Open Unaccompanied

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah did not want to be spending her Saturday afternoon taking Caleb to get new robes. She'd rather be reading in her favorite chair by the window or even practicing her violin. But this errand, and like everything in her life, she did not have any say in. One of her mother's friends, who somehow wasn't too ashamed to be associated with her family, was coming into New Zealand. And as her mother put it,"We have to keep up appearances." before putting her hand on Delilah's cheek and handing her some gallons and telling her to take her little brother into town. She had frowned but was deep down was shocked that her mother would event admit that their appearances needed keeping up. Before the move her mother wouldn't have dared to admit anything was wrong.

She had been walking quickly, wanting to get this done as quickly as possible, and remembered she should probably keep track of her brother. Delilah turned around where Caleb should have been but couldn't find him anywhere. Her heart skipped a beat as she raced back down the street they had come. Thankfully she spotted him quickly in front of Honeyduke's staring at the front window at the displays of candy. "Caleb!" she nearly shouted, trying to sound more angry rather than relieved. "Come on." she insisted and grabbed his arm.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb was thrilled to be out of the house. He felt like he never got to go anywhere or do anything. Simon was off at school and Lila had tutoring. He was the only one left at home most days to be home schooled and it wasn’t like he had any friends to visit. They were all back in London and he was here. Caleb had asked several hundred times about why they had to move to New Zealand but no one’s answers ever made any sense. So he was going to enjoy his time out in Brightstone. Caleb had been walking behind Delilah when they passed Honeyduke’s and he stopped to take a look inside. Dad had taken him to get some sweets for his birthday right after they moved and he had loved it there. He looked up when he heard Lila call his name and was just about to ask if they could go in when she grabbed his arm and started to drag him along. “Ugh, Lila let go.” he whined and wiggled out of his sister’s grasp. “I was just looking.” he huffed and brushed off his sleeve where she had grabbed him.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue was eager to escape her dreary homeschooling with 'Aunt' Karen, and had jumped at the chance to go into the village with her cousin instead. She'd managed to misplace Miya somewhere between shops, but Blue was sure that her cousin was... around. Probably. Blue didn't know the way home, but she wasn't worried about getting lost. It was impossible to get lost because Blue knew where she wasn't and that was enough for her to continue exploring. New Zealand wasn't too much different from home, and Blue could almost imagine she hadn't moved halfway across the world for reasons nobody would tell her. There was supposed to be interesting wildlife, according to her books, and Blue was especially curious about the country's native butterflies. She drifted aimlessly as she wondered about where she could catch some, until she spotted a couple of other children outside Honeyduke's. Blue blinked at them curiously, but then was distracted by the window display. "Do you know where the butterflies are?" she asked, trying to turn her head towards the actual human people and not stare at the sugary sweets inside the shop.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah stood in front of the shop and crossed her arms. “Well we have things to do.” she said exasperatedly. “Things that don’t involve sweets.” she insisted and just was about to continue walking to the robe shop when a girl turned to them and asked a question. “Um, what? Butterflies?” she asked in response to the girl’s question to make sure she had heard it correctly. “What kind of butterflies?” she tried to clarify. Delilah had no idea what she was talking about but couldn’t stop her need to try and help, or at least figure out what the girl was talking about.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb didn’t want to go. He hated getting new robes. They were always uncomfortable and ugly. “Oh come on.” he whined. “I have some gallons left from my birthday.” he tried to reason with his sister. Maybe he could try again on the way back. He was about to admit defeat when a girl he hadn’t noticed until then asked a question. Caleb glanced back and forth between the shop and the girl. “Do they have candy butterflies?” he asked tentatively. He’d had plenty of chocolate frogs but he didn’t remember seeing any candy shaped like butterflies last time he was there.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

"Oh, um? Any of them but I don't think they're here," Blue blinked. Too many people around, and probably the wrong season for wild butterflies. She looked at the younger boy curiously. Candy butterflies were an interesting idea and she hoped they were a real thing. "Maybe they should be charmed to flutter around inside?" Blue gestured to her stomach. Articulating thoughts was difficult, but Blue had already resigned herself to these kids thinking she was weird. She didn't feel like explaining any further, and her mind had already jumped to another topic as she noticed the older girl was probably around her age. "Do you go to Hogwarts?" she asked. Her brother was the only student she knew, and Blue wanted to find out if the local magical children could share more information about the school she was supposed to be attending soon.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah wasn't sure how to deal with the girl in front of her. She didn't act they way she expected and it made her skin feel tight. "I don't think actual butterflies in your stomach feel very good." She began slowly and nervously chewed on her lip, knowing Caleb would be swept away by the idea of that. Quickly she realized the idea of her 'quick' afternoon errand was quickly becoming unrealistic. "No. We have a brother who goes there, and I'm going to starting there this year." Delilah explained and was surprised that she sounded proud about that. The fact she would be starting school, not her brother. She was rarely proud of her brother. "Are you a student?" she asked.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

"That would be so cool! To feel them fluttering around inside." Caleb said excitedly and quickly ignored everything else as he held his hands to his middle, trying to imagine it. "Maybe we should go ask if they can make that." he suggested, and tried to seem like he wasn't too excited as he started to angle himself towards the door of the sweet's shop. "Yeah! Simon, he's gonna be a fourth year Slytherin next year. And I'm going to be left all alone." he pouted dramatically. He didn't like when Lila talked about school. It was bad enough she was out of the house more for her tutoring but it just reminded him about how lonely he was about to be for the next two years before he would get to join them.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue had never eaten a butterfly before, so she wasn't sure how real ones would feel in her stomach. They probably wouldn't like it there, either, so it might be a bad idea to let even the candy ones inside her. "Oh! I'm new this year, too?" Blue said, excited that she'd already met someone who would be going to school with her. "My brother Teddy is in Ravenclaw! And I have two brothers and one sister in Slytherin at the other Hogwarts?" Blue wasn't sure why they all had to go to different schools. They may not have liked her much, except for Teddy, but Blue wished all her siblings could be together in one place. She looked at the younger boy in concern at his proclamation, and then at his older sister. She'd been alone even before the others went to Hogwarts and it had made her very sad, but candy was a good distraction from thinking about it.