TULA'S CONFESSION: CHAPTER TWO
Marigold Cavendish lay on her back with her arms behind her head. She was staring at the ceiling of the shed, her large hazel eyes following the small crawling spider.
Her magical watch glared in the dingy loft, providing a blue light. From what Marigold could make out it was a black spider with a red head and blue bottom. "Yes, definitely a Difisil-missulena spider" Marigold thought to herself. Marigold's satisfaction at identifying the spider ended with the reminder that soon she would have to get up and begin her long, dreadful list of chores.
At the turn of 6:00 am, her watch sang its morning rhyme: The sugar plum fairies come to say, Get up before you lose the day! Marigold had that watch for five years and still didn't know how to change its stupid, childish rhyme. It was quite ridiculous really. Marigold turned on the light and climbed down her lofted bed.
Marigold occupied the outdoor shed on the edge of the Purrington property. Beyond the clutter of gardening tools and unused sports equipment laid an array of magical knickknacks and experiments. When Marigold wasn't completing her chores around the house or the yard she was experimenting with her cultures of Fiztertills and reading back to front the new issue of The Beastly Inquirer. Good thing the Purringtons never bothered to visit the shed, it would be a nightmare.
The Purringtons were her caretakers. All she knew was she had been left with them years ago when she was only a couple weeks old. They were very "generous", and they made sure she knew it. Marigold paid them back with labor.
While the Purringtons never treated Marigold as part of the family the house keeper, Tula, loved Marigold as her own. Tula was full bodied woman, with big hair and big lips. Her intense dark stare scared everyone but Marigold. Tula raised Marigold as the child she never had. She told her old aborigine stories and taught her how to garden. She even knew Marigold's secret: Marigold, a witch.
Yes, Tula knew exactly what to do when the letter by owl arrived from The Koara Institute of Sorcery. Perhaps Tula had her wand broken for misuse of magic, perhaps she was a squib, perhaps her brother was a wizard. No, Tula never told Marigold how she knew about magic but Mari had her theories. If anything Tula always had a knack for whipping up concoctions and serums.
"My love, I had my suspicions. My love, you are a witch!" She said to Marigold at age 10. Her eyes gleamed with delight and she never looked more excited as she explained to Marigold. Tula knew it was best to keep it a secret and convinced the Purringtons to let Marigold attend a "full scholarship boarding school for Horticulture."
Tula's laughter boomed in their absence. "Yeeeeeeeeeeh, those dummies bought it!" Tula exclaimed in excitement.
"My child you're going to love Koara. You'll be free."
Marigold laced up her dirty white sneakers and looked in the mirror. Marigold never considered herself to be the most beautiful girl in the room but she was in no ways unattractive either. She had quite nice almond shaped hazel eyes and full lips but her body was a bit gangly and her face was kissed with just a few too many freckles. Her auburn red hair reached her elbows and started to show signs of strawberry blonde after too many hours in the sun. Marigold touched her shoulder only to remind her of the painful sunburn she received after broom surfing the other day.
Sometimes at the break of dawn, Marigold would sneak out to the coast to ride the waves. In the magical world surfing was much different. It was a surf broom instead of board. It was much thinner than the muggle boards and could make waves on its own with the proper hover technique.
At Koara, wave herding was the sport. The objective: to knock the opposing team off their boards or herd them to the coastline as many times as possible until the diver found the ball under the water. Water Quidditch was popular until far too many seekers got lost in the infinity of ocean, unable to find land again.
Mari smiled at the memory of her team winning the past Water Herding School Cup as she pulled a white blouse over her head. Marigold knew she was far from the best on the team, but she could hold her place and her waves were sharp and quick. A picture of her team stuck on the rectangular wooden pillar in the middle of the small shack. Clad in black and red wet suites they waved at her. Zep Cooper, the mischievous boy on the edge of the photo with brown hair, nudged a few people prompting them to lose their balance. Nat Luley looked on in disapproval, flipping her shoulder length black hair while perfectly balancing on her board. Those were her best friends.
