Raised with Magic

Chapter five: Outlet

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"Wake up girls!" Mum called from the landing of the stairs. Both Luna and I got up without trouble. Apparently, she's a morning person too. We both started laughing when we realized we had fallen asleep on Luna's bed. Secretly I was glad, aren't sleepovers what friends do? Does this mean that Luna and I are now friends?

"We're up!" We called together, reawakening our laugher. Once we were changed and had brushed our teeth, me before I changed and Luna after she changed. We headed down for breakfast.

There are fours stairways in the Lovegood home. One leads down to the basement, Mum's lab. Two link the first and second floor. One of them is smaller and narrower, that's the one from the kitchen to the far end of the second floor hall. The second one is the larger one which is used the most and starts right at the main hall. The fourth stair way in the house starts right across from the top of the kitchen one. This one links the second floor to the third where Luna and I sleep. To get from our rooms' to the kitchen, it takes 29 steps. Some of them we skip all together due to Luna's excitement. I think excitement might be contagious.

"How did you girls sleep?" Dad asked as he put a lot of eggs and toast on everyone's plates. I don't normally eat so much but I don't say anything.

"Very well, thank you." I lied. "And thank you again for taking me in like this." Polite would be good, people wont return a polite child, right?

"Nonsense Hermione, I don't want to hear another word from you about that. We want you here and you are now part of our family, your stuck with us." Mum rolled her eyes at Dad's very strong opinion, but I could tell she agreed. It made me feel a thousand times less nervous. "Well, the dear Mum here needs to do some work today so I figured the three of us could go looking for some Frosh." Dad transitioned into a new topic as he sat down at the head of the table.

Mum sat at the other end and Luna sat across from me, sitting on Mum's left. This was the same way we all sat the night before at dinner. Some part of me, the part that really did think that this was going to work out. That part could see many more meals eaten with us seated this exact same way. I hope that part of me is the part of me that is good at predicting these types of things.

I stopped thinking about that though, because a Dad had spoken and I wanted to be part of any breakfast conversation. From the talking I have had done with Luna the night before, I knew Frosh were apparently a mix between a frog and a fish. Not the most inventive name in my opinion. I didn't even think they would really exist, but it sounded like fun so I agreed to go.

When everyone was finished eating, Mum went down to her lab and Luna and I went to our rooms to change into clothing that were okay to wear when getting dirty. On the way to our rooms, I counted thirty one stairs, but we had used the front hall stairs this time so I don't think I miscounted or anything.

I chose a pair of jeans and a green tee that had purple paint smudges on it from when Daddy and I painted my room the color Mother picked out. I'm not sure if that is right actually, because if I was standing in my room now, was the room Daddy and I painted really my room anymore? Can a person have two rooms or was that not allowed. I shook my head hard, I didn't want to think like that anymore.

Luna, on the other hand, had chosen a green and purple sundress and had on yellow rain boots.

"Come on!" She sighed impatiently as I pulled on the polka doted rain boots she was lending me. The second I had the foot wear on she was pulling me down the stairs to meet up with Dad. Thirty one, I was right.

"Okay, Luna I am going as fast as I can!" Luna smiled at me and released my hand as she twirled in a circle with her blonde hair dancing around her. She had a full genuine smile on her face, I was jealous.

I know that magic is real. I have done magic, seen magic and read about magic to increase my belief in this matter. However, I was still surprised when I looked at the house from the outside for the first time. The house which was so normal and house like on the inside was cylinder and made of stone on the outside. Now I have no clue why the ceilings on the third floor are slanted. I gave up the thought as Luna pulled me away from the house. I could think about it later. I looked back as we were walking away anyway. I don't blame myself for being interested, it was strange and strange things are interesting.

Dad was waiting for us out by the creek with a large basket full of cheddar cheese. I'm not a cheese expert or anything, but I sure think that it is cheddar. After all, it is orange colored. "Okay girls, the Frosh should come out when they smell this stuff!" He declared in a certain voice as he lead us to the creek. He was dressed in large rubber pants which included boots and were held up by suspenders.

