In My Father's Eyes

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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It had to be, it couldn't be.....but it had to be! Didn't it? Gwen's nerves rattled endlessly and tossed her stomach in vigorous loops as she pondered the outcome to her inevitable situation. She had done the research quite, QUITE diligently and had gone over her approach a million times inside of her head. He was just a man, just one more man and little more than a custodial worker correct? So why you ask was it so terrifying to approach him? Because, Gwen scolded as she continued to talk to herself inside of her head as though the conversation were legitimately between two people and not just with herself. He's your father! and again, the word rang through her mind and made her quite queasy.

Pacing back and forth outside of the janitorial 'office', Gwendolyn Yates strode back and forth and back and forth starring at the closed door of the room beyond and wondered what the man inside would say. Would he welcome her? Would he shun her? Would he deny any such thing as to having a daughter by some other woman that was certainly not his wife. Callum Baines, she was certain, was the father she had never know but equally, he had likely not know about her either. She was a skeleton in his proverbial closet and without him knowing it she was about to rattle her proverbial bones and come toppling back out.

"Mr.Baines." She practiced, pacedto the left, the right and tried to find the words. "Mr.Baines do you happen to know a woman by the name of Lenora Yates? Yes you do?" She replied to herself, mentally pretending that his answer has of course been yes...because if it wasn't yes then it was no and that meant maybe her research and knowledge had been wrong. That her certainty of his name was potentially incorrect. "Mr.Baines, my name is Gwendolyn yates and I'm your daughter." She announced more proudly, eyes lifted, chin level and faced forward into the closed door as she spoke to no one. She had to be confident, she must be confident or he simply would not believe her.

"Mr.Baine's I'm here to....." She began again, for the umpteenth time trying to find the best way to announce her existence to the father she'd never so much as seen through her entire life - but fell short. Behind her, coming down the corridor was the sound of heavy set foot steps. The distant figure slowly approached from some other place inside the castle and her eyes went wide. Callum Baines had not been in his janitorial 'office' as she'd expected and instead, sweet Merlin, he was walking directly towards he right then and there. "I...uh....it's.....Baines?" She stammered as she back pedaled from the mans approach and found herself unable to do anything but gawk at the man before her. He was so young still, she'd expected some old, aging bafoon by now. "...I mean, are you Callum Baines?"

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

It had been one month, nine days, and a few odd hours since he had lost her. When younger, Callum had always found such an expression to be a foolish one. Lost her; how could one lose a person? Just because someone was dead did not mean their body had wandered off somewhere, nor that it was tucked in a closet to be forgotten about. No, "lost" had always seemed to him a particularly careless term.

But now it suited. Losing Winifred had seemedùstill didùembarrassingly careless. After all, a father was supposed to lose his life before his child, not go on after his youngest's body was buried beneath the ground. He was supposed to be a caretaker, and yet failed to take care of his own child, his flesh and blood, the little girl who had looked up upon him so? The whole situation was ludicrous, laughable. And he had laughed, at first, while Enid had criedùshe had not looked kindly upon that. But what had he been expected to do? He had half-doubted she was even gone. At first.

Then he had started drinking, but that would have come as no surprise to any man, father or no.

It had been less than a week since his return to work, and already Callum was regretting dragging himself off of the trusty barstool at The Hogs Head and returning to the castleùa place where children ran rampant daily. True, none were so young as that he had "lost", but in them he saw what potential she had once had. He would never be able to express how hard that much was for him.

Cal had become surlier than usual, though he did his job dutifully enough. He avoided homeùEnid's looks, as if she blamed him, and Bethan's curls, so like her sister's, were more than he could bearùas much as possible, and even, at first, had avoided his own son around the corridors. While the days since his return had somewhat eased some of his reactions, the wizard knew a long road lay ahead of him, and was uncertain as to whether he truly wanted to travel it.

He was pulled from such thinkingùthough anyone sane would have welcomed the change of pace, Cal was actually mildly annoyed to be stolen from his thoughts so abruptlyùby the stammering of a young girl; the caretaker gave her a once-over, and concluded that she was a first year. "I am he," Cal affirmed with a shallow nod, dreading what the next words from her mouth were likely to be. Had Peeves flooded the lavatories again?

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 442 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY LUKE! I AM YOUR FATHER! TEMPLATE CREDIT TO FANTOME AT CAUTION. <3

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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"You are?" Gwendolyn blinked wide eyed like a deer caught up in the rays of the moon. She had never, not truly, expected to find her father. Had hoped but not fully dared enough to actually believe in the possibility of ever finding him - yet there he was. Callum Baines, her mothers former lover, her own flesh and blood - her father.

