☼ Chester - Home sweet home? ☼ Solo Finished

Carolyn enjoyed the summer camp more than she expected. She met new people there and took part in numerous interesting events. Still, it was her first time being away from home for almost a year and so she was excited to come back home. Both of her parents came to pick her up at the King's Cross station, which was highly unusual but much appreciated. "What? Did you think we wouldn't take a day off to welcome our favorite daughter?" Her mother teased her, noticing the badly hidden surprise on Carolyn's face. "Mom, I'm your only daughter," she deadpanned immediately. Her father said nothing but smirked and took her heavy suitcase, leading them both to the car. I can't wait to see Morgana. The young witch thought happily. She would probably study a little bit as well but some rest and a lot of Korean food was definitely part of the plan for the rest of her holiday.

The first couple of days went by in blur. She was enjoying the summer and some family time (no matter how scarce that one was) and she even got to hang out with some other kids from Chester. Carolyn didn’t have proper friends there but it was nice to see some familiar faces. She also got to attend summer ballet classes, which she enjoyed immensely. Overall, it was pretty great couple of weeks at first.

Trouble came in the middle of August. Carolyn’s mother suddenly seemed to be nervous and no matter how many times the girl asked, she would not reveal the reason. It took a week before the reason showed up at their doorstep. Or rather, three reasons. Her parents weren’t home at the time but that was not unusual. Carolyn opened the door without hesitation since she was expecting her grandparents. However, the three figures standing on the porch were definitely not her grandparents. Well, at least not the ones she expected. It turned out they were her maternal grandparents and her aunt. I have an aunt... The resemblance to her mother was definitely there with the long, golden wavy hair and the pale complexion of her grandmother. Her aunt had a tad darker skin but she obviously inherited that from her father. What was jarringly different, were their personalities. They carried themselves with pride and oozed arrogance Carolyn’s mother never had.

“So you are the mongrel, my sister created,” the youngest of the three sneered. “Where is Eleanor?” Carolyn had the biggest urge to be just as rude but she was not raised that way and from what she heard, these were not people she should mess with. “My mom is working,” she replied gruffly. Even without adding an insult, she could tell her newfound grandmother was incredibly offended by the tone. “Well then, we’ll just have to wait for her won’t we?” She replied in the fakest sweet tone she could probably muster. It would be nice if the young Ravenclaw had the courage to chase them away but she doubted anything she did or said would work anyway. Morgana definitely did her part by barking viciously but Carolyn silenced her friend almost immediately. Judging by the looks on her relatives’ faces, they wouldn’t be afraid to shut her up themselves if she went on much longer.

When Eleanor finally arrived home, she immediately sent her daughter to her room and the old Korean couple home, looking only somewhat surprised. It seemed she already expected her family to show up sooner or later. The rest of the evening was spent shouting; well her mother did most of the shouting, the other three apparently couldn’t care less about her anger. “I have never seen her so angry,” Carolyn admitted once her father joined her. The man looked as calm as ever but his eyes constantly darted toward the door as if he was prepared to rush downstairs at any moment. “Me neither but she will be fine. Your mother can handle herself; I think she just didn’t expect them to show up in her life ever again.” It was nice that he didn’t try to shelter her and told her the truth. Carolyn was not stupid and she hated being treated as a child even though she was still quite young. “Do you know what they want?” She asked eventually. Her dad shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

And find out they did. The Hunt family apparently had the audacity to come for their daughter in order to marry her into another pure-blood family. They actually thought she would just pack up and leave her husband and daughter just to keep their lineage going. Carolyn finally understood why she never met her other grandparents and she truly wished it stayed that way. “I told them to leave and stop bothering us but it won’t be that easy. I know them, they are not going to give up until they achieve their goal,” the woman sighed looking utterly exhausted. “Well, we are in this together and we’ll get rid of them one way or the other. For start, we may have to talk to my parents again. I’m sure they will be more willing to give us their blessings given the circumstances.” As usual, Carolyn’s father was there as a voice of reason. From what she understood, he aimed to try asking once again to be allowed to marry her mother, which would make things considerably more difficult for the Hunts. Not to mention it would make their family incredibly happy. It had been couple years since they last asked her Korean grandparents for blessing and considering how much they adored their granddaughter, it was highly unlikely they would refuse again. “I don’t know Ed…that might make them furious. I don’t know if we should provoke them,” her mother admitted sadly. Carolyn sighed. She wasn’t sure how to help her parents and it was incredibly frustrating.

After few days of deliberation, Eleanor reluctantly agreed to her lover’s plan. They all visited Edward’s parents and asked for their blessings, while giving them a somewhat simplified version of their current situation. Luckily, the old couple agreed without much hesitation. They wanted their granddaughter safe and they wanted her to carry their family name as well. Not to mention it would make their son extremely happy. “We expect a traditional Korean wedding though,” Myung-hee argued immediately. Carolyn’s mother grimaced upon hearing her request and the young girl didn’t doubt there would be further discussion about it but for now, she remained silent.

Unfortunately for all involved, the three Hunts found out about the arrangement soon after and were in fact furious, exactly as Eleanor predicted. They wreaked havoc in their family home and promised such thing would never happen on their watch. Carolyn was not sure how they planned to stop it but none of them dared to underestimate said promise. “It will be okay, we did everything in secret and the ceremony will happen in couple days. We’ll make sure to avoid them until then.” The problem was the trio didn’t actually show up again. Instead, Edward’s hospital called one day to inform him his parents were brought in with multiple injuries. Seemingly, their roof collapsed sometime during the night. The inspection confirmed the building must have been unstable before but Carolyn’s father wasn’t convinced. It was way too convenient for the Hunts. “They must have known we would never proceed with the wedding without them,” he muttered angrily. This was the first time Carolyn had ever seen him lose his composure but it was not surprising. He respected and loved his parents dearly. It was a painful moment for all of them. “Carrie, sweetheart, can you go play with Morgana for a minute? Don’t go anywhere though. Stay in the garden, okay?” Carolyn wanted to protest, she didn’t want to be excluded but she understood her parents needed a moment alone. “Sure, mom,” she agreed quietly, giving the two of them some privacy.

After that, everything was just horrible. Carolyn’s father stayed at hospital even longer than usual to tend to his parents. This meant she would not see him for more than an hour here and there and even then, he would be too tired to really pay much attention to her. Her mother tried to be home as much as possible but it wasn’t going well for her either. When she wasn’t at work, she had to keep dodging her family, trying to keep them from invading their home again. Carolyn couldn’t even visit her grandparents at the hospital as they were not deemed to be fit for visitors yet. She would spend the rest of her summer alone with only Morgana keeping her company. She would also still attend her ballet classes working harder than ever just to get out some of her frustration. She was worried for her family but she couldn’t really help them in any way. If anything, her presence made it more difficult and stressful for her parents since they worried about her safety. “Are you sure, I should go back?” She asked for what seemed like thousandth time. Her mother smiled sadly, she was exhausted. “Yes darling, you have to keep studying. Your father and I will sort things out before you come back from school,” she promised. To Carolyn’s eyes, Eleanor looked unconvinced but she elected to ignore it. It wouldn’t do anybody good if she did point it out. “All right I'll go but please, send me letters so I know you are all okay.” She pleaded, clearly unhappy with...well everything. It would be a long year.