Amelia Merlin

Part Nine: Home for Christmas

A/n please comment lots letting me know what you think! I appreciate everything! Thanks for reading!

As the Christmas holidays approached Amelia began to stress over the idea of what she was going to do. She really didn't want to go home, but her mother had written to her expressing a sincere interest in seeing her again.

Amelia threw herself face down onto Parvati's bed.

"What's wrong love?" Parvati murmured, stroking her hair.

"Mmmgrnn" Amelia groaned. "I don't wanna go home. Home sucks." She rolled over to face Parvati.

"Well maybe it won't be so bad! You've been away from your mum for a while and maybe she missed you so much she'll be so happy and friendly!" Parvati said in an effort to cheer her up.

"Doubt it," Amelia mumbled into her blanket.

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Amelia spent the entire train ride dreading seeing her mother again. She'd been so happy at Hogwarts and the castle looked so beautiful all done up in its Christmas attire.

When they reached the station Amelia slowly got her luggage and trudged towards the door to get on the platform. She immediately spotted her mother, standing in a tight buttoned black jacket with black gloves and a stupid little black hat.

"Hi mum," Amelia said awkwardly, her shoulders always seemed to have a fondness for her ears when she was around her mother.

"Amelia, it's good to see you," Amelia was pulled into an uncomfortable, short lived, embrace. "Dear god, did you brush your hair at all these past few months?"

She sighed and walked with her mother back to the car, all the while being interrogated about her hygiene habits.

"Yes I brush my teeth mother, but no it's not six times a day," she said rolling her eyes.

"Seems like Hogwarts has given you a new level of attitude, not that it wasn't horrible before. You really need to get that in check Amelia! I mean no one wants a lady who won't stop sassing everyone around her,"

"I don't sass everyone around me!" Amelia said defensively.

"Oh just me then? Well I do feel blessed!"

Amelia gave that another eye roll, "Sorry, I'll cut it out," she mumbled. She didn't want to spend the entire winter break arguing with her mother. That would just be exhausting.

"I accept your apology. Now, how are your studies going?"

The rest of the ride home was spent being interrogated or sitting in awkward silence. When they got back to the house Amelia got her luggage out of the boot and heaved it towards the door. She wished she could use magic to get it here but there was no guarantee the suitcase wouldn't fly through a window.

Amelia spent the day in her room listening to music and reading her old journals. The thoughts of an eight year old girl were kind of hilarious. She didn't want to spend time with her mother and the house elf was busy working. So she kept to herself and relaxed. Peeking out her window, Amelia could see the Burrow. She could probably visit Ginny tomorrow which would be really nice. But then she remembered, the Weasley's were visiting Charlie in Romania this year, looks like she would be spending the entire time at home. How lovely.

"Amelia!" Her mothers voice sounded from below. Amelia couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Coming mother!" She replied. She ran down the stairs making as much noise as she could.

"Don't be an elephant Amelia! It's not attractive to anyone!" Her mother chastised. "There's someone at the door to see you dear,"

Amelia walked towards the foyer and saw her brother. "Jeremy!" She ran over to him, her heart in her throat. Amelia's brother was the only family member she actually liked, which wasn't saying much because the only family she had was her mother and brother. There were no cousins or grandparents, they had all been killed during the first war with You Know Who.

Jeremy was indescribably cool. Everywhere he went he turned heads. He wasn't the most attractive person, although he was good looking with his sandy hair and blue eyes. He wore a short black jacket and smoked these purple cigarettes that gave him an sense of mystery. Everything he said was so intelligent and compelling. He walked with an air of complete ease and subtle confidence. There was something about Jeremy Merlin that you couldn't help but admire.

"Look how much you've grown!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"First of all, I haven't actually grown that much, and second, what a cliche thing to say!" She teased him. Jeremy rolled his eyes at his younger sister, threw an arm around her, put out his billowing purple cigarette and they proceeded to the living room. The living room in the Merlin house was very grand, with large portraits of family members adorning the walls, and beautiful Persian rugs covering the floor. There were vases every where and a huge fireplace stood regally against the wall. It was quite intimidating and not at all comforting.

"Tell me everything about your first year! I hear you're in Gryffindor!" he insisted. Amelia didn't know how Jeremy knew this, she hadn't talked to her mother or Jeremy at all since being at Hogwarts, but she decided she didn't care. Jeremy was here, she wasn't alone with her dreadful mother, and that was all that mattered.

"It's great! I have lot's of friends and the classes are really fun!" she rambled on for close to an hour about all the wonderful things she had going on. Amelia really wanted to talk to Jeremy about her powers though, maybe he could help her control it.

"So it's all sounding amazing," he beamed at her, putting her completely at ease. With a pounding heart, Amelia decided to ask Jeremy for help.

"Yeah it's all awesome, but there's one little problem," her eyes darted down to her fingers that were twisting themselves into intricate knots. "I'm having a lot of trouble, like problems, trying to do magic. Well no that's not right, I can do the magic, I just can't like control it, and sometimes bad things happen. I broke a window during charms, and one time, one time this kid got a really bad rash all over his face because I missed my teacup and hit him. Well I hit the teacup but the spell was so big that he got hit too. And it feels so wildly out of control, like I don't even know what I'm doing. The only class that isn't a total disaster is History of Magic, but that's like the worst class in the world. And everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, and I can barely walk down the halls without someone pointing and staring at me, I've gotten a little used to it but it still sucks. And I hate not being good at magic. I'm a Merlin, I'm supposed to be the best. But I'm really not. And I have no control over anything," she blurted out, the words just spewed out of her mouth like a geyser. When she finished she could hear her heart beating, and her mouth was dry.

Please, please, please, let Jeremy have the answer, please, she prayed. He looked at her for a moment, as though debating what to say.

"I can help you," The tension in her chest dissolved completely. She let out a breath she had been holding in.

"Really? You're serious?" he nodded to her pleading words. "Oh Jeremy that's the best news! Thank you, thank you!" Amelia threw her arms around her brothers neck, breathing in his familiar scent. She didn't feel so alone anymore.

"We can start tomorrow if you'd like? I know a lot of tricks," he comforted her. Amelia nodded, releasing him. She couldn't wait for tomorrow and whatever it would bring. This would solve everything, she could control her own magic now.