Realizing how suddenly stupid she had just sounded, Gwendolyn dropped the suddenly sheepish, heavy set of her eyes to the floor and felt her heart gallop inside of her chest. What was she suppose to say next? Gwendolyn peeked up shyly at Callum, curios of his features - half glancing to see if maybe she might recognize some similar features in him that she might have inherited from the wizard before her. He was so very different than she'd expected. Soft, cream skin - though he had similar dark ish eyes. Handsome enough she supposed, to see why her mother may have fallen for him.

"Oh...yes, yes so...so you are ---" She stammered nervously. Tripping all over her tongue with her words as she struggled to find the next best thing to say. "Well it's just that, there's this...thing I have to tell you.....I'm suppose to tell you and yes," Gwendolyn nervously prattled on. "You....well it's just that you...." Are my father, she spoke the words internally, starring straight into his eyes as her courage stalled and the weight of the words clogged up her throat. "....MyMotherToldMeThatYou'reMyFather." She said, finally spitting them out and then shut her mouth tightly as she physically stepped backward, bumping into his 'office' door as she hold her breath tightly.

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

The caretaker could not help but wonder if the child might be a bit slowùwhy else would his identity amaze her thus? Foolish first years were oft no better than babes where entertainment was concerned: small things would amuse small minds. For her part, the young witchling seemed positively at a loss, a fact that baffled him. Clearly, no one had instructed her in the ways of the worldùreport what needed fixing, see it fixed, an easy enough concept for even a toddler to grasp, and yet this student was floundering about like a bird without feathers. Dark eyes looked at her, his expression expectant, impatient. He had better things to do with his time than wait around for an indecisive student to spit out whatever words she was holding so tenderly behind her lips.

Her declaration did not, he supposed, incite the desired response from him.

Callum laughed.

It was an uncommon experience for him in recent months, but as unbridled and genuine as any laughter could beùif, perhaps, with a tinge of irony to it. That's what the foolish witch was on about, a paternity claim? True, Callum Baines was no newcomer to the fathering of bastards or the expectations that accompanied it, but nor would the half-remembered words of some absent wench of a mother sway him into feeling anything for the child before him. Had the fates really been so careless as to take away his true child and then fling a pretender at him? Poor planning, to be certain, on their part.

"I'm sure she did," he offered the girl wryly when his laughter subsided, "just as I'm sure your granddaddy was a king and you've an uncle who sits in parliament. Don't be so foolish as to believe all you hear, child, nor to repeat foolishness as if it were truth."

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 310 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY LUKE! I AM YOUR FATHER! TEMPLATE CREDIT TO FANTOME AT CAUTION. <3

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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He laughed and for Gwen the sound seemed suddenly resilient enough to cracker her heart open right there and then. Was he trying to be cruel? Somehow the idea of a spitefully cruel man as a father seemed little better than having no father at all. Still, Gwendolyn tried to summon her courage and hold her ground, maybe he hadn't meant to. She was a very large and unexpected sort of surprise after all.

"She did and you are!" Gwendolyn spat firmly. Eyes crinkling up tightly with displeasure as she stood solidly before the door, unwilling to budge. "And I, I!" Gwendolyn fumbled with her words, her tongue tripping over itself inside of her mouth as she tried to figure out just exactly what it was she'd been meaning to say. "I don't know who my Grand-daddy is, I suppose as my father you would know better than I, now wouldn't you!" She quipped, her voice tight with emotions.

"Look, She said more sternly, refusing to let the chance of having a father slip away because she wasn't competent enough to fully explain to him first the details of her birth so he might actually believe. "My mother never pretended to suggest that you loved her or that she loved you greatly either." To this, her cheeks pinked but her body language held. "...Yours was an....illicit...affair but her name was Anita Thora Yates and though she insisted I inherited her own sort of look, she said there was no doubt that I had the eyes of my father." And to this statement, Gwendolyn asserted her gaze directly into his and studied the look of his eyes, not surprised at all that they were almost an exact reflection of her own. "...C-Can you not see it so?"

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

She was a stubborn one, the Wizard could give her that much, but she was a child still, and children were often foolishùeven his own didn't possess the sense he might wish of them. Still, he could see that his attitude had hurt her; though he was not particularly troubled by that fact, he did his best to keep the mockery from his features nonetheless. His own poor temper need not send everyone else's into a state of misery.

Relentless, the girl continued, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of illicit affair. The witch before him was hardly one of any classùno more so than Cal himselfùand to hear her speak as if she had all the standing in the world...she would learn, soon enough, that illicit was likely to be the norm in her later years. The name she mentioned Callum pondered over for a moment, then dismissed. He could not place it specifically, though if any expected him to recall the names of every woman he took to bed, they were asking a small miracle of him

"You'd be best getting to class..." he began dismissively, whatever he had intended to utter trailing off as he met her gaze.

