16A/N: Read and review!
I leaped off the last step of my staircase, just missing our Russian Blue cat Aberthy. My white socks helped me slide into the kitchen with ease. My Mom was cooking pancakes on the stove and my Dad read the Wizarding Times and stirred his coffee magically. Andy had a friend with him from school visiting for the week, his name was Jake and his red hair stuck out noticeably from my family's brown. Friction pulled me to a halt and all six of the eyes in the room darted to me.
"I have some news," I shouted with a huge grin.
"Finally got at least 2000," my mom inquired. She loved my Dad dearly, but preferred that Andy and I were muggle educated and had careers in the muggle world. Sometimes she expressed this explicitly, and other times she subtly hinted her disappointment like this morning.
"Getting close," I lied through my teeth, "I got a letter this morning." My dad raised his eyebrows and immediately knew what I was about to say.
"It's from the Hogwarts School, in England, for the Magic Abroad program," I stammered as I broke into a ridiculously huge smile. My brother's jaw dropped, my father tossed the newspaper aside and I was swept into a huge family hug. Mom even stopped making pancakes and although this ruined her life plans for me, she joined the hug.
"My Mom's second cousins went there," Jake told me, "They all loved it there."
"We visited once, England not the school, and all they talked about was how much they wanted to go back to school."
"Looks like we're going to be taking a trip to London in a few weeks," my father stated with glee as he bent to pick up the paper.
"You won't be at Islewood next year?" Andy asked with a puzzled look. I had forgotten how close we were, and how much we depended on one another during the school year. Leaving him to fend for himself was going to be something new, but I had faith he could do it, he was almost fifteen.
"It won't be that bad, I'll write all the time," I answered with a smile.
"Not like I have an owl to reply with," he grumbled turning to Jake, signaling to walk away and do some boyish task. I perked up and decided that before I left I would definitely get him an owl for his birthday.
"I'll shoot on you outside," my father said, snapping me back to reality, "Be ready in five." I bounded upstairs and put on proper sneakers. We kept all flying equipment in the garage and I grabbed my broom (A Nimbus 2020), goggles and arm pads before meeting my Dad in the backyard. There was a makeshift scaled Quidditch pitch that spanned a good portion of the yard. It was roughly half of a real one, with three actual sized rings on each end. I mounted my broom and rose to my position. Whenever I played Quidditch I felt like I was in a different world. There was no other feeling than having almost complete control on the outcome of a game. My favorite save of choice was hitting the Quaffle away with the end of the broom. Sometimes this messed up my neatly trimmed twigs but I love watching the Quaffle zoom away.
"I can tell that you're extremely happy about getting that opportunity Chett," my father addressed me with the nickname I had grown accustomed to. I hurtled the Quaffle back at him and replied, "It'd be really nice to see some more of the world."
"I can tell your mother isn't the most pleased with this," he confided. I didn't need him to map this out to me, my Mom wasn't the best with hiding what she felt. "I shockingly turned out fine with a career in magic." He had a point there. My Dad worked with the American Delegation of Magic, specifically with currency.
"Do you at least have some sort of a plan to keep her appeased?" I let the Quaffle I just caught hang at my sides, I hadn't taken one thought to my future after school.
"Become a Professor," I replied, with a bit of a quaver in my voice. This thought chilled me, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and now I'm starting to worry. My father raised his eyebrows at me and caught the Quaffle I hurtled back. I heard voices from the garage and soon Jake and Andy had joined us. My mom stood by the house taking pictures with her new camera my Dad got her. Dad was a keeper turned chaser in his school days. We played a mock match with just the Quaffle, Jake as my chaser and Andy as my father's. Andy and I managed to win by just two goals, we got rewarded with some excellent ice cream for desert later. Later that night while Jake was taking a shower I was able to spend some time along with my brother.
"It's going to be extremely odd at school without you next year," he confessed, "What am I going to do to get through O.W.L potions?" I laughed, it was great to be as close to my brother as I was.
"You're going to have to study as hard as I did," I told him, sticking my tongue out, "Hopefully you'll make the Quidditch team, since two chasers graduated." I aimed this jabbing comment at James, who had been the captain. That was an annoying end to the season.
"You'd love to see me take somebody's spot," Andy retort, with a grin.
"You bet I would," I replied giving him a high five. I said goodnight and we set off to our respective bedrooms. I pulled out some paper from under my bed and began writing two separate letters to my friends Aileen and Emileigh. They would be ecstatic to hear all about my acceptance to the program, but I felt uneasy about telling them I would not be spending our last year at Islewood with them. Then the feeling I got on the pitch earlier came back, that weighty unknown that sat in the pit of my stomach. I muscled through this and finished the letter. They lived near each other in Connecticut so I tied both letters to Windsor's leg. He hooted with delight and flew off into the calm evening. A few minutes after I realized I should have sent my reply to Hogwarts before sending out the letters. In a fluster I scrawled out my response, thanking the Headmistress one too many times about my acceptance. I then crept out of my room and downstairs to try and find the family owl. I was surprised to find my Mom sitting at the kitchen table watching all of the moving pictures she took of Quidditch today.
"You should send out your reply soon," she said with a smile looking at the note in my hand, "Don't let it go till the last minute."
"Where's Aeschylus?"
"On his post in the breezeway." I smiled and immediately tied the note to the owl's leg, I watched my future fly off with him straight eastward.