I started to relax and just then a woman came out of the kitchen door, holding a dishtowel and polka-dot mug in her hands, still drying it as she looked around the yard. And out eyes met…
"Oh my goodness! You're finally here! I didn't expect you until lunch time!" she threw the mug on the porch swing and run the short distance to us and pulled me into the biggest hug I had in years.
"I'm so happy to finally meet you Jade, oh look at you! Such a big girl! Now, now, we need to fatten you up a little bit, let's start that with some breakfast and I'll see if I can have you back in form before summer!" she smiled down at me and loosened the hug – just enough for me to start breathing again.
"Mathilda, come on in, I'll fix you both some breakfast and a cup of tea, or coffee?" Molly chatted away. She was nervous herself, but could see that Jade didn't feel very confident either.
She's just a girl, just like my Ginny, she thought, there's nothing to be afraid of, I only hope she won 't be disappointed. All I can do now if get her something nice to eat. I always said that every great day starts with great breakfast.
"I'm sorry Molly but I won't be able to stay, there is a job waiting for me in London and I should be back there for lunch, I'm already late. But I'm sure you girls will manage on your own." Miss Jones hugged Mrs. Weasley, promised she'll write her again soon, ruffled my hair and excused herself.
Ok, so what should I do now?
Mrs. Weasley didn't give me much time for thinking; she pushed me inside the kitchen and told me to sit down. Than an endless train of questions began.
"Would you like some cereals with milk? Or maybe a toast with scrambled eggs? Or bread with butter and jam? We have fresh butter, I made it yesterday." She looked at me, waiting for answer.
What should I pick? I usually got something small, cheap and something that didn't require any effort from the side of my guardians, if I got any breakfast at all. Was there any right answer? Would they send me away for picking something wrong? I once got into argument with one of the kids at my foster home over a pop-tart. It wasn't really an argument, I only asked if I could have one and than she yelled at me for the rest of the day and by the end of the week I got sent away because I "didn't fit in" with the family.
"Bread, please?" I said and it sounded more like a question.
"Oh, ok then, I baked the bread this morning and we have strawberry jam – is that ok with you?" she didn't wait for my answer, just continued: "it's one of the last jars from last summer, you see, we don't have any strawberries yet, but they should be ready soon." She brought me a plate with huge piece of bread, richly buttered and topped with sea of bright red jam which contained whole strawberries.
I took a bite. It was delicious, sweet, almost sickly sweet, but not too much – just the right amount of sweet taste of summer fruit mixed with creamy butter and fresh home-baked bread. I closed my eyes, to better enjoy the sensation. I never had home-baked bread. One of the foster families used to buy bread in little bakery on the corner of their street but it was almost always already cold. This one was still mildly warm and incredibly crunchy on the sides. I looked up at Mrs. Weasley and suddenly felt urge to tell her, to tell this incredible woman who was standing there almost scared, waiting for my comment about it.
It was simple snack, there is nothing more ordinary than bread with butter and jam, but she made it taste like some b-day cake. Really, I don't think any cake could be tastier.
"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, it's unbelievable, the jam, the bread and real butter, thank you so much! It's the best breakfast I ever had."
Wide smile spread across her face as she rushed over to me and hugged me from behind.
"Aren't you a sweet little thing! No one around here ever said something so beautiful about my meals!" she wiped a tear from under her left eye.
"Now, here's a cup of cocoa and when you finish your breakfast, we'll have to talk about something important. Don't worry, it's nothing bad, it's just a little thing you need to know about our family and also about yourself." She smiled again, went to the sink and started to fill big pot with water.
"You mean, we have to talk about me being a witch and your family being…" I didn't know how to finish the sentence, I didn't want to upset her, she smiled so beautifully at me.
"…about our family being a family of wizards. That's right dear, so you already know? And you are ok with it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice filled with concern.
I nodded and tried to smile, but all I managed was a weak grimace. Damn the stupid nervousness.
"All right darling, that makes things so much easier!" She laughed and waved her hand with a piece of wooden stick.
Suddenly everything came to life. Dishes started to wash themselves, the heavy big pot filled with water flew across the kitchen to the stove and blue flames appeared underneath. There was a napkin, with came on its own and folder itself neatly on my knees.
I just sat there with wide eyes, jam dripping from the bread I still held in my arm.
So this is magic! This is what Miss Jones meant when she said I'll like it here. It was the coolest thing you could imagine!
I quickly finished my breakfast because I saw that kitchen was all clean and tidy and my dishes were the only ones left.
I picked up my plate and mug and brought them to the sink where they jumped right under the water. Then I heard Mrs. Weasley behind my back yelling from the window.
"Ronald, put it down this instant and come back here! I told you not to do that!"
A muffled response came back from outside but I didn't understand what it was about. Oh my, I only hope that the boy won't get into trouble. I hated trouble but it always seemed to find me.
"Excuse me…" said Mrs. Weasley and hurried out into the garden. I carefully leaned to the side to see though the window. There was a boy with bright red hair outside, looking up at the sky and next to him little girl crying and tugging on his t-shirt. Her face was almost purple, and big crocodile tears were running down her cheeks, forming dark stain on the front of het tee.
I saw their mom coming to them and taking out her wand. Oh no, this can 't be good, what was she going to do?
But she only pointed it to the sky and suddenly a small teddy bear came flying and landed in little girl's outstretched arms. She hugged it close to her and wouldn't let go, when her mom tried to take her hand. As they were coming closer, I could hear the boy apologizing.
"I'm sorry mom! I said I'm sorry, but it wasn't on p-rpose!" he whined almose crying. "Ginny asked me to make her teddy fly and then I couldn't take him do-own!" He was starting to get hiccups.
"Alright, alright you two, just try to play nicely next time." Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"Now, will you introduce yourself?" she pushed her kids inside the kitchen and suddenly they became shy.
The awkward silence wasn't helping the situation very much so I started myself:
"Hi, I'm Jade, I'll be staying with you for a while. I'm 10."
The little girl came closer to me, took my right hand to her left and shook them. "Hello, I'm Ginny, I will be 8 this summer." And then the boy joined her, waving at me from across the room. "I'm Ron her brother, and I had my b-day last week, I wish you were here than, we had huge cake and even butterbeer and twins sent me all those sweets from Hogsmade…"
"Ron, that's enough for your introduction, I'm sure Jade will listen to your serenades about food and candy later. I have to show her, her new room, and you two should head back upstairs and change from your pajamas, it's almost ten now and you're still in PJs ! Up you go!"
I noticed that Ron's pants were a little bit too short for him, but he had them tucked in his rain boots so they pretty much survived the morning trip to the garden, however his younger sister wasn't as successful as him. Her pants didn't quite make it to her wellies and even now as she was standing in the kitchen, back of the hems of her lovely pink pajama pants were hiding under dirty heels of her boots.
There was a little puddle forming around her as all the rain water dripped down from her shoes.
Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to notice at all, I only hoped they won't get into any more trouble for that.