New Beginnings

[Juanita Stidham]

It was an unusually warm May day at the spacious park located just outside of Melbourne, Australia. Though she had worked in New Zealand for several years now and lived here for one the seasons were something she didn't think she would ever get used to. Last Christmas the family had went to the beach. The beach on Christmas. This was a major reason why her outfit looked far too light for the weather, even if it was unnaturally warm it was still pretty damn cold. But as Juanita had cast a warming charm on herself before leaving the house she was fine. She liked coming out to the park during the winter when most people opted to stay indoors. She found the crowds of people and children running about screaming was all but gone between the months of May and September.

Most of the trees were dead and the grass was brown, but the place had a spooky vibe around it today. The snow on the ground from the previous nights snow showers reflected the sunlight of the much warmer day as it melted and the trees looked skeletal set against a bright sky. The sharp contrast made her wish she had a camera. She looked down at her watch, It was noon. She had about three hours before she had to pick Nyxima and Brianna up from school. As much as she loved her girls she liked having the time to herself during the day for the first time in over Seventeen years. "poop!" she exclaimed as she nearly fell to the ground due to a small patch of ice. It was obvious where her children got their clumsiness from.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith zipped up his jacket as he walked. The air was chilly and it contrasted heavily against the warm meeting room he had just spent an hour in. He barely remembered what the meeting was about, his mind was all over the place since hearing the news that he would be a Father again and this time, it was actually his child. He was pleased, ecstatic even, but the whole situation was just too complicated to put much thought into it.

His Father had just fallen sick, so Keith had taken up full responsibility of the family business for the time being. Which involved him being at that boring meeting this morning. With exams at Hogwarts coming up and Leah being pregnant, it was a lot to take on, so Keith had hardly had any time to think about his emotions anyway, so they remained swirling around in the back of his head.

Keith let out a breath and watched as it fogged in front of him in the cool air. Suddenly there was a curse and Keith turned his head to notice a woman almost slip over on the ice. Keith shook his head wondering how he had not seen her before when she was only a few metres away. Maybe his head was more muddled up than he had expected. Closing a few metres between him and the woman, he smirked playfully. "You alright?" He asked, there was a hint of amusement evident in his voice. It was when he took in her face properly that he realised he recognised her from somewhere, but where had escaped him at that moment.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Juanita was righting herself again and preparing to walk on when an oddly familiar voice caught her attention. She looked up and towards the source of the voice and saw a man about her age, maybe a year or two younger heading towards her. A playful smirk on his face as he asked if she was alright. She must have looked a bit comical to anyone who hadn't seen her before. She had no clue where she got her clumsiness from, but it was there and there wasn't much Juanita could do about it aside from live with it. Even witches and wizards fell prey to gravity.

It wasn't until she got a closer look at the mans face that she realized she had seen him before. Or atleast someone who looked like him, she couldn't be One hundred percent sure. She didn't know where from though which was odd... unless she met them out drinking she was usually very good with putting a face to a name. Oh well, it must not have been much if she couldn't even remember anything about the guy. "Oh I'm fine, the ice on the other hand." she said jokingly as she chipped a bit of the invisible demon up with the toe of her shoe.

Anyone who talked to her could tell she wasn't a native. Not with her rather strong southern accent. It had gotten less prominent over her years of associating with Australians and New Zealanders alike but unlike her children, who had lost their accents almost completely. She had used the accent for over 40 years and she just hoped this man wasn't one of the types to hear it and associate it with dumb hick, as some people in the ministry seemed to do. Another reason she hated her job. "So what brings you out here?" she asked, out of curiosity, "As you can probably tell this isn't exactly the peak season for this place." she added lightly, giving the ice another light kick. "I'm Juanita." she ended.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith let out a chuckle at the woman's response, glad she hadn't taken offence to his amusement like some women might have. As his laugh subsided, he left his smile in place, his brain still trying to figure out where he had seen her before. He didn't have to ponder much further as she asked why he was out here and introduced herself. "Juanita. We had a drink together a while back." He said, a hint of a question on his tongue. There could be a chance that Juanita didn't recognise him, then he would look like an idiot. But he wouldn't hold it against her. Alcohol did strange things. "I'm Keith." He returned, just in case.

