Chapter 25

Little Slice of Heaven

"Little Slice of Heaven." That was what old Mrs. Rupert, Carolines grandmother, had

named her farm. The name was too well established to be changed now, so the current Ruperts

in residence had to live with the name. Lily loved the name, as did Mrs. Rupert, but Mr. Rupert

was not a very big fan. Whenever it was mentioned to him he would start talking about how his

crazy old mother had been quite a fanciful romantic. He could go on for hours on how crazy it

was to name a farm 'Little Slice of Heaven'.

Lily spun around fast in the fireplace, keeping her elbows tucked in. No matter how many

times she traveled like this she would never get used to it.

"Lily darling, I'm so glad you came!" Mrs. Rupert extended her hand to help Lily up. "We

sent Caroline over the moment your letter came darling, you simply must tell us all about it, but

not now, right now we'll show you to your room and get you all settled in. We were going to go

to Diagon Alley later to go shopping for a party that we're having. It's just a little get together,

some friends. To celebrate the holidays. And we need to get hostess gifts for some of the

other little gatherings we're going to, I was hoping you and Caroline- Oh, there you are Caroline,

thank goodness. We want to get Lily settled and then go into Diagon Alley, I need you and Lily

to help me pick out party decorations and hostess gifts." Mrs. Rupert was Lily's favorite mother

in the world. She was very kind and sweet, she wasn't the annoying kind of mom who bothered

you whenever she came around, she was fun. She was somewhat of a social butterfly, due to her

great politness to everyone and genorocity towards others who were less fortunate than herself.

She was the kind of mother Lily hoped to one day become. She always took the girls shopping

and they always had a good time.

"Love to mom, can Ben come too? I think he needs to replenish his school supplies."

"Oh of course, you kids can help me and then along to do what you need to do. We just

love Ben, Lily, he's such a sweet boy. So polite."

Caroline rolled her eyes at Lily, "come on Lily, you haven't officially met Ben yet, have

you?"

They went up the back staircase, rather than the wide sweeping red crpetted staircase in the

front hall. That staircase was used mainly for the Ruperts to make their formal entrances to balls,

there was a gold banister that Lily had spent many a happy time sliding down with Holly and

Alice. They dragged the trunk up the narrower, less formal staircase attached to the kitchen.

"Here Lily, this is your room. You've stayed here before, you know the drill. Ben is staying

down here." Lily's room was all blue. It had blue wallpaper the same shade as the flowers on the

blue bedspread. The curtains were a filmy lace material with flowers cut out of them to let in

sunlight, they were more for decoration than prectical use. From the window Lily had a great

view of the farmland. There was a barn painted red with a grain storage room adjacent.

Little Slice of Heaven had not been used as a farm for centuries, the barn still had horses in it,

and there were grooms who took care of them and made sure that the grounds did not fall into

disrepair, but there was not actually food grown on the lands. The fields were used as grazing

areas for the horses with trails all around the farm that could be riden on. The grain storage room

had been redone into a studio/office for Mr. Rupert.

There was a desk in her room as well, on it was a fishtank with blue fish in it. Lily loved this

room, everything was so coordinated, the only things not blue were the books on the blue

bookcase. Mrs. Rupert had such great taste, old Mrs. Rupert had let the place fall into ruin in

her old age, but Mrs. Rupert had decorated it very tastefully and had been working on making

the house perfect for years. She had succeded, with the help of an unlimited budget from Mr.

Rupert. Mr. and Mrs. Rupert had married for love, Mrs. Rupert had been poor, and Mr.

Rupert was betrothed and discustingly wealthy, it had been a fairlytale romance. Lily had heard

the story only once, but it always stuck to her. It had been lucky that Mrs. Rupert was a

pureblood, otherwise the marriage would never have been allowed.

Lily followed Caroline from the blue room down the wide hallway lined with photos of

Caroline, her sister, old family photos, and pictures of Carolines parents, grandparents, and

great grandparents now and as children. There was a very nice sequance of photos that depicted

Mrs. Rupert when she had been 15 with pictures of Caroline and her sister at their current ages

on both sides. Caroline looked a lot like her mother had looked, except that her mother had had

longer hair. Next to it there were baby pictures of the three, and pictures of Mrs. Rupert holding

Carolines hand and Merrideth, Carolines sister, in her arms. Their family was obviously very

close, the perfect family. They never argued or raised their voices, this was the kind of family

that Lily had always dreamed of.

Caroline knocked on the door to what Lily knew was the red room, an exact replica of her

own room, except decorated with deep reds and chocolate browns, if Lily remembered

correctly. There were goldfish in the tank and the curtains and bedspread were lined in brown.

There was also a broewn leather sofa. Everything was very tasteful and pretty.

"Come in." Called a voice from behind the door.

"Hey Ben, this is Lily, my friend, her family was being horrible so she's come to stay with us

too. I wanted to introduce you two, and tell you that we're going into Diagon Alley to shop for

hostess gifts and party decorations. You can get your ink and quills when we're there."

"Okay, sounds great, nice to meet you Lily." He held out his hand and Lily shook it. He was

tall, dark, and handsome, just as Caroline had described him, and she had been right about

something else as well. He really liked her. You could tell from the way he looked at her, he

watched her every movement, his eyes following her around the room. Lily smiled, taking in his

deep blue eyes and black hair, and height. He and Caroline were at least half a foot apart in

height. She was not short, she was average, but he was very tall. He was skinny, and not exactly

Lily's taste, but he was very attractive and she was happy for Caroline to have found him.

"Nice to meet you too Ben, Caroline do you think I'll be able to get an owl while we're

there? I really need one, and I have money now that my aunt left it for me. I'll just run back to

my rom and try to find the key."

"Of course. We'll meet you downstairs in a few." Lily left the room, quietly closing the door

behind her and smiling. She looked at the pictures as she went down the hall. There was Mr.

Rupert as a boy, there was what must be old Mrs. Rupert putting up the sign entitling her

property Little Slice of Heaven. The entire family history was here in these pictures. She saw

Old Mr. Rupert shaking hands with a professor and smiling. Eight year old Caroline waved to

her from a photo of her and her sister outside the barn.

Lily reentered her bedroom and searched through her trunk for the key. She pulled out her

robe and rummaged in the pocket. Here, she found the key. It was a shiny gold that glistened in

the early morning sunlight, the numbers 327 were etched as plainly as ever into the side. Lily

grabbed it, shoving it in her pocket as she raced out of her bedroom and down the hall. She

stopped short, breatheless outside the door of Bens room, she listened at the door for a few

moments then knocked.

"Come in." Deciding it was deffinately safe to enter, she opened the doorway.

"Ready to go?" Caroline asked her.

"Yup, all set."

"Okay, then lets go find mummy and we're off."