Disclaimer: Okay, people, I do own the plot and the following characters: Bridget "Mystic" (Granger), John, Valerie, Alex, Renee, and Kiera Paloumar; Sierra; Gwynethia, Rhia, and James Potter. The following characters belong to the following people, not me: Kikio (Black), Travis, Shaleen, and Jerico Axion - Kikioblack (FF author); Jenny Granger - JennyGranger (FF author); Harry and Hermione (Granger) Potter (and all other familiar HP characters) - J. K. Rowling. The song Breaking The Habit belongs to Linkin Park. Thank you for wasting valuable reading time on this disclaimer. Now, go read my story and please remember to review it for me.
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A/N: This story takes place 16 years after the second book in the Meant To Be Series, Meant To Be. Things are different, such as that Bridget "Mystic" Granger is now married to John Paloumar, Harry and Hermione are the proud parents of 3 kids, and Kikio Black is married to Travis Axion and now has 2 kids.
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Meant To Be 3:
Love Binds
(Rhia's Story)
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Chapter 1: 16 Years Later
- Harry turned around just in time to see his five-year-old daughter, Rhia, come flying towards him. Her shiny jet black hair flew out from behind her like an ebony banner, her hazel eyes sparkling, showing her excitement over seeing her daddy come home from work. Her laugh, clear and beautiful, made him forget how tired he was and how incredibly long his day had been. Rhia leaped into the air to be caught in her dad's strong arms, where she was the happiest.
Rhia was a total daddy's-girl. His oldest daughter, Gwynethia (Gwyn) however, was a 6-year-old mommy's-girl. James, at age one and a half, really didn't seem to prefer either parent, as long as he got fed. Gwyn had long, incredibly blonde hair and dark brown eyes, the same shade as her mother's. She was tall even for her age, and couldn't wait to start going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as soon as her parents would allow her to.
Rhia didn't seem very anxious to go to the boarding school because that would mean leaving her beloved daddy behind. The young little witchling couldn't understand that eventually she would have to. Right now, kindergarten was a major issue for her. The thought of a year-long separation from her father would traumatize the little girl. -
"Leave me ALONE!" came a very upset squeal from one of the girls upstairs.
Harry shook his head and brought himself mentally back to the present. That was then and this was now. Right now James was probably pulling some more of his never-ending pranks on one of his older sisters. Right now was 16 years after the birth of Gwyn, 10 years after his nice little memory had been created. Now, Rhia was highly independent, outgoing, had a royal temper, an attitude, and didn't want anything to do with her father and very little with her mother.
Gwyn was quiet, laid-back, thoughtful, and still a momma's-girl. She didn't mind her dad, but her mom was the one she ran to. She was the smartest of the 6th years and was very active in various organizations at Hogwarts.
James lived up to his name quite well; James Sirius Potter. He was the worst of his grandfather, James, and Sirius Black. Harry was sure that he could even out-prank the Weasley twins, Fred and George. He knew all the ways out of Hogwarts, including 3 ways that none of the second generation marauders had ever found.
At that moment Hermione happened to come home from work, thoroughly exhausted from a long day. Harry had to duck quickly as a shoe came flying his way, nearly nailing him in the head. He knew she didn't mean to hit him and just wanted out of her shoes, so he didn't comment on it. Instead, he walked over to his wife and kissed her, asking her how her day had been.
"Awful! First we had to break the news to a young couple that their three-year-old daughter had a disease even magic couldn't cure, then one of my patients died and…" Hermione continued to explain about her bad day, all the while looking like she was going to just fall to pieces.
"That sounds awful, honey," Harry said sympathetically. "Tomorrow's bound to be better."
"You're only saying that to make me feel better," she said in a cross tone but her smile showed how much she appreciated his support.
The two of them headed out to the kitchen, where Harry proceeded to make lunch for a change and Hermione plopped down in a chair. A big, furry black and white Siberian husky came bounding in to greet them, but slid to a stop when she saw Hermione. She whined deep in her throat and laid her head on her knees.
Sierra was a two-year-old dog that Hermione wasn't sure who had adopted who. She had just turned up one day, a starving, dirty little puppy. At first Hermione was just going to feed her and let her go on her way until Sierra had looked up at her with her pleading little blue eyes. That's when she officially became a member of the family.
"Hey Sierra!" Hermione said, trying to be cheerful for the dog's sake.
"You're not fooling me. I know you're miserable," the dog replied, looking up at her with almost transparent blue eyes. Some days Hermione regretted using a special charm to translate what the dog was saying to English and vice versa.
"Fine then. With your acute hearing, you should know why I'm not in a good mood."
