Sinopa panted, looking a lot like the dog that loped alongside her as she tried to keep up with her Mum far ahead of her. They were about to pass their front door and if she remembered right there's a really bad crack in the concrete about two blocks after the petunias. It also meant they had jogged for nearly 5 kilos and around, what, half an hour? Sinopa couldn't figure out the exact time and she didn't really care too besides that it was too long and she was tired.
Sighing as she passed by their so welcoming front door and that front porch of Happiness and Relaxation, Gods know she'd much prefer to be drinking some tea or something and there was a cute little kitty on their front porch, she hoped they hadn't fixed the crack just yet. Passing by the petunias, her bright brown eyes scanned the ground for the crack and a smile lit up her face as she "tripped", the toe of her sneaker catching the crack.
Sinopa let out a shriek as she fell, hoping that Feather, her beautiful dog, would show his intelligence and prove that he had beauty and brains. As she hit the ground, skinning her elbows and knees, she heard her mother approaching at a quick jog.
Feather wasn't doing anything. Whatsoever. In fact, he was simply staring down at her, his pink tongue lolling out of his big mouth. Sighing sharply as she laid on the ground, Sinopa murmured out of the corner of her mouth, "Act."
If her dog didn't act concerned, her mother would know it was all an act to get out of her morning jog (although, jog was not an accurate word. Marathon was closer. More accurate).
Feather jumped into action, yipping and licking at her face in worry, and nudging her with his wet nose to help her sit up. It took the girl a couple of months to teach him the command to "Act" after she realized he could tell whenever she was scheming and lying to get out of doing something and the poor dog didn't know what to do for it so she tried her best to teach him how to go along with her.
"Sinopa!" Her mother called as she came closer. She sounded worried, making a smirk come over her face before she covered it with a grimace. She only hoped it was believable.
"Yeah?" Sinopa asked, pushing herself off the concrete and back, landing on her bottom as she examined her skinned knees and her hands. They'd be annoying for the next couple of days, but Sinopa figured she'd live. It'll get her out of jogging for maybe — what, a week? She'd need to get her Nokomis to go with it, but that wouldn't be too hard. She could probably squeeze out a few tears if it was necessary. Sinopa hoped she didn't hurt her tank top. She thought the emerald color was a nice offset to her russet skin.
"Hey, love, are you okay?" Mum asked, squatting down in front of her and pulling her daughter's calloused hands towards her to see the damage that happened. She grimaced at the blood bubbling up from the scrapes that raked up the heels of her palms and down her knees through the white Harem pants she was wearing.
"I'm bleeding soooo… not really. And I scraped up my elbows too. Are they bleeding?" Sinopa asked, craning her head down to check her elbows. Her face contorted into a grimace at the ripped skin, trying to hide how pleased she was. She'd be able to relax for a bit, finally, and maybe get some frozen yogurt (Sinopa's Mum was a bit of a health nut) and that one shirt she had been wanting out of this whole situation.
Feather was still licking her face in a concerned manner and pawing at the loose pants that Sinopa wore when she exercised. Smiling, she leaned forward and kissed his nose, calming him down. He sat back and gave her his doggy smile, his tongue lolling out and looking out of place on his big frame and subtracting from any kind of viciousness he would've possessed.
Mum grimaced as she surveyed Sinopa. She wasn't sure if she should make the girl walk home or not, despite it only being a few meters away. She didn't want to coddle the girl, but her knees would bleed even more if she forced her to walk. And her daughter, while fit, was growing to be a bit lanky and she'd definitely be heavy — she was an 11 year old and would be going on 12 in a few months and they weren't exactly light after the age of four.
"Do you wanna walk to the door? Or do you want me to carry…." The woman trailed off, seeing Sinopa raise her arms in the air in an obvious gesture of "Carry Me!"
"Please? My knees really hurt," Sinopa lied, hoping her pout worked. Sure, her knees stung a bit, but they didn't actually hurt. They looked a lot worse than they felt, same with her elbows and hands. But if she was being offered to be carried, she was all for it.
Sighing, Mum picked the girl up and held onto her thighs as Sinopa wrapped herself around her front.
