This Way, Miss
A day after this thread had taken place.Duke | Fitzwilliam | Carolyn | Edmund | Lindsey | James | Imogen | Lilian[font=Times Romans]Date: November 6th, 2020
Time: 5:40 pm
Location: York, England
Place: the Springhall Heights[/font]“I still don’t see the point, father.”
“If I can, I’d tell you directly.”
“But dad — why?”
“If only we know…”
Silence. Dreadful silence.
It hadn’t been long since she left Kensington. Throwing the familiar London streets behind, they had arrived — in York. This large city in Northern England was never known to Lindsey before apart from the muggle geography textbooks. Serendipity Garden was left. Forever. She still remembered how her mother packed all the things and lifted them to a track. She still remembered how her father shook hands with the new master of the house, the Browns, a pair of old muggle couple. She still remembered how Edmund stared at her drily, repeating “we shouldn’t have written the letter”. She still remembered…everything.
“Where are we now?” It was Edmund’s voice. The lively fourteen year old boy clearly couldn’t bear the silence any longer. With his snowy owl Jadis standing on his shoulder, he continued. “Such a long distance from the train station. I wonder why it is located so far from the city center. Why couldn’t it be like Serendipity Gard—”
“That. Is. Enough.” their father Fitzwilliam cut in, coldly. It’s weird that this man wasn’t happy from the time he picked Ed and her up from Hogwarts. It’s hard to see her father Fitz without a smile on his face — very hard, probably, and Lindsey herself couldn’t remember when it happened like this last time. “Hopefully we’d get there within a few minutes.” Seeing her son’s disappointed expression, Carolyn quickly added. “It shouldn’t be so far…should it?”
Should it? Cuddling her cat Napoleon who was taking a small nap in her arms, Lindsey questioned. Usually wizards’ households were away from the muggles…Serendipity Garden didn’t count. She didn’t know why her grandfather had chosen to live there when he settled down with grandmother. Why would they want to live in a muggle district? She knew how hard it was to hide their wizard identities back in her earlier years. Although they did it (and succeeded for years), it was still…Lindsey knew why Erica left the friends group. Ah. It was terrible.
Like a ship lost in the sea, she was overjoyed to spot a large house on the top of a hill. She couldn’t see clearly from the outside, as the sun was already sinking down the horizon, but the house seemed extremely large and gorgeous. No, not “the house”. There were quite a few houses within the fences. And there’s gardens. Somehow this place looked like the Linfield Manor, however it was far more beautiful than her maternal grandparents’ house.
“Is that our destination?” She pointed and showed the manor to her parents. And, as if lost in thoughts, she slowly lowered her head and petted Napoleon’s head. “It seems beautiful.”
**********
The four had reached the gate of the large manor. Her father reached his right hand out and rang the bell. “Don’t you feel…rather isolated?” Edmund whispered to her, leaning closer to his sister. Lindsey nodded quietly. Somehow this place was just like the Linfield Manor, cold, without any lively people living. She felt coldness and a shiver down to her toes.
The gate opened slowly.
“Excuse me, sir. Your name please?” A young man, not older than twenty five years of age, tall, and rather handsome, turned up at the gate. He had brown hair and large, calm dark brown eyes, which made Lindsey felt calming down.
“Fitzwilliam Springhall, upon the request of my father Herb—”
Lindsey frowned. Why did her father say so much things? Why must he mention her grandfather? After this incident, she felt that she wouldn’t trust her grandfather anymore. He was insane. Ed and her sent him the letter for the case of helping them solving the problem, instead of sending them immediately to such an intriguing place. No. She wouldn’t trust him anymore.
Now, what would the man say? Would he turn them out immediately or ask for details to let them in? Or would anyone come and welcome them? To her surprise, the man bowed. “The Duke had been waiting for you since morning. He would be glad to see you finally arriving.”
The Duke? Who’s that? How come there’s a Duke, who’s clearly her relative, living? Didn’t her grandfather said there were no Springhalls living apart from their family and Uncle Andre’s family? How come…
Liar. Total liar. She and Edmund looked at each other, and exchanged an inquiring look. But at that moment the man spoke again, which was even more surprising.
“Welcome home, Count Fitzwilliam.”
Lindsey Springhall · Hufflepuff "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?" |
Beauxbatons · Maximilien de Fostoncy "Maximilien is a mouthful, don’t you think?" |
This Way, Miss
Duke | Fitzwilliam | Carolyn | Edmund | Lindsey | James | Imogen | Lilian[font=Times Romans]Date: November 6th, 2020
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: York, England
Place: the Springhall Heights[/font]The four, led by the man (“James Kingsleigh, madame. Though pray, do just call me James, my Countess.” he answered pleasantly when Carolyn politely asked for his name), ventured further into the large manor. Lindsey silently leaned over to Edmund, and put her own hand in his. The latter grabbed it tight, like what he usually did when they were both young. The warmth of his body slowly passed into hers, and Lindsey felt like she was back at home again. She glanced at him gratefully, and her usually bubbly brother became silent, just grabbed her hand tighter. Napoleon let out a soft groan, and leaped down to the ground, while Jadis flew silently upon their heads.
Corridors were passed. Rooms were left behind. James opened several well decorated doors, let them passed, and closed it behind him. “Well…” Lindsey grumbled, looking over the luxuriously decorated rooms again and again. She hadn’t seen better decorations than this before. Even the Linfield Manor seemed quite poor and small now. Their family house, the one she was so acquainted with and the one she had grown up, the Serendipity Garden, could not match even twenty percent of this manor. What the hell did grandfather Herbert brought them…?
