Closed Holding You Back

[Rion Pendleton]

Everything Rion did was for Ainmere's own good. All right, it might have looked as if she'd stolen her Hogwarts acceptance letter, then feigned total innocence when Ainmere had discovered it missing, but that was a terrible simplification of the matter. Ainmere couldn't go to Hogwarts by herself. She'd get homesick. She wouldn't be able to concentrate. She'd cry herself to sleep every night; and it would be such an awful experience that when she finally came home for the holidays, she would beg Mum and Dad not to make her go back. It made no sense to put her through all of that when it could so easily be prevented. All she had to do was wait another year, so that Rion could go with her, and everything would be fine.

Rion reached into the back of her wardrobe and pulled out the crumpled letter. She read it again, a frown fixed on her face. This stupid piece of parchment was Ainmere's ticket to Hogwarts. If she couldn't produce it, surely they wouldn't let her in. Under this logic, Rion realised, it was better then to destroy the letter entirely... But she couldn't bring herself to make the first tear. As long as it remained in one piece, there was still a chance for Rion to grow some courage and drop the letter behind Ainmere's bed, where it might plausibly have fallen all by itself. It seemed less likely to happen with each passing day; but if courage didn't push her to do the right thing soon, it was possible that guilt might.

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere had been crying all day long. Why hadn't her letter come? What was wrong with her? Was she not good enough for it? She wondered if she was going to be a squib and her parents were then going to be disappointed in her. The ginger haired girl had sobbed into her parents mattress for house where Saveli had stroked her hair adn assured her that maybe the letter was just late. Ainmere didn't believe it. Her letter wasn't late - something was going on. She was frustrated ad made her way to her sisters area. She didn't know why, but she had a gut feeling.

And it was right, as she made her way in she say it. In her hands. But calmly she spoke. "What do you have there?" Ainmere said, trying to give Rion a chance to explain.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion gasped. Why hadn't she heard Ainmere's footsteps approaching? The letter quivered in Rion's hands for a second before she shoved it back in its envelope and into the wardrobe. "Nothing," she said, closing the doors. She leaned back against them, as if trying to contain a boggart inside. "It's private. Go away."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere stormed over to her sister. "Move out of the way of the wardrobe." She said, looking at her angrily, not wanting her to hide anything from her for several reasons. "If it's another live animal mum is gonna kill you, so you might at well just tell me." She said, glaring at her younger sister. She and Rion got along most of the time, but sometimes siblings were such a pain in the rear.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

"I said it's private!" Rion shrieked, turning from pink to red. "It's not a frog. And even if it was, it's none of your business, I wasn't hurting him and he loved me!" Mr. Webb had been better off in her wardrobe than out in the garden. He had probably been eaten by now, or run over by a car. "Go away!"

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she had seen her mother do when irate. "I'm going to give you the count of three and then I'm going to get mum. Not dad. Mum." She threatened. "One." She counted slowly. "Two." She wanted to put emphasis on every single number.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Oh, no. Not Mum. Rion could slither her way out of punishment with Dad, that was easy, but Mum would never let her off if she found out she'd stolen Ainmere's Hogwarts letter. Rion released the wardrobe handles and flung herself face-down onto the bed, bleating pitifully. Forget Mum - Ainmere was going to hate her. She'd never understand. Worse still, Rion wouldn't be able to make it up to her, because she'd be thousands of miles away, learning to do magic and forgetting all about her little sister, probably. What was she going to do?

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere flinched waiting for the animal within to burst forth. But nothing did. Instead her sister laid on the bed bleating and she was left to open up the wardrobe herself. She moved forward and selected the letter from the mass of cutesy clothes. She opened it and read it and turned at first extremely angry. She then softened when she realized there had to be some reason. Some stupid, sensible reason. They loved each other after all. "Why?" She asked bluntly, not moving from where she stood.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion couldn't hold it in any longer. Months and months of worry and sadness and anger and maybe a little bit of jealousy came rushing to the surface all at once, and exploded out of her in a long, sad wail. "I don't want you to gooooooo!"

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere gave a sad look to her sister. "Rion." She said sternly before stepping over to the bed. "Rion I have to go, you know that. You'll be joining me not to long after!" She insisted so that maybe her sister would feel better about her leaving. She didn't want her to be worried, which is what she felt like was the matter. "Why don't you want me to go?" She asked, putting a hand on her back, confused a bit.

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion was making her pillow snotty, but she couldn't stop crying. "Not for ages," she said. "You're going away for a whole year - and you're not even sad!" She felt Ainmere's comforting hand on her back, but it only made her weep harder, because soon Ainmere wouldn't be here to comfort her when she cried. How would she cope without her? "I need you."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere stood and walked away from her sister if only to find a box of tissue for the sobbing girl. She was going to make her bed gross. She held the box close to her face before tapping her with it to make sure she knew it was there. “But if I don’t go what will I do? Grandpa Monty can’t teach me everything, most things but not everything. And what about when you get your letter and they don’t let me in then?” She said trying to reason with her through what little logic she had. “Rion, I won’t be far. I’ll come back on Holidays, and I’ll write you every chance I get. I love you, I can’t forget my little sister.” She said reassuringly. “And mum will help you write back since you suck at penmanship.”

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Rion rolled over, revealing a face covered in tear and snot trails. She took a tissue and blew her nose loudly. The sensible part of her, small as it was, knew that Ainmere was right; the school would never let her start a year late, and even if they did, it wouldn't have been fair on her to be stuck with the babies. "But... I'll be bored," Rion sniffed. "And I'll have to clean the chickens out by myself. Actually, I got a gold star for my handwriting last week. So I can write every day." She looked down at the tissue in her hands, then mumbled, "Sorry I took your letter."

 

[Ainmere Pendleton]

Ainmere continued to look at her sister with pity. "I know, but you'll have dad all to yourself for games! And Grandpa Monty too!" She said trying to make it seem better. "I forgive you for taking my letter but you know this means we have to tell mum and dad that it came in right?" She asked, wondering how they would work their way around the letter being missing for so long. "I promise to write you every day if you help me come up with a reason for this to have been missing that doesn't get either of us in trouble."

 

[Rion Pendleton]

Hmm, that was a point. Maybe Grandpa Monty would help Rion make Ainmere a present for when she came home for the holidays. That would keep her busy for a while - and she was sure Dad would still play Sentient Garden Hose of Doom with her when it was warm. "Okay," she said, feeling a little less sorry for herself. If only she'd had this conversation with Ainmere earlier, she could have saved them both a lot of heartache. Ainmere really was the best sister ever in the whole world. "Hm. What if we say the dog took it? We can crumple it up and make it look teethy."