A/N: This fanfic began in 2004. At the time, it was used as a distraction from my parents divorce and my silly teenage woes. During the course of my high school years, however, it became more than just an escape- it was alive. It allowed me to not only create, but to live an adventure of my own.
What with life (jobs, my best friend/inspiration moving out of state with her military husband, other adult obligations, etc.,), I lost my motivation to conclude it. I think a part of me doesn't want to finish it, because that would end my childhood. Close the curtains. But really, who are we kidding? The story- my life- has not truly ended. Nor will it.
The show will go on. I will see to it. And you, the readers, will be my inspiration. My motivators. My teachers and critics.
This might have a slow introduction, but it's so you can get an idea of the characters involved. Hopefully it won't take long for it to pick up, and you'll begin to see familiar faces!. :)
I have no ownership of the Harry Potter series. The contents of this fanfic are original properties of J.K. Rowling, excluding my own OCs.
I was in an empty room. "Hello?" I called out. The echo in the circular chamber was my only response. A single candle was lit in the middle of the floor; shadows lingered against the wall despite there being no corners. Suppressing a shudder at the eeriness, I approached the white waxed candle. An open chest was suddenly in view, as if it was there the entire time. Its contents were not visible through the intimidating darkness. Continuing forward, a distant hum grew louder. Louder. Everything was losing focus. Alex. Alex-
"Geez wake up already." My brother's voice was heard over the constant buzz that didn't disappear with my dream.
Groggy and delirious, one glance around the plane reminded me I was no longer in my bed back in Texas... Back in America. Sighing, I straightened up from my fetal sleeping position in my seat, massaging my sore neck and scratching at my head, further disturbing my messy dark brown hair.
"Where are we?" I mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes while scrounging for my glasses. Sean, who was just over a year younger than me but looked as if he could be my twin, snickered at my state without saying another word.
"We're just about to land, Alexis hun, so we're having to buckle up." Mom answered from Sean's other side next to the aisle. She then pointed at the window. "Take a look! Isn't it beautiful?"
Outside had fields scattered like abstract art, surrounding small suburbs. I was used to the country, but this British landscape was nothing compared to our Texan farm.
"We're here!" Mom announced several hours later. It was my turn to nudge Sean awake and peel his face off the taxi window.
Our ride pulled into a driveway, and the broken off pieces of concrete crunched under the tires. In front of us appeared to be a squished looking apartment, surrounded by other identical squished apartments made of red brick.
Stepping out, I stretched and twisted my back around to look behind me. Nothing but a lonely playground... With as much rust I saw on the slide and swings, I was sure it terrified any sensible parent.
"Jerry isn't home yet, he's still on his way from work..." Mom said more to herself.
Jerry. Jerry Macintosh. Mom's British boyfriend. Well, formally her boyfriend. Now they're engaged. Thus, why my brother and I were dragged along to the outskirts of London from our perfectly comfortable home.
Sean wordlessly helped the taxi driver unload our travel suitcases. Sighing, I faced back to the front of the brown bricked apartment and watched Mom locate the spare key under the worn doormat. She was practically dancing with excitement.
"Come on, come on! Let's see what he has set up for us!" Mom waved her hand once. Sean, still silent, rolled both his and Mom's luggage behind him, leaving mine to myself. As I followed him into the house, I heard our London taxi reverse out of the driveway and head back to the city. I had the sudden urge to chase after him... No use it would do me, since he couldn't magically fly me back to home-
Don't call it that anymore, I scolded myself. The farm isn't home anymore. We're going to be here now. The thought didn't improve my mood at all.
Inside, the apartment started with a narrow hallway. The left opened with an archway to the living room, while straight ahead were stairs that made it to the second floor towards an unknown number of doors.
"Jerry said there's a spare room down the end of the hallway that you kids can stay in for the summer. Oh Sean, thank you for getting my things!"
"You're welcome," Came an automatic tone. I suppressed a much desired sigh that would have expressed my disapproval of his apparent attitude. Then again, I'm not doing much better. I still felt he could have hidden his dissatisfaction of being here a bit better.
"We'll go ahead and take everything up while you take a seat and relax. Which room do you want your things to go in?" I offered. I mostly wanted to take a peek into Jerry's room and get an idea as to what kind of person he's going to be like living with.
