Author's Notes: Hey readers. Here is the long chapter I promised in the last chapter. :D Please read and If you want you can review but I know you wont so i'll try not to get my hopes up.
Enjoy!
The rest of the day had passed quickly after the introductions. Eli had just sat back down after letting the staff in through the main door of the pub when there was another knock. Eli had sighed showing his annoyance at having to get to again.
"Let me get the door, Eli." Sovereign had offered standing up and making his way towards the door.
"Thanks, Sov," he shouted over towards the door. 'What a nice boy' he thought to himself.
Sovereign had noticed the annoyance in Eli's face when there was a knock at the door just seconds after he sat down. Sovereign was much closer than Eli so he stood up and offered to get the door for him. He heard Eli shout thanks as he slid the bolt across and opened the door. On the other side of the door was a woman who looked around 22 years old. This was probably Myra, Eli's girlfriend. The woman hadn't said anything yet and had just been staring at him.
"You must be Myra," he told the woman who just nodded back. "Come in then Myra." He added politely whilst smiling. He knew the woman would be confused at having a complete stranger open the door and know her name. It made him fell Sherlock Holmes. In the muggle section of the Hogwarts library there were many copies of the Sherlock Holmes by Muggle author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is a fiction detective and would often know things about someone before they told him themselves. The woman stepped around him and entered the pub. She walked over to the table looked around at the unfamiliar faces.
"Hey babe," Eli called out to her as Sov took a seat again and smiled at the woman. "Come sit next to me, I'm sure my parents and the girls don't mind moving up a seat." He stated whilst looking along his side of the talk. Everyone got up and moved across a seat and Myra took the one Sophia had just been sat in.
"Sophia, you're home!" Myra exclaimed. "When did you get back?" She asked the six year old as if the girl had just popped out to the corner shop for some milk.
"About 11 o'clock this morning. My new friends, the Phelps, brought me back," she answered whilst smiling at the man sat at the head of the table next to Eli. Sophia turned around and continued with the conversation she was having with the two girls next to her. Myra was confused, 'who are the Phelps' she thought to herself. Her question was answered by her fiancé sat next to her.
"I'll introduce you to our guests," Eli told Myra. He pointed at each of the new faces individually and announced their name. "This is Rowland, who brought Phia back home. Then this is Anastasya, who made Phia some pancakes this morning. Twice in a row, what a treat! This is Acuzio, he hasn't really done anything. This is Sovereign, who found Phia asleep outside in this garden this morning and brought her inside his house. This is Balthazar and he's two years old. This is December, the one with the lilac hair and eyes. And this is Caragh who is in Phia and Raya's class at school." Eli had finally concluded his introduction speech about the individual person. "And this is my fiancée, Myra," he added afterwards directing this sentence towards the Phelps.
"Hello Myra, please, call me Rollie. Also you might as well know everyone else's shorten names. He stated out loud. "There is me, Rollie, obviously. Then there's my wife Ana. My eldest son is Sov short for Sovereign. My youngest son is Thaz short for Balthazar. My eldest daughter is Car short for Caragh. My youngest daughter has just been given her shorten name by Phia. Her name is Ber which is short for December."
"What about Acuzio?" Acuzio heard the Myra woman quietly ask Eli.
"I don't like to shorten my name." Acuzio answered with an evil glare. He didn't like people talking about him especially right in front of him.
"Oh, Ok." Myra said awkwardly. For some reason she was intimidated by a nine year old boy. She sat in silence until their meals came out, stuck in her thoughts.
Myra wasn't sure what had happened in the past 19 hours. When she had left Eli had been on his way over to the bar to make use of the free alcohol. She was sure he would have drunken himself into a terrible state. She wondered why he wasn't asleep somewhere or atleast complaining of a very bad headache. She knew that Eli couldn't hold his drink very well. Myra was also confused as to why her soon-to-be parents-in-law hadn't grounded Phia and locked her in her room yet. Phi was obviously going to be punished for running away. They were probably waiting until there guest left. She looked over towards Alexander and Florance. They both looked angry and confused. Florance kept looking over to Eli and glaring at him. Alexander, however, was staring at Acuzio who appeared to be staring straight at her. This made Myra uncomfortable as he had just reprimanded her for asking a simple question. Alexander obviously disliked the young boy. She wondered what she had missed from when she left last night to when she arrived this afternoon. She was then pulled away from her thoughts as the waitresses brought out the plates.
