A/N First Chapter of Year Four! I hope you guys enjoy! :D R&R
Chapter One
The Visit
Amara Matthews sighed as she watched a cartoon with her younger siblings. Tessie was the only one to be watching it fully - Ethan was fiddling with his potion supplies, which has a huge label on it telling Tessie to keep her hands off, and Amara was writing a letter to Tally, her cousin. Tessie has turned the TV up rather loud, and the annoying theme tune of the show kept playing.
"Can't you turn that thing off?" Ethan said, rather irritably, but Amara privately agreed with him, because the show was rather excruciating. He's been rather grouchy all summer, when he found out Amara may be going to the Quidditch World Cup. But that was nearly a month ago and he still hasn't forgiven her. Amara didn't know why it bothered him so much - maybe it was the fact that Piper and Eddie were going, but Flick had written telling him she wasn't going either, much to her dismay.
"No," was Tessie's reply as the theme tune turned on for another go.
Ethan frowned and huffed out the room.
Amara watched him go and turned back to her writing. It wasn't getting very far.
"You can turn it down at least," Amara told her sister, who merely stuck her tongue out in return and turned the volume up. It only lasted for a minute, though, for they heard their mother's shout from the other room, telling her to turn it down.
Amara smirked before going back to her letter.
Dear Tally,
Thanks for your letter; it was a nice to hear from you finally. I hope you're having a nice summer - it's a shame that you aren't visiting. My holiday hasn't been the best, I suppose, because
Because what?
She'd been bored as soon as she got home. Jesse, Noah and Tally weren't scheduled to visit nor was she going to visit them, Hermione couldn't come over and she still hasn't had word from Ron about the World Cup. She had received and sent letters to Harry, who was allowed to use Hedwig, because if not, the Dursley's were scared that Sirius Black would come to their house and turn them into toads. Amara was glad that Harry now had Sirius to talk to, it seemed like he had something else. She remembered all the events from the year before - and how they were the only people in the country (except Professor Dumbledore) to know of his innocence. If only they'd stopped Pettigrew transforming - or new enough magic to make him unconscious, like he did to Ron and Crookshanks. If they had, Harry would have been as to leave the Dursley's!
Because of the secrets, Tessie thought she had had a normal year at Hogwarts, not at all like the years before, but Ethan had let it slip at dinner that their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a werewolf, and it took two weeks, with the help of Piper and Eddie, to convince them that he wasn't like the others.
A week into the holiday, Harry has also written to her, begging for some food, because apparently Dudley had a new diet that his school had set up for him, because he was getting too fat, which meant that Harry had even less food than he had before. Her mother had reacted at once, and Archimedes was laid down with a selection of cakes, pastries and packets of food. Then, on his birthday, which was last week, Amara contacted Hermione and Ron about sending birthday cakes, which they did, with gusto.
Apart from that, her summer so far had been just lazing around in the sun and going out with her family.
It made her guilty to say it out loud, but she missed the magical world with all her heart. She wished he could see Harry, Ron, Hermione and the Weasleys - maybe play a game of Quidditch and laugh at the jokes by Fred and George. She wouldn't even mind seeing Percy again, who, by the sound of it from Ron, had gotten a job at the Ministry of Magic - in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the same as Amara's Uncle Louis, whom Percy had indeed talked to.
Be careful, Ron had written, he now adores Louis Reynolds, because of his importance in the French Ministry. He told Percy about you and he can't wait to get more information...
This had made her groan, but laugh all the same. She didn't want Percy questioning her about stuff she didn't know!
The other things distracting Amara from her month of doing nothing was visits from her muggle cousins, Sara and Poppy, who lived a few roads away, and her grandparents, who came up, demanding to see their grandchildren who they hadn't seen for a year and doing all her holiday homework. Sara and Poppy were a good distraction, for they were similar ages and they all went out into the town together. They went to the cinema and went shopping, which sometimes felt such like old times Amara felt like she was a Muggle again.
However, her parents realised her discomfort of being away from magic and her friends but didn't know how to act. Ethan confided to her that he felt it too, but he at least had Piper and Eddie over for a week.
