Chapter 1
The morning sun struck the Wescot residence almost unexpectedly. The office buildings in the distance, built over 5 years ago made a most terrific wall that blocked it from appearing until it was well into the late morning. It had made Xenia sad when it first happened, as she was accustomed to the sun waking her up, but as she was only 5 years old at the time, she quickly forgot about it. In fact, not long after that she began imagining that the buildings were a giant castle in the distance, towering away from her house and lording over the countryside, like in the stories her gram told her.
Xenia didn't dream of castles anymore though. She was older now and didn't have time for magic castles. She yawned and got up from her bed and stretched. She looked out her window down to the playground, and to a little further where she saw their next door neighbour putting out some milk for her cats.
"Xenia!" a voice bellowed, "Come down for breakfast dear, or you won't have time to eat before the bus gets here". Xenia hurried up and got dressed. She didn't want to be late as the first period was free and she and Jo were going to decide what they were going to wear at next week's school party. She had some ideas, but since they were going to go as a team, they both had to agree. She ran out her bedroom door only to run face first into her father, who was in his pyjamas, and looked tired.
"Hey there little cannon! In a hurry to get to school?" His face looked tired, but it had lit up as soon as he saw his daughter.
"Yeah dad, I'm meeting with Jo before class. We're making plans about next week."
"Oh, the Halloween Party eh?"
"Yep!" she grinned. Then she remembered." Say, you are going to take us trick or treating, aren't you dad?. You're not working nights again" Her father's smile faded a bit.
"I already asked my boss about it. I think I'll be free of night shifts all next week." He smiled as he said that, but Xenia knew that it wasn't up to him. Still she beamed a smile at him and grabbed him for a hug.
"Thankies!!"
She let go, and ran down to the kitchen. Her mother was there at the table drinking her morning coffee, in her business suit. On the table, right next to her was a plate of eggs and a bowl of cereal.
"Come on dear, you are going to be late! You know my office is the other way so I can't take you to school if you are late"
"I know Mom" sighed Xenia, who had heard this argument at least a hundred times before. She had never missed the bus in the whole of last year that she had been on it, after her mom changed jobs and couldn't drive her anymore. But still it was the same every morning. She quickly ate her cereal, but only picked at her eggs. As she was finishing up her glass of orange juice, her dad came down.
"I'm off to bed dears" he said yawning." I'll go do the shopping this afternoon. Is there anything particular that my two angels will need?"
"Donald, we need some batteries, the clock in the dining room stopped"
"Right. Harriet dear. We go through a lot of those don't we? We changed those what, 3 years ago?" grimaced Mr Wescot.
"Well dad, 3 years is a long time! You can't expect them to magically run forever!" said Xenia with a laugh.
At that comment Xenia thought she saw her parents go a bit tense. But she must have imagined it, because her mother laughed as well and said "Right you are Xenia dear. Right you are. Now get your stuff and go outside. The bus should be coming soon."
Xenia grabbed her backpack, kissed her mom and dad and went towards the door. She suddenly stopped and turned back.
"Dad, can you buy me materials for our costume from the market? I don't know what we'll need yet but I can call you from my cell phone after you wake up."
He nodded. "Alright, just don't call to early, I need my sleep"
"Yep!" she shouted. Then she ran outside to the sound of an approaching bus.
"Zee! Zeeee!" Xenia heard behind her as she was walking away from the bus, towards the soccer field. A skinny, black-haired girl was running towards her.
"Morning" Xenia said as the skinny girl approached. "Greetings to my fellow buccaneer Jo Redbeard"
Jo grimaced." I see three things wrong with that. Firstly you know how I hate even the thought of water. Secondly we haven't agreed on a costume yet. And Thirdly, it would be Jo Blackbeard." She said poking Xenia on the shoulder at every point
"Point taken, point taken!" laughed Xenia "Don't make me walk the plank, please!"
Both girls laughed their way to the old study hall, where they sat down
"So if I'm not mistaken girlfriend, you want us to go around like pirates?" asked Jo, inquiringly.
"That's the plan. Pirates are cool"
"I'd rather go as something futuristic, like space travelers" retorted Jo
"Come on" laughed Xenia,dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand "space travel is what everyone will be doing, since the first manned mission to mars left last month. Lets do something original."
"I suppose you're right."
"Aren't I always?"
"Oh hush or I won't let you copy the English homework" said Jo, with a giant smile.
"Ok, ok deal. I give" laughed Xenia "I still clean house in most subjects though. So don't go telling people I'm a dunce."
"Deal, girlfriend" giggled Jo.
"So where are we going to get the stuff for our costumes? With my idea at least we could get suits from my dad. Hospital bio-suits can look authentic enough if we fix them up."
"Well we'll have to find some old style clothes, wont we?" said Xenia. "Hey!, we can look through my grandma's attic" There must be loads of weird stuff up there"
"Heck, maybe we can get an even better idea then pirates" said Jo jokingly.
"That's possible, there are loads of old stuff there." Said Xenia. Let's ask your mom to take us there after school."
"Sure. I'll call her on after next period"
"Why after next period?"
"Because in 3 minutes we are due in Mrs Atkins' class" said Jo, getting up and picking up her bag.
Xenia groans. "I hope I'm not tested today, She's always cranky in the mornings"
And they left study hall, half-running to class.
Jo's mom was only too happy to drive them over, so the two girls were giddy with anticipation all that day. Xenia had only been to her gran's house once, as she lived on the other side of the city in her old house. Her mom and dad had asked her many times to sell that old place and move in with them, but she wouldn't have it. "I have too many memories in this old place" she had said the last time the topic was broached in front of Xenia.
As far as Xenia was concerened, Gran was absolutely right to want to live in her old house. She remembered the place to be big, way to big for her, grandpa and their 3 kids. It looked out on to a large field. It must have been in the family for a real long time, because the various floors, and wings looked like they had been built and added at different times, Xenia thought, as the family grew. She rememebered the place was full of odd stuff she figured were old family heirlooms. "We're sure to find a couple of pirates' costumes in here" thought Xenia as Jo's mom's car turned around off the motorway.