Marigold felt her way through her trunk until her hand grasped her wand. 12 and ¼ inch, chestnut and unicorn tail, surprisingly supple. Marigold smiled at the memory of first obtaining her wand many years ago. Olivander's spread in the Sydney Owl five years ago made him all the rage. Of course her supervisor Alura had to get her the best wand, well that and Gilderoy Lockhart was in London.
While Alura lusted over Gilderoy Lockhart with her copy of Gadding with Ghouls in tow, Marigold wandered the streets of Diagon Alley. The cobbled stones and crooked building felt oddly familiar to her.
Marigold's daydream of the fond memory of Diagon Alley was interrupted by Tula's booming voice.
"MAAARRRIII"
Marigold stuck her wand in her pocket and quickly scuttled outside.
The back yard was completely enraptured with different herbs and flowers. The plants were plotted into organized sections near the main house and became ever more disordered and strange as they reached the shed where Mari resided.
Marigold passed a Chomping Cabbage patch, a Sopophorous plant and Star-thistle bush as she neared the middle of the garden. A Flutterby bug flew onto her shoulder and left and an imprint before fluttering away.
"Oh my dear, you have love in your future." Tula cooed after seeing the imprint.
Marigold blushed. She had a few crushes before and one boyfriend but nothing serious.
"That is because I love you Tula," Marigold replied before Tula could expand on the subject.
Tula chuckled before going back to her digging.
"Help me with these Gurdyroots Mari," Tula requested.
Marigold grabbed some garden gloves and proceeded to pull out the thin green plants. She pulled a face as its bogey like aroma filled the air.
"I'm making an Gurdyroot Infusion for Gerdy. She has got the warts. Do you know anything about that, Mari?"
Marigold shook her head determined not to meet Tula's eyes as she pulled out more Gurdyroots.
Gerdy, or Gertrude, was the Purrington's pride and joy. Their angel was only a few months younger than Marigold and made her childhood and summers like hell. Gerdy closely resembled her mother Gail Purrington. She had bulging blue eyes and fat pouty lips that were squashed onto a round face. Her features would have been considered quite cute if wasn't for her horrendous personality.
After Gertrude locked Marigold in the pitch-black basement without her wand for a whole night, Zep Cooper, one of Marigold's best friends, "accidently" hexed Gertrude with warts. Marigold did not feel like correcting his "mistake" just yet.
After a full day in the garden, Marigold was sure she had gotten a new set of freckles. Tula touched Mari's sunburnt shoulders during their dinner in the kitchen, away from the other three Purringtons.
"Ouch" She exclaimed.
"We are going to need some Boorong lotion for that" Tula suggested.
Tula went into her room right by the kitchen and came out with a bottle of Boorong lotion and a small wooden box. She put the box in front of Marigold and proceeded to rub Boorong lotion on her back. As Marigold ate her cassava soup she studied the deep carvings and set stones that decorated the modest box.
"Mari, I've got a confession for you"
Marigold continued to eat as she listened to Tula.
"I know you've always asked about your family and I now I think you finally need to know the truth."
Marigold swiftly turned around and her hazel eyes widened.
Tula took a seat and clasped her ring-laden hand onto Marigold.
"I know you've been keeping yourself updated with the activities of You-Know-Who," she whispered.
Marigold nodded. Her thoughts took her back to just a few months ago Carden Village, famous for its mix of muggles and wizard families, was attacked by Death Eaters. Marigold grimaced as she remembered the news of muggles and muggle sympathizers hung upside down in the air. Voldemort was stationed in Great Britain but his troop of followers was starting to spread abroad. His following in Australia hadn't yet started a death count and his troop was small but nonetheless growing.
"You have to go to Britain" Tula said unexpectedly.