Amara had to admit, that was one of the better weeks. Piper and Eddie were hilarious and reminded her of a little version of Fred and George. The week had been full of loads noise and laughter - her mother didn't know how to cope with it whilst her father asked the two lots of questions about the magical world. He was even worse than Tessie nowadays, always asking Amara about the differences of the two worlds. Even though she had had three years of being in the Wizarding world did not mean she knew everything, so she sometimes relied on her books for extra information.
After the week with Piper and Eddie, Ethan went to stay in the McKenzie's summer house in Cornwall with his other best friend Felicity (or Flick, which she preferred), so the house got very quiet after that.
"Cheer up Amara, you're no fun anymore," Tessie said, jolting Amara from her thoughts.
"What?" she said.
"You're no fun anymore," repeated Tessie. "All you do is mope around all day - you only cheered up when Piper and Eddie were here."
"Don't be silly," Amara said.
"I'm not," Tessie said as she stood up and turned the television off. She had grown over the year Amara was away, she was now ten years old and proud of it. "If this is what people are like after a year at Hogwarts, I'm not sure I want to go anymore."
Amara blinked in surprise. "But you've wanted to go to Hogwarts for years!" She said, rather shocked at this news.
Tessie smiled. "I know, but you came back this year and Mum and Dad don't know what to do. It's hard on them you know, because they don't understand it as well."
This was quite a decent and mature speech for a ten year old. And Amara immediately felt guilty for being a grump the whole time she'd been home.
"I'm sorry Tessie," she said, getting up and giving her sister a hug. "I didn't think about it."
"It's alright," came Tessie's muffled voice. "You better apologise to mum and dad though."
Amara nodded.
"You do really want to go to Hogwarts, don't you?" she said before leaving.
"Of course," said Tessie. "Who wouldn't? But I'm not going to be grouchy every time I get home."
Amara grinned and turned into the kitchen where her parents were drinking a cup of tea and chatting lightly about their work.
"Hello sweetie," her mother said, noticing her standing in the doorway. "Do you need anything?"
"No thanks," Amara said. "I came to say that I'm sorry, I'm sorry for being a grouch so far this summer."
Her parents stared at her before her mother stood up, looking rather tearful.
"Don't worry about it," she said and gave her a motherly hug, one that could be compared to Mrs Weasley's. "We understand. We know it's hard, to come back to somewhere that's a different world."
"It's alright Amara," came the gruff voice from her father, who got up too and gave her another hug.
They only broke apart when they heard the postman deliver the mail.
"I'll go get it," said Amara, grinning and she walked down the bright hall. It was full of pictures, ranging from when they were all babies until now - her mother had even got a picture of Amara, Hermione, Ron and Harry in the train station, which Amara never new was taken, but she had had a bottle of the potion that made the pictures move, which she used. Her family adored it, staring at the little figures of the four friends laughing and hugging. Tessie had taught them to freeze when a someone came to the house, so they wouldn't give it away.
She picked up the large clump of letters from the pile.
Two letters for her Dad, a letter for her Mum, a bill, a postcard from Jesse, Noah and Tally from Italy and a letter for her.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise before walking back into the kitchen. She dished the letters out before flipping over the postcard first. The picture on the front was of a sunny beach stretching across the length of it.
Amara, Ethan, Tessie, Aunt Bry & Uncle David, it said in Tally's neat and fancy handwriting.
It's great here in Italy - hot, but we have a pool in our villa to make up for it. You'd love it here, Amara, there's loads of stuff about Italian Wizards through the ages, and it's actually pretty interesting. We haven't visited the place on the postcard, because its ages away, but I thought the picture was pretty. Jesse wanted to get the one of Rome and stuff, but that's boring so I got the beach instead. We have a guide, too (really Italian, if you get my drift) who speaks French really well (added bonus), and we are trying to teach him English too. It is actually sort of working - he now knows the basics. Hope your summer is alright - reply to my letter fast though, you mean pig, I've been waiting for it! And we hope to see you soon!
Love from Tally, Jesse and Noah (and Mum, Dad, Rugby and Caesar)
Amara smiled as she handed it to Tessie, who had come in to investigate. She felt a pang of guilt at the half written letter in the lounge, still awaiting to be finished. Next, she opened the letter, which was written on normal paper, not parchment.
