Chapter 3: Childhood Part 2.
(1970. June 20th)
Emily was laying on her side, curled in a loose ball, with her brown hair swirling around her face at all angles. She was completely sound asleep in her twin sized bed, her right arm hanging slightly off its edge. Behind her, the figure of her young sister also lay, out stretched on her stomach, one arm slung casually over her stuffed unicorn.
Emily was slowly breathing in and out through her nose, her chest rising and falling with each inhale and exhale of air.
The sun had just begun to rise. With the sky lighting up and emitting a soft ombre of oranges and reds, Emily's eyes started to twitch, her mind finally registering the rays of sunlight that were spreading across her face.
As her eyes finally opened and she blinked a few times, removing the sleep from them, she suddenly had the thought: today was June the 20th. It was the day of the towns annual fair.
Almost in a comically quick fashion, Emily threw the duvet from her body. Completely covering her younger sister, as she began to run frantically around her room. First grabbing her clothing as well as her modest, grey shoulder bag, pausing only for a second to pet her kitten that was still curled in a ball on her window sill.
Quickly, Emily shrugged off her nighty, and threw on a simple yellow summer dress that fell just below her knees. As she quickly grabbed her old, off white sandals, she glanced one more time around the room, making sure she had all that she need. Just before she reached the door she spun around once again, remembering that she did indeed forget something somewhat important: her sister.
"Lee wake up!" almost yelling into her younger sister's ear, she began to prod at her sister's visible shoulder poking out from the duvet.
Young Lisa Fiddo merely groaned, as she was propped up by her elder. Opening her eyes slowly, and raising her arms above her to stretch, she gave a quiet yawn before pushing the covers off from her lap and exiting the room with not even a goodbye.
Knowing that her sister was not at all a morning person, Emily only rolled her eyes, and continued her trek down the stairs and into her kitchen.
Smelling the sweet aroma of chocolate pancakes before she even entered the room, Emily grinned and sprinted the last few steps and around the corner.
Emily's father was already seated at the mahogany table, steaming coffee in one hand, and the Daily prophet in the other. He glanced up at his energetic daughter and smiled.
"Morning, Emily." With a hint of amusement, he looked back at his paper. Casually flipping through the pages.
"Morning father!" Emily exclaimed, rushing to the table to pour herself some apple juice.
"Emily, I don't suppose something special is going on today? You're just so energetic this morning and I can't figure why." With clear sarcasm, Emily only smiled more as her mum teased her.
"Oh nothing mum. I'm just in a great mood. When's pancakes gonna be done? I want to go to Rems soon!" Deciding to play along, Emily grabbed a plate and stood by her mother waiting for pancakes to appear as they usually do.
"You know the fairs not going anywhere, right? It's staying there for a couple of days!" Emily's father questioned, smiling once again at his eldest daughter.
Just as Emily was about to again ask when the food was going to be done, her sister finally stumbled in.
"Oh mummy! Are we having pancakes?" Lisa exclaimed, sliding across the kitchen on the hardwood floor.
"Of course Lisa, what else would we have on the festival day?" Levitating the plate full of pancakes to the table, with Emily in tow, Mrs. Fiddo finished bringing over the last fixing for the pancakes as well.
And at that, most talking ended, as the family quickly devoured their breakfast. They were an efficient lot, kind of like hobbits from that old muggle book, they sure did enjoy the food put before them.
After Emily had the chance to scrub the sticky syrup from her face, leave some milk for her kitten, as well as wash her teeth, she quickly bounded down the stairs once again, and bolted out her front door. Behind her the cry of her mother telling her that they would be over to the Lupins soon, following her until she was out of hearing distance.
Within only a minute or two Emily was rapidly knocking on the worn out wooden blue door. She wasn't usually this overly impatient, but with it already being 9am, she felt as if her urgency was warranted. The families needed to get a move on, if they wanted to experience the fun activities before the crowds of people joined like usual.