Not to say I didn't know him, but I only knew him through Mom's web-chat and phone calls. Mom first met him two years ago when she made a Great Britain vacation with some of her girl friends. I don't remember the details, though I was sure Mom mentioned it every chance she got.
A few months after she returned home to Texas, Jerry emailed her saying he was going to be in Dallas for a few weeks... From that point on, they've been together.
I was real happy for her, she finally had someone else to share her time with other than kids since our real dad died in a stereo-typical car accident caused from some drunk. But it didn't alter the fact that Sean and I didn't want to get dragged into this. We were happy with our school in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
"I'll get my own bag, don't worry about it. I'm going to head into the kitchen and find out what to do about dinner. Head on up and check out your room," Mom insisted.
Shrugging, I grabbed a hold of my luggage with both hands and began heaving them up each step. The narrow space made me feel itchy all over with discomfort. I wasn't claustrophobic, but this was ridiculous. The walls were lined with photos of Jerry on fishing vacations, pubs with guy friends, and even a few of him and Mom with the sea in the background, his dark red hair almost clashing with the sunset.
Moving on up, I prayed the room we had was enough room for a couple of already-tall teenagers and their unique possessions.
As Sean and I reached the second level, the front door opened up.
"Susan? Hello?" A male's voice called out. The sound of someone tripping on luggage was obvious.
Mom responded immediately Sean and I hurried even more to the back room.
I pushed open the door and switched the light on... And sighed with relief. A futon was up against the wall, a twin size air mattress laid on the floor in front of it. The great part was there were still plenty of floor space for luggage and trunks. Opposite from us were rows of bookshelves, a green reading chair, and an antique floor lamp. Indented in the carpet marked where a desk used to stand.
"It could've been worse," Sean finally voiced as he dragged everything to a corner. I nodded my head.
"As long as he doesn't act like an evil stepmother like in Cinderella or Snow White, I think we'll be fine." I tried to reassure the two of us.
We were quiet for a brief moment, taking in the surrounding of our new home for the upcoming months.
Below we heard Mom hollering our names, breaking us from our thoughts.
"Fuck," Sean muttered under his breath.
"Agreed." I said, walking out the bedroom door. On our way down the stairs, the wood boards squeaked obnoxiously.
"Well," I snickered only loud enough for Sean to hear. "If we want to sneak out, we'll have to fly down the steps."
"No problem." Sean winked.
Ahead were Jerry and Mom with arms around each other, grinning. Jerry's glasses looked slightly crooked on his this face. Grey hairs were becoming noticeable on his sideburns and his stomach was sticking out, despite his skinny appearance.
"So Alexis! Sean!" Jerry smiled. Nope, nocrookedteeth... IshereallyBritish? "We finally meet in person! I hope the flight wasn't too tiring." He gave each of us a firm handshake. "Is the room to your liking?"
"Yes, thank you." I said. "I imagine we'll take up every space once the rest of our things get here. Did you have a desk in there before?" I sounded casually, but the effort was definitely forced.
"As a matter of fact, I did. Just removed it a few days ago. I've slowly been taking things down, packing them up and transferring them to the new apartment closer into the city. I'm praying it'll all be finished before you leave for school, but I doubt you'll want to move all your things three times in one month." He seemed pretty excited about his plans for us all.
"By the way," Jerry added as an afterthought. "What school are you attending?"
"Oh, it's called..." My brother stopped himself, his eyebrows furrowing. "Well, I can't remember the name, it was pretty weird sounding, but I believe it's far up north from here..." Sean trailed off, hoping his half-truth would pull off.
"What?" Jerry had a surprisingly booming laugh that shook the walls around us. "You don't even know where it's at? What sort of private school did you sign them up for if the place apparently doesn't want to be found?"
"Eh, well," I piped in. "We're suppose to be receiving our acceptance letters in a week or two, so we'll know what to do then. Our principal from our last school pretty much handled all the transfer papers for us."
"Really? Jerry's eyebrows raised. It was starting to feel very uncomfortable in the small hallway.
"Kenneth wanted our kids to attend a school with specific standards. It was one of his last wishes." Mom gently touched his arm.
Lies, of course. We haven't been here ten minutes and the old method of Mom trying to protect her babies were already being used on the man she now loves. My slightly improved mood instantly went dark.