"Y'know, you've gotten worse injuries than this in Gymnastics and your self defense classes," Mum mused, beginning to walk to their home. Feather walked behind her, his tail wagging back and forth as he stared up at Sinopa who smiled and cooed to him.
"Yes, but due to what happened prior to this travesty, I am super tired. Therefore, I am unable to walk to the door in this time of need," Sinopa dramatically cried out, swooning backwards, a hand on her forehead to complete the look.
Mum snorted, readjusting Sinopa so she wouldn't fall flat on her back on the sidewalk. "Nokomis is rubbing off on you," she muttered, walking up the stairs to their townhouse's front porch.
"Mum, this is all of your effect," Sinopa corrected as she adjusted herself, making eye contact with the cat and when she blinked, it was gone. She bit her lip and avoided looking back over there, trying to perk up back to her earlier attitude, despite the mood being ruined for her.
Sinopa grinned cheekily, her white teeth shining bright as her Mum opens the door. Walking into the cool house felt like a blessing on her overheated skin. Feather followed in patiently behind the two.
A fool's grin painted on her face she leaned back up, coming smiling-face to annoyed-face with the woman, Sinopa wrapped her long arms around her neck, the tops of her arms brushing the bottom of her bob that was perfectly aligned with the strong jaw line that her own was beginning to match.
"Thank you, Mumsy!" She chirped as she pecked her Mum's straight nose, ignoring the eye roll she received in return.
Her Mum made a sharp turn right, nearly knocking her daughter's head into the archways frame as she walked into the parlor. "Where do you wanna sit?" Feather happily laid on the ground, his panting lessening now that he was in an air conditioned house.
Tilting her head back, she gave a quick cursory glance around all the seats available and didn't have a random jar or drying herbs or random cook books laying on it haphazardly.
Nodding decisively, she turned to face her Mum. "You see that empty space on the left book shelf — on the second shelf from the top — beside the basket of hardware tools — I'd like to sit there."
She was promptly dumped onto the window seat.
"Thanks Mumsy, another injury to add to the list," Sinopa snarked, Feather jumping up beside her, taking up all the room that was left and a little of her own. Feather gave Sinopa's Mum his own unimpressed look as he licked the side of his owner's face awkwardly.
"Hey, Mum!" Sinopa's Mum called as she walked out of the room.
Sinopa finally let her smirk slide onto her place, proud of her acting. Now she just needed to milk it.
"What Alsoomse?" Sinopa's Nokomis called back from somewhere in the back of the house.
Sinopa zoned out as she slowly nudged one of the dark wooden chairs toward her. All the two were arguing about was where "that bloody first aid kit was?" (in the powder room's sink cupboard). It was too far away for her to get it to move much and all she was doing was pushing it away further when suddenly... the spindly chair moved inch by inch till — finally — it was close enough for her to prop her long legs on and stretch out, ignoring the slight sting coming from her knees. She bit her lip. The creepy thing had happened again.
She pushed the chair away and let her feet rest on the floor, not bothering to do anything about her tennis shoes. Sinopa forced the chair out of her mind and focused back on the consequences of earlier. The only annoying part of what happened was that her pants were ripped and stained. And she really liked those pants.
Her thoughts jumping around, she decided on merely studying her dog's fur. Sinopa quickly got bored of that and switched to squishing his pointed face (she liked to joke that he was part fox whenever they brought up his husky coloring) and cooing to the poor creature.
"AND WHOOooo is the CUTEST dog in the world?" Sinopa continued on and cooed, "You're the cutest dog in the world! And it's all because of your gorgeous fur, yes it is! It's white and black and it has these chocolate tips almost like you got it done at a salon because you're just so pretty. It's a tad bit annoying."
Feather kept licking her face until Sinopa's Nokomis arrived.
"Hi, love, how are you holding up with those awful injuries of yours?" Nokomis asked, bustling in with the tea tray. Sinopa's brow twitched as she realized Nokomis already saw through her charade and cast off the tears idea and milking it. Nokomis would out her in a second.
Instead of answering her question, Sinopa posed another question that should've been asked a long time ago as she started rolling up her pant legs to her thigh. She nearly winced at the mess she made of her knees.
