The waves crashed on to the beach as if they were trying to escape from the
ocean. The salty sea spray leapt into the air soaking everything in its
reach, and the wind rushed around chasing itself over the sand. Matt loved
everything about this beach. It was his private haven and everything about
it seemed to match his mood. When he was angry so was the ocean, when he
was peaceful it was too. Every mood, every feeling he had was reflected by
his beloved stretch of sand that lay under his house.
Today was different though, he was bored and the ocean seemed to be taunting him. He sat glaring at the waves like they were insulting him. He'd come down here to get away from his annoying family but found no comfort where he normally looked for it. He'd been home for nearly two weeks and already he felt like he was going to go crazy of boredom!
He was so absorbed in being angry that he didn't notice the strange noise that didn't belong to his beach. It was a rhythmic dum-dum, dum-dum like a galloping horse. Matt's head snapped up. There were no horses the far down the lane were there? He turned around from where he was standing and saw the large animal gracefully running in the wake of the waves, spraying water everywhere.
It was coming towards very quickly and he could help but admire the smooth fluid motions it made. That's when Matt realize that he was standing in the path of a charging horse whose rider hadn't noticed him yet. Matt's mind raced, he had to get out of the way! He turned to run but his foot sank in the sand and he tripped falling flat on his face in the sand, his ankle throbbing madly.
"OH! I'm so sorry I didn't notice you at all!" a voice invaded his pain drugged. It was a familiar voice that he knew well, but he could place it. He was vaguely aware of the sound of a person dismounting and felt a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? Must I get help?"
"Slow down, one question at a time please." He said gruffly.
The hand on his shoulder froze, then with renewed effort the girl tried to turn him over. "Come on get up if you're not hurt, Matt." Matt turned round and slowly got up, it was only then that he got a good look at the girl he was leaning on.
"Beth?" He asked perplexed, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question actually, I live down the beach. Can you walk?" She asked her grey eyes full of concern and guilt. She had been having so much fun that she hadn't been watching where Southern was going. If she had been she would've slowed down in time. Matt took a step forward and his legs buckled beneath him.
"I think I've sprained my ankle," he groaned.
"All right hang on," Beth said as she ran for her horse.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked the pain in his ankle was becoming worse; he had to get home so his mother could heal it.
"I'm taking you home."
"Do you know where I live?"
"Well, no, but you're going to tell me."
"And how are going to get me there?"
"On my horse." She said as if it where the most obvious thing in the world. She led the horse right up to Matt and once again helped him up.
"How am I supposed to get on that thing?" Matt asked sceptically.
"Support your weight on your good leg, and put your knee in my hands. Then pull yourself up with your arms while I push your leg up. The swing it over the saddle." She explained, and then she got onto one knee and made a cradle with her hands. Matt did as she told him to with Beth correcting things he was doing wrong. He was surprised to find that it was actually easier than it looked.
Once Matt was seated safely in the saddle Beth swung herself up in front of him. "Now, hold on tight alright?"
"Okay." Matt answered. Beth gathered the reins in her had and gently kicked the horse in the side. He started to move forward.
"Right, where to?" Beth asked over her shoulder. Matt told her where to go and Beth urged to horse to go faster and faster until they were travelling at a nice slow canter. Matt had never been on a horse before and was rather frightened though he would have died before he admitted that to Beth. She shouted at him to sit still and to move with the animal before picking up the pace again.
In no time at all they were in sight of his house. It was called Gurthlow Cottage; the name came from mixing different letters from the names of each member of his family. His parents had moved here when his sister Charlotte had been born seven years ago. It was a beautiful house and a much better place to raise a family that their old house in London. "You live here?" Beth asked awed.
"Yeah, why?"
"I love this house! Are the little girls you're sisters?"
"Yeah." Matt answered. Beth just nodded and stopped outside his outside his back door. "Stay here. I'll go in and get your mum."
"I'm quite capable of walking myself!" Matt said indignantly.
"No you're not. In case you don't remember, you have a severely sprained maybe broken ankle. You'll damage it more if you try to walk on it, so stay here." Beth answered leaving no room for argument. Matt crossed his arms angrily over his chest and sulked as Beth walked up to the house and knocked on the door. ~*~*~ Ginny picked a teddy bear up of the living room floor and smiled to herself. She loved her children they were the most beautiful creatures on the planet as far as she was concerned. Each one reminded her so strongly of Harry, either in looks or character. Matt was his father's child through and through, Lucy had Harry's temper and control, Tessa had his eyes, and Lotty his sense of adventure. They all had dark hair, though the girls had Ginny's red highlights, and they were what her world revolved around.