"Wicked!" exclaimed Jo as they neared the house. "You never told me your gran had such a cool place for a home Zee!" she said as she pressed her nose on the car window, and then after thinking it over, lowering the window and sticking her head out. Her mom didn't like that. "Josephine, get your head back in the car right now!" she shouted.
"As Jo did just that, Xenia saw her grandmother in the distance sitting outside the house and someone sitting beside her, his back turned to Xenia in the patio next to the front door. As they arrived to the access road nearing the house, the car slowed down as not to make to much dirt fly up, as the road was still not paved, In fact it was the only unpaved road Xenia could remember ever seeing. Still they rose quite a bit of a dustcloud till the car finally stopped. Xenia saw her gran and her guest get to their feet, straining to see the occupants of the car that had just stopped in front of their house, but the car windows still had the tint on so they were unseen.
Xenia opened the door and shouted "Hi granny!" and ran towards her grandmother.
"Xenia! My Xenia! Oh how wonderful to see you my girl! And you've grown so much, it can't be only 2 months since my last visit." said Gran, beaming towards her granddaughter.
"You got your ears pierced too?"she exclaimed, staring at her left ear. "! I can't believe your mother allow you to do it so young? I thought Harriet had more sense!"
"Oh gran, they're clip-ons, see?" Xenia removed her left earring, going red that her grandmother was criticising her in front of her best friend.
"Oh, alright then dear" said Gran. "Who is your friend?" she asked, pointing at Jo.
"Oh, Gran this is Jo, she's my best friend" Xenia said quickly,"and this is her mom. She drove us here."
Jo's mom took a step forward and extended her hand.ยป Abbey Allington- Dursley--rather just Allington." she amended "Pleased to meet you" she said smiling.
Gran's eyes furrowed at the sound of the name. Then she smiled and shook the hand being offered, a bit stifly. "Thank you for taking the time to drive my daughter to see me Mrs Allington"
"Xenia is a wonderful child. and she and my Josephine are inseparable" she said. "I didn't mind at all." said Mrs Allington." And please call me Abbey"
"Thank you dear, and you can call me Molly." Gran smiled "Oh where are my manners!" she suddenly turned towards her other guest that had been sitting quietly and smiling. Xenia looked at him. It was an old man, around sixty, sitting there with white hair all around his bald head.
"Xenia, Josephine, Abbey, meet Ted Tonks." The old man smiled and nodded to all of them, then turned to Xenia. "Hello and very nice to meet all of you. Xenia, its very nice meeting you after all your grandmother has told me."
Xenia shook the old man's hand "Do you live close by Mr. Tonks?"
"Quite close, I'd have to say!" Mr. Tonks said.
"Mr Tonks' appartment building was being torn down, so his daughter asked me if I could rent him a room." explained Gran "He's been living here for the last month"
"Thats great Gran!" shouted Xenia. She knew her parents were worried that she was all alone here. Then she realized the blunder she made. "I mean--I didn't mean that it was great that you lost your house Mr Tonks" she blurted out apologetically. Her grandmother's gaze looked admonishing, but Mr Tonks just laughed.
"It's alright m'dear! I'd rather stay here then in that old appt building. the scenery is better and I rather enjoy the conversation." said Mr Tonks, his eyes shining.
Gran fidgeted a bit at this but said "This is all well, but you girls didn't say what you came here for. I doubt you came here to talk to Mr. Tonks. Do your parents know you are here?"
"I called their home after my daughter called me this morning, and left a message, they should get it when they return home." Mrs Allington cut in. "We can call them from here if you wish."
"No, no dear, I never had a tellyphone installed" said Gran. "Never liked them." Mrs Allington looked astonished but Xenia cut in "I have my cell phone with me, mom & dad can call me whenever they want. And dad has the night shift this last week so he would have woke up and gotten your message by now Mrs Allington" she said, all in one breath. Then she turned to her grandmother.
"You know how Halloween is coming up next week, Gran? Well we were hoping you would let us look through your attic so that we can find stuff to make our costumes"
"Oh wonderful! And what are you two going as?" said Gran, apparently the thought of Halloween rose her spirits quite a bit.
"Pirates!" Both Xenia and Jo shouted.
"My, my" smiled Gran. "Well there is a whole lot of stuff in the attic. You ought to find something there to make a decent pirate costume" she said thoughtfully.
Gran got up and got in the house, slowly but surely. She came out a few moments later, with a large metal key.
"Here's the key to the attic girls. Its up the main staircase, keep climbing till you find the last door. Just be mindful of your clothes, as I haven't been up there in years. The dust must be terrible."
"Thankies Gran!" Xenia shouted and both the girls jumped up and hugged her. Xenia grabbed the key and both girls ran into the house.
"Ah.. children" sighed Gran. "I remember when i could handle a half-dozen of them. Don't have the energy anymore. Would you like a cup of tea as we wait Abbey? They could be up there a long time."
Mrs Allington, who had nodded to the previous comment, said "I think you're right. I'd love a cup, thank you Molly" and Gran went back in the kitchen.
As Xenia and Jo crossed the kitchen, they looked around for the staircase. It was past the living room, in the opposite hall, so they crossed it to get to it. Suddenly Xenia's attention was diverted by a glitter on the wall. She stopped to look at the source of it, and caused Jo to bump into her.
"Oomph! Hey, what's the deal Zee?" cried Jo, who turned towards what Xenia was looking at. It was a shiny metallic badge. It was bright red with a large golden "P" on it and the glitter was caused by a ray of sunshine shining through a crack in the thick curtains. As the girls looked they saw that the badge was one of a collection of badges framed in a small wooden frame.
"What's that?" asked Jo
"It looks like old school badges" said Xenia. "My dad told me he went to an old private school as a kid. So did my aunt and uncle. Dad said I'd probably have gone there if it hadn't shut down. This looks like the kind of things they would have there."
