Chapter 4: My name is Judicorn? (I own nothing… except original spells and characters…) So nothing.
"Kids it's time to get going!" Steph yelled frantically making sure that the trunks were all packed and everyone had everything ready to go. The trip to Hogwarts had been easier when it was just Brandon, but throw in four more trunks and things got a little more complicated.
Brandon came down the steps, and before Steph could ask him "Yes mom, I have my prefects badge."
Steph smiled and said "That's my boy. Go grab your stuff. Is Jesus sleeping?"
"I'm right here mom!" Jesus said running down the steps full force. "Mom did you sign?"
"Yours and Marianna's Hogsmeade slips have been sent ahead to Professor McGonagall dear, I didn't want you to lose it or me to forget it." Steph said smiling "Go help your brother load the car."
"Can Raptor ride in the car?" Jesus asked
"Yes honey, I put Undetectable Extension Charms on the car so all of the animals can ride with us." Steph said distracted looking around for the girls and Jude. The girls came down the steps, Callie had her broomstick with her and Marianna had all of her potion supplies. That just left…
"Jude?" Steph called up the steps walking upstairs towards his room. It wasn't like Jude to be the last one downstairs. Steph knocked softly on the door and went in to Jude's room.
"Jude love?" Steph said walking into the room. She saw his packed trunk and the cat carrier, but strangely enough there was no cat in the cat carrier. She looked around for the youngest of the family and noticed that the closet door was cracked open a little bit. She walked over to the closet and opened the door to find Jude in the closet with the kitten.
"Jude honey, it's time to go. What are you doing in the closet?" Steph asked, concerned about why her son was not downstairs with his trunk and cat in its carrier.
"I don't want to go." Jude said quietly. "I want to stay here with you and momma."
"Love, we can't give you the training you need to control your magic." Steph said holding Jude's hand. "Besides, aren't you going to sit by that boy on the train?"
"Yeah…." Jude said looking away from Steph.
"What's going on love?" Steph asked, growing more concerned by the minute.
"I don't want to be alone when I get to school." Jude whispered tears starting to fall down his face. "When we got adopted, it was the first time that I felt like I found a place where I belonged. And now I have to leave it." Jude said burying his hands in his face, trembling.
"Honey, you will always belong here, with this family." Steph said leaning over to rub his back. "Going to Hogwarts will be a fun time! You'll have Brandon, Callie, Jesus, and Marianna to look after you. And even if you're not in the same house, that doesn't mean they're not your family." Steph said pulling him in for a hug. "Now will you please put kitten in its cage so we can take your trunk downstairs? We have a train to catch."
Jude looked up at Steph and gave her the biggest hug ever. Steph returned the embrace, and if it wasn't for a certain angry kitten mewing at them because she was squished in the hug, it would have been a perfect moment.
Val chirped in Jude's mind "Hey you, chin up. Hogwarts is a fun time. I should know, I've been there before. You'll be fine, I'll help you out."
"When were you at Hogwarts? And if you were, how did you end up in a book?" Jude thought back to Val, confused by the exchange that was happening.
"We'll talk about it some other time o.k. kid?" Val responded "Now you have to go catch a train."
"It's too late for us to make it by flying the car. We'll have to use floo powder to get there on time." Steph said looking at the clock in the room. "I'm going to get your siblings out of the car and that trunk better be in our room waiting for a fire to be lit young man."
"Yes ma'am!" Jude said walking over to the cat carrier and putting her gently inside of it, then under Steph's watchful eye, he marched his trunk into their room. Lena came up the steps, a bewildered look on her face.
"Honey, we aren't going to make it on time, what is Jude doing?" Lena asked concerned about why Jude was behaving strangely.
"He just didn't want to leave home yet, and I told him that we couldn't give him the training he needed to control his powers." Steph said walking over and hugging Lena, burying her head in her hair. "I wish we could be there for him but we can't."
"Actually, we might be able to…" Lena said slowly. Steph raised her head with a confused look on her face.
"What did you do?" Steph asked her accusingly.
"Well, they found a new principal for Anchor Beach, and Minerva owled me a week ago asking me if I wanted to teach Muggle Studies at school. And they want you to come in and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts part time."
"We can't do that Lena." Steph said looking at her. "We can't do that." "Can we?" She asked inquisitively.
"We connect the fireplace to our conjoined office and we can poof back here at any time. I've already arranged it. And we'd be making more than at our current jobs." Lena said with a smile on her face.
"How do you figure?" Steph said quizzically.
"Well, we cut out food expenses for everyone in the family for nine months, we have free living space, and we get paid in our currency. Not muggle money."
"But love we still need to pay for the house." Steph said laughing. "But free Hogwarts food for nine months… I can't turn that down can I? Can we wait to tell the kids? I want to see their faces when we show up at the Welcoming Banquet." Steph said with an evil smirk on her face.
"How is it that you read my mind?" Lena said returning the evil smirk and leaning in to kiss Steph.
"Alright, we divide and conquer. You send Jude through the fire to Kings Cross and help him get onto the platform. I'll be behind you with the rest of the troops. Then we do a final house sweep and make sure none of the kids forgot anything. Then we head to Hogwarts and become our children's worst nightmare." Steph said with a smile on her face.
"See you in a bit." Lena said with a teasing smile, walking out of Jude's room and into their room where Jude was patiently waiting by the grate.
"Alright honey, here's the plan. I'm going to light the fire and you're going to grab some floo powder and go to Kings Cross alright? Then we'll get you loaded up on the train and we'll say our goodbyes." Lena said with a smile on her face.
"Won't the muggles notice me coming out of the grate?" Jude asked, concerned about exposing himself before he had even gotten to school.