"I've just been at a business meeting. Terribly boring. Thought I'd come for a bit of walk, while I'm here." He shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets of his jumper to keep them warm. "And the cold reminds me of England." He said, his accent coming through. He did miss his old home from time to time, but he wouldn't move away from Australia, he loved the warm weather too much. "It doesn't get nearly this cold over in Perth." He added with a lazy grin. "And how about yourself?" He enquired.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

When he mentioned them having a drink a while back everything snapped into focus. It was November and what would have been hers and Russels' 20th anniversary. Definitely not her best night from what she could remember, which was surprisingly quite a bit compared to the amount she remembered after most nights of drinking. She guessed having a full stomach really did help quite a bit. "Oh right! I remember now... Sorry about that. Back in the... summer right?" she ended, wanting to make sure she had her facts straight. She gave a small shiver, the warming charm was wearing off. But seeing as she had cast it about four hours before hand as she went out and about it wasn't surprising. Looking around to make sure no muggles were around she pulled her wand holster a bit out of her purse and opened it, discreetly casting a another warming charm on herself incase any muggles were out of her sight.

Putting everything back in it's right order in her purse, she listened to Keith as he began to say why he was there... all of that made sense. She knew that pretty much all business meetings were boring, those in the Ministry sure weren't any exception. "Business meeting... Wait aren't you a professor over at the school?" she asked, had he quit his job or did he just have another on the side? Either would make sense, after classes were over there wasn't much in a Teachers schedule aside from patrols and lesson planning. "England you say? It must be freezing over there if this reminds you of it. It usually isn't nearly this cold here either. This is the first time I've seen it snow... Then again I've only lived here for a year so what do I know?" she said with a small chuckle. "Oh, I had a few errands to run and decided to take a walk before I have to go pick the kids up from school." she answered, granted that was about three hours away but she hadn't planned to stay out here that whole time.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith grinned as he noticed the realisation on Juanita's face. "No need to apologise." He chuckled, raising his hands, everyone went through bad times, Keith had been going through quite a few of his own at the moment. "That's it." He confirmed when she asked if it was back in the Summer. He had been meaning to catch up with Juanita and was now hit with a wave of guilt at not having done so, but after that meeting everything had spiralled out of control and truth be told, Keith had pretty much forgotten all about the woman.

Keith nodded, balling up his fists that were still inside his jacket to try and give them extra warmth. "Yeah, meeting was for the family business. I used to run it, but then gave it back to my Dad when I started working at the school. Guess it's getting a bit stressful for him." Keith smiled warmly. He was very fond of his Dad and had always looked up to him. He was strict, but had a gentle side that he didn't let many people see, but Keith was always the first to see that side of him. Keith just hoped that this illness was nothing to worry about.

Keith let out another chuckle. "Yeah England gets much colder than this, but after spending so long in the sunshine of Australia, I'm not adapting to the cold as well as I would have thought." He admitted with a grin. "Oh, where were you living before Australia?" Keith asked with genuine curiosity. He was loving how smoothly the conversation was coming and regretted not catching up with Juanita a little more.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

It would seem that life always found a way to get in the way of things, she had meant to keep in touch with the man in front of her but she had gotten extremely busy and pretty much everything else had been tossed on the back burner what with extended work hours and taking care of her three children still at the house, Brianna was old enough to be a bit of help but at nine years old she couldn't do that much, if she didn't have magic on her side she had no idea what she would do. But she decided if things went well today she would try to keep up at least a bit of contact with the man. Things just got so hectic, any more curve balls thrown her way and she might scream.

