Falling into Place

Chapter 1

By Rabbi

Please Read and Review

xox

Mr and Mrs King had always wondered if they made the right decision the first time they moved. Their daughter was still very young and the chain of moving that the Kings had formed would mean she'd have to start a new school, make new friends, learn her way around another campus, meet up with all her teachers and catch up with the rest of the children her age. This is the last time, they would say to themselves. But it never was.

On average, the King family would move every three to five months. It was just enough time for their little girl to get settled, make a few friends, learn a new type of culture and get used to the work load – only to be moved almost immediately. The Kings had moved a grand total of fifty-six times since their daughter, Donna, had been born. That was roughly three to four times a year. Sometimes they would stay in one place for nearly a year. Others, less than a week.

They had been to all sorts of places. Cities, villages, religious communities. In fact, most of the time Donna and her parents would have to pretend to be somebody they weren't because of the diversity of cultures and the danger of not fitting in. The King family had lived on every continent possible and most of the major countries. From Austria to China. Singapore to Russia, to Kenya, to America, to Australia and back to Singapore again. If you could pronounce it, chances were she'd been up or down that way. As you can tell, Donna had learnt to use many different languages and cultures.

But, Donna acted like any normal teenager. She spoke, dressed and lived like any other teenage girl – relatively. Donna's ears had been exposed to so many different dialects and accents that she didn't really have a set way of speaking. She could change ever so slightly depending on whom she was talking to and who she was around. Travelling so often isolated Donna from most of the real teenage world, but she could still fit in fairly easily at every new school. She only had one more year until she was seventeen and could choose whether or not she wanted to continue travelling.

Mr and Mrs King went through the same procedure every time they moved. Firstly, they would talk about moving for a few days (preferably while Donna was out of the house), have a series of heated letters with the Ministry of Magic, choose a final destination and receive a detailed letter on what to do. Then, and only then, would they tell Donna about moving.

"Donna?" Linda King called softly down the hall.

They were staying in a rental house on the edge of western London. The walls were thin, the ceilings were cracked and paint was peeling off around the edges. There were two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom/laundry, a lounge and a dining room. It may have seemed like a respectable place from the outside, but even if you were only two steps from the front door, you could see the shack was on its last legs.

"In my room, Mum!" she called back recklessly.

As Linda walked down the corridor, the floor shook and a nearby vase rocked dangerously. Linda had to throw one of her arms out quickly to stop it from falling and crashing into a million, tiny pieces. She righted the vase and cautiously made her way to the end of the hall to her daughter's room.

"Donna, honey?" Linda called again, knocking twice on the half-unhinged bedroom door.

"Come in!"

Linda pushed on the door with her shoulder until it slowly opened. Donna's room was the bigger bedroom of the two. The King trio had a deal running when it came to choice of bedroom. Linda would write the numbers one to ten on little square pieces of paper and put them into a spare container. Donna and her father would each pull out five numbers and add them up. Whoever had the largest amount would get to choose which room they wanted.

Donna was lying back on her yellow pillows with a thick book in her hand. She was slowly popping bright pink bubblegum. She chewed it for five seconds, moved it around, pushed it out and then waited it to pop before turning a page. Linda walked in and sat down on her daughter's purple sheets. Donna still had her head buried in the book, but her eyes were noticeably stationary. She and her mother were still fighting over who ate the last Tim Tam.

Donna was taller than her mother by two inches, but she was only average for her age and had a little more growing to do. Her eyes were hazel like her father's and Donna was blessed with straight, blonde hair like her mother. Unfortunately, she wasn't as skinny as most of her friends and could put on a lot of weight very quickly. But Donna never really cared. She was happy with herself and if others complained, that was their own fault.

"What do you want?" Donna asked rudely without looking up.

"Well, Donna, your father and I have been thinking..."

This was the way Linda King always opened her 'moving conversations' with Donna. As a younger child, Donna had never picked up on the pattern, but she could now tell a move was coming up within three weeks prior to being told.

"We are moving again, aren't we?" Donna demanded.

Linda didn't get a chance to reply. Before she had even opened her mouth her daughter had spoken again.

"Where's it going to be this time? Columbia? New Zealand? We're going to live with sheep, aren't we, Mum?" Donna added hysterically with wide eyes.

