A Bend in Time

Later that same afternoon, Eileen with joy, anger, and old resentment receives an owl-delivered letter. She clenches the handwritten letter in her hand and shakes at seeing the crest of her family, the Prince's. The red sealed wax shows a wyvern wrapped around a deadly dagger. The owl loudly hoots at her and she flushes in mortification having forgotten to pay the owl.

Eileen grabs her purse which only has small muggle bills, but sufficient to cover the trip. The owl hoots unhappily at the muggle change but accepted the muggle money. The owl holds out a leg as Eileen carefully tucked the muggle money bills into the pouch before the owl sets out of the bedroom window with a loud hoot.

Eyes darting, Eileen peers around but does not spot her neighbors or anyone else looking in her direction. She hurriedly shuts the window and returns to the letter. It would be a lie not to say, she felt angry after all these years. Her parents had never written nor responded to any of the letters she had written when her children were very young. And yet know, after all these years they were at last willing to accept her back all because she bore a son! It seemed grossly unfair!

Filled with turbulent emotions, Eileen reads the letter that is brisk and to the point. Biting her lip in an old nervous habit, she glances up at the tiny clock and blanches at the hour. She hurriedly shoves the letter into the pocket of her coat. She rushes over to the nightstand and pries the hidden back open for her small savings of muggle money. She carefully places the thin wad of bills into the inner pocket of her beige coat.

Glancing around, Eileen searches the room to ensure she forgets nothing. With her mouth pressed into a line, she bends down and grabs the packed carpetbag hidden underneath the bed. She couldn't risk Tobias noticing her plan to flee with the children.

Briskly Eileen pauses at the doorway to ensure that Tobias has not entered the house and fallen asleep in their small parlor. He was normally a loud drunk, but occasionally he could be quiet. It had happened sufficient times to startle her in the early morning especially when she came down the stairs to see a figure in the dark sprawled at the bottom of the stairs.

Certain that Tobias was not inside, Eileen hurried across the creaking floors to the shared room of the twins. She comes to an abrupt halt and frowns in annoyance and despair at finding the bedroom empty. Her hand grips the handle of her carpetbag trying to think of where her children might be. Ignoring the temptation in the depths of her mind that screams at her to leave, she heads down the stairs. If they were not in the house, she knew her children must be out playing in the nearby fields.

Eileen tightens her grip on her carpetbag and hurries out the door. The street is gloomy as it grows darker, and the shadows lengthen with the setting of the sun. Her footsteps sound far too loudly clattering down the street. Neighbor's gazes seem to rest for too long on her and her carpetbag. Scruffy men on the street smoke on the corners of the street, while women in ragged, but revealing clothing come out to sell their wares of the night.

Quickly becoming cross, Eileen's lips are pressed tightly together making her face look sour. "It is dark, they should be back by now!" She huffed to herself, before finding two smaller figures with long shadows holding hands as they walked down the street. Picking up her pace, she moves quickly to intercept her children.

With night coming, it was naturally unsafe for Severus and Rowan to stay out. And though it was unsafe to be at home, it was far worse to be caught outside in the dark unawares. Still, it was rather surprising to be met by their mother, she had not looked out for them in such a manner since they were small.

Severus and Rowan carefully study their mother dressed up in her nicest clothes. They couldn't frankly recall the last time she had looked so nice. Severus seemed rather pleased and offered his mother a small smile, while Rowan warily clutched Severus's hand that much tighter.

Rowan had seen the mothers and fathers of several children who had lived in their part of town send their children away with men in nice clothes. Most of the time, the children were never heard again, but those that returned were older in their teens. Their eyes were often empty and broken, while others were full of pain and rage lashing out at anything and everyone.

"Come," Eileen briskly said moving past her children.

Rowan and Severus stared at each other in confusion until Eileen barks at them. "I said COME!"

With no other choice nor explanation, Rowan and Severus grip each other's hands trailing after their mother. They move from their part of town to the nicer part of Cokesworth. They hurry after their mother left with no time to observe the rare treat. Past the shops, they continue up the path towards the railroad tracks.

Soon enough, they arrive at a small platform located in the nicer part of town. There are two small buildings next to each other that serve as the train station.

firmly as they struggle to keep up with Eileen's brisk pace. Soon enough, they arrive at a small train platform with two small two buildings serving as the train station.

"Stay here and don't talk to strangers!" Eileen brusquely barked sitting both of her children on a bench. Giving her children one last impatient glance, Eileen marches over to the ticket office to buy three one-way tickets.

The platform is rather empty at this later hour except for two other passengers seated at a shared bench. After a moment, Severus quietly whispers, "Are we leaving?"

"Probably," Rowan bluntly responded.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to Lily!" Severus said in a panicked voice.

"It'll be alright," Rowan soothingly said. "Once we get there you can always send her a letter apologizing and letting her know our new address."

Severus sighs in understanding and gloomily murmurs, "Fine."

The train tracks begin to ring as the train nears the station. A loud whistling is heard through the air as the metal train comes into view, before coming to a grinding halt. Eileen's brisk footsteps are heard as she hastily returns with three tickets clutched in her hand. "Hurry up now, we must move quickly!" Eileen snapped to her children, hurrying forward with the twins trailing after her.

Eileen clenches her tickets hard enough to create a crinkle. She shows her three tickets to the ticket counter on board, before being allowed to pass through and take a seat. She determinedly presses forward despite the feeling of her heart in her mouth. She finds a seat away from the platform motioning for her children to sit down.

