The Shadows of the Past

Planes, Trains, and... Fireplaces?

Laelin

For the first night in almost eighteen months, I dreamt of my mother's castle. It looked just how mom had described it... she had always used such intense detail; now I knew why.

Mother's castle had been very, very real.

I was standing on a set of great stone steps, just outside of a grand oak door. Everything was washed in shades of slate grey and earthy brown. Steep walls shot up in sheer angles, climbing into the sky. Tendrils of mist were woven between sharp turrets with obsidian black tiles Below me, the damp green grass sloped into an abyss of grey clouds. The only splashes of warmth seemed to come from the candy colored glass windows scattered about the castle walls. The stained glass glowed and spoke of an inviting coziness within...

I turned down the slope, and descended into the sky.

***

My eyes drifted open, sluggish and heavy. For a moment, I almost thought I was still dreaming, surrounded by the dark woods of my bedroom wall murals. The clock read 7:00 am, yet there was no light in my room. I padded over to my window and tugged back the curtains to find the sky abnormally clouded over.

It seemed fitting. Today was the day I left southern California for London. London and then, eventually...

I shuddered with excitement and practically floated down the stairs to find the kitchen empty. I was fairly certain my godparents were busy with the final details of packing; such suspicions were confirmed as my aunt's passport magically whizzed past my head while I was pouring a bowl of cereal.

Even after our long, very long, conservation several nights ago, wherein Aunt Mandi had demonstrated more magic and Uncle Marvin had explained magical laws and what kind of classes I would take at Hogwarts, I found it all hard to believe. They spoke of ministers of magic and aurors (wizard police, basically) and Quidditch and all manner of magical beasts I might encounter; hippogriffs and werewolves and dementors and phoenixes...

"Wait, unicorns are real? What about mermaids? Or... or dragons?!" They shared a knowing smile.

"Unicorns and mermaids are very real, and actually inhabit the forest and lake of Hogwarts-"

"-that does not mean go wandering the Forbidden Forest, understood?" Marvin interjected, sternly. I nodded. "That said, as for dragons... your parents were actually dragonologists." My brain seemed to freeze on that word.

"You... you don't mean... they..."

"Studied and worked with dragons, yes. They were the best in the business, their research was quite revolutionary and they founded one of the largest study habitats for dragons in the world," Aunt Mandi said. A thrum went through my body at the thought. Dragons, real dragons. Those were the "endangered animals" my parents claimed to work with. My mom and dad had always claimed to work with animals, they said they were zoologists studying wildlife in North America. I always believed they were researching the regular forest and mountain life of Massachusetts, bears and birds and such. Never did I imagine that fire breathing, flying reptiles lived in the mountains beyond our home.

"Technically, we never lied, simply withheld the full truth. As we said, your mother and father didn't want you raised with magic if you weren't to possess any, and with no accidental magic by age three, their concerns seemed more and more valid. They assumed -"

"- that it would be an easier adjustment to go from no magic to having it, rather than relying on their abilities and learning to fend for myself without it, yeah, yeah I know..." I interrupted, now knowing that my parents had thought me to be a squib. I silently thanked the universe I wasn't.