Ginny had changed a lot since her Hogwarts days. Her figure had changed shape having carried and delivered four children, although she was still tall and slim her figure was fuller. Her hair was now worn in a short bob, but her eyes stilled held their schoolgirl charm and she had laugh lines radiating from the corners of her eyes. All in all she was a very good looking thirty-two years of age.
Ginny heard a very quite knock at the back door just as she was about to head upstairs to check on Charlotte. Puzzled Ginny turned and headed for the kitchen. No one ever knocked, they always just aparated or flooed. When she entered the kitchen Ginny saw a small girl standing on the doorstep. She looked to be about eleven and had long, curly blonde hair and was wearing riding boots and jodhpurs.
"Hello. Can I help you?" Ginny asked gently smiling at the girl through the screen door.
"Are you Mrs. Potter?" She asked politely.
"Yes, I am."
"I have Matt, on my horse outside. I think he might have a broken ankle." She said looking rather apologetic as if it was her fault that Matt was hurt.
"Oh dear, let's have a look at him then." Ginny said putting the bear she was still holding down on the kitchen table and followed the girl outside to see her son. Sure enough there was Matt looking very sorry for himself sitting on a horse. "What have you done now Matthew James Potter?"
"It wasn't my fault I swear! That crazy girl ran me down and I hurt my ankle trying to get out of the way!" Matt defended himself.
"I promise I didn't see him ma'am! I was riding in the surf and then all of a sudden he was in the way. If I had seen him I would have slowed down I didn't mean to hurt him!" Beth said desperately hoping she wasn't going to get into trouble for nearly killing Matt.
"It's all right, love, there's no need to get so upset. If I know my son he wasn't paying much attention to you either, at least, not until you were nearly on top of him." Ginny laughed as she watch each child try to get itself out of the doghouse. She turned her attention back to Matt and wondered how she was going to get him into the house without the girl noticing any magic. Slowly she pulled her wand out of her pocket and quietly cast a simple levitating charm. Then she pretended to lift Matt out of the saddle and carry him inside.
Once inside she put him down on the kitchen table and set about inspecting his ankle. It was all swollen and he yipped when she moved it taking his shoe off. "Well, I'm afraid that this is most definitely broken." She said gently lowering his leg. She walked up to one of the cabinets and took out a bottle filled with thick purple liquid. She poured some into a glass and mixed it with some water before handing it to Matt to drink. "Sit still a minute and drink up. Then I'll make arrangements for a doctor."
"But surely it's not that bad!" the girl exclaimed. Ginny looked at her quizzically.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean aren't you even going to try and fix it? You do have a wand don't you? You're not a squib are you?"
"No, I'm not, but how did you know about that?" Ginny asked pulling her wand out and quickly charming Matt's ankle back to its original un-broken state.
"I go to school with Matt." The girl answered.
"Mum meet Elizabeth Rivers, Elizabeth meet my mum." Matt said grinning like the Cheshire cat. Ginny looked from Matt to Beth and began to laugh.
"Mummy," a quiet voice interrupted their merry making.
"Yes love." Ginny answered turning towards the door into the house.
"Lotty's crying."
"Thank you Tessa. Elizabeth, it was lovely to meet you, but as you can see I have another family emergency to attend to." Beth just smiled as Ginny disappeared into the house.
"So that's your mum." She said to Matt. He nodded yes.
"She's great! Who's this?" "That's Tessa. Well, Theresa but we all call her Tessa. She's turning six in December." Matt answered.
"Hello Tessa, I'm Elizabeth." Beth said to the little girl. Tessa ran to her brother who was back on his feet now and buried her face in his jacket. Beth laughed, "I takes it she's shy."
"Very. The sister who's bawling her eyes out upstairs is Charlotte or Lotty; she's turning four in October. My other sister is Lucy, who's just turned eleven. She'll be coming to Hogwarts next term." Matt explained.
"I don't have any brothers or sisters." Beth said sadly. She was both grateful and sad that she didn't have siblings, but she loved little children.
"You're welcome to mine if you want them!" Matt laughed messing up Tessa's perfectly smooth dark brown hair. Beth looked at Tessa closely trying to find similarities between her and her brother, but she found none. Tessa had dark brown hair that was cut into a bob that hung smoothly on her head, unlike Matt's messy bush that stood out on all directions! She also had emerald green eyes and not brown likes Matt's.
Matt bent down and picked her and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Tessa giggled and flashed her tiny little white teeth as she smiled widely. "Right, let's go find mum and tell her that we're taking you for a ride on a horse!" Matt laughed twirling round and round. Tessa laughed happily as she clutched his shoulders, Matt began jogging up the stairs before turning round and facing Beth. "It is alright isn't it? If we take her round the garden once or twice?"
"Of course! I think it'll be fun." Beth said, 'she certainly looks like she'll enjoy it!' she thought silently to herself watching Matt tickle her as he ran up the stairs to his mum. He was very good with little children Beth thought. There must be a very big age gap between him and his sisters. And he must love them very much.