Sinopa idly wondered what kind of pants they were as her hand went back to petting Feather, who had taken it upon himself to lounge across the limited space the window seat offered.
"Nokomis, I really should've asked this a bit ago and I probably already did now that I think about it because I remember Nokomis is Algonquin I remember, but not what for?" Sinopa blurted out as Nokomis started preparing the tea.
Nokomis raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I want you to think for a moment what it could possibly mean. This is a very important life lesson to always think through your knowledge of a subject so you don't ask your Grandmother such a stupid question in the future."
"Well that burn was certainly an awful injury," Sinopa snorted. "Thanks Grandma."
"I prefer Nokomis, it reminds me of our Native American heritage." Nokomis poured three cups of tea out, the aromatic smell of lavender and jasmine soothing Sinopa's senses.
"Komo."
"No no."
"Noko?"
"Definitely not."
"Okay, I found the first aid kit! Mum, did you put a wet washcloth on that tray?" Mum asked as she marched into the room, her long legs eating up the distance between her and her daughter.
"Of course I did," Nokomis harrumphed, tossing the washcloth at the back of her daughter's head as she kneeled by Sinopa's legs.
Heaving an aggravated sigh, she picked up the olive green washcloth and started dabbing at her knees, cleaning away the drying blood on her knees and the pebbles and sharp stones embedded in the skin.
"Pity about your Harem pants though, they're ruined for sure," Mum commented absentmindedly, her shaped eyebrows drawn together as she bit her full bottom lip, completely concentrated on the task in front of her.
Sinopa snapped her fingers. "THAT'S what these pants are called."
"Here you go, love, here's a cuppa," Nokomis offered the cup of tea she had been preparing to Sinopa, setting Mum's cup of tea on the edge of the round table. She reached for her phone and quickly scrolled through her selection of audio books. Finally, she decided on Ashfall: Chapter 13, and the words floated through the room.
Sinopa hissed as her mother swiped antiseptic on her knees after she finished cleaning them, no warning had been give. Before Sinopa could take a sip of her tea, she was forced to place it down for her mom to clean her hands and her elbows.
"Bandages or just regular band-aids? Which will allow for maximum maneuverability?" Mum pondered before reaching for the roll of bandages, smearing a home remedy healing salve on her cuts before wrapping them all.
Just as she was getting started on Sinopa's hands, her elbows and knees finished, their doorbell rang. Nokomis set down her book, Romany Remedies and Recipes, and looked to Sinopa, who had already pulled aside the curtains just enough to see an elderly woman swathed in emerald.
"It looks like a friend of your, Komis," Sinopa murmured as she studied the woman's attire. From what she could tell through the gauzy curtain, she was wearing some kind of hat and what kind of dress was that?
"Nokomis!" Nokomis scolded as she stood to answer the door, Mum also getting to her feet to put away the first aid kit and probably get started on her yoga or whatever.
Sinopa tilted her head, wondering if she would reach her Nokomis' height when she was finished growing or Mum's height which was a few inches shorter than Nokomis' towering 5'11.
Eh, she didn't care anymore. As long as her dog wasn't taller than her, she was good.
As Nokomis reached for the door handle, Sinopa switched off her audio book, wanting to hear the exchange. She plugged in her earbuds though, making it appear that she was listening to the book still through them so she could eavesdrop.
"Hello, welcome to the Siksika home, my name is Nadie."
"Hello. My name is Minerva McGonagall. May I come in? I have information regarding your granddaughters education."
"Come in. I've just made tea, would you like some?" Nokomis led a stern older woman into the parlor and gestured to a seat, before she sat down herself. Sinopa kept quiet about how the dress the woman wore was actually robes of deep emerald.
Speaking of clothing, she rolled her ripped pants back down, trying to avoid hitting Feather's head and waking him up. The tears in the fabric showed the bandages around her knees.
"If it wouldn't be too much of a bother," Minerva said to Nokomis before coming to stand in front of Sinopa. Sinopa tried her best to be polite, the strict woman did not look like she would be kind if crossed and her mere presence seemed to demand respect.
Sinopa held out her left hand and Minerva shook it. "I'm Sinopa. Minerva, correct?" Minerva nodded, her thin lips stretching into a small smile. "What about my education? I'm being home schooled so are you from the government?"
