"So, What do you think?"
Evelyn Vallejo bit her lip and cautiously avoided eye contact in a last ditch effort to buy herself some time before answering. She shifted her bewildered gaze to the mirror again to take in her appearance.
Her dark brown curly mane fought a valiant battle against the restrictive shockingly bright yellow headband which adorned her small head, a luminous green jumper which clung too tightly to her neck and her old washed out blue jeans provided a clash of colour that had her momentarily seeing stars.
"Well?..."
She glanced down at her bare feet grateful that the equally bright canary yellow ballet shoes had been too small to squeeze into. Her seven year old brain struggled to develop the subtlety and finesse required to avoid the wailing and the over enthusiastic tears she knew would not be spewing from her. Lyn forced her comically large brown eyes back to her father's eagerly grinning face and opened her mouth preparing to carefully let him down when he interrupted her for the fifth time this morning.
"It's a little bright, yes... But I figured since yellow is your favourite colour and green is my favourite colour, and they go so well together, and it's your first day in the first grade ... Why not start out with a bang!" Her father, Darius Vallejo exclaimed in a rather fast, rambling explanation complete with laughable facial expressions and eager hand waving.
"It's really nice dad ...Thanks" Lyn replied softly before hesitantly adding "I ...love it".
She decided to forgo telling him that yellow was no longer her favourite colour and had been replaced a whole six days ago by purple, or that green was never meant to be as glowing as her jumper currently was turning her pale freckly face a decidedly sickly colour.
Darius brought his palms together rubbing them in an almost sinister plotting manner before brushing his longer than usual curly black hair from his slightly slanted vividly blue eyes, the corners crinkling from the force of his lopsided manic grin. Lyn began to wonder if perhaps he was more excited about her first day of school than she was.
"I knew you would love it! I knew it!" He said before standing up and stretching his rather long legs and bouncing excitedly from side to side before dashing off to the kitchen and returning with a pink lunch box which he promptly stuffed into her back pack.
"Come on, here's some toast, get your shoes on, I'll go grab my wallet and keys and we'll meet at the door in 2 minutes tops!" He ordered, walking hurriedly out of her room before hesitating at the door frame. He turned around eyebrows drawn together, chin quivering dramatically "My baby, off to school, all grown up ... I think I might cry".
Lyn stopped fussing with the offending head band to glance back at her father worriedly, knowing full well how very likely it was for him to burst into tears unprovoked and in a rather untimely manner. She took in his bright eyes and rather watery smile and held her breath before noticing the object he had in his left hand, she tried desperately to move her hands in front of her face but knew she was too late when a series of flashes blinded her. Her mood soured even further now that she knew her horrendous outfit would be forever immortalized in the Vallejo family album.
Darius's booming laughter followed him out of the room and down the hall, leaving her blinking furiously shoving her favourite story into her back pack flexing her toes into the shaggy carpet and glaring at her room. Usually Lyn indulged her father's enthusiasm and matched him with energy of her own, except this morning her eyes were tired from a restless sleep and her stomach stirred uncomfortably with nerves.
She knew what to expect and this worried her. Kids her age didn't always take to her serious and quiet nature, and usually they would rather throw words such as freak, or ignore her altogether.
Her father often said being a little different was not the end of the world as we know it, but this morning felt as though her forehead was adorned with a neon sign proclaiming "Freak of Nature, please do point and laugh".
Lyn decided that was about enough self pitying she would do today and shook off the momentary black cloud which shrouded her multi-coloured knick knack filled bedroom. She huffed angrily at herself and straightened her shoulders, pushing her curls back into place and hoisting her backpack she stared firmly at the mirror determined to leave a kindergartener and return a first grader.
Meanwhile Darius quietly chuckled in his room pulling on his trainers and shoving his wallet and keys into his jeans pocket and throwing the new camera onto the bed on which he sat perched on the edge. Staring into the full length mirror across his room he wondered where the time had gone as it had seemed like yesterday he held a squirming one year old alarmed at the prospect of single fatherhood at the tender age of 20.
Now at 26 the proud father of first grader more gorgeous and wise than a person with 50% of his genes should truly be.
The sound of said child's bare feet travelling towards their humble living room drew him out of his musings, and he shook his head with a soft smile glancing at his watch ... offcourse 2 minutes tops. Rising to his impressive height of 6'2 he straightened his broad shoulders unknowingly mimicking his daughter's previous actions and grabbed the 12 ½ inch stick on his bedside table before rushing off to join her.
"We have to hurry darling, I promised Jasper we'd pick him up on the way to school, he's not the most patient person in the world and I don't want coffee thrown on my face today so..." Darius broke off when he noticed her bare feet and entirely too innocent expression.
"They don't fit daddy, don't worry ill just wear my trainers anyway" She provided, victorious grin etched into her face. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Darius, a firm believer in that fact that every problem had a solution brandished the 12 ½ inch stick and Accio'd and grew the bright yellow shoes to the appropriate size. His wicked laughter when he casually dropped the pair at her feet was only spurred on by her widening eyes and growing panic.
She would forgive him when she was older and more appreciative of life's simpler pleasures. He was sure.
"This is child abuse, it is" Jasper said, sliding into the decaying green Ford Darius had bought when Lyn was four and too heavy to carry around London, his green eyes deadpanned.
