Hi everyone, thanks for the reviews! Here's another chapter, I apologize for making you wait so long but like I said –busy with school, snowboarding and spinning wool…
I hope you'll like this chapter as much as I do…enjoy!
Molly finally let Jade go and smiled happily.
"Alright dear, but that means we'll have to start some real lessons soon. I thought you'll have one more year of homeschooling, but if you'll go in just a few months then, I'm afraid you'll have to keep studying during summer vacation."
She was waiting to see some sign of disagreement in Jade's face but it never came.
Of course Jade wanted nothing more than running outside with her new brothers and Ginny all summer and just pick endless rows of strawberries and make apple puree and fly on their Quidditch pitch, but learning new things about her world which she didn't know until recently, well, she couldn't complain about that either.
"Let's see…" continued Molly, "we'll start tomorrow, I'll make a curriculum for you so we have some plan about all you have to learn, don't worry dear, if we work hard you could have most of the August completely free." Said Molly and picked up her knitting.
Jade leaned back, resting her left hand against the pillow. Wow, she was really going to go. That meant new friends, new school and endless possibilities. She smiled for herself and let out the breath she was holding.
"Can you teach me how to knit?" asked Jade and chuckled when she saw Molly's eyes light up. She felt wonderfully light and happy, like nothing could stop her now, and her new life was beginning and it might be a little bit better than the first part of it.
Molly picked up the biggest pair of needles she had, and a ball of mustard yellow yarn. "Is this colour ok honey? I have some brown and dark green as well but this one is thick enough for these needles and it would go fast." She asked and Jade nodded, scooting closer to see what was the next step.
Molly taught her how to cast on and do the basic grater stitch, explaining that if Jade could knit the piece long enough, they could fold it in half and stitch the sides together to create a simple hat, Jade could actually wear once the winter came.
It was quiet in the living room, except for the sound of raindrops hitting the windows and slow music coming from the ancient radio in the kitchen. Molly was smiling, not really paying attention to her knitting, but already planning first lessons for Jade.
They wouldn't be hard, just the basics she should know about history, and rules and just some basic spells (without actually casting them, of course) to make the first couple of weeks easier.
Jade worked on her hat with enthusiasm at first and when she learned the stitch well enough, her mind started to wander and she already saw herself wearing school uniform and writing on the blackboards.
She wasn't sure about the school itself, as she didn't have time to read the book yet, but so far she liked it.
Dinner was ready sooner than she realized and when everyone came downstairs Jade put away her knitting, which was now almost five inches long and shuffled to the kitchen. After delicious meal and awesome almost sickly sweet desert, Molly announced that Jade got a letter from Dumbledore and she decided to go to school this September.
There was a moment of complete silence, followed by loud cheering and congratulations. Twins wanted to know if she thinks she could be in Gryffindor, Ron asked if he could go too and pouted when he was told to wait one more year, Percy was violently shaking Jade's hand and Ginny hugged her sister from the side. Charlie of course knew already, he heard his parents talking about it, so after congratulating Jade he used the opportunity when no one looked and sneaked another portion of the cake with thickest layer of icing.
Week-end was over before anyone really noticed, Arthur went to work in the morning and when all the kids climbed down the stairs to get their breakfast, Molly gave everyone huge slice of bread with rich creamy butter and cheese, then opened all the windows and top half of their backdoor to let in as much sun as possible. After couple of rainy days in a row, everybody was ready for the sunshine.
Breakfast wasn't even over and Fred with George were already pulling on their rain boots, running out from the back door with half eaten bread in their hands, surely going on a hunt for some new ingredients for their fireworks and whatever else they decided to make. They turned around and waved at Jade to follow them but she couldn't. Today was the first summer school day and she was sure Molly wouldn't be impressed if she skipped the lessons before they could even fully start.
She shook her head at them, whispering apologetically "maybe next time".
George nodded and turned around, ready to go on, but Fred stayed a little bit longer, making sure she won't change her mind and when he saw Jade was serious he smiled sadly and followed his twin.
Ginny and Ron were sent upstairs to get dressed because, as always, they were still in PJs.
"Ok, Jade, I have to finish cleaning the kitchen and put the cake in the oven so you have some free time now but we should start your today's lesson in twenty minutes or so, that way we can be done by lunchtime and you can go down to the village with everyone. I thought maybe we could invite your friend for the pick-nick on Wednesday. The grass should be dry by then, what do you think?" said Molly and started to put away clean dishes which washed themselves in the sink while she was talking.
"It sounds wonderful, do you want me to put the plates away while you do the rest of the work and we could start earlier?" asked Jade taking one of the plates and putting in on it's place in the cupboard.
Molly smiled at her and pulled out big bowl with dough, which was rising since morning, now ready to be spread on the baking sheet.
She put plums and peaches on top and sprinkled it with icing sugar before opening the oven and putting it inside.
Ginny and Ron were already running around the garden, chasing the gnomes.
Jade sat down back on her place behind the kitchen table and waited for Molly to come back from her bedroom. She came carrying two books and some blank parchments and quills. She set it all down on the table and grabbed a bottle of ink from the kitchen windowsill.
"We could practice writing with quill today, it's not too hard, but Arthur said it takes some time to get used to, if you were writing with muggle-made pen all your life. And you'll have to write really fast at school to take good notes during the lectures." Explained Molly and handed Jade one of the smaller, less intimidating quills.
Jade took it awkwardly in her right hand and dipped the tip in to the ink bottle.
"I can read you some basic spells you'll be learning during your first few weeks at school, and maybe you'll remember them later and it will be easier to do your homework once you're asked to actually learn them." Said Molly and started to read from the list of basic beginner's spells from one very old book. It belonged to one of the Twins now, she wasn't sure which, because they had this annoying habit of signing all their books "F. and G. Weasley" because the reason of their life seemed to be confusing people as much as they could.