Dear Amara,
I decided to write through the muggle post, considering you're used to Owl post now. It's been a few weeks since we last saw you, but I was wondering about if you are free for a day trip on Friday. You know I wrote to you ages ago now, about my brother, who's a wizard? Well he's contacted me and I, of course, told him about you and your being a witch as well. He was very surprised, but was rather eager to meet you and Ethan. He has a daughter himself, Chloe, and she's in Hufflepuff, the year above you, like her mother was, and a son, Sullivan, who's also a Hufflepuff, and he must be in Ethan's year. So anyway, he asked about Friday, and I asked you. Do you think you could make it? If you can, just give me a ring and I'll pick you up in Friday at nine o'clock, because he lives a bit of a drive away.
Hope I'll hear from you!
Love Aunt Sophia
"Hey, Mum, read this!" Amara said, grinning.
Her Mother took the letter and read through it as Amara smiled happily. Meeting a wizard? And he had kids too! She hadn't ever talked to or heard of a Chloe or Sullivan Fawley before, but she hoped they were nice. She may have zoned out of his part of the sorting last year.
"That sounds great!" Bryony said, looking up from the letter. "Do you want to call her now? I'll go tell Ethan."
So Amara went to the phone and tried to remember the number. Once remembering, she dialled the number and waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Sophia it's me! I got your letter today!" Amara said.
"Really?" came the excited voice from the other end. "Would you and Ethan like to go?"
"Yes please," said Amara. "I have nothing else to do - and also, it'll be fascinating to see them!"
"That's great - I shall pick you up tomorrow then."
-OOOOO-
The next day, Amara woke earlier than normal - usually she got up in the late morning - and got herself ready for the day. Her mother had put out clothes for her and Ethan, as if they didn't know how, but they were much smarter than her normal summer gear - shorts and a t-shirt.
Her father had gone to work when she went down, but her Mum gave her some pancakes for her to eat, as though it was a special occasion.
"How come we get pancakes?" Ethan said as he walked into the kitchen.
"I thought it'd be nice," replied Bryony, drinking her coffee. "Tessie requested them as well."
The two siblings were ready and waiting at ten to nine, so they sat on the swinging chair in their garden, going through Ethan's collection of Chocolate Frog cards, with Amara giving him hers too. They didn't know what to expect from Max, for what Amara had heard, she only knew he was a Ravenclaw and quite boring. In all honesty, she was expecting someone like Percy - prim, proper and a sucker for the rules. She hoped he wasn't, considering some of the Ravenclaws in her year, like Oliver Rivers.
Their Aunt Sophia, being only a few roads away, arrived at their house dead on nine o'clock. After packing up the cards and saying goodbye to her parents, and Tessie, who wasn't upset that they were going, because she had a party in the afternoon that she wanted to get ready for, they left the house.
They got in the car, went through all the busy roads and were soon speeding down the motorway.
"What's Max like?" Amara asked.
"Well, I don't see him all that much - he travels a lot, you see, because he's a journalist for the Daily Prophet. Chloe and Sullivan just go to school and Victoria - his wife - goes with him. I've only met the children a number of times, but they seem nice enough. I suppose it's hard for them seeing us, because they can't really tell Sara and Poppy about Hogwarts, however I think Sara has twigged, because she knows about you."
"I didn't know that," said Ethan.
"It was in my first year," said Amara. "I doubt she thought you were one too then."
"Oh right."
"D'you guys think Tessie will be going?" Sophia asked.
"I think so," said Amara. "Because Mum says she does a lot of accidental magic now. We'll find out next year, though."
The car ride was at least an hour and a half, but they soon arrived at a rather large house next to the coast, with the beach as their back garden.
"Nice house," Ethan said.
"Yes," agreed Sophia. "It is - used mostly in the holidays, though."
Before they had got to the door, it opened suddenly and a woman with brown hair stared at them before smiling.
"Maximus! Chloe! Sullivan!" she hollered behind her, before turning back. "Please come in." She smiled as she let them through into the tactfully decorated hall and living room. It was fairly large, with two three-seat sofas, a couple of armchairs, a fire place (with a classy pot of Floo Powder on the side) and a television above it. Sitting on the sofas were three others - Max, tall, wearing glasses and his hair pushed back, Chloe, grumpy looking, her hair ketchup red, wearing lots of rings and Sullivan, scrawny with large, producing ears and a rather scared expression. Amara had never seen Sullivan before, but Chloe, she recognised.
"I know you," Chloe said, looking up. She obviously had had the same thoughts. "Amara Matthews."
