Post by Charlie Jones on Mar 17, 2008 22:06:50 GMT -5
July 10th, 2008
In the middle of the summer heat, a large barn owl swoops down upon a hapless student, despite wherever they may be, some how seeming to know, as if by magic, that said person would be in that spot at that precise moment in time. It drops a package in from of them with a dull "clink", ruffles its features, and with a spread of its wings takes off again.
On the back of the package is the oh-so-familiar Hogwarts wax seal.
Miss Jones,
Yes, that is the Head Girl badge, and no, I will not take it back. I have every confidence in your ability to preform this task in addition to your obligations as the Quidditch Captain for Slytherin House. Simply put; don't mess this up. You can do it, just have confidence in yourself...
In the middle of the summer heat, a large barn owl swoops down upon a hapless student, despite wherever they may be, some how seeming to know, as if by magic, that said person would be in that spot at that precise moment in time. It drops a package in from of them with a dull "clink", ruffles its features, and with a spread of its wings takes off again.
On the back of the package is the oh-so-familiar Hogwarts wax seal.
Miss Jones,
Yes, that is the Head Girl badge, and no, I will not take it back. I have every confidence in your ability to preform this task in addition to your obligations as the Quidditch Captain for Slytherin House. Simply put; don't mess this up. You can do it, just have confidence in yourself...
Forget it. Charlie couldn't get through the entire owl before her legs gave out in a run, leaping hedges and stones to get in the house, instantly filled with music from the radio and the tantrums of a baby. It had been a break in calm atmosphere of the New York suburb Leger's Woods, and Charlie resented coming in instantly. Without a doubt the tantrum came from Kallisto, the ten month baby girl who came from the both Tammy and Toby, and she had nothing to do but cry her eyes out while Tammy rushed around the kitchen as usual, fixing an afternoon snack for Charlie's half sister.
The sounds got to her (including the incredibly contagious summer anthem "Love My Wand" which Charlie hated the moment she heard it), and she turned to the mother and child pair with extreme annoyance. "Will you shut Kallie up, Tamsin?!?" She didn't even wait for her stepmother to utter an indignant sob as Charlie passed through quickly to get to the backyard where her father Tobias was tending to the overgrown grass in their vast land behind the house.
She grasped the parchment anxiously, thinking nothing past just showing it to him. If she thought more about it, she would have punked out, and never told him. But something told her inside herself that showing this would make him proud again, it would make him smile geniunely at her. So long she had been feeling ignored by him, finding their encounters shortened to meals and passing the qudditch magazines around. Already with a month into all of this it drove her crazy. Not even the sympathetic nature of the last brother, Dan, left living in the house felt useful to her.
She had lost a lot spark with her father, and it killed her to be there in the house everyday.
"Hey, pop," Charlie said nonchalantly at first, but then rushed her announcement. "Look, pop-- I'm Head Girl at Hogwarts! They-They picked me!" She let the gleam of the badge speak for itself, yet she held onto the parchment. The words of encouragement from Raynor were words she wanted to keep to herself.
Toby turned around as he ended the spell from his wand temporarily. He picked up the badge from her hand and fingered it slowly. Like Charlie, he visibly looked reinvigorated by the sizable weight of it, as if it powered the very soul. He smiled widely. "That's great, Char!"
Charlie looked around as if embarassed what she would do next. Yet after the three seconds of silence, she initiated what she sought for. Stepping closer, she gave him a hug. "You dunno how good that's gonna look to scouts. I'm gonna look like an all around achiever." She felt as though she stretched it, but she winced to what he said next.
"You would've already looked good with your prefect badge," Tobias said as he kept handling the badge, "Too bad you couldn't keep it for the summer. But doesn't matter-- prefect's the last thing you gotta worry about!"
Charlie instantly let go of her hug, which had been limp anyways seeing as he was busy with badge and wand in each hand. It was odd bringing up the prefect issue again. When she had come home, she had been on her way to telling him about her resigned position, but it just hadn't felt right. Tobias had become a quiet man, now. He was not full of his enthusiastic words and what was worse was that he was rational. It had been as if he had really lost his son Michael to death, and mourning left him a changed man.
"Yeah..." Charlie said slowly but with intent, as if feigning the same ignorance her father held.