Chapter One: At The Doorstep
My mother and I walked up to the doorstep after a long plane ride from Australia. I was tired, and just ready for bed. Certainly not ready to meet my uncle and cousin for the first time since I was three. Naturally, I didn't remember them. Who could? I'd only been three at the time! I only remember her eyes, my cousin's eyes. They were extremely large, and light-coloured. Like a misty grayish blue colour. But, besides that, I don't remember my uncle and cousin at all.
The house was small, but it would be. There was only the two of them, they didn't need a big house. They'd moved after my aunt died, at least that's what Mama said. Mama had left me with Anty Meg when her sister died. She'd been gone for three weeks. I remember when she came back, I was ecstatic. She smelled different, and then I didn't know why. But, now that I'm in England, I know why. England smells so much different from all the places Mama and I have lived. We travel alot. Sometimes to places with family, but mostly to interesting places. We've lived in the United States, Spain, France, Poland, Austria, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Mongolia, various African and South American countries, and our latest- Australia.
Mama pushed the circular button and we could faintly hear the 'ding-dong' of the doorbell. We waited a moment until the front door, which was painted a bright blue, was opened. He wasn't tall, but not short either. His sandy brown hair was somewhat long and he had some stuble on his chin.
"Mark!" Mama cried excitedly and rushed up to give him one of her famous bear hugs. I stood there, awkwardly, and examined Uncle Mark some more. He had dark eyes, dark blue or dark green, I couldn't tell. His clothes were quite...bizarre, if you ask me. His shirt was a button up and was a mix of bright blue(much like the door, really), bright orange, bright fuschia, and bright green. The swirls gave me a headache, so I looked to his pants. Which, unfortunately, matched his shirt. They were slacks and had the same brightly coloured swirls on them. I flinched, and reluctantly looked to his shoes. Surely they couldn't be brightly coloured and swirly, right? Wrong. His shoes looked exactly like his button-up shirt and slacks, and then I figured out that he must have made them all by himself.
"Hi Lissyntra! You've gotten so big, I can't believe it's been twelve years!" Uncle Mark said and enveloped me in a bear hug, much without my consent. It was like those over excited aunts they show in the theatres that have way too much bright pink lipstick on and kiss you all over your face. Only it was a hug, and I'm happy to say there was no bright pink lipstick(although, I admit, I probably wouldn't have been surprised if there had been).
"Hi, Uncle Mark." I said, my voice muffled as he still had my body tucked close to his in a hug.
"Well, come in, come in! I'm so glad you all are here! And, just call me Mark, no need for this Uncle business." Mark said to me as he pulled me, and the luggage I had been holding in my hand, into the house I knew would be just as wacky as my uncle.
My mother and I had been roaming the world for as long as I can remember. My father had been out of the picture since before I was born. I remember asking my mother about it at an early age, I must have been five or six. My parents got married a few months after they met, of all places, in a grocery store. They were crazy in love, it's your cliche tragic story. He found out she was a witch not long after they were married, and he ditched her. But, that's alright, Mama and I have been doing just fine without him. Roaming the world, like I said. Of course, I'm a witch too. But, Mama hasn't wanted to stop and let me go. So, I've never actually been to school. I was home-schooled, from wherever we lived at the time. Mama says I'm quite bright and I'm doing wonderfully with my magic.
But, lately, Mama's been sick alot, and I'm afraid she's got some sort of deadly disease. I won't worry about it, it's probably just some flu going around or something. But, we're in England. Mama never really told me why we were settling down after all these years. I can't wait to go to school with my cousin, I'm a year older than she is, so I'll be a year ahead of her. I'm excited, and nervous at the same time. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...it should be fun, really.