Chapter
-4-

Eyes Outside A Mirror

Kasia bit her lip. She bit her nails. She crossed her legs. She smoothed her shirt. Uncrossed her legs. Smacked her lips. Twiddled her thumbs. Wiggled her toes. Wiped her hands on her jeans. Adjusted her scarf. Looked out the window at what appeared to be a canyon. Rested her head against the window. Rested her head against her hand. Crossed her legs and sat up straight. Slouched in the seat.

"Kasia."

She looked up. Oliver had his eyebrows raised.

"Is it necessary to fidget that much?" he asked, sighing. "Are you bored?"

"Bored?" Kasia laughed, "I don't really get bored on long trips. I'm just nervous."

"Don't be," Oliver insisted, "what kind of a man wouldn't be pleased to meet his daughter?"

Kasia sighed. She never thought the day would come when she would be on her way to meet her father. Oliver had volunteered to accompany her, and she thought it best if he did. So on the first day of the Christmas holidays, he had presented her with tickets for the train.

There were still some things in the wizarding world that she was not aware of, but these overseas trains were one of the new developments. They skidded above the water, sometimes going under, and displayed different sceneries out the window during the latter. The train was called the Uisce Faoileoir – which meant something in Irish −but so far Kasia had not managed to pronounce it, figure out why a train to Scotland would have an Irish name, nor why they had to go over the ocean to get to Scotland from England.

Kasia had gone overseas once before, to France, with Ramona and Anelia. The cities were amazing, but nothing compared to the rolling green hills of Scotland that so reminded her of Hogwarts.

The train took about two hours, and stopped in Dundee, where they got onto another train that went directly to Drumnadrochit. It was sweet little town that held a household of Days on Kilmore Road, according to Donaghan, and soon they were driving down the streets in a car. Apparently it was right next to the Loch Ness.

"Couldn't we have taken a Portkey?"

"I suppose," Oliver shrugged, "but they're a hassle to organise close to Christmas, and the train gives us an opportunity to see the views." He looked out the window. "I don't think I've seen Scotland outside of Hogwarts."

"I cannot believe I am in the same town as my father," Kasia breathed, "and my grandparents. Not just the same country. Merlin's socks, that's Kilmore Road! That's the house!"

It looked exactly as Donaghan had described it, but with more detail. A small cottage with a wonderfully kept garden in the front, and snow stacked onto the roof like something out of a painting. They stepped out of the car, and Kasia stopped in her tracks.

"I can't do this." She was suddenly overcome with dread and fear. What was she thinking, showing up out of the blue?

"Yes, you can, Kasia." Oliver was used to her quick changes of mind.

"Let's go back to London. We can still make it in time for dinner!" She begged him desperately. He raised an eyebrow.

"That's just not realistic."

And with that, he left Kasia panicking on the road and walked up to the front door.

"Oliver!" Kasia whined, and he turned around, smiling. "Come back!"

He rang the doorbell, and Kasia squealed in terror and ran behind him.

"Please let no-one be home," Kasia whispered repeatedly, crossing her fingers desperately.

"I'm starting to think you don't want to meet your father at all," Oliver chuckled, and then looked disappointed at a reaction. "Or maybe that you're too scared to. Some Gryffindor you are."

Kasia stood up straight away, next to Oliver, who smirked. She kept her fingers crossed, for a different reason. This was her family she was about to meet.

The door opened, to reveal a woman. She looked about sixty years old, but she was still beautiful. Her silky black hair was cut short, her features were petite and she had arching eyebrows and high cheekbones.

She had violet eyes too. It was a strange feeling, seeing them. Kasia had never seen her own eyes outside a mirror. She never really noticed how strange they seemed, but until you noticed the colour, they just seemed to be a deep blue.

The woman looked confused and a little stunned, staring at Kasia.

"May I help you?"

Oliver nudged Kasia.

"Er, I'm..." Kasia mumbled, and then cleared her throat. "I'm Kasia. Kasia Alexa Days."

oOo

Kasia's arrival was surprising, to say the least. She met Calesca and Orion, her grandparents, and immediately loved them. Calesca had an amazing collection of books that included wizard novels, Muggle novels and a small shelf of books she had written herself. She also kept a lovely garden that had all the herbs Kasia could think of, and more. Orion was a fantastic artist, his landscapes and portraits decorating the house. He showed her his workshop where he carved wooden sculptures. He was Ollivander's apprentice at one point, but favoured visual pieces over wandmaking.

