Wish Upon A Star

Invitation

Ashlyn was lying on her bed lost in pensive thinking. The fourth-year was going to be really tough. It marked the rise of Lord Voldemort. It marked the beginning of the war. And in all honesty, she didn't want to stop the war but save a certain few people from death. She was conflicted. She wanted to save only a few, but what about the countless innocent who would die in the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters? She was feeling terrible about herself when her mother called her downstairs.

"Why the long face?" her father asked

"She's been like this for the whole week." her mother provided taking out ice cream from the fridge. Ashlyn pulled out the bowls and spoons.

"Nothing much, really," Ashlyn said as she sat down on the chair.

"Well, I have news for you," her mum said excitedly, as she served the ice cream, putting a larger scoop in Ashlyn's bowl. She smiled weakly.

"We're going to Hawaii!" Her mum said sitting across her smiling widely.

"...Uhhhhhhhhhh... Why?" Ashlyn asked.

Her parents' faces fell. 

"It's not like I don't want to go. I just want to know why." Ashlyn said hurriedly.

"Your mother wants to spend time with you," Her father said looking at her. Ashlyn turned to her mum questioningly, who was spooning her ice cream slowly.

Mr. Clarke focused on his ice cream as he ranted, "Last year she was crying and going on about how you weren't even going to invite her for your wedding"

"What?"

"You know, you spend a lot of time with your...your, um,....kind," her mother said slowly.

"My kind? You mean witches and wizards" Ashlyn said.

Her mum nodded. "There isn't much we can do or relate to. You don't even talk about school. All we know is your friends' names" her mum said sounding really hurt.

"I don't even know your school's name. Hogwash, or something." her father said

"Its Hogwarts!"  Ashlyn cried.

"Hog warts......... Hmmm. Interesting name" he said still focusing on his ice cream.

"Really," Ashlyn said rolling her eyes.

"How long are we going to stay there?" she said, trying to change the topic. She wasn't sure how to react to the situation so she turned to the classic tactic of 'Change the damn subject'.

"Where?"

"Hawaii,"

"Oh. One week. We wanted to stay longer, but your father cannot stay away from his beloved office for too long," Her mum said, glaring at her husband, who was trying to get the last bit of ice cream from the bowl.

"I can't leave. We've got a new project and heaven know how those idiots would mess it up if I'm gone for too long" her father said.

"You should trust your employees more. And your daughter is more important than your wor---Clink--clink--clink--clink--clank--clank"

There was a lot of clanking. That's when Ashlyn realized what they were doing. Both she and her father were scraping the bowl, fishing for ice cream as though their life depended on it.

"Stop it, you two! There's more in the fridge!" Her mum yelled, snatching the bowls from their hands and going to refill them.

"So! My dear daughter," her father said straightening, now that the bowl was gone from his hands. "How's school?"