Sophia noticed how uncomfortable Myra was being. She looked at her as the waitresses laid down plates of Spaghetti Bolognese. Myra kept looking around the table nervously biting on her lower lip as if she didn't trust any of the new faces she saw. This thought made Phia frown. With the exception of Acuzio she really liked the entire Phelps family and hoped that she could meet them all again. She would see Car and Ber in the lower school playground and in class. She would see Ana and Thaz when they came to pick them up. Acuzio was going in year five and she Phia had never met him before today so she assumed that she wouldn't see him around school either when they went back. She would only see Sov at Christmas or summer when he came home from school. She looked up at Sovereign who was wrapping some spaghetti around a fork, showing Thaz how to eat it. He placed the fork into his mouth and pulled the spaghetti off with his teeth. There was a long piece of Spaghetti dangling out of his mouth which he sucked up. Phia, Car and Ber all burst out laughing at the same moment.
Eli hadn't heard Phia laugh so hard in ages. He turned around to see what was so funny and saw that everyone was looking at the three girls confusingly. Caragh was pointing at Sovereign and he looked at his sister with his eyebrows raised questionably. Phia had calmed down from laughing and was now looking at Caragh and December who were still laughing harder than ever. Phia turned around as if she felt his gaze on her. She started to laugh again at the look on his face.
"Please enlighten us on what you girls find so funny." Rollie chuckled from behind him.
"Sov…eating…Spaghetti." Car replied in between giggles. "He sucked it up." She burst out laughing again. This time Sov joined in.
"I hadn't realised the way I eat was humorous to you girls." Sov laughed. Nearly everyone at the table was laughing now. The only people not laughing were his parents, his fiancée, Raya and Acuzio who seemed to be so caught in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed his dinner had arrived. He looked at Myra and saw that she was staring strangely at Acuzio who was still staring straight ahead.
"Why are you looking at Acuzio?" He whispered to Myra who jumped at the sound of his voice so close to her ear.
"I…erm…I…Why is he staring at me like that?" She whispered back. "He hasn't blinked for like three whole minutes." She added.
"Well he doesn't really speak. You should have heard his little speech before you came. It's obvious he doesn't want to be here." He whispered with a little chuckle at Acuzio's thoughts on the Martin's.
"What did he say?" She asked curiously.
"Not here. Come with me to get the drinks and I'll tell you." He said before making getting everyone's attention. "Ok. What would everyone like to drink?"
"Can I have a coke please Eli?" Phia asked him sweetly.
"Of course you can, Phia." He said back. He looked around at the rest of the table and noticed how his mother had a frown plastered on her face. She looked really ugly when she frowned.
"Can I have one as well Eli?" Caragh asked fluttering her eyebrows. How could he resist when she looked so adorable.
"You can all have whatever you want." He stated.
"Ok, I'll have a beer please." Caragh smiled back at him.
"Oh, very clever twisting my words like that."He said laughing. She was a very smart girl. "So that's two cokes. What about the rest of you kids?
"Same as Phia and Car, please." December stated with a confused look on her face.
"Coke please, Elijah." Raya said with an annoyed look as she glared across the table at Phia, Car and Ber.
"Thaz and I will have some apple juice if you have any." Sov answered looking at Eli.
"I believe we do have apple juice." Eli replied. "What about you Acuzio?" He said looking down at the boy who was still staring straight ahead, apparently trapped in his thoughts. "Acuzio? Aaacooziiooo?" He asked dragging his name out trying to grab his attention.
"What." He mumbled finally looking up at Eli.
"What would you like to drink?"
"Water." He mumbled again obviously not wanting to say anything more than one worded sentences to him.
"Ok. So for the kids I have four cokes, two apple juices and one water." Eli said thoughtfully. "Now what would the adults like top drink." He looked over towards his parents.
"I'll have water." His mother ordered.
"And I'll have the same." His father added.
"I would like lemonade please, Eli." Ana smiled back at him.