It took a while to explain everything, and eventually Kasia was directed down the street and to a hill.

She walked over the frosted green hill slowly, hardly daring to believe what was on top of it. She saw a figure, silhouetted by the sunset, sitting on a stool, and caught her breath. When she let it out, it came out in a puff of mist. She had been completely silent. Kasia watched the man. He was sketching his surroundings: a ruined castle on the shore of Loch Ness, the sun setting on one side.

"Marvell?"

The figure sighed and turned. "Mum, I told you to leave me alone when..." he trailed off, seeing Kasia. "Who are you?"

Kasia didn't say anything; she just walked closer until she could see his eyes. Her eyes. Again, she had that strange sensation of looking into a mirror when she saw them. He seemed to notice as well, and his mouth fell slightly open.

"Kasia?" He said in a hushed voice. "Or...are you Anelia?"

"Only I got our eyes," Kasia whispered. She hesitated. "And...Neither of us got any letters."

"That's why you didn't reply," Marvell breathed, and then caught himself, "I mean...would you have?"

"Of course. You're my father." This is so ordinary, she couldn't stop thinking, this is so weird. He's my father. This is so weird. This is so normal.

"I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I didn't tell Ramona early enough. I thought, I suppose, that I could ignore it. And after I did−"

"Why weren't you there?" Kasia could barely believe that she was angry. Her question interrupted him before she'd had time to think about it.

Marvell stopped halfway through his sentence, and looked at Kasia.

"Why weren't you there?" Kasia repeated, growing angrier, "Why did you just leave?"

"Your mother didn't want me to see either of you," Marvell said quietly. Kasia realised that she had been hiding her anger at her father because she was so excited to meet him. All the other emotions she had talked about with Demi, but she never considered that she would be angry at him.

"Who cares what she wants? Why did you listen to her!? How could you let a few shouted words stop you from seeing your daughter?" Kasia grew louder. "Because there were some times when she really could've used a father! Like when she started doing magic, and had no clue why her mother hated her for it! Or when she was attacked by a werewolf and thrust into this world she knew nothing about!"

"Did you just say...attacked by a...?"

"And when I see Oliver helping Demi with Quidditch," Kasia went on, her voice shaking, "or Harry talking for hours with James. Or George telling Fred how proud he is of him, and how much he reminds him of his twin. Even Donaghan and his kids! I just..."

Kasia gave up, and hugged her father tightly, crying into his shirt. Marvell put his arms around her.

"I've missed you so much," Kasia whispered, "I never knew you, but I missed you."

"I missed you too."

After a minute, Marvell released her and kept his hands on her shoulders, studying her face.

"You were attacked by a werewolf?" he asked, his eyebrows pulling together in a concerned way. His eyes followed the lines of her scars.

"When I was five," Kasia told him, "I convinced Anelia to explore the forest near our house. She was terrified, and when we heard the growling sound and saw it, we had no idea what it was. Ramona never told us about magic at all. It went after Anelia after I told it to run, but I threw a rock at it. So it came after me. The next thing I remember is waking up at St Mungo's. I'm a werewolf."

Kasia watched him intently as she said this, but Marvell didn't seem scared or disgusted at all by the fact that she was a werewolf. He looked sad.

"What happened then?"

Kasia told him, and his face was full of regret.

"I should've known Ramona would've acted like that," Marvell said, looking angry and wistful at the same time. Then he looked at her. "I should've been there. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Kasia muttered, "it was just bad luck."

"I heard they're getting closer to finding a cure for lycanthropy," he said, trying to look reassuring, "I think they found a way to use more Wolfsbane without it being poisonous."

"They've been saying that they're getting closer for years. I don't think it's going to be happening any time soon."

Despite the fact they were talking about lycanthropy, Kasia felt the conversation was far more normal than she expected.

"I want to find a cure though," Kasia told him proudly, "after I graduate Hogwarts."

A part of her mind jolted at the mention of this ambition: this was the first time she'd told anyone other than her friends. She hadn't told an adult. Now she wanted her father to know.

Marvell smiled widely. "That's great! Oh! What house −?"

"Gryffindor."

"Of course," Marvell grinned, and hugged her again, "how did you find me?"