Just before Emily was about to pound on the door with her small fists once again, the door suddenly opened and before her stood the ragged form of her best friend. He wore plain khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt. Smiling brightly, Remus still looked just as tired as always.
"Remus why do you look so lame! It's the day of the fair. I told you to sleep well last night." Emily chastised her friend in the matter-of-fact tone that her very own mother often utilized. Peering closely at Remus, she paused only for a second before grabbing his arm and pushing past him into his own home- pulling him along behind her.
"Are you ready to go at least?" She impatiently answered, automatically plopping down on the couch in his living room and grabbing the red circular pillow that she favored.
"Yea Em. We were just waiting for you lot actually." Remus smiled as he watched his young friend become completely fixated on spinning the decorative couch pillow on her finger. She nodded at him absently mindedly before turning her head quickly to the door. Both children were ready to go in an instant.
"Mum! Dad! Fiddo's are here!" Remus shouted down the hall to his parents, who were just gathering the last of their belongings.
Grabbing Remus's hand, Emily threw her bag over her shoulder and opened the front door. Before her was his sister, standing ready to knock in a completely comical fashion, sporting a slightly confused look.
"We took the long way here to grab the post, did ya really hear me comin' up the street?" Lisa Fiddo asked in complete disbelief.
"Oh yea" was all that the two responded with.
It took only a moment for the two families to join into one group on the porch. After the Lupin's had locked the door and put up a few protective wards, the seven took off on the trek down the dirt driveway and through the mystical woods before them.
It was only a short 20-minute walk before the group had begun to hear the humming of voices at of the fair. The smells of fried food hit Emily and Remus quickly, and their noses scrunched up a bit. They really didn't love fried food all too much, but it did come with the festival experience.
Like every other year, the children all received 10 tickets from their parents that they could use to ride, or play games, and as usual that's all they did for the rest of the morning. Being ever the strategic ones they were, the children all sought out the free rides before using up their tickets on the Ferris wheel, and various other activities.
The muggle games were very easy to win no matter how high the odds were stacked against them. Emily and Remus tended to be very fair children, they were good children, and didn't find pleasure in cheating or lying. Lisa Fiddo on the other had was a little more mischievous then her older counterparts.
When they had approached the classic game of knocking down milk bottles, with only a hollow ball, the small seven-year-old girl had absolutely no issues in throwing the ball with a little extra energy. So much energy in fact, that the poor muggle teenage boy who was behind the booth almost did a double take as he could have sworn the bottles moved before the ball even made contact with it.
Yet before him lay the bottles, all scattered around the floor, still rolling from their fall. As procedure would call, he asked the young girl what she wanted, and happily obeyed as he handed her the giant stuffed bear. Smiling in disbelief, he watched as the three young children walked away, with a prize bigger then the girl who won it.
As the day continued the children also enjoyed other activates that were around the town. Walking down a side street there was a rather large muggle flea market. Admiring the puppets and record players, the children wandered through the isles chatting excitedly about the muggle items.
When they had rejoined with their parents, they all milled about a local farmers market. Picking up fresh honey, and lots of tea- the whole theme of the festival revolved around tea- as well as various other fresh foods. As the day wore on Emily's bag began to grow heavy. Not so much as even offering his help, when Emily set the bag down momentarily to look at a booth of plants, Remus swiftly picked it up and waited for the girls to rejoin him.
From attraction to attraction, the family's floated about, enjoying their day. Stopping yet again, they came to the local park that had been set up with various pens for a petting zoo, all with animals you could adopt or buy. Smiling excitedly, Emily and Lisa both ran to the pen full of puppies, sticking their hands through the wire fence, and giggling at the prickling sensation of puppies licking their hands. The sight before them was absolutely adorable, as puppy after puppy jumped over each other to win the attention of the children. Emily wandered around the park once more looking at the bunnies, kittens and more farm like animals around.
