A Summer Visit to Surrey Closed

Alexa drew in her knees as another person squeezed by the edge of her seat, headed for the back of the train. Her only experience with trains was the Hogwarts Express, and she had to say, it was a bit nicer than this.

Still, while the hubbub of the surrounding crowd was louder than on the Express, with its private compartments, she was not uncomfortable. Underneath her seat was her small thing of luggage, and in her lap was mostly empty old leather rucksack meant to be slung over the shoulders and worn at the hip. She took it anywhere there might be an adventure, and with Alina, there was always fat chance for adventure.

Alexa smiled thinking about her friend. It would be good to spend some one-on-one time with her fellow House member, and one of the better friends she had made at school. Alina was bright and full of life, as well as a little mischief, and Alexa liked her greatly.

She peeked out the window, across the woman sleeping in the seat beside her. They should be getting to the London station soon, she imagined, as the buildings of the city already we’re flushing past. Indeed, the train was beginning to slow.

As they pulled into the station, crawling along, Alexa continued to peer out the window. She saw her friend with a man she didn’t know, and quickly gathered up her things and bounded out of the train, heading down the platform toward the other girl. “Hi Alina!” She called out, excited to be there.

Alina bounded over to her and gave her friend a hug to welcome her. "Hi! Your train actually was on time," which surprised her because it didn't seem like muggle transportation was usually reliable. The man that was with Alina came up to join the two girls. "Good afternoon, Miss Alexa," he said, knowing he shouldn't call them by their last name because of one of Alina's pet nicknames for Clifton being Mr Troublefield. He learned that the hard way. "May I take your luggage?"

"Alexa, this is James. He's my father's assistant, a friend, and one of the best people you'll ever meet," she smiled to James. "James, this is Alexa." The three of them headed down the platform and into the main area of the train station at Bagshot, the nearest one to Windlesham Village of Surrey. They then went down a small less trafficked corridor in which a whoosh sound would change their surroundings. This was for the wizards of the area. Now before there were multiple hearths to use the Floo Network to get various places.

Alina went to one and reached into a bowl at the edge of the hearth and pulled out some of the powdery substance. "Follow my lead," she said, unsure if Alexa had used the Floo Network before, "and any questions, James can help." She then stepped inside and dropped the powder as she said, "Updown Court," which was the name of her household, named even before the Rosiers occupied it.



She then waited for Alexa to follow. She would enter into the lobby area specifically for the Floo Network within the wizarding household and from there. Once they came through, she led her out into the Grand Foyer of the home which acted as a gathering area, where guests would arrive, and where clients would wait for her father to discuss business.



"Well, no border collies to welcome you or haunted forest or castle ruins...but here it is," Alina said. "Bienvenue chez moi, mon amie," she added, which was her native French for 'welcome to my home, my friend.'

Alexa hugged her friend back, dropping her luggage and satchel to do so. “It’s so good to see you, especially so soon!” She nodded at Alina’s comment on the train. “Yeah, I imagine for you Muggle transportation has nothing on magical transport!” She smiled, then stepped back as the unknown man with Alina came forward and greeted her, offering to take her luggage.

A little tongue-tied, she appreciated that Alina introduced James, and by the end of the introduction, Alexa was smiling shyly. “Okay, thank you. I’ll take the satchel, though.” She swung it over her shoulder, across her chest.

Alexa followed the pair as they made their way out of the train station. They traveled down a passage, and partway down, Alexa’s ears were accosted by a loud windy sound, as though the air was pushing past quickly. She looked to either side and saw a bunch of fireplaces in the walls, with people popping in and out of amidst green flames!

Alexa followed Alina through the Floo Network after James had explained thoroughly to a rather frightened Alexa. She came through the fireplace coughing, and stumbled a little on her way out, before she looked up at her grandiose surroundings. Her jaw dropped momentarily, but she quickly snapped it shut. Her eyes however remained huge.

The place was massive and incredibly beautiful. She imagined it to be a palace of some sort, and did not think her imagination was far off. Alina stood before her, introducing her to the place, that said something in French. Alexa finally got control of her face, smiled shyly, as usual. “This place is amazing,” she said as she turned in a circle to take in everything. “And I’m sorry, but I don’t know what that means,” Alexa blushed, referring to the French.