Marigold raised her eyebrows with surprise. She remembered Nat Luley, one of her best friends, always talked about going to Great Britain to fight Voldemort. She was always up-to-date with the most recent news and corresponded frequently with her cousin Cho Chang on the matter. She talked about how Harry Potter—the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One—had assembled an army, Dumbledore's Army, to fight Voldemort. Nat and Marigold used to stay up all night talking about going over there and joining the fight. But it was all talk they were underage after all. Marigold remembered talking to Tula about it before she blew up in anger.
"Do you know how dangerous that is?! You could be KILLED!" Tula screamed, spit flying out of her huge lips. That was the end of the conversation.
But now Tula was saying something completely different.
"I should go to Britain?"
"I have read the moon and the stars and the placement of Saturn and Mars on the fifth next to the red moon made me certain. You must act now."
Tula had often made predictions from her celestial observations. Marigold never took them too seriously but if she thought about it an eerily amount of them had been correct.
Tula placed her ring-laden hand on the wooden box and whispered an incantation. The carvings on the box started to move. The moon carving aligned with the sun and the box opened.
Inside the box lay a small silver locket, a vile with a single thread of hair and a gold ring encrusted with a crest.
Tula proceeded to explain to Marigold the conditions in which Mrs. Purrington became her guardian. How Mrs. Purrington had been desperate for a child she could pass off as her own. How she went on an extended holiday in England and as the three months grew to a close her desperation caused her lie to get a baby. When Mrs. Purrington returned to Australia and discovered she was pregnant with her own blood she rejected Marigold and branded her with the name of her findings: Marigold for the name of the woman that gave her away, Cavendish for the name of the orphanage in which she was taken.
Marigold's face became numb with this flood of information, in which she had for so long wondered and so long yearned to hear.
Tula picked up the glass vile that contained a single strand of black frizzy hair.
"This is the hair of the wild eyed woman that brought you to me"
Tula then picked up the ring.
"I took this ring from her hand before we left."
She then picked up the silver locket.
A simple "E" and "P" were etched in cursive onto the surface.
"You were wearing this locket when we found you"
Marigold grasped onto the locket and immediately felt a rush of warmth. The locket briefly shone with a yellow light before dimming. Marigold turned the locket over and found new writing etched on the back.
"When the Thumbles come out", it read.
Thumbles were magical creatures that came in absolute safety. They hadn't been seen for decades. Great, Marigold thought.
Marigolds made a fist around the locket as she felt hot tears roll down her face.
"I believe you still have family in Britain. If you don't find them now that stars say you will never get another chance." Tula said more ominously.
Marigold knew what this meant. Voldemort and his following were racking up their death count by the day. Everyday that passed was another day her biological family could be killed.
"But you are my family now" Marigold whispered. However mad she was at Tula for not telling her this information sooner, she could not contain her overwhelming compassion she felt for her.
Tula smiled sadly before pulling up the hem of her linen sleeve. Her left arm revealed the death mark blurred but bulging with black veins crawling up her arm.
Marigold gasped at this realization. Tula had cared for Mari her whole life. How could she ever have cowered to the beliefs of Voldemort?
"During the First Wizarding War I became involved with some dark wizards. Kaga Boorong was vey handsome and very persuasive. He filled my head with the rights of aboriginal wizards and witches." Tula's eyes glistened with tears as she recounted these painful memories.
"When I realized his delusion it was too late. Once you join the death eaters there is no going back. I had to hide from him, which is why I joined the Purringtons. The death mark stopped eating away at me with such speed after the first wizarding war and I have been able to subdue it with herbology but ever since a few summers ago its pain has grown stronger. I know my days are few and numbered."
That night Marigold felt like a child again as she slipped into Tula's bed and held her hand as they slept. The next morning Tula was dead and Marigold knew it was time to leave. Her heart felt like it had broken seven different times with in the span of twelve hours.
Sometimes you have to force the Thumble to come out