28 Jul 2020, 14:13
An Impossible Claim
[font=century gothic]WHEN: Early Summer, 2019 | Early Afternoon
WHO: Evelynn and her mother
WHERE: Windermere, Britain | Home
WHAT: Following a visit from Professor Bercegueay, Evelynn questions her mother's disbelief over the acceptance letter to Hogwarts[/font]
"What a load of crap…" How quickly the words had switched from small talk and polite pleasantries to exasperated skepticism. Barely two seconds after the click of the door has faded in the entry hall and already the superficial smile of the woman at the end of the entrance hall had been replaced with a barely veiled scowl and unreadable expression directed pointedly through the little peep hole in the door.
"What do you mean?!" Evelynn's brows shot up nearly to her hairline as she peered from the base of the stairs towards her mother. Granted, she could tell that her mum had been putting on a little bit of a façade during the encounter with the unexpected guest; her smiles had been just a little too wide, and there had been a notable absence of crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. But even still, this sudden about face of attitude felt completely misplaced.
There was no answer at first. Instead, her mom remained at the front entrance, face pressed into the door obviously watching the departure of the stranger that had just taken their leave. Evelynn's brows settled heavily over her eyes, pinching at the middle as lips pressed to a thin line.
"Mum!" she repeated.
It wasn't entirely unusual for her mother not to respond to her right away. Not only did the woman have an uncanny ability to hone in on whatever it was that had captured her attention and tune out her surroundings, but there was also the issue of being actually deaf. At least in one ear. Evelynn moved up to stand aside her, one hand darting forward to pull separate a slit in the window covering beside the door, checking to see if she could see what her mother was peering at. There was nothing there. Yet, a glance up and to the side presented the portrait of a very focused guardian, brows knitted, eyes keenly targeted at… something.
"MUM!" Evelynn practically yelled, squaring herself towards her mother and crossing her arms over her chest. There was no way she could not have been heard this time. A sense of satisfaction plucked as she saw the sudden jerk of her mother's shoulders, the blink, and the flattening of an expression now downturned towards her. "Yes, hello, I'm still here."
"Don't get lippy, Eevee," came the derisive reply uttered calmly from flattened features. Mum's face smoothed out soon enough, however, before she asked, "What was it that you said?"
"I said…How was that crap?!" came the insistence, leaving no question that an answer was demanded.
"Nevermind, Evelynn," she answered, pushing back from the door. The letter was still in her hand, but not for long. On her retreating path back towards the kitchen, she stepped momentarily into the room that served as her office. When she came back out, the letter had disappeared.
Gray eyes panned after the woman, the sense of unease stirring all over again. It wasn't like her mother to dismiss… anything really. Generally, any issue, however small, would be dissected for discussion, the two of them sitting down often for upwards of an hour to pick apart whatever topic it was that was in need of review. This, in Evelynn's mind, surely fit that bill. It wasn't every day that you were visited by someone trying to convince you that you were more than what you thought. That you were a witch. This reaction… or the lack thereof… it was disconcerting.
"I'm making sandwiches," came the announcement from down the hall. There was no follow up question.
With a lick of her lips, Evelynn slowly trailed after the woman, hesitant to say anything further. At least for the moment. But having seen her dip into the office, curiosity overtook her. While her mother disappeared around the corner into the kitchen to start on lunch, Evelynn slipped into her mother's den. As always, it was its own sort of chaos. But for the bookshelves that lined the walls floor to ceiling, just about every surface was covered in papers of some kind. Stacks were arranged in some form of order on the floor that only her mother could decipher. Evelynn stepped carefully through these, no doubt re-enacting some sort of fire dance. On the desk in front of the large bay window, she could barely make out the keyboard and mouse beneath the clutter: pens, pencils, sticky notes that had lost their grip and fallen from their previous positions bordering any one of the three monitors, empty tea cups and coffee mugs, a water bottle, an empty chip bag, scattered notes and papers…
"Goodness… when was the last time you cleaned in here…" Evelynn muttered, pursing her lips at the mess. Without even thinking, she started gathering the dirty dishes from the desk and tossed the food wrappers into the nearby bin. She was just about to retrieve a wine glass when something in the basket marked 'shredding' caught her eye — the letter that had just been delivered to her by hand by that woman. A flash of annoyance shot through her, and instead of the glass, she snatched up the letter.
"Mother," she called out, retreating from the office with her precarious stack of washables. "Mother!" She said again halfway down the hall. The sound of running water in the kitchen caught up with her, drawing forth a sigh of frustration. Running tap water. The deathbringer of attention-grabbing. "MOTHER!" She yelled again as soon as she entered the kitchen.