She told him of her second year at Hogwarts spent trying to find him, and finally of Donaghan Tremlett.

"So you know about the Battle of Hogwarts?" His eyes got a regretful, hollow look when he asked her. She nodded.

"Donaghan says hi," she told him, moving right along, "and he said to tell you you're a tosser."

"Of course he did."

oOo

They went back to the house and Kasia spent the rest of the day getting to know her family, who were everything she had ever hoped them to be, and more. Marvell was excited to learn that Kasia had chosen the two subjects he had for third year, and they swapped stories from their days at Hogwarts.

"And then James told Fred anyway," Kasia recalled, grinning widely, "and Fred yelled it really loud, 'Demeter! Demeter!' And Demi stood up and dived for Fred, and they knocked the boat over, so we were all in the Lake!"

They laughed, and Kasia felt proud of herself. "It was hilarious. And then Hagrid had to help us back in, but we were laughing so much it was hard to get back in the boat!"

"That reminds me of when me and Don used to prank Meaghan McCormack, Kirley's sister. Of course, Don wanted to because he'd fancied her forever," Marvell chuckled.

"And now they're married, aren't they?" Kasia grinned. Marvell nodded.

"Don spent a lot of his spare time with the band, so sometimes I'd hang out with Meg. Once Don found that out, he started taking time away from the band."

"One of Donaghan's sons, Nico, told me how his father always went on about the stuff you two got up to," Kasia smiled, "he said that you tried to get everyone hooked on the Beatles?"

Marvell laughed loudly. "That's right. I got a magical radio for my birthday, and dad got me a Beatles disc. Don's a Muggleborn, so he loved them already. We duplicated the radios, shrunk them and put them in the suits of armour. It took a week before they were finally removed."

"I think Dumbledore could've done it earlier," Orion mused, "but I reckon he just liked the music."

"Dumbledore sounds amazing," Kasia said wistfully, "I only wish I could've met him."

"If you ever get sent to the Headmaster's office, you could probably have a chat with him," Marvell winked, and Calesca hit his arm.

"Don't encourage her!"

"They're Ravenclaws," Marvell said in a loud whisper. Kasia laughed.

"Of course, that explains it."

"Our school years weren't as exciting as yours seem to be," Calesca told her. Marvell snorted.

"Yeah, fights with Death Eaters to be, the drama of dad's bloodline, Vivian and Alsius, the thing about Sarah and dad, and then the breakup and the Abscondita..."

Kasia's mind reacted to that last word, but she couldn't figure out why.

"Abscondita?"

"It's an amazing story," Marvell assured her, "but I don't want to spoil it by my bad storytelling. Read mum's book."

"You've written a biography?" Kasia asked Calesca, impressed. Calesca nodded.

"I have a spare copy, if you'd like."

"Yes, please!" Kasia beamed, "What's the Abscondita, though? I feel like I've heard the name before."

"I doubt you have," Marvell said, "usually in the papers it's shortened to absc."

Kasia gasped. "That's it! I saw it on your names, but I could never figure out what it was...what was the Abscondita?"

"An organisation," Orion told her, "not as brave as the Order of the Phoenix, unfortunately, but the Abscondita was designed just to keep people safe. Some of us would help the Order, but mostly it was just for safety."

"The name itself means hidden in Latin," Calesca added, "since that was the idea."

Kasia opened her mouth to ask another question, fascinated, but Marvell stopped her.

"Honestly, the best way to know the story is to read the book. Right, mum?"

Calesca nodded, and Kasia huffed.

"Fine. Nico also said you two had a duel because you quit the Quidditch team."

Marvell smiled at the memory. "We got detentions for two months because of that. I wanted to focus on school, partially because this one magizoology department was really fussy, and partially because my parents wanted me to. My marks weren't the best until fifth. As soon as Don found out, he went mad. We singed an entire wall on the sixth floor staircase, knocked two paintings down, and nearly fell down the staircases about three times each. Finally the teachers came and broke us up. Those two paintings always swore at us whenever we passed them after that."

Her father was one of the coolest people she had ever met.

They stayed for two more days, including an incredibly magical Christmas. Kasia helped Marvell with his magizoology, which primarily consisted of the study of the famous Loch Ness Monster, which was really the world's largest kelpie. She was given a copy of Calesca's biography, The Family Name, and couldn't wait to start reading. Orion was full of old stories, which never got boring. Then it was time for them to go back to England.