"I would like to try a coke please Eli." Rollie curiously announced.
"You've never had a coke before?" Eli asked raising his eyebrow.
"No, I don't believe I have." He replied still smiling.
"Ok then, Myra why don't you come and help me?" He hinted at his fiancée who stood up and followed him over to the bar. When they got to the bar they started to get glasses out whilst Eli told Myra what she missed.
"We were doing the introductions and both his mother and father had announced their names and their nicknames and it was Acuzio's turn and he said, and I quote, 'I am Acuzio. You may not call me anything but Acuzio. I would prefer it if you didn't talk to me at all because after today you will never see me again and if you do I'll ignore you.' You should have seen how he reacted when his mother called him Cuz. He actually growled at her like a dog."
"Whoa. That kid has some issues." Myra announced.
"Yes but he's a good kid. Well kind of. He knows when he does something wrong because he called Phia a Mudblood. Which is someone with dirty blood, I don't really know what he meant by it but his mother nearly burst into tears. He kept on apologizing and begging his mother not to cry." Elijah commented. For some reason he had the urge to defend this child.
"What did his mother do?" Myra asked. She seemed to be getting more curious by the minute. "Did she ground him or shout at him?" She added.
"No actually, she didn't." Eli answered with a frown; his mother would have smacked him around the head and sent him to bed. "She told him that she never wanted to hear him say it again. She was more disappointed than angry." He said thoughtfully.
"The whole family is weird." Myra announced before moving away from him to get more glasses.
"Don't say that." Eli snapped angrily. "They are really nice, friendly people and they brought Phia back to us." He added trying to calm himself down.
"Ok, whatever." She responded sarcastically. "By the way, what happened between you and Phia? Yesterday you would jump a mile when she moved her hand. Now you are acting as if it never happened."
"I promised Phia I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened between us." He frowned at Myra. "That includes you." He added trying to stop the conversation from going any further. She must have realised he didn't want to talk about it because she didn't say anything else and went to take her tray of drinks back to the table. He finished getting all the cokes on his tray and followed her back to the table.
"Ok Raya, here's your coke." He placed her coke down and went back over to the other end of the table. "I've got your coke as well Rollie." He added whilst placing Rollie's coke down. "Then I've got four more cokes for myself and the girls." He announced as he sat down and passed a coke down the table to December, Caragh and Phia. "Do you like the coke, Rollie?" He asked the man sat next to him.
"I'm a little cautious to try it to be honest." He claimed, holding the glass at eye level and looking through at the black liquid. He then held the glass under his nose and sniffed it. "Well I suppose it looks and smell alright." He acknowledged before taking a small sip. As soon as the liquid had hit his taste buds his eyes had shot open. "Whoa, this is delicious." He stated and downing the rest of his glass. "And addictive. Can I have another glass please?" He asked Eli.
"Of course, I'll go get you one." Eli laughed.
The rest of the meal had been filled with Eli and Rollie talking about a multiple of different things including book, teaching and gardening, which Rollie was rather obsessed with. Ana would occasionally voice her opinion on whatever they were discussing but other than that she was quiet. Once Acuzio had finished his dinner and his water he had gone back to his thoughts and staring straight ahead. This in turn made Myra uncomfortable as it looked like he was staring right at her. Sovereign had finished his dinner and was now helping Thaz to eat his as he was making a mess. Raya was staring at Phia, Car and Ber with a look of hatred on her face. Her parents were whispering to each other, which Eli thought was rather hypocritical of them as they told Sov off for doing it only a few hours ago. The girls were sat eating and talking together as if they had been friends for years. Eli looked back to Rollie who was still talking about the flowers he was planning on planting tomorrow because he had the day off. He noticed that Acuzio was smirking at something, it looked rather suspicious but who knew what he was thinking.
Acuzio had been thinking about the letter he had received this morning from his best friend Melpomene. He never knew how to pronounce her name and although he hated shortening anyone's name, he called her Mel like everyone else did. They had been best friends since birth. Her parents were his God parents and his parents were her God parents. She had been born on the 30th January 1998, one day before him, and she never let him forget that she was older. Even though they only lived a few houses down from them they still preferred to talk through letters. All they ever talked about was their siblings, Hogwarts and how unfair it was that Acuzio had to go to Muggle School.
