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Demelza	By : Radioactive Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 1074 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Chapter 1: The Siren and Hydra
- 2-Chapter 2: Escape
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The bar was crammed with witches and wizards laughing and drinking on a hot July day. It was the same every summer, they would flock from all over Europe to enjoy the Cornish beaches and the annual Poseidon Gathering - a wizarding festival .The Siren and Hydra, as the largest wizarding pub in the UK was always a top destination for the many magical tourists. Demelza Robins, a dark-haired girl of 15, sat perched on a stool leaning on the bar, with one toe reaching down to the floor to help keep her balance as a rowdy group of young German wizards knocked into her back for a third time. She had expected a lot of wizards wouldn’t have travelled to the festival this year given the fact that only last month the news that Lord Voldemort had returned had shaken the wizarding community. It had felt like a darkness had descended over the summer, with everyone living in a perpetual state of concern, fearing what would happen next. So maybe everyone had just seen this as a welcome distraction from it all.
“Well, you could look a little more cheerful Demi!” said the woman behind the bar, her name was Vee, a middle-aged witch with sleek black hair and bright blue eyes that stood out strongly against her dark skin.
“Mum, there is nothing to be cheerful about!” shot back Demelza, “it’s too hot, it’s too noisy, sweaty drunk guys keep bumping into me, and oh yeah, you-know-who could burst in here any second and do us all in…”
Vee’s eyes widened in shock before quickly narrowing and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Demi, your attitude stinks! Always so negative! I don’t see anybody else grumping in this bar! You know you will never find a boyfriend when you act like this! You’re nearly sixteen years old and you’ve never even mentioned a boy you like let alone brought one home for me to meet.”
Demelza groaned and rolled her eyes. Not this again.
Her mum continued undeterred, “if you’d just let me do your hair, sweetheart, just a little Sleakeazy’s, instead of throwing into that awful frizzy ponytail, a little make up, some pretty new robes…”
“Your mother’s right, Demelza,” interrupted the bar manager, Merc, who had been stood next to Vee pulling pints of cider and chatting to a group of older French witches who had all been giggling like school girls. He continued, “Pride in your appearance, and of course a winning smile will get you far in life, just look at me!” he flashed a huge smile and winked at the French witches who giggled some more and looked flustered. Vee looked up at him fawningly and he snaked an arm around her hip, the French witches suddenly looking a little disappointed.
Demelza wrinkled her nose in disgust, “You’re a right creep you know that?” she said to him.
Merc and her mother both looked at her, mouths slightly open, her mother looked outraged and shouted “Demelza!” but Merc quickly composed himself and chuckled shaking his head “kids eh?” he said to the French witches, pointing at Demelza and continuing to chuckle flashing those white teeth.
“Just leave me alone OK?” muttered Demelza angrily to them both, sliding off her chair and pushing her way through the crowds to the exit. Once outside the fresh air hit her face and she closed her eyes taking in a big breath of the warm, salty night air feeling a little calmer.
“Demelza!” came a shout, she spun round to see a cheerful elderly little witch with whispy white hair smiling and waving through a gap in the crowds, a glass of firewhiskey on the table in front of her.
“Grandma!” said Demelza hurrying over to take a seat next to her Grandmother, “I didn’t even know you were here!”
“Well, I came to have a word with your mother, but there’s no way I’m going in there right now,” she nodded to the heaving crowds in the pub. “But one of these nice boys fetched me a drink while I wait,” she waved at a group of young teenage wizards Demelza recognised from a couple of years above her in school.
Demelza chuckled a little, raising her hand in greeting at the boys too and said “Yes, don’t bother, it’s mad in there. What did you want to talk to her about?”
“Well, you know I’ve been struggling with things lately, and I’ve been thinking I need to move out of my old house,” her Grandma replied slowly.
“What, and you want to live with us?” burst out Demelza, shocked. “Grandma, you know I’d love that but you really don’t want to stay with us. Dad’s an absolute mess intent on drinking himself to death, and Mum doesn’t care about anyone but herself and that creep Merc... Ugh, I can’t wait to be back at school and Rewan’s going to be well out of it when he moves to London next month…” she finished bitterly.
“Yes, I’m extremely proud of your brother getting a place on St. Mungo’s training scheme. Seven Outstanding OWLs! He’ll make an excellent healer,” she beamed, her kind brown eyes winkling, before her face fell a little and she turned to look out at the sea below the cliff on which the pub sat. “But you’re right Demelza, I won’t be moving in with your mother and father. Your uncle Llanzo and Aunt Orla have offered that I move in with them.” She paused for a moment before continuing “Oh, I do worry about you, with the way your mother and father have been fighting…” She trailed off sighing, “You know I just want my family to be happy. More than anything”.
