Matthews Home
Redhill, Surrey

Myrni Levartian enjoyed the added tasks that were often given to her as Gryffindor Head of House. One such being the meeting with upcoming first years and their families about their enrollment at Hogwarts.

For today, she had appointments to meet with a few students with muggle heritage to follow up on the initial meetings that had taken place months ago. She wanted to be sure that everything would be set for the end of summer when the accepted students would find themselves on board the Hogwart's Express to Scotland.

Myrni rechecked the portion of her list with the students from London and some of its outlying areas. At the very top was Lucy Matthews - Redhill, Surrey.

The arithmancy professor had read up on the potential student and found out that she was the sister of former Ravenclaw, Devlin Matthews. Her family probably had gotten an explanation of the magical school back when he was invited to attend, but when they had not heard back on Lucy's invitation, Myrni considered there might be concern or confusion among the family about another with magical ability.

Myni apparated to Surrey, and spent a little bit of time enjoying a stroll around the area before she began to seriously seek out the address for the Matthews residence contained in her notes. It was clear as she headed towards their street that this was not the best area of town, but she did not let that deter her mission here.

Arriving at a reasonable time in the mid morning, Myrni stepped up to the apartment building and rang the appropriate bell labeled for their flat.

Lucy rolled out of bed early on that hot, August morning. She got up and started picking up the pens that littered the bed from the night before. She was trying to find her favorite pen, however, that took longer than one night. She grabbed the rubber band that she used to tie her hair back, and wrapped it around her pens. Lucy climbed down her ladder and skinned her knee on the wastepaper basket that was knocked down at some point during the night. Not wanting to wake her older brother asleep on the bottom bunk, Lucy swore under her breath and clenched her fists tightly.

She wandered into the bathroom and a mirror caught her reflection. It showed a disheveled 11 year old with pen marks on her face, clearly from falling asleep on the pens and tossing and turning through the night. She ran her hands through her hair when she saw her nails. A few days before, the family was doing repairs around the house. She had hit her thumb nail with a hammer and just the last night, her nail had fallen off. Now it was back. "How?" Lucy said to herself quietly looking at her nail closer in the mirror. Lucy paused and thought how odd this had been. It was not the first time something like this had happened. Weird things had been happening to her for the last week or so.

Still, Lucy just went about her morning and in 5 minutes, she was out of the shower and in her bedroom picking a pair of jeans off the floor and putting them on. She grabbed a plain blue teeshirt and then looked at her clock. It read 6:44 A.M. She woke up early each morning giving her time for herself; something she rarely got.

Lucy walked though the sitting room where her father was asleep surrounded by beer cans. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag in which she placed each of the cans inside the bag thinking to herself about how she was disappointed by her father. He's a disappointment. I am disappointed to call him my father. she thought to herself.

She then did the dishes. Oddly, Lucy loved to do the dishes partly because nobody bothered you as  you did them. No one ever wanted to do them, so it was her own alone time anytime she needed it. Last night, she had gone to bed early, and so, the rest of her family stayed up later and dirtied more dishes.  It took her roughly 30 minutes to do them all, and after then her older brothers had stirred awake. She was placing a bowl on a high shelf, kneeling on the counter, when Lyle grabbed it out of her hand.
"I'll take that, shortstop," He said. She went to grab another for herself, but that one, along with her were snatched.

"And I'll take that one," Dean said taking the bowl and turning her upside down. He held her there watching her struggle. She was always smaller than most girls her age.

Lucy swayed back and forth before saying "Let me down you jerk!" She began thrashing around. Dean began to swing her from side to side. Her backup plan was going to need to go into effect before she puked. So, Lucy threw her fist at his groin and he let go. She flew and landed on the couch. Relieved that she hadn't hit anything she sat up and proclaimed, "That's why you don't mess with me," Lucy walked back into the kitchen where Dean was still recovering from the blow. So, she took advantage of his pain, and took the bowl, pouring herself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. 

For the next 45 minutes, Lucy went around the apartment straightening things up that she could. If it weren't for her cleaning things up, the home would be uninhabitable. A few minutes after 8 A.M. , Lucy heard their bell ring. Without looking up, she yelled, "Come on up!"

When given the okay to head up, Myrni pushed open the door to the apartment building and carefully ascended the stairs. She regarded her surroundings with caution, although she had no desire to brandish her wand. She had lived in the muggle world all her life growing up and having lived in less than perfect circumstances when she was teaching in the states.

Still, it didn't make her feel any better knowing that one of her future students came from less than ideal circumstances. As was typical of Myrni's motherly nature, she wanted to take the weight of the world onto her shoulders and that included the burdens of the very young.

