A/N: Hi everybody! Good old sleepy girl here, who is REALLY hyper!!!!! Yeah!!!!! Anyway, this is a very – er – odd fic… done when I was hyper (duh – otherwise it wouldn't be odd) so r/r, and even though you can flame, I prefer constructive criticism. Thanx you wonderful reviewers!
THE MASK OF REMEMBRANCE
Dear Sassy,
How are you? I've been fine, but I'm going to be going to a boarding school from now on. Sort of sad, isn't it? I'll be missing the Pack, but just keep writing and I'll send back pictures or something. See ya next summer!
Luv,
Birch
Birch sighed and licked the envelope closed. God, that has a bad taste she thought to herself as she pulled up from the computer chair and walked downstairs in search of a stamp. Her older brother Oak looked up from the counter in the kitchen as she stomped in, wearing her tank top, pajama pants, and his leather boots.
"Where're the stamps?" she asked shortly, pulling open the kitchen drawer and grimacing as a package of peanuts stared back at her. She hated peanuts.
"Ask Dad. What's eating you?" Birch raised her head and focused her dark blue eyes on his.
"Do you have to leave the house you know, the friends you know, and the entire world you know to go to some 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'? No. So shut your trap and help me find a stamp."
"Point taken! Look, Lily's going too." Birch rolled her eyes and gave a satisfied grin as she found a drawer of stamps, stopping when she hit her head on the cupboard above.
"I barely know her! I don't even see why I have to travel all the way from Kauai to England, even if someone they're accepting is my first cousin. And you know how I am on planes!" Oak shrugged nonchalantly and got back to eating his lunch of a beef sandwich with lettuce and tomato. A rather tired man in a mussed business suit walked in, looked at his daughter, and groaned.
"Birch, I know that you're upset that you're going to England, but let's look at the bright side. We can still talk, same with you and Sassy and Amy and Ali and Jessie and all the others, I'm sure, and I won't have as many mouths to feed. You can come back during vacation! Just cheer up, my dear. You'll be fine!"
"Thanks, Dad, for the kind words and cheery smile. I'll just go pack now."
Birch stomped out of the room, leaving the letter to her best friend sitting on the counter. Quinton L. Botsford sighed and suddenly exclaimed,
"Whose leather boots are those?"
A week later, a young girl with strawberry blonde hair wearing a very disgruntled expression stood bracing herself for the grand family reunion; namely, the family reunion of her aunt, uncle, stuck-up cousin Petunia, and other cousin Lily. Her father stood by her side, looking nervously at his watch and around at the streets of the strange, very strange wizarding town surrounding him. His son was watching everything with wide eyes; occasionally spotting something that made him say "Sweet!" or "Too cool!" These statements came into being quite often when a good-looking young girl walked by.
"Quinty!" a voice shrieked. The next moment, a slightly plump woman came rushing towards them, blond hair streaming behind her back, as she threw herself on her younger brother and gave a tremendous squeeze. "Quinty! Oh, I have missed you! Oh, Ben, don't you think he looks just darling?" she looked at her skinny husband, who gave a slight smile to Birch and Oak, who smiled back.
"Why, Quinton old chap. Where have you been hiding yourself all these years?" he asked, heartily giving the person in question a good handshake. Quinton smiled back and replied,
"Oh, back near Honolulu in Kauai. It's that small island I wrote you about?" he said hastily as his sister and brother-in-law gave him a questioning look. The short girl next to them edged her way over to Birch.
"Hi, Birch," she said shyly.
"Hi, Lily. Long time no see!" Birch replied. She looked over to where her other cousin was, looking around in loathing at the oddly dressed people around them and filing her nails with a passion.
"Well, it is hard contacting each other across the world. Can you believe all this?" she waved her hand around at the colorful world about them. "It still seems like a dream to me."
"Ditto. So, are the parents ever going to stop gabbing and start shopping? Or rather, are they going to stop noticing we have all the wizarding money and we are highly likely to slip away unnoticed?"
"Birch!" Lily replied, laughing. Birch silenced her, looked around, and grabbed her cousin by her T-shirt and pulled her into the nearest shop.
"Anything I can get you?" a voice said. A plump, motherly looking woman asked, ten pins in her mouth. The two cousins looked around; the room was decorated in a very house-like fashion, with an old radio turned to the classical channel. Another client, a boy with dark brown hair and a mischievous air, was being fitted into a black robe.
