Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter series nor claim any rights to its characters.
Canon Characters, Settings, Canon Concepts
(C) J. K. Rowling 2007
Original Characters, Original Settings, Original Concepts
(C) E. L. Pendragon 2007
Author Rants: Well.. Here we go again. Sorry about updating with few chapters and far between. For a while that can't be helped. I'll try my best to write something that isn't crappy as fast as I can. But for now... Enjoy the few chapters I have up! Yaaaay! And after reading the first chapter, I noticed that forgot all about Armando sitting in the back seat. Let's pretend that he had fallen asleep while they were traveling on the interstate and decided to make a reappearnce.
Cheering Charms
Chapter Three
The Worst Drive in London
Being the jumpy little red headed monster she was, Ella couldn't contain her bottled up excitement any longer. She started with just jumping around in her seat. Next came uncontrollable shaking and rolling the window up and down constantly. But that was normal behavior for Ella when she gets hyper. It gets rather strange after that.
As the tiny ford angela made it's way down the crowded streets of London, Daniella had taken this chance to do a little bit of site seeing. Her dark blue eyes widened with excitement with every point of interest that came along. She gazed open mouthed at the people who walked the streets. The variety of people that walked along the streets was absolutely astounding to an old country girl.
Ella and Joseph, on the other hand, paid no heed to the bustling streets. Ella was too busy bouncing about in her seat and Joseph was busy trying to concentrate on driving. In this unfamiliar territory, he needed to focus all his concentration on driving.
"Hey Dad," Ella called from her back seat. "Are we there yet?"
Joseph sighed and replied in a disgruntled voice, "Not now Ella, I'm trying to drive."
Ella relinquished her question for a moment and then turned to her mother for an answer.
"Mom, are we there yet?" she asked, positioning herself right beside her mother's head.
Daniella just muttered something intelligible and motioned her hand towards Joseph. Ella had taken this as 'Go ask your father'.
"Dad, are there yet?" Ella repeated.
"Ella, we're not there there yet. Could you please keep it down?" Joseph replied in a slightly irritated monotone.
Ella waited for a few moments before asking her mother again. When she asked, she was paid with the same intelligible muttering. Slightly discouraged by her mother's murmers, Ella was quiet for about five minutes.
"Dad, are we there yet?"
"Does it look like we're there yet?" Joseph asked, taking a peek at the rear view mirror.
Ella shook her head in answer.
"Good, then we're not there yet." he said.
Ella cautiously weighed out her choices; either be quiet for the remainder of the journey or keep asking. The latter seemed most appealing, so off she went.
"Are there yet, now?" she asked.
Joseph closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. What a long winded, short morning trip this turned out to be. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, conteplating on what to say next.
"Ella dear, we will get there when we get there." Joseph said finally, trying to keep all anger out of his voice. "Does that answer your question?"
Ella cocked her head to the side, unsure of what to do. After just a few seconds of brain power, Ella nodded. It seemed the right thing to do at the moment. Hopefully, this wouldn't hamper answering her other questions.
Amidst the gawking, grumbling and endless questions, a black-and-white tom cat awakened in his basket. Barely any had paid attention to the poor cat since they had started this journey. After sitting there restlessly in his basket, waiting attention or maybe a cuddle, Armando almost had to resort to getting himself out. But, he had a better idea, and it didn't involve tearing up the basket. He'd probably get in more trouble if he tore up the basket. Armando turned to his last and only resort; distressful meowing. First he started off with a low, irritated meow and slowly built it up to an uncomprehendable screech.
This definately got everyone's attention.
Ella stopped her questions. Joseph immediatly tore his eyes from the road, (They were at a stop light anyway). And Daniella stopped her gawking long enought to see what was the matter. Armando gleefully oblidged with his newly found audience and wailed even louder. Just enough for Ella to reach over and open up the basket. But Joseph tried to interupt things.
"Ella, don't open up that basket." he called from the front seat. "He'll just wander around the car and we won't be able to get him back."
"Dad, I won't let him out my arms." Ella replied back, paying no heed to the warning.
With a light click of the basket clamp, the black-and-white terror was released. Before Ella could even get close to picking him up, Armando dashed underneath the carseat. Ella immediatly took off her seat belt and went to the floor of the car to try and get Armando back up to the surface. But as soon as she hit the floor, a little yell of surprise issued from Daniella. Daniella, who had returned to her sight seeing, was taken by surprise when Armando paid her a little visit in the passenger seat.
"Good morning, Armando." Daniella cooed. "A lovely day for a drive, isn't it?" She reached down and picked up the mangy furball so he could see out the window. A few passer-by who happened to glance by the window, stopped to get a good look at the site-seeing cat. A few laughed but many just pointed. One even took a picture. It was one thing seeing a dog do it. But a cat, that was absolutely silly.
Joseph stole a glance to see what that cat was doing. Just sitting there. Probably planning something. His thoughts ran through what that cat could possibly be planning. That smug little face wasn't convincing enough to be an innocent stare into the open world. To keep the cat inside and to keep Ella from wailing in despair, Joseph took action.
"Dani, dear, would you roll up that window so that cat won't get out." he said to Daniella.
"Oh, this furbal isn't going anywhere." Daniella protested, but oblidged anyway.
"When we get closer to the station, that cat is going back into the basket." Joseph continued, in a fatherly-like voice. "We don't need the guards arresting us for having an uncontained animal.
"Joseph, you worry too much." Daniella replied, in a calm, soothing voice.
Ella watched her parents lovingly bicker with one another. They did that sort of thing all the time. Her mother usually ended up winning most of the time. But, it was rather funny to watch.
Author Notes: Sorry for making you guys wait for so long! And we're still not at the station. But oh well.. I was putting a lot into the actual journey. I'll try not to have nearly so much traveling scenes when they actually get on the train.
Special thanks to Emily Mae, Eternal Silver Flame, Frances Flick, PirateGirlForever and yellowrosepetals for putting this story on their alert list. And another many thanks to Emily Mae and twilightpenguin for the reviews. And even MORE many thanks to Frances Flick for favoriting.
I know there's a couple names repeating, but I had to get everybody in there. Thanks for the support! I'm being motivated now!
OH! Forgot one more person. My lovely friend, Toast. I pitched the original concept at her when I making a History for my main character on a post-Hogwarts site. She gave the early moral support in the early stages of planning the plot. An extra special thanks to Toast! ((By the way, that's not her real name. She's an internet friend and that's her nickname.))