Amara nodded. "Sorry, I know your face from somewhere but ..."
"I don't care," said Chloe. "But you probably recognise me from the people I hang out with - you know, Heather Roper, Sophie's sister?"
"Oh!" Amara said. "Yeah, she's always hanging round you guys - but I didn't think you guys liked me?"
Chloe raised her eyebrow. "If this is about Malone, none of us cared. Only Heather did, which is stupid because how would you know what Sophie thought?" She seemed to have finished her rant. Sophia and Ethan looked rather shocked at how indifferent she was.
"Well, this is Max and Sully - and this is Amara and Ethan," Sophia introduced them to everyone else and to diffuse the weird silence. "And that's Victoria, of course."
Max stood up and shook their hands briefly.
"You're in my year," Ethan said suddenly, making Sullivan jump. "I know you from Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology."
"That's right," Sullivan said, his voice quite high. "And Astronomy."
"Sullivan, why don't you show Ethan your bedroom? I'm sure there's something that you will both enjoy." Max interjected. Sullivan looked rather scared, before taking Ethan out the door.
"I'll go fix lunch, shall I?" Victoria said, and Sophia went too.
"Well this is boring and dull," remarked Chloe and Amara suppressed a grin.
"Chloe," warned Max. But his daughter did not care.
"What?" Chloe said, before sauntering out the room. "Second room to your right if you get bored." She told Amara before leaving, whistling an unfamiliar tune.
That left Max and Amara by themselves. Max was a lot like Percy, Amara thought. But there was something else, too.
"So, which house are you in?" Max said, breaking the silence.
"Gryffindor," said Amara awkwardly. "Ethan is too."
"Ah," said Max. "You seem like a Gryffindor - and, you're just about to go into Fourth Year, am I correct?" Amara nodded. "That makes you the same age as Harry Potter."
"Yes," said Amara. "He's one of my best friends."
Max looked mildly surprised.
"Really?" He said. "You didn't strike me as the type to be friends with him."
"Why not?"
"Well, with all the trouble he gets in - Chloe told us about his first and second year adventures. I suppose you were a part of that?"
"Of course," said Amara, not knowing where this was going.
"Maximus, you better not be interrogating Amara and trying to get information about Harry Potter!" Victoria's sharp voice called from the kitchen.
Max looked apologetic.
"Sorry, I get into a mind-set, from my job," he apologised.
"It's alright," Amara said cautiously.
"Would you like a tour of the house?" He asked abruptly.
"Alright," Amara said.
The tour took about half an hour - Max showed her all the rooms and the additional features from magic. The house had at least six bedrooms, four bathrooms and many different, rather pointless rooms that looked like they were never used. The bathrooms upstairs had huge bathtubs, like a small swimming pool. They ended up in the back garden, a stretch of grass with a fence that blocked off the beach, with a gate at the bottom.
"Do you play Quidditch?" Max asked her as a light wind whipped against their faces.
"No," Amara said, watching the deserted beach (it must be private, she thought). "I'd love too - I mean, I love flying, but there's no space on the Quidditch team."
"Ah, too bad," said Max. "My children hate it - get it from Victoria."
"D'you like it then?" Amara asked, slightly surprised. She had not expected this from a person so like Percy. But, now she thought about it, Percy always went to the Quidditch matches and got quite into them.
"Oh yes, I used to play for my house team." Max said. "I never do it anymore, though, because I don't have the space or time. But I try to buy the newest broom - you know, just in case."
Amara didn't really know, considering she hadn't got a broom herself and she couldn't afford to buy every model even if it wouldn't be used.
He walked over to a shed and opened the door. Stacked inside were loads of broomsticks - ranging from the Comet Two Sixty and the Cleansweep Two all the way to the Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
"A Nimbus Two Thousand and One!" Amara said, and Max grinned before picking it up. "Awesome!"
"That's the best model I've got, I decided to draw the line under the Firebolt, I couldn't face leaving it in here to die."
"Wow," said Amara, running her hands down the sleek handle and all the way to gold accents. "You have the gold one!" She said.
"Yes, I didn't want silver," said Max. "Do you have a broom?"
Amara shook her head. "No," she said. "I have an owl though."
Max laughed.
"So you'd like one?"
"Of course," Amara said, not knowing what he was on about.
"Then that broom is yours."