The book itself, was in a very very bad condition, and Molly secretly hoped the other copy would be in much better shape, if she could find it of course (it seemed to be nonexistent right now), because Jade would have to inherit one of them.
Writing with quill is harder than it seems, you run out of ink all the time, and then if you dip the quill too much, you make a huge ink dot in the middle of parchment. The tip gets stuck in every single bump if you press it too much, or slides too easily if you don't press enough, it makes some letters fat, some very thin. It took Jade almost an hour and whole list of basic spells to master the art completely, but once she knew how to do it, her writing was really neat and even.
Molly put down the book and went to the fridge. She pulled out big glass bottle of fresh lemonade and poured them two glasses. Then she took two plastic cups with lids and straws and after filling them with lemonade and some ice she took them outside to her two youngest. Fred and George were nowhere to be seen, but Molly knew they'll come back in time for lunch, no matter how important their secret plans were, they always included a break for food in them.
"Alright now, I thought it would take you much longer to learn but look at you!" Molly praised Jade's writing skills and sat down again.
Jade was drinking her lemonade beaming with pride.
"We could go over some history now, jut the latest events you should know." Said Molly seriously and it took her next two hours to go over all the details about the war against You-know-who, she also explained Harry Potter's story and Jade was happy to learn something more about him. It was a sad story about boy who lost his parents, and she could relate, not having her parents herself, now when the name finally belonged to real boy, not just to one of the dolls in Ginny's collection, Jade wondered who was that dark wizard and why he could just walk around and kill people without someone stopping him. She knew her parents were killed, one of her foster parents mentioned it once, but it didn't matter to her. She didn't care why her parents died, all that mattered was that they were dead and she was left alone, missing them every single day. Now, it was different, she was starting to realize they might have been victims of the war. But why would some wizard kill muggles?
"They did it just because they could, some families with "pure blood" believe they are more important than muggle-born wizards or muggles. It's nonsense, and no one had right to do what they did to your family, to Harry's family and to many others. That's why it's important to learn about it and never let anything as terrible as The War happen ever again." Explained Molly and caressed Jade's hand.
"It's just so unfair. I want my mom and dad back, I should be at home right now, we would be family and I wouldn't have to go from one place to another every time the foster parents decided they no longer wanted me! It's not fair." Exclaimed Jade and covered her face with hands, trying to muffle her sobs.
Molly wasn't sure what to do. This is the talk she was afraid of. The important talk their social worker warned them about – talk about biological parents. Molly stood up and pulled Jade up from the chair, leading her upstairs to the master's bedroom.
The room wasn't big, it wasn't even the biggest room in the house but it had that magical atmosphere in it. It was clean and smelled of roses which were climbing up the east wall of the Burrow, around Molly's bedroom window. There was one big bed with quilted comforter and one big wardrobe standing next to the door, one tiny vanity table and full-length mirror in the corner. Molly gave Jade box of paper tissue and sat her down on the bed before closing the door.
She pulled out huge manila envelope from bottom drawer of the wardrobe and asked:
"honey how much you know about your parents?"
Jade looked at her in awe, she knew the envelope, it was the same one which social worker carried from home to home when Jade moved in or out. Foster parents always went through it but never let her read a single letter or see single photograph of all the documents which were in it.
She always thought it was the biggest injustice in her life when everyone else knew more about her past than herself.
Molly pulled out a pile of papers, and quickly went through the first few pages before she found the picture she was looking for.
It was an old black and white photo of two people holding tiny bundle in their arms. Smaller woman with darker hair and round face was smiling at the camera while tall blond man with short hair and visible stubble on his face looked lovingly on his two most precious people on the world. They were family.
Molly gave it to Jade and then came back to the first page and started to read. That was Jade's birth certificate, stating she was born in Curraclough, tiny village in Ireland. So she was Irish? Not that it would matter much, but why didn't anyone ever tell her?
There were names of her parents, Oliver Mraz and Lynne Mraz (born Desmond).
These were simple facts but Molly read the names and place of Jade's birth with so much love and respect that somehow, Jade couldn't be mad at her for knowing all this before she did.
Molly read the report about the death of Mraz family. It was simple list of dates and places and it was closed case, saying they were killed by an explosion, probably caused by criminal, unknown man, seen entering the house where Jade and her parents lived, just before the explosion.
No other information and investigation didn't lead anywhere.
"I'm sorry dear, I'm so sorry they couldn't catch him and make him pay for what he had done." Said Molly and hugged Jade who was silently crying, still looking down at the photo of her dead parents.
"I'm sorry, so sorry." Repeated Molly over and over gently rocking both of them as she used to rock her babies when they were hurt and crying.
None of her kids though, she realized, ever cried for such a terrible reason.
They sat there, together, looking at other pictures which police collected from family album, hoping to find some suspicious family "friend" or relative who had connections with illegal companies and could be the reason Mraz family was killed but they found no one so the photos stayed abandoned in Jade's file all those years.
Molly explained all he knew, read all the documents, but they weren't really important for Jade. Old police reports and lists of similar crimes which happened in the area, all crossed out from the list one by one, as the criminals were caught and cases closed, until Jade's parents' murder was the only one left. Jade didn't care about police letters and words she didn't understand anyway. For the first time in years she saw the faces of her parents, she saw their love for her and she knew their names. Finally there was proof they existed and they wanted her and they didn't want to leave her. She knew who she was.
Molly let her keep the photos but kept her birth certificate and all the legal documents in the envelope.