A Witch Called Ellie The woman across from her was not saying anything particularly antagonistic. She had not tried to bodily remove her from the house or threatened to call the police. By the standards of the profession of Muggleborn Liaison, this was a pretty pleasant housecall. But Elaine Harding was tipped for danger. There was a look in that woman’s eyes. It was subtle, but after this many years on the job, she knew that look. Every time Elaine tried to tell her that her son was a wizard, something in her face said she just did not like hearing that.
Catherine Alperton pressed her lips together, trying to school her face into a look of pleasant neutrality. The woman in front of her kept using sentences involving the words ‘your son’ and ‘wizard.’ She had turned the coffee table into a pig and then back again to prove that no-one here was insane. And talked about a school. A new school. For her son. The wizard.
She didn’t like it. Here, here in their very own home- This Ms. Harding needed to stop saying things like that, and the sooner she did, the better they’d all be getting along. Except instead of stopping, she was now asking about bringing ‘the young man’ downstairs to be involved in ‘discussing his future.’
“I think I might be best if I explain first…” Catherine offered, and receiving a nod, headed off upstairs. She took the walk slowly, drawing deep breaths, wondering what she would say.
“Hi,” she said softly, poking her head around the door of the middle bedroom, where she found her child sat on the bed wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a wary expression - the result, she knew, of someone unknown arriving in the house, though the look still took her by surprise. It was so different to what she’d grown used to. She went in, closing the door behind her and settled on the bed, wondering how to explain. To explain but not to raise false hope… But at the same time, feeling her own tingling sense of optimism and excitement at this unexpected possibility.
“You know when you were little,” she began, “and you used to say that sometimes you thought you really might have a fairy godmother looking out for you because, just for a moment, things you wished for really did come true? Well, it seems like maybe you were your own fairy godmother all this time. There’s a lady downstairs. She says that was all you, and that it’s magic. Really real magic, and you can go away somewhere to learn more of it.
“I… I get the impression there’s limits. I don’t think it works like in stories, and it might not be able to make all your wishes come true,” she added, wanting to be clear that this was not guaranteed to change everything overnight - what was on offer here seemed to be exactly what they had been considering for a while now though, even if it was happening in a rather unexpected way, “We’d talked about a fresh start,” she added. “This could be one.”
“She kept saying I’m a wizard. And using my outside name.”
“You were listening?” she asked, more surprised than critical.
“I… I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even go out of my room, but… I was worried about who it was and what they wanted, and then… I could just hear. Like there was a speaker in here.”
“I suppose that was more magic then. And as for what she called you… Well, I didn’t like that either. We could correct her though. Do you want to change back into something a bit more you, while I go ask her how she feels instead about meeting a witch called Ellie?”