章節 94: Gwen's Birthday
Sunday, July 17, 1972.
County Wiltshire in southwest England.
Surrounded by extensive grounds one could see a majestic residence with walls that seem to be very old. This was Shafiq Manor. Where Gwen and Emily moved several years ago, leaving their mansion in Godric's Hollow.
Compared to their previous mansion, this one was much larger and with much more extensive gardens. The main entrance is marked by an imposing wrought iron gate, flanked by stone columns supporting a classical pediment.
The driveway meanders through manicured gardens landscaped with flower beds and elegant fountains.
In addition to being the current residence of the Shafiq Family, there were other prominent pureblood families currently living in Wiltshire County.
In one of the many rooms of Shafiq Manor, stood a blonde woman next to a blonde girl much like herself, only she was much smaller, as if she were a small version of herself.
They were mother and daughter, Lysandra and Gwen Shafiq.
Gwen was looking at herself in the mirror in front of a large ebony and ivory dressing table. Lysandra was standing behind her and calmly combing her daughter's blonde hair.
"You look beautiful," Lysandra said in a calm tone as she rested the comb on the counter and looked at her daughter's reflection. Remembering her younger days.
"Thanks..." said Gwen without paying much attention.
"You seem to be with your mind in the clouds. You'd better come back to earth when the guests come," commented Lysandra in a serious tone.
"Yes, I'm sorry. Why does that Lestrange boy have to come? I don't like him," said Gwen with a frown. It annoyed her that he always wanted to talk to her, and after seeing him tease James, she hated it.
"His name is Rabastan. I don't want you to display that behavior with others. The Lestrange Family is very old and respected. They originate from France and have branches in Britain that are important. With that you can realize their great status and power that in the future may come to rival House Black," said Lysandra.
"And what does that have to do with me?" growled Gwen in a low tone.
"Gwen Irene Shafiq! It has a lot to do with you. If you get a good relationship with him it will be beneficial to our family in the future. Do you understand?" asked Lysandra in a repressive tone as she made eye contact with Gwen through the mirror.
"Yes, I understand..." replied Gwen, looking down.
"That's good to hear. You wouldn't want to involve your sister in this, would you?" said Lysandra in a cold and very different tone than usual.
"No! I'll be nice to him. Is that okay with you?" asked Gwen nervously.
"Yes, that will do. The Lestrange boy seems to have a favorable opinion of you, as long as you don't appear apathetic it will suffice for now. Finish getting ready and come down in fifteen minutes to greet the guests," replied Lysandra as she walked towards the door and out of the room.
Gwen, who was looking at the door where her mother had left, clutched the fabric of her dress tightly, her fingers clenching helplessly in the soft fabric.
After a couple of minutes, she sighed helplessly and finished getting ready to go downstairs to greet her friends and guests.
Her birthday was much like the last few years. She received many expensive gifts. She was the center of attention, and everyone wanted to talk to her. Worst of all, she had to act nice to Rabastan because her mother was watching her.
Not so much, though, as there was a very arrogant boy, who annoyed Rabastan and seemed to care nothing for him. Neither etiquette nor being liked by others. He seemed to be there to annoy the other pureblood boys.
"You've received a lot of presents this year, Gwen," commented Marcellus Gwen's father, looking at the large pile of presents that made a mountain on the floor.
"Yes..." said Gwen, who didn't look very happy.
"What's wrong? Is there anything you didn't get? We can buy it tomorrow," said Marcellus, who was spoiling Gwen very much.
"It's not that, father. Then I'll tell Slinky to take all the presents to my room," replied Gwen without explanation.
Just as she was about to go to her room, her mother entered the room with two presents and a letter, "What's that? More presents?" asked Marcellus with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes... From James Potter," replied Lysandra, reading the recipient of the letter.
'From James!? I thought he wouldn't send me a present this year,' thought Gwen as a smile formed on her face. She quickly walked over to her mother.
"Can I have it?" asked Gwen impatiently, as she extended her hand towards her mother.
After a few seconds, Lysandra with a conflicted look, handed her the two gifts and the letter. Gwen hurried to her room with a smile.
Lysandra and Marcellus looked at each other and sighed helplessly. At first, they let Gwen join James Potter for the fact that he saved her, but they didn't see it in a good light, as the Potter Family was considered blood traitors by supporting muggles, half-bloods, and muggle-born wizards.
Although an old and respected family, the Potters always supported muggles and what they considered mudbloods.
Gwen, when she got to her room locked the door and sat down on her double bed. She decided to open first the present that had a red wrapper, 'It's very soft and squishy...' thought Gwen as she tore the red paper.
It was a cute stuffed Hungarian dragon. Unlike the real dragon which has a menacing expression, the stuffed animal had a kind and somewhat silly expression.
"What a silly face, it's cute," Gwen murmured with a smile as she looked at the stuffed animal. After some thought, she hugged it tightly and sniffed it.
'Ah... James' smell, he must have wrapped it himself,' thought Gwen as she sunk her face into the soft plushie. After a few seconds, she withdrew her face with some embarrassment and opened the second gift that seemed smaller.
It was an eagle feather that had her name neatly written on it, "It's James' handwriting," Gwen murmured with a smile. She had seen James' handwriting on several occasions. She couldn't get it wrong.
With incredible speed, she opened the letter and began to read it. After a few minutes, she lay down on the bed with the letter in hand and a silly grin on her face. Minutes passed, and she kept reading the letter over and over again.
Gwen felt a strange feeling. For most of her birthday day, she was not happy, but two simple gifts and a letter made her day, making it completely better.
