Chapter 9

Empty Soda Cans

After Church, Sarah brought Hermione and Ginny back to her house, and Abby and her mom followed. When they went inside Natalie and Sarah went into the kitchen, and Abby stayed with Hermione and Ginny in the family room.

"I am so jealous of both of you, being witches. I think that is so amazing," Abby told them as the sat down on the couch (Abby was on the chair).

Ginny smiled. "I'm surprised you even know about us. I mean if your mom knew that's one thing but I always thought magic was a lot more confidential."

"Oh it is," Abby said. "It's just that Aunt Sarah is very close to my family and I. My grandpa married Sarah's mom after his wife was killed in a car accident. My mom was an only child and she was 2 years older than Aunt Sarah."

"How old was Sarah when all this happened?" Hermione asked.

"Well, her dad left her family when she turned 11, you can guess why, and so it was just Aunt Sarah, her mom, and her big brother. But when she was 12 I think my grandpa came into the picture. Aunt Sarah's mom and he got married a year after. Except, he didn't move in right away because of his work. Apparently my mom went with him for the year he was away."

"I didn't know that Sarah had a brother," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Abby frowned. She leaned into them and whispered, "Well, I wasn't actually supposed to tell you that, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it. Aunt Sarah and her brother don't talk anymore, due to a big fight they had in his senior year. I don't know what it's about. I think to only one Aunt Sarah told what it was about was my mom, but she hasn't told me anything. But I've heard her and dad talking and I do know this. Aunt Sarah's brother got really drunk one night, and came back ordering Sarah around, so she did what she was told but got really fed up and I think that's what triggered the fight."

"Surely something else would have happened that caused them to stop talking," Ginny said, frowning.

"There is. Something really big was going on before that but I just don't know what it is," Abby said, her voice still not rising above a whisper.

"Do you know her brother?" Hermione asked, looking at the door that led to the kitchen, where a loud clatter had been heard.

"No. The last I heard he was in California. He—" Abby was cut off when the door opened.

"Come on in, girls, we made some tea," Natalie told them from the door. They stood up and went into the kitchen.

Sarah was at the table staring at Abby with her eyes narrowed. Abby turned red and took the mug that was sitting on the counter.

"What kind of tea is this?" Ginny asked as she smelled it.

"Well, we used tea bags I'm afraid, and American tea it much weaker than your tea, so you probably won't like it, but if you don't just feel free to go get something out of my fridge," Sarah responded, stirring the tea with her mug without taking a sip.

"Abby!" Natalie exclaimed, suddenly jumping to her feet.

"Yes mom?" Abby asked in a monotone voice that gave the impression that this was a common event.

Ginny and Hermione sat down and watched Natalie stick her mug in the fridge, and then running back and doing the same with Abby's.

"Hey!" Abby said angrily.

"Get up, you have dance practice, I just remembered!" Natalie said.

Abby rolled her eyes. "Can't I skip today mom? Sarah's just come back!"

"No you may not. You skipped last week because Sarah had left and then you skipped the week before because you sick!"

"I hate ballet mom!" Abby said as she stood and lifelessly hugged Sarah. "See you next week I suppose," she said dully to Sarah. She turned to Ginny and Hermione. "Nice to meet you two, I'll see you later." And she then slugged into the garage without looking at her mother.

"That child…" Natalie muttered before taking out her keys. "I'll see you Sarah. It was good to meet you to, see you later."

"Have a good one," Sarah said. Natalie nodded and rushed out.

"They were nice," Ginny said, breaking the silence after 10 minutes of not talking.

"Yes. And very informative," Sarah said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Abby shouldn't have told you what she did. She knows you're trustworthy because I brought you home, but she ought to be more careful. That girl knows more than she should about my brother."

"How did you know she told us that?" Ginny asked.

"I eavesdropped."

"Err, if you don't mind me asking, what did happen between you and your brother?" Hermione asked as she took a sip of her tea.

Sarah sighed. "Jake Bern was a bad person. That's all you need to know. I haven't talked to him in nearly 22 years, apart for a 5 second phone call. He isn't someone I regret knowing, but he is someone I regret liking."

"We didn't mean to be nosy," Ginny said.

"You weren't being nosy…I just haven't thought about Jake in a long time and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I bet he's homeless and on the street somewhere. And to think he was a 7 year old boy who let me play toy soldiers with him," Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

No one said anything, for a while, so Hermione broke the silence. "Are going to stay here for the rest of the day?"

"I was planning to. Why? Are you bored?" Sarah asked.

"No, no! I just wondered."

"I'm going to change into something more comfortable, come on, just leave your glasses on the table." Sarah told them with a smile and then heading upstairs.

Ginny and Hermione followed her, but once Sarah had gotten near the top, her foot slipped off the step and she fell forward on the stairs, kicking Ginny's shins in the process. Ginny landed on her knees and Sarah gave a shriek as she began to skid down the steps to she was right next to Ginny. Ginny grabbed her arm, but because of the awkward angle it did nothing but twirl Sarah a little and knock Hermione into the wall, which caused her to also fall, but she grabbed onto the banister just in time to stop herself from hitting the ground. Hermione's body prevented Sarah from falling down further, so she got a chance to stand.

Once they had all reach the top of the stairs Sarah doubled over and started laughing. Ginny smiled. "That was a delayed reaction," she told Sarah.

This made Sarah laugh even harder, but her attempts at speech only made Hermione and Ginny start laughing as well. Ginny fell to the ground, quaking with silent laughter. Sarah's hair toppled into her face as she crashed into the wall uncontrollably. Once she had regained the ability of speech, she said, "I was holding it in so I wouldn't cause another calamity on the staircase."

Later that evening, around 6 or so, Sarah, Ginny, Hermione, and Abby, all sat on Sarah's bed talking and painting their nails. It seemed cliché, but Sarah used to do it all the time with Natalie and their cousin Gina. Abby had come by around 3 or 4 to drop off one of Sarah's shirts that she had borrowed.

"And then he gave me a bunch of bull crap about how I'm too young to date Brandon, when we're only like 3 years apart!" Abby finished. She had gotten quite worked up during her story of her dramatic breakup with her 19 year old boyfriend.

Ginny giggled. "Sorry, but the whole concept is very Weasleyish. I mean, when this guy at my school, Dean, and I were dating over the summer, my older twin brothers Fred and George tricked them into testing out a new addition to they're skiving snack boxes! Some stupid thing called a Barfing Bar. I swear to god that Dean was projectile vomiting for over an hour!"

Sarah, who had just put a handful of popcorn in her mouth, burst out laughing. "Barfing Bars? Skiving Snack Boxes?"

Hermione grinned. "You think it's funny now but when their products aren't finished, they've got some pretty nasty side effects. They gave me this horrible stuff called Pink-Eye Powder by hiding it in my spaghetti! And do you know how pink and itchy my eyes were for the rest of the day? Harry thought I was on drugs!"

By then, they were all laughing hysterically and Sarah had given up her futile attempt of eating or drinking anything. "Do they sell these products? I bet they'd make a fortune!" she said.

"They do actually. They own a shop in Diagon Ally. It's called Weasley's Wizarding Wheezies." Ginny said.

Sarah laughed hard, nearly spilling a bottle of clear nail polish. "I think I'll pay them a little visit the next time I'm there! Abby, hand me that top coat by your left knee. No the clear one. Thanks. So Hermione, how's it going with Ron, besides today's little escapade?"

Hermione made a face. "He's been acting really weird lately. He always stops talking when I come in the room, and he never responds when I'm talking to him and he always have this far away look on his face when he's supposedly doing homework."

"You know, Harry's been acting like that too!" Ginny said, frowning.

"Maybe they're planning something," Abby suggested.

"Yeah but that wouldn't make since. There's no reason to plan anything! And it has to be something involving us or they'd tell us." Hermione said.

"Is one of you're birthday's coming up or something?" Sarah asked.

They shook their heads. "No, my birthday's not for a couple of week's and Ginny's birthday is in June."

Sarah shrugged. "Well you'll just have to wait and see. Abby, can you get up and look at that clock on my bureau please?"

Abby stood and picked up the clock on the bureau. Sarah was not exactly a clean person, so makeup and jewelry cluttered the cherry wood surface of the antique bureau. The clock was wedged between a Sunkist soda can and a straightening iron. Abby lift the pink instrument, and in the process knocked the soda can of the bureau. She took several steps back and the can landed in one of the open drawers. Abby darted forward and grabbed the can and set in on the bureau, and then slammed the drawer shut with her hands. Her body was press up against the four drawers, and she was shaking slightly.

Sarah laughed. "Don't worry, that can was empty."

Abby nodded vigorously, her eyes why. "Uh huh. Yeah. Empty." Her nose was flared and her expression made Sarah's eye's widen. She jumped off the bed and yanked open the drawer that the can had fallen into. On one of her shirts was a big, bright orange spot. Sarah turned her head towards Abby with her eyebrows raised.

"Empty?" Sarah asked her menacingly.

Abby gave a nervous laugh. Sarah burst out laughing again and Abby let out a sigh of relief. Sarah put her arm around her shoulders and Abby also began to laugh. Soon after Ginny and Hermione joined in. The night pasted quickly and around 8:30, Sarah announced that they had to leave. Abby said good bye to them, looking a little down hearted. But Sarah assured her they would be back the following week.