It was the summer before school was starting and Raine was excited for the change of scenery this year. She was finally old enough to attend Hogwarts and her letter had just arrived earlier that day. She always knew it was going to happen because her mother was a witch. Her father was a Muggle who had no idea this world existed until he met Raine's mother and she informed him of it all. Because of this Raine was raised around Muggles and grew up not having many witch or wizard friends her own age. Most of the other magical kids she knew were younger than her or a few years above her. She had hopes she might make a few friends in her first year that would make up for the lack of friends she had now.

After receiving her letter to Hogwarts Raine told her parents she was going to make her way to her favorite spot in town. With her parents she didn't need to expand much since they where she always went when she left the house. Usually Raine spent time on her families property at their greenhouse or on the edge of the wooded area behind her house sitting up against a tree. Today though she was planning to make her way into town toward the Lamb House. It was a popular location for tourists on Holiday to come see the Historic muggle house but this time of year it wasn't super busy so Raine wanted to go sit in the garden that was on the property.

After she was admitted to the house she made her way through to the garden and walked the pathway looking at the beautiful flowers and plants that were located there. Nothing was over grown and everything was pristine. She settled into a bench located in an open area that had a beautiful fountain and flowers growing on either side of the bench. As she settled in her hand naturally found the plants as she examined them. They were beautiful colors of pinks, whites, and purples. She sighed softly "It looks like I won't be coming here much any more. I finally received my acceptance letter." She muttered softly to the plants surrounding her. If anyone overheard her talking to inanimate objects they'd think her insane but, for Raine shed always confided in Plants or Animals because they offered no judgement.

"I always knew this was coming, my mother is a witch it's only natural that I was too." She kept her voice soft noticing a few people wandering the garden. There weren't many but she still needed to keep her voice low in case they came closer. It was the middle of the afternoon so muggles would be making their way in soon enough.

While London was going through one of the biggest heat waves in recent history, the coastal breeze here in Rye kept the seaside town comparably cool. Arthur was glad to get away from the city for a while, and not just because of the heat. It could get suffocating this time of year, with thousands of tourists meaning everything was that much more crowded, and the temperature making everyone crazy.

Though no less crowded, Rye was always beautiful in the summer. They were staying with friends; a woman who used to work with his mum at the hospital before she moved to Rye with her husband and opened a B&B. Now every year for a few days in the summer, if ever their rooms weren't fully booked, or they had a last minute cancellation, she'd call up his mum and they'd drive down to spend a week or two by the sea. Feeling like a walk, Arthur grabbed a book from his suitcase to read along the way and headed out, merely shouting 'going out!' to his mum whom he'd left chatting with her friend in the B&B's kitchen.

By now, Rye was a familiar location to him. It was pretty much the only place they went on holiday, even though he knew his mum really wanted to go to America some day. "When I'm older, I can buy a broom and fly us there myself!" he muttered to himself as he balanced on a short stone wall along the way. He'd decided to visit the Lamb house, a famous country home with a beautiful garden. He'd visited the house before, but they had a National trust card so it didn't cost anything to go. And he liked to sit in the gardens and read.

Picking a spot behind a tree, he pulled out his copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' and began to read. He was a little worried about reading such a book in public, but he supposed any reasonable person would just assume it was a work of fiction. He’d only gotten a few pages in, however, when he heard a girl speaking a short distance away. He wasn’t sure who she was talking to (he could only hear one side of the conversation) but one sentence in particular caught his attention;

"I always knew this was coming, my mother is a witch it's only natural that I was too."

Curious, he peeked his head around the side of the tree. The girl appeared to be sitting alone. She looked around his age, which would make sense given what she was saying, and had long curly red hair. There were no tell-tale signs of magic about her, like a schoolbook or a wand or the crazy outdated clothes they often wore. No way… he thought. That would be too crazy, right? She could just be messing around anyway, making up stories about witches when she thought she was alone. Still, his interested was piqued, and it would just be too cool of a coincidence to pass up if she was.

"Did you just say 'witch'?" he asked, moving around the side of the tree. He could hardly say 'hey I'm a wizard too!' without sounding like a crazy person, but if she thought he was a muggle she would never admit it. He tried to think of a way to communicate his knowledge of the magical world without coming off as totally bonkers if she just happened to be an eccentric girl who liked talking about witches. "Hey.. Who do you think would win in a fight; a badger, a snake, an eagle, or a lion?" he asked.

Raine had been so enthralled with her surroundings and making sure to keep her voice lowered she had not noticed if anyone was nearby. If she were honest she wasn't paying much attention to her voice and anyone within her proximity could hear her words. Though she knew this, she was still surprised when a boy around her age peaked out around a tree and asked her a question. 

"Did you just say 'witch'?" Was his question. 

Raine sat there in stunned silence as her gaze found his location. She knew there were many muggles who were into the 'supernatural' world even though for them it was all make-believe. Growing up around muggles she knew some would talk about it openly. But, she really was a witch and she knew she had to be careful. Sitting there trying to force a look of confusion on her face, she tilted her head to the side as if in question to what he had asked. Then suddenly, she heard him ask another question - he asked who she thought would win in a fight only his options were odd and rather familiar to her. 

"Wait, uh, hmm. I did say witch." She muttered briefly caught off guard. "Those are odd choices to give someone, such an array of animals, you know?" Raine paused though to quickly think of a reply, who would win? "It really depends on the circumstances I suppose, but I think the eagle would win since it has the element of height." She muttered trailing off with a small shrug.  She wondered briefly if the boy had offered her those choices because he was a student at Hogwarts. Anyone from a magical family around here were would know that those were the animals that represent each house. 

She couldn't think of what she could possibly respond with to ask, without asking, if he were going to Hogwarts too. "Do you believe in magic?" Was all she could come up with to stay on the subject without stating she was a witch. Her mother would kill her if she exposed herself to a muggle.

Ah.. Arthur thought, feeling a little silly. She didn't pick up on his reference to the four houses, or at the very least didn't say anything about it, so he guessed he must be wrong about her. He was probably just so wrapped up thinking about school next year that he heard the word 'witch' and jumped to conclusions. He couldn't deny he was disappointed. Going to a new school where it was guaranteed none of his friends would be going was a little daunting, so the prospect of getting to meet someone he might go to school with was tempting. Probably why he was so willing to believe it.

Either way, it would rude to back out of the conversation now. She seemed like a pretty interesting girl, if nothing else. Walking over to the bench, he sat down beside her and lifted his shoulders. "They're all animals from the Sahara Desert," he explained. Though of course, that wasn't the real reason. He had to come up with some kind of excuse though, and fortunately he was good at thinking on his feet.. Or at least talking people's head off. "We were watching a nature documentary on it last night, so I was curious what you'd think. I've been asking everyone. Most people either say lion, or snake because they're venomous. I would've thought lion too.. But surprisingly, the Honey Badger has been known to kill both snakes and lions, so now I'm not sure."

"Pretty crazy, right?" he said, turning to her with a grin.

He shook his head, laughing, and gave another little shrug. "Sorry. Random question," he said, turning his eyes back across the lavish gardens. "My mum and I are always doing weird thought experiments like that."

He was a little surprised by what she asked him in return and glanced back over, trying to read her expression. Then again, she had just been talking about witches. He leaned back on the bench, thinking about it. It was a fairly personal thing to ask. Most kids their age wouldn't want to admit that they still believed in something like that. She probably believes in magic.. He thought. And here he had actual proof now that it was real. It made him feel kind of bad. Like maybe it wasn't something they should be keeping a secret. But rules were rules...

"I didn't," he answered honestly. "Until about a year ago." He didn't like the idea of lying (in general, he was a pretty honest person) but he didn't know what he could say to explain what changed his mind, so he didn't elaborate any more than that.

Raine listened intently as the boy explained his reasoning behind those choice of animals. For some reason Raine didn't quite believe that since she knew they all represented the four houses of Hogwarts. Hogwarts, the school she would be going to in a few months. "I didn't know that about Honey Badgers..." She said absentmindedly as he conclude. 

"Do you believe in magic?" She had asked him that, it was so stupid no muggle child would believe in magic and she would look stupid. She wished that she could just come out and say Hey I'm a witch, how about you?, but if she did that her mother would surely ground her. 

"Until about a year ago." The boy had answered her and Raine had wondered if it was possible that he had the same secret as she. The way the two were talking you'd think they were trying to say something without saying it out loud. She wondered if it were possible he was in the same situation as she. "I'm sorry, it seemed to spark your interest when I said witch so, I thought... " She trailed off, "It doesn't matter." 

Raine looked over at the boy who was sitting next to her now, "Those animals you picked, they just reminded me of this school." She shrugged glancing over at him. "They represent the school so I thought that was why you picked them." She concluded her thought looking away and back at the plant next to her. She couldn't get in trouble for what she had just said since she didn't mention the name of the school and if he were a muggle, like she thought, he'd have no idea what she was talking about. He'd probably think she read it in a book. 

Arthur shrugged at the conclusion of his story. Although he was making it up, it was actually all true, and he had seen it in a nature documentary, just not last night. He was about the change the subject, when the girl, who'd been pretty quiet so far, seemed to visibly change in demeanor.

"I'm sorry, it seemed to spark your interest when I said witch so, I thought. It doesn't matter."

"No, it's fine. Really," he assured her quickly, leaning forward on the bench so it was easier to talk eye to eye. His brows pulled together in concern, thinking he was screwing this up if he was making her feel bad. "I was interested! Actually..." he tried to think of a way to phrase what he was thinking that was safe to say, but before he could, Raine spoke again,

"Those animals you picked, they just reminded me of this school."

A school... Could she mean Hogwarts? That's exactly why he'd asked about them, hoping she would say something about it. "This school..." he said, a grin starting to take form on his lips. "Is it in Scotland? Pretty exclusive admissions? Have to take a train there?" He still couldn't say the name, in case there might be someone else listening, but it seemed to him like they could be taking about the same thing.

"I'm Arthur, by the way," he said, belatedly introducing himself. He glanced around the beautiful garden and the sunny streets of Rye. "Do you live around here?"