Mel had a lot of siblings she was one of nine. Her parents had given all her kids strange names, apparently in Greek mythology there were nine muses and Mel's mother had given each of her children a muse's name. The muses, however, were hard names to pronounce so he ended up just using their shortened names. The eldest were boy/girl twins Calliope and Clio. He didn't know how to say Calliope's name so he called him Call like everyone else. Clio was currently dating Sovereign. They were born the same year and Clio, Call and Sovereign were best friends. They were also in the same house at school. The second eldest were boy twins Erato and Euterpe or Era and Terp as everyone called them. They were going into fourth year and according to Mel they were both in a band with boy/girl twin Eros and Eris. Also apparently Era and Eris were dating but this could just be gossip. Next was Mel. Then it was her sister Polymnia or Poly. Next there was boy/girl twins Thalia and Terpsichore. He called Thalia by her name because he could pronounce it but he had never even made an attempt to call Terpsichore by his given name. Everyone called him Chore because his older brother Euterpe was called Terp for short. After them was Mel's last sister Urania, which wasn't hard to pronounce.
Mel had told him how Era, Terp, Eris and Eros had been practising their music all day and how she had a massive headache so she had stolen their guitars and drum sticks and locked them in a cupboard with a boggart. He had actually laughed at this; she was showing some very Slytherin potential. Acuzio smirked at the thought of her older siblings opening the cupboard door to find their instruments and a Boggart.
He realised he had been lost in his own thoughts again and refocused on his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the Myra woman looking at him terrified. She had been staring at him all night. He then saw that Eli was staring at him as well. Acuzio then realised he had been smirking like an idiot at his thoughts and he had probably been staring straight at Myra whilst in his thinking state. No wonder she looked terrified, Mel often commented that when he went into his thinking state he looked really evil. That on top of the smirk would just be too much. He could just imagine Mel slapping him on his shoulder to bring him back into his surroundings. She would always laugh at him when he went into his thinking state and he would glare at her, which would make her laugh louder. This in turn made him laugh.
He then realise once again he had gone into his thinking state and he adjusted himself to his surroundings once again only to see that Myra had actually pushed her chair away from the table and was shaking in fear. He had probably being evil laughing out loud from the memory of him and Mel. He would have to tell her this; she would laugh and tell him if he thought the thinking state and the smirk was too much, what did he think it was when you add the evil laugh into the mix. Myra probably thought he was the devil or something. He started laughing again, but this time it was a full bellied laugh.
He heard the noise of a door slam close by and the scrape of a chair a few seconds later. He was curious were the noise had come from, and then he heard someone call his name and touch his shoulder and he understood he had been in his thinking state yet again. He focused in on his surroundings and saw that both Myra and Eli had left the table. He looked at his mother who was still touching his shoulder.
"When did Elijah and that Myra woman leave." He asked his mother.
"Just now." She replied with a worried look. "You were in your thinking state again." She added.
"I know I was. I can usually tell when I'm in it, you know." He announced knowing full well she already knew this.
"Well you were staring at Myra, and then you started smirking at her rather suspiciously. You then laughed slightly and she jumped in terror. Next thing that happens is you start fully laughing but you were still staring directly into her eyes in your thinking state. She got up and ran away shaking. Eli ran after her and I brought you back." She explained to him what had happened.
"You need to learn how to control yourself, son." His father stated.
"You know I can't, I just get really bored and slip into the thinking state. I don't even know I'm in the state until I'm either pulled out of it by someone or something or until I realise I'm in the state myself and I pull myself out." Acuzio explained to his parents.
"Well I'll go talk to Eli and Myra and explain." Rollie announced as he stood up and went to in the direction they had run off in a minute ago.
Rollie came back a few minutes later with Myra and Eli. Eli was smiling at Acuzio strangely but in a kind way as if he understood. 'How could he understand my feelings, he isn't me' Acuzio thought furiously. Myra, however, was still looking at him awkwardly. Acuzio didn't care, it wasn't as if he would ever see her again and he generally didn't care what people thought about him to begin with.
