The Heiress of Slytherin

There's No Place Like Home

Kyria, Ivy and Theo spent the rest of the day walking around Diagon Alley. Ivy dragged them into the broom store to drool over the Nimbus 2001 that had just been released. She tried suggesting that she should get it so she could teach her mother how to fly, but this idea was met with Kyria laughing so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes.

Once she had regained her breath she patted her scowling daughter on the head. "Nice try sweetheart, I'll give you that, but the day that I willingly get on a broom will be the same day you check me into St. Mungo's permanent care ward." Theo burst out laughing at this and Ivy begrudgingly smiled. In the end she contented herself with getting a Hollyhead Harpies poster and broom care kit for the Nimbus 2000 she already had, and she obsessed over every detail of it till Theo shoved a napkin in her mouth to make her stop. 

He had a whole pocket of these napkins, which he'd wisely gathered after watching Ivy and Kyria make an absolute mess of themselves for the second time at the ice cream shop. They somehow kept ending up at that shop, and Theo caught on pretty quickly that both mother and daughter had a borderline-unhealthy obsession with the cold treat, information which he pocketed for later.

They visited Gringotts as their last stop of the day, pulling more money from their vaults. To Ivys surprise, her mother stopped with one of the bank tellers to exchange some of it for muggle money. When she asked why, Kyria just shrugged slightly. "Your father and I were worried that you and Theo might be bored at the castle, so we agreed that it would be nice for you to be able to visit the muggle town nearby when you wanted." She winked down at her daughter. "I also may or may not have found out they have more ice cream there." They shared a chuckle as Theo rejoined them. He'd gone to take some of him and his mother's belongings out of his fathers vault, as he was worried it would be the last time he'd be granted access.

Noticing the sadness in his eyes, Kyria took his hand gently and talked with him as they left the bank and made their way to the flu network that she and Ivy had come in through at the beginning of the year. Ivy trailed slightly behind them for two reasons; firstly, she wanted them to get to know each other a little better, and she knew the more they talked the better Theo would feel. The second reason was that her mind was turning over something her mother had said: "Your father and I..."

It hadn't escaped Ivy's notice that that phrase had gone from being nonexistent in her life, to slightly prevelant at the beggining of the year, to now being a regular occurrence in letters and conversation. She had noticed an undeniable shift in her fathers behavior when he'd sent her off to school, and now that she thought about it, that must have been a permanent change. After all, Kyria had often mentioned reading Ivy's letters to him, and he had taken initiative and personally welcomed Theo to stay when she asked.

She was slightly amazed. She knew it wouldn't seem like an awful big change if she said it out loud, but this shift to him taking a slight noticeable interest in her life felt a bit like an earthquake. A good earthquake, but disoreantating nonetheless. For the first time, she felt a touch nervous about seeing her father. His newfound attention had ignited a tiny spark in her that she'd never felt before, and all of the sudden she found that she wanted to look forward to seeing him.

She wanted to hug him again and not have him pause. She wanted to write him letters, not just attach notes to the end of her ones to her mother. As they reached the floo network building and stepped inside, Ivy shook the thoughts out of her mind. She'd process them later, but for now she had to be there for Theo, who was clearly nervous himself. She paused for a moment in the room, frowning. "Hold on, where's Theo's stuff? Didn't we leave it in the car?" 

Kyria laughed at her daughters confused face. "Oh ye of little faith. The car was borrowed from a friend of your fathers. They've already sent his things home." Relief washed over Ivy and Theo, the latter of whom hadn't remembered that he had luggage until then.