"Welcome to my home, my friend," she smiled. She had to add the French spin on it because they mostly spoke French around the house. It was the normal but with Alexa visiting, she would speak English from here on out.

"So, I don't really know what you would want to do while you're here. There's always a music festival going on on the weekends. I've got some neighbors and dear friends that are apparently somewhat known in the muggle world of music and they always have different events going on, usually at the local park. My father recently purchased a quidditch team so we could try and go to a game or practice or tour one of the stadiums. We could go shopping either in London or Paris. We could swim in some of the pools, explore the forest, visit a wildlife rescue center that I sometimes volunteer at, or we might be able to convince my father to let us fly the helicopter."

Lots of options, really, but she didn't know which one would catch Alexa's attention more. "Oh and I could show you our stable but it would be useless. Nothing's in there although I'm still trying to convince my father of getting an alpaca." Even if it was a horse stable.

I'm so sorry for the delay! School started this week and I had some pre-reading and then lots of homework. Thank you for your patience :-)

Alexa was still agog about her surroundings. She had never seen a place so magnificent and beautiful, and to imagine that it was someone’s home… She thought suddenly of her own home, with its clapboard walls and rickety staircase, and blushed.

“Thanks for having me, Alina,” she said with a small smile in response to the welcome. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed. And when Alina listed all of the things they could do, Alexa’s eyes grew bigger with each one.

“Oh my gosh! All of that sounds like fun. But,” she hesitated. She didn’t want to impose by choosing the wrong thing, even though Alina had offered. “Maybe the wildlife rescue center would be the best to start with. That sounds particularly good.” She smiled.

“I’d love to see the stable!” She said, eyes brightening. She laughed about the alpaca. “If you get one, you might as well get two, so that they won’t be lonely.” She smiled encouragingly, and shifted the shoulder strap of her bag slightly, to a more comfortable position.

"Wildlife Rescue it is. Let's go now, follow me!" She ran up the stairs of the Grand Foyer to the second level and then down a short corridor to another set of stairs. There the third floor went off into two different wings, the one for Bella and the one for Alina. She grabbed a small keyring and her bag she carried with everywhere from the bedstand of her bed and smiled to Alexa, hoping she'd love this place as much as she did.

Often, Alina would volunteer at the Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue and they had given her a key to the place so she could come and go as she pleased. Those that worked there had showed her how to take care of each animal they had in their care and trusted her. "Now I must tell you this is a muggle establishment," she said, but knew Alexa loved regular animals very much because of her farm. "They get foxes, turtles, birds, deer, skunks, porcupines, hedgehogs, bats, otters, owls, snakes..." No unicorns or hippogriffs or anything of that nature.

By now they had exited the large home and left the estate grounds from the back, through a forest that was pathed in purple flowers. "I heard they even had a badger once," she smiled since it was their house mascot. As they walked down the road and then across a field, a building began to come into view. It had many windows and a fence surrounding it, with several other sorts of buildings that matched the other, almost like a small sort of community. It was an adorable little place.

Alina used her key card at a side entrance and the door beeped to grant them entrance. As the door was opening, screeching could be heard inside. "This is the staff area. That's Coco and Cyd...they think they're the official greeters," she said and turned on one of the lights to reveal a room that had a large caged area lining an entire wall. Inside was two blue and gold macaws. She walked up to them and began talking to them in a low sweet voice to welcome them. They loved the attention and listened to her every word. "Best not to try and pet them though," she warned her friend. "Cyd, she's lovely, but Coco can be a grumpy little guy."

From there she jotted the date down, the time, and her name on a login sheet so it showed she was there as protocol and then they headed into the other part of the wildlife rescue where the other animals, hopefully to be rehabilitated, were. "Not farm animals, but still pretty up your alley, huh?" she said as she paused and let her friend decide which sort of animals to see.

When Alina said, “Let’s go now,” Alexa jumped, and quickly tore up the stairs after friend. She barely had time to take all the marble and majesty before they were headed down another corridor, up another flight of stairs, and dashed in and out of what must’ve been Helena’s room. Before she got a good look, she was being led away, out the back of the large home, and through the woods behind manicured lawns.

