Chapter Text
Slowly dawn is beginning to creep up on the horizon. The sun is slowly raising and taints the roofs of the village in a glowing light. I watch the sleepy town wistfully as I am running down the hill towards a beige house on the outskirts of the village. I hadn’t really felt truly at home here ever, but the prospects of going back to my school do not seem very welcoming. At least here I can pretend nothing happened; I can pretend I am normal.
I will my thoughts to a stop as I arrive at the house and fall into my monotonous routine. I stretch a little outside and then go inside and start to prepare breakfast. It is only half past eight and I probably must wait at least half an hour before anybody else will be up. I scramble up eggs, roast sausages, set the table, squeeze oranges for juice. As I am washing the pan I had used to cook, my cousin emerges from her bedroom. “Morning Mischa”, she says and kisses my cheek, “Oh it looks delicious! Thank you so much! How was your run?” I reply “No problem, Sam! It was good. I just caught the sunrise and the town looked beautiful!” “You and your fascination for sunsets and sunrises”, she chuckles, “I go and wake up the girls, so we can have breakfast” I nod at her, while I dry the pan.
While put it away, Dan emerges from the bedroom. “Morning Mischa! Oh, I am so hungry!” he says, while his stomach rumbles. I laugh: “Well Sam, is already getting the girls, so you don’t have to wait long” As if they heard what I said, two blondes and a brunette come dashing down the stairs, run towards Dan, tackle him, while screaming: “Good morning Daddy!” He chuckles: “Hey, why so excited?” But the girls do not pay attention to anything he says and instead jump up and hug me: “Good morning Mischa!” I laugh at them: “Good morning, girls!” “Uhh, you smell!”, exclaims the smallest one. “Well, I have already been running this morning. But come on and sit down at the table, then we can have some breakfast!”, I urge the three girls to sit down. At the same time Sam comes down the stairs, carrying another girl and smiles: “Yes, listen to Mischa!” I worriedly look at the girl in her arm: “Is Andi alright?” “Oh yes, she just had a bad dream and wanted to cuddle a bit, right my lovely girl?” Sam answers and looks at Andi. The 4-year old looks quickly up, gives a small smile and then hides her face in her mother’s shoulder again.
We all sit down, and everybody helps themselves to some breakfast. “I will miss you so much, when you leave for Hogwarts”, whines the tallest of the girls. “Oh Amilia, you will barely notice it! You will be so busy with school and your muggle friends and before you even know, the year is over, and you will head to Hogwarts with me!” I respond and smile at her. “But who will teach me quidditch, when you are gone?”, pipes up another voice. “Amy, your dad thought you, while I was at Hogwarts last year, and he will do it again” I reassure her, while giving her a side hug, “and I will be home for Christmas and then you can show me, what you have learned and I will teach you something new!” “Good!”, Amy says and smiles, “You’re a way better teacher than Dad!” At that statement Dan chokes on his juice and exclaims in mock hurt:” Excuse me little Miss! I believe I was the one, who thought you, how to ride a broom!” Everybody laughs at that. After everyone calmed down, Sam speaks up: “So you know Aria is selling cookies with her class at the hockey game this afternoon, and I expect us all to go! Mischa? You also get a chance to see some of your muggle friends again” Aria smiles gleefully up at me. My mind is reeling. I am not to keen on going, but it is kind of a family thing and I am expected to go, and I know the girls want to spend every hour with me before I leave. However, the prospect of seeing my former muggle friends does not sound appealing. I push my doubts out of my mind, smile at Aria and ruffle her hair: “Of course I will be there. I wouldn’t want to miss you selling cookies for anything!” Her smile brightens at my statement only more and Sam smiles at me approvingly.
After breakfast, I put away the dishes, shower and throw on some clothes. We will head out at one, with a glance at the clock I realize I still have three hours to spare. I look through my post. There are three letters from Georgie, Ana and Terry, I read quickly through them, but decide not to answer them. I will see them on the Hogwarts express anyway in two days and can tell them everything in person which I prefer. My eyes fall on the newspaper. I haven’t read the Prophet today. I grab the paper and plop down on my bed and stare at the front page:
New Discoveries about the Escape of Nathaniel Rashad
The Department for Magical Law Enforcement confirmed today, that the message, which was left in the cell of former Auror Nathaniel Rashad, who was awaiting his sentencing after the Garth-incident, has been solved. However, this discovery will not help us catch sleep at night. Harry Potter, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement stated: “The message was written in Cyrillic letters and therefore gave us a hard time to unravel. After we consulted the Croatian Department for Magical Law Enforcement, we received a translation, unfortunately the message did not make much sense as the text was written in Latin. After contacting further language experts, we could finally discover the meaning of this riddle”
The message that was left reads: Behold the Return of the Scourers. This leaves many people at a shock. The Scourers were a group of rough wizarding mercenaries who roamed across the United States in the 17th century. Originally, formed as a vigilante group and bounty-hunting service due to the lack of wizarding governments and law enforcement, this group soon turned increasingly corrupt and brutal. The Scourers went on to not only torture and murder wizards as well as muggles without any proof of their guilt, they also engaged in wizard-trafficking and cooperated with the witch-hunting Puritans carrying out their personal vendettas at the Salem Witch Trails. This band of vigilante executioners was thought to have dissolved after the Magical Congress of the United States of America was founded and had rounded up and prosecuted them. Even though some evaded the law, it was believed that they had integrated into Muggle society, married Muggles and abandoned their children, if they had traces of magic. However, they still managed to instill an abiding conviction in their heirs that magic exists and poses a threat and therefore wizard kin ought to be wiped out.
