Disclaimer: Don't sue me. I don't claim to own any of the characters and plots that are rightly Rowling's. It's all hers.
See if you can catch the reference to a famous poem that I have embedded in this chapter.
Much to Elsie's dismay, Sisuat staunchly ignored all Muggles who approached her. She would tolerate Imogene for a moment when scratched under the chin, but then she would toss her head and slink away. The magical feline had a demeanor befitting a miniature lioness. Sisuat was quite peaceable around Elsie, but the young witch hardly liked her back, considering how she was treating her family and friends. Elsie knew, from listening to Mr. Bard with feverish attention, that it was not in Sisuat's nature to befriend Muggles. Still, it was hard not to resent what felt like an implicit rejection of everyone she had come to know and love.
That day, Elsie met with her best friends Susie Baxter and Melanie Cole at the ice cream parlor down the street. Each girl bought her favorite flavor (Elsie's has always been orange sherbet) and sat cross-legged on the bench facing the street. Elsie was glad to be away from her hysterical parents, moody sister, and Mr. Bard's suspicious pet. But the joys of range sherbet could not long distract her from thoughts of Mr. Bard's visit. It played on an endless loop in her head. "Care to say hello to the Earthlings, space cadet?" teased Susie.
Elsie just continued to lick at her ice cream pensively. Finally, she said, "Melanie...Susie...do you think magic is real? Like, really real?" She started to eat the sherbet at a greater pace, since it was starting to drip onto her new blouse.
"Maybe," said Melanie quietly, shrugging.
"Yeah, really real," said Susie, "just like ghosts and aliens and the Loch Ness monster. Just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and - "
"Shut up," said Elsie, uncharacteristically losing her temper. No one really tried to make Elsie angry, so she rarely felt this way. "How do you know? Maybe I'm a witch. Maybe I go fly off on a broom at night and you don't know it. You wouldn't be able to tell."
"I think someone would notice if witches were flying around on brooms at night!" retorted Susie. "My dad works the night shift at the bank. He's a security guard. He never sees witches."
Elsie's heart sank. Susie did have a point. What if Mr. Bard had been elaborately tricking her all along? How could there possibly be witches and wizards without Muggles noticing? But then she remembered the way Mr. Bard could appear and disappear without a trace. "Maybe the magic is hidden. Maybe we just can't see it."
"You're still a baby, Elsie, aren't you?" said Susie. "You still read your old fairy tale books. Well, you know, we're about to go into secondary school, and they beat up kids like you. They beat them up and send them home crying to their mummies and daddies."
Melanie finished her cone and rounded on her friend. "Now you be quiet, Susie! Elsie is very nice and nobody's going to beat her up at secondary school because they'll like her too much."
The argument entirely forgotten, Susie began, "Say, where are you two going to secondary school? My parents are sending me to St. Catherine's in Liverpool, but I'll be back for every holiday, I promise."
"I'm going to a prep school right in London," said Melanie, "so I don't have to be too far from my parents. How about you, Elsie?"
Tossing out the remainder of her cone, she said loftily, "Don't know yet. But not the same school as Imogene, I don't think."
"Really?" Susie was intrigued. "I'm going to the same school as my older sister, though I wish I weren't. Paula's just like a big mean dragon."
"I thought you didn't believe in magic."
"Elsie, it's just an expression! You've really got your head in the clouds, haven't you? We're not little kids anymore, so stop acting like one. Why don't you go home and play with your stuffed animals and pretend they're having a tea party! I'm going to tell Paula about you, and she'll tell the whole neighborhood and they'll all call you a big baby and leave diapers on your doorstep."
"Susie, don't," pleaded Melanie.
Susie just curled her lip and stood up. She put her hands on her scrawny hips. "I'm going to find Paula. She always has cute boys with her, and they don't talk about rubbish like magic." Huffily, she tossed her long, dishwater-blonde hair over her shoulder, and stamped down the street.
"Don't worry, Elsie," said Melanie, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "She'll be back. She's just been a bit...moody lately."
Elsie's eyes shone with unborn tears. Together they went to a nearby park and skipped stones on the scummy green pond, exchanging few words. All Melanie would say was "I'm sorry" or "Please forgive her" and all Elsie would say was "I can't believe..." or "she'll be sorry". She wanted to go to Hogwarts more than ever, and learn all sorts of hexes she could use for her revenge on Susie. As she watched the frogs hop around on the banks of the pond, she imagined turning Susie into one of them. None of Paula's cute boys would want her then.
Melanie noticed the shadow flit across her friend's face, and suggested, "Come on, Elsie, let's go back to my house and we'll bake lemon rolls. I made some lemon curd with my mum last night."
"I can't bake for my life."
"I know." They went to Melanie's anyway. Elsie did very little baking outside of measuring out the necessary quantities of flour and sugar. While the lemon rolls were baking, Melanie got out a book of fairy tales and started reading. Elsie listened more closely to them than she ever had. If wizards were real, were fairies then real too? Would she get to meet one at Hogwarts? Could animals really talk, like they did in the stories? Sisuat was smart, but she couldn't talk and Elsie was glad of that, for she would likely make nothing but snide remarks. The owls Mr. Bard sent were smart enough to find her house, but they didn't speak to her either. She knew better than to ask Melanie if she thought that animals could talk, after what had happened with Susie.
By the time the lemon rolls were ready, the sun was just beginning to set. "I really ought to go home now, Melanie, but thanks for everything." Elsie gave her friend a hug, and wrapped up five of the lemon rolls in a paper towel.
"Hope you like them," said Melanie, escorting her out the door.
"I know I will." Elsie walked home to a seemingly empty house. She knew her family had to be there, so she put the lemon rolls down on the kitchen counter and went upstairs. Light spilled out from under Imogene's bedroom door, so surely she must be nestled there with some magazine or another. No light was apparent in her parents' room. Elsie rapped on the door. She heard a muffled noise and a few footsteps. The door opened. It was her mother in her pink floral bathrobe, just out of the shower. Her father was in bed, his head buried under a pillow. None of the lights were on.
"Your father has a headache, Elsie," said Ms. McKinnon. "Why don't you go to your room and read a book?"
"I want to talk to Dad!" demanded Elsie. She did not move an inch.
A groan issued from under the pillow. "What in bloody 'ell is goin' on, Audrey?"
"Nothing, honey. Go back to sleep."
"No! I want to talk to you!"
Mr. McKinnon surfaced from under his pillow. There were great bags under his eyes, and a stubble on his chin. "Not today, Elsie," he rasped.
"When, then?"
Her father dove back under the pillow. "A week from now, exactly," he said, his voice muffled. "You can time it if you like."
"I will." Elsie looked up at her mother expectantly. "What's for dinner, Mum?"
"I'll see what I can do about that," she said, and puttered downstairs, still in her bathrobe.
Elsie retreated to her little bedroom. When she turned on the lamp, she saw two intensely orange eyes staring up at her. "You're not like Puss in Boots, are you? You can't talk." Sisuat just meowed at her, disapprovingly, perhaps. At that moment Elsie remembered that she had a book about cats. She took it off the shelf, got into bed, and began to read. Though she did not know it, all the while Sisuat watched, and growled at the uglier cat pictures displayed. Eventually, she curled once about the bedpost, and fell asleep.