"What does that "P" mean?" inquired Jo, looking at the collection of badges
"Preppie?" offered Xenia with a laugh
"It could stand for 'Prefect'. Other private schools have prefects"
"Yeah, could be!" said Xenia. "And what about that HB Badge?"
"Beats me."
"There are loads of these things!" commented Jo. "These look old!" She pointed at the top row of badges that was identical to the bottom row, but indeed looked older, the metal dull and the golden "P" was chipped in one of them. "I wonder how old these are."
"Let's ask Gran when we're done. Now come on, we got a costume to find"
They crossed the hall towards the staircase and started climbing it. The wooden staircase creaked loudly but appeared to be sturdy enough. They climbed past the next floor, and continued until they found themselves in front of a large wooden door, at the end of the staircase. Xenia put the key in the lock and opened it.
Downstairs, Molly, Ted Tonks and Abbey were all sitting down drinking tea. Gran had just brought Mrs Allington her cup and a fresh one for mr Tonks and was taking a sip from her own cup. Abbey spoke up, looking at the house:
"This is an awfully large house for one person Molly. How do you manage it alone?"
"Yes, it is quite large." said Molly. "This house has been in my family for many generations. Many were the times were over 10 people lived in here, but now.." she paused, "its just me. And Theodore here, of course"
"Far be it for me to intrude on your family's history here, Molly dear" said Mr. Tonks, who was looking at the two women with a happy look in his eyes. "I have to say you have kept this place looking quite well, even before I came here"
"Yes, well" said Gran flushing slightly at the compliment "it used to be so much easier, back when.. back when I was younger. It is just too tiring to keep this place the way I used too." She tilted her head upwards looking at the house "My son and his wife have asked me numerous times to come live with them, sell this place, but I just couldn't."
"I think this is a wonderful house, Molly, I don't understand why Don and Harriet wouldn't stay here, This place would have been wonderful for Xenia to grow up in, wouldn't it?" replied mr Tonks, in an inquiring tone.
Abbey spoke. "I'd have to agree Molly, this house is great for raising a family, I hope I'm not being too nosey to ask how come they didn't stay here?"
Molly's eyes closed a bit, as she appeared to be remembering something disturbing, and said "Well at the time they got married.. Well, Ginny, my youngest was still living here, and they both worked very far from here to commute. This was before the highspeed monorail you see," she explained. "So they decided to buy a house instead. Afterwards, Ginny left for London, and I remained here, alone with my memories." She paused. "I don't blame them of course, its their own life, and I have plenty here to keep me busy."
Abbey nodded. Molly looked at her and smiled "Now, dear, you'll forgive me in turn if I'm being too nosey, but you mentioned your name being Dursley?"
Abbey tensed a bit. "Well no." she appeared reluctant to talk about this, but was clearly feeling she had to reply, as her own question had been answered. "Not any more. It was my married name, but I no longer use it since the divorce, unless it is for Josephine's sake. Why do you ask?"
"Well I knew of a family of Dursleys in Surrey" said Molly, "with a man called ..." she strained her mind thinking of the name "Vernon."
"Vernon is my father-in-law's name." said Abbey, in a mild surpise. "So you knew Dudley?"
"Not personally. I knew a cousin of his and he had told me about them" said Molly, still looking at Abbey.
"Ah, I never knew he had a cousin. Dudley never talked much about his relatives. I think I only met one aunt of his at our wedding, but she never visited us. Dudley's family wasn't too happy having me in the fold" said Abbey.
Ah," said Molly "that's the Dursleys I remember" she told herself under her breath.
"Excuse me again, but you don't look at all the kind of person that I would picture ending up with the Dudley I knew of"
Abbey smiled. "Well you can chalk it up to being young and infatuated." She took a sip of her tea, apparently collecting her thoughts "I met Dudley in college. He was a member of the boxing team, and was quite an accomplished fighter. I was young, and fell for the big sports hero, and I couldn't see his faults at all. After he finished, he made me quit and we got married."
She stopped talking, took a sip of her tea. Molly said "I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to make you bring all that up again"
"Its alright, Molly. Its been nearly a decade, I've gotten used to it.' said Abbey and continued. "I don't know if you knew how much Dudley was dependant on his parents for his decisions" she said after a while, "but they had never approved of me. I think marrying me was the only rebellious thing he ever did. Not that it lasted." she chuckled.
"His father came to him one day and told him that if he didn't divorce me, he'd receive no part of his family inheritance."
Molly almost dropped her cup, which was luckily nearly empty "He didn't! That no-good, inconsiderate, bloated toad!"
Abbey, smiling at her indignation, continued. "Oh he did. And my Dudley, who had been counting on his father's money, had the papers drawn up in a week."
"I got custody of Josephine, and the court awarded me most of the joint possesions, which weren't that much. The house as well. Turned out that old Vernon had found a client of his that had a daughter he thought perfect for Dudley. The large inheritance she had from her grandmother was a big incentive I'm sure. He married her within the year, and they are living in Canada, where her lands are."
"And he just left his wife and daughter like that?" said Mr Tonks, incredulously.
"Dudley was never one who cared for anything but his own pleasure. I didn't realized it until it was too late, Im afraid to say." said Abbey. "Still he gave me Jo, so he did something right."
"Yes, that is a wonderful child." Said Molly. And she's such good friends with my Xenia."
"They are quite inseparable" said Abbey, "I can't recall being that close with any of my friends at her age. They are always together. Its uncanny"
"Not that uncanny, Abbey dear, I knew a group of children that was just as inseparable." said Molly, finishing her tea.
As the girls entered through the door, they put their hands over their mouths, as the dust particles, disturbed after who knows how long, were suddenly moving again, flying around the room. The attic was dark, and the few beams of light shining though the papered-up windows, sliced through the dusty atmosphere like long pin-needles. Jo coughed.
"Boy, your Gran wasn't kidding. She must have not come up here for years!" she exclaimed, pulling out a handkerchief that she placed over her mouth.