Matt turned round again when he reached the top of the stairs, "Are you coming or what?"
"Ja, sure." Beth answered running up to join him.
Today was different though, he was bored and the ocean seemed to be taunting him. He sat glaring at the waves like they were insulting him. He'd come down here to get away from his annoying family but found no comfort where he normally looked for it. He'd been home for nearly two weeks and already he felt like he was going to go crazy of boredom!
He was so absorbed in being angry that he didn't notice the strange noise that didn't belong to his beach. It was a rhythmic dum-dum, dum-dum like a galloping horse. Matt's head snapped up. There were no horses the far down the lane were there? He turned around from where he was standing and saw the large animal gracefully running in the wake of the waves, spraying water everywhere.
It was coming towards very quickly and he could help but admire the smooth fluid motions it made. That's when Matt realize that he was standing in the path of a charging horse whose rider hadn't noticed him yet. Matt's mind raced, he had to get out of the way! He turned to run but his foot sank in the sand and he tripped falling flat on his face in the sand, his ankle throbbing madly.
"OH! I'm so sorry I didn't notice you at all!" a voice invaded his pain drugged. It was a familiar voice that he knew well, but he could place it. He was vaguely aware of the sound of a person dismounting and felt a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? Must I get help?"
"Slow down, one question at a time please." He said gruffly.
The hand on his shoulder froze, then with renewed effort the girl tried to turn him over. "Come on get up if you're not hurt, Matt." Matt turned round and slowly got up, it was only then that he got a good look at the girl he was leaning on.
"Beth?" He asked perplexed, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question actually, I live down the beach. Can you walk?" She asked her grey eyes full of concern and guilt. She had been having so much fun that she hadn't been watching where Southern was going. If she had been she would've slowed down in time. Matt took a step forward and his legs buckled beneath him.
"I think I've sprained my ankle," he groaned.
"All right hang on," Beth said as she ran for her horse.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked the pain in his ankle was becoming worse; he had to get home so his mother could heal it.
"I'm taking you home."
"Do you know where I live?"
"Well, no, but you're going to tell me."
"And how are going to get me there?"
"On my horse." She said as if it where the most obvious thing in the world. She led the horse right up to Matt and once again helped him up.
"How am I supposed to get on that thing?" Matt asked sceptically.
"Support your weight on your good leg, and put your knee in my hands. Then pull yourself up with your arms while I push your leg up. The swing it over the saddle." She explained, and then she got onto one knee and made a cradle with her hands. Matt did as she told him to with Beth correcting things he was doing wrong. He was surprised to find that it was actually easier than it looked.
Once Matt was seated safely in the saddle Beth swung herself up in front of him. "Now, hold on tight alright?"
"Okay." Matt answered. Beth gathered the reins in her had and gently kicked the horse in the side. He started to move forward.
"Right, where to?" Beth asked over her shoulder. Matt told her where to go and Beth urged to horse to go faster and faster until they were travelling at a nice slow canter. Matt had never been on a horse before and was rather frightened though he would have died before he admitted that to Beth. She shouted at him to sit still and to move with the animal before picking up the pace again.
In no time at all they were in sight of his house. It was called Gurthlow Cottage; the name came from mixing different letters from the names of each member of his family. His parents had moved here when his sister Charlotte had been born seven years ago. It was a beautiful house and a much better place to raise a family that their old house in London. "You live here?" Beth asked awed.
"Yeah, why?"
"I love this house! Are the little girls you're sisters?"
"Yeah." Matt answered. Beth just nodded and stopped outside his outside his back door. "Stay here. I'll go in and get your mum."
"I'm quite capable of walking myself!" Matt said indignantly.
"No you're not. In case you don't remember, you have a severely sprained maybe broken ankle. You'll damage it more if you try to walk on it, so stay here." Beth answered leaving no room for argument. Matt crossed his arms angrily over his chest and sulked as Beth walked up to the house and knocked on the door. ~*~*~ Ginny picked a teddy bear up of the living room floor and smiled to herself. She loved her children they were the most beautiful creatures on the planet as far as she was concerned. Each one reminded her so strongly of Harry, either in looks or character. Matt was his father's child through and through, Lucy had Harry's temper and control, Tessa had his eyes, and Lotty his sense of adventure. They all had dark hair, though the girls had Ginny's red highlights, and they were what her world revolved around.
Ginny had changed a lot since her Hogwarts days. Her figure had changed shape having carried and delivered four children, although she was still tall and slim her figure was fuller. Her hair was now worn in a short bob, but her eyes stilled held their schoolgirl charm and she had laugh lines radiating from the corners of her eyes. All in all she was a very good looking thirty-two years of age.
