The New Arrival

[Samson Kolpeck]

Samson arrived home from St. Mungo's earlier than usual. He had received a letter the week before informing him about his deceased wifes niece. She was now an orphan and as she was yet not of age, needed a guardian. The family solicitor had looked far and wide for someone but there had been no takers at all when her mothers sister had been mentioned. Samson had only met this girl once before and was not sure what to expect now but he was not about to leave any one out in the cold. She was another part of his wife in a round about way, the same blood pumped through this girls veins. So to him she was family. There had been no hesitation just a simple 'yes we'll take her' in his curt reply.

The knock at the door was clear and loud and rang throughout the house. He stood up from his chair, knowing the house keeper would answer it. She guided the girl into the sitting room to where he stood waiting.

"Hello there, you must be Morrigan?" he extended his hand to her with a brief but awkward smile.

 

[Moko Craven]

The journey was exhausting, not being allowed to side along apparate with anyone was just an utter pain in the biscuit. She stayed over night in a crummy tavern where she met the solicitor the following morning with the address of her new guardian. There wasn't once in all of this that she had been given a chance to think about her parents loss or wanted to for that matter. They had been utterly stupid to allow themselves to be caught up in a muggle incident, a car crash of all things. The humiliation of that alone was enough to send her hiding for ever more.

When others in her year had spoken of a dead relative they at least had the pride of saying a potions accident or bitten by a dragon or something but a car crash! Moko was extremely annoyed with them and now because of them she was spending her vacation in the extremely hot climate of New Zealand, having been hoisted off to a new guardian. Her immediate family had been small. Her father had no siblings and her mother had only one and she been dead some time now.

Standing outside the house she was impressed by that much at least. She had been reassured by the family solicitor that this man, her 'uncle' was a 'good' man was Durmstrang educated at least. She was left in and from there shown to a room where a tall slightly old man stood up waiting for her. Extending his hand to her he introduced himself.

Not wanting to appear rude she shook it.
"Yes Morrigan Craven but everyone calls me Moko and you must be Uncle Samson?" her voice held a slight edge to it, she would have to test her limitations here all over again as if she were breaking in fresh parental units. What a pain that was going to be!

 

[Samson Kolpeck]

Samson Kolpeck nearly spluttered indignantly at being called 'uncle Samson' but decided to let it slide, what else could she call him? Guardian seemed a bit extreme. At least she had the decency to shake his hand which was a start. He indicated a chair near the fireplace as he sat into the one opposite.

"Would you prefer to freshen up first? I can have the house keeper prepare some food for you as well?" he didn't know what her travelling arrangements to get here from Norway had been. It had been there she had been staying with a friend from school until the solicitor could cross the T's and dot his I's.

 

[Moko Craven]

At first she was tempted to sit down but the offer of changing her clothes, freshening up at all and actually eating a decent home cooked meal sounded much too tempting by far. So she stayed standing and gave Samson Kolpeck a genuine smile.
"I would like that very much actually" she told him once again realizing how tired she was, "would you mind terribly if I actually rested for a while first. I tend to get awfully crabby otherwise".

Well it was best to warn the man about her mood swings, there were quite a few of them to watch out for.

 

[Samson Kolpeck]

Samson smiled at the girl and calling out to their housekeeper who arrived promptly asked her to show Moko to her room. His smile never wavered, he was well aware how troublesome teens could be, how unoriginal in their moodiness they were. All thinking that they were the first to go through something, when it had invariably been done a hundred times before.

“My daughter Corinne might actually be here when you wake. Don’t fret too much about how long to sleep until, if you need the rest then you need the rest” he told her staying standing a moment longer, “I hope you like your room”.

 

[Moko Craven]

Moko turned as the woman who had opened the door for her came as soon as she was called. Hoping they didn’t expect her to be that punctual she frowned slightly but it did not last long as the woman smiled at her. Samson Kolpeck spoke again, this time about his daughter. Moko knew from the solicitor that she was much older, in her late 20’s or something and another professor of healing like Mr. Kolpeck was just not as high up the ladder. She smiled politely when he said she could sleep for as long as she liked. This was a relief because she was quite exhausted and could feel it about to take her completely.
“I’m sure I will like it just fine” she told him walking to the door as she followed the housekeeper, just before she walked out she turned back, “thank you Mr. Kolpeck.”
And with that she went to see her room.

It was a sedate affair, spacious and comfortable. A large soft looking four poster bed took center stage, while a dresser, writing bureau, wardrobe, chaise lounge and blanket box took up other spaces in the room. The two windows were not very wide but were extremely long and both had window seats. The cushions all seemed to match the drapes around the bed and on the windows, as she looked around she saw various oil lamps about as well and felt glad that they didn’t go in for the muggle use of electricity. Anything muggle she abhorred, simply could not stand at all. She thanked the housekeeper who promptly left then kicking off her shoes went to the bed and pulling back the blankets climbed in. It wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep.

 

[Samson Kolpeck]

Samson sat at the table finishing his dinner, he had waited as long as he possibly could for both his daughters return and for Morrigan to awake. Neither of which had ventured to show up. It had finally been just after 9pm that he decided to put the housekeeper out of her misery and have the meal she had prepared earlier, almost three hours earlier. He sat back in the chair and dabbing his mouth with his napkin reflected on the new comer to their house. She would settle in fine enough he hoped. The fact that she was another Durmstrang student and a prefect stood her in good stead. She had another year before graduating, so he would talk with her at some point about her options for her future career prospects.

 

[Moko Craven]

The sun streamed in her window and she groaned loudly pulling the bed clothes over her head. After a few moments as a few pigeons insisted on sitting on her window ledge cooing noisely she flung them back.
"People are trying to sleep here" she glowered swinging her legs over the side of the bed and stomping to the window. She flung it open without bothering with opening the curtains, frightening the birds away instantly. Moko couldn't wait until she had the opportunity to use magic outside of school, she'd have quite happily blasted the pigeons simply for peace and quiet.

She pulled the window closed again and looked about her. The room was strange to her and it took her a few minutes to remember just where she was. With an exasperated sigh she ran a hand through her hair. Exhaustion had obviously wrapped itself about her and taken her completely in its folds. She had never made it down to dinner and actually felt bad. Moko had always prided herself on her discipline, this was not a good start here in her new home. Not a good start at all.

Getting dressed into a pair of navy linen shorts and a light wrap beige top, she slipped on her navy pumps and headed down stairs. She would have a bath or shower after breakfast, right now she was famished and had some apologizing to do.
Opening the door to the room she had been in the night before she discovered it was empty but pictures and certificates on the walls caught her eye.

Walking over to them she saw just how many achievements both Samson Kolpeck and his daughter had between them. They were highly acclaimed it would seem in the 'healing' world. A photograph caught her eye and when she went to look at it realized it was a wedding photograph of Mr. Kolpeck and her aunt Agatha but in the picture looking very young was her mother. Moko hurriedly looked away just as the door opened.