Xenia nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right. Look at all this stuff!"
They both looked around. The entire room was full with all sorts of boxes and trunks. There was an assortment of old brooms, which were piled in a corner, an old grandfather clock, which was facing the wall and had a great crack on the left wooden panel, some old pots, a dusty old style radio, a coat rack and an old couch. On the other side of the room there was about a half-dozen trunks, stacked in threes.
"Well we better get started, or we'll be here all day," stated Xenia, pulling a box close to her and opening it. Jo joined her and they started emptying the box. The box contained clothes, old-fashioned pants, and shirts, which Xenia guessed must have been her grandfather's. They were large, but in drab and grey colors. "Well we can't make much from these things, we need something more colorful to be pirates" said Xenia.
"Let's try those other boxes" offered Jo, grabbing a large, box off a pile and opening it. It contained a bunch of old sweaters, some used, but quite a lot of them had a vivid purple color, apparently never worn. "Wow, these look hand-knitted!" said Jo, digging deep in the box, to see if they went all the way down. "There must be over thirty of these in here. Did your grandpa have a shop?"
"No, he didn't. Gran made these for the family. Mom and dad still have one of these purple ones each." She pushed the box aside. "I didn't know they had such a stock though."
They went on opening boxes, and looking though stuff in them, but discovering nothing towards a pirates outfit, except two pairs of large boots, that on their smaller feet, could be made out like pirate boots, and an eye patch, which they found in an old medicine box, but that was white, and the strings were too small for either of them. They didn't mind the unfruitfulness of their search as they commented about the stuff they found in box after box of memorabilia there. One box contained a bunch of yellowed out comic books, which the girls took some time off and began to read. They had never seen those stories before, and but was fun reading about a weird guy who was called a muggle and got himself in loads of dangerous and impossible situations, so they lost about a half-hour just passing though them. After a while they found a box full of odd old bottles, that were obviously old cleaning stuff, as they had never seen those brands before, or even remember hearing names like "Magical Mess remover" or "Doxicide" or "Dolothon Darbold's Dirt Disapparator" "With names like these, no wonder they went out of business" said Jo, and they both laughed.
"Lets try a trunk" said Xenia, seeing that their luck wasn't improving "Maybe there are some good stuff there".
Together they pulled down the top left trunk. It had the initials "F.W" on it.
"This must have been my uncle Fred's", said Xenia, trying to open the trunk, then looking at the padlock on the side. "It's locked" she said. "Lets try the next one"
They didn't have luck on the next one either, as it too had a padlock. The third one however was unlocked, and they opened it. There were a lot of books in there, rolls of paper, some quills, and a bunch of old bottles.
"This looks like a school trunk. All of these books.." said Xenia, but her attention was captured by a vivid red cloth hidden beneath some of the yellowed rolls of paper.
She pushed the rolls aside and pulled out the scarlet object.
"Look at this!" she said, grabbing it and pulling it out of the trunk. She held it up
"What in the world is that?" asked Jo.
Can't you tell? It's a costume, like a wizards costume! She pulled it over her shoulders and did a twirl.
So? Aren't we looking for a pirate costume?
"Yeah, but wizards are even cooler then pirates", said Xenia, putting the robe properly on, wearing the sleeves and sticking her hands in the abnormally long and narrow pockets "This must be an old Halloween costume. She looked at the robe. It had a little crest on the corner that had a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle, with a large ornate H in the middle. Let's see if there are more of this stuff in here". She went back to the trunk and right from were she had found the first robe, she pulled out an old pointy hat and a second red robe.
"Here take this, and try it on" said Xenia, passing the new robe
Jo took it, put it on and stood in front of Xenia, each examining the other.
"You know, I think you are right. These things are cool" she said, grinning. "Wizards it is then!"
Xenia looked at the two of them. Being almost the same shape, the looked identical with the robes on. "They match too. We will look great at the party."
"Why do you suppose there are two sets of robes here?"
"Well you saw the sweaters, maybe gran made them" Xenia said, putting the pointy hat on her head. "This looks good on me, don't you think?"
"Hey, no fair", said Jo, laughing, "where's my hat? "
"Well this one's mine", said Xenia, admiring herself in a dusty mirror across the room."Look in the trunk, there probably more stuff, further down"
Jo leaned over the trunk, searching for a hat, tossing stuff to the floor as she looked for the hat that would make her costume complete. As she reached the bottom of the trunk, she pulled out a long square box, like the sort used for keeping high quality fountain pens, only longer and taller. She almost tossed it aside and keep looking for a hat, but the nice finish on the wooden cover got her attention. "Zee, look at this thing."
"Whats that?" said Xenia, who barely turned away from the mirror where she was admiring her disguise.
Don't know yet "She popped the small latch on the box and looked inside. her eyes shined.
"Wow!" she said. "Zee, you can keep the hat, I found me a wand!"
"What?!" exclaimed Xenia, "Oh that's great Jo, that's just too perfect!" she said as she rushed up to Jo, who was swinging her newfound accessory in the air, making twirls, eight-figures, zig-zags and just plain flicks as if she were casting a spell like in the movies.
"Is there another one?" said Xenia, as her eyes fell back into the trunk, looking eagerly. But the trunk was nearly empty, its contents strewn all over the dusty floor.
"oh, don't pout Zee!" "I wasn't" replied immediately Xenia, who was however feeling envious.
"Listen, if you really want one, we can make another wand, I think."said Jo, reading her friend's face.
Xenia didn't want to appear spoiled and selfish. "No, there's no need. This way we'll each look alike, but also be different, so people can tell us apart at the party" she said earnestly.
Jo's face lit up. "Its going to be marvelous Zee. I bet we'll have the best costumes there!"
"I think so too" said Xenia brightly. "Now lets put all this stuff back in its place. This place looks like its been atomized"
And the girls stuffed all the stuff back in the trunk, as the crack of light from the window was beginning to disappear.