"Yes, Evelynn?" The water cut as her mum turned to face her, snatching up a tea towel in the process to dry her hands. A brow shot up as she spotted the dishes being deposited onto the granite top of the island. "Cleaning up aft—"
"Why was this in the shredding?" Evelynn interjected, hastily putting down the rest of the items before waving the letter in the air between them. Accusation dripped with every word.
"Because, Evelynn," came the start of the reply, her an annoying level of patronizing pity finding its way to her mother's features, "it's. Not. Real."
Did that… really… Did she really just say that? It actually took a second for Evelynn to realize that she had her mouth open or that her mum had raised her brows questioningly as though expecting some sort of response before she collected herself enough to provide one.
"What do you mean, it's not real?" Evelynn gaped, still shocked by her usually open-minded mother's very close-minded reply. "How can you even say that? She was a professor from the school! She even gave a demonstration! She explained everything!"
"Evelynn, honey.." A faint, almost sad smile graced her mother's lips as shoulders rose and fell with an calming breath. She took a moment to fold the tea towel and put it away before turning about once again and leaning back against the counter. "Sweetie, you can't listen to everything someone tells you."
"I don—" Evelynn tried to defensively cut in.
"Let me finish," came the stop to that. "There are a lot of different types of people in this world. Some good, some not so good. Some want to do harm, and some are just trying to do what they can to make ends meet. There is something called a scam."
"This wasn—"
"I said let me finish, Evelynn."
Evelynn's head rocked back on her shoulders, eyes staring up at the ceiling with where this was going. She wasn't a child. She knew what a scam was, and this wasn't a scam! Why was her mother being so obtuse about this? Her thoughts raged with the indignation of being made to feel like a child when in reality, she was a witch! Why was her mother not seeing this! There had been proof! Magic was real. Regardless, she remained silent, once again folding her arms heavily over her chest, content only with the knowledge that she had the letter; and more importantly, the address on the letter. Maybe, if nothing else, she could write back to them. Dropping her chin back to meet her mother's gaze, she refrained from further interruption.
The weight of scrutiny from her mother's hazel gaze fell heavily over her for a moment before the obviously ridiculous explanation continued. "As I was saying… There are some scams that involve a little more than just phone of phishing tricks. There are some people who make up a scene and a rather elaborate plot. Admittedly, I usually know this to be related to a fake job offer, or a fake agent pretending to cast an aspiring model or actress, but the result would be the same. Eventually, there are tuition fees, costs for supplies. These must be paid up front prior to school starting. Look… there's absolutely no mention of a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she explained, holding up a Google search result on her phone for Evelynn to see. "Nothing. Don't you think, that if there were anything like this, it would be all over the internet? Magic being real? The world would lose its mind."
"But she gave us proof.."
"Honey…" Her mum repeated, that tone of patronizing sympathy back to lace the words. "That wasn't real. It was a trick."
"But it looked so real.." Evelynn insisted, still unconvinced. She knew what she had seen.
"I know," her mother chuckled, the hint of a grin on her lips as she shrugged her brows. "Honestly, it was one of the most impressive bits of street magic that I've seen."
"Street magic?"
"Mn," she hummed. "Have you heard of Chris Angel?"
This was going in an entirely different direction now. But.. Admittedly.. Now that her mother pointed it out, it was a little odd. Yet.. It had made everything so clear. It had explained everything. But what if she was right? What if it was just an elaborate prank? It wasn't unknown that her mother was fairly wealthy. After all, Evelynn had been attending prep boarding schools abroad for two years now, and their property was one of the larger ones on the outskirts of town. Maybe there was something to be said about it…
She gave a subtle shake of her head. "No. Who is he?"
"He's a street magician. And his craft.. well it's rather deceptively real looking," her mother explained. "Come on," she nodded towards the living room and set back to working on the sandwiches. "Go have a seat and pull up the media PC network. I have his shows downloaded."
With an uncertain nod, Evelynn relaxed her frame, forearms dropping to the island counter. She stared down at the letter in her hands, eyes roaming over the crest of the H. It was.. Strange. In a lot of ways, this had felt like the answer to everything. A piece to the puzzle of her life that had always felt unfinished. Would someone really go to such lengths to trick someone? Really, she couldn't know. But… maybe it really was just too good to be true. With a sigh, she dropped the letter to the counter and pushed back, empty handed, turning to head for the livingroom.
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