When she finally came to tub full of little ducklings, she turned her head slightly to the right. A small patch of red cloth was floating in the tree line around the park. Curious, Emily lowered the small animal back into its confinements and slowly approached the cloth that was flapping in the wind. Making sure no muggles around her were watching, Emily reached out, touching the fabric that felt like a mixture of a tarp and velvet at the same time. Feeling the exciting surge of energy, that large amounts of magic usually sparked in Emily, she peeled the fabric further away from where it originally lies, and instinctively put her eye to the where the sliver of light was coming from.
From within the tarp Emily's suspicions were correct, the scene in front of her was purely magical. She looked at what appeared to be the back of a circuses stage. In front of her were various wizards with creatures beside them, all practicing the same motions over and over again. The creatures before her she had no name for, they were all suspiciously dangerous looking though. A streak of yellow flashed past the corner of her eye but was gone in an instant.
Eyeing around the tent, Emily was so entranced by the magic that she could feel, that she didn't hear the slow patter of foot steps behind her. It was only until the clearing of an unfamiliar male's throat caught her attention. Spinning around she was greeted by the sight of a boy, whom towered over her in height but appeared to only be a few years older then her by the looks of his youthful face.
The boy was grinning ear to ear, his golden-brown hair was awfully disheveled as it fell past his ears with a gentle curl. Although the weather was quite hot, he was wearing full length trousers and a white button up. Very out of place for the muggle setting.
"You can come in if you'd like." Motioning behind Emily, the boy didn't say much as he slid past her and disappeared into the very same flap that she was previously peering into.
Awfully confused as to what to do, Emily searched for Remus and Lisa, who she found entertained by some goats in the furthest corner of the park from her. Emily knew her parents were headed out of the park and just over to the main part of town to shop the deals of the day, so she wasn't worried that her presence would be missed. Breathing in a deep breath, she turned around and grasp blindly for the flap. When her hand continued to only meet air, she rather disappointedly dropped her it to her side. It wasn't but a second later that a slightly bigger hand then hers came from nowhere, gently grasping for her as she was pulled forward into the unknown.
Blinking quickly Emily's eyes adjusted to her new setting. It was much brighter then she imagined and to her surprise her leg was almost immediately being nudged by what looked to be a small mountain cat. The creature gave her an innocent wide eyed stare, before continue on its figure eight track around her legs. Looking questioningly at her new companion, she glanced again back down to the creature that was weaving in and out of her legs much like what her kitten at home would do.
"That's Nola, she's a Wompus cat, incredibly territorial, but I think she knows that this is your land and doesn't want to be rude." Kneeling at Emily's feet the boy began to scratch the creature between its ears. Immediately Emily could feel the vibrations of the cat's purrs on her legs.
"May I pet her too?" Emily asked, grinning as the boy just nodded enthusiastically as his answer. Kneeling, gingerly Emily's hand replaced the boy's as the small cat nudged its head into the palm of her hand.
"She's quite intelligent. She knows you're not frightened Emilia, but you're very dark inside so you're hard for her to trust naturally." Pausing only for a second the strange boy continued "I know some other beautiful creatures that I'd think you'd like." And just like before without a word, the boy began to wander away.
And unlike last time, Emily quickly rose, not wanting to startle the cat she gave it one last pat on the head before swiftly following the boy.
When she had finally caught up to him, she couldn't quite catch what he was saying as he was mumbling to himself, she did however catch "girls like horses. Yes. Right. Horses" before the boy spun around.
Stopping Emily in her tracks he held out his hand for hers to shake.
"My name is Nicholas. What was your name again?" Shaking her hand eagerly, his smile from earlier had returned.
"Emilia, you already knew it though didn't you?" Emily wasn't frightened by the boy's knowledge of her name. His wide eyes and skittish behavior never once made her feel in danger. Yet as she continued to stare at Nicholas, and as he continued to shake her hand, neither of them quite realized how odd their meeting was becoming.
Realizing that he had indeed been shaking poor Emilia's had for what seemed like ages he abruptly stopped, dropping her hand immediately.
