Deliver Us

Chapter 1: Letters from the Past

July 17th, 1992. 7:00 a.m.

"My darling, I have nothing I can give, but this chance that you may live. I pray we'll meet again."

Sophia sat in the ballet dressing room tying up her pointe shoes and doing her hair. For as long as she could remember, she had heard that voice in her head, softly singing; always the same song, never different.

"Hush now, my baby, be still now don't cry."

At times she wondered if it was from a dream she had had once, or maybe in a movie she saw. Usually those thoughts were quickly dismissed. The voice had always sounded familiar and comfortable to her, like someone she was close to. It had always seemed like it was meant for her in particular, sung for her only. She knew it most likely wasn't her mother, it didn't sound like her voice.

"Sleep as you're rocked by the stream. Sleep and remember my last lullabye. So I'll be with you when you dream."

Sometimes, though, the song was in her dreams. But it wasn't like a dream; it was like reliving a memory, one she couldn't remember when she was awake. Only when she was asleep would the memory come to her.

"River, oh river flow gently for me. Such precious cargo you bear."

As this piece came to her mind, she began to think of why it was being said. Why was it a river? And what was it carrying that was so precious? What frustrated her was that she could never remember anything about the dream except that the song was in it; although she did remember a basket and water. If she could remember her dream, she may just be able to figure out what the song had to do with her, if anything.

"Do you know somewhere she can be safe? River deliver her there."

"Sophia?"

Sophia looked up, broken out of her thoughts, to see her mother standing there. "Come, darling," she said. "We need to practice." She stood up and began to follow her mother into the ballet studio in their summer home. "We'll only spend a few hours on your technique and dance and then you may do whatever you like. Something came for you early this morning in the mail, but I'll give it to you with the rest of your birthday presents later on, alright?"

Sophia smiled and nodded as she began to stretch at the barre. Today was her eleventh birthday and for some reason, she felt that there was going to be something more special about this birthday than any of the others.

"Mum?" she started after about an hour of practice. "Can I ask you something?"

Elizabeth turned to her daughter from her place at the record player. "Of course, darling," she replied. "You can ask me anything."

Sophia took a deep breath and looked up at her mother. "For as long as I can remember, I've heard this song in my head every now and then," she started. "It just starts up and I've never heard it anywhere but in my head."

Elizabeth gave her daughter a quizzical look. "What does the song sound like, sweetheart?"

Opening her mouth, Sophia began to sing a portion of the song to her mother. Despite the fact that she knew it was actually her singing, she heard the voice she had heard all her life rather than her own.

"I've never heard it before, darling," she replied. "It is very beautiful though; almost like a lullabye."

Sophia nodded, although slightly disappointed. "That's why I asked you," she explained. "I thought maybe you sang it to me when I was a baby."

Elizabeth gave her another quizzical look. "No, I'm sorry, darling," she apologized. "You must have heard it somewhere and can't remember where." Part of her had an idea where her daughter had heard the song but she tried to shake it out of her mind. There was no way Sophia would remember something from when she was merely 3 months old.

"It's alright," Sophia mumbled disappointed.

Elizabeth smiled encouragingly at her daughter. "Put it out of your mind, darling," she advised, brushing aside a loose piece of her daughter's curly dirty blonde hair. "It will come back eventually. Now, arabesque en pointe."

Sophia nodded and did as she was told.

. . . . . . . .

12:00 p.m.

"Happy birthday, Sophia," her brother Ben said with a hug. "I hope you like your present. It's from Bridgette and I," he added, gesturing to his twin sister as he handed her a medium sized square package.

Sophia smiled up at her brother and sister—both were 16—and gently unwrapped the gift. Inside was a royal blue scrapbook with golden designs on the cover surrounding her name. "We had it custom made for you," Bridgette said. "There's a ballerina on the inside cover and the pictures are all of us when you little up until now."

"Thank you," Sophia breathed as she flipped through the delicately designed pages.

Slowly, she opened more gifts over the course of their lunch in the large backyard in her parent's summer home. They were just getting ready to go back inside when her mother stopped them.

"Wait," she said, pulling a letter from her pocket and beckoning Lina to come near. "This came for you this morning. I didn't open it; I wanted you to read it first. It is most unusual though how they know exactly where you live."

Sophia looked down at the letter in her hands. It read:

Miss S. Verity

The Ballet Studio

Verity Summer Home

Pembrokeshire

Wales, UK

Startled by the address, Sophia looked back up at her parents. "Open it, sweetheart," her father urged. Sophia nodded and flipped the letter around to reveal a seal with a lion, badger, eagle, and serpent on it. Carefully, she broke the seal, pulled out the contents of the letter and began to read it aloud:

Dear Miss Verity,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Attached you will find a list of required supplies for classes. Please reply by 31 July.

Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

She looked up at her parents and siblings as she finished reading. Everyone's eyes were wide. "This makes no sense," she whispered.

Elizabeth turned to Andrew with a pained expression on her face. They knew this day was coming, it had said in the letter. At first they didn't believe, but now—hearing this letter—they knew it was true. "We have to tell her," she whispered to Andrew.

He nodded. "I know," he replied. "Go get the letter." Elizabeth nodded and turned to enter the house through the elegant French doors. As soon as she was gone, Andrew turned back to his daughter. "Sit down, darling," he said gesturing to the chair by the table. Sophia obeyed and looked up at her father expectantly. "We didn't think we would ever have to tell you this," he started. "We adopted you when you were around 3 and a half months old. No, listen," he directed as Sophia opened her mouth to comment. Obediently, she closed her mouth and continued to listen. "You drifted up in a basket on the river by our summer home—over there, in fact," he explained, pointing down to the beach behind the summer home.

Sophia stared down at the beach, shocked. "You found me in a basket," she whispered, speaking in more of a statement rather than a question. "Why would someone do that?"

At that moment, Elizabeth came outside with the letter. Andrew took the letter from her and held it out to Sophia. "This will explain everything."

When Sophia took the letter from her father, the first thing she noticed was her name on the front. Hesitantly, she unfolded the letter:

If you have found this basket, please take good care of my daughter. She needs somewhere safe to stay. Our world is nowhere for a child to grow up at the moment. It is dangerous, especially considering her father's role in the Wizarding War. I entrust her to you. One day she will receive a letter from a school in our world; send her there, she must learn to defend herself.

My daughter, I know you must be confused as to why I left you, but it was for your own safety. I never wanted to lose you.

All my love,

Rosmerta

"It was for my safety," she whispered.

"Yes," her father replied. "If you don't want to go, we won't make—"

"No," Sophia interrupted. "I want to go. Maybe I will still get to see her."

. . . . . . .

I'm not very proud of this chapter but I wanted to update. Thank you to all of you who reviewed! I appreciate it! And please try to spread it around to your fanfic friends. Review, alert, favourite, all that good stuff and maybe I will make Dobby release everyone's Hogwarts acceptance letters.

Review!

V