To Camp or not to Camp
“Mum, I told you, I don’t NEED to make new friends, what’s the big deal? I’ll make them at school!”
Jeremy didn’t really care if he made new friends at school or not. All he cared about was not having to go to stupid camp. He’d been sent to camps before, and having to run around outside playing sports (which he was rubbish at) when he could be inside on a perfectly fine day for reading sounded like the worst way to spend a summer he could even think of. He was excited to go to Hogwarts, of course. He could barely sleep he was so excited. But that was Hogwarts. Camp wasn’t Hogwarts. He still didn’t want to go to camp.
Jeremy’s mother was trying her best to reason with her stubborn son (which was difficult when he’d dug his feet in), and the patient voice she was using was the one she used when she was hoping that if she just said things sweetly enough, he would finally see reason and understand that she was right all along. Jeremy could understand that a little bit, because he often felt the same way when he was talking to her.
“Honey, please,” his mother was saying. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to go, but do you really want to go to the first day of school with everybody already knowing each other? You’ll have a hard time fitting in if everyone’s already found their friends.”
“Who cares?” Jeremy said, because right now he didn't. “I don’t need to fit in. I don’t wanna go to camp…” he whined.
Just then, Jeremy heard his father’s voice from the doorway. “Listen, Dear, if the boy doesn’t want to go, why don’t we just let him stay home? Not everybody makes their friends on the first day. And besides, he won’t be alone at school, he’ll have his new friend Jo!”
“Eww, who said we were friends?” Jeremy huffed. He didn’t think that was mean, he was sure that Jo would have said the same thing if they had asked her.
“You mean Josephine Byrne, the girl who almost set our son on fire?” Jeremy’s mother narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t been very happy with the little stunt the children had pulled, and it seemed that Jeremy’s father was in the crosshairs too, since he’d insisted on bringing him there.
“Mary, I…you know the boy can be…curious sometimes.” Thomas said, a slightly pained expression on his face.
“Eleven years without so much as thinking of drawing a rune, and then twenty minutes with that girl, and—”
“No he’s right, it was MY idea, not hers,” Jeremy argued, cause JO couldn’t make him do anything that he didn’t want to do.
His parents didn’t seem to hear him though, and Jeremy was about to take that opportunity to slip out when he heard the wizarding radio crackle to life.
"W-We interrupt today's scheduled programming for an important announcement from the Wizarding Wireless Network...We are pleased to announce that Ministry Summer Camp 2026 is officially on its way!"
—-
“So I see you’ve changed your mind?” Jeremy’s mother asked him, smiling slightly as she looked down at Jeremy struggling to pack his bag with enough books to last him a month.
“I never said I wasn’t gonna go,” he insisted. "I said I didn’t NEED to go,”
His mother looked at him, paused, then made that face she made when he said something that she didn’t think was worth arguing with, leaving him to his packing.
Who would have known that a camp could sound fun? Running around playing broomless Quidditch with a bunch of sweaty kids in the hot sun? Not fun. But what kid wouldn’t want to work at the Ministry of Magic for a summer?
Jeremy wasn’t stupid. He knew it was just pretend. It was like a game. Of course they wouldn’t have eleven-year-olds doing real work for the Department of Mysteries. That would be ridiculous.
…But what if the person who was organizing it used to work at the Department of Mysteries? And they needed him for his expertise? And what if when they asked him to plan the summer activities he didn’t do his homework on time? What if it was due tomorrow and he absolutely HAD to have something in? What if then he had to use the REAL mysteries instead, so that he didn’t get fired, thinking that nobody would ever know because it was so classified that nobody at the camp could possibly know what he’d done? There was probably only a 1% chance that was what happened, but the thought was enough for Jeremy.
Jeremy didn’t really care if he made new friends at school or not. All he cared about was not having to go to stupid camp. He’d been sent to camps before, and having to run around outside playing sports (which he was rubbish at) when he could be inside on a perfectly fine day for reading sounded like the worst way to spend a summer he could even think of. He was excited to go to Hogwarts, of course. He could barely sleep he was so excited. But that was Hogwarts. Camp wasn’t Hogwarts. He still didn’t want to go to camp.
Jeremy’s mother was trying her best to reason with her stubborn son (which was difficult when he’d dug his feet in), and the patient voice she was using was the one she used when she was hoping that if she just said things sweetly enough, he would finally see reason and understand that she was right all along. Jeremy could understand that a little bit, because he often felt the same way when he was talking to her.
“Honey, please,” his mother was saying. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to go, but do you really want to go to the first day of school with everybody already knowing each other? You’ll have a hard time fitting in if everyone’s already found their friends.”
“Who cares?” Jeremy said, because right now he didn't. “I don’t need to fit in. I don’t wanna go to camp…” he whined.
Just then, Jeremy heard his father’s voice from the doorway. “Listen, Dear, if the boy doesn’t want to go, why don’t we just let him stay home? Not everybody makes their friends on the first day. And besides, he won’t be alone at school, he’ll have his new friend Jo!”
“Eww, who said we were friends?” Jeremy huffed. He didn’t think that was mean, he was sure that Jo would have said the same thing if they had asked her.
“You mean Josephine Byrne, the girl who almost set our son on fire?” Jeremy’s mother narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t been very happy with the little stunt the children had pulled, and it seemed that Jeremy’s father was in the crosshairs too, since he’d insisted on bringing him there.
“Mary, I…you know the boy can be…curious sometimes.” Thomas said, a slightly pained expression on his face.
“Eleven years without so much as thinking of drawing a rune, and then twenty minutes with that girl, and—”
“No he’s right, it was MY idea, not hers,” Jeremy argued, cause JO couldn’t make him do anything that he didn’t want to do.
His parents didn’t seem to hear him though, and Jeremy was about to take that opportunity to slip out when he heard the wizarding radio crackle to life.
"W-We interrupt today's scheduled programming for an important announcement from the Wizarding Wireless Network...We are pleased to announce that Ministry Summer Camp 2026 is officially on its way!"
—-
“So I see you’ve changed your mind?” Jeremy’s mother asked him, smiling slightly as she looked down at Jeremy struggling to pack his bag with enough books to last him a month.
“I never said I wasn’t gonna go,” he insisted. "I said I didn’t NEED to go,”
His mother looked at him, paused, then made that face she made when he said something that she didn’t think was worth arguing with, leaving him to his packing.
Who would have known that a camp could sound fun? Running around playing broomless Quidditch with a bunch of sweaty kids in the hot sun? Not fun. But what kid wouldn’t want to work at the Ministry of Magic for a summer?
Jeremy wasn’t stupid. He knew it was just pretend. It was like a game. Of course they wouldn’t have eleven-year-olds doing real work for the Department of Mysteries. That would be ridiculous.
…But what if the person who was organizing it used to work at the Department of Mysteries? And they needed him for his expertise? And what if when they asked him to plan the summer activities he didn’t do his homework on time? What if it was due tomorrow and he absolutely HAD to have something in? What if then he had to use the REAL mysteries instead, so that he didn’t get fired, thinking that nobody would ever know because it was so classified that nobody at the camp could possibly know what he’d done? There was probably only a 1% chance that was what happened, but the thought was enough for Jeremy.