Everyone had now finished their dinner and the waitresses had come and collected the plates and glasses. Sophia didn't want the Phelps to leave because she knew that as soon as they left she would be punished for running away. Her parents would probably take their anger that had built up over the afternoon out on her as well. She knew they were angry because of the glares they were sending Rollie and Ana and basically the entire Phelps family. They obviously didn't approve of the way Rollie and Ana treated their kids as equals and with respect. Phia couldn't wait to go to school in a month's time and see Car and Ber. She was going to ask Car and Ber just before they left if they could be friends and play together in the playground. She hoped they said yes because she really liked the two girls. They were very different compared to the other girl at her school. They just kept to themselves in a corner of the lunch hall or playground. They rarely talked to anyone beside themselves. She hoped that Soraya would be open to letting them join their group. At school Phia and Raya like to keep to themselves. They had other friends they would sometimes talk to but she got bored of them soon after starting a friendship, she just felt like they had nothing in common with them. Soraya, however, still hung around with their old friends when Phia was at Maths club.
"Well, I think it's time we left. It was a lovely meal. How much do we owe you?" Rollie asked Alexander with his trademark smile.
"Oh no Rollie, It's on the house. Think of it as a thank you, for bringing my sister home." Eli replied standing up to see the family to the door.
Sophia stood up as well and made her way to the main door with Car and Ber following her. Rollie and Ana were stood outside now talking to Alexander, Florance and Elijah. Sovereign had Balthazar perched on his hip. Thaz had his arms wrapped round his brothers neck and had his head snuggles into his shoulder. It looked like he was asleep. Sovereign went outside and stood next to his mother who kissed Thaz on his head and stroked his hair. She whispered something to Sovereign and he walked out of Sophia's line of view. Sophia walked outside to see where Sovereign had gone but couldn't see him; she assumed he had taken Thaz home. She had wanted to say goodbye to him because she wouldn't see him again during the holidays and he went back to school in September. She would tell Car and Ber to say bye for her. Caragh and December were now walking over to her and they sat down at the same table Sophia was sat at.
"We're going now but we'll probably see you during the holidays. Won't we?"December asked hopefully.
"I probably won't see you again until we go back to school. As soon as you leave my parents will shout at me for running away and ground me for about a year." Phia replied sadly. She really wanted to see them again before they went back to school
"Oh, right." Was all December could say disappointedly.
"When I see you at school, can Soraya and I hang around with you at break and lunch? It's alright if you don't want to but you two are really cool and I want to be friends with you. If that's alright with you?" Sophia asked the two girls awkwardly awaiting their answer. She waited for about five seconds but there was no answer so she looked up at the two girls who were staring straight at her. They both smiled at the same time.
"Of course we'll be your friend, but I'm not sure Soraya wants to hang with us. She's being giving us weird look all afternoon." Caragh finally answered.
"Well, she's probably jealous because I'm quite angry at her at the moment. It's a long story so I'll save it for another time. Do you have a phone number? I could call you over the holidays and talk to you for about 15 minutes, but I daren't risk talking any longer in case I get caught." Sophia asked her new friends.
"We don't have a phone but we could send you letters with Dilly." December suggested.
"Who's Dilly?" Sophia asked with a frown.
"Oh, he's our owl. We use him to send letters to Sov when he's at school." December answered as if everyone had an owl to send letters.
"You have an owl!" Phia exclaimed with her eyes wide open. "And you use him to send owls. How did you even train him?" She asked with another frown on her face.
"Erm, well, I… I don't…" December stuttered in confusion. She thought everyone knew that owls delivered the letters and papers.
"December… Caragh… We're leaving now. Say goodbye to Phia." Her mother called over to her and Caragh. 'Thank you mother' she thought. She had no idea how she was going to tell Phia about Dilly. She would have to ask her mother and send a reply in a letter.
"Bye Phia, I'll write to you tomorrow morning with a reply to your question." December turned and walked toward her mother and father, who were waiting near the corner, so she didn't have to answer Phia's question now.
"See you later Phia." Caragh said as she pulled her new best friend into a hug. "We're going to be best friends at school." She announced before turning and skipping after her mother, father and siblings.
She had just turned the corner when she heard Mrs Martin shout at Phia.
"GET INSIDE NOW."