"Donaghan said to bring you back," Kasia told Marvell on the night before, "I think he misses his best mate."

Marvell sighed. "I don't know. I've been here so long now; all my friends probably don't remember me."

"You're a Gryffindor, you've got to be more adventurous!" Kasia insisted, "Besides, there are other magical creatures in England you can study!"

"You're a grown man, Marvell," Calesca said to him sternly, "you've lived with your parents long enough."

"In fact, we're kicking you out," Orion said brightly. "We'll visit!"

"What loving parents I have," Marvell chuckled, "I suppose I'll have to move to England, then." Kasia was overjoyed.

oOo

Kasia didn't get a chance to introduce her father to her friends until they were at Platform 9 ¾ to go back to Hogwarts, because Marvell had been busy with unpacking. Kasia had gone with him to pick out an apartment, and went over a couple of times to help unpack, but Demi was far too busy with her homework, James was in another country, and Fred was grounded for a prank on his sister that went wrong and left her wandering the Muggle streets, trying to do magic.

"Kasia's told me lots about you all," Marvell grinned, "sorry about my hair, I was trying to change the colour of the wallpaper in my new place..."

Fred's eyes were shining. He turned to Kasia. "Your dad is awesome."

Marvell was sporting some bright orange hair, which was slowly wearing off.

"He's not a Metamorphmagus too, is he?" Teddy laughed, approaching the group.

"You must be Teddy," Marvell introduced himself. "I'm Kasia's father."

Kasia didn't think she would ever get sick of hearing those words.

Teddy changed his hair colour so that it was orange as well. "Now you won't feel so out of place. Anyway, got to run!"

"We've got to go, too," Demi told Kasia reluctantly, "it's nearly eleven."

"I'll write," Kasia promised. Marvell grinned.

"I will, too."

oOo

"Best Christmas ever," Kasia sighed happily, leaning back into her seat.

"Your dad is so cool!" Fred exclaimed.

Kasia grinned proudly. "So how was everyone else's Christmas? Didn't you go to Greece, James?"

James nodded. "It was really amazing. I didn't think I'd be interested in all the Greek history, but it's fascinating."

"I told you all last year, didn't I?" Kasia laughed, "What about you, Fred?"

Fred's expression soured. "I got grounded."

"Grounded?" Demi repeated, looking surprised. "But I thought you said your mum went to visit her parents over Christmas?"

"She did."

James gaped. "So...Uncle George...?"

Fred nodded glumly.

"What did you do?"

Fred sighed. "I tried out this product I got from Zonko's on Roxanne, it was only 2 galleons – I guess I know why, now – it was supposed to wipe her mind, then I could use her to nick some of dad's old prototypes. She usually works with me, but I owe her too much at the moment."

"You owe your little sister?" Kasia asked, stifling a laugh. Fred nodded seriously.

"I'm her primary source of income. You could probably buy a decent broomstick with the amount of money I've given her. Anyway, dad keeps the prototypes hidden high, and Rocky's the only one who can fit through the entrance."

"What kind of entrance is that?" Demi asked. Fred raised an eyebrow.

"You've been to my house; you know what it's like. Anyway, I think it was a bit strong, because, next thing I knew, she was wondering around the Muggle part of town with dad's wand, trying to do magic."

"Did she?!"

Fred shook her head. "Thank Merlin for that, otherwise dad would've murdered me. As it is, I was grounded for the entire Christmas holidays, and I was in charge of cleaning."

"By the looks of your place, that would be the worst job possible," Demi remarked.

"Are you saying my place is messy?"

"Duh!"

"I'm just kidding," Fred laughed, "I know it's messy. It's part of its charm."

"That's not how Aunt Angelina puts it," James chuckled.

The Uisce Faoileoir means 'water glider' in Irish, courtesy of Google Translate ;) Ah, the well-awaited chapter! I sure hope I can live up to expectations I'm sorry for the people who wanted to see Kasia's expectations crash and burn.

Also, I hope you lot are dying to know about Calesca and Orion's back-story, because it makes me excited! Even though Kasia will read The Family Name, I'm not going to give anything away in this story. I was thinking of running The Family Name as its own story, alongside Kasia Alexa Days. What do you guys think?

Chapter question: What do you all think of Marv, Calesca and Orion? And also your thoughts on me writing The Family Name as well as this?