The Drawer of Yellow Stars

Original Fiction written by: Harry Potter Addict valley_

Author's Note to the reader: What if the life you had been living was completely a lie? Your name had been changed, your heritage was hidden from the world, and your true identity was erased? This story takes place in 1952, 7 years after World War II had ended, and when a British teenager begins searching for answers; she couldn't have predicted the life altering truth that she would discover.

"Meredith Katherine! Get out of bed this instant! You don't want to be late for school now do you?"

Meredith Carter rolled out of her lavender sheets onto the hardwood floor. Here comes another wonderful day in the day of the boring town in the world. Yuck. Sighing, she heaved herself up and called back down to her mother.

"I am out of bed Mother. I should be down for tea and jam in about twenty minutes."

Staring into the mirror, Meredith eyed herself up and down. Her chocolate eyes twinkled back at Meredith, causing her to smile. Her dark brown curls bounced onto her shoulders, blending into her Colombian blue flannel pajamas. Meredith began starting about her morning routine, from brushing her teeth to slipping on her school uniform, consisting of a regular plaid skirt (knee length) and a short sleeve collared shirt with white knee-highs and black Mary Janes. The same old rather boring routine, how I long for a change. Slowly, brushing her silk curls back into a sleek ponytail, Meredith zoomed downstairs to find her mother and father already beginning with their tea.

"You are late Meredith. The time is 7:05 in the morning. You were supposed to be down here promptly at 6:55. Ten minutes late, to be exact. Young ladies should never be tardy. I thought I taught you better then that." Her father scowled with a harsh look.

"I am sorry father. I overslept this morning and I said about twenty minutes, not promptly then, sir." Meredith squeaked, moving towards sitting down. Her father gave her a look of disgust and her mother pinched her. That usually meant that she was swimming in deep, dangerous waters.

"Truly, I don't know where you get this disobedience. It is definitely not from your mother or my side of the family. Please sit down, now before you cause any more trouble."

Anger flared up in Meredith's veins and she slammed down her teacup, shattering it. Waving her long, brown curls, she straightened her poise and stared into the blue eyes of both of her parents.

"Well then, maybe I am adopted since you both are so perfect. I am catching the trolley with Serena. Good day."

John and Elizabeth Carter didn't dare utter a word until they heard a slam, meaning Meredith had left the household.

"She said the A word. How could she know? The only evidence is locked away-" began ranting Elizabeth before John squeezed her hand. Letting go, he bent onto the rose colored carpet and gathered the pieces of the shattered teacup. The beautiful paint designs had shattered also. John looked up again at Elizabeth.

"When the time is right, Meredith will discover the truth. There won't be anything to stop it. Truth is inevitable. Come now, help me clear these dishes."

~*~ St. Vincent-Mary School for Girls, London, England ~*~

Meredith took her seat where she did every morning; that was the farthest seat she could snatch towards the back of Ms. Peterson's First period English class. As always, next to Meredith sat Pollyanna McNeill. Probably the complete opposite of an imagined British Catholic girl, Pollyanna always came in with her pants under her skirt, her collared shirt undone, and her knee highs falling down. Most of the time, Pollyanna claimed she didn't believe in G-d and her parents forced her to come to school. Meredith agreed that was probably true.

"I hate this class, rather pointless if you ask me. The woman doesn't even know which end of the poem is the end." sighed Pollyanna, pulling out her tattered binders.

"Well, we have to get along with her before Dean Jefferson hears about it. What page did we have to read for Macbeth?"

As the two girls were chatting in the back, Ms. Peterson slammed her ruler onto the desk, alerting for class to begin. Meredith always wondered if she ever kill someone with that ruler. With her red puckered lips and her brown hair pulled into a tight bun, she began to speak, slapping the ruler in her hand.

"Class, we are going to be working on something different for the next week and a half. I want each of you to talk to your families about your background, whether religious and so on. You will then present a ten- minute presentation on your discoveries. This presentation should include everything you found out during the past week. For example, my family is from Ireland and we moved due to the horrible civil wars there. We were Catholics and were hated by the Protestants. This is due on the sixteenth, two weeks from today. Good luck! I am truly look forward to excellent presentations, especially from my advanced classes."

Pollyanna giggled at Meredith and rolled her eyes. Brushing her long silvery blond hair off her clear pale skin, she pulled out her other binder.

