Closed Left Behind

[Finn Madison]

Finn both loved and hated the holidays sometimes. He relished the chance to see his sisters, to catch up with them and spend time, but it barely felt like any time at all before they all went away again, off to Hogwarts, with Mum, and Finn was the only member of their family not allowed to go. Finn knew this year would be different, as Odette was graduating, but he was still privately a bit nervous about his newest sister. Finn didn't know her as well as Charlie and Emily did yet, and the thought of being all alone at home with her was a bit intimidating. He hoped they could become better friends, but he was still a bit nervous about the time.

And now it felt as though the holidays were being taken away from him as well. Odette was at work, Charlie was out with her girlfriend, and Emily was off with friends, leaving Finn all alone, once again. The forgotten little brother. He had asked Mum if he could go to the park since it was a rare decent winter day, but Finn was already regretting the decision. It was just kind of cold and lonely and there was nothing to do, most other kids not braving the winter chill to go outside. Finn had brought his paints and a small book of art paper, and was determined to make the most of this, setting up on the grass with a perfect angle of a leafless tree rustling slightly in the chilly breeze against the cold blue sky. He settled in and began to put brush to paper, swirling different blues in the space around where he was going to paint the branches of the tree. At least he could get something out of today.

 

[Emmy Cooper]

Emmy could barely believe what was happening. Her father had been informed that she was a witch. And not even a bad one. It wasn't what fairy tales told you about witches, it was proper, good witches and wizards, doing actual magic. She had laughed at her father when he first told her, and it had taken a lot of convincing for her to actually believe him. Emmy had eventually gotten over his lame joke, so he had taken it upon himself to bring her to an amazing Village. There was actual magic! Magic existed! They had spent most of their time exploring each shop to her hearts desire, before he let her run wild in the park. Emmy wished she had bought her rugby ball to play around with, but figured she couldn't be too upset with that -magic was real! She saw a kid her age settling down on the ground, and she wondered if he was about to play a game. Excited, Emmy ran up to him. "Whatcha doing?" Emmy asked, as she plonked herself down next to the boy. She saw he had painting supplies, and hoped he was going to do some cool, magic painting.

 

[Finn Madison]

Even absorbed in his painting, Finn felt he had a decent sense of what was going on around him. He had had his paints kicked over or trampled through far too many times by rowdy kids not to be aware of his surroundings. So when a girl nearby sat down next to him, Finn wasn't surprised at all. He didn't look up from his work as he got some more paint on the brush, glancing up at the tree. "Painting." He said calmly, brushing another thick stroke of sky blue where the branches weren't. "I'm painting that tree up there."

 

[Emmy Cooper]

The boy didn't even look at her, so she assumed he was focusing really hard on his magic. She peered at his painting, and then up towards where he pointed, and then back down to the painting. It wasn't sparkling, or moving or doing anything magical, but Emmy was patient, she didn't mind waiting until she saw the magic. She had waited so long without even knowing magic was real, she could wait a bit longer! "That's cool! I don't even know how to paint. Are you going to make the trees move, or a bird fly out later, or something?" Emmy asked curiously, still watching him paint.

 

[Finn Madison]

Finn was focused on his painting, but at her question, Finn finally looked up at the girl who had spoken to him, studying her face for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm not at Hogwarts yet." He said calmly. "Even if I was, I couldn't do magic outside school. If you were a student you would know that, so you must not go there yet. Which means we might be classmates." He raised an eyebrow, then returned his attention to his painting. "I'm Finn, what's your name?"

 

[Emmy Cooper]

Emmy grinned at the boy when he finally looked at her, wanting to make a good first impression that her mother had always talked about. She was surprised that he couldn't do magic outside of school, Emmy thought it was just because she hadn't learnt any spells yet that she couldn't, but to find another person who couldn't was good! It meant she wouldn't be left behind in classes, she'd learn at the same speed as other people. She grinned again when he said they'd be classmates. "That's so exciting! I'm Emmy! It's so nice to meet you Finn! Are you excited to go to magic school? Did you know you were magic?" Emmy asked.