The Things We Don't Say

Part 1

Evelyn

I love when time feels like it's standing still. Everything is so captivating that it feels like a picture. All I can hear is the gentle breeze blowing through the trees, the rippling creek, and I hear the call of a Mourning Dove. 

The Mourning Doves call has always been my favorite, it reminds me of a foggy fall morning. The quiet tune has always been beautiful to me. 

I wish I could stay here forever.

All the sudden all I hear is an ear-splitting shriek before I get tackled from my spot in the grass.

"Oliver! what are you doing?!" I groan sitting up after the brutal hit.

"What? I just came to see what you're doing," My older brother, Oliver, murmurs as he brushes off the grass from his pants and sits besides me.

"Well, did you have to come in so aggressively?" I ask.

"Of course I did, what else are brothers for?" 

"You know, some brothers love their sisters." I respond.

"I'm just toughening you up. Besides, you'll be plenty happy with me later." 

"What do you mean? Did you get me a gift?" I ask.

"It's my little sister's 11th birthday, you're going to Hogwarts this year! What do you think?" He asks in a questioning tone.

"You do love me!" I yell as I tackle him back into the ground. 

"Enough, Enough. Mom and dad told me to get you so we could have cake and ice cream." He says as he stands.

"Yay, I love cake!" I respond.

"I know kiddo." He says as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and leads us back through our little forest to the house. 

After eating cake and ice cream my mother finally announces that it's time for presents. 

"Okay honey, open your gifts from your father and I. Hopefully you can use it at school this year." my mothers says and she stands from her spot off the couch to hand a box about as long as my leg. It's wrapped in white and yellow striped wrapping paper. After she hands me the box she sits back down next to my father. His arm wraps around the top of her shoulder as he leans in to kiss her temple. 

My mother and father met at Hogwarts, they met during 6th year divinations class where they were assigned as each other's partners. They were doing tea readings and my fathers said "New people are meant to surprise you." and my mother's said "Take a leap of faith." My mother always said that the love bloomed from there, a quiet ravenclaw, my father, and the loud Hufflepuff, my mother. The perfect opposites. My father apparently blindly followed whatever my mother said, still does actually. 

"I hope you like it darling." My father said.

"I'm so excited!" I said with a smile on my face. I take the wrapping paper and tear into the gift. Underneath is a case, it's black in color and the texture is leather. I slowly open the top of the box and set my eyes on sleek wood, looking further, I see the end of a brand new broomstick. "wow." I whisper under my breath. 

"We thought you might like it!" My mother says with a bright smile on her face. "You know, your father and I were both on our quidditch teams! I was just the one that got to be captain." The last part is said in a joking tone directed towards my father. 

"You only got captain because you're a kiss-ass and everyone knew they could convince you of anything. Also! who won the cup that year? huh?" He asks, joking just as much as my mom.

My parents have always had this type of relationship. The joking banter. It has become part of the family dynamic, our house is always filled with little digs at each other, it's a love language at this point.

"Oh, you!" she groans as she barely slaps at his shoulder. "You know that that is not true! People just like me more than they like you! And you only won because you cheated" she defends herself. He did in fact not cheat but she still, even after all these years, doesn't want to admit that she lost.

"Hey, why don't we let Evie finish opening her gifts?" He said, trying to bring the attention back to me. He handed me a small box that was sitting beside him. The box was small, slightly bigger than my palm. This too was wrapped in the white and yellow paper. I looked at the box sitting delicately in my hand. 

I rip the wrapping paper off and find a black velvet box. I slowly opened it to find a gold charm bracelet, it only had one charm on it. It was a flower and after looking at it more closely, I realized it was a compass, as the bracelet moved I realized that the mark in the compass kept changing directions to point deeper into their home. I was so taken aback by the sentimental gift that I was speechless and just stared at my brother. 

"It's so you'll always be able to find your way home." 

~~~~~~

My first day of Hogwarts, I feel like I could puke. I started packing the night of my birthday, we celebrated when the owl dropped the letter off and I decided that I couldn't wait to go, now I'm not so sure. I had everything pushed into my trunk and the old backpack that I stole from Oliver. He won't miss it. I sat on my bed wondering about how everything I could need for nine months fit inside a regular trunk. 

A knock on my door wakes me from my daydream. Ollie peaks into my room and finds me sitting on the edge of my bed. "Nervous?" he asks.

"What if I don't make any friends? What if I'm too dumb and I get bad grades? What if people think I'm weird? You know what? I don't want to go. I am perfectly fine just staying here and being a normal human" I ramble as I stand to go try to unpack my bag. 

"Evie, come on. You're going, You have to! You'll make friends, I promise."