The Meaning of Life
A/N: Hello and welcome to book 3 of the Love and Hate's Daughter trilogy xD! Thanks for sticking with me this long…you're much appreciated :) For all newcomers, please look at books one and two, 'Love and Hate's Daughter,' and 'The Years of Change,' before reading this, I'm sure you'll love them :)
Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. Do I look like a British lady or a middle aged man to you?
Enjoy the first chapter of, 'The Meaning of Life!' :)
Table of Contents:
Half Blood Prince Arc: Chapters 1 through 18
Deathly Hallows Arc: Chapters 19 through 38
Lina's Adult Life Arc: Chapters 39 through 45
Wedding Chapter: Chapter 46
19 Years Later Epilogue: Chapter 47
Updated Character Profile:
Name: Alina (Lina) Ruby Quimby (technically Riddle)
Nicknames: called Lina by everyone, Lin-Bean (by Anne), Lina-flower (by Draco and Thalia), Fire-Girl (by Percy and Annabeth)
Age: 16 (going into sixth year)
Parents: Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, and Lord Voldemort
Guardian: Chiron
Appearance: Long wavy brown hair and brown eyes
Height: 5'2
Half Siblings: Aphrodite Cabin (a surrogate sister relationship with Anne Prior), and Brooklyn Riddle (father's side)
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor
Favorite Subjects: Charms and Defense against the Dark Arts
Grades: now that the boring subjects *cough* History of Magic *cough* are gone, mostly E's, a couple O's
Best Friends (not in order): Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Thalia (she'll kill me if I use her last name), Mandy Brocklehurst, and she'll also get chummy with Blaise Zabini (maybe?)
Enemies (not in order): Brooklyn Riddle, Pansy Parkinson, Cho Chang, Drew Tanaka, Professor Snape, a lot of Slytherin House, her Father, Death Eaters, monsters
Crush: she has one, she's not admitting it anytime soon though ;) I'll give you all an obvious hint: he's in Slytherin and his initials are DM xD
Boyfriend: TBA in later chapters!
Career Ambition: to be an Auror and kick ass ;)
Powers: magic, fire, and charmspeak, can fight physically due to years of training
Weapon: short silver knife
Wand: Yew and Dragon Heartstring, twelve inches, unyielding
Personality: Courageous, bold, daring, loyal, does not take any crap from anyone
Fatal Flaw: never actually thinks before doing something
A Prophecy and June Twenty Fourth
September 5, 1991 (five days into Lina's first year)
The Hogwarts staff were crowded in the Headmaster's office, having a rendezvous after a stressful week of teaching.
"The first week gone," Dumbledore sighs.
"Thirty five weeks of torture left," Severus Snape drawls.
"Harry Potter's finally joined Hogwarts," squeaks Filius Flitwick.
"Do not speak of Potter in my presence," Snape sneers. "He didn't even know where to find a bezoar…"
"I didn't at that age!" Pomona Sprout says indignantly.
"Just because you had a grudge against Harry Potter's father—!" begins Minerva McGonagall angrily, but she was cut off by a loud wail. Sybill Trelawney had just collapsed on the floor.
"Sybill?" Pomona asks her. "Are you alright?"
Sybill clutches her head, before her face went blank. She opens her mouth, and a horrifying rasp comes out:
"Two girls that will have warred,
Daughters of the Dark Lord.
One on the Light Side, a flame as bright,
The other on the Dark Side, as dark as night.
One girl will anger the other,
In the death of a girl like a sister.
The girl only knew as of late,
That one kill has sealed her fate.
She never would have expected her to cause fatal pains,
But on that night the flame will fully unleash her power's chains."
She then collapses into Pomona's arms, and she takes her to the Hospital Wing. The others merely stare at each other, processing Trelawney's words.
"You-Know-Who has…heirs?" Minerva says nervously. "Two daughters…Albus, this is not good! If they know about their heritage…we could very well be looking at a reigning of darkness!"
"It says one of them is on the light side?" Filius says hopefully.
"Brooklyn Amalia," Snape says suddenly and they all jump.