"So come play with me. Or, we could go out and visit Danzair!" the dog said eagerly. Danzair and Sierra were really good friends, and the dog was always wanting to go out and visit him.
"No, not right now; I'm going to eat lunch and then I'm going to take a nap." Hermione said decisively, sticking stubbornly to her original plans, ignoring the dog's beseeching eyes and deplorable whining.
"Fine, then. I won't tell you what's up with Rhia then! Treat me like crap!" the dog muttered huffily, trotting out the doggy door.
"That reminds me," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Do you know what's going on[Author ID1: at Fri Mar 23 16:19:00 2007 ] [Author ID1: at Fri Mar 23 16:19:00 2007 ]with Rhia? She really hasn't been herself since she came back from Hogwarts this year."
"I don't know!" Harry said, totally fed-up with the 15 year old. "Maybe she had a bad break-up with a boyfriend or something."
"I don't think that's it, Harry. Something like that wouldn't be enough to totally change her personality like this."
"I don't know about that, you know how she is," Harry replied.
"Yeah, but-"
Just then they heard a loud crashing noise come from upstairs followed by a loud thud. Harry raced up the stairs while Hermione apparated to the cause of confusion. They both arrived upstairs in time to see James sprawled on the floor, a confused look becoming one of hurt on his face.
`Ya know, there could be a reason why Harry and I didn't try to have a fourth kid…' Hermione thought in semi-amusement as she helped the 12 year old to his feet and brushed bits of broken glass off of him. A book laid a couple of feet away, and the vase that had been sitting in a small table along the hallway was on the floor, shattered.
"Now what were you doing to Rhia?" Harry asked his son.
"I didn't do anything to her!" James protested with a hurt look on his face. "All I did was asked her why she was crying, and she threw her potions book at me."
"Alright, James. Why don't you go play at the park after you eat your lunch or something and leave Rhia alone, okay?" Hermione told him and motioned towards the kitchen where Harry had finished lunch before racing upstairs.
"Okay, Mom." James headed down the stairs and Harry turned towards Hermione.
"I don't know what's gotten into her, Mione, but this has got to stop," Harry said, his green eyes looking suddenly tired.
"Why don't you go let Gwyn know lunch is ready and go eat lunch with the two of them? I'll talk to Rhia and see what I can find out," Hermione suggested.
"Okay, it's your head you're risking getting bitten off," Harry said as he headed on down the hall to Gwyn's room.
Hermione sighed and slowly opened the door to Rhia's room. She slipped inside and immediately noticed that Rhia's back was to her. Her shoulders shook with her silent tears, her pillow clutched tightly against her chest. She looked like a little kid who'd just lost their best friend. It took several minutes for her to even discern that her mother had entered her room.
Hermione sat down gently on the edge of the bed as if at any minute it would shatter beneath her. She studied the light blue blanket beneath her as if she had never seen it before, waiting for Rhia to calm down. She knew that Rhia would talk to her when she was ready to do so and not an instant sooner.
The only noises to be heard in the room were Rhia's choking sobs and the steady ticking of a clock. At the clock ticked the minutes away, Rhia gradually grew calmer and her sobs quieted down a little. Her hazel eyes still betrayed her fear and misery.
"Rhia, what's wrong, honey?" Hermione finally asked her daughter.
"Nothing!" Rhia responded. Her resentment shocked Hermione and threw her off a little.
"Rhia, I'm only trying to help you. `Nothing' isn't true if you were crying, something's got to be wrong."
"NO!" she shrieked, jumping away from her mother as if she had been burned. "Don't even start! Go away!"
Hermione debated staying, but thought better of it. She got up and walked almost dejectedly out into the hallway and stood there, although she wasn't sure why. Then she squared her shoulders and headed to the now-empty kitchen to eat a now-cold lunch. She ate quickly, not really tasting the food, grabbed her jacket, and left for the stables. She scanned the eager horses standing there and then began grabbing lead ropes. The first two horses she took out to the paddocks were Dunnit and Marauder. After them came Remnant and Triumph, Renegade and Rain, and then Jenny's mares and yearlings, including her 15-year-old mare, Rayne. Finally came the other horses that had been bought or bred within the last 16 years; Sullivan, Rhia's palomino horse, Skylark, Hot Rod, Lady Of The Celts, and many others.
All the horses were brought out of the three barns to frolic in the paddocks with the exception of one, Gremlin's Lady, who was a three-year-old filly that Hermione was training for competitive jumping. "Lady" had to be exercised more than the others to keep her in top shape for competing, and to burn off the edge she always had. She mounted the horse and they took off for the trails.