The morning sun struck the Wescot residence almost unexpectedly. The office buildings in the distance, built over 5 years ago made a most terrific wall that blocked it from appearing until it was well into the late morning. It had made Xenia sad when it first happened, as she was accustomed to the sun waking her up, but as she was only 5 years old at the time, she quickly forgot about it. In fact, not long after that she began imagining that the buildings were a giant castle in the distance, towering away from her house and lording over the countryside, like in the stories her gram told her.
Xenia didn't dream of castles anymore though. She was older now and didn't have time for magic castles. She yawned and got up from her bed and stretched. She looked out her window down to the playground, and to a little further where she saw their next door neighbour putting out some milk for her cats.
"Xenia!" a voice bellowed, "Come down for breakfast dear, or you won't have time to eat before the bus gets here". Xenia hurried up and got dressed. She didn't want to be late as the first period was free and she and Jo were going to decide what they were going to wear at next week's school party. She had some ideas, but since they were going to go as a team, they both had to agree. She ran out her bedroom door only to run face first into her father, who was in his pyjamas, and looked tired.
"Hey there little cannon! In a hurry to get to school?" His face looked tired, but it had lit up as soon as he saw his daughter.
"Yeah dad, I'm meeting with Jo before class. We're making plans about next week."
"Oh, the Halloween Party eh?"
"Yep!" she grinned. Then she remembered." Say, you are going to take us trick or treating, aren't you dad?. You're not working nights again" Her father's smile faded a bit.
"I already asked my boss about it. I think I'll be free of night shifts all next week." He smiled as he said that, but Xenia knew that it wasn't up to him. Still she beamed a smile at him and grabbed him for a hug.
"Thankies!!"
She let go, and ran down to the kitchen. Her mother was there at the table drinking her morning coffee, in her business suit. On the table, right next to her was a plate of eggs and a bowl of cereal.
"Come on dear, you are going to be late! You know my office is the other way so I can't take you to school if you are late"
"I know Mom" sighed Xenia, who had heard this argument at least a hundred times before. She had never missed the bus in the whole of last year that she had been on it, after her mom changed jobs and couldn't drive her anymore. But still it was the same every morning. She quickly ate her cereal, but only picked at her eggs. As she was finishing up her glass of orange juice, her dad came down.
"I'm off to bed dears" he said yawning." I'll go do the shopping this afternoon. Is there anything particular that my two angels will need?"
"Donald, we need some batteries, the clock in the dining room stopped"
"Right. Harriet dear. We go through a lot of those don't we? We changed those what, 3 years ago?" grimaced Mr Wescot.
"Well dad, 3 years is a long time! You can't expect them to magically run forever!" said Xenia with a laugh.
At that comment Xenia thought she saw her parents go a bit tense. But she must have imagined it, because her mother laughed as well and said "Right you are Xenia dear. Right you are. Now get your stuff and go outside. The bus should be coming soon."
Xenia grabbed her backpack, kissed her mom and dad and went towards the door. She suddenly stopped and turned back.
"Dad, can you buy me materials for our costume from the market? I don't know what we'll need yet but I can call you from my cell phone after you wake up."
He nodded. "Alright, just don't call to early, I need my sleep"
"Yep!" she shouted. Then she ran outside to the sound of an approaching bus.
"Zee! Zeeee!" Xenia heard behind her as she was walking away from the bus, towards the soccer field. A skinny, black-haired girl was running towards her.
"Morning" Xenia said as the skinny girl approached. "Greetings to my fellow buccaneer Jo Redbeard"
Jo grimaced." I see three things wrong with that. Firstly you know how I hate even the thought of water. Secondly we haven't agreed on a costume yet. And Thirdly, it would be Jo Blackbeard." She said poking Xenia on the shoulder at every point
"Point taken, point taken!" laughed Xenia "Don't make me walk the plank, please!"
Both girls laughed their way to the old study hall, where they sat down
"So if I'm not mistaken girlfriend, you want us to go around like pirates?" asked Jo, inquiringly.
"That's the plan. Pirates are cool"
"I'd rather go as something futuristic, like space travelers" retorted Jo
"Come on" laughed Xenia,dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand "space travel is what everyone will be doing, since the first manned mission to mars left last month. Lets do something original."
"I suppose you're right."
"Aren't I always?"
"Oh hush or I won't let you copy the English homework" said Jo, with a giant smile.
"Ok, ok deal. I give" laughed Xenia "I still clean house in most subjects though. So don't go telling people I'm a dunce."
"Deal, girlfriend" giggled Jo.
"So where are we going to get the stuff for our costumes? With my idea at least we could get suits from my dad. Hospital bio-suits can look authentic enough if we fix them up."
"Well we'll have to find some old style clothes, wont we?" said Xenia. "Hey!, we can look through my grandma's attic" There must be loads of weird stuff up there"
"Heck, maybe we can get an even better idea then pirates" said Jo jokingly.
"That's possible, there are loads of old stuff there." Said Xenia. Let's ask your mom to take us there after school."
"Sure. I'll call her on after next period"
"Why after next period?"
"Because in 3 minutes we are due in Mrs Atkins' class" said Jo, getting up and picking up her bag.
Xenia groans. "I hope I'm not tested today, She's always cranky in the mornings"
And they left study hall, half-running to class.
Jo's mom was only too happy to drive them over, so the two girls were giddy with anticipation all that day. Xenia had only been to her gran's house once, as she lived on the other side of the city in her old house. Her mom and dad had asked her many times to sell that old place and move in with them, but she wouldn't have it. "I have too many memories in this old place" she had said the last time the topic was broached in front of Xenia.
As far as Xenia was concerened, Gran was absolutely right to want to live in her old house. She remembered the place to be big, way to big for her, grandpa and their 3 kids. It looked out on to a large field. It must have been in the family for a real long time, because the various floors, and wings looked like they had been built and added at different times, Xenia thought, as the family grew. She rememebered the place was full of odd stuff she figured were old family heirlooms. "We're sure to find a couple of pirates' costumes in here" thought Xenia as Jo's mom's car turned around off the motorway.