Ginny heard a very quite knock at the back door just as she was about to head upstairs to check on Charlotte. Puzzled Ginny turned and headed for the kitchen. No one ever knocked, they always just aparated or flooed. When she entered the kitchen Ginny saw a small girl standing on the doorstep. She looked to be about eleven and had long, curly blonde hair and was wearing riding boots and jodhpurs.
"Hello. Can I help you?" Ginny asked gently smiling at the girl through the screen door.
"Are you Mrs. Potter?" She asked politely.
"Yes, I am."
"I have Matt, on my horse outside. I think he might have a broken ankle." She said looking rather apologetic as if it was her fault that Matt was hurt.
"Oh dear, let's have a look at him then." Ginny said putting the bear she was still holding down on the kitchen table and followed the girl outside to see her son. Sure enough there was Matt looking very sorry for himself sitting on a horse. "What have you done now Matthew James Potter?"
"It wasn't my fault I swear! That crazy girl ran me down and I hurt my ankle trying to get out of the way!" Matt defended himself.
"I promise I didn't see him ma'am! I was riding in the surf and then all of a sudden he was in the way. If I had seen him I would have slowed down I didn't mean to hurt him!" Beth said desperately hoping she wasn't going to get into trouble for nearly killing Matt.
"It's all right, love, there's no need to get so upset. If I know my son he wasn't paying much attention to you either, at least, not until you were nearly on top of him." Ginny laughed as she watch each child try to get itself out of the doghouse. She turned her attention back to Matt and wondered how she was going to get him into the house without the girl noticing any magic. Slowly she pulled her wand out of her pocket and quietly cast a simple levitating charm. Then she pretended to lift Matt out of the saddle and carry him inside.
Once inside she put him down on the kitchen table and set about inspecting his ankle. It was all swollen and he yipped when she moved it taking his shoe off. "Well, I'm afraid that this is most definitely broken." She said gently lowering his leg. She walked up to one of the cabinets and took out a bottle filled with thick purple liquid. She poured some into a glass and mixed it with some water before handing it to Matt to drink. "Sit still a minute and drink up. Then I'll make arrangements for a doctor."
"But surely it's not that bad!" the girl exclaimed. Ginny looked at her quizzically.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean aren't you even going to try and fix it? You do have a wand don't you? You're not a squib are you?"
"No, I'm not, but how did you know about that?" Ginny asked pulling her wand out and quickly charming Matt's ankle back to its original un-broken state.
"I go to school with Matt." The girl answered.
"Mum meet Elizabeth Rivers, Elizabeth meet my mum." Matt said grinning like the Cheshire cat. Ginny looked from Matt to Beth and began to laugh.
"Mummy," a quiet voice interrupted their merry making.
"Yes love." Ginny answered turning towards the door into the house.
"Lotty's crying."
"Thank you Tessa. Elizabeth, it was lovely to meet you, but as you can see I have another family emergency to attend to." Beth just smiled as Ginny disappeared into the house.
"So that's your mum." She said to Matt. He nodded yes.
"She's great! Who's this?" "That's Tessa. Well, Theresa but we all call her Tessa. She's turning six in December." Matt answered.
"Hello Tessa, I'm Elizabeth." Beth said to the little girl. Tessa ran to her brother who was back on his feet now and buried her face in his jacket. Beth laughed, "I takes it she's shy."
"Very. The sister who's bawling her eyes out upstairs is Charlotte or Lotty; she's turning four in October. My other sister is Lucy, who's just turned eleven. She'll be coming to Hogwarts next term." Matt explained.
"I don't have any brothers or sisters." Beth said sadly. She was both grateful and sad that she didn't have siblings, but she loved little children.
"You're welcome to mine if you want them!" Matt laughed messing up Tessa's perfectly smooth dark brown hair. Beth looked at Tessa closely trying to find similarities between her and her brother, but she found none. Tessa had dark brown hair that was cut into a bob that hung smoothly on her head, unlike Matt's messy bush that stood out on all directions! She also had emerald green eyes and not brown likes Matt's.
Matt bent down and picked her and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Tessa giggled and flashed her tiny little white teeth as she smiled widely. "Right, let's go find mum and tell her that we're taking you for a ride on a horse!" Matt laughed twirling round and round. Tessa laughed happily as she clutched his shoulders, Matt began jogging up the stairs before turning round and facing Beth. "It is alright isn't it? If we take her round the garden once or twice?"
"Of course! I think it'll be fun." Beth said, 'she certainly looks like she'll enjoy it!' she thought silently to herself watching Matt tickle her as he ran up the stairs to his mum. He was very good with little children Beth thought. There must be a very big age gap between him and his sisters. And he must love them very much.
Matt turned round again when he reached the top of the stairs, "Are you coming or what?"
"Ja, sure." Beth answered running up to join him.