After spending past three years that Saffron Mitchell spent in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, she had been on a seemingly never-ending spiral of near-death situations.
But with Peter Pettigrew behind bars, a slim grasp of her Clairvoyant...
"Only Squire would work us to the bone right before we're supposed to leave for the next year, really, only Squire,"
It was fair to say that the Mitchell sisters weren't particularly happy that Ms Squire was making the three of them scrub the spare chairs in the shed mere minutes before they were due to leave for the Gill residence up in the Lake District via the fireplace at Squires. Were they surprised? Certainly not, Squire had a grudge against females, notably younger ones than herself. That was evidenced by her treatment of the Mitchell girls in comparison to their brother, who was sitting on a window sill in the warmth of the house. That riled up Rachel more than anybody.
"Don't lose your head," Saffron said to Rachel calmly. She too was irritated but she had come to expect it of Squire. She wasn't going to let any tedious chore ruin the days ahead of her. She wasn't going to give Squire the pleasure of seeing a frown on her face. "We're almost there, then we're almost done here completely, so keep it together,"
"I am, I am," huffed Rachel irritably, as Maya passed her over a new cloth to wipe a particularly insect infected side of the chair. She turned her nose up at in disgust. "Oh, blimey,"
"Try not to think about it and it'll go quicker," Maya offered Rachel advice.
Saffron didn't know if Rachel took their elder sister advice, but she did. She put effort into not thinking about how gruesome parts of the shed were and instead focused on what was in front of her. She was going to get to meet her Godmother again, she would hopefully get to be with a non-overdramatic Sirius and she would finally get to know who Noah Gill was. That was a lot to look forward to, and well worth only having to endure a few more hours of Squires.
For the first time ever, none of the Mitchells had any time to spare for being sentimental about leaving Squires. That said a lot about how ready they were to move on. Over the past few years, a part of them, no matter how small or even if they didn't quite know it was there at the time, missed the predictability that they had there. This time, they didn't. Though, there was a decent chance that that was because of Ms Squire forcing an unnecessary goodbye onto them.
"Rachel, what did I tell you about taking two steps at a time?" Squire questioned Rachel rhetorically and scathingly, as the Mitchells made their way down the stairs after heaving their trunks down to the fireplace. "Don't,"
"Sorry, Ms Squire," sighed Rachel plainly, as Squire beckoned for Rowan to stand in the fireplace first.
Ms Squire shook her head. "You children are going to be the death of me,"
Once sure Squire wasn't looking at her, Saffron rolled her eyes, that was just a tad dramatic, she thought bitterly. She kept her mouth shut nonetheless, not wanting to cause any last-minute conflicts before their extended break from Squire. One by one, the teenagers were transported to the Lake District, where Sage, Sirius and Noah were anxiously awaiting them.
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Saffron was the last one to leave through the Fireplace. Once Rowan and then Maya left, Saffron instantly felt protective of her sister and ensured that she left before her. Then, with a cold and hard stare shared with Squire, Saffron walked into the flames and couldn't help but smile. The smile only broadened when she walked into the scene that was unfolding in front of her, as everybody else had anxious but excited smiles on their faces.
Being the only one to properly meet Sage and Sirius previous to this day, Saffron thought that she'd have to do some of the ice-breaking and that might have ended up being the case. However, her siblings were doing a very good job from what she could see. Upon being noticed by one of the non-Mitchells in the room, all of the attention went onto her.
"There she is!" If Saffron didn't know that she was going to see Sirus Black, she might not have known that it was him. Only a few months ago, the man was frail, fragile and like a skeleton. Now, he was nothing like that, nothing of the sort. It was as though a new lease of life had been installed into him and Saffron was so glad to see that change. The man she had seen in the Shrieking Shack was ill and needed a lot of help to regain any semblance of health. Luckily, it appeared that he had gotten that help.
His voice was bright and lively, eager to greet her again. In a way, it was their first meeting as Saffron had met a Prisoner of Azkaban, not a free man who was building getting back the life he used to have in the past. According to him, that was down to Saffron.
"My saviour and resident rat catcher, it's so good to see you!"
Saffron laughed at that and her eyes scanned around the room. Getting to properly meet the three new people in the small sitting room of the Gill residence was a pleasure. No matter how well they got on or not, it was clear that good was going to come out of the meeting. It was a part of the life that their parents intended for them to have and even if it was thirteen years too late, it was a start and a start that the Mitchell siblings had never had before.
Rachel and Rowan were standing awkwardly together, next to Harry who locked eyes with Saffron with a nervous smile on his face. They hadn't been in contact for about a week. Although she knew he was going to the world cup with Sirius, she didn't realise that he was going to be there upon their arrival. Then there was Sirius, standing next to him, grinning broadly as he greeted Saffron. Finally, Sage who looked much more at ease than when Saffron last saw her, hugging Maya tightly.
Only one person in the vicinity was unbeknownst to Saffron. She knew who he was, yes. But they hadn't met and she was certainly looking forward to getting to know him.
He had inherited slightly more physical characteristics from his father than his mother, though Saffron had no doubt that his personality was influenced far more by that of his mothers considering he had only known his father for a matter of weeks. Short black hair, bright blue eyes akin to those that his mother next to him had, and the most uncomfortable of looks etched right across his thirteen-year-old face. Saffron was officially greeted by Noah Gill in the form of the boy offering her a small wave, which she returned. They might not have known each other yet, but she could already tell that from that they forward they were going to be family. She just hoped that her inkling was correct, as that was precisely what she and her siblings needed after the years they had spent in Squires. Unfortunately, she was almost always wrong when it came to hunches, she just hoped that on this occasion she would be right in the end.
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