“Well, mum couldn’t give two hoots if I’m happy or not,” muttered Demelza resentfully. “Apparently, I just need to stop moaning, fix my hair and get a boyfriend. As good looking and successful as I can manage! You know she tried to set me up with Merc’s son last week? I’d rather kiss a horned toad!” Demelza shuddered.
Demelza’s grandmother surveyed her sympathetically. “Yes, Veronica always did prize a trophy man shall we say. Someone the community admired, someone who made her feel special. I suppose she gets it from me…” she smiled but her eyes shined a little, and Demelza worried she was about to cry. Her grandma fixed her eyes on the waves again continuing, “You know I’d only been here two months, working for the embassy, when I met your grandad Wilf. Beater for the Falmouth Falcons, he was. Great strong arms! Beautiful blue eyes! Every teenage girl’s dream I’d have thought. He promised he’d show me the world, that I’d have anything I could wish for!” Her shining eyes reflecting the sea, now dark like the night sky.
Demelza waited awkwardly, wondering if her Grandma had finished.
But her Grandma drew a breath and fixed her eyes on Demelza’s. “Demelza I want you to listen to me,” her Grandma said at last. “You always be yourself. Do what makes you happy, and you don’t need anyone else for that. You make your own success, and your own happiness. People will only let you down. Your grandfather walked out on the three of us when Veronica and Llanzo were just babies. Always chasing the next thrill, couldn’t take the monotony of life with a wife and children I suppose. And look at your father, one day he’s out fighting merpeople, then after the peace agreement, he just couldn’t take to life where he didn’t feel a hero, redirected all that aggression at your mother and brother and you,” her hand gripped her glass of firewhiskey tightly and her mouth became a thin line.
Demelza reached out for her Grandma’s other hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry Grandma, mum and Rewan and me can more than handle ourselves with dad. He’s usually so drunk he couldn’t even stupefy a slug,” she smiled.
Her grandma smiled back and patted her on the shoulder “I know you can, dear. I’m so, so proud of you both.”
A tall worried looking man approached through the crowds in bright blue robes which matched his eyes, which just like Vee’s contrasted sharply with his dark skin. “There you are mum!” he said to Demelza’s Grandma, sounding relieved. “You know it’s not safe to be out alone with… everything that’s going on…” he finished quietly.
“Well I’m not on my own am I? My wonderful granddaughter is with me!” she replied patting Demelza’s knee.
“Yeah! Just let you-know-who have a go!” laughed Demelza whipping out her wand and pointing it at an imaginary Lord Voldemort, fixing her face with a look of faux-determination.
Her uncle smiled a little, “as formidable as I know you are Demi, I still think your Grandma should be sticking to plans in a climate such as this”.
Demelza shrugged and put away her wand.
“I spoke to Vee,” Llanzo continued turning back to his mother, “you didn’t tell her you were moving in with me?” he asked.
“Not yet. But I’m sure it’ll just be one less thing for her to worry about, knowing I’m being looked after.” She gulped down the rest of her firewhiskey and stood up suddenly. “Right then,” she said suddenly fixing her son with a glare, “we’re not taking that dratted muggle contraption of your wife’s to get there are we?”
Llanzo stepped back under her glare looking confused, “Wh-what? The car? Er, no, my friend just lives at the end of the street, I thought we’d pop in and say hello then we’ll take the floo network back home…” he finished tentatively.
“Oh good,” Demelza’s grandma said breaking into a smile again. “Orla is a lovely woman, but you know I don’t trust all these muggle gizmos and whatnot of hers, and the way she cuts up people for a living! Well, frankly it’s enough to make you go faint!”
“Merlin, mum, keep your voice down! She’s a doctor, not some kind of maniac! You’ll have everyone talking!”
But the crowds didn’t seem to have heard a thing, so intent were they on having a good time.
“Right, well I guess I’d better head home too,” said Demelza glumly, wondering what kind of state her dad would be in when she got there.
“Look Demi,” said her Uncle Llanzo gripping her shoulder tightly, “I know you feel responsible for him, and that you have to look after him or something, but he’s a grown up, he’s made his choices and sometimes you just can’t save people. You know you can always come live with me and Orla in Oxford… you and Rewan are welcome any time, I know it must be hell for you these last few months…”
She avoided his eye. She didn’t like to talk about it. She knew it was probably true but she didn’t feel like she could just give up. A memory of riding on her dad’s shoulders as a child along the same beach that lay below them flashed through her mind and her eyes stung with tears. “Thanks,” she muttered brushing away her uncle’s hand from her shoulder, “but I’ll make my own choices too.”
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Demelza