“WHAT?”
This was outrageous. Completely unbelievable.
“Honey, you don’t“”
“I will NOT be moving to England,” I shouted. This was utterly ridiculous. How could they do this to me? After living in Australia almost my whole life, they now wanted me to tag along to a completely different country, leaving all my friends and my school! What type of sane parents even wanted that for their child? Oh, I knew that answer: my parents.
“Tash, you don’t understand!” Dad said as he ran a hand through his jet-black hair, his thin face etched in annoyance. “I’ve been transferred back to England, I have to go.”
I felt like yelling, “No one’s stopping you!” but then I realized that all that was going to earn me was a long lecture on behaviour from my mother, who was already staring at me beadily from the opposite side of the table. Instead, I took a deep breath and said calmly, “Why have you been transferred now?”
Mum sighed. It seemed that the whole explaining-why-we-have-to-move-to-another-country thing wasn’t going as planned. She stuck a few strands of her honey-blonde hair behind her ears and took off her glasses and started to polish them. I waited, tapping my foot on the wooden kitchen floor.
“Sweetie,” she said, staring at me in a manner that made my anger melt. I couldn’t stay mad at my mother for long, for some reason. Her sweet round face and blue eyes that looked so much like a baby always made me un-angry. “Your father was transferred to Australia from England when you were one year old.” I nodded. I already knew that much. Dad was in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and he was transferred here when the First Wizarding War of England had reached its height. “Your father’s job here was never permanent.”
“Yeah yeah...” I rolled my eyes.
Mum took a deep breath. “Look, Tash, I know this is hard on you“”
“You think?” I raised my eyebrow.
““but it is necessary,” she continued as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “We have to go to England, honey. Your father’s job is at stake.”
“But where am I going to find my friends in England?” I whined.
“Well, Natasha,” Dad said slowly, trying to reason with me. “We were waiting to surprise you, but I suppose now’s as good a time as any. I’m not the only one who’s received permission to return to England. Briallen’s father is returning as well.”
So Bri was going too? But really, it still didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want to go. Even with Bri, it was still England, the other side of the bloody world.
“Why can’t I stay at Eduvene?” I asked. It seemed like a reasonable plan. Mum and Dad could go “ after all, they had always wanted to return to England, anyways. I’d just stay at school for the rest of the year. “It’s only a year, you know. I’m not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself! And - and we just won the Quidditch Premierships this year! I have to stay for the team!” I said earnestly.
“I’m not going to leave you here alone, sweetie,” Mum said.
“Yes, Natasha, we’re going back to England, and we’re all going together,” Dad said, his tone telling me that the decision was final.
Oh, for the love of Merlin….
“Fine. Fine!” I said, stamping my foot on the ground. This wasn’t gonna get me anywhere. In fact, it was just making me even madder. “I’m going over to Bri’s.” And without even waiting for a reply I stormed out of the neatly polished kitchen and out the front door.
The sun was glaring at me from the cloudless sky above. It was way too hot outside, and I could almost feel the heat-waves radiating out of the ground below. This did nothing to improve my temper.
Bri’s house was just opposite mine. It even looked identical: a two-storied wood-panelled house with a wide porch in the front. A curved driveway led from the main street to the garage, while a smaller, slightly twisted stone pathway led to the main door.
I walked up the few steps that led to the door and rang the bell with a little too much force than needed. I hoped that Bri was home. I needed a friend right now… we could talk it over and make plans to convince our parents to let us stay back! Maybe we could sneak out of our houses after everyone was asleep and somehow make our way back to Eduvene. I’d try to forge Dad’s signature and write a letter to the Principal to let me stay back. That’d have to work!
Uncle Heath opened the door after a few seconds. I called Bri’s Dad Uncle Heath because he was one of my dad’s closest friends. He hadn’t changed a bit since I saw him last year: his long greyish hair was tied in the usual ponytail at the back of his head, and his thin face was lined prematurely, making him look seventy instead of forty-five. He looked a lot like one of those characters that I had seen in one of Emma Ponting’s Muggle Literature books - except the pink apron he was wearing kind of ruined the effect. I almost laughed out loud. Aunt Camilla was apparently out, leaving him to do the cooking again.