"Wicked!" exclaimed Jo as they neared the house. "You never told me your gran had such a cool place for a home Zee!" she said as she pressed her nose on the car window, and then after thinking it over, lowering the window and sticking her head out. Her mom didn't like that. "Josephine, get your head back in the car right now!" she shouted.
"As Jo did just that, Xenia saw her grandmother in the distance sitting outside the house and someone sitting beside her, his back turned to Xenia in the patio next to the front door. As they arrived to the access road nearing the house, the car slowed down as not to make to much dirt fly up, as the road was still not paved, In fact it was the only unpaved road Xenia could remember ever seeing. Still they rose quite a bit of a dustcloud till the car finally stopped. Xenia saw her gran and her guest get to their feet, straining to see the occupants of the car that had just stopped in front of their house, but the car windows still had the tint on so they were unseen.
Xenia opened the door and shouted "Hi granny!" and ran towards her grandmother.
"Xenia! My Xenia! Oh how wonderful to see you my girl! And you've grown so much, it can't be only 2 months since my last visit." said Gran, beaming towards her granddaughter.
"You got your ears pierced too?"she exclaimed, staring at her left ear. "! I can't believe your mother allow you to do it so young? I thought Harriet had more sense!"
"Oh gran, they're clip-ons, see?" Xenia removed her left earring, going red that her grandmother was criticising her in front of her best friend.
"Oh, alright then dear" said Gran. "Who is your friend?" she asked, pointing at Jo.
"Oh, Gran this is Jo, she's my best friend" Xenia said quickly,"and this is her mom. She drove us here."
Jo's mom took a step forward and extended her hand.ยป Abbey Allington- Dursley--rather just Allington." she amended "Pleased to meet you" she said smiling.
Gran's eyes furrowed at the sound of the name. Then she smiled and shook the hand being offered, a bit stifly. "Thank you for taking the time to drive my daughter to see me Mrs Allington"
"Xenia is a wonderful child. and she and my Josephine are inseparable" she said. "I didn't mind at all." said Mrs Allington." And please call me Abbey"
"Thank you dear, and you can call me Molly." Gran smiled "Oh where are my manners!" she suddenly turned towards her other guest that had been sitting quietly and smiling. Xenia looked at him. It was an old man, around sixty, sitting there with white hair all around his bald head.
"Xenia, Josephine, Abbey, meet Ted Tonks." The old man smiled and nodded to all of them, then turned to Xenia. "Hello and very nice to meet all of you. Xenia, its very nice meeting you after all your grandmother has told me."
Xenia shook the old man's hand "Do you live close by Mr. Tonks?"
"Quite close, I'd have to say!" Mr. Tonks said.
"Mr Tonks' appartment building was being torn down, so his daughter asked me if I could rent him a room." explained Gran "He's been living here for the last month"
"Thats great Gran!" shouted Xenia. She knew her parents were worried that she was all alone here. Then she realized the blunder she made. "I mean--I didn't mean that it was great that you lost your house Mr Tonks" she blurted out apologetically. Her grandmother's gaze looked admonishing, but Mr Tonks just laughed.
"It's alright m'dear! I'd rather stay here then in that old appt building. the scenery is better and I rather enjoy the conversation." said Mr Tonks, his eyes shining.
Gran fidgeted a bit at this but said "This is all well, but you girls didn't say what you came here for. I doubt you came here to talk to Mr. Tonks. Do your parents know you are here?"
"I called their home after my daughter called me this morning, and left a message, they should get it when they return home." Mrs Allington cut in. "We can call them from here if you wish."
"No, no dear, I never had a tellyphone installed" said Gran. "Never liked them." Mrs Allington looked astonished but Xenia cut in "I have my cell phone with me, mom & dad can call me whenever they want. And dad has the night shift this last week so he would have woke up and gotten your message by now Mrs Allington" she said, all in one breath. Then she turned to her grandmother.
"You know how Halloween is coming up next week, Gran? Well we were hoping you would let us look through your attic so that we can find stuff to make our costumes"
"Oh wonderful! And what are you two going as?" said Gran, apparently the thought of Halloween rose her spirits quite a bit.
"Pirates!" Both Xenia and Jo shouted.
"My, my" smiled Gran. "Well there is a whole lot of stuff in the attic. You ought to find something there to make a decent pirate costume" she said thoughtfully.
Gran got up and got in the house, slowly but surely. She came out a few moments later, with a large metal key.
"Here's the key to the attic girls. Its up the main staircase, keep climbing till you find the last door. Just be mindful of your clothes, as I haven't been up there in years. The dust must be terrible."
"Thankies Gran!" Xenia shouted and both the girls jumped up and hugged her. Xenia grabbed the key and both girls ran into the house.
"Ah.. children" sighed Gran. "I remember when i could handle a half-dozen of them. Don't have the energy anymore. Would you like a cup of tea as we wait Abbey? They could be up there a long time."
Mrs Allington, who had nodded to the previous comment, said "I think you're right. I'd love a cup, thank you Molly" and Gran went back in the kitchen.
As Xenia and Jo crossed the kitchen, they looked around for the staircase. It was past the living room, in the opposite hall, so they crossed it to get to it. Suddenly Xenia's attention was diverted by a glitter on the wall. She stopped to look at the source of it, and caused Jo to bump into her.
"Oomph! Hey, what's the deal Zee?" cried Jo, who turned towards what Xenia was looking at. It was a shiny metallic badge. It was bright red with a large golden "P" on it and the glitter was caused by a ray of sunshine shining through a crack in the thick curtains. As the girls looked they saw that the badge was one of a collection of badges framed in a small wooden frame.
"What's that?" asked Jo
"It looks like old school badges" said Xenia. "My dad told me he went to an old private school as a kid. So did my aunt and uncle. Dad said I'd probably have gone there if it hadn't shut down. This looks like the kind of things they would have there."