"Please don't be cross." Nicholas put his hand behind his head, scratching behind his ear as his eyes darted around. For a moment he stared at her with his wide hazelnut eyes.
"My mum gets very cross when I do it and I don't even mean to. I'm very good at Legilimency just like me aunt, and I didn't really mean to do it. I'm quite sorry in fact, please don't be cross." He continued to plead to her to 'not be cross' but in all honesty Emily still wasn't quite sure as to how he knew her name.
Sensing that her confusion had only increased he stopped talking abruptly before taking a breath to continue. "I can read minds quite well. It's a family thing. I accidently saw into your mind and realized that your name was Emilia and I didn't really mean to do it. My mum says I need to control my gift, but I often forget and again just please don't be cross, I don't know much more about you. I mean I suppose that I know that you're half human but that's okay. You're very sweet and kind." And just as he had started his ramblings, he stopped, looking at her pleadingly.
Emilia was very much aware that he knew of her predicament, and although she so badly knew she was to be protective of her a Remus' secret, she once again felt no need to be frightened by this boy.
"That's all right Nicholas. Just don't do it again please, if you can refrain." Emilia smiled at Nicholas and was once again met with the same radiant smile that he gave her in their first meeting.
"Well if it is all right with you," pausing for dramatic effect, he continued with "I think that we have some Winged horses to tend to." Before Nicholas had the chance to turn around, Emilia caught him by the wrist. Turning him to face her she began to laugh at his started expression.
"Nicholas, now if it's all right with you," she paused, mimicking his previous actions, "I was wondering if you could explain to me what this is, and why you have come and let me see it? I suppose that you know plenty of me, but I know nothing of you."
Finishing her statement with a gentle smile and a nod for him to speak, she dropped his arm.
The interesting thing about Nicholas is that he appeared to be the very definition of an open book. When Emilia had asked her question his smile never wavered, yet as he stood staring at her his facial expression turned from one of excitement to that of wonder and surprise. Before speaking, he spun around in a circle a good few times muttering to himself a string of incoherent words.
"I suppose you're right Ms. Emilia, it would appear that I forgot to introduce to you my father's moveable zoo. I am quite embarrassed actually because I could have sworn I said that this is my father's zoo and that it would be all right if you came with me to explore it when I saw you outside the tent. But now that I've really had a moment to think about that, I think I merely thought that and didn't actually speak out loud. I do that often I believe." Pausing once again to mutter to himself a for a few seconds, he looked back at Emily to continue.
"You see, my father is a Magizoologist. He studies magical creatures and intends to educate the wizarding world on how to care for them. He doesn't want any more innocent ones bein' hurt any more and I suppose he's quite known for his book on them. This movin' zoo is a wonderful thing my dad does where we just travel and collect creatures that need to be relocated to where they really belong because sometimes bad wizards move them." Nicholas began to lead Emilia to another corner of the tent that seemed to never end. As he paused from his detailed explanation he took a quick breath to continue once more with a short sentence.
"It's pretty groovy ya know?" He finished with once again a slanted smile, which immediately gave him a boyish charm that Emilia couldn't help but giggle at.
"I don't suppose that I know what that means Nicholas. However, what your father does seems to be very noble and I believe I know the very book that he has written."
Seeming to have accepted the boy's explanation, it was very apparent that Nicholas was pleased with his new companion's presence. In the time that it had taken him to explain to her everything that she had asked, he had already led her through a flap within the tent that signified a whole other section of animals. He had led her to the winged horses and was very pleased by her look of awe as she was able to pet them.
For the remainder of the time he showed her various other creatures. It felt like the whole day was spent in the tent. Very quickly young Emilia was soon lost in the Magic of the creatures around her. It took both the calls from Nicholas's father, along with the sudden urgency to find Remus and her sister, for Emilia to snap out of her childish fascination and request to be taken back to where she came from.
"I'd really like to show you more. Emilia, I know that I'll see you again, my father always says that when the time is right you will always find your way to interesting creatures. And I believe humans are quite the same. I would like to write you if that is all right?"