"Uh, sure. Hogwarts robes, please?" Lily replied as she and Birch sat down in the small armchairs. The boy leaped down from the stool as the woman took his measurements and hurried away to another room.
"I'm Sirius Black. Who're you?" he asked. Birch grinned.
"I'm Birch, she's Lily." The boy, who looked the same age as them, raised one eyebrow (an achievement Birch had still not accomplished, though she tried every day).
"And let me guess, you're older sister's name is Rose and your younger one's is Maple?"
"Close enough, even though we're cousins." Birch replied. Lily held out her hand.
"Pleased to meet you, so is my slightly deranged cousin."
"Likewise." The boys said formally, shaking her hand. He stepped back and looked at them, somewhat surprised that he had been correct when stating they were related, because besides the fact that they had come in to the shop together and both had hair almost the same shade the appearance stopped from there.
Lily was wearing a pastel yellow T-shirt with her long red hair in a ponytail, a pair of short overalls, and clogs. Her pretty face was adorned with a little lip-gloss and a touch of blue eye shadow, and her ears were not pierced. She was also very short.
In contrast, Birch stood average height, wearing sandals and cut jean shorts. Her hair, strawberry blonde, was pulled into two small, tight braids that suggested it fell to her shoulders. The tank top she was wearing was a light blue, and her ears contained earrings in the shape of dice. She wore only Chap Stick. Sirius grinned and couldn't help thinking that Hogwarts was definitely going to be a place to meet cute girls like these two. He was stopped at saying anything, however, when the woman came back in with finished robes.
"Here you are, dear. Let's get you two measured, and then you can be on your way."
After they had received their clothes, Lily and Birch stepped outside and looked at their parents, who were still gabbing. Birch, stopping the urge to laugh, shook her head and said quietly,
"I can't believe it. They're still talking."
Lily looked down at her sleeping cousin from her bed. Birch stirred in the sleeping bag, face relaxed as she squeezed her teddy bear tightly. It was amusing that she still slept with her teddy, but after many looks and warnings, Lily had stopped her teasing and shut her mouth.
She frowned, looking at the relaxed expression on Birch's face. If only she could sleep like that. Lately she had been having nightmares, nightmares that seemed to always repeat the word "Harry". She shrugged, pulled the covers over her head, and fell asleep.
"Wake up, sleepy head!" Lily shouted, throwing a pillow at her. Birch only groaned and turned over onto her stomach.
"Leave me alone, Lily. Can't I just sleep in peace till noon?"
"You want to sleep on the train?"
Birch sat straight up in bed, eyes wide open.
"Train?"
"Yes, the train to Hogwarts. We're leaving in two hours and it takes an hour to get to the train station."
"WHAT?"
Ten minutes later, Birch was dressed in a pair of dark green velvet overalls, wearing a long sleeved red shirt, and slipping into a pair of Lily's clogs (which were too small, but all her other shoes had been packed at the bottom of her trunk by Aunt Begonia). Her hair, plaited as usual, was unusually messy and stuck out at different angles and her socks, though she had no idea, were different shades of yellow and green. It was thus this sight that greeted Aunt Begonia as she walked into the door of her younger daughter.
"Oh my Lord! Birch, what… how… what are you DOING in this apparel?"
Birch looked down at her clothing bashfully.
"Um… I'm completely uncoordinated when it comes to dressing?"
Aunt Begonia shook her head and opened her niece's trunk, quickly finding a white shirt in exchange for the red and white socks for the yellow and green, as well as digging neatly through the pile of clothes and pulling out a pair of matching dark green clogs. After redoing Birch's hair, she left the room, muttering. Birch changed, and after feeling considerably more comfortable and more presentable, she picked up her trunk, followed by Lily, and left the room. Lily couldn't help thinking, as they loaded their trunks into the car, that Birch might be a little deranged after all.
A/N: Hee hee!!!!!! Sorry, VERY HYPER!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE OLD HALLOWEEN CANDY!!!!!!! Anyway, I know this was short but I'm having writer's block L. Remember, you've read but now you need to review! Hurray!!!!! "Yes, Daddy, I am doing my homework!" (pause) "No, I'm not on the computer! Don't bother checking! NO!"