It's OK To Not Be Ok...Right?

12. Family Portrait

Sloane was so excited to be getting out of the house finally that she was up at the crack of dawn to get ready to visit Diagon Alley. She had been staying with her uncle Kingsley and his wife Joanna. As much as she loved them she always felt in the way. They had their own children. A girl Zenaida aged nine, a boy Kovu aged six and little Thailia aged two. Sloane just felt like she was intruding on their little family. Her aunt and uncle had made her feel so welcome. Showing her as much love as they did their own children. Before the war and her mother's kidnapping, Sloane had only met Joanna a handful of times, but the woman had made her feel so loved and cared for. They never made her feel like she was in the way but Sloane was so different to the family. It was obvious that she was not one of them.

She was currently living in what her father called a 'Granny Annex' on her uncle's grounds. Even though there was plenty of room in the house, Sloane had insisted. She had this little hut in her garden in Nashville. Out there it was her mother's art studio, where she would go to paint and unwind after a day of homeschooling her brother and Sloane. When her mother was kidnapped and her father, she and her brother had to travel here, this was where they stayed as her father was able to transfigure it and transport it easily.

Now it sat in the bottom of Kingsley's large garden, out of the way but still close enough that he could keep an eye on Sloane. They had offered her a room in their home, but this was the only tie she had left to her family and she wasn't ready to leave it. Not yet.

It was a quaint wooden cabin that her father had built complete with its own little brick wall and hedge surrounding and garden. It was not exactly massive in size, but there was enough space for her to have her own open-plan living room and kitchenette along with a bedroom, bathroom, and even a spare room. It was perfect for her and very modern for its decor considering it was 1998. She updated it slightly after the battle. For one thing, there was a large double front door now as Draco and Blaise when they were sent for her had managed to blast a bloody hole in the building.

Her mother hadn't decorated much as it was usually covered in paint and her father put in simple black leather sofas and a small dining table. Sloane lightened the wooden flooring, gave the walls a grey colour, lightened the sofas and made them fabric and added a small coffee table. She downsized the dining set to a glass bistro set as it was just her. It wasn't much but it was home and she loved it. And on mornings like this when she was awake before the rest of the world, she was glad of the glass double doors as she could make a coffee and sit on the sofa watching the sun come up. Which is exactly what she did before having a shower and getting dressed.

She opted for a long white wrap skirt that almost hit the floor with a black leaf print, a black silk cami top and a black cardigan. She chose white canvas trainers for comfort as she knew she would be walking loads. Her clothing style was very American compared to what she had seen other girls her age here in the UK wearing, but she didn't care. She wore what she wanted. Except for her cowboy boots and Fedora hats....maybe the English girls weren't ready for the cowgirl in her. She gave her hair a quick curl with her wand, which didn't take long as her hair sat above her shoulders. She then applied her makeup in her bathroom mirror. This was another thing she found funny about the English. The makeup they wore. Why was every girl wearing blue eye shadow, and why were their eyebrows so thin they were barely there? Sloane was no professional, but even she knew how to shape her eyebrows. And blue eyeshadow looked awful on her. She preferred the natural look potentially with a nude lip. She loved a nude-coloured lip.

She was dressed and ready to go for 9.15 am. She was taking the floo from Kingsley's house straight to Diagon Alley so there was no need to be ready so early. Two minutes and she would be at her destination. She had her Hogwarts letter in her bag with her list of what she would need as well as notes in the margin of things her uncle and aunt told her to add. She knew she was going to take a lot longer than probably both Hermione and Harry put together and she didn't want to hold them back. She would chat with them for a while and then let them get on with their shopping. No point in waiting around for Sloane all day.