Compared to the expensive and extravagant gifts she was given, they didn't seem like much of a big deal for James' gifts. However, Gwen gave them a higher importance and considered them to be the best gifts.
'I wonder what he's doing...' thought Gwen, hugging the stuffed animal tightly and not taking her eyes off the letter.
...
James was showing his room to Toby, who was gawking at the whole thing. He never thought a boy could have such a big room to himself.
"You sure are a big Puddlemere United fan..." commented Toby as he noticed all the Puddlemere United decorations in the room.
"Of course. It's the best team in England," James said proudly as he adjusted his circular glasses. As his contact lenses were still 8 hours old, he preferred to wear them when training, practicing with the broom or if he went out to watch some quidditch match or something like that, meanwhile at home he used the normal glasses.
Toby was surprised when he saw James arrive wearing glasses, but he didn't say anything, internally he thought they looked good on him.
"Now, let's see in the room you'll be staying in these days," said James.
"What!? I'll have a room all to myself?" asked Toby, very surprised.
"Of course. Follow me," said James as he took Toby's suitcase and headed for the next room.
"It's not very spacious, and it's kind of empty," said James, turning on the room light and setting the suitcase down next to the single bed.
"No... it's great. I never had a room to myself," said Toby in delight looking at the room. He always had to share a room with other boys, even at Hogwarts, although at Hogwarts it was a very spacious and luxurious room compared to the orphanage dormitories which had bunk beds in very small spaces.
James scratched his head in embarrassment. He forgot for a moment that Toby was from an orphanage, and for him, this room would be more than fine.
"How do you put up with that orc? She's disgusting," James asked, sitting up in bed. By orc, he meant Caroline. The matron of Toby's orphanage.
"Mistress Caroline isn't so bad when you get to know her, although her attitude can be misconstrued," Toby replied as he started to put his clothes away in the closet. He didn't have many clothes. He had brought everything he had, as he would be staying for a week.
James could tell that the clothes were somewhat worn and didn't seem to be Toby's size.
"Mm, if you say so. I thought the matron was the old lady with the kind smile in the picture you have on your bedside table," James commented, as he pulled a golden snitch out of his pocket and began to play with it.
Toby, who was putting away the clothes stopped, and the place went silent, "Oh, sorry. I saw the picture, and my curiosity got the better of me," said James apologetically.
"No, no need to apologize," said Toby, snapping back to reality. He had put the photo out for all to see. It wasn't James' fault that he had seen it.
"The one in the picture is Grandmother Diana. The old matron of the orphanage... She was the one who raised me for as long as I can remember, but she died five years ago," Toby explained in a sad tone.
"I'm sorry," said James, and the atmosphere in the room fell into an awkward silence as Toby continued to take out his few belongings. What made James most curious was that Toby pulled out a very fat worn black book and a necklace with a small cross on it.
James recognized the thick book as The Bible. The book contains texts considered sacred by various religions, mainly Judaism and Christianity.
"Do you believe in God?" asked James curiously.
"Yes. Grandma Diana always read the Bible to us at the orphanage," replied Toby with a slight smile looking at the old book.
"Are wizards Christians? At Hogwarts we celebrate Christmas and Easter," asked Toby, curious.
"Mm, you could say that most wizards are. At least in England, but in the magical community there isn't as much religious devotion as in the muggle community," replied James as he passed the snitch between his fingers.
James believes that the crazies in the extremist pure families would consider their ancestor's gods rather than the God of some religion.
"What about you?" asked Toby, looking at James.
"What about me?"
"If you believe in God," Toby specified.
"God..." muttered James with a blank stare and stopped playing with the snitch.
If he were his former self, i.e. Edward Rothschild, he would say that he would not believe in the existence of God. Especially in the belief of Christianity and Judaism: an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent god.
If God had unlimited power and had total knowledge of all things, past, present, and future, why were there so many misfortunes and injustices in the world?
However, he now had a dilemma as he reincarnated in another world. The problem is that neither in Christianity nor in Judaism is there a belief in reincarnation. It is not a common feature of the religious tradition. It would have to be another type of religion or God that allows reincarnation in the sense that the soul is reborn in another body and another world.
Is there any religion with that characteristic? James doesn't know. His old family, The Rothschilds were more of Judaism, as the founder of the Rothschild dynasty was of Jewish origin.
"James?" asked Toby, seeing that his friend remained silent, and with a blank stare.
James snapped back to reality. Luckily at that moment, a shout came from Euphemia alerting them that the food was ready, so he didn't have to answer the question.
While eating they talked about what they were going to do this week. Peter would arrive a couple of days later, at the moment he was in Paris on vacation with his parents. As for Sirius and Lupin, James is keeping in touch through letters.
Unfortunately because of Sirius's family, it is very difficult for them to see each other during the vacations. James was thinking of asking his Aunt Dorea for help since before she was a Potter, she belonged to the Blacks, but his Uncle Charlus told him that he was no relation to Walburga Black, Sirius's mother, who was a pureblood extremist.
'Yes they are extreme...' thought James with a strange expression.
Already the population of the magical world didn't have many pureblood families. They were in the minority compared to half-bloods and muggle-born wizards. House Black is one of the most extreme.
For example, the Shafiq Family despite having some supremacist ideals, let Gwen and Emily get together with James, who comes from a family considered a blood traitor, although his case is somewhat special since he saved Gwen.
James is sure, that if he saves Sirius and Walburga Black finds out she won't even thank him and won't let Sirius come to her house or him go to his, showing that they have a more extreme stance.
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