Linda had to fight back a laugh. Her cause wasn't going to be helped if she started cackling. "I'm sorry, Donna. But you know we have to keep moving. I don't want to have to see you get hurt."

Donna let her temper die away. It wasn't very often that her mother brought up the reason why they kept packing up and going to the other side of the world so often. She decided to drop it.

"Where are we going this time?" she asked quietly, finally shutting her book and flipping her legs down off her bed and onto the floor.

Linda sighed and draped an arm around her daughter. "We aren't going too far. We are heading up towards Scotland. We'll live in a lovely English-speaking town near Edinburgh. How about it, angel?"

Donna nodded and let her head slide down onto her mother's shoulder "I think I'll like it there."

That night at dinner, Donna and her parents had a big discussion about the new life that lay ahead of them. Jacob King, Donna's father, especially arranged to get home early so they could have a chat with all three of them there. They were sitting at the dinner table slowly eating the Italian Spaghetti Bolognaise that Linda had made for the occasion.

"How was your day at work, Dad?" Donna asked as she put down her glass after taking a very long sip.

Jacob shrugged. "I had to hand in my letter of resignation to Mr Brocklehurst. He wasn't very happy. It'll take him ages to fill in my position again."

Donna nodded slowly and pushed around the long strings of spaghetti in her bowl.

"How was school?" he asked.

She shared a look with her mother. "Good," they replied together.

To tell you the truth, Donna didn't really go to school at the time. Because of their constant moving, Linda would have to home-school her daughter every now and then when a Magic School wasn't nearby or if the timing was good. According to Linda, 'home-schooling' involved grabbing a chick-flick and watching it over and over again or reading a steamy romance novel on the lounge. Sometimes, when Jacob was working from home, they pulled out some old text books and flipped through them, pretending they were learning – but not much work ever got done.

The Kings ate in silence for a few more moments before Linda spoke "I finalised the moving date." Her voice sounded hollow and it seemed to echo around the room.

"Oh, yeah," Jacob prompted.

Linda took a deep breath "The day after tomorrow."

Donna had to fight the urge to jump up and kick her chair down. She really liked the neighbourhood she was currently in. She had even made a close friend in the four months they had been in London – even a steady boyfriend! She'd actually settled down into a regular daily pattern. Walk to the shops of a morning, run around the park for exercise, come home for lunch, watch television for a few hours and then read over a few magic books. Moving to Scotland may be better for Donna, but she was growing even sicker of all the changes she had to make for her family's welfare.

Jacob groaned "Alright. I guess we should start packing tonight and start saying our goodbyes tomorrow."

Linda nodded sadly "I guess so."

Donna's food slowly went cold as she was told about all the moving arrangements – just like she did.

Packing up to move away was a skill the Kings had picked up easily. They each owned a set of luggage that could fit all their possessions in by magically shrinking their belongings and making them lighter. The Kings didn't own any furniture and barely any home wares; so moving was very simple. Because of their unique situation, the Ministry of Magic planned and took care of almost everything.

Being the organised girl that she was, Donna even had a special way of fitting all her stuff into her pink suitcase. Firstly, she would convince her mother to wash her sheets and clothes with Uncle Gino's Special Clean Rinse. This was because it could take up to a month before the Kings could settle down in one spot where there was a washing machine or enough water to give her stuff a quick rinse. Sometimes, the Kings would barely have time to wash the dishes before moving, let alone Donna's stuff.

Secondly, Donna would pull down her posters and photo collection that she had built up over the years. It contained all her travelling souvenirs and postcards from every time she moved. Each time Donna had to leave, she would go somewhere that was special or that she particularly liked, and search for something suitable to add to the collection (she already knew where she was going this time round). One of her favourite was a Shania Twain poster from an old friend who had quite the obsession. Another of her personal bests was a photo of her and a little girl she became instant friends with while she was living in Central America.

After packing her decorations on top of her bed sheets and school books, Donna would then throw all her toiletries into a bag and carefully place it above her shoe pile. Once that was done, all she had left to do was reorganise her sunglasses collection. If there was one thing that Donna was more protective about than family and friends, it was her sunglasses. She had collected exactly 78 pairs since she was nine years old. They were almost part of the family now. Every now and again she would save up enough to buy another pair. Each and every last one was different to the others.