Shrinking slightly down, Eileen peers at the windows on the opposite side of the train. Her onyx-colored eyes never stop searching for Tobias. The minutes seem to turn into hours until, at long last, the final call for passengers is cried out.

Seeing no one, the ticket counter reboards the train and begins to seal the train doors. The train engine begins to rev up and lets out a loud shrieking whistle, before lunging down the train tracks. Eileen straightens proudly into her seat and turns to gaze at the passing landscape lost in her own thoughts.

Rowan and Severus are quiet as Severus peeks back at the industrial town in the distance. Rowan knew that Severus felt bad about leaving Lily without so much as a word. Then again, who wouldn't feel bad if their best friend just got up and left one day without so much as a goodbye?

The sky grew dark as the train rumbled across the land into the night. Tired Severus dozed off lean to the side until his head came to rest on Rowan's shoulder. Rowan tried to stay awake, but she too nodded off resting her head against Severus's. The two of them slept through most of the train ride, while Eileen remained wide awake lost in her own turbulent thoughts.

It was just after six in the morning when the train pulls into the Norton platform. The train comes to a screeching halt as Eileen firmly grabs her children and leads them off the train. They are the only ones to get off at the platform before the train sets off loudly on its way.

Despite the hour, Eileen manages to find a driver willing to take them at the early hour. Past the sleepy town of Norton to the other side of town, the cab drops them off on the outskirts. Eileen uses the last of her savings to pay off the cabby driver. The driver drops them off without so much as a word before revving the engine and leaving them in a cloud of black smog.

The old cab vanishes into the distance before Eileen leads them into the woods. Rowan and Severus shiver in the cold air as they are led into a dark, sinister forest. An old worn sign with barely eligible words reads, "7th Meadow Lane."

The forest is colder and darker the deeper they venture inside as Severus tightens his grip on Rowan's hand. Their mother does not speak and neither Severus nor Rowan dared to ask a question. They could tell their mother was in no mood to answer their questions.

Abruptly the forest grows brighter as they turn a bend. Severus's and Rowan's eyes bulge as they emerge into vast carefully tended grounds with an enormous castle-like manor looming even from a distance. The Prince family home is imposing, cold, and stark against the skyline.

Eileen almost stepped wrongly and lost her balance. She quickly recovered herself and said, "Hurry up, don't dawdle you too," before pressing up the gravel path towards Prince Manor.

Up the gravel path and past the nearly blinding white granite steps, Eileen halts at the entrance as the grand front doors swing open to green them. The interior is as elegant and lavish as she remembers with gorgeous displays of silver and gold furnishings. For a moment, it seems she never left until she steps inside.

There they wait and stand in the open front hall. Dressed in dark clothing without so much as a smile or warm greeting are her father, mother, and her aunt. The blatant disappointment in their eyes causes her to falter. She had always known she wasn't good enough for them. What had been the point of her even trying to come back?

The shuffling of her children behind Eileen brings her back to the present. Composing herself, Eileen addresses her family accordingly. Eileen politely bows to the three of them and addresses them accordingly. "Greetings father, mother, and Auntie Georgine, I hope you are in good health.

"So, we are," Aunt Georgine drily puffed out a cloud of smoke from her long, thin red cigarette. Georgine Prince is a tall, slender woman with chin-length raven hair with only a touch of a few silver hairs here and there. Her dark hair is swept to the side of her head like a pair of raven's wings.

Reginald Prince, a very tall, thin man with a stern face shows no emotion on his face despite the reunion with his estranged daughter. "Dawn, take the children upstairs," he ordered out loud.

Severus looks confused at the order while Rowan flinches when a loud popping sound is heard. A tiny female house-elf in a neat little dress with a matching apron and large droopy ears appears. "Yes, Master!" Dawn squeaked motioning for the two children to follow after her.

Severus gapes a moment, before becoming distracted by the enchanted moving portraits hanging on the walls. Rowan frowns in dislike of being watched by creeping moving portraits. If there was one thing she hated, it was to be stared at. It made her feel uneasy as if someone was plotting against her.

Before Dawn disappears from view, Sirsa, a sturdy witch with cold eyes calls out. "Dawn make sure to properly wash and dress them accordingly. Those rags they are wearing are not even fit for a dog."

Turning her perceptive gaze towards her daughter, Sirsa gives her daughter a look over from head to toe. "We told you that muggle man was no good for you and look at you know," she tsk-tsked at seeing the worn, tired state of her daughter.

"Yes, mother," Eileen bitterly replied keeping her head. It was as though she had never left.

"Hurry up and clean yourself, you look simply atrocious," Sirsa matter-of-factly remarked.

Eileen's eyes fill with anger and old hurt, before rigidly marching towards her old room. Nothing she ever did was good enough for her mother! No matter what she did, she would always be a disappointment! Why had she ever thought it would be different this time?

Reginald Prince sighs privately to himself, before muttering about returning to his study.

The footsteps of Reginald fade away leaving only Sirsa and Georgine Prince in the front hall. Georgine Prince clicks her tongue against her teeth. "I always said Reginald spoiled Eileen rotten and look where it has got her!"

Sirsa sighs uncertain of what to respond rubbing her head with one hand. She had only wanted her daughter to properly marry. Where had she gone wrong?

The two women sit together each lost in their own thoughts. Well, not entirely as Georgine was still smoking until there was a cloud of smoke about them. And whether it was on purpose or not at some point Sirsa had to excuse herself for some fresh air leaving Georgine alone.