Minerva shook her head and took the chair to Sinopa's left, leaving the chair across from her for Mum, her cup of tea still sitting there steaming. "I'm not from the government, no. Although I think my explanation should wait till your mother joins us."
"Alsoomse! Hurry up! We have a guest!" Nokomis shouted and a loud thud was heard from upstairs, followed by a groan. Sinopa guessed she was snapped out of her "yoga trance" as she called it.
"That sounded like it hurt," Sinopa commented as she sipped at her tea, Feather dozing away in her lap, which put the young girl at ease. If Feather didn't consider the woman to be dangerous then she was safe.
"I must say, I like your haircut, it suits you," Minerva complimented in an attempt to make conversation and Sinopa blushed lightly, running a hand through her short, dark mocha hair, causing the chin length strands to float around her face and tickle the soft skin there.
"Thank you, and your emerald robes," she stumbled over the word, "bring out your eyes," Sinopa complimented back, having been taught that if you receive a compliment, you return it; same with insults.
"Okay, I'm here." Mum came skidding into the room through the library, a pleasant smile pulled at her full lips as she introduced herself and sat down beside Minerva.
"Let us get to business." And suddenly the down-to-business woman was back. "Where I work, I am a professor and your daughter has been accepted into the school, Hogwarts."
Mum cocked her head, her own dark brown hair that matched her daughters moving with her. "I don't remember applying for her to go into any school at all."
Nokomis bit her lip as she thought, her crow feet becoming deeper as she thought. "And I've never heard of a school called Hogwarts."
Sinopa didn't think the two were saying anything worthwhile and inquired, "Why was I accepted to your school?"
"You see, the school is for special kids," Minerva explained. She was immediately thrown off when the family (you couldn't doubt that they weren't Grandmother, Mother, and Daughter with the resemblance. It was uncanny!) all assumed the same expression: unrivaled anger.
"I must say, I'm quite offended on my granddaughters behalf."
"Just because she has dyslexia — " Mum began in a snarl reminiscent of a wolf.
"The only thing she got from her worthless father," Nokomis commented off-handedly, trying to calm herself down.
"— and ADHD does not make me qualified for a school dedicated to special kids!" Sinopa shouted, her bright brown eyes going hard.
"No, you misunderstood me," Minerva quickly said, trying to placate the angry family. "You're daughter is a witch."
"You're — what? Sixty something? And you're calling an 11 year old names." Sinopa was getting really sick of the woman.
"It's not even an original one." Nokomis seemed more disappointed at her lack of creativity. "How pathetic!"
"How dare you!" Mum thundered, getting to her feet and looking intimidating with her strong jaw clenching and unclenching and her once smiling mouth was pulled into a scowl. Her dark brown eyes were daring Minerva to say one more thing. "Who do you think you are to be calling her a witch? We all know what rhymes with it and I can't help but think you're a bitch."
If the estranged woman thought she could go about insulting the pride and joy of her life then she thought wrong. She had no qualms with kicking an elderly woman's arse.
Minerva wanted to sigh at the short-tempered family but refrained, rightly sensing it would only cause more trouble. "Not the rude kind, the magical kind. I teach at a school for magic."
Sinopa raised her eyebrows, trying to hide how offended she was. Was the woman making a mockery of their beliefs? "You go from insulting to psychotic. How dumb do you think we are?" Her tea spoon was beginning to rattle on the table by her tea cup that seemed to be vibrating at a steady pace.
Things always acted up when she got angry or upset.
She quickly hid it by scooping some honey into the cup, holding it still while she stirred the tea.
"You all are clearly spiritual and you must feel like I'm insulting your beliefs but if you would allow me to demonstrate to you that I am far from an old crock pot I do believe you will understand."
Nokomis held up her hand to keep her daughter from kicking the woman out. Sinopa looked curious and Feather had even woken up (that mutt slept like a brick) so she might as well let the woman show them her proof.
Sinopa watched as Minerva drew out a long, ornately decorated stick. What was a stick supposed to prove?
