Chapter 3 - Silent Secrets
Charlotte Lupin gazed out of the lounge window at the two figures playing on the lawn. It had been three months since Sarah and Charles had moved in with their daughter and in that time, she and Sarah had become firm friends. She turned away from the window and smiled at Sarah who had entered the room carrying a tray of tea and biscuits.
"Are they still out there?" asked Sarah, glancing out at the children and laughing. "I wonder what they talk about." Charlotte smiled.
"Children live in a world of their own half the time. They've got plenty of ways of amusing themselves." Sarah nodded, running a hand through her dark brown hair and looking thoughtful.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something... Oh, is that the door?" She smiled apologetically at Charlotte and hurried out of the room.
Charlotte frowned, wondering what could be troubling her friend, and looked out of the window again. For some reason, Remus was now chasing Katherine around the garden and the black haired girl was laughing hysterically. Odd that; neither Charles nor Sarah had black hair. She supposed it must be a throw back from a previous generation.
"...just in here," said Sarah, ushering the newcomer in. "Do you want to go into the garden William? Katherine and Remus are out there."
William shook his head violently and clung to his mother's hand.
"Oh don't be silly, William," scolded his mother, rolling her eyes. "Go out and play."
"Don't want to," muttered William. "Feel sick."
"You were fine when we left the house," she reminded him.
"Feel sick," repeated Will, firmly.
"I'm sorry," apologised Sheryl, looking at Sarah and Charlotte. "He's not usually like this."
"Oh it's all right," said Sarah, smiling at the young boy. "He can just sit in here if he wants to. Help yourselves to biscuits, everyone, I'm just going to check on the other two."
Sarah walked out into the hall and went into the kitchen, smiling faintly. She, unlike Charlotte was perfectly aware of William's usual antics since Katherine was always brutally honest. This meant that Sarah also knew that her four year old had wandered off into the woods totally alone and then let William take the blame for it a month ago. She had considered telling William's mother this but decided against it; she'd never be believed anyway.
She opened the back door and called out to the two children. Katherine ran up to her and ducked behind her legs, peering out at Remus' half scowling, half laughing face.
"What on earth are you up to?" asked Sarah, grinning down at them.
"Nothing," said Remus innocently. Katherine just grinned mischievously at Remus and didn't answer.
"Do you want anything? Food? Drink?"
"No thank you," replied Remus, tearing his gaze away from Katherine's sparkling eyes and looking up at Sarah.
"No thanks," seconded Katherine, still grinning.
"Ok, if you need anything just shout."
"We will," they chorused. Sarah smiled and left them to it. Remus grinned at Katherine, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Ha! You're trapped now." Katherine smiled sweetly back.
"Oh I think not, Rem."
"Oh no?"
"Nope."
"Well how do you propose getting out of this one?" asked Remus, folding his arms.
Katherine flashed him a wicked grin and darted past him into the garden before realised what was happening.
"Hey! That's not fair!" he called after her.
"Neither's life, but you can't do anything about it," she called back, sitting down on the freshly cut grass.
"Why isn't it fair?" he asked, coming to sit beside her.
"No idea, it's something my parents say," she answered, shrugging.
"Parents are odd," said Remus thoughtfully. "Mine keep going on about how I'm growing up so fast but that's stupid; I'm getting older at the same rate as everyone else." Katherine nodded in agreement, then asked.
"Why were we chasing each other?" Remus paused, frowning in recollection.
"Can't remember," he decided eventually.
"Neither can I." Remus smiled and lay down on the grass in the morning sunlight.
"Katherine?"
"Uh huh?"
"What d'you want to be when you grow up?" he asked, watching her pluck blades of grass absently with her right hand. Katherine paused, staring down the garden at the gently trickling stream, and contemplated this.
"Alive," she said finally.
"You can't say that!" objected Remus.
"Why not?"
"Because... You can't. It's not allowed."
"Well then I want to be someone who can make it allowed." Remus squinted up at her.
"You want to make laws?"
"Maybe."
"Like a lawyer?"
"What do they do?"
"Don't know, but they've got the word 'law' in their name so it must have something to do with laws."
"I guess." They were silent for a while then Katherine asked: "What do you want to be?"
"I want to work at the Ministry. It looks cool."
"The what?" asked Katherine, giving him a funny look.
"The, er, government," said Remus, hurriedly backtracking. "In the, um, Houses of Parliament. I want to work there."
"If you worked there, you'd get to be on TV," said Katherine brightly. Remus nodded, and settled back on the grass, closing his eyes in the early spring sunshine. Katherine smiled happily to herself and gazed into the darkness of the forest before her. After a few minutes she put her head on one side, her sharp eyes trying to discern the dark shape that appeared to be lingering there, and nudged Remus. "Rem," she said hesitantly. "Can you see something down there?" Remus sat up, blinking, and followed her gaze.
"Um, trees?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Katherine frowned and shrugged.
"Oh well, it was probably nothing."
"What did you think it was?" he asked, gazing at her.
"Nothing, it was probably just a trick of the light." She got up, stretching. "Race you back to the house."
He grinned and jumped up, dashing ahead of her up to the small cottage giving no further thought to her odd remark. Why should he? It probably was just a trick of the light.
Probably.