Reaching the apartment of the Matthews, Myrni hesitated for a moment before gently knocking on the door. After a beat, she heard a girl's voice tell her to come inside*. She hesitated again but turned the knob and pushed open the door.

Once inside, she looked around with as much caution as she had regarded her trip up the stairs. Then she called out, "Hello, Lucy Matthews? I'm Professor Myrni Levartian from Hogwarts. I've come to speak with you about the upcoming school year..."

"Hello, Lucy Matthews? I'm Professor Myrni Levartian from Hogwarts. I've come to speak with you about the upcoming school year..."

Lucy now noticed the woman standing in the small entry way. Her breath stiffened, and her spine tingled. She had always gotten nervous around guests, as they were usually rare. As far as Lucy had known, this was the first guest ever. Then it hit her like a train. Professor? Hogwarts? School year? She thought to herself. And then she thought of how she had said her name. Surly I, No. Not possible. I can't be magical.

Lucy walked swiftly to the woman and opened the door, ushering her and herself out. "This is not the house to use words like that. Look, I don't know what you're playing at, but it's not funny. If you're looking for Devlin, he doesn't live here anymore. That's all the magic that's here, I swear."

Myrni was a bit baffled by the girl's rebuttle of an invitation to attend Hogwart's. Usually it was met with excitement and intrigue but hardly a flat out refusal. Still, the Arithmancy allowed the young girl to lead her back outside and exhaust her protest before she chanced to speak.

"Are you finished?" she asked in her best commanding teacher voice. From her coat pocket, she pulled out a sheet of paper. "No, I am not looking for Devlin. He is finished with Hogwarts. And according to our records, he is not the only Matthews who has magical abilities."

Myrni held out the letter, which was a duplicate of the one that had been sent to the residence mere months ago. "Didn't you get your letter?"

...And according to our records, he is not the only Matthews who has magical abilities.

Lucy stood there, and her eyes grew widely. "M-me? As in I? As in Lucy?"She said  dumbfounded. "That explains so much. The weird things that have been happening to me." She laughed quietly, and smiled. She had something to relate to with Devlin.

When her soon to be professor held out the letter and asked if she had received it, she was hurt and took it. Lucy just stared at it, looking at the gentle strokes of the ink stating her name and her address. Her eyes started to fill with tears. My father. My own father hid my letter from me. He stopped my potential. He doesn't want to accept me.

"I hate him. I hate him so much," She said, letting a thought escape from her mind. A tear rolled off her cheek and on to the letter. She looked at her professor. "He hid it from me." tears began to escape the abyss of her eyes. "He doesn't want to accept me. He doesn't want me as his daughter."

"Yy---" Myrni was quick in her attempt to assure the young Lucy that there was no mistake in the school's invitation. But before she could finish, the girl kept talking. And most of what she was saying didn't make sense to the professor at first.

But eventually it became clear that Lucy was talking about her father and had truly had no idea about the invitation to come to Hogwart's. Mr. Matthews must have kept the information from her. This wasn't a new occurance as far as enrollment was concerned. Many students in the past had gone through the headache (or heartache) of family members not wishing to accept the magical diagnosis.

"Oh dear," Myrni murmured with a sigh. Instinctively, she stepped closer to the youngest Matthew and put a supportive arm about her shoulders. "Lucy, I'm sorry that your family may not be supportive of who you are. But don't you fret too much about it." The teacher brushed at the girl's tears. "If this is what you want....to be a witch...we can make it happen." She paused. "And I'm sure he will come around. Surely he does want you as his daughter."

"He doesn't though! Any mention of Devlin, or magic, he is angered about!" She said, angrily. "And don't think you can talk to him about it. Because he's drunk asleep on the couch, just like every other day!" She cried some more. "I am in this world alone! I have no one to point me in the right direction! People speak about Moms and Dads telling their kids, 'I'm proud of you,' and 'I love you'. I can't get that! I don't get that!"

Lucy badly wanted to be hugged and told that everything was going to be alright. She knew it wouldn't be, but she just wanted to be lied to, like an adult does to their frightened child. She looked up at her professor, eyes red and puffy. "Do you know what it's like to have to be your own mother? And your own father? Because that's what it is for me."

"I- I can't stay here. Not after getting this letter. All is to my father is conforming that I am different. That I can make weird things happen." She looked at her feet. "I can't be that girl in this society! I already am the girl who wears dirty clothes to school because she didn't have time to wash them the night before. I am already the girl who fails her classes because she can't study in the quiet of her own home. Because she doesn't have quiet in her home. She had 15,000 other things to deal with first!"

Lucy calmed her self to a point in which she could look back into Myrni's eyes. "I want to go. I really do. But I can't. Not in this house."