Donna smiled at her collection as she pranced off to the shower. The timetable had been changed and the Kings were leaving tonight instead of the next day. She slowly washed her hair and face – all the while imagining her new home. It was a habit (or maybe a bit of a game) she had had for a very long time. She imagined a high castle with stretching walls and soft, silky carpet. But, of course, she never expected anything that grand. The Ministry could only help them out a bit with the costs and her parents weren't high earners. In fact, her mother didn't work at all! Donna hopped out of the shower half an hour after getting in. She quickly dressed and started drying her hair.

"Donna!" her father called. "Somebody's at the door for you!"

Donna quickly threw her towel aside and grabbed a scrunchy instead.

"She'll just be a couple of minutes," she heard her father add, but she didn't need anymore time. As she walked down the hall in search of her guests, Donna heard low voices and came across a two men standing at the front door, towering over her father. "They're just on the lawn, honey," her father said quietly when she popped up at his shoulder.

Donna didn't wait to find out who the men were. She leapt down the front steps in a single jump and walked around the car towards the front lawn. But she wasn't very happy with what she saw. Standing near a tree, supposedly super-glued by the mouth to each other, where her 'friend' and boyfriend. Donna stopped dead in her tracks. The two clearly hadn't noticed her appearance (and probably never would by the looks of things), so she closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and walked back inside.

"Honey, are you alright?" her mother asked from the door.

But she didn't stop – instead, she side-stepped Linda and the two men, and eventually had to duck into the bathroom to avoid her father. She didn't want to talk to him. In fact, Donna didn't want to talk to anybody ever again. She just wanted to melt away into nothing. Absolutely nothing. That was exactly how she felt right at that moment. Like she didn't exist, even to the two people she had relied on as friends for the past four months. That's a whole season. A quarter of a year. But, she guessed she didn't matter to them as much as they had mattered to her.

Which was quite a lot, mind you.

Every time the Kings moved, new friends would have to be made. As she collapsed into the empty bath and started crying, Donna promised herself one thing:

The next school she went to, she wouldn't make new friends. They weren't worth the trouble.

A few minutes later, Donna heard a knock at the bathroom door. She hauled herself out of the bath and crawled to the door. She slowly opened it and made her way down the corridor on all fours. Her eyes were wet and blurry, so it was no surprise she wasn't going very fast. She barged past her father and made a dash to her room but was eventually caught by Jacob's long arms. He pulled her up off the floor and she flung herself into his arms.

"Donna, what's wrong?" he asked quietly, wrapping his arms around her, afraid that this move for some reason was harder on Donna than all the others.

Donna sniffed and buried her head in Jacob's shoulder "Nothing, Dad. Absolutely nothing."

Disclaimer: The Tim Tam reference was inspired by the empty Tim Tam packet I found in my fridge. I'm jealous of whoever got to eat one. The sunnies collection came from a picture I found on the internet of over two million sunglasses all sitting in a large container ship. I'm not sure who took that photo, but thanks anyway. Shania Twain is one of my Mum's favourite singers and I thought I owe her one. Thanks Mum!Uncle Gino's Special Clean Rinse came from the back of my mind, but somebody may have come up with it before. I maintain that I did not take it from them in any way and that I'm sorry if they are upset that two minds think alike. Anything you may recognise most likely belongs to somebody else and I don't take ownership of them. All in all – I disclaim.

Note: I know it was a bit shaky, but I swear I'm trying really, really, really hard to get it right. Any suggestions (good or bad) would be very much welcome. Also, I seem to write 'Doona' by accident and the spell-check doesn't pick it up because it's a real word, so if you happen to see it, give me a yell. Oh, and thanks to my 'beta'. Although you are Danish and claim you don't know perfect English – I'll still love you!

Kudos!

P.S. I have a new poll that will allow you to choose what I should do: stick to one story at a time (my fans might like this one), update in a pattern or randomly. Your ansers will be greatly appreciated. Just get to my homepage and the poll is displayed at the top of the page. Thanks!

- official end of super long author's note -