It was not his own eyes that Callum saw staring back at him; to be honest, he had never studied much of his own features. No, that would have been easy for him. No, plain as day staring back at him were Winifred's eyes. Perhaps not quite so vibrant as hers had once been, but on the whole...

"W-where did you were from?" Cal choked.

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 276 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY [i]Sorry for the (abysmal) delay!

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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Despair and panic had begun to settle in. A hopeless sensation that tightened her throat as she searched for something to say that could make him believe. Had her mother's name meant so little? Did he not even recall her enough to realize the possibility of truth that existed? Almost near to tears, Gwendolyn's hair quivered as she shook her head and struggled to find the words to speak.

Thank Merlin though, in the end she needed no words to make him finally pause and consider. In complete truth, as she stood there staring at him, she had no real idea of what made him actually stop and look deeper into her eyes. Whether it was a bit of himself or perhaps a sudden recollection of her mother it wasn't likely she would ever know but to be honest she didn't really care. He had stopped, that's what mattered.

"I..." Gwen tripped over her tongue, suddenly caught off guard by the intense interest showing in his eyes. Did he really recognize her now? "I lived in the Orphanage before I came to study at Hogwart's. I was sent there after my mother died when I was much younger and arrived with only my birth certificate to the wizarding orphanage. A birth certificate that names you as my legitimate father..."

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

Her story meant little to himùit was hardly uncommon for lower class bastards to wind up in some orphanage or anotherùand Callum paid it little mind, simply nodding absently to assure the girl he wasn't deaf. No, her eyes and her conviction that the words from her mouth were true were enough to convince him, though what to do about the matter, the wizard was far less certain. During the school year, the girl was plainly fine, so long as she remained enrolled at Hogwarts. At the very least, he would be able to see to thatù

When he had started being concerned as to her well-being, he could not say.

She could remain at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays, but the summer months, he knew, would see her back at the orphanage. Or worse, depending on how dire her circumstances were. After all, Cal didn't know the little witchling before him, did not know the circumstances under which she had lead the first decade or so of her life. Knowing Callum, he would probably never come to ask as much, either. No, she was his daughter, and he would see to her with as much patience and care as he would have seen to Winnie, had death not claimed her from him so early.

"I hope you weren't fond of that orphanage," the caretaker informed the child simply, "because you will never visit it again."

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 240 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY penguins.

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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The silence that passed between them seemed to linger like a bad feeling in the pit of ones stomach. It hovered there, silence, like a thick palpable smog and though she knew for certain he was considering something, she hadn't the foggiest idea whether it involved her or not. In fact, she wasn't even quite certain he'd been fully listening to her story or background. He simply seemed enraptured by some line of thought that would not let him go.

When he finally did speak, a heavy expression of confusion formed on her features and, suggesting as such, her eyebrows puckered inward to one another in a 'pinch' and her lips went tight with uncertainty. Had she a need to be defensive around him? This was her father after all. A father that in all fairness, she had only just met. Yes, she thought to herself, she had cause for a little uncertainty. A small hint of doubt but after taking a moment to allow his words to soak in, she really couldn't see an entirely bad situation coming of them. Unless, of course, he meant to see her to some whore house to make a profit and that was what he meant by never going back to the orphanage...

"...You sound quite certain." She said in reply, eying him over curiously and without the hint of suspicion that was slowly fleeing from her mind. "Forgive me, but I must ask in lieu of the fact that...there are many assumptions I could make of your meaning - just where exactly will I be going then? If not back to the Orphanage?" And at this point, she held her breath. Half afraid of the answer, half afraid of hoping for a home...with him...

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

Dark eyes watched the badger, unmoving, practically unblinking. "You'll stay here," Callum informed the child gruffly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Save for summers. Them you'll spend down in the slums. Orphanage is no place for a proper witch to grow up; it'll do you good to have some siblings æround." Do her good to have a proper family. Do her good to come home.

Callum Baines was not a foolish man. Even somewhere at the back of his head, as the words tumbled out of his mouth with more grace than he might have expected, the caretaker knew that the sentiment they expressed had nothing to do with this GwendolynùGwen, she'd be called so long as she was under his roof; too much of a mouthful otherwiseùand everything to do with a little girl who had never quite made it to Hogwarts, one who would never be coming home to him. His one, though, she looked almost hopeful; with any luck, heùand his wife; Merlin was Enid not going to like thisùwould take to her before she had cause to doubt his hospitality.

"I'll not take no for an answer, girl," Cal muttered, eyes finally descending to look instead at the floor.

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 213 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY penis.