"What does that "P" mean?" inquired Jo, looking at the collection of badges
"Preppie?" offered Xenia with a laugh
"It could stand for 'Prefect'. Other private schools have prefects"
"Yeah, could be!" said Xenia. "And what about that HB Badge?"
"Beats me."
"There are loads of these things!" commented Jo. "These look old!" She pointed at the top row of badges that was identical to the bottom row, but indeed looked older, the metal dull and the golden "P" was chipped in one of them. "I wonder how old these are."
"Let's ask Gran when we're done. Now come on, we got a costume to find"
They crossed the hall towards the staircase and started climbing it. The wooden staircase creaked loudly but appeared to be sturdy enough. They climbed past the next floor, and continued until they found themselves in front of a large wooden door, at the end of the staircase. Xenia put the key in the lock and opened it.
Downstairs, Molly, Ted Tonks and Abbey were all sitting down drinking tea. Gran had just brought Mrs Allington her cup and a fresh one for mr Tonks and was taking a sip from her own cup. Abbey spoke up, looking at the house:
"This is an awfully large house for one person Molly. How do you manage it alone?"
"Yes, it is quite large." said Molly. "This house has been in my family for many generations. Many were the times were over 10 people lived in here, but now.." she paused, "its just me. And Theodore here, of course"
"Far be it for me to intrude on your family's history here, Molly dear" said Mr. Tonks, who was looking at the two women with a happy look in his eyes. "I have to say you have kept this place looking quite well, even before I came here"
"Yes, well" said Gran flushing slightly at the compliment "it used to be so much easier, back when.. back when I was younger. It is just too tiring to keep this place the way I used too." She tilted her head upwards looking at the house "My son and his wife have asked me numerous times to come live with them, sell this place, but I just couldn't."
"I think this is a wonderful house, Molly, I don't understand why Don and Harriet wouldn't stay here, This place would have been wonderful for Xenia to grow up in, wouldn't it?" replied mr Tonks, in an inquiring tone.
Abbey spoke. "I'd have to agree Molly, this house is great for raising a family, I hope I'm not being too nosey to ask how come they didn't stay here?"
Molly's eyes closed a bit, as she appeared to be remembering something disturbing, and said "Well at the time they got married.. Well, Ginny, my youngest was still living here, and they both worked very far from here to commute. This was before the highspeed monorail you see," she explained. "So they decided to buy a house instead. Afterwards, Ginny left for London, and I remained here, alone with my memories." She paused. "I don't blame them of course, its their own life, and I have plenty here to keep me busy."
Abbey nodded. Molly looked at her and smiled "Now, dear, you'll forgive me in turn if I'm being too nosey, but you mentioned your name being Dursley?"
Abbey tensed a bit. "Well no." she appeared reluctant to talk about this, but was clearly feeling she had to reply, as her own question had been answered. "Not any more. It was my married name, but I no longer use it since the divorce, unless it is for Josephine's sake. Why do you ask?"
"Well I knew of a family of Dursleys in Surrey" said Molly, "with a man called ..." she strained her mind thinking of the name "Vernon."
"Vernon is my father-in-law's name." said Abbey, in a mild surpise. "So you knew Dudley?"
"Not personally. I knew a cousin of his and he had told me about them" said Molly, still looking at Abbey.
"Ah, I never knew he had a cousin. Dudley never talked much about his relatives. I think I only met one aunt of his at our wedding, but she never visited us. Dudley's family wasn't too happy having me in the fold" said Abbey.
Ah," said Molly "that's the Dursleys I remember" she told herself under her breath.
"Excuse me again, but you don't look at all the kind of person that I would picture ending up with the Dudley I knew of"
Abbey smiled. "Well you can chalk it up to being young and infatuated." She took a sip of her tea, apparently collecting her thoughts "I met Dudley in college. He was a member of the boxing team, and was quite an accomplished fighter. I was young, and fell for the big sports hero, and I couldn't see his faults at all. After he finished, he made me quit and we got married."
She stopped talking, took a sip of her tea. Molly said "I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to make you bring all that up again"
"Its alright, Molly. Its been nearly a decade, I've gotten used to it.' said Abbey and continued. "I don't know if you knew how much Dudley was dependant on his parents for his decisions" she said after a while, "but they had never approved of me. I think marrying me was the only rebellious thing he ever did. Not that it lasted." she chuckled.
"His father came to him one day and told him that if he didn't divorce me, he'd receive no part of his family inheritance."
Molly almost dropped her cup, which was luckily nearly empty "He didn't! That no-good, inconsiderate, bloated toad!"
Abbey, smiling at her indignation, continued. "Oh he did. And my Dudley, who had been counting on his father's money, had the papers drawn up in a week."
"I got custody of Josephine, and the court awarded me most of the joint possesions, which weren't that much. The house as well. Turned out that old Vernon had found a client of his that had a daughter he thought perfect for Dudley. The large inheritance she had from her grandmother was a big incentive I'm sure. He married her within the year, and they are living in Canada, where her lands are."
"And he just left his wife and daughter like that?" said Mr Tonks, incredulously.
"Dudley was never one who cared for anything but his own pleasure. I didn't realized it until it was too late, Im afraid to say." said Abbey. "Still he gave me Jo, so he did something right."
"Yes, that is a wonderful child." Said Molly. And she's such good friends with my Xenia."
"They are quite inseparable" said Abbey, "I can't recall being that close with any of my friends at her age. They are always together. Its uncanny"
"Not that uncanny, Abbey dear, I knew a group of children that was just as inseparable." said Molly, finishing her tea.
As the girls entered through the door, they put their hands over their mouths, as the dust particles, disturbed after who knows how long, were suddenly moving again, flying around the room. The attic was dark, and the few beams of light shining though the papered-up windows, sliced through the dusty atmosphere like long pin-needles. Jo coughed.
"Boy, your Gran wasn't kidding. She must have not come up here for years!" she exclaimed, pulling out a handkerchief that she placed over her mouth.
