Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the characters EXCEPT for Jocelyn and Anthony Heart. Meredith Stratton and Kelsey Moran were inspired by two friends of mine. Other imaginary characters are put in throughout.
Chapter 1: Undercover Secrets.
Prologue: Jocelyn lives with her father, Anthony, in a small apartment in London, England. It is a bright sunny day and Anthony is just getting up to go to work. He works at the Ministry of Magic and works as Auror capturing dangerous witches and wizards before crimes can be committed.
Jocelyn got up out of bed just as her father opened the door to leave. She ran out of her bedroom and caught him just in time.
"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye were you?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eye.
"Nope, Joce. You caught me." He hugged her and pulled on his coat. "I'll see you later tonight, okay? 'Bye sweetie!" He ran out of the door, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. Even though her father was a fully qualified wizard, they lived like muggles. This way, they could enjoy both worlds, and Jocelyn could grow up knowing about certain things, such as electricity and computers. Anthony hadn't been allowed to use muggle inventions when he was growing up, and he had always hated the fact that he didn't appear normal to the people around him. He was always forced to face the brutal teasing whenever he walked out onto a muggle street in wizard's robes.
Jocelyn went into the kitchen and fixed herself some cereal. Then she went into the living room and flipped on the television. After she was finished, she put her dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on. Because she had loaded it, but not started it the night before, she didn't have to do an extra load for her breakfast dishes.
"As usual," Jocelyn said, "there's nothing on during the daytime." She gave up and went back to her bedroom. Gathering up the blankets on her bead, she began to make it. Then she walked over to the computer and turned it on. The monitor clicked on.
Jocelyn had always loved computers, but her home computer, she found was extremely slow and it took a long time to boot up. She checked the clock. It was still too early to call Kelsey and Meredith wouldn't be awake for another two hours or so. Instead of calling and waking everyone up, she lay down on her already-made bed and, unintentionally, fell asleep.
When she woke up it was almost nine. The computer had cooperated and turned on, so she walked over, took the screensaver off and turned off the monitor. This she did for no reason at all, except to waste time.
Jocelyn walked into the kitchen and unloaded the dishwasher. When she was through, she picked up the telephone and dialed Kelsey's number.
Jocelyn spent the rest of the day, cleaning, talking on the telephone, or watching television. When her father finally came home, it was almost 10 and the food Jocelyn had prepared had gone cold long ago. Although she was used to her Father's crazy hours, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that he hadn't called her. Then she remembered that, unlike his old job as a bank teller, her father didn't have a telephone at work.
"Sorry I'm late," he said. He had an extremely grim look on his face. "I had a meeting."
"Don't worry about it, Dad. So, would you like me to heat up your dinner for you?" she asked light-heartedly. He nodded and sat down on the sofa as she walked into the kitchen and stuffed his dinner into the microwave. She grabbed a drink out of the refrigerator for him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.
"So," She began, "What was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"
"They want me to go on a special mission," he said. The lines in his wrinkled face grew deeper as he spoke.
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" she said. Generally, she was happy whenever her father got one of these important missions, but she could sense a flaw. "Wh-What's the problem, Daddy?"
"This mission is very important, but it has a high risk. Plus I won't be able to stay at home. If I take the mission, I'll have to temporarily live somewhere else." His voice cut through the air like a knife.
"That's no problem, Dad. I'll come with you. I can help you," she said calmly. It hit her like a ton of bricks. He hadn't said 'we'll have to temporarily live somewhere else' he said 'I'll have to temporarily live somewhere else.'
"That's just the thing, Honey. You can't come with me. I'm not going to take the mission. I wouldn't be able to stand you not being with me." He hugged her. She pulled away quickly and looked at him.
"Daddy, I want you to take this job," She appeared very calm, but on the inside, her heart was breaking. "I don't care that we'll be apart. I'll always have you with me. If the ministry needs you, I want you to do it." She nodded in agreement to herself. Whenever she wanted him to do something, all she had to do was look him in the eye; she did this now, without hesitation. The microwave beeped indicating that his food was ready. He ate, then they both went to bed.
The next day, Jocelyn found out all the details about the mission her father was about to embark on. The ministry would supply him with food, lodging, and clothes. If he did his job correctly, three of the most infamous wizards would meet their downfall, landing straight in Azkaban. Jocelyn was to stay with one of the Ministry's top wizards. She wouldn't find out who it was until the day she arrived and the ministry would pay for all her expenses to go to Hogwarts. They did this so that se wouldn't be so lonely, even though, she was informed that the family she was staying with had a son about her age.
Jocelyn was looking forward to going to Hogwarts, but she was going to miss her other witch friends that attended a private school right outside London. She told her father about this, not knowing if he was really listening or not, because he was packing. Jocelyn was already packed and they were leaving the next day. She called Kelsey and Mere that night and told them goodbye. Of coarse, since it was a top-secret mission, she didn't tell them what her father's mission was all about, but she told them enough so that they wouldn't get suspicious.
A ministry car showed up by their front door at 8 the next morning. Loading her things into the trunk was an almost impossible task because her mind kept drifting off to other places. She got in the back seat and fastened her seatbelt. A squat little wizard was sitting in the driver's seat. He was wearing a maroon uniform and had a black wizard's hat on his head. It partially covered his graying hair, but not much.
Anthony got in the passenger's seat and buckled his seatbelt. They drove off down the street, not looking back. Jocelyn already missed her friends, but she wouldn't be able to see them again until summer, which was very depressing.