Secrets in Confidence

[Aleksandra Kaster]

Aleksandra hadn't been sure what to expect from dropping out of school. She hadn't been sure at first that her Dad was going to let her, but he'd come around after she'd promised she would get a job somewhere and pay her way. As of yet she didn't have a job, but school had only just finished, so she surely couldn't have been expected to have it all down in that short amount of time. During her trek around New Zealand though, she'd come across a friend, Sam, and had immediately invited her home. The blonde certainly had looked like she needed some friendly chat, Aleks was only too happy to oblige. Her father had provided them with a portkey, since they were much to inexperienced to try apparition at those kind of distances and Aleks happily waited for her Slytherin friend to arrive before wrapping her arms around her happily and kissing her on the cheek. "Girl, I am so glad you're here, for real!" She said, looking down at the garden gnome shaped portkey. "Leave that just there," she pointed to a little spot where the portkey could go whilst not in use, after all, hiding it in plain sight made sense, and it wasn't like anyone would want to use it anyway, it would only take them to Obsidian Harbour. Probably. There weren't many who had the privilege of seeing the Kaster Estate. Well, they called it an estate, but it was anything but. For a long time it had been barely a tent, and slowly it had been built on so it was certainly the kind of building that looked like it was going to fall into a black hole or something. It wasn't that they couldn't afford to live anywhere else, it was just that when they'd first got here there was barely anything there and of course now there was this ten roomed estate that had grown as rooms became needed, now that most weren't needed, they were thinking of downsizing, but Aleks much preferred this place to any other crappy place they might potentially get. "There's not going to be much of a tour out here, I think you've seen it all." The inside was much like the outside, except that in this instance, where there were many plants and other things, it would have been thought that the inside was in the outside and the outside was in the inside. "I used to share a room but I don't anymore, and I have a hammock, do you like hammocks, they're so comfy?" She asked, taking Sam's arm to guide her.​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam had had possibly the worst beginning to a break you could have. It came to a close second to her mother passing, but it was painful, and she was exhausted, and every day she woke up with the dread that was all-too familiar now. She had a reason to get up, she told herself, and it was for the tiny child that was growing inside of her. Sometimes, she even tried to convince herself that that night had never happened, and that it was all made up in her messed up head, somehow. But then she rushed to the bathroom o throw up and the reality hit her right in the face. This was real, and it was serious. The girl hadn't even yet told her siblings, or her father, and she admittedly she was terrified of telling her dad. He had always been proud of her, they'd always been close, and she had always wanted to impress him with school, or something else. But this was much bigger and she was had a feeling her father would not accept it. Or understand. Sam was still in school, she was of-age officially, but she still had a year left of school. She had thought over and over again what her schoolmates were going to think when they found out - because they were going to know, eventually. She was going to start to show, and there was no way she was dropping out. She had to make it work, no matter what. ​

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One thing Sam hadn't expected to happen was for her to run into her old friend, Aleksandra. She hadn't seen much of her lately, and she wondered if she transferred or dropped out of school, or something. It had been nice to run into her though, and she was relieved that she had been invited over to her house, at least she could do something else besides constantly worry about the circumstances she'd fallen under. She smiled at her friend when she was let in the house, returning the warm hug. Something she needed. "Trust me, I'm really glad to be here too," she responded without giving any details. Aleks didn't need to know, not yet. She nodded, leaving the portkey to where it was. She was glad to have taken Apparition in her sixth year because it meant she could finally apparate without worrying about spending money for muggle transport. Sam followed her friend inside...or outside?, taking in the place. "It's lovely," she commented. It was unique, something that Sam had always wanted to have - a unique home. It reminded her of her own first house, and she thought about it with a pang, kind of missing it. "So, with this many rooms...how big is your family?" she asked curiously. At the mention of a hammock, Sam giggled. "I love hammocks!"​

 

[Aleksandra Kaster]

Aleks was really excited that she was going to have a girlfriend over. After all, she had never really had friends over since her home was always quite hectic. Everyone was home of course and she'd told them all to be on their best. Ben was usually working long hours, as were most of the proper adults in the house. Chrys usually hung out most of the time by the pond or lake, or whatever it was and Elsa and Flynn were off doing whatever. That really only left Jemima and she was in her room studying, so they wouldn't be disturbed too much, well, she hoped not. "It'll be nice to have some time, just us girls," she said, happily, since she was really going to enjoy as much of this as she could. She had all sorts of things planned, make overs, cooking together, tea, hanging out and just trashing everyone they could think of. She knew Sam had a boyfriend so they could talk about that too. All of it. "Thank you, Dad pretty much built this place from the ground up. When my mum died eleven years ago there was nothing here and so my dad built this place. He expanded it until it is what you see before you. We basically live here rent free since no one can see the house." She said, tongue in cheek. Sometime ago she'd made a promise to herself that she would focus more on others than herself, except by then she had realised that none of her friends were really in school anymore and so she'd had to branch out. But she was glad she was dropping out anymore, she liked Sam, but she hated school and she needed to do this for herself, take a year and travel and all that. "It's... decently sized. We have a couple of relatives now, that will stay over sometimes so we keep the rooms for them mostly, there's six of us kids, plus my dad and his partners Cale and Ofira." Aleks made no qualms about the fact she had a strange dynamic in her family. Her father was in a polyamorous relationship, that's just how it was. She headed into her bedroom as she want, "take a hammock, put your feet up!" She said, grinning as she flattened herself onto the lounge next to the swinging hammock. "So how are you, anyway?"​