Xenia nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right. Look at all this stuff!"
They both looked around. The entire room was full with all sorts of boxes and trunks. There was an assortment of old brooms, which were piled in a corner, an old grandfather clock, which was facing the wall and had a great crack on the left wooden panel, some old pots, a dusty old style radio, a coat rack and an old couch. On the other side of the room there was about a half-dozen trunks, stacked in threes.
"Well we better get started, or we'll be here all day," stated Xenia, pulling a box close to her and opening it. Jo joined her and they started emptying the box. The box contained clothes, old-fashioned pants, and shirts, which Xenia guessed must have been her grandfather's. They were large, but in drab and grey colors. "Well we can't make much from these things, we need something more colorful to be pirates" said Xenia.
"Let's try those other boxes" offered Jo, grabbing a large, box off a pile and opening it. It contained a bunch of old sweaters, some used, but quite a lot of them had a vivid purple color, apparently never worn. "Wow, these look hand-knitted!" said Jo, digging deep in the box, to see if they went all the way down. "There must be over thirty of these in here. Did your grandpa have a shop?"
"No, he didn't. Gran made these for the family. Mom and dad still have one of these purple ones each." She pushed the box aside. "I didn't know they had such a stock though."
They went on opening boxes, and looking though stuff in them, but discovering nothing towards a pirates outfit, except two pairs of large boots, that on their smaller feet, could be made out like pirate boots, and an eye patch, which they found in an old medicine box, but that was white, and the strings were too small for either of them. They didn't mind the unfruitfulness of their search as they commented about the stuff they found in box after box of memorabilia there. One box contained a bunch of yellowed out comic books, which the girls took some time off and began to read. They had never seen those stories before, and but was fun reading about a weird guy who was called a muggle and got himself in loads of dangerous and impossible situations, so they lost about a half-hour just passing though them. After a while they found a box full of odd old bottles, that were obviously old cleaning stuff, as they had never seen those brands before, or even remember hearing names like "Magical Mess remover" or "Doxicide" or "Dolothon Darbold's Dirt Disapparator" "With names like these, no wonder they went out of business" said Jo, and they both laughed.
"Lets try a trunk" said Xenia, seeing that their luck wasn't improving "Maybe there are some good stuff there".
Together they pulled down the top left trunk. It had the initials "F.W" on it.
"This must have been my uncle Fred's", said Xenia, trying to open the trunk, then looking at the padlock on the side. "It's locked" she said. "Lets try the next one"
They didn't have luck on the next one either, as it too had a padlock. The third one however was unlocked, and they opened it. There were a lot of books in there, rolls of paper, some quills, and a bunch of old bottles.
"This looks like a school trunk. All of these books.." said Xenia, but her attention was captured by a vivid red cloth hidden beneath some of the yellowed rolls of paper.
She pushed the rolls aside and pulled out the scarlet object.
"Look at this!" she said, grabbing it and pulling it out of the trunk. She held it up
"What in the world is that?" asked Jo.
Can't you tell? It's a costume, like a wizards costume! She pulled it over her shoulders and did a twirl.
So? Aren't we looking for a pirate costume?
"Yeah, but wizards are even cooler then pirates", said Xenia, putting the robe properly on, wearing the sleeves and sticking her hands in the abnormally long and narrow pockets "This must be an old Halloween costume. She looked at the robe. It had a little crest on the corner that had a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle, with a large ornate H in the middle. Let's see if there are more of this stuff in here". She went back to the trunk and right from were she had found the first robe, she pulled out an old pointy hat and a second red robe.
"Here take this, and try it on" said Xenia, passing the new robe
Jo took it, put it on and stood in front of Xenia, each examining the other.
"You know, I think you are right. These things are cool" she said, grinning. "Wizards it is then!"
Xenia looked at the two of them. Being almost the same shape, the looked identical with the robes on. "They match too. We will look great at the party."
"Why do you suppose there are two sets of robes here?"
"Well you saw the sweaters, maybe gran made them" Xenia said, putting the pointy hat on her head. "This looks good on me, don't you think?"
"Hey, no fair", said Jo, laughing, "where's my hat? "
"Well this one's mine", said Xenia, admiring herself in a dusty mirror across the room."Look in the trunk, there probably more stuff, further down"
Jo leaned over the trunk, searching for a hat, tossing stuff to the floor as she looked for the hat that would make her costume complete. As she reached the bottom of the trunk, she pulled out a long square box, like the sort used for keeping high quality fountain pens, only longer and taller. She almost tossed it aside and keep looking for a hat, but the nice finish on the wooden cover got her attention. "Zee, look at this thing."
"Whats that?" said Xenia, who barely turned away from the mirror where she was admiring her disguise.
Don't know yet "She popped the small latch on the box and looked inside. her eyes shined.
"Wow!" she said. "Zee, you can keep the hat, I found me a wand!"
"What?!" exclaimed Xenia, "Oh that's great Jo, that's just too perfect!" she said as she rushed up to Jo, who was swinging her newfound accessory in the air, making twirls, eight-figures, zig-zags and just plain flicks as if she were casting a spell like in the movies.
"Is there another one?" said Xenia, as her eyes fell back into the trunk, looking eagerly. But the trunk was nearly empty, its contents strewn all over the dusty floor.
"oh, don't pout Zee!" "I wasn't" replied immediately Xenia, who was however feeling envious.
"Listen, if you really want one, we can make another wand, I think."said Jo, reading her friend's face.
Xenia didn't want to appear spoiled and selfish. "No, there's no need. This way we'll each look alike, but also be different, so people can tell us apart at the party" she said earnestly.
Jo's face lit up. "Its going to be marvelous Zee. I bet we'll have the best costumes there!"
"I think so too" said Xenia brightly. "Now lets put all this stuff back in its place. This place looks like its been atomized"
And the girls stuffed all the stuff back in the trunk, as the crack of light from the window was beginning to disappear.