Minerva pointed the stick at Sinopa's legs and muttered a something in some language. And, before everyone's eyes, the pants mended themselves back together. The blood stains were gone. They looked as squeaky clean as she bought them.
Softly, Sinopa whispered, "Holy fuck."
Mum sat back in her seat and stared appraisingly at the stern woman. "I apologize for my harsh words earlier." Nokomis echoed her apology.
Sinopa leaned back against the pillow and shrugged, taking a sip of her tea and keeping a firm hold on the still moving spoon. "I didn't say anything directly rude and anything I had said that you might take offensive otherwise was completely justified at the moment. You probably should say I've been accepted to a school for the gifted because of my shortcomings it comes off completely different. And I can't do that," she pointed to her mended pants, "so while I would like to believe it, I think you're mistaken."
Minerva raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So you've never done anything strange when you were upset or angry or feeling any kind of strong emotion?"
Sinopa thought, I wasn't doing those things though, was I? They just... happened around me, right?
She wasn't so sure anymore.
Mum spoke up, "You used to make your stuffed animals dance when you were younger. And that time with your father… all of the photos that had him in it suddenly had the glass break right over his face."
Nokomis added her own two cents. "All the times your mother would blow that blasted whistle to get you to run faster and suddenly it wouldn't work anymore."
"Oh, you brat. I knew you had something to do with that."
Sinopa thought back on all the times she had gotten upset or angry. The boy who stole her animals crackers back when she used to go school and the bag had split open as fast as lightning just when he stuck his hand in it and they went all over the grass. There was also the one girl, Mary, who had tripped her and when she went to walk away, all high and mighty, her shoelaces had tied themselves together in front of her eyes and then Mary was tripping too. She had thought she had just imagined those things and when they kept happening she grew scared….
She had made Mum bring her to the doctors because she was seeing things that couldn't have happened… she had read over folklore and rituals, worried that something could be terribly wrong with her. She had cried herself to sleep some nights, shedding her strong front, because she was so worried there was something horribly wrong with her because in all the movies and the books and her people's stories… the witches were the bad guys and she was so worried that she was a monster or a villain because only the villains could do the things that she did and it was only after someone hurt her those things had happened. All those cleanses Nokomis had done over her during the night when she thought she was sleeping and praying to her Gods and the terror that her Mum and Nokomis would abandon her because she was some kind of freak with too many problems. It was relieving that she wasn't some kind of demon or evil spirit and there was a school for people like her. She wasn't alone.
"What'd you say that school was called again?"
Minerva smiled and slid an envelope over to her. Sinopa set down her tea and the cup, neither of them moving an inch.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
It was addressed to her in an emerald ink that matched Minerva's robes.
Miss S. Siksika
The Crafty Bedroom
412 Swellen Ell
Linden Street
London
It was parchment, yellowed and heavy and on the back her fingers brushed over strange figures imprinted into wax. She flipped it over, running her thin fingers over what appeared to be a coat of arms. Around a large H were a snake, a badger, a bird (maybe an eagle, she wasn't sure), and a lion.
Breaking it open, careful not to damage the seal, she struggled through reading the letter, the words swimming before her eyes as she pieced it all together, biting on the base of her thumb, and by the end of it her eyes were watering; not from having to piece it all together, although that did cause a headache, nor the pain in her hand (she was far too used to the habit) but from relief that it all wasn't a joke. There were far too many weird words in the Headmaster's achievements for it to be fake, that would take up way too much time, although that might not be the soundest logic in the book, it worked for her.
Sinopa could see her Mum and Nokomis looking worried. She had never told them of her concerns or worries nowadays, not after the doctor's report had come back clean.
"I…" her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, "ther — there's nothing wrong with me?"
"No," Minerva's voice was soft as she reassured the distraught girl.
"Whatsoever?" Clarification. She needed clarification.
"Whatsoever." Minerva's firm tone left no room for argument.
Sinopa quickly tried to wipe away her happy tears as Feather looked up at her worriedly.
Hey everybody! This is not my first fan fiction (We won't speak of the others. I pray they're never found, they were awful). Anyways, if you guys have any questions or comments just post them down below, I'd love to read them~ Favorite or follow if you like it and I do appreciate constructive criticism! Love you all!