"No honey, the fire is charmed to modify what muggles see." Lena said with a smile, getting out her wand. "Accio Floo Poweder!" She spoke and a bag came racing from downstairs into her outstretched arms. Jude loved watching his moms do magic. There was something relaxing about it. Lena pointed her wand at the grate and barked "Incendio!" Tiny blue bell flames erupted from her wand and crackled merrily in the fire place.
Lena tossed in some floo powder to turn the flames green. "Step in Jude and say Kings Cross Station."
Jude took the floo powder and stepped into the fire with his trunk. "Kings Cross Station." He said very articulately. He then felt very sick as he started spinning around in the fire as Lena vanished from his sight. He hung onto his trunk and cat carrier for dear life, and then all of the sudden BAM! He landed on the ground hard. A few seconds later, he heard a crack and Lena was right beside him.
"You know, if we were better at planning back up plans we could have Apparated here." She muttered under her breath. "Are you ok honey?" She asked concerned.
Jude shook his head. "I think I might be sick." He muttered clenching his stomach. Kitten was hissing furiously. She was not a fan of floo poweder travel. A few seconds later he heard a crack and the other joined him. Jesus walked up to him, and helped him up.
"Let's go to the bathroom." He said quietly. "Moms, you got our trunks?"
Steph and Lena nodded in amazement as Jesus helped Jude over to the men's bathroom. Brandon walked over to them. "He really does like him. It's the sibling rivalry between them. And Jesus hates floo powder just as much as Jude does." Brandon said with a smile. Steph and Lena exchanged glances.
"Alright, we don't have much time. Brandon, you first through the barrier. Callie you follow, then Marianna, then I'll go through with Jesus's trunk and Momma will follow with Jude's." Steph said trying to get everything on time. The clock read 10:45. They had fifteen minutes to get through the barrier. Brandon, Callie, and Marianna got their trunks and walked over to platform nine and platform ten and one by one they disappeared into the wall that was between platforms nine and ten. Just as Steph was about to go through the barrier with Jesus's trunk she was stopped by an "Excuse me."
Steph turned around to see the boy from Diagon Alley looking at her. She was confused, the boy was here by himself? Where was his father?
"Can you tell me how to get onto the platform?" He asked politely remembering how his father had treated the two women and he wanted to make a good impression. "And I'm sorry for how my father treated you two." He said sadly. "My mom is a muggle and my dad and her divorced and he kept me. He is kind of a jerk but you learn to live with him." He said nonchalantly.
Steph looked at the boy with sadness filling her heart. No child should ever have to put up with parents acting like that. Just as she was thinking that, Jesus and Jude walked over to Steph and Lena. Jude waved at the boy and the boy waved back.
"Do you have everything you need?" Lena asked the boy.
"I think so." The boy said. "My dad said I had everything I needed anyways. He had my list."
Steph looked warily at Lena who returned the look. "When you get to school, if you don't have something, go tell one of the teachers and they'll help you." Steph said with a smile on her face. "What's your name honey?"
"Connor, Connor Stevens ma'am." The boy said shyly.
"My name is Steph, and this is my wife Lena, and two of our sons Jesus and Jude." Steph said with a smile on her face. "Jesus, you go through the barrier first so Connor can see, and then we'll send Connor and Jude through." Steph said with a smile on her face, looking at the clock noticing that they had ten minutes left.
Jesus walked through the barrier and showed the two boys how to get on the platform.
"Connor!" A drunken voice yelled across the platform. Connor's eyes widened as he turned around to see his dad drunkenly walk across the platform. Steph and Lena made a protective stance around the kids as he walked up to them.
"Connor, why did you run away from me?" His dad slurred as he came closer.
"Kids go through the barrier and get onto the train right now." Lena said out of the corner of her mouth.
"I don't want you to have to deal with him!" Connor protested.
"Steph turned around and told him "The most important thing for you to do right now is to get on the train. We'll tell him he's a drunken mess and that you already got onto the train."
Connor stepped back for a second and nodded.
"Jude honey, sit by him on the train will you?" Lena said with a smile on her face. "You'll see us sooner than you think baby."
"Love you momma." Jude said with a smile on his face. "Love you mom."
"Love you Judicorn." Steph said with a smile on her face. "Your father should be fine." Steph said to Connor. "I'll take him in for public intox and then he'll be released. Don't worry, it'll be fine." Steph said with a smile on her face. She looked at the clock and saw that there was five minutes left. Connor grabbed his trunk and went over to the barrier and disappeared through it. Before Jude left, he walked up to Lena and said "By the way, I named the cat Francesca and I'm calling her Frankie for short."
Lena gave him a big hug before she pushed him towards the barrier. Jude took a deep breath and he took off towards the barrier. He looked up and thought he was going to crash, he even thought about steering the cart out of the way. Before he could he went through the barrier and emerged to look up at a gleaming scarlet steam engine. He looked around and saw Connor waving to him. He walked over to him and smiled as Connor helped him put his luggage on the train just as the whistle blew. They climbed aboard the train and found an empty compartment and sat down.
"I'm sorry for my dad." Connor said sheepishly.
"It's fine dude, no one should have to deal with parents like that. Steph's an auror, she can take care of herself and Lena." Jude said.
"What was your name again? Judicorn?" Connor asked innocently after a few moments passed.
"My name isn't Judicorn, it's Jude!"
Val here, with a news update! This chapter was originally written differently! Thank you computer not saving how it was done! But, this rewrite turned out much better than the original chapter so I kept it. Anyways, Jrubs computer is acting funky so if it crashes, he will put something up on his tumblr and he will try on fanfiction. He'll try to make sure it doesn't bite the dust. And remember to review, favorite, reblogg, and appreciate it. Val out!