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Kathleen Harris clutched onto her mother’s hand and bid farewell to her father, as he was lowered to his final resting spot. She promised to be brave, just like those around her told her to be, but the tears escaping her eyes betrayed the promise she swore to keep.
“Kitty, my love,” Kitty being her nickname, “I want you to go inside with Mrs. Sallow, I need to talk to these gentlemen.”
With great reluctance, Kathleen let go of her mother’s hand and held onto the kind stranger’s instead. With a little squeeze for reinsurance, the pair walked back into the funeral parlor. Once inside, Mrs. Sallow swished her wand so they would become dry. The poor girl was too exhausted to realize something happened.
“Sweetie, is there something I can get for you?” Mrs. Sallow asked, very concerned about the little girl next to her. Kathleen shook her head and went to sit down, trying to make herself small as a mouse. Her heart broke for the young girl. She had two kids herself around her age and she couldn’t imagine leaving them.
With that thought in her head, she saw her son walking by. Before she could talk to him, he darted to where Kathleen was seated. Curious, Mrs. Sallow gave them some privacy.
“What are you doing sitting by yourself?” A boy, no older than her, sat next to her.
“I don’t wanna talk about it….” The boy frowned, not liking this answer but didn’t do anything to push the subject.
“My name is Sebastian, my mom is over there across the room.” He pointed at the very nervous woman across the room, hoping her son doesn’t do anything stupid, “I also have a twin named Anne but she’s with my dad somewhere. What about you?”
“My name is Kathleen… I just have a mom now….”
Even though Sebastian was only six, he understood what she meant. Both his parents sat the siblings down before they came to the funeral. He took her hand into his own and with a little swing of his fingers, a beautiful pink peony appeared out of nowhere.
“Wow… just like magic.” Kathleen gaped, as Sebastian put the flower on her ear. “I’ve only ever seen my dad do that! Are you a magician too?”
Sebastian giggled and was a little confused but before he could answer, Kathleen’s mom interrupted. “Kitty, it's time to go.” Tugging her away, they could only say their goodbyes by waving at each other.
Mrs. Sallow, after seeing the duo leave, went up next to her son. She could obviously tell he was smitten. “Come on you CasaNova, let’s go find your sister.”
10 Years Later
“Here you are, Mr. Fellner,” Kathleen offered the elderly man a scoop of beef stew like she does every weekend without fail, “be careful, it's scalding.” The aroma wafted in the air, tingling the elderly man’s nose as it taunted him. His mouth began to salivate.
“What would we do without you, Kathleen?” She chuckled, meeting his smile with hers.
“I’m always happy to be here.” There was truth in her words. She had pride in what she did, which is volunteering at her church’s soup kitchen. Once, a long time ago, her mother and herself were on the receiving end after her father died. She vowed that one day she would help those in need as they did for her. The day was long and hard, but Kathleen didn’t mind doing hard work. She hummed as she scrubbed the dishes, waiting for another patron to waltz in. It was a little past 6 o’clock when she heard the little chime jingle from the door.
An older man, she had never seen before stood before her. He was well-kempt, wearing rather unusual clothes, and somehow he felt enchanting. She knew not to judge, even the most affluent need help every now and again. Kathleen smiled warmly at the man before offering her greetings.
“Hello, my name is Kathleen Harris,” she offered her hand to the man which he graciously shook.
“Eleazar Fig, it is great to finally meet you, Ms. Harris, I’ve been waiting for this day.” Puzzled, her smile faltered, and slowly pulled her hand away from his. She chuckled a little nervously. Fig waved his hands around to help ease the tension. “I’m sorry, I should have worded that better. I knew your father, Daniel Harris.”
“You knew my father?” Her nerves calmed down a little, stroking the little heart locket on her neck tenderly. He gestured her to a table, away from prying eyes.
“Yes, he was a rather cunning child, always getting looking for trouble. Held the record of getting the most detentions.” Fig chuckled fondly.
“Sir,” she interrupted him, “could you tell me more?” She loved hearing stories about him but her mother would never go into detail. Sitting before her was a man who knew her father. Fig, his heart wept for the young girl, he took her hand into his own and held it gently.
“Kathleen, I’m about to tell you something that goes against everything you were ever taught.” She held her breath. “You’re father was a wizard.”
She pulled one of her hands away and started laughing hysterically, “Sir, you are too funny. My father, a wizard? He was a Bobbie.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. Before she could open them, they were in her shared one-bedroom apartment, where her mother sat startled with her mouth agape. She was finishing up her needlework then suddenly, with a flash her daughter and some strange man appeared. No… she knew this man. She knew that this day would come.
“How did… what is this witchcraft?” Kathleen shouted, terrified at what just happened. Wasn’t she just at the soup kitchen and suddenly, she’s back at home? She started to hyperventilate, not noticing that her mother ran to her aid and started stroking her back.
“Oh my poor Kitty, Mama is so sorry….” She whispered in Kathleen’s hair, “I should have told you sooner.”
“Mama… what is all this? Who is this man, what just happened, and what do you mean?” Kathleen, still shaking (from her world being shattered, what’s next, they tell her dragons are real?).
Her mother sighed and ushered Fig and Kathleen to sit down at the dining room table. “I believe that the Professor here would be better off telling you than I will.” She gripped her daughter’s hand, “I just want to let you know Kitty, that I love you and everything I did, was to keep you safe.”
Fig, or rather Professor Fig, cleared his throat, “Kathleen, before I continue, you need to promise to hear both your mother and me out before you say or do anything you come to regret.” She nodded, “I Professor at a school called Hogwarts, that’s where I teach and where I taught your father. This school is to teach witchcraft and wizardry starting from eleven years old till they turn eighteen. There is a special quill that writes down the name of every witch and wizard before they turn eleven, however this year something happened.”
He paused, looking at their reactions. Kathleen, was on the edge of her seat, while her mother was sweating bullets. “This year, your name was on the list. Very unusual to say the least. We all assumed you would be a squib but here you are!” He chuckled lightly, “Have you noticed anything different lately?”
“Actually, yes I have. I really thought I was going crazy!” Kathleen smiled a little, realizing, she was in fact, not going crazy. “Sometimes I swore things would float or disappear. One time I was so angry a lightning bolt appeared on a clear day and almost hit Agatha Notels! I just assumed God took my side on this whole argument we had.”
While the two were chatting, Kathleen’s mother was having flashbacks to the weeks leading up to her husband passing away.
“Irene, you have to understand! I couldn’t tell you. You would leave me and take Kathleen.” Daniel Harris, a handsome and prideful young man, was on his knees begging his wife to not leave him. “I love you more than anything.” Tears and snot ran down his face.
Her heart quivered, tears seamlessly falling down her face. She just found out, that her husband was a wizard.
“Mother.”
A heretic.
“Mother?”
It was blasphemy.
“ Mother!” Kathleen cried out, snapping her mother out of memory lane. She composed herself before carefully thinking about what to say next. She took a long and very deep sigh.
“I’m sorry for not telling you Kitty… it’s true, everything this man has said is true.” She looked into her daughter's eyes, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, “Your father was an Auror, and had some very bad people trying to kill him,” she paