Unbidden Memories

by lalaluu

Author Note: Standard Disclaimer Applies. So here's the first chapter after a short prologue. I already have two more chapters written (see why I wanted to write this instead of Tristessa? I tell you I'm stuck over there!), so please review to let me know if you, my wonderful and patient readers, would like more. Thanks!

Chapter 1

I'm Off!

"Mom!"

"In here, Andrew!"

"Hey!" said the boy, arriving slightly out of breath. "What're you making?"

"Spaghetti."

"Good. I'm starved." His mother raised her eyebrow questioningly. The boy smiled. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. When am I not hungry?"

"Exactly," his mother deadpanned.

The boy plopped down at the table. "Don't you wanna know why I'm home so early?"

"Hmm, let me guess." The woman stirred the sauce on the stovetop.

"Well?"

"The library caught on fire and they had to kick you out."

The boy laughed, shaking his head.

"Let's see. I know, you were hit over the head by a brick falling from a construction site – which you got too close to – and have totally forgotten where the library is located?"

"Mom...," the boy whined.

Turning, the woman studied her son. The youth was no more than 16 and was lanky. He had her hazel eyes and her hair, a light brown with honeyed highlights. His height came from his father. The woman grimaced at that last thought and then shrugged, "You've won a Nobel prize already?"

The boy's grin grew. "Nope, but close! I'm going to be an exchange student!"

"What?!"

Andrew gulped. Sometimes it was a bad idea to spring things on his mother. It wasn't that she had a temper, just definite ideas about the world. Andrew had learned most of her idiosyncrasies and hadn't told her about applying to be an exchange student because she wouldn't have approved in the beginning. Now that there was no way out of it, he had some trepidation in telling her, but he thought the opportunity was worth dealing with his mother's wrath.

"It's at Hogwart's, Mom. In England. So I'll still be around English speakers and, well, it's the best magical school in the world!"

"It's also the absolute last place in the world that I would send my son!"

"Why!" Andrew had stood and was now looking down on his mother, challenging her.

"You know exactly why. You read the newspapers, too."

"I know, Mom, but I'll be 17 by the time I go and that's legal age in England."

"You're not British!"

"Yeah, but you don't have to be a resident of a place to be considered..."

"Your logic is flawed. You will still be a minor according to American laws, the British know this, they'll know your American, and they will uphold our interpretation of legal age in respect to you."

Andrew sighed. He could rarely out-talk his mother in a logic argument.

"But I want to go."

The woman smiled. "I know." She reached up and touched his cheek, wondering where sixteen years had gone. Pulling him into a hug, she murmured, "I would just miss you so much." Andrew smiled, but before he could say "I'll miss you, too, Mom", his mother had pulled away saying, "The spaghetti will be ready soon so go wash up." Instead, Andrew said, "Okay, Mom," kissed her on the cheek and loped upstairs to the bathroom.

The woman smiled at the sauce.


"So you're going?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"September first."

"Oh, yeah."

"Well, that's when I have to have everything packed and ready to go in London."

"Mmmhmm."

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I...I'll write."

Andrew's mom looked up from her spaghetti. "Of course you will."

When she went back to eating, he asked, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Mad? No. Upset? Yes, definitely." Andrew grimaced. "But I'll get over it." He sighed, relieved. "When you're safely back in the States."

Andrew made a face. That was his mom, for you.


"You're not going?!"

"Nope, this is your adventure."

"But..."

"You can get the British cashier's checks changed into British wizarding money at Gringotts bank in Diagon Alley," said Andrew's mother, reading from the information sheet their bank had given them. "Then you can pick up the supplies mentioned on your list. I'm sure you can find shops in Diagon Alley that have everything you'll need."

Andrew nodded.

"What's wrong?"

"I just thought you'd be going with me. To see me off."

His mother stared at him.

"You know, it would be fun to explore Wizarding Britain with you." He smiled, cajoling her into going. But it was his mother and once she had made up her mind there was very little that could change it.

Shaking her head firmly, she announced, "I don't want to."

Andrew was shocked. His mother was also not afraid of anything, not even Voldemort. Sure she didn't want her son to be in harm's way, but she would put herself there if necessary.

His mother smiled at him grimly. "You'll be fine."

Andrew knew he would be, but he'd still miss her. After all, it had always been the two of them. They didn't do everything together, but the important stuff, well, she was always there for that. Andrew couldn't help but wonder what reason his mother had for not visiting England.


It's not a boyfriend. Mom would just bluntly tell me if it were, like that time in third grade. Of course that jerk didn't last long after he hit me. Nope, just long enough to be sent crashing through the picture window by a curse. Andrew grinned and looked out the plane window to the clouds they were skimming over. The Magical Law Enforcement (MLE) officers had to come and wipe the guy's memory 'cause he was a Muggle. Of course, when his mom had argued that she was acting in her self defense – because a man who would hit a small child surely wouldn't stop there – the officers had agreed to talk to their supervisor about not pressing charges. After that, his mother hadn't brought any more men to the house, whether because she hadn't found anyone or because she didn't want to anger the MLE by exposing the magical world again, Andrew didn't know.

Mom's never been to England before. We've never even been to Canada and Mom was raised in Maine, close to the border. I know she's not afraid of Voldemort, contemptuous maybe, but afraid – no way. Andrew sipped his ginger ale and thought of the time his mom had stood up at the PTA meeting, addressing all the influential wives in town, and called for school reform simply because he was so far ahead of his classmates that class was boring him. He smiled. Somehow she managed to avoid the obvious – that her son was much more intelligent than the average child – and raised the concern that the average children may not be performing up to par because of teaching methods. Of course, nothing had really changed. His mom had just purchased textbooks on magical subjects and, when he questioned her about learning spells and potions at age 8, she merely shrugged and said he had to start sometime. It was thinking about these textbooks and going to a magical school when he turned eleven that kept him going when the muggle teacher's discussion of long division got tedious.

Jerking awake at the announcement that they were going to land soon, Andrew hurriedly looked out the window to see neat fields passing by underneath them. He nearly bounced in his seat with anticipation. He'd find Diagon Alley and get some shopping done and tomorrow... Well, tomorrow would find him at the greatest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world – Hogwarts!