The Old Friend
And so the waiting commenced. Meredith lounged around the house, waiting for her mom to get home. Clarissa Crane was a very busy woman, she worked all the time - to be able to provide for her daughter. Meredith's biological father died before she had even turned two years old, with her step dad dying a couple of years ago. So now it was only Clarissa, Meredith, and the animals.
Meredith heard the door slam and she bolted out of the bathtub where she had spent the past fifteen minutes just laying in. She hit her foot on the tap and screeched before barrelling towards her mother in the usual way. Clarissa was waiting for her with open arms as Meredith threw herself into them.
"Hey," Clarissa said. "How was your day?"
"Boring," Meredith replied. Her mother laughed and asked what she wanted for dinner.
Meredith didn't mention the letter. She wanted to see if someone would show up, or if it was all just a hoax.
- -- - -- - -- - -- - -- -
Two hours later, and no one had shown up.
Meredith felt slightly upset.
She suspected that her mom knew something was up, since Clarissa kept giving her weird stares from her chair. Meredith kept looking at the door, as if waiting for someone to come in.
Fifteen minutes later, someone did come. And no, they didn't drive up the driveway.
Since the door was wide open, just the screen held out the bugs from the smallish house in the outskirts of McMinnville. They could easily hear the crickets chirping and the next door kids playing.
They could also hear a large 'crack'. Clarissa bolted out of her seat, the dogs started barking, and a grin broke out on Meredith's face.
"Yes!"
"Who is it?" Clarissa asked, her voice tense. Oddly, she was holding a stick.
Wait? A stick?
Meredith gasped.
No, a wand!
"It's Kingsley, Clarissa. Kingsley Shacklebolt," Meredith tried not to scream. Clarissa hissed something through clenched teeth, something that Meredith couldn't hear. Whatever it was though, made Kingsley laugh.
"You're still the same after all these years Clary," Meredith saw her mother's face dissolve from a stern glare to a soft smile. "Could you just let me in? We need to discuss some things, including your daughter." Clarissa sighed.
"Answer this question first. Where was my favorite place on Hogwarts grounds?" Clarissa asked. She could see Kingsley, a tall, dark-skinned man with a heavy accent, laugh.
"The Black Lake, of course," Clarissa smiled and opened the door, letting in the man who had Apparated on their doorstep.
The phone rang and Meredith dove to get it, most likely knowing that it was Amelie. She picked it up and answered it.
"Yello?"
"Is a color not a- whatever! I don't think the letters are a hoax," Amelie said from the other end.
"Yeah...I'll have to go with you there," Meredith replied. She then brought out the letter to show it to her mother. Clarissa's eyes widened when she saw it, but then she sighed with a sad smile.
"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do."
Sorry it's short. It hasn't got to the really good part yet.