Hello again everyone! I got this up faster than I thought I would, but you know how the creative world is: once the juices get flowing, you can't stop them. I tried not to get too descriptive with the...er...violence in this section, but you have all been warned that the sunshine, rainbows, and lollipops had come to a halt here. Next chapter should finally introduce baby Kurumi to the world

Happy reading and, as always, comments and critiques are always appreciated
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Chapter 2: Crossroad (part 2)

Yukie woke up the following morning and did the same routine she had done for nearly 17 years now. Clean the house. Make a new flower arrangement for the entry way and move the old one into the kitchen. Practice the piano for an hour. Make breakfast for herself and everyone else. Eat. Practice the piano some more and be done before 9 in the morning. She had just finished sweeping the front steps when she heard a loud thud coming from the living room. She put her broom down next to the front door and went back inside expecting to see her father bending over to pick up some books he had dropped, but what she saw was like something from a nightmare. Charles lay on the floor looking as pale as a ghost and with gashes all over his body. His once white dress shirt no longer showed a trace of white and his grey suit pants had become a dark black color. She felt her hands tremble as she approached him and felt only a small sense of relief when she saw that he was still breathing. She knelt down next to him and it was then that she realized that part of his left leg was missing right below the kneecap. Yukie felt the tears streaming down her face. How had this happened to him? More importantly how did he just appear in the living room looking like this?

“C-C-C-C-Charles…” she whispered as her voice trembled almost as much as her body had. “C-C-C-Charles…please…answer me…”

Charles was barely able to turn his head, but he did so so that he could look into her beautiful doe eyes. Her yellow blouse was not stained with tears and she was kneeling beside him trembling like a terrified child.

“Yu-ki-e,” he smiled before closing his eyes.

“CHARLES!” she screamed still too afraid to touch him.

Yukie’s father, hearing the commotion, came from his study into the living room and immediately took out his cellphone. “Minister, the worse has happened. Please Apparate in my home immediately and have your people escort him to the proper hospital.” Before he could even put his phone back in his pocket, two people wearing violet and navy blue robes appeared beside Charles.

“It’s alright, miss,” a blue-eyed man wearing navy robes said to Yukie. “We will make sure he gets the proper treatment at St.Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.”

“It looks like we have a pretty bad case of Splinching and the Cruciatus Curse,” said a slender brunette looking down at Charles. “We need to get him to St. Mungo’s immediately.”

Yukie was in a haze and hardly had time to translate what had just been said in her head when the three robed people vanished into thin air taking Charles along with them. Yukie blinked several times as tears continued to stream down her face. She looked over at her father for some sort of explanation, but all she got was a very hurried but firm, “Stay here,” and he was out the door, in his car, and gone.

She now sat alone in an empty house haunted by the image of Charles lying in the middle of the room. There was no trace that he had been there. Not a single drop of crimson remained. She broke down into tears again thinking that that just may have been the last time she would ever see him. Suddenly, there was a loud CRACK! and three more robed figures appeared in the room. One was a tall man with a bushy beard and even bushier eyebrows who looked like he had fought in a war. Beside him was a very elegant woman with long strawberry blonde hair and terrifying blue eyes. The third was another woman who looked to be around the same age as her and had short spiky strawberry blonde hair and just as frightening eyes as the other.

“You,” the man said in a deep booming voice. “Are you this muggle named Yukie that my son talked about?”

Before Yukie could respond, the spiky haired woman spoke. “Of course she is. Look at her hair and the way her eyes sparkle,” she said in a mocking tone as she took something out of her pocket that looked like a fancy stick.

“Don’t be silly Morgan,” said the long haired woman spat. “Your magic is far too weak to be able to perform the spell properly. Let your father do it.” She pushed the younger girl aside to make room for the father.

“We come bringing a message to Charles,” he said as he spit in Yukie’s direction. “Tell him that he is dead to us and that he may no longer carry the name of Gaunt.” A smile crept across his face that made Yukie freeze in terror. “Muggles…worthless beings, aren’t they?” He said in a rather sing song tone to the other two. Before turning his attention back to Yukie who was still trembling on the floor. “CRUCIO!”

Her world was on fire and she could hardly breathe. After what seemed like an eternity, everything went black. Just before her eyes close, she saw the three figures vanish in the blink of an eye. She closed her eyes and whispered, “Charles...”


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*pouts* I hate hurting my characters...but it had to be done