"Is—is she one of them?" asks Minerva. "I don't remember ever teaching her. Have you met her, Severus? What is she like?"
"I don't have much hope for that one." Snape replies coolly. "She's been raised by Death Eaters all her life, she takes after her Father."
"Oh dear…oh dear…" Minerva says. "Albus, do you know anything about the other girl? The other daughter?"
Dumbledore purses his lips before looking through his magical birth records for current Hogwarts students. "There is another candidate, no one will ever suspect this one, and things line up perfectly for it to be her…her looks. Her date of birth. How her birth certificate has an erased muggle name and TMR engraved on it in magic for the designated father. She is at Hogwarts and she is a first year."
"Who?" Minerva asks.
"Alina Ruby," Snape says again. After some silence he speaks again. "I was told the Dark Lord had a lost daughter, Alina Ruby. I doubt she actually knows who she is."
"Alina Ruby…" Minerva murmurs under her breath, the gears turning. "Alina…Ruby…she…I don't remember teaching her…there was a girl…at the Sorting…Alina…Lina…Quimby." Suddenly, it clicks. "Lina Quimby?! But—but that's not possible! She is in my House, a Gryffindor! And she is Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived's close friend!"
"Exactly," Dumbledore replies to her comment. "The Light Side."
"Oh. Well…well…" Minerva splutters, her mind running over the prophecy once more. "She would never have expected the other to cause fatal pains…that means one of them is to kill the other! Oh Lina, that poor girl…"
Dumbledore raises an eyebrow. "Have you no faith in your student, Minerva? What makes you think Miss Quimby will be the one that is killed? Maybe Lina will be the killer."
"But," Minerva says. "But—killing another girl? If she is the one on the Light Side…"
"And it must be done. Lina must kill her so she doesn't try and rule in her father's place." Dumbledore says firmly. "We don't want another reign of Darkness, do we? You are forgetting a very important line in the prophecy. One will anger the other, in the death of a sister. Either way, both girls will be killers. You know that the loss of a loved one can lead one to do things they wouldn't normally do."
The staff all stare at Dumbledore, speechless.
"So you're saying that…that…Lina Quimby will kill Brooklyn Amalia…and Brooklyn will kill someone that is like a sister to Lina?" Filius gasps, horrified. "I do not believe this!"
"I believe that's what he said. Get with the program," snaps Snape.
"I didn't say anything. Merely predicting. Goodnight all," Dumbledore says in a final tone. "I'd ask you all not to let Miss Quimby know in any way, shape, or form that you know anything about this or her heritage. She's eleven now. No one should think about that when they're eleven."
"We have to tell her at some point, Albus," Minerva insists as the rest of the staff files out.
"Agreed," Snape says in a monotone. "As much as I dislike the girl, she must know."
"Sixteen, then," says Dumbledore. "We will talk about this again in five years' time when she reaches sixteen and we'll see what happens and if she's ready."
Current Point in Story (June 23, 1996):
Lina
"You went to Starbucks?! I thought you guys said you were going to the bathroom! No wonder you were gone for half an hour…" Percy hisses as Anne, Piper, and I approach him in Kay's Jewelers.
"We did use the bathroom," Piper says.
"Clearly they have no cleaning service," Anne wrinkles her nose. "But it's a New York mall…what did I expect…?"
"But Starbucks was right there and we just had to…" I trail off. "Line took forever and Piper wouldn't let me use the Confundus charm."
"I got a vanilla frappuccino," Anne muses, taking a sip.
"Caramel," Piper takes a sip of hers.
"Double chocolate chip, you should try it, its heaven." I say.
"Okay, never mind what you all got at Starbucks!" Percy says exasperatedly. "It's between these two rings for Wise Girl…once I choose it I'm going to try and get it personalized…"
I look at the two rings. One had a dazzling grey stone. The other one had a sea-green stone.
Anne and I immediately point to the sea-green one, and Piper points to the dazzling grey one.
"But Pipes, whenever Annabeth looks down at the sea-green stone, she can think of her Seaweed Brain!" I protest.
"I know, but this one compliments Annabeth!" Piper argues.
