldn’t sit on it if I were you. There are cushions in the cupboard in the hall, we can sit on them.”



Miranda went back into the hall found the cushions and returned.



Evelyn was clearly not happy to be back here, but she was however glad to have her best friend with her, what would she do without her?



After the food was ready, they sat on their cushions by the stove while Jeffrey sat with them enjoying his sardines.



“What was it like to grow up here?”, Miranda suddenly blurted out.



Evelyn could tell she had been wondering this since they had arrived.



“Cold”, she replied bluntly. Evelyn could tell Miranda was looking for more specifics.

“In more ways than one, a lot of that was my grandmothers’ fault but being here makes me miss her in a strange way,” she added. That was all she would say on the subject.



After they were finished eating Evelyn decided to show Miranda the rest of the top eastern floor which had just lit up using a rather unpredictable and outdated gas light system.



At the far end of the corridor there was Evelyn’s grandmothers’ study where she spent almost all her days. It was locked and magically sealed. No one would be entering it anytime soon.



To the left of this was her grandmother’s bedroom, it was where she had been murdered and Evelyn was not quite ready to enter it.



Opposite to that was a storage room that contained Skylar heirlooms Evelyn had gathered to protect from the staff and other would-be thieves. These heirlooms were what had funded her school supplies each year.



To the right of the storage room was a “guest bedroom” that contained absolutely no permanent beds or any other furniture for that matter and had never even once housed a guest for there were rarely guests and most made their escape as soon as was possible. Miranda was in fact the first overnight guest in Evelyn’s memory.



Opposite that was a modest bathroom with an unpredictable tap which either ran scalding hot or ice cold. Miranda made the joke that his was appropriate to Evelyn’s personality as she was either cruelly cold or in a fiery fury with no in-between.



Beside the bathroom lay the kitchen/living area with the leaky ceiling and opposite that was Evelyn’s room. Evelyn’s room had formerly been a servant’s room so was small. Apart from a modest single bed with a thin mattress located in the far right hand corner, a nightstand, a metal rail which held her clothes and a small fireplace there was nothing of significance apart from the large piles of books littered around the place. The fire had prevented mould setting into the walls however, and it was decidedly less damp than the rest of the house. Despite its’s smallness and simplicity, if anything, this room was probably the cosiest and warmest in the whole house. Evelyn had also covered the walls in notes and drawings, almost all academic but some were personal. There were even a few mementos, a picture of a young Evelyn and Jeffrey as a kitten, a drawing of Jeffrey, a picture of Jeffrey in the greenhouse, in fact they were almost all to do with Jeffrey except for one. A picture of Miranda and Evelyn together as first years.



“You kept it,” Miranda said obviously touched by this gesture, “it’s our only proper picture together to date.”



“Of course, I kept it, it would be irrational not to as I can a hardly get another of us in our first year at Hogwarts,” Evelyn said in a matter of fact voice, she was also smiling however and it was clearly important to her to sit so prominently.



Evelyn produced the camp bed meant for the “guestroom” for Miranda from a cupboard in the hallway.



She would sleep in her room tonight; she could hardly expect her to sleep anywhere else in good conscience. As the two girls had just went to bed for the night, Jeffrey entered the room and lay down before the now roaring fire, Miranda was fast asleep but Evelyn noticed this and subtly smiled to herself.



Despite missing her grandmother, right now she felt happy for one of the first times in her life at High Peak as she was surrounded by two of the beings she loved most in the world. She felt slightly more confident that she could face tomorrow.

Both girls slept in late, they were exhausted from the previous day, specifically the Portkey travel.



It was noon before Evelyn rose and woke Miranda. The funeral was at three and they were hardly expecting many attendees so after having breakfast from the leftovers of yesterday’s pantry raid, Evelyn completed Miranda's tour of the house and grounds. E.L.M. undertakers of Knockturn alley arrived with the coffin at two.



Coffin was a generous word; it was more like a wooden box as it was all that could be afforded, even with the heirloom stash.



The box did have the Skylar sigil on it as was tradition. Rather than on a small silver shield however as had been done before, this one looked to be hastily drawn and coloured by a quill and paintbrush with little attention to detail.



Evelyn thought to herself that if whoever buried her dared to put the crest on her coffin, she would come back and haunt them.



Evelyn and Miranda made their way to the family cemetery just outside the northern wall, Evelyn cast the levitation spell which carried the wooden box there. Despite Umbridge’s severely lacking DADA classes, she had been keeping up with her independent learning.



The only attendees to the funeral were the two girls and the squibs.



Evelyn just stood there blank the whole time, all she could think about was the existential dread of having her life reduced to such nothingness like her grandmother. She didn’t even protest when Miranda put her arm around her.



When it was done, the grave was covered with dirt and a wooden sign erected with “Adelaide Skylar” written on it. Nothing else just her name, a sharp contrast to the expensive tombs of her kin that surrounded them but these were harder times for the family.



Evelyn wondered if anyone would even take time to bury her at all, never mind here. The Groundskeeper and Caretaker gave brief nods to Evelyn before scuttling away back to the cottage, they were human after all.



After the funeral Evelyn and Miranda went into the woods for a walk, they stayed there for the rest of the day, playing with Jeffrey who now had taken a shining to Miranda and engaging in small talk.



Evelyn was avoiding all talk of the funeral or High Peak, she just wanted to return to some sense of normality as soon as was possible.



Before it got dark, they returned to the house and executed the same routine as the night before.



The only difference was when Evelyn lay in bed this night, she wasn’t happy, she was sad, so sad a tear ran down her cheek.



Only a tear but still it seemed to her that she did know how to cry after all.

Skylar vowed then and there to not let herself be erased so insignificantly as her grandmother had been today.



Evelyn had taken after her in thinking solitude and pushing others away had brought strength and independence, she now realised all it really brought was loneliness and being buried in a wooden box by four people, three of which were therefor either social support or dubious reasons. She had drawn strength from her friends these last two days not her solitude.



Her mind was suddenly cast solely to George Weasley, she realized that this was the first time she had referred to him as a friend.



She knew now that distancing herself from him or cutting him out of her life served no purpose and would only bring pain. When she returned to Hogwarts, she would go see him as soon as she could.