The sun blazed down on Hackney, London, like it almost had a personal feud to settle with the very earth the borough existed on. The harder you looked, the more it seemed that the death star, light-years away wanted nothing more than to vaporize the flat roofs of the drab houses cramped together along the street. Not a peep was heard on the outside, save for the disruptively obnoxious hollering that reached the twitching ears of one young woman, sitting by her window, gazing at the rowdy bunch of boys with such intensity that had the sun seen her eyes, it would have shied away too.
"Darling?"
Her ears nearly withdrew into themselves, and the furrow between her brows deepened. It did not look to belong on her otherwise crease-free face. She merely shifted her legs, pins and needles rushing through with a burst of force.
"Darling?" The voice was louder this time.
Still, she would not even look in the direction of the door, eyes almost obsessively fixated upon the giggling fools splashing water at each other. Even when the door creaked and footsteps approached, she did not turn to look. Not even when nimble, callous fingers tucked under her chin, and black eyes met her own, did she look. She only stared at the perfect mirror of her face in those eyes that stared through her, troubled and searching.
"Eddy, I have been calling you for ages." It was her mother. She looked rather pale and the bags underneath her eyes seemed only to get heavier.
'Eddy' contemplated speaking. Her mother did not ask her a question however, and so Eddy did not feel inclined to say anything in response. She set her gaze back on the boys outside.
"Someone caught your eye?" Her effort to diffuse the situation did not seem to work.
Her mother only sighed and straightened up, leaning back as she stood there, waiting for Eddy to say something – anything – in reply. Minutes had passed and Eddy continued to sit and watch in silence.
"Edna, come on dear, please talk to me," she tried again, placing her hands on Edna's face and forcing her to look once again. "You can't keep doing this. Please, tell me what's wrong."
If anything, the acid in her eyes seemed to bubble over at that. The tight line crossing her mouth released its unforgiving hold.
Then, very softly she spoke, "Mum, I want to go outside."
There was a stretch of silence before she mustered strength to reply to Edna.
"I wish I could let you, dear," she said, reaching to brush away the stray hairs in her daughter's face.
Edna leaned away from her mother's touch and promptly left the room, leaving her to stare after Edna. She turned to the window when she heard one of the neighbor's kid call out to her gleefully.
"Mrs. Kane!" He shouted.
Mrs. Kane poked her head out the window and, offered a weak smile and a wave, but it seemed the boy had already lost his attention as he ran down the street screaming, away from the threat of more water balloons.
Mrs. Kane surveyed the small room, heaving a tired sigh; it was her daughter's room. As if the house couldn't look anymore worse for wear, Edna's room remained a chaotic mess. There were clothes strewn across the floor and socks peeking out of half-closed drawers. Her desk was a mess of papers and toys and little knick-knacks she wasn't sure how to call. It looked much like the aftermath of a terrible storm. She had asked Edna to clean up, but the girl was simply too uncooperative, especially today.
She huffed as she approached the cluttered desk. She could not begin to grasp how that girl was able to live like such a savage. However Mrs. Kane's eyes softened at the sight of one cassette player lying on the desk, a gift Mr. Kane had brought her daughter. It was playing one of those new obnoxious songs Edna and her father both adored, though Mrs. Kane couldn't resist the tug straining her lips. She picked it up and pressed the stop button. She went to place it back down, but not on the exact spot Edna had had it placed.
It was then that she had noticed the cassette player had been innocuously hiding something. Mrs. Kane froze.
Shaking hands reached out and grabbed the envelope, as a shuddered breath escaped her when she confirmed the red wax seal on the front.
Mrs. Kane spun on her heel and went searching the house for any sign of her daughter. She found Edna eventually, half her body dangling outside the precarious window that desperately clung to the tottering house.
"Edna!" She shrieked, panic shooting through her voice. "Get that foot back inside, right now!"
Edna's eyes widened momentarily as she looked up to see her mother standing in the living room, mouth agape. A look of cool impasse soon befell her face.
