Chapter 4
Cassandra stood on the deck watching the London shoreline slowly fade from her view taking her and her daughters to their new lives in America. She had hired the assistance of a stewardess to her assist her with the children during their journey. It took nearly a week for Cassandra and the girls to cross the Atlantic and arrive in New York City for the next chapter of their lives. The Ministry of Magic had gotten her a job transfer into the Magical Congress of the United States, where they had preset up an apartment in a building that helped assist wizards or witches transferring from around the world to get settled in New York until they found more permanent housing, these transfers were usually international transfers like Cassandra. When their ship arrived, it was pouring rain. The stewardess helped Cassandra and the girls off the ship, Cassandra was holding Hallie and Periwinkle while the stewardess held Holly, she escorted Cassandra and the girls to collect their luggage onto a cart before they were meeting with the driver provided by the Magical Congress to escort Cassandra and the girls to their apartment. They gathered the luggage with the help of some of the men nearby, the stewardess pushed the cart while holding Holly to the lobby where there were lots of men standing around holding signs with names. Cassandra spotted a short, older gentleman with no hair holding a sign written in black ink with the name 'Rice'. She approached him "Mr. Alden?" she asked
"Yes," he said with her little personality to his tone of voice, "Cassandra Rice and her three daughters?"
She nodded, "Yes, sir."
He looked at them and took the cart from the stewardess, "I'll take this, miss." The stewardess let go of the cart and got a better hold on Holly as they followed the driver to his cart parked just outside the doors of the lobby. He opened the backseat where three car seats were then proceeded to put the luggage in the trunk.
The stewardess buckled Holly in her seat while Cassandra put Periwinkle and Hallie in theirs, "I appreciate your help during this journey I don't think I could have done it without you. Please accept this, I know I already paid you for your services but please accept this tip as a thank you," she took some money out of her small handbag and gave it to her.
"You're welcome, ma'am. Enjoy your new life here in America, I hope you and the girls will have a wonderful time."
She nodded, "I am very hopeful we will." With that the stewardess returned to the ship, she closed the doors of the backseat and got into the passenger seat. Mr. Alden shut the trunk and got in, the drive was quiet except for the girls talking to one another in the backseat or how well toddlers could communicate with one another. Cassandra sat just watching the many skyscrapers pass and all the people just walking around the city, the rain had stopped by now leaving the ground wet. The drive did not take long and soon they were at the apartment building, it was not tall like the skyscrapers they had passed to get there. She got the girls out placing Holly and Periwinkle on the sidewalk since of the three they did the best at listening for being toddlers. Mr. Alden got the luggage out placing it on the sidewalk, she gave him some tip money thanking him for driving them. He gave a small nod and left without much of a word. She tried to grab the luggage while holding Hallie but dropped the little bit of luggage she could pick up.
Footsteps approached them and grabbed the luggage, "Here let me help, miss," the man dressed in the tan tweed suit said.
She looked up at him her blue eyes meeting his hazel ones, their eyes remained locked until Periwinkle tugged at her mother's coat, "Mummy."
The two looked at Periwinkle, "Yes, darling?"
"Can we go inside?"
She nodded, "Yes." The man gathered the rest of the luggage and held the door of the apartment for them letting her and the girls enter the lobby before him.
"What floor?" he asked calling the elevator to the lobby.
"Five. Apartment 502."
He nodded letting them enter the elevator once it arrived, he pressed the five. "Richard Banks," he said breaking the silence.
She looked at him, "Cassie Rice and these are my daughters. Peri is the one with black hair. Hallie and Holly are twins but are not identical except for their eyes. Holly is the blonde and Hallie is the brunette. I adopted them after their parents passed a couple of weeks ago, I decided it would be a good idea to start fresh. My job got me a transfer here."
He looked at them, "Lovely to meet you ladies. You as well Cassie…so you work for the Magical Congress of the United States?"
She was pleased to hear he was a wizard, "I do…originally from London. I am pleased to meet another wizard."
"This is a common area for wizards and witches to live, keeps us together from the nonmajs."
"Nomaj?"
"Non-magical person…some do choose to live in other areas but it is nice to be around those who are similar to you and you do not have to hide your abilities from your neighbors. All your neighbors share your same magical abilities."
She seemed pleased to hear this as the elevator stopped, "Of course, I do not mind mixed-bloods…it is one of the reasons I left my parents they could not support that Periwinkle is not a pureblooded witch."
He sighed sadly stepping off with them, "I do not mind either. No blood type is superior to the other. Some of our greatest witches and wizards were not purebloods. I am a pureblood though. Like your parents' mine value pureblooded wizarding families more and find it be a disgrace that we would mingle with other types especially nomajs."
"It is not right, but I can teach my daughters right and wrong."
"Smart young lady you are," he said as they reached her apartment, "Here we are. Apartment 502."
She looked at it and took the golden key from her handbag unlocking the door and opening it to let the girls run inside. He followed them inside to help put the luggage down, "I appreciate all your help, Richard."
"You are very welcome…I hope to see you well all of you again soon."
She smiled kindly at him, "I could use someone to help show me around the city. It is quite different than London."
He nodded, "I would be pleased to show you around. Perhaps this weekend we could go to Central Park, take a picnic, and allow the girls to enjoy some more space to run around."
"They would love that. The loft is very lovely…but going to become quite cramped with the four of us living here."
"Yes…I will see you perhaps tomorrow at work if not then this weekend."
She nodded, "Yes. See you either tomorrow or Saturday," she walked him out and closed the door behind him. She leaned against the door with a sigh, Alright girls let's make this more livable for us." She took her wand out of her inside coat pocket and then gave it a swish the sheets that laid over the furniture flew off and disappeared while the luggage unpacked itself. Once that was finished, she did a walk-through of the apartment. "This will do until we can come up with some money and get us a bigger space. I'm afraid you three will have to continue sharing a room," she told them. Of course, they could careless being just toddlers.