Every Step of the Way
Ch. 8- Every Step of the Way
The third day of summer was beating the inhabitants of the MacDonald Manor into going indoors. The weather witch had predicted it to be the hottest day of the entire summer and Mary was certainly feeling it. She was uncomfortable and sweaty before she even got out of bed. She grumbled a bit, making a mental note to put a cooling charm on as soon as she got out of the shower and headed toward the bathroom. She sighed as the cold water hit her body and she let the coolness consume her. Eleven days until she would see George again…
Four more days, Mary mentally counted, until she could see George again. He had owled her at least every other day and she was glad he was doing well but she missed him quite a lot. The weather had been extremely warm over the summer and she had hoped that she might persuade her boyfriend to go skinny dipping with her sometime during her two week visit. She was a bit nervous about meeting the rest of his family, but not overly so. She had seen them around for most of her life, after all. They seemed like perfectly nice people and George had assured her that they were quite interested in meeting her. She sighed and went back to writing her letter to him, wondering what those two weeks would hold for them.
Mary sighed as she lay in bed the night before she would be able to see George again. He had owled early that morning to tell her that he and Fred would be coming to collect her at precisely 10 a.m. the next morning and she knew she wouldn't be sleeping. It had been far too long for her liking since she had last seen her boyfriend. It had been 2 weeks, for the love of Merlin. She smiled, thinking about the kiss they had shared just before they parted. That kiss had promised good things to come and her boredom of the last 2 weeks certainly qualified her for good things, she reasoned. Her mother had left after the first week and Mary had been alone in the manor for the last week save for Elipsi, Alden and Nepo, the family's house elves. Though she liked the creatures, they weren't extremely comfortable being around her socially for long periods of time and mostly kept to themselves.
The moonlight filtered into the room through the crack in her curtains and she looked toward the full moon with a sigh. There were still several hours until morning and she had no idea how she was expected to keep still. Giving up on sleep, she climbed out of bed and settled into the chair beside her desk to write. Writing always helped her pass the time and lose herself in fantasy.
Sun started filtering through the window, alerting Mary that the time was nearing when she would be seeing George. She laid down her quill and glanced up at the clock. 7 a.m. she noted, standing and yawning. She decided to go ahead and get into the shower so she could spend the rest of the morning preparing to see George. She had packed nearly a week previously, but she wanted to look great for him as it had been 2 full weeks. Things were running smoothly until she couldn't find her shoes. She growled her displeasure and after ten minutes of searching, started digging in the back of her closet for her flip flops.
Mary didn't even hear the twins walk into the room. Her first indication that someone was watching her was a long low whistle followed by a cat call. She spun around quickly, flops in one hand, wand in the other. The twins laughed simultaneously. "If I'd known that I'd catch you with your bum in the air I would have insisted that we come much sooner," Fred said as George gingerly turned her wand away from his chest.
"Great to see you too," he said with a grin. She kissed him soundly then smacked his chest. "Ouch!"
"How about ringing the bell?" she asked. "You guys nearly gave me a heart attack!"