"Okay, I have a perfect way to choose," Percy announces before taking a deep breath. "Eeeny meeny miny moe catch a tiger by its toe if it hollers let him go eeeny meeny miny moe my mother told me to pick the very best one and you are it!"
Anne, Piper, and I look at each other and burst out laughing, nearly choking on our drinks.
"Good job," I say sarcastically. "That's the perfect way to pick a wedding ring. This is why we call you Kelp Head. And ha, Pipes! My choice won!"
"Wait until we tell Annabeth her wedding ring was picked by a nursery rhyme," Piper breaks into snickers.
"Shut up, Aphrodite girls," Percy retorts, but we only laugh harder. "Of all the people I let come with me to pick out the ring, I picked you three…"
"Doesn't Annabeth Jackson sound lovely?" I gush before Piper and I start talking excitedly about the future of Percabeth.
"Perfect choice!" The cashier lady beams as Percy places the sea-green ring on the table.
"Anne and I picked it," I say smugly.
"No you didn't," Percy says.
"The nursery rhyme favored us," I say sweetly.
"I assume you'd like it personalized?" She asks and Percy nods. After specifics, the lady says they'd have it ready by tomorrow.
"Can I go with you to get it tomorrow?!" I plead, making puppy dog eyes.
"Absolutely not," Percy says. My face fell. "Come on, you know Annabeth will get suspicious. I need someone to distract her tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Anne muses. "June twenty fourth."
"June twenty fourth," I agree, pulling Anne into a hug. "As known as, my little Anne-Banana's eleventh birthday!"
"Don't people get their Hogwarts letters on their eleventh birthdays?" Anne asks.
I pull her closer, "Let's not go there." I mutter.
Anne and I were strolling around Camp the next day, on her birthday, reminiscing about the past and extremely glad that nothing life-threatening seemed to be happening.
"Hey guys," Kayla from the Apollo Cabin approaches us with a smile. "Chiron said he wants both of you in the Big House as soon as possible."
I nod. "Thanks, Kayla." She leaves. "Gee, I wonder why he wants us in the Big House…" A feeling of dread comes inside me.
"I wonder too," Anne says, but instead of dreadful she sounds excited.
"Well, we'd better go then, shall we?" I tell Anne before we make our way over there.
Chiron motions for us to sit. "Now, Anne dear," He sighs. "Unlike Lina here…I'm assuming you won't be very surprised when you hear this.
"I'm/she's a witch?" We say at the same time.
Chiron simply nods. "Now, I'm assuming Lina comes back and tells you everything, so I don't have much to say this time. All I have to say is, here is your letter."
I pinch myself. Yep. Anne's a witch. It's true. She'll be playing connector.
Anneliese Prior
The Aphrodite Cabin at Camp Half Blood
Half Blood Hill
"You never told me your full name was Anneliese?" I ask her.
Anne shrugs. "I wanted to start anew."
I nod in understanding, remembering when I introduced myself as 'Lina' instead of 'Alina' to Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth when I first met them.
Dear Miss Prior,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all books and equipment.
Term begins September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
We look over the enclosed list, which was pretty much the same list as my first year.
"Wow," Anne marvels. "I'll be going with you…I'm so excited…"
"Well, looks like you and I will be going to Diagon Alley at some point," I manage to say jovially. Suddenly, I hear a buzz from my pocket. "I…I have to look at this, sorry."
I open the journal given to me by Draco Malfoy, and I see two words that make my blood run cold.
'Lina-Flower: V gave me the Mark a couple hours ago. I had no choice…guess I'm an official Death Eater.'
June twenty-fourth.
The day Anne Prior found out she was a witch.
But it was also a day when Draco Malfoy was forced into something that could possibly ruin his life.
A/N: So, first chapter done! Short, but done! The second chapter will be longer as I'm going to try and finish the summer, or most of the summer :) Final ship's decision in the making…lol. I hope you liked it so far! Tell me if you want Percabeth and Thalia back at Hogwarts!
I have plans for Anne…and Draco and Lina for that matter…
Please R&R and tell me what you think :)
-Ana