Lyn nodded her head furiously in agreement, ignoring her Uncle Jaspers unfortunate choice of leather pants and excessive eye makeup. Darius struggled to keep the grin off his face choosing instead to appraise his baby brother's appearance with an obvious disdain before focusing on the road to Lyn's school.
"Seriously, what's the matter with you? You may have wanted to go to school looking like nature had just vomited on you but Lynnie does..." Jasper had been fortunate enough to inherit their mother's smooth brown hair and sharp green eyes, eyes that were currently peering into the back seat apologetically at the pouting child.
"Fashion advice from the most non-threatening Goth in England" Darius bit back, annoyed at his brothers continuous desire to rebel.
Jasper snorted before saying "You're the only fairy in London with no fashion sense so really you shouldn't speak".
"Hey! ... This ..." Darius paused to gesture dramatically at his entire body "This is beauty ... You look like a crack addict"
After seven minutes of the cold silence that followed his statement Darius glance at his child to see her holding back laughter before spotting his brother still glaring a hole into the side of his face.
"You alright? ... You've not blinked for ten minutes... Never mind we're here!" He announced, parking and tearing out of the dying vehicle before Jasper could deliver his sharp retort.
The family stepped out of the car blinking in the sunlight at the school building in front of them, Darius more anxious now at the thought of leaving his daughter with strangers. He turned to find Jasper kneeling in front of Lyn brushing back her hair and offering his own brand of advice and encouragement to sooth the fear and doubt in her bright eyes.
"... and kick 'em right where it hurts if they look at you cross eyed... Okay Hun? Good, give us a kiss and hurry on in before your da' gets cold feet" Jasper straightened up to deliver a warning look at Darius's panic stricken face.
Breathing deeply through his nose, Darius bent down to still Evelyn's fussing hands over her green jumper losing all maturity for a moment and gazing down at her offered "Darling, if you're feeling ..."
"Bloody hell..." Jasper muttered shaking his head in exasperation. Lyn glanced at both men, before squaring her shoulders and shaking her mop of curls her mouth set in an adorable frown.
"Atta girl ..." Darius reluctantly offered, recognising his own stubborn streak and feeling a bit ashamed at his underhanded attempt. He turned to Jasper in defeat before realizing his brother was staring intently at a family near them, his thick brows similar to his own drawn together.
Following his gaze Darius spotted a thin pallid looking woman standing next to a walrus of man, fussing over a smaller baby walrus. Confusion furrowed his brow before spotting a smaller than normal thin boy with a mop of unruly black hair and a pair of downcast eyes staring intensely at his own family, noticing the child's small figure engulfed in clothes to old, ugly, and huge to be his. An angry flush spread across his face when the children were ushered off, the whale peppered with kisses and the boy shoved unceremoniously towards the school glancing back longingly at the Vallejo's. Darius clutched a little bit tighter at his daughters hands prompting her to stare curiously at the boys retreating back; while her father and his band of psycho friends and obnoxious brother cherished her she knew others were not so lucky.
Shrugging off his indignation Darius turned to Lyn grinning.
"Have fun, make friends, listen to your teacher, behave, and miss me ridiculously the whole day ... Because I don't know how ill last otherwise " He offered, kissing and hugging her then watching his brother do the same whispering something that drew a giggle from her before handing her over to her teacher, his stomach in knots.
"Give em hell!" Jasper yelled, thumbs bobbing enthusiastically in the air.
"No, don't!" Darius shot back throwing a disapproving worried look at his brother.
"Yes, do!"
"Oh, just shut up and get in the car tosser " Darius shoved Jasper into the green monstrosity of a car before glancing back at Evelyn's small form waiting for her to glance back hesitantly like he knew she would before waving and mimicking his brother, thumbs in the air. Swallowing down the all-consuming fear which bred in him and grew since she was placed in his arms 7 years ago, Darius sighed before jumping into the car tugging on his brother's hair for good measure and speeding off to work later than intended.
Sliding into her seat at the back of the class Lyn slipped off her shoes and held them in her hands glancing furtively at the door to the almost empty classroom. A noise drew her attention to the window where the same thin boy her father was looking at earlier was sitting watching her hesitantly and hopefully from the corner of his eye.
Evelyn Vallejo would never truly understand why she did what she did, all she could think of was the sadness and fear that she felt was reflected in the boys glittering green eyes lit with a sense of expectation and excitement. Curious and led by unknown instincts she beckoned him over and pressed a finger to her lips before holding her yellow shoes, closing her eyes and willing her unpredictable young magic to turn them black. She knew from his gasp that she succeeded and was surprised when instead of an awed vacant look he looked thrilled and slightly challenging before gently lifting her head band closing his emerald eyes and doing the same.
Before she could marvel at his faster and more controlled magical ability the classroom was filled with children and noise. He handed her the headband before writing furiously in a notebook and presenting her with his scrawled writing.
Harry Potter.
Understanding she did the same and more carefully wrote her own name before handing him the notebook, returning his timid and excited smile with her own joyous and cheeky grin knowing she probably never looked more like her father than she did then.
Turning back to their teacher in an almost rehearsed fluid and simultaneous movement they glanced at each other hesitantly throughout the class silently communicating with an ease that felt natural, and Evelyn knew then that Harry Potter would be her dearest friend.
End of chapter one