Alina listed the animals, and Alexa smiled. “That’s great. I pretty much love all animals,” she said. “Though I am not a big fan of bugs,” she gave a little shiver, involuntarily. Then her friend mentioned the badger the place had once had and Alexa thought dreamily of Hogwarts, and the common room of her House.

Once they were among the cute little buildings, Alina unlocks one door, and Alexa heard the distinct screeching of parrots. Her Muggle friend growing up had one, so she was quite familiar with the animals.

She peered inside the cage, her hands behind her back, and looked at the two gorgeous macaws. Cyd sidled over to her from her perch in the middle of the cage. She tapped her beak against the bars, and then grabbed the horizontal bar. Smiling and silent Alexa slowly reached around and stroked the beak. She would’ve loved to have been able to pick them up and have them ride on her shoulder, but she doubted that would be appropriate. “They’re beautiful,” she murmured to her friend, as she gently ruffled the feathers on top of the bird’s head. Coco came over to see what was happening, but then turned his back. She laughed. “Difficult, are you?” She stroked his tail feathers through the bars of the cage and he quickly turned and glared at her. “All right, I’m going,” she said raising her hands slowly. She knew Alina had said not to pet that one, but she wasn’t afraid of being bitten. She would win him over some day, she thought.

She turned to follow Alina, and laughed at what she said. “No, not farm animals, but definitely up my alley! Do you guys have any foxes right now?” She asked, curiously. She loved the furry little creatures.

"Always do. The main focus right now has been on the dwindling number of hedgehogs here in Windlesham. Brian May's been trying his best to bring about awareness for them," she said, speaking of the muggle musician who was a member of Queen and also a neighbor of hers. "But sadly, the same reasons hedgehog species are dwindling here are the same reasons we see a decline in foxes. Too many people, not enough habitat."

They left that building through a hall that connected them to another one identical in architecture by the outside appearance anyway. As they walked past one of the enclosures she lifted up to check a water bowl to see if water was in it and all was well. "The Fox Den is one of the furthest ones from the Entrance. They get so skiddish sometimes around people." Once inside where they needed to go she stopped at a door. "In here we have the ones that hopefully will be able to be returned to the wild. We can't talk when we're in there or touch them too much. We don't want to get them used to a human presence. Over here though...get ready for this," she said as she led her away from that door. There was an enclosure that was rather big, half inside, and the ability for the animal to head outside if it wished. It was one of the red foxes and upon seeing the two girls began to trot up to the enclosure's gate like a dog greeting them.

"This is Ena, also known as the princess," she said as she knelt down to unlatch the opening. "She literally is the most spoiled animal you will ever have the privileged of meeting," and she opened the door and the animal poked her head out, sniffing a moment and then took a step out, feeling as though everything was a-okay. "You can pick her up, pet her, brush her. She loves the attention."

Alexa followed after Alina as the other girl explained about the dwindling population. “Do you guys have parks and such here, where they might live peacefully?” She asked curiously. This world was so different from her farm in the countryside, where there was plenty of space for every kind of animal. She felt bad for animals that lived in the city.

They walked a ways before reaching the next building, and Alina explained why it was so far away from the Entrance. She nodded to Alina’s warning not to talk in the one room, but then they didn’t enter the room yet, instead heading over to an enclosure where a beautiful red vixen was trotting leisurely toward them, her face smiling, her tongue slightly out.

Alexa listen to the introductions from Alina, but then knelt down slowly in front of the fox to make her own introductions. She held out her hand, curled into a fist and presented her knuckles to the animal to sniff. “Hello Ena,” she said softly, a broad smile splitting her face when the fox rubbed against her hand, wanting attention. Not moving quickly, she placed her hand on the animal’s head and slowly stroked. Her head was soft, but the fur on the top of her back was course. She scratched Ena under the chin, and reached out and scooped her up to her chest. Ena seemed completely comfortable with this, even snuggling under her chin. She made tiny squeaky noises of pleasure, and Alexa turned to Alina with the biggest grin on her face. “This is the most wonderful – this is so cool –“ she could finish her own sentence, overwhelmed by how happy she was.