"Oh dear," Myrni repeated again, with an equal amount of distress as the first time. Seeing the young girl growing more irate about the situation was pulling on Myrni's sympathetic and compassionate heartstrings. This meeting was not going well at all!

Myrni continued to try and sooth her worries with another half hug. Her brows raised as Lucy explained her home life and she imagined it wasn't going to be easy to navigate if the girl did get permission to enroll in the school. Sighing, she asked, "Is anyone in your home supportive of you? Who can maybe help you through this?" She was thoughtful. "What about Devlin? Have you spoken to him at all lately? Maybe he can help you since he's been through this before."

After a moment, she added, "If this is what you want, we can find a way to make it happen."

Devlin. The only person in the entire world who could make her feel better right now. Lucy wiped the tears from her cheeks and shook her head, "No, I haven't talked to him. He lives somewhere else now. Somewhere he can practice his magic  and be free from Dad." She looked towards the sky. "That's the one place in this entire universe I would want to be. There. Wherever 'There' is. As long as I'm there with him."

"This is what I want; please don't  think that I don't. A place to get a real education! And a place where I can be me, and that be enough." She smiled, something she hadn't done for a while. "A place where teachers are willing to give you help. A place where parents don't pick you up three hours late." She looked up at Myrni with bloodshot eyes. "Is there any way I can accept this offer without my dad's consent?"

She was done playing the victim card; it was time to buck up and get the one thing she wanted. Freedom.

"Hmm..." The Arithmancy professor was clearly running a numbers game in her mind. Or at least calculating the various options available to her in a situation like this. She didn't want to do anything beyond her jurisdiction, but she couldn't imagine just leaving Lucy in a situation where she was inherently unhappy, especially when a life of magic could make her life better. She wanted to help in any way that she could.

"Do you think that your dad would allow you to go visit your brother for the day?" she asked. Myrni stopped herself short of suggesting that the young girl lie to her parent, but after a moment of thinking that a white lie might not hurt if she would be back later anyway, Myrni decided to say something anyway. "Or perhaps he would let you go if you said you would be spending the day with a friend? Then you and Devlin can perhaps figure out a better plan of action."

Lucy looked at the teacher with a sly grin. The gears inside her head were turning. A teacher is asking me to lie? I think I'll like this school.

"Yeah. I'll uh. Tell him now." She then ran deeper into the house. She grabbed a backpack and put in her notebook and pen in after grabbing a paper out of the notebook. She stuffed a few shirts and a pair of jeans into it.

On the paper, she scribbled,
Dad-
I'm a witch and I am going to live with Devlin. I can make magic do things I want it to.
Tell my brothers I love them.
Lucy
She left the paper on her bed and she walked back into the entry way. "Good news!" Lucy said happily. "He said we can go! Today too! So, uh. It would be a great idea to leave, like, now."

As soon as the girl ventured back inside, the professor worried again about what she was doing. She had faith in things like the book of records which listed magical children from birth, and she believed wholeheartedly in her alma mater to provide students like Lucy a safe place to grow as young people as well as little magicians.

She thought back to her own youth and how lonesome and troubling it had been as she had struggled to understand why she was different. Hogwarts had righted all of that almost immediately and she, like many muggleborn (and even half or pureblood) students, finally had a place where she could explore her true self.

With a sigh, Myrni patiently waited for Lucy to return, and upon hearing that everything was settled, at least for the time being, she started to head out of the apartment building. As they stepped outside, Myrni extracted at notebook from her pocket and began to search through some pages. In considering which travel option to take with the future student, Myrni inquired rather absently, "So, Miss Matthews, do you have a weak stomach?"

She giggled at the professor's question. A weak stomach? What, is there gore involved in this whole situation? She wondered. Lucy, growing up around all boys, had a tough stomach. They would always be messing with her, having her drink disgusting concoctions of things found in the kitchen.

"No. A strong one actually." She replied. There were so many questions she had about this wizarding world but figured they'd all be cleared up eventually. "Why do you ask?" She asked putting her backpack on properly and putting on her jean jacket she had grabbed off the hook by the door.

Myrni chuckled at the girl's barrage of questions. The professor was used to them by now, but it was always exciting to watch new students be exposed to the magical world.

"I'm glad you said that," the teacher told the girl. She glanced over her papers again before stuffing them in her pocket again. "Because there is an interesting way for witches and wizards to travel and not everyone can stomach it." Myrni was thoughtful for a moment. "To some, it can be like riding a muggle amusement park ride. It can do funny things to your stomach. But it is a fast way to travel when done right."

After another moment of thoughtful silence, Myrni held out her hand to Lucy. "So if you are sure that your stomach is strong enough, then we'll do it." She gave Lucy a reassuring smile. "It's called Side Along Apparation. Sounds fun, right?"