Riptides (Fred Weasley Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2

AURORA - Runaway

Lyssie spent the month of her holidays browsing the brochures of various secondary schools in the area. She was so excited to go to the new school that she couldn't think about anything else. She looked at all leaflets dozens of times but still wasn't able to decide on any of them.

Some school offered amazing extracurricular activities, like writing clubs or sports teams (not that she would be interested in joining any of those, but it was nice to see how broad the offers were), while others focused on academic achievement of the students. Some of them were very modern and had all the necessary equipment, while others seemed very old, with years of tradition. And finally, some of them were public and free, and some private and quite expensive. She knew, however, that her father wanted the best for her and would surely agree to send her to the best school possible.

Having looked at them all so many times, Lyssie was torn between two of them and knew she would have to consult the decision with her dad. What is more, both schools were completely different, almost opposite. One of them was built in the last decade and promoted alternative learning, where pupils study at home and do the practical past at school, with the teachers. Lyssie thought that this system was quite peculiar but definitely something that she was prone to try. The other place, however, looked as if it was at least two hundred years old. Lyssie loved the look of this school, but what spared her interest were the statistics of the students and their exam scores. It seemed that this school accepted only the best of the best and let them develop even more. It surely wasn't easy to get in, but Lyssie was confident that she could do it.

"Lyss!" she heard her dad calling her from downstairs. "Come on, the cake is here!"

Lyssie grabbed the brochures of two schools she was considering and run to the kitchen. Indeed, there was a wonderful, green and white cake on the table. It was just one story high but had a lot of fruit on the top, which made it look way taller than it really was. The lettering on it said: "Happy 11th Birthday to Lyss!"

"Looks good, huh?" asked Anthony moving the chair for his daughter. "Happy birthday, honey! Make a wish!"

Lyssie thanked him and put the brochures aside. "Let me make a lot of new friends and get the best grades in the new school," she thought. She sat down. Anthony took a big knife out of one of the drawers and cut out two perfect slices of the cake. It had a green buttercream inside and some colorful sprinkles. He put the slices on two small plates, handed one of them to Lyssie and sat down next to her with his piece. Both of tried the cake and agreed that it doesn't taste too bad.

"I have a little gift for you," said Anthony when they finished eating.

"What is it?"

Anthony stood up and took a small, flat box out of the cupboard over the sink. It was wrapped in packing paper with little pink flowers on it and had a white ribbon all around it. He handed the present to his daughter and wished her a happy birthday one more time. Lyssie untied the ribbon and ripped the paper. Inside, there was a small green leatherbound notebook. She took it out of the box and examined it thoroughly.

"It's a diary," he explained. "You always loved writing stories, so I thought you'd like it."

"I love it!" she answered enthusiastically. She opened the notebook by untying a leather piece of string holding it together. The pages were a little yellow, which made the book look older.

"There's one more thing," he said and pointed at the box.

Indeed, there were two little pieces of paper inside. Lyssie took them out and noticed that they were tickets to the theater. She smiled at her dad and thanked him one more time. It was about to be a really good birthday.