“You know, this is just…unexpected. Everything.” she felt Edmund leaning closer to her, and whispered near her ear. Then she felt his hand, gently sweeping some curls for her to the back. Yes, indee it was unexpected. Combeferre didn’t lie to them. It was true. All in several days…things crumbled up all together. She lowered her head and eyes casted to the floor. Still luxurious. Oh, she wondered…
James suddenly stopped. “We would be meeting the Duke in a couple of minutes, and you are expected to get in first, my Count.” he bowed a bit to Fitzwilliam. “Only Miss Imogen Reans and her daughter are along with the Duke, so Miss,” he suddenly turned to her, making Lindsey start a bit. “no need to fret. Miss Lilian, Miss Imogen’s daughter, is about your age, maybe one or two years older, and I’m sure you would enjoy her company in the upcoming years.” and he opened the door.
All of a sudden, her eyes felt hurting and she seemed blind. The strong light emerging from the giant lamps (were they crystal?) made her eyes hurt, but when she adapted the light, she saw a long table, like the Hogwarts ones. An old man, probably very old, was sitting at one side of it, while a middle aged witch and a girl of her age were sitting beside it. Before she could even come up with their names that James had just told her, the old man spoke.
“The Count Andre and his family aren’t coming?” he observed them critically, and said with an unpleasant tint in his words. “Well, it seems that Marquis Herbert is deceiving us. Don’t you think so, Miss Imogen?” he asked the middle aged blonde woman, the latter squeaked. “Of course, of course, my Duke, the Marquis is naughty. We should punish him next time.” she let out a terrible and naive laugh, making Edmund frowned with disgust while the Duke looked at her with delight. “Ah, ah, and now it’s time to meet our guests.”
“You’ve sent us here.” their father suddenly said, while taking a step forward. “And it seems that we are going to spend our future life here together…grandfather.” he made a great effort to speak the last word out. Grandfather. Lindsey repeated it silently bitterly in her head. So this was her grandfather’s father…the one he told her that was dead years ago. The one he said was so kind and lovely, and he didn’t want to continually mention him because every time it was a heartache.The one he said had been living in Serendipity Garden all his life…
Liar. Liar. LIAR.
She wanted to yell, she wanted to break things. She sincerely hoped that the Duke would say “no” to her father, and told them this was the wrong destination they were heading to. It had only been about three minutes since she saw her great grandfather, and yet she had already begun feeling disgusted and anxious. She couldn’t breath here. She couldn’t speak. Her freedom, her youth…
Damn it. What were she thinking just now? It had been too far. Maybe her great grandfather wasn’t that bad after all…maybe he was a nice old man, like what her grandfather had told her. Maybe…
“Welcome, welcome, Count Fitzwilliam.” she heard him saying, still the old voice, but very strict. “Ah, and this must be the Countess Carolyn.” he made a gesture to Carolyn, the latter curtsied (where did her mother learn this??). “Lord Edwards and Lady…Lavinia.” he turned to them, pronouncing each syllable clearly. Lindsey saw her mother’s lips moved, but eventually she said nothing. “It’s Edmund and Lindsey.” Edmund rolled his eyes and said loudly, making everyone at scene start a little bit. “Please remember our names correctly next time, sir. Or we probably wouldn’t answer.” and he stared at him haughtily.
She saw the old man grumbled, but finally said nothing. It was after a while when he started again. “You are probably already acquainted with Mister James Kingsleigh, my clerk, and this one is Miss Imogen Reans, my secretary, and her daughter Miss Lilian Reans. Mister Kingsleigh and Miss Reans are our distant relatives, but they just go by James and Imogen. Although you could always add ‘Mister’ and ‘Miss’ in front of their names.” she saw Imogen grinned like a ten-year-old girl, while herself’s at least forty five. “I would prefer Miss Imogen, thank you sir.” and she patted her daughter’s shoulder. “Don’t you want to say something to your cousins, my dear?” she said loudly. “He - hello.” the girl said in a low voice timidly, glanced at everyone, and then lowered her head down again.
Lindsey stared at her. Technically this girl was of her age, or like James had said, maybe one or two years older, but she had never seen her in Hogwarts. Maybe she attended Beauxbatons…or Durmstrang. At least this girl, Lilian, seemed okay. Definitely not annoying like her mother, but was introverted and quiet, so not her cup of tea. Offering a nervous glance to Edmund, as if inquiring him about their next step, she leaned closer to her brother. “It’s…good seeing you, grandfather.” Fitzwilliam started again. Though Lindsey could feel her father’s anxiety when speaking these words, especially grandfather. “Yeah, and it’s a pleasure meeting you, Miss Imogen.” followed their mother, while kept eyeing her two children, hoping they could say something. “Well, hello then, great grandfather.” smirked Edmund, looking extremely innocent when he spoke French. “Yes, we are really honored!” as if successfully got the point, she followed in Mandarin Chinese.
The Duke’s brows knitted. Suddenly he stared at her, making her shiver a bit. “The words you had just spoken…a kind of eastern language? Only English is allowed here, Miss.” he looked at her sternly, and then, again suddenly, waved his wand. “James, lead them to their bedrooms and take care of the luggage. You may leave now, I would like to spend some time on my own. Until tomorrow, everyone.”
Lindsey Springhall · Hufflepuff "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?" |
Beauxbatons · Maximilien de Fostoncy "Maximilien is a mouthful, don’t you think?" |