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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Slowly, Gwendolyn's expression brightened. Like the timid sun breaking through the grey clouds of a storm. She had wanted to believe, had dared to hope but was too fearful to actually expect it but yes, yes she was certain of what he was saying now. She would have a family. She'd continue at Hogwart's and spend the summers with her family!

The thought rushed through her like a warm breeze and for a moment, the little witchling had to fight back her tears as her eyes glazed over. As well as tamp back the instinct to jump into his arms and hug him untl she was blue in the face. He was still, after all, little more than a stranger. Her father most certainly but a stranger none the less. At least now she would have a chance to get to know him and change that though.

Shaking her head no quickly, Gwendolyn quickly responded as if afraid he might actually think she would argue it and decide against his fresh decision. "Oh no, no sir, I wouldn't argue with you. That is, I won't argue with you." Biting her lip nervously it only dawned on Gwendolyn the other bit of about having a father that hadn't really occurred to her; the potential for siblings.

"I have siblings?" She couldn't help but ask the question begging to be spoken. A brother perhaps? A sister? Were they older or younger?? More than one?! Eagerly her heart raced inside of her chest and a soft shimmer of happiness filled her eyes as she looked to him for the answer with excited urgency. She knew, obviously, the were only half-blood siblings but never the less Gwendolyn had every intention of seeing them as her own completely. "...and, more than just one?"

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

Her excitement was startling, almost as much so as her earlier proclamation. He had expected some measure of reluctance, reluctance to live in the house of a strange man, reluctance to leave the only life she had ever known, hesitation at having to forge ties with total strangers, but not this. Callum had little doubt the girlùhis daughter, it would seemùwould have had few qualms about moving into the slums then and there. Did she truly think life with the Baines's would be so much better than life in an orphanage, that now she would have all the dolls and pretty dresses she had done without through her childhood?

He sighed. "A few. Dylan's in Ravenclaw, a smart lad. Plays quidditch, you'll æve seen him. Bethan's younger, takes after her mum, Enid, m'wife. Winù" the caretaker caught himself. There was no Winifred anymore. "That's all, so far as I know, though clearly," Cal gestured towards her "I don't always know very far." Enid would not love this development, that much he knew. It was, he supposed, a blessing that Gwen was so old; that much assured she would not suspect him of playing further afield.

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 198 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY Unproductive day is unproductive.

  

[Gwendolyn Yates]

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"Dylan?" She repeated. Thinking for a moment, trying desperately to recall his face. When he said she had siblings it was a surprise but to think she had a brother who was going to school with her? It was, well it was a little overwhelming to be honest. Had she really gone from an orphan to a witch who had a father, a brother and a sister?

Then the last name rang through her ears, Enid. His wife. "Oh." Gwen blinked, of course he had a wife. Who else would have mothered his children? Then again, her mother hadn't been his wife.

"It sounds like you have a lovely family." She found herself saying, unable to think of any other words at that very moment. The excitement in her eyes had receded slightly. Suddenly wondering exactly how she would realistically fit into his life. He was by no means a 'wealthy' man but clearly he had things that were his own. A name, a wife, children and a home to some degree... Would she really belong there with him? Did he even really want her there and would his wife?

"Perhaps, Sir..." She said, not knowing quite what else to call him in that moment. "I mean that is, I understand sir, if you want to take some time to speak with your family first...I had not come to you intending on being a great difficulty for you...just...to see you....and to tell you is all..."

Coded by Emilita of RPG-D and The Fireplace

  

[Callum Baines]

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

"S'only October, girl!" he could not help but chuckle. How long did she think he needed to talk to Enid, a few decades? No, the matter would be sorted well before it was time for the first year to grace the Baines house with her presenceùnot that they owned; renting was well enough for themùwith Christmas so far in the distance as to be something of an illusion. No, Callum had plenty of time to sweeten his wife to the idea, of that he was certain. Dylan, however, might have proposed another matter; it would not have done for young Gwen to approach her half-brother until the caretaker himself had spoken with the lad. He doubted his boy would find the matter offensive, but few men were the sort to take well to surprising.

"No, don't you worry. I'll let my boy know of you, and he can come make nice if the mood should strike him. The wife will be a bit difficult, but that's none of your business and all of my own. You'll meet her and your sisterù" for there was just the one girl now, at home with Enid "ùwhen Christmastime comes æround," Cal explained gruffly.

He gave her one last go-over before dismissing the girlùhis daughter. "Now, you should be havin' classes to get to, or if not you no doubt have a mountain of work on youùdon't even deny it. Off with you; no doubt I'll see you about." Without waiting for a response, the wizard gave one last nod before turning to move down the corridor, leaving what was, essentially, his replacement daughter behind.

HEY GWEN, THIS POST IS 278 WORDS LONG. I'D LIKE TO SAY Vroom.