We had yet to see any Frosh out by the creek like Dad and Luna believed we would. However, I was enjoying myself up to my waist in the clear water, dancing around with two thirds of my new family. Dad told us that the movement of the water would attract the Frosh almost as much as the cheese would. Whenever Dad wasn't looking Luna and I would throw the cheese at each other. I don't think that Dad would care and I'm pretty sure that Luna would agree. However, 'not getting caught' became a crucial part of our game. I really like how we can make up a game so easily without talking through the rules. I could never do that with any of the other girls I had ever met.

So I danced and played and enjoyed myself in the water by my new house. I hugged Luna a few times and Dad even spun me in the air. I enjoyed myself, careful not to think about anything that wasn't happening right now.

When the sun started going down, Dad led us inside trying to hide his disappointment. Mum was already done with the work she needed to finish and was making coffee. I think she is like Daddy, a coffee junkie. This thought of course threw the plan that had been working all day right out the window.

"Did you all have fun?" Mum asked, looking at our muddy and wet appearances. I was worried a little bit, I really didn't want her to dislike me for any reason. But when she picked cheese out of Luna's hair, laughing, I relaxed. Possibly just a little bit jealous that I didn't have cheese in my hair too.

"We had so much fun Mum!" Luna spoke softly but her enthusiasm was clearly detectable.

"I'm glad dear." I noticed that she didn't ask if we found anything. That made me happy because if she knew not to ask then these outing were a normal thing. Therefore, these outings would be frequent. "Now, all three of you go clean up." Mum's voice was not very strict sounding, but we all did what she said anyway. Leaving our muddy footwear right there in the front hall.

After Luna and I managed to make ourselves look okay again. With Luna helping me with my hair, we returned downstairs. Luna immediately went to the kitchen to help Dad cook dinner but Mum gave me the option of helping them cook or learning something about potions.

"I'm horrible at cooking." I admitted, embarrassed, even as I ran with excitement toward the stairs to the lab. I never got to really try much. Mother had attempted to teach me before because she figured at least that way I would learn a useful skill. I disappointed her. I think that I might have done that a lot. Maybe this time around I could be a better daughter.

"Don't worry about that kid," Mum commented in what I hoped was affection, "I can't boil water unless it is in a caldron".

"Even my easy bake oven rebelled!" I mock pouted in the way Daddy and I would use against each other. We were already half way down the stairs when she laughed.

"That sounds like me if I ever had one of those growing up. Luckily, potions really is nothing like cooking."

Her confession relaxed the tension I hadn't realized appeared in my shoulders. I knew I had always feared failure, but now in this new world it was much worse. For one, this new world felt right. I didn't feel out of place and weird, but more frightening I didn't have anything to go back to in the muggle world.

I blinked a few times, trying really hard to not remember the empty house we had left not too long ago.

The lab was large and the size of the perimeter of the house. The room was really clean and organized. Three long tables were set up in the room, some areas holding steaming projects. Along one wall was a continuous bookshelf that I could tell held potion texts and potion journals along with personal records held in muggle binders.

Along the opposite wall were matching bookshelves which held countless ingredients. The wall which was opposite the stairs was also the one with the two giant sinks.

"That door by the sinks is a storage room for rarer, sensitive or not commonly needed potion ingredients." Mum added when she caught me looking at it. During this she pulled a large yellow book off the shelf, barely looking. Opening to a random page she set it on one of the tables. "Up you go." Was the only warning I got before I found myself sitting on the table. I shifted so I was sitting Indian style, like story time in school. I started reading the page. I knew somehow that Mum was walking towards the ingredient shelves, but I was focused mainly on the book. I like books, that's just a part of me, and I came to terms quite a while ago, like over a year ago, that when it came to books they would always manage to steal my attention.

The potion I read about on page eighty two is called a calming draught. Furthermore, the book I read this in was what I assumed was a first year text book.

We spent the next two hours with her teaching me how to complete basic terminology. For example, she taught when to use the pestle and mortar to 'ground' and the flat side of a knife to 'crush'.

After we went through everything I would need for any first or second year potion, all which was immediately memorized, we took a break to eat. With another successful family meal under our belts, not that I wear a belt, we returned to the lab. Mum pushed the book towards me with everything I would need. "I am only going to watch. There is nothing that could go wrong and prove to be dangerous."

I wasn't worried about dangerous. From the second that I entered the lab I knew I found an outlet. Like reading it seemed to call out to every bit of my soul. Eagerly, I dived into the creation of my first potion. Maybe I would be okay here.