Strawgoh: The American Hogwarts

Epilogue

A young boy, around the age of eleven, was pushing a cart with three trunks on it through the train station. He had brown hair and grey blue eyes. Smiling, he pushed through the crowd while his two sisters, one blond and one a brunette, chased after him, screaming his name. An owl cage almost toppled off one of the trunks. The blond girl screamed, while the reddish brown haired sister gained on her little brother. She laughed as she pushed him aside.

“Haha, Barry!” she shouted. Della Tipper was ruthless and a fast runner. Her mother, father, and three other siblings were far behind.

“Della! Barry!” shouted the blond sibling, Lottie. “Don’t run—so fast—I can’t—keep up—with you!”

Lottie had always been the weak, sickly kid. Her parents had named her after her mother’s cousin, who lost her immunity and died in a battle against Death Eaters. Her little brother and big sister had been named after her late maternal grandparents. They had been murdered by a Death Eater as well.

The three’s parents, Laurel and Ben Tipper, arrived, with their three other kids, Easton, Hugo, and Brentley. Brent kept running off, saying that he saw Nia, his best friend. Easton was crying and Hugo was whining.

“Now, Easton, Hugo, you’ll be off to Strawgoh before you know it!” laughed Laurel, holding her two sons’ hands.

“Yeah, but we won’t even want you if you get Slytherin,” Ben teased.

“Don’t tell them that, Ben. You are such a bad example,” Laurel complained.

Two other figures arrived, with a little girl attached to her mother’s hand and two kids trailing behind. The girl had brown hair and gold eyes and her husband had blondish caramel hair and chocolatey eyes. Their oldest child, a boy, had chocolatey eyes and hair. He was lanky and strutted up to Della, who he kissed on the cheek, but stopped when Ben shot him a bad look.

“Nice to see you, Joseph,” said Ben, shaking his daughter’s admirer’s hand.

“Thanks, Mr. Tipper. I’m happy to be going back to Strawgoh. Guess we’re lucky that it opened when we were first years,” laughed Joseph.

Joseph’s little blond sister, Emmaline, began to cry. “Mom, I don’t ever want to leave you!” she whined.

“Emma, nothing will happen to you in first year like it did to your father and I. Right, Alex?” asked Maddie Pippins. Her husband, Alex, nodded.

Maddie squeezed Emmaline tightly while her other daughter, Nia, let go of her hand to see Hugo and Brent.

Maddie went to hug her old friend, Laurel. That day was Laurel’s cousin Lottie’s birthday. Laurel’s eyes were red and puffy. She looked as presentable as a kick butt girl could look, but her more feminine side was shining through. It was an upsetting day for most of the Hare-Tipper family, it being that Lottie had also been close to Ben’s best friend, Easton.

Alex and Ben clapped each other on the back. “Tell Joseph to watch his hands,” Ben laughed. “Della’s too young.” Alex chuckled.

Laurel’s brownish hair began to stick to her face as she cried, watching her baby boy Barry go off to Strawgoh. Maddie’s face was beaming and wet with tears as well, seeing that she wouldn’t get to talk to Emma everyday. She hugged her daughter tightly while her old friend hugged her daughters and son.

“Will you write me?” asked Emma.

“Every day,” smiled Maddie. “Every single day. You’ll write us back, won’t you, darling?”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Lottie. “Everybody laughed at me when Mom and Dad gave me a letter everyday. I started telling people that it was the Daily Prophet I was getting everyday so they’d stop teasing me. If you do write Emma everyday, make sure there’s sweets, too. Everybody’ll like her.”

Maddie laughed. “Oh, Emma. We’ll give you sweets, then. Anyways, write us a often as you can. We love you. And remember, you’ve got Joseph, Della, Lottie, and Barry if you need any help.” Emma nodded as her mother planted another kiss on her head.

They walked through the platform wall and into a completely hidden wizard and witch only platform. The train was steaming and it blew its whistle as the ten minute warning.

“Mom?” asked Barry. “Is it just me or does the train change color?”

“Every ten minutes it changes color. That way nobody realizes that it’s the same train and can’t follow it to Strawsmeade and the Strawgoh,” explained Ben.

“Wow, Benny. I didn’t think you’d care about stuff like that,” Alex said, a bit shocked.

“Well, when you’ve got a genius like Lottie in the house, it’s hard not to listen to everything. She’s just a sweetie.”

The five kids, three Tippers and two Pippins, boarded the train. Easton, Hugo, Brent, and Nia all waved violently as their mothers softly cried into their fathers’ shoulders. They weren’t crying about the dangers their children might come across, but just saying goodbye.

“See you at Christmas!” shouted Ben.

“Remember the last Christmas we had at Strawgoh?” asked Maddie. Everybody nodded and laughed.

“Thank goodness the headmaster is Charlie. Can’t believe he married that rude girl, Jeanine! Anyways, she’s in the family, so there’s no going back,” Laurel laughed through her tears.

Luckily, the group of five was out of danger. All was well.