“Oh, hello, Natasha,” he said, smiling at me. He even had that aristocratic British accent. Even my Dad had almost lost his British accent after staying in Australia for fifteen years, but not Uncle Heath.
“Hi, Uncle Heath. I’m here to see Bri,” I said, stepping inside. I walked along the polished wooden floor and was almost near the narrow staircase before he said, “Briallen’s not home, she left a while ago.”
This was just not my day.
“Where is she?” I asked, trying not to sound impatient.
“We told her that we’re leaving, and she stormed out. I assume you did the same too?” he asked, his grey eyes boring into me in a way that kind of gave me the creeps. After seeing him for almost my whole life, I still couldn’t adjust myself to those wild-looking eyes.
“Um… kinda,” I admitted sheepishly.
Uncle Heath smiled. “You’d better go after Bri,” he said. “She’s really immature, despite what she seems like. She’ll need you right now.”
I agreed. Thanking him, I walked out the door and went to the place I knew Bri would be.
Behind my house, a few minutes’ walk away, was a place that Bri and I had discovered when we were little. It was a beautiful place with lots of small trees and flowers and even a small creek. No one ever went there, so it was a place where Bri and I could just sit and have fun.
The path there was narrow and twisted. Trees and shrubs grew everywhere. Sunlight streamed through the thick foliage, illuminating the ground in patches of light. Birds sang overhead as usual and small insects scuttled over the ground. The fragrance of the flowers and the earthly smell of the damp soil underneath my feet filled my lungs, intoxicating me. After the Quidditch pitch, this was my most favourite place in the world.
It didn’t take me long to find out where Bri was. Just beside the little creek, Bri was sitting cross-legged, staring intently at the water. Smiling, I walked over to her.
The water was crystal clear and I could almost see the glittering sand below. I saw Bri’s reflection- she seemed to be really upset. When she saw my face in the water, she whipped around and looked at me.
“Hey,” she said. Her voice was broken and her eyes were blood-shot “ she had been crying. This itself had me dumb-struck. Bri was the strong one. She never cried…
“Hey, what… what’s wrong?” I asked, unsure of what to say.
“We’re moving,” she replied flatly.
“Yeah… it sucks.”
“You think?” she scoffed. “Can you imagine leaving this place? Father says we’re going home. But this is home! We are home, Tash!” she motioned around us. “Eduvene is home! I don’t wanna go to Hogwarts. What kind of name is Hogwarts for a school anyway?”
I resisted the urge to laugh out loud.
“Think about me,” I said darkly. “Mike hinted that I’d be Quidditch Captain next year. What am I supposed to do now?”
Bri rolled her eyes. “That’s all she can think about,” she muttered. “Quidditch!”
“Oi, it’s a fact…”
We sat there for a long time, talking about how this was gonna change our lives. Nothing would be the same anymore: no more stalking the cute boys, no more pulling pranks on the juniors, no more late night adventures to the kitchens to nick food... and no Quidditch Captaincy (though technically I wasn’t even Captain yet, Mike just hinted...)
“Hey!” I said, my face breaking into a wide grin. “No more Shaun!”
Bri laughed. “That’s about the only good side,”
After thinking a few seconds, I said, “No more boiling summers.”
Bri snorted. “True…”
“And there’ll be fewer girls trying to kill you.”
“Yeah “ OI!”
I laughed. Bri crinkled her nose and said, “No more drinking that foul eucalyptus juice every day.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I don’t care what they say about it making you beautiful, that stuff is foul.”
Maybe moving to England might not be the worst thing ever, I thought to myself.
The Hidden Truth by majestic_ginny
Chapter Notes: Sorry for the delay, guys, I had writer's block, and RL was too hectic. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :). This would have been unworthy of viewing had it not been for the best beta ever, Emily (Emck). Love ya, hon!
Evrything here belongs to JKR. I own my characters only.
Chapter Endnotes: Please tell me what you thing! Reviews = love and inspiration.
--Nadia :)