"Oh, well that makes a lot more sense." she replied, getting the situation more now. A family business was something her family didn't have but she knew that it took a lot of motivation from those who did to keep one afloat, especially if it was a smaller one but she didn't know the ways of his either way. "I'd say so, running a business would be very stressful. But I'm sure the job satisfaction is worth it, I doubt many people would do it otherwise, I know that I sure wouldn't." she said. When he mentioned Englands weather she nodded, "I'd say so, Englands pretty far north. I've never been used to the cold in general, thank god for the warming charm." she said with a chuckle, "Whats England like?" she asked, curious to know more besides what she had seen in the media. "Oh, I lived in a small town in the US. London, Kentucky... probably haven't heard of it." she answered, her life wasn't that interesting.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith nodded with a grin, kicking up a few flakes of snow beneath his feet. It was a nice distraction to talk to Juanita. His mind had been so much on pregnant Leah, that helping with the family business and making new friends was a nice way to keep his head on straight. "Yeah, I'd usually leave it up to someone else, but my Father would probably have a fit if he knew none of the Mercer's were handling things." He chuckled, he'd been subject to that wrath on an earlier occasion and Keith didn't plan on going through it again.

"You know, a warming charm would make sense." Keith let out another laugh and as if on cue a shiver ran up his spine. Withdrawing one hand from his jumper pocket, he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and subtly cast a light warming charm over himself and then placed his wand back and his hand returned to his jumper. He cast it light enough that he would still feel the cold, but perhaps not as harsh. Smiling, he continued on with the conversation as though he hadn't just cast a spell.

"Yeah can't say I've heard of it." Keith confessed as Juanita revealed where she had lived before Australia. "But it must be a big jump from living in the US to Australia?" He guessed in the form of a question. "England isn't that exciting, lots of snow and country side. It really is beautiful though. Can't say I would move back if I had the chance though. I prefer it over in W.A." Keith explained truthfully. It was funny to think that if Melissa and Keith hadn't got divorced he probably wouldn't have even considered moving country.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

As he kicked up a few flakes of snw Juanita couldn't help but notice that alot of the snow had already started to melt and fade into a depressing, slippery slush that would cause problems for the already incredibly clumsy woman. "It's freezng out here and the snows already melting. Australia isn't very big on snow is it?" she noted lightly, looking at the remnants of the winter wonderland she had been in when she had first goten here. If she had to take a guess she would say i was about Two or Three degress Celcius. But she couldn't be too sure, conversions were ever her strong point. "Aha, so I'm guessing theres a big emphasis on the family part of the family business." she said "Not trying to pry or anything of course." she added

"They sure do work wonders, I've been getting strange looks from the muggles all day though." she replied, a bit amused as she looked at her lightly clothed self, no jacket and short sleeves, anyone would think she was crazy. "It's kind of funny actually." she admitted, she found it interesting to do odd things and see peoples faces as they passed. An odd quirk but she supposed it was part of her Ravenclaw nature to want to observe things around her, either way whatever it was it hadn't caused her any real trouble so she had no plans on changing that any time soon.

"Oh that doesn't surprise me. Kentucky isn't exactly the most known state in the US to begin with. The most exciting thing in the past fifty years was probably the World Equestrian games back in 2010." she said, rambling a bit at the end, another habit that flared up at the worst times. She was having a nice conversation and she didn't want to scare him away with her inability to ver shut up. "Melbournes alot bigger than what I'm used to thats for sure, Cmpletely different measurements, and flipped seasons. It's a bit to et used to but were doing it well enough." she said, referring to her and her family, it was easier for The ones like Kailey and Luna, who had been on tis side of the globe for years. "Well it's good that you've found a place you like to live. To live somewhere you don't like your whole life would be horrible." she ended before kicking at a bit of the slushy snow lying on the ground.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith let a laugh escape him. "I guess you could say that. But it's probably due to the fact that my Father is a bit of a pureblood control freak." He confessed, a smile gracing his lips. Even to this day and his changing personality, he couldn't contain the pride that reached his voice when he announced his Father was a pureblood. Keith didn't think he would ever entirely rid himself of the mild pureblood supremacy that flowed through his veins.