"Not that we had much choice about this, we weren't given a lot of time to prepare." Sean spoke exactly what I thought. I was struggling to not scowl. Mom responded with The Mother Frown of Disapproval.
"Go on upstairs and finish unpacking. We'll call you when we've decided what to do for dinner."
"Actually, if you don't mind..." Jerry didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he walked through the living room and beckoned Sean and I to follow.
Located in the back of the room was a swinging door. Walking through, we ended up in a pastel sea-green kitchen with worn and stained white countertops. Add kitchen ware and dishes fit for a bachelor, then it was truly a lonely looking home. How this man have been living in an overused apartment on his own was a mystery to me. To my left was a round plastic kitchen table, the morning news paper laid open next to an empty plate with toast crumbs and a half empty coffee cup.
Jerry was rummaging through a drawer that was apparently dedicated to random items that had no other place to stay in the home. Paper and loose wall nails could be heard rustling around.
"Here," Jerry ripped out a page from a phone book and handed it to Sean who was closest. "This is a map of the general area. It's still light out for a while, so go ahead and walk around. Tour the area, get some fresh air and space to think. By the time you return, dinner should be planned."
Sean only seemed to be able to accomplish staring at the torn page in confusion.
"Thanks," I spoke for the both of us, grateful to Jerry's consideration. "We'll go ahead and grab our phones in case something comes up."
Dragging my younger brother by the sleeve to motivate function in his own feet, we walked back through the kitchen door into the living room where Mom sat waiting. Instantly, my anger flared.
"Youhaven'ttoldhim?" I practically hissed, darting my eyes to make sure it was only direct family in the room.
"He's not ready! Besides, the two of you will be off to school in no time before he figures anything out." Mom kind of huffed.
"He really doesn't appear to be an idiot." Sean scowled. "What's going to happen with everything comes in? Or when we have to buy school supplies? Owls? Does he even know about Alex's cat?"
"Yes, he knows about the cat!" She looked harassed by Sean's questions. "As to your things, we'll just sneak them in as they-"
"Sure, a wand can be stuffed up our sleeves easily," I interrupted, "But a broomstick will be a bit more difficult, unless you know someone who can shove it someplace else."
My eyes burning, I ran upstairs without another word to my shocked mother. Her excuses were enraging.
"Sean! Mark the map where this place is so we don't get lost." I hollered from the top of the steps. Snatching our phones from the open luggage, I hurried back downstairs straight to the door, making my way outside without a final glance.
Everything was blurry around me. I was exhausted from the flight, confused and angry. Mom is marrying this man and she hasn't told him anything. It's like she's trying to hid us, her own kids... We're already having to hide in plain sight from the world, already transferring schools and traveled to a whole 'nother country. That minor offence Mom pulled felt like the last straw.
It just didn't seem fair. Sean and I were thrown into the dark and told to keep quiet, be a good little boy and girl so everyone else around can live happily ever after.
"So Jerry doesn't know he's about to marry into a family of certified weirdos?" I fumed. Sean's footsteps could be heard behind me, catching up. Realizing I was walking blindly and on an unfamiliar street, I stopped to rub my eyes. Bringing the phone to my face, I saw both had severely cracked screens.
The pain in my wrist was proof I was gripping the simple electronics tightly, but sheer pressure from the hands of a sixteen year old girl would not have caused this extensive damage.
"Alexis, what the fuck! The hell is wrong with you?" Sean snatched his phone out of my hand for inspection.
"Jerry really doesn't know." I whispered more to myself. My eyes couldn't leave the phone that sat in my clammy palm.
"So what? How is that any different from anyone else? God dammit, I need my wand to fix this. That, or you're buying me a new phone."
"Well," I ignored him, a rebellious look replacing the anger on my face. My voice changed to a lower tone, accepting a challenge, ready to fight. "If Mom doesn't explain to him, we will have to. If they're getting married, we're under obligation."
I laughed out loud, my stride increasing. Sean easily kept up due to his longer legs. He eyed me as if I had gone crazy.
"Congratulations, Jerry Macintosh. You now have a witch and wizard in your family."
A/N: Ahh! Firstchapterjitters!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I hoped you enjoy! Review as you see fit, don't be gentle. I like it rough. ;P
I'm sorry if the words are all bunched up together... I'm trying to get it fixed. The past two nights have been hectic with editing, only to have my progress NOT show up after saving. Argh.