"Oh yea, so interesting. We are all Catholics in this school. It will be one story after another about loving the lord. Give me a break. Except for me, at least. I could use the time to speak about the lord's fakeness and atheism forever! What are you going to do Meredith?"

Pausing for a moment, Meredith stared so hard through her lavender binder, it could have burst into flames. This is could be my chance to rub it in Mother and Father's face about not being perfect. Looking up, Meredith shrugged. "Probably what everyone else is doing. Want to come over tonight and search for things to make up stories about? It will be so fun! Right.."

"Sure, it has to be better then being in my house on Meatloaf Mondays. Let me ring my mum. It stinks you have to call your mum and dad, mother and father. I would go insane."

The bell at that moment whistled its usual bell, telling the classes to switch to their mathematical classes. Throwing her bag over her back, Meredith slipped out of the classroom and couldn't stop thinking about her project. This is going to be great.

~*~ The Carter Household, later that evening ~*~

Meredith sat with her arms crossed, watching everyone else eat the pork chops that had been prepared that night. Her parents knew very well that she absolutely couldn't stand pork, but they continued to try and force it down her throat. Noticing she hadn't touched her meal, John stood up and gave her an evil eye.

"Is there a problem with your dinner, Meredith Katherine? Mildred worked extremely hard to fix it and it looks quite improper for you not to eat it. Especially in front your guest, Pollyanna."

Standing up just as quickly as her father did, Meredith stared him down, like knives cutting through diamond.

"I have told you a million times that I don't like pork. It is disgusting to eat a dirty animal. Yet, you continue to stuff mud down your throat. Excuse me, I am finished. I can't stand to sit with you any longer."

Without even looking back, Meredith threw her napkin onto the table and ran up the stairs towards her room. She couldn't even breathe because of all the anger pumping through her veins. It was overtaking her. Instead of racing to her room, Meredith started to the attic for some reason. Mother and Father would never look here for me. I HATE BEING SO PROPER! I HATE IT! As she slid into the attic, the door snapped shut, sending chills down Meredith's spine. In the deepest place in her heart, she felt drawn to this room, though she had never stepped into it before.

"Where is that damn blanket Mother always leaves in here? Hmm.."

The attic was always a cool place with little light shining through the windows, so it being dusk made it much more difficult to move around without stumbling. Shuffling through the drawers, Meredith tripped over in particular, sending the contents everywhere.

"Oh lord, mother is going to be so angry at me!"

Grabbing a candle, Meredith lit it with a flint trick from junior scouts. Holding the glittering flame high in the air, she scanned the perimeter for anything out of the ordinary or even better, that blanket. As she took one step forward, there was a crunch. Jumping suddenly, Meredith glanced downward and bent down. Tattered, dingy yellow colored stars was scattered all over the wooden floor. They reminded Meredith of the Jewish star from religion class at school. The word "Jude" was written in a neat, black script color.

"Could it be a name?" she thought aloud, staring at the word on the star.

Stepping back another step, Meredith spotted a piece of paper. Holding it to the red flame of her candle it read:

Adoption Certificate Center for War Orphans, London, England

Name (born): Rachel Leah Zimmerman

Name (adopted): Meredith Katherine Carter

Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland

Date of Birth: October 7, 1936

Reason for Abandonment/Adoption: Family was Jewish family, outside of Warsaw. Mother, father, brothers taken to the death camps. A solider found 2 year old under a bed in their home after deportation. He sent her to the Jewish holding center in Warsaw, where they secured a home for the child in London, England. Her life was spared.

Birth Parents: Sylvie and Yaakov Zimmerman

Adoptive Parents: Jonathan and Elizabeth Ann Carter

Meredith felt tears roll down her face. Not only was she adopted, but also she was a Jew, spared by the Nazis. She stared at the paper for what seemed like an hour. Finally, Meredith knew what she had to do. She needed to talk to her parents. Slowly, she creaked out of the attic and made her away down the spiral stairs. When Meredith reached there, her parents' lips never looked so thin. Her father stamped her foot down first, staring fire.

"MEREDITH! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EMBRASSED IN MY LIFE! INFRONT.."

John stopped midway through his sentence because of something that caught his eye. A tattered, dingy yellow star was clumped up in his daughter's small hand.

"Mother and Father, we need to talk.."

*The story was a little longer then expected. Please Read and Review! YAY! (