"No," Edna said defiantly. "I'm going outside today."
"You can't." Mrs. Kane rushed over, nearly tripping over her own feet.
She snapped her arms out to drag the impudent thing back inside, but was unable to grab Edna, her fingertips barely scraping the collar of Edna's dress. The foolish child actually hopped outside the window. She fell to the drooping, brown grass below, mud caking her clothes, as if that dress wasn't threadbare enough.
Mrs. Kane scanned the street quickly, and focused on Edna with a look that could shoot daggers.
"Get back in, right now," though her voice low, Mrs. Kane was positively seething, "because if you don't, I'm calling Jerry and telling on you."
"Go on and tell Dad," Edna snapped. "What could he do? Leave Derry to come punish me? I don't care Mama, I'm going."
Edna did not linger to hear a response, and she did not need to.
"Don't you dare come back!" Mrs. Kane warned. "I will not let you back inside this house, Edna! I won't! I am so tired of this!"
She slammed down the window so hard, it was a surprise the glass had not cracked. Mrs. Kane watched, fuming and unimpressed as she watched Edna walk away. She disappeared down the street, no doubt to find those children and join them in their game.
Mrs. Kane cursed to herself and stomped off into the kitchen. She snatched a dishcloth, scrubbing the pots and pans until she no longer had strength left to remain angry. Tears prickled her eyes and the furor with which she had begun the chores around the house vanished. She put away everything and leaned against the counter with her head down.
Meanwhile, Edna approached the boys, who were all drenched from head to toe. She had been watching them from afar for the longest time, unsure of herself. Now that it had come to this moment, she was starting to feel like she should never have jumped out that window. Edna scratched her head. How was one to go about making friends anyway?
In books, friendships tended to begin with some kind of dire circumstance, but Edna was sure that it wasn't necessarily true in real life. In real life, it seemed, she was required to put her foot out and make a move, and it didn't sound like a piece of cake to her at all.
Edna looked back. Her house was right there. She could go back but she thought it best to wait before she went back in. Her mother was probably mad and she did not want to look like a loser either. She swallowed, heel turning in the direction of the house. It did not sound like such a bad idea to her anymore.
"Hey, you're Mrs. Kane's daughter, right?"
Edna froze, eyes almost guiltily meeting with the older boy's. He was smiling at her. Edna's heart thrummed loudly. Her hands reached up to release her hair from behind her overlarge ears that stuck out, suspecting they may be betraying her; she had felt the heat rise to them. Up close, his hair seemed to have some gold in it, although she always thought it was just brown, like the chocolate her dad brought her once. The boy even had dimples, and Edna found it incredibly curious, barely fighting the urge to poke him there.
"Yeah," Edna managed to croak out.
"I'm Eric," he said, reaching his hand out in greeting. "It's really nice to meet you, Edna. I always see you up there in the window, watching us."
Edna wanted nothing more than to die. He even knew her name! She grasped his hand and shook it. She hoped the sweat went unnoticeable, considering he was completely drenched.
"Not particularly," Edna lied, "I just like looking out the window."
He laughed, startling Edna. It sounded like bells. "Alright. Come join us!"
Edna blinked. Well then, that was easier than she had initially assumed.
"No!" Cried out a voice. It was a smaller boy who stood behind Eric with the others, watching their interaction with keen eyes. "We can't let her join – she's a girl!"
Why did he make it sound like a disease? Edna frowned, the impulse to leave growing stronger by the minute. Even then, her feet remained glued to the ground. She eyed the boy, he was almost half Eric's size and his face was a rather bright shade of red as he glowered up at Edna. She couldn't help thinking he looked very much like a tomato.
"Billy, come on now, give her a chance," Eric said.
They continued to argue back and forth until the rest of them grew restless and resumed their playing. Edna stood off to the side awkwardly, trying her best to not fidget. She snuck another peek at the house down the street.