Not wanting to disappoint the boy that looked excitedly at her, with wide puppy dog eyes, she only had one option but to agree. After Emily had written down for him where he could write to her, he began to lead her around the tent once more, muttering about how he had to turn back time.
As she walked she passed a plethora of odd creatures that no longer looked as dangers as she originally thought when she peered into the tent before. Many of the people that she originally saw were not practicing tricks with the creatures but instead were just taking care of them, grooming and feeding them in intricate ways. She watched a well-dressed lady from afar pick up what looked to be a moving stick from a tree of moving sticks, and place it on her shoulder. It was quite a sight to see as more magical sticks congregated around the lady, pinning for attention as well.
Unbeknownst to Emilia, Nicholas was not leading them to the exit from which they came from, no- he was taking Emilia to see one last creature.
Before going through one last flap, Nicholas turned to Emilia to speak.
"I have one last friend who is very special and can time travel for a short time period. You've been missing for over 4 hours, and he can take us back relatively quickly and you can go back to your friends no harm. He's just a little frightening at first glance but just give him a chance."
Emilia merely nodded, her fear for other creatures doesn't even come close to the fear she has for the one within herself.
Nicholas opened the flap, and lead the two of them into the new compartment. Before Emilia was not the awful motricity that she was expecting. Instead before her was none other then a lion cub, with the hind legs of what looked to be a horse of some sort. It's tiny beady eyes look up to the two as it gives a small squeak of acknowledgment.
"Hello Rafi, I've got a friend that needs your help." Speaking softly, Nicholas lead Emilia towards the creature.
Although she shouldn't be surprised, as she approached Rafi, she notices that he also had what looks to be dragon wings. It was a very interesting combination for what looked to be such a sweet creature.
"Just stroke his wings like this, and he'll take us to where we need to go."
Kneeling to join Nicholas, she began to stroke the young creature. As it began to purr in her hands Emilia started to feel a sensation of lightness, starting with her fingertips and quickly spreading to the rest of her body. Glancing up at Nicholas she could tell he was experience the same sensation, and his smile shone with pure bliss and his eyes were closed.
Just as quickly as the light feeling had come, it quickly disappeared. Looking questioningly at Nicholas, Emilia wasn't quite sure if the creature had done all of what Nicholas had promised. Yet, as he opened his eyes, he laughed.
"You're brilliant Rafi, thank you!"
Grabbing ahold of Emilia's hand he began to sprint in the direction of the entrance. Laughing wildly, Emilia was able to easily keep up due to her already present supernatural abilities. All around her creatures were a blur, yet she stayed focused, trying to look for the exit.
Suddenly Nicholas stopped, catching Emilia, before she ran ahead of him. Putting his free pointer finger to his lip he offered her a "shushing" gesture before pointing to what looked to be an opening in the flap before her and to her right. Just as she was about to ask him what they had stopped for she noticed an eye peeking through the opening. And it wasn't just any dark brown eye, it was hers from when she first discovered the zoo. Looking back at Nicholas, he had silent moved further from the open flap.
Without really much warning he walked completely through a wall, and without much of a reason to do otherwise, Emily followed him.
Later that day, Emily could barely find it in herself to repeat her short-lived adventure to Remus. Although he was her best friend, she felt as if her time spent at the magical zoo was such a unique experience that it was to remain unique and solely hers. She did on the other hand feel guilty for leaving him for even the short 5 minuets that he had lived, so she felt obligated to let loose a shortened version of her adventure.
The remainder of her day was spent enjoying mindless muggle activities with her family, and was finished with fireworks at the local park as usual. The three children all sat on a red checkered blanket, underneath the stars, staring up at the lights that illuminated the night. Of all the nights of their childhood, the night of the Tea Time fair was often one of their best.
A/N Just a fun chapter meant to allude to a certain Magizoologist that I am obsessed with. Anyways hope you enjoyed.