The night air tasted salty on her lips as Joni listened to the waves crash onto the shore. She had parked her car a little ways above the beach and was now perched on top of it staring up at the stars. It was a brisk spring night and she pulled her wool blanket tighter around her shoulders. It was late and Joni knew she should sleep, but the stars reminded her of being a little girl. And that feeling was awfully hard to let go of. Her eye caught the quick glimpse of a shooting star streaking across the sky and she smiled. Sighing one last time she slid off the car and quietly climbed into her back seat. There she cocooned herself among her clothes and blankets and pillows, along with whatever else may have made its way into her backseat during the last week. Still cold she felt around for her hat, but had no luck. Giving up rather quickly she reached into the pocket of the seat in front of her and pulled out her wand, "accio hat," she whispered. The clumped up light blue and gray ball of wool zoomed towards her and landed in her lap. She shook the hat out and pulled it over her brown wavy hair. Settling back into her cocoon Joni thought about the past week in a lame attempt to fall asleep.
Joni had spent the last week slowly driving across Ireland, on her way to Dublin where she planned to take a ferry to the United Kingdom. Her time in Ireland seemed pointless and she was disappointed in herself. Sure, everything is beautiful and it was easy to lose herself in the scenery. But that was no excuse when she could have made the trip in two days. What's the rush? She asked herself. The truth is that there is no rush, no timeline, and no real purpose to her trip. Hell, Joni had no idea where she was going after she made it to the United Kingdom. No, the hurry that she felt came from within. She wanted, no needed, to make amends. Was amends the right word? It wasn't like she'd ever done anything wrong. No one even knew she existed. Or was it answers that she needed? Just clarity then… She needed to chase away her demons, so that she could finally live her life without anonymity. But even so, did she really want everyone to know who she is? Once more she sighed and rolled over to face the back of the seat.
Joni still felt lonely, she knew the feeling well. But now a different feeling was starting to dig its way out of her bones. Excitement. She rubbed her eyes and squinted at the sunlight streaming in through the windows. She stretched as best she could inside the small car. She shivered and quickly pulled the blankets back on top of her once she felt the cold air on her skin. Excitement was a feeling she hadn't experienced since before her mom left; typically when she would get to learn a new spell. Her face would light up with delight when she would finally get it right. Her mother was always so proud. Joni wished with all her will power that her mother was still out there somewhere, and that one day they would be reunited. Joni had been just eleven when her mother had disappeared. She was confused at first, they had been so happy. They weren't even halfway into their year in that town. She knew things were good because, even though she rarely left the house otherwise, her mother would at least stand on the balcony and smile into the sunlight; let the wind blow through her hair. That was actually the last memory Joni has of her mother. It was the first time she noticed really just how beautiful her mother was. But then the next morning she was gone, and as far as Joni could tell she hadn't taken anything with her. She cried for a day but made sure to make it to school that Monday. She feared that her mother wouldn't come back, but she didn't want anyone to come looking for her. That was her mother's most important rule; no one could enter their house. That whole week she went to school and then waited all night after finishing her homework for her to walk back through the doors. After one week she cried so hard realizing that he mother wasn't returning. She just knew, it wasn't something her mother would do, but she just knew. She crawled into her mother's bed and cried all night. She missed her so much. Then she found the newspaper under the pillow.
Joni's eyes widened when she saw the front page. It wasn't the first time that she had seen moving pictures, although they stilled amused her because for her it was not the norm. It was not the moving pictures that had caused her reaction. It was the article on the front page. It was about a man named Sirius Black. He has escaped from Azkaban. Joni read all the relevant articles. No wonder her mother had left. Two separate short blurbs stated it was said to be a sure sign that "He-who-must-not-be-named" had returned. Lord Voldemort, her father. Her mother ran so that on the chance he ever did return and find her, Joni would be far away from her, maybe so far he could never find Joni. Her mother had never lied to her about her father. She had always known who he was. Always known what he had done. She felt nothing for him, admittedly she had never thought of him as real. He had disappeared only days after raping Joni's mother. And it was rape, and her mother was not the first. But her mother said that most women died, especially if they became pregnant. That was why she ran to America in the first place. She hadn't been able to think of any place to be more anonymous. That was where Joni was raised, moving to a different state every six months and then every year as Joni grew older and leaving during school became too difficult. Joni was scared, but she continued on her life as normally as possible, eventually fleeing the small town in New Mexico. She taught herself as much as she could. Passing Muggle School was reasonably easy, she spent every spare moment with her nose buried in a spell book, or potion book, or wizard history book. It was a part of who she was and refused to let it go. She knew there were Schools for witchcraft and wizardry; she had fantasized for countless nights about Hogwarts. Then four years later her father was dead; killed by the same boy that had caused his disappearance in the first place, Harry Potter.
She had expected that her mother would return that next day. So she insisted on staying in one place so that her mother could find her. She was in a small town near the coast in New Jersey. She continued her life, high school and self-taught magic school. Months passed and she still heard no word from her mother. She finished that year at school and one more, living in a small apartment forging her mother's signature everywhere she went. She stayed out of trouble and was about as invisible as anyone could get.
Now it had been nearly two years since she had graduated high school. It had been five years since her father had died, and still she found no sign of her mother. She felt so out of place and so alone. She had never met another witch or wizard. She decided it was time to find a place that felt more like home. And her home obviously was not in America. Somewhere in her head she had set a goal of finding the Boy Who Lived, but she wasn't sure why that seemed like a good idea. She was scared. But for some reason she really wanted to meet him.
She was just a couple hours out of Dublin and needed to start this next leg of her trip. She pulled a banana out of the trunk and changed her socks, all while watching the waves crash ashore. Joni wasn't sure where she would head once in the United Kingdom, but she sure was getting a little excited. An adventure it would be.