 

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam admittedly was glad to be here, it was a nice change from everything else that was going on her life, a good break and hopefully a distraction. She hadn’t seen Aleks in what felt like forever and she just wanted to break down right then and there and fill in all that had happened recently to her friend. But she knew she couldn’t do that, it was still early, and Sam didn’t want to burden the other girl with her problems, no matter how serious it all was. She made an attempt to forget about it for now, and put a smile which felt a little forced on her face. She nodded, "Yes it really would be," she agreed, hearing how much she actually needed this in her own voice. She was kind of desperate to have someone she could rely on, but wasn’t sure if it was the right time and place to spill the beans. She didn’t know if Aleks’ family was home, or if it was just her and Sam, and it would be really awkward if they had to go to Aleks’ mother about Sam’s situation. She didn’t know the woman.​

Aleksandra told her how the house came to be and Sam felt sympathy towards her friend. "Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your mom," she said instinctively, then added, "I know what that feels like." Her own mother had died when she was eleven, and still to this day Sam missed her as if she had died a few months ago, and with what was going on in her life right now she missed her even more. "I really love it, your dad has a unique imagination," she said with a small smile. It probably never got boring here. She couldn’t help but open her mouth a little wider. "Six of you? Wow. You must never get lonely," she said with a nudge. "I have many cousins, cousins of cousins mostly, but...we don’t really see them often. I grew up with my mom’s side of the family, my cousins Amy and Dan, who already have children of their own," she told her friend. It was amazing how they’d already found their significant others, and had small families of their own at twenty-three. And Sam was about to have a child too, but at the wrong time of her life. She laughed. "Don’t mind if I do," she said, propping herself up on the hammock. "I guess I’m doing alright," she replied, and looked at Aleks as she did so. "I’ve had...a lot going on. You know how I had a boyfriend? Well, we broke up," she said. It was really sad how things had ended, and Sam’s heart ached every time she thought about it. "How are you though?" she asked, wanting to draw the attention away from herself for the time being.​

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[Aleksandra Kaster]

Aleks loved her family and she loved talking about them even more. Admittedly, she could get a little caught up in everything, but that happened a lot sometimes. She had learned to sort of just go with the flow and let whatever was going to happen, happen. She couldn't control things and it ws best that she didn't try either. She was getting comfortable as she listened to Sam speak and smiled, waving off Sam's apology with no hesitation. "Oh, no that's alright, it was a very long time ago now. I don't remember her much, I was only six at the time." They didn't talk too much about how her mum died since it was quite tragic. Dying in childbirth was something that ran in the family though and Aleks knew she herself would have to be careful one day if that was something she ever wanted. Of course she wanted kids one day though, so she was hopeful she would not suffer the same fate as her mother. And her Aunt and her Cousin. Long roads with tight corners were not the Lesley strength. Sam had said she knew what it felt like, so Aleks had to assume that her mother had died to, when she was young. "You too?" She and Sam had never really been able to just sit and chat about themselves. It had always most been current events or what was happening right then and there. Gossiping about prefects and head people and classes and professors and the like, mostly one sided from Aleks, since she was the biggest gossip out of the two. She smiled at the comment about her dad, because she definitely agreed. They had plants all over the house. They lived in a plant menagerie and Aleks loved it. She had absolutely no direction in life, but this much at least was true. "There's my older brother Ben, he's an Auror, he loves it. Still in training though. Then there was me, then Chrys, he'd a d*ck. Then there was Elsa, Flynn and little Jemima." She said, grinning. "Elsa works at the um, Menagerie place, she'll be attending Castelobruxo (she pronounced it totally wrong) this year to study with the creatures course and then Flynn is thirteen and he wants to transfer into Hogwarts. Probably should have stayed to keep an eye on him and then there's Jem, she'll be starting this year." She was so excited to know what their houses would be, though she already had her suspicions with both of her siblings. She listened as Sam talked a bit about her own family, nodding along the way. It all seemed sensible to her, but she could tell there was something off about Sam though, she just didn't know what. She frowned when her friend said she'd broken up with her boyfriend. That was the Slytherin Prefect, right? Poor thing. No wonder she was so down in the dumps, that was always hard. "Oh no, sweetie I'm so sorry!" She said, picking herself up off the small sofa and carefully easing herself into the hammock beside Sam. There was plenty of space. "Tell me everything, hun," she didn't care about herself right now, Sam was the one that mattered. Break ups were always hard. And they'd been together for ages! Like more than a year! Wow.​