"Come on, Edna!" Eric shouted, laughing as he got a water balloon square in his chest. "Join us!"
It took a second for her to register what Eric had said. A moment of hesitation passed and then, Edna's face broke out into a grin. She began jogging up to him, fingers buzzing as she reached for a water balloon.
"Duck!"
Suddenly, a blue balloon was flying right at her. Edna stilled, her eyes widening.
Her grin vanished as quickly as it had come. Everything slowed and time came to a stand-still as her heart began racing. She was so terribly frightened - by a water balloon of all things! - that her worst nightmare came true.
A familiar tingling sensation sent chills down her spine. She wasn't going to be able to stop it.
The balloon had been less than an inch away from her face, and so she had felt it turn to ice. A frigid breeze had swept on her face, for a split second before the balloon shot in the exact opposite direction it came from, and proceeded to ram itself upon Billy's nose.
Blood spurt from his face and he started screaming and crying. Another one of them fainted at the sight of blood and fell hard, taking down the rest of them with him. Eric was the only one left standing alongside her, and he looked to be at a loss, frozen to the spot. Eric snapped out of it soon enough and dropped down next to Billy immediately. The boy was in hysterics and he was screaming incoherently as Eric tried to press his shirt to Billy's nose.
Billy pointed an accusing finger at a shocked Edna.
"You!" He screamed though his crying fit.
"Mike, go get Mrs. White now!" Eric yelled. His eyes briefly locked on to Edna as he tried to shush Billy. Edna had not realized how long she had been standing there.
Her head turned at the sound of a woman's indignant cry from the house that boy had ran off to. In spite of herself, she found her body begging to turn back and run home.
"Edna, I think you should go home," Eric said, not unkindly.
Edna peered into his eyes, trying to find something in them, but he did not give her enough time to find the nameless thing she kept looking for. He tore his eyes away as quickly as they had met hers, and she felt she found the answer.
"Right," Edna stammered out. Something panged in her chest.
She was quick to leave. Edna did not turn back even once, and started running home, her face and eyes burning.
Edna stood in front of the door to her house, sniffling and wiping furiously at her eyes. Her mother was right. She should never have gone outside. Edna stifled a sob.
Unbeknownst to her, a woman materialized out of thin air, right behind her as she stood there, contemplating whether to go inside or not.
The figure came to still beside the young girl. Edna jumped and took in a sharp breath when she had noticed the appearance of this strange woman right on her doorstep, a scream dying in her throat.
It took a while to meet her eyes; the woman was quite tall to begin with. She stared down at Edna through square-framed spectacles. The skin on her face was taut, courtesy of the painfully tight bun her black hair was bound into. Edna noted it did nothing to ease the stern look on her face.
The woman did not move a muscle. Chills went down Edna's spine. If this woman was Billy's mother, she was so, so screwed. Edna hastily scrubbed at her face.
"Um, are you Billy's mother?" She asked, cringing at how her voice squeaked.
There was silence.
"No," she said.
Even though relief should have flooded her, Edna did not feel anything close to it, as the woman hung over her, her gaze boring holes through Edna.
"My name is Minerva McGonagall, but you may call me Professor McGonagall," she continued, "I will be teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Edna laughed in disbelief.
"Really?" She asked. "Um, ma'am, I must admit the prank letters were very funny but I don't think you're telling the truth, even if I am only eleven."
"I see," the woman, 'Professor McGonagall's lips thinned. "Young lady, rest assured, this is not a practical joke. I would like to meet your parents. Are they home?"
Edna watched the woman for a good minute. The woman stared back, eyebrow arched expectantly. Edna felt that if she denied her, this woman was either going to force her way through or turn her into a puddle of sweat at some point. Perhaps even both. So she hurriedly nodded, and opened the door for the woman.