Hermione wasn't too surprised to see Jenny returning from the trails on Mustang Moon (a.k.a. `M and M'), as she was often on the trails with one of her many paint horses. She waved Hermione over to ask her about Rhia, as she knew Rhia often talked more to her aunt than her parents.
"Jenny, do you know what's going on with Rhia? She's become really introverted and angry. I don't think it's anything I did, or even Harry for that fact, but she seems to resentful all the time. I went into her room to talk to her about it, but all she did was tell me to go away. Jenny, I felt so bad! She was crying and she looked so sad," Hermione said almost desperately to her twin, her eyes pleading.
"I don't know what's going on with her, Mione, honestly. She was talking to Sullivan a few days ago and said something about wanting to tell somebody something but not knowing how to do it, that she was too scared to. I'd say give her some time. I'll try to talk to her next time I see her. I hope she isn't in trouble or something," Jenny said, a frown creasing her forehead. "Well, I have to go and work with one of the yearlings. Later!" she said and rode off.
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Rhia lay on her bed listen to absolutely nothing but the confusing thoughts crashing into one another in her head.
`You know you need to come clean with your family…you need their support…what are you going to do about it…you can't do this on your own ...things will only get even worse if you don't tell your parents…how's Drayden going to feel about it…your family has a right to know…you screwed up, so fix it…why did you ever agree to it in the first place…it's your own fault …look at what a mess it has gotten you into…you need help, ask for it…they'll find out what you did sooner or later, just tell them already…some secrets just can't stay secrets…they'll be mad, but they'll get over it…your mom will be there for you and help you out of this…tell her…maybe you should tell him the truth, he has a right to know…ask Aunt Jen, she'll know what to do…
On and on her thoughts went, perplexing her, making her head hurt a great deal. She was on the brink of tears again before she grabbed her headphones and CD player and left for the barn. She had a Linkin Park CD (Hybrid Theory) in it and put it on random. The first song that came on she didn't want to listen to, she so skipped it and the next three songs until a good one came on:
"Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
[Unless I try to start again]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean…
…I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than any time before
I had no options left again…
…I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
Ill never fight again
And this is how it ends
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
To show you what I mean …"
Rhia knew precisely what she had to do now, but she wasn't very keen on doing so. It would mean telling her Aunt Jen and her parents that she wasn't the good little girl they all thought she was. It would mean admitting she had done something completely erroneous and that she actually needed their help.
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Rhia was in the barn tacking Sullivan up when Jenny rode back into the barn. She thought about how she should approach Rhia on the subject, and wasn't sure how to. She was still thinking about it when Rhia walked over to her. She didn't have to approach Rhia in the end; Rhia came to her.
"Aunt Jen?" she said apprehensively.
"What Rhia?" she asked the girl, leading one of her 2-year-old paints, Rayne, over to the crossties.
"You know Mom pretty well, don't you?'
"Well, maybe. Depends on what you want to know about her," Jenny replied, being cautious about how she answered.
"Let's just be hypothetical about this," the teen said to her. "How would mom respond if I told her I'd had a boyfriend?'
"She'd almost certainly be happy for you," said Jenny.
"What if I told her his last name was `Malfoy'?" she asked curiously and somewhat guardedly.
Jenny nearly choked on thin air. A Malfoy?! "If you're trying to start World War 3, that'd be a great way to go about it," she said, looking doubtful of Rhia. "She'd probably yell and screech and raise holy hell with whoever he was and his parents. She'd be out-and-out furious."
Rhia looked almost ill. "But what if I told her he was different, and we loved each other?" she persisted. It was quite obvious to Jenny by now that absolutely none of this was theoretical; Rhia had Malfoy's son for a boyfriend.
"I highly doubt that would make a difference, Rhia Elaine. Whoever this kid is, you'd better break it off with him before your mom finds out about him. Draco and Lucius Malfoy were rotten to us at Hogwarts. Your mom will hear his last name is Malfoy and quit listening. Is this what has been bothering you since you came home for vacation?" Jenny asked her.
"Well, part of it," Rhia said, looking down at the floor, kicking at some loose straw with the toe of her boot.
"You know, you can tell me, Rhia. If something's going on with this kid...if he's hurting you…" she let the sentence trail off into silence, hoping that Rhia would finally tell someone what was going on.
"Aunt Jen, it wasn't my fault, it really wasn't! Well, it was, but it wasn't. You'll see why." Once Rhia started to tell Jenny what was going on, she just couldn't seem to stop…
…TO BE CONTINUED…
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Okay, yeah, I know that wasn't very nice, but I had to bring it to an end there. I bet you read chapter 2 now! Don't worry; Ch. 2 will be posted soon!
-Bridget-
-MWB-
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