Prologue
August 7th, 1993
The Prescott family was having dinner at the large wooden table in the dining room. Effy, the house elf, poured white wine into Celeste's cup.
"Garrett won't make it?" Celeste asked, frowning slightly from her end of the long table. Her husband didn't look up from his plate.
"Not tonight. He has a lot of work," he replied, before taking a sip of his wine.
"Garrett being responsible? What's next? Are we moving to Egypt?" Cassandra asked with amusement; it was her fifteenth birthday, and a family dinner was more appealing than the loud parties her mother used to throw.
"Actually..." Her father hesitated.
"As long as I don't share a room with a mummy..." Finnick said, before gesturing to Effy for a cup of wine, earning a firm slap on his hand by his mother.
"If the mummy were hot enough, you'd hook up with them in a heartbeat." Cassandra teased, then remembered her little sister was right next to her. "You didn't hear a thing, Ellie."
Helen grimaced, trying to erase that horrible image from her mind. "Sometimes I wish I were deaf, especially when it's you who's talking."
"Well, now it's my turn to speak." His father sat up straighter, head held high and expression serious. The same expression he used with new recruits at MACUSA to command respect. "We're moving, but not to Egypt."
Silence fell over the dining room. The Prescotts were used to moving around—Ilvermorny, the vacation house in Rhode Island, their home in California, and the apartment in Manhattan—but the expression on the head of the family's face suggested that this time it would not be a trip like the others and that, moreover, the decision had already been made.
"In England there is this prison, Azkaban. They say it's the most secure prison in the wizarding world—
"Yes, Dad, we take the history of magic classes," Cassandra interrupted.
Her father just nodded. "A prisoner escaped." Silence fell over the room, and even Effy felt a chill as she placed a glass full of wine on the left side of Finnick's plate. "The most dangerous murderer has escaped from the most secure prison in the entire wizarding world."
"Well, too bad for the Brits," Finnick muttered, bringing the glass to his lips.
"My old friend, Cornelius Fudge," their father continued. "He asked me to review the case. He wants to keep this whole mess as discreet as possible and get it over with as soon as possible."
"But you're retired," his wife commented.
"I know, dear. But you know I can't refuse. Fighting for civil welfare was what I promised when I became captain. I can't rest knowing that innocent people are at risk. So far, the secret has been kept, but there have been sightings of that man on the streets."
After a long, heavy silence, Cassius spoke again. "I'm going to England. And you, my family, will come with me. The transporter is ready in two weeks."
Cassius's hazel eyes rested on his three children, on Helen's surprised and frightened gaze, on Finnick's seriousness that hid irritation, and on his eldest daughter's green eyes, burning with fury.
"And you will come with me. I have already spent too much time away from you in the past; I don't want to leave my family behind once again. You will go to Hogwarts, and we will settle in a house in London—"
The abrupt sound of Cassandra's chair cut off the conversation, and she rose from the table with the fury of a hurricane battering the coast of Florida. "I've lost my appetite."
That was all she said before leaving her seat and walking out of the room, leaving behind her favorite pasta dish—lasagna—and the joy of her celebration.
Not long after, Finnick left the house with half a bottle of fire whiskey in his hand. After his sister left, the dining room turned into a battlefield. His mother reproached his father; his father defended himself... even the family eagle—which they used instead of an owl—had flown to its cage of its own accord. He had made sure to give Helen a sleeping potion before leaving.
Cassandra was leaning on the fence leading to the beach, watching the waves, the moonlight reflecting off the sequins on her silver dress, her new heels forgotten at the foot of the fence, covered in sand.
"A pretty face shouldn't frown all the time; you'll get wrinkles," he said once he was close enough to stand beside her.
"Did you know?" she asked without further ado, her gaze fixed on the stars.
"No. But I suspected it. Dad has been very... fatherly these last few days. Like he used to be." Finnick also leaned on the fence and took a long swig straight from the bottle. Then he wiped the mouth of the bottle with his shirt sleeve and offered it to his sister.
She took it and took a sip too. She grimaced as the hot liquid went down her throat, a strange sensation she wasn't accustomed to.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
The minutes passed, the silence between the siblings comfortable. The sea was always relaxing, the sound of the waves, the feel of the sand beneath their feet...
"What if I stay?" Cassandra turned to look at her brother. "I can stay with Uncle Garrett, the apartment in Manhattan is big enough."
"Yeah, right. Do you really think Mom and Dad will be okay with leaving you alone with Garrett? In less than an hour, you'll be covered in tattoos, eating fast food, and drinking alcohol like it's water."
"You already do that last part. Smoking too."
"But I do it right under our parents' noses. It's different with an ocean between us."
Cassandra looked down before taking another sip from the bottle, this time without wrinkling her nose.
"I don't wanna go."
"Neither do I," her brother confessed. "But let's not be so pessimistic. Maybe we'll find something fun there. Besides, I'm going to start writing a British English guide. I don't want to get there and say something wrong and make a fool of myself."
"Yeah, do it," she took another drink. "And the guide too."
Finnick chuckled as he noticed her cheeks turning slightly pink, and not exactly because of the cold. "All right, let's go back inside. We have to see if Dad is still alive after facing the wrath of our beloved mother."
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Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters, settings, and events belong to J.K. Rowling. I do not own them. Cassandra Prescott, the Prescott family, and other original characters are mine. This story may contain mature themes (violence, strong language, darker topics, +18 content), so reader discretion is advised.
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😺Note: Hi guys! This is my first time writing and also... English is not my first language, I started writing this to practice grammar and improve my writing skills.
Thanks for giving this fanfic an opportunity, and I hope you enjoy it! If there's something wrong or if I misspelled some words, please let me know in the comments. 😸
😺Note 2: Hi, if you are re-reading this you may notice a few changes, I'm rewriting it. It happened that most of the time I write it's 3:00 am before a huge university exam, I don't know why I'm more inspired under stress. Anyway, thanks to that I make a lot of errors and even mix names (you have no idea how many hours I spend editing) so, that's why sometimes I take longer to update or you may remember a chapter in a specific way and suddenly is changed to another. But well, that's all. Thanks for reading!