Apparently, our beliefs were wrong as Nathaniel Rashad seems to belong to the Scourers and we suggest, that there may be more of them out there. Harry Potter responded to this worry: “Right now we do not have enough information to confirm these speculations. But I assure you we will lock into this incident at every angle and will discover the meaning of this message! Meanwhile, if anybody run across other messages like this or witnesses anything, please contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement” The Daily Prophet will of course continue to report every new discovery about the Scourers.
I drop the page and try to calm my heavy breathing. I can tell you exactly, what the message means. It means just what they have written. The Scourers have never left, but they are on the rise to return and are trying to establish their former glory. I think back to my brother’s visit at the beginning of the summer. Should I contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? But I hardly had anything concrete and what will happen to my brother? I mean he had done terrible things, but do I really want to see him in Azkaban? Does he even regret, what he has done? But if I turn him in now, I will never get any answers to the many questions I have? Would I ask him them, when I saw him? Do I want to see him?
Suddenly the door to my room is opened and disrupts my unending train of thoughts. Amy rushes over to me and sits on my lap. I quickly discard the paper on my desk, I do not want her to read anything about that. I smile at her: “Hmm, what do you want my little Amykins?” “Can you braid my hair?”, she looks at me with doe eyes. I laugh at her: “Sure, but let’s go downstairs into the kitchen. I have more space there” She nods gleefully and races down the stairs. I chuckle and follow her. I braid her blonde her and all her other sisters’ hair as they were getting jealous of her. Before I know it, one o’clock has approached, and we ready ourselves to head out. I take Amilia’s hand and we head towards the field hockey stadium in the middle of the town. It is only a fifteen-minute walk. As we approach the stadium, I can feel the air buzzing with excitement, the whole town has come to see the game. You can not compare it to the excitement before a Quidditch game at Hogwarts, but I thought it was amazing how alike muggle and wizards can be, when it comes to their favorite sports.
As we pass the entrance, I hear somebody call my name: “Mischa! Hey yo, Mischa! Wait up!” I turn searching for the owner of the voice. Suddenly a tall blonde girl crushes me in a hug. As she releases me, Sam waves me, that they will go ahead, and I can catch up with them later. “Hey Laurie”, I smile at the girl, “How is hockey going? It looks pretty successful!” I glance down at her uniform. “Yeah, it is”, she says smiling brightly and lunches into telling me everything new, “well I will start college soon to get my A-levels and as you can see, I already got into their hockey team. It is amazing! You can’t believe it! Everybody is so nice, and we are a real team. We spend time together; have team bonding and we tell each other everything. I even got tips for my first day and who are good teachers and which extracurriculars to take and so on! But enough about me! I hardly see you anymore! I miss you!” I look guiltily at her: “Well, you know I am at this boarding school and there are very strict about technology. We are not allowed to have cell phones and that makes it really hard to contact people” I feel a little bad about lying to Laurie as she is such a good and nice person, but I can hardly tell her the truth. “I already know that! But you were here for the summer! You could have popped by at my house and we could have hung out and spend some time!”, she says exasperated. “I know. I am sorry. I will be home for Christmas again. We can meet up then, if you have some time to spare for me”, I try to console her. “I will always have time for you! But I must go now and get ready for the game! Maybe we can meet afterwards”, she says smiling, while I nod at her. Then she hugs me and runs towards the field with a spring in her step.
Why do I deserve such an amazing girl like her? I start to make my way towards the stands looking for Sam, Dan and the girls to sit with them, while I think back to my childhood memories with Laurie. She had made it hard to leave for Hogwarts, when I was elven. I had been so heartbroken about not being able to go the same school with her. Well, how times have changed, as I am now afraid to talk to my former best friend. I spot my family and sit with them, as the game starts, and the teams run onto the field. I watch Laurie’s happy smile as she gets ready for the game and takes her position with her teammates. I feel like there is not a place for me in her life anymore.