Professor McGonagall strode in and Edna trailed after her, locking the door behind her. Standing there in their small home in her crisp, clean outfit, Professor McGonagall especially looked out of place, more so than when she had been standing at their porch, which also unsurprisingly was marred by smatterings of aged cracks. Edna heard fumbling and shuffling from somewhere in the kitchen grow closer. Her mother was saying some things, although they were inaudible.
"-told you not to go!" She ended sharply, looking up in surprise.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
"She says she wrote the letters," Edna told her mother. Mrs. Kane slowly nodded, eyes fixated on Professor McGonagall who kept her face neutral.
"Oh."
"Mrs. Violeta Kane?" Professor McGonagall began politely. "I presume you must have received my letters."
Violeta closed her mouth and swallowed. "Well, yes. I didn't think..."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I understand, Mrs. Kane. Would you be willing to sit down and have a conversation with me? There is much you should know about the Wizarding World."
"Wizarding World?" Edna blurted out.
Professor McGonagall caught Edna's eyes. Edna would have thought she was annoyed at having been cut off mid-sentence. But, something twinkled behind her lenses. Edna wasn't sure if it was just one of the lights in the house flickering in the reflection of her glasses or not.
"I'm so sorry," Violeta managed to say, "please have a seat, um..."
"Professor McGonagall," Edna provided, unable to tear her eyes off the strange woman. This time, Edna definitely caught the pleased smile, and it seemed to work wonders in easing the edges around her face.
"Would you like some tea?" Violeta asked, watching as the professor graciously took a seat on the sofa. Violeta couldn't help wincing with her, as one of the springs hit her backside, no doubt. That couch was long overdue for a renewal.
"Some water would be fine," she replied, "this would not take too long."
As it turned out, it contrarily did take quite some time, and Edna was confused as to how long a 'long time' meant to Professor McGonagall. One thing she understood for certain, as the words 'diagonally' and 'green goats' wormed their way through one of her ears and out the other; either this woman was exceptional at making things up or this was all true.
"Madam," Violeta spoke, clasping her shaking hands and shifting to the edge of her seat. "This is all very bizarre, you must understand. I am unsure if perhaps you had heard some rumors or not, but if you have, I want you to know that I have only one faith and I refuse to believe my daughter is - that she is - well, as you say... a witch."
Her mother had spat out that last word like it was a particularly nasty bite of some rotten food, as her hands went to clutch at the cross hanging around her neck.
Edna did remember that day quite a lot more vividly than she would have liked. It was the first time it had happened. She had been angry and she wasn't exactly sure why she had been so furious either. One second this obnoxious girl whom she had been playing with was tittering at her and then she was up in the air by her ankles, screaming bloody murder. A few people had seen this commotion take place, but strangely afterwards, no one ever brought it up and things went on as they had always been. Edna might have thought it was only a figment of her imagination but, her mother had also seen, through eyes wide as saucers, what she had done, and she still remembered.
Next thing she knew that day, she was being dragged to the nearest exorcist. It had not been a fun experience.
Violeta rose to her feet, gazing fixedly at Professor McGonagall. "I would also like to mention that we do not really come from money," she gestured at the state of the house around her, "so if you are trying to profit off of some rumors you have heard, you would be in the wrong place."
The unsaid 'GET OUT' remained hanging in the awfully still air between the two adults. Professor McGonagall, looked for a moment as though her head might burst like a balloon. She then exhaled deeply and nodded, leaving her seat as well.
"I understand," she said stiffly, turning to Edna. "It certainly is unfortunate. If you ever change your mind, which I hope you do considering Miss Kane's poor control over her magic, please have me notified before the first of September. A simple letter would do."
Violeta moved in front of Edna, shielding her daughter away from the strange woman.
"I am sure we would not be changing our minds," Violeta smiled tightly at Professor McGonagall, stepping towards the door. "Have a good day."
Professor McGonagall only offered a curt nod and she pointed a stick at the door before Violeta could open it for her. The door was thrown open. And when Edna blinked, the professor was through the door, having vanished with the sound of a faint 'pop'.