Keith absently glanced around the park for muggles when Juanita mentioned them, he noticed one man jogging with his dog and a few people far off in the distance. He didn't suspect many people wanted to be out on such a cold day. Keith's eyes fell to Juanita's outfit. "It's no wonder." He chuckled, muggles would have thought her mental for choosing such a casual attire. Even Keith had chosen his jumper over a warming charm. He shrugged his shoulders in said jumper as the warming charm took affect.

"You'll come to love it. I'm over in the boring part of Australia and I still enjoy living here." He confessed. It was true that there was nothing to do in Perth, but Keith was a bit of a fitness fanatic, so the beaches were more than enough to satisfy him. Besides he spent most of his time in New Zealand at the school, so his mansion had become more of his break home than anything. "No kidding." He said, watching the melting snow flick up after Juanita kicked it. Noticing the conversation slowing, Keith had an idea. "Did you want to go get some coffee or something?" He offered, not realising how much he craved caffeine until he had said it.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

It would take quite a dunce to miss the notes of pride filling his voice when he mentioned he had pureblood lineage. But to Juanita the whole 'pureblood supremacy' thing was a load of crap. No amount of wizarding blood made you any better than those with muggle blood. Then again she supposed she was a bit biased, being a muggleborn herself. But of course it still wouldnt b fair to favor one over the other. But thats not the type of pride he held and Juanita couldn't hold it against someone for being proud of their heritage. "Well, that I wouldn't get." she had to admit.

Juanita tugged at one of the short sleeves on her outfit, she nodded at Keith in agreement, knowing fully that it definiely stuck out amongst all of the blacks, whites, greys, and darker colors. Not to mention the sea of heavy jackets in all colors. Though that was sinifigantly thinner considering the current temperatures. "I have to admit even though I'm muggle-born myself, It's quie amusing to see the puzzled looks on muggles faces when they see things out of the ordinary whrn you know whats going on. Small things like this outfit, no harm done so I feel no guilt." she ended on an amused note, she may have been 42 but you never got too old to amuse yourself.

Juanita nodded, "It's a bit much to get used to but from the year I've been here it's grown on me." she said, a small smile gracing her lips as she looked at him. This place had more life than London, Kentucky and much more than Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Which she would prefer to forget altogether. Juanitas smile got the slightest bit bigger when he asked if she wanted to go get coffee. Making new friends was always a thing to be happy about. "Sure, I haven't had a cup all day. Don't see how I'm standng up to be honest." she said with a laugh. Juanita was a bit of a caffiene addict when it came down to it.

 

[Keith Mercer]

Keith chuckled, he still found it impressive that Muggles were kept oblivious to an entire society of witches and wizards that were living right under their noses. Keith impressed himself when he didn't even flinch mentally or physically when discovering Juanita was a muggleborn. It just proved how much he was enjoying her company. And perhaps how much he had really changed. He'd never really held anything against other people, mainly keeping the pride contained within himself. He didn't stop to judge Melissa when he found out about her Muggle Father and he certainly didn't judge Juanita now.

Keith cast a quick glance around the park. The man with his dog had jogged off and the people in the distance wouldn't even notice if he apparated them from here. "I have the perfect place." He said with a light chuckle at her comment. He held out his hand, palm up, for her to take.

 

[Juanita Stidham]

Even though Juanita wasn't technically muggleborn, though she didn't know that yet, she would have appreciated his coolness about it had she known his past self. But seeing as she hadn't known him that long and han't been expecting anything along the lines of flinching the lack thereof didn't stick out to her. She too looked out around the park, there was noone within legible sight, their apparation out would look like nothing more than the shifting of some shadows in the distance to muggles, it was amazing how much they wanted to ignore magic, even her parents had always dismissed hers and her sisters accidental magic for some sort of coinedence. She looked at the offered hand and took it, "You lead the way then." she said, ready for the sensation of apparition and the start of a new friendship.