9 July, 2025

Outfit: white t-shirt, denim skirt, matching denim vest, Eira's barrette gift

Sadie huffed and puffed as the burning in her lungs was eclipsed only by the burning in her legs. She, like most of her family, had been walking for approximately three hours so far in the grassy fields and forests of Ireland. The Emerald Isles were famed for their beauty and greenery, but at this point Sadie just wanted to see home, or civilization. At this point, she'd settle for a bench.

She wasn't alone, at least.

Dad was leading the way, and he didn't seem as tired as she was. Chloe was in Sadie's shoes, only she had the extra burden of carrying Miles. He was eleven, now, but Chloe had a soft spot for him whenever he needed something, so she had dreadfully agreed to carry the boy when he said his legs were hurting. She'd insisted that 'carrying him couldn't be worse than carrying a guitar,' but she had clearly just not wanted the boy to feel bad.

Reina was actually perfectly fine, unsurprisingly. Being the sporty sort, walking for miles without a sidewalk or pavement was easy for Reina. She was even wearing shorts and bragging about her calves, trying to insist that they run the rest of the way. That had earned a curse and a rude gesture from Chloe when she said it, though.

"Are you sure you know where you're going, Dad?" Sadie asked, her lungs aching from the exertion of something as simple as speaking. "We haven't seen a single landmark for - for a hundred kilometers."

Reina scoffed, giving Sadie a shove.

"We haven't even walked sixteen kilometers, you idiot," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Seventeen and a half kilometers so far, actually," Dad corrected her, then he regarded Sadie. "I wouldn't forget the way in a hundred years. I haven't been this way without Rory or Anne, but I'm sure I can find it. We're actually getting quite close."

Midnight mewed in agreement, running under Sadie's feet in the way that only a cat could, then jumped gracefully up, using her limbs as footholds and landing on her shoulder. She meowed quite loudly.

"What's your cat goin' on about?" Miles asked, his hands looped around Chloe's neck as she carried him. Chloe hadn't spoken, possibly because she appeared to be trying not to faint from exhaustion from carrying miles.

"I don't know. Maybe she's trying to say we're close?" Sadie hoped that was the case, and she looked to Midnight, hoping for a sign that she was right, but the cat just purred against her neck.

"Well, we are getting quite close," Dad said, sounding almost amused. "Maybe another half kilometer."

Reina ran ahead, excited for his answer, until she reached the top of the hill. She frowned, looking back at them all.

"There's nothing up ahead. It has to be further," she said, standing tall and waiting for them to catch up.

"You would be wrong," Dad said, stepping even further ahead of Reina until they reached the bottom of the hill. When everyone caught up, he paused, watching to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Miles, pay attention, please."

Chloe set Miles down gently, taking the opportunity to sit, not caring that her clothes were getting dirty from sitting in the grass. Miles sat beside her, watching their dad curiously.

"Sadie, would you like to tell me what you see here?" Dad asked her, gesturing ahead.

Where he was pointing, a cluster of three rather large, jagged rocks sticking out of the ground. The rocks were about four to six feet tall each, and the grass immediately surrounding them was rather tall, reaching well past Sadie's knees. Just in front of the rocks was a fairy ring of mushrooms.

"Rocks and mushrooms," she said flatly.

"To the left of it."

Sadie saw nothing worth noting to the left of the mushroom ring, so she shrugged. Her dad, seeming amused, stepped where she was looking and pointed in the grass near a birch tree that seemed far taller than the rest surrounding them. At the base of the tree was a small rock, no larger than a golden snitch, as far as Sadie could tell.

"That rock," her dad said seriously, looking between all three sisters, their brother, and even the cat for good measure. "...is a Portkey. My father had it registered with the Ministry of Magic before I was born. Anyone who touches it will be transported to the Murdock homestead, where I was raised with my siblings. As far as I know, no one's lived there in decades."

Chloe and Reina seemed immediately interested, perking up with great gusto.

"We're going to get to do magic?" Chloe asked, standing despite the clear aching of her feet.

"No. You're not doin' the magic," Dad said, shaking his head. "You're just touching a magical item, which is charmed to do the magic. Sadie, you're accustomed to magic. Would you like to go first?"

"Er, okay," she said, stepping forward. She was a bit nervous, but probably not as nervous as her sisters, she guessed.

Sadie stared at the stone, still not touching it. It looked like a regular stone. It was even roughly shaped like a stone might've been. If just touching it would transport them all, it made sense why her grandpa had put the stone so far away from civilization. The chances of a muggle touching it were quite low.

She knelt down, looking at her family self consciously. Midnight dropped beside her, extending a paw, and they touched the stone at the same time.

It was a nauseating sensation. Sadie, like many, had woken in the middle of the night before, experiencing a sensation of falling, only to jerk awake at the last second. This sensation was similar, only she was falling forward instead of down. It felt like her belly was being pulled out of her belly button. Midnight was brushing against her ankles as the feel of wind rushing into her almost overwhelmed her. The surroundings were gone, replaced with swirling colors of green and blue.

Then, in an instant, it was over. Sadie found herself on her feet, stumbling forward and onto her hands and knees. Midnight, ever composed, walked up beside her, putting a paw on her hand.

"I'm okay, Midnight. Just - that was a lot," Sadie said, rising to her feet and looking around.

Based on the surroundings, she was still in Ireland. The grass was overgrown, though, and trees surrounded her, forming a large glade with a hill on the edge of it. At the bottom of the hill, a large, stone house stood, three stories tall. A smaller wooden building to the left of the big building was dwarfed by the larger one, and a stone path wrapped around the whole estate, going behind the large building. The cobblestones on the path also traveled toward where she was standing, which was probably a hundred feet away from the buildings.

Sadie stepped forward, and it was only then that she noticed the gnarled wood posts decorating the sides of the cobblestone path, erected every twenty feet or so. As she approached each one, a glowing, magical light would illuminate the top of the post and the space within about ten feet with soft, purple light.

She looked back only briefly as she heard the sound of her family arriving at the space behind her. Chloe and Reina looked nauseous as they landed on their hands and knees, much like Sadie had. Miles looked invigorated, and Dad was standing on his two feet, perfectly composed.

"That's it," Dad said, and his eyes were glued to the house up ahead. He had a complicated expression on his face, and Sadie wondered what he was thinking about.

"It's so cool, dad!" Miles said, running up to stand beside Sadie. He was delighted by the lights in the lantern they'd approached.

Reina and Chloe stared at the lamppost as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Sadie understood. She did. She didn't know any kind of spell to leave a permanent light like that. But magic itself wasn't quite as startling to her as it was to her older sisters.

Sadie stepped back, leaving her siblings to admire the lights, and approached her dad. Under her breath, she spoke to him.

"Are you alright, Dad? I know it's a lot, but it must be nice seeing your old house," Sadie said uncertainly, looking between the house and her dad.

"It's not the house I'm worried about," he said, and he kept walking.

Sadie just watched him go.

to be continued!