Sarah looked across the checker-clothed table at her grandmother who sat there beaming back at her.
"Go on Sarah" Her grandmother Magnolia or Maggie as she preferred encouraged, "Make a wish and blow them out!"
Sarah shut her eyes and made a wish that she had hoped for everyday since she was five – to make her mother better. She re-opened her eyes and blew. All of the sixteen candles on the pink-iced sponge cake went out at once and they were both plunged into darkness. They sat for a few seconds as the smell of the candles filled the air until Maggie clicked her fingers and the room was filled with light once more.
"Happy birthday!" Maggie got up and bustled around the table squeezing Sarah's head in a hug-type gesture as Sarah remained seated. She was short and very grandmotherish but was perhaps more lively than most people her age – which Sarah thought was the reason for her strong admiration for Maggie so much. "Presents!" She piped up and quickly left the room.
Noticing a bit of her brown shoulder length hair had fallen down in front of her eyes, Sarah pushed it aside using the tip of her wand which she carried with her everywhere. Her fair skin tingled as the tip made its way across her forehead. Sarah never wore makeup but always seemed to look okay (in her opinion) anyway. She was slender but most of all, plain would be the best way to describe her – well that was until you saw her eyes – and then you might say she was as far from plain as you can get. Everyday, no matter what the situation or weather, her eyes were a different colour. They ranged from brilliant blues to deep purples and then steel greys. Sarah assumed that this was a hormonal thing, but still seemed to enjoy this bit of individuality in her features and would quite often stare at herself for hours in a mirror watching them change from colour to colour.
Maggie returned to the room carrying three boxes, two medium sized and one small. She put the boxes down in front of Sarah on the table and then began bustling about cutting up the cake and watching her granddaughter intently.
Sarah began tearing the paper off of one of the bigger boxes. She couldn't deny it – she was excited to be opening her first present. As the wrapping fell away she found a set of quidditch gloves. They were fantastically detailed and Sarah couldn't help but put them on immediately. The leather had to be broken in of course, but still they were easy to move her hands in and they fitted her perfectly.
"Thanks Maggie! My old ones are complete rubbish – how did you know I needed some?" Sarah was now examining the stitching down the sides of the gloves – they would be great for catching the quaffle.
"A grandmother just knows" Maggie replied. "Come on, there's still two more to open." She was putting pieces of the cake onto plates as she spoke.
Sarah decided to leave the smallest box till last. She tore off the paper of the second larger box and found a book entitled A thousand Faces by Francis Conningham inside.
"Wow" Sarah enthusiastically opened the book and as she turned the crisp pages she saw face after face of different witches and wizards and a bit about their accomplishments. "This is so different…" She exclaimed aloud as she read about Barnaby Biggland and his wife Henrietta.
"Yes I thought it might take your fancy." Maggie smiled as she handed Sarah a piece of cake. "Here, eat up."
"But what about my last present?" Sarah held up the smallest box to her grandmother.
"Hurry up then" Maggie said through a mouthful of cake "I know you'll like this one."
Undoing the ribbon, Sarah's heart began to race. She was nervous as to what her last present would be but at the same time excited. As the ribbon fell away she tipped the box upside-down and a silver locket fell into her lap. Sarah picked it up and held it in her hand. It was simply beautiful. Oval shaped and detailed in ivy, it weighed next to nothing. Sarah was lost for words – her grandmother wasn't.
"That was given to me by my grandmother when I was a bit older then you." She took another bite of her cake and then put it back down. "I know it doesn't look like much but it's a very rare metal. It carries a lot of memories and…" Maggie paused before ending, "power."
Sarah glanced up at Maggie "But it is beautiful!" She sighed and put it around her neck. The locket fell just below her shirt line and disappeared from sight momentarily.
"I'm glad you like it" Maggie said warmly "But Sarah," She continued "There is something I must tell you. Do not open it."
Sarah gave her grandmother a quizzical look. "Well what's the point of having a locket when you cant look at the pictures inside?" she asked.
"There are no pictures inside – well not physically anyway. It's just that its magical and well you just shouldn't open it till you feel that there is no other alternative to your own defences. It can only be opened once in your lifetime just remember that."
Sarah continued staring at her grandmother. "Well okay then Maggie – I'll keep that in mind." She thought that Maggie must've been saying all of that to make the locket seem interesting. "And don't worry" Sarah added "I don't want to open it now anyway – it adds more mystery to it when its kept shut."
"Well good." Maggie put down her plate and looked back up at Sarah "I highly doubt you'd need any help like that in the next few years anyway!"
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A few hours later, Sarah was lying on her bed looking up at her cards from her school friends - Elisa, Padma, Oliver and Anthony. She had several on her bedside table – and a mass of presents beside her bed ranging from Chocolates from Padma to an odd smelling perfume from Oliver which she thought might only be good as decoration on her dressing table.
One thing that was lacking however was a card or letter from her father and mother.
When Sarah was a baby, directly after the defeat of the dark lord her mother (who had been working with the Order of the Phoenix along with her father) was taken hostage with Frank and Alice Longbottom by death eaters, tortured and driven insane. She never told anyone where her mother was, she didn't enjoy it – but preferred her friends to think her dead, to avoid tricky questions.
Sarah's father continued to love her mother unconditionally and ensured that her stay in St Mungos was of high standards and would take her away with him on holidays. Sarah had once thought he did this to spend time with her mother, but he had recently informed her that he was taking her to healers, witch-doctors and other magical beings to see if there was any way they could restore her sanity. This was something Sarah admired him for – not giving up when the situation seemed hopeless. She had to admit, that he usually informed her of where he was and what was happening – but she hadn't heard from him in over a month.
Sarah got up and began pacing her room, listening to the floorboards squeak as she did so. She wasn't in a hurry to go to bed as she didn't need to catch the Hogwarts Express. Her grandmother lived in Hogsmede – the final stop for students at Hogwarts. This however led to her having more time to worry about her parents and their whereabouts.
She decided to sit down at her make shift dresser (Maggie had transformed part of her wall to a mirror for Sarah to use for her stay) and glanced at herself apprehensively. Leaning forward she watched her eyes changing colour as they always did. Tonight they were changing through the multiple shades of green.
For the next hour that was all that she did – stare at herself in the mirror and watch her eyes. She'd always thought they were interesting – the only interesting thing about her anyway.
After realising that it was getting late, Sarah walked back across her room, past her unpacked suitcase to her bed, where she fell onto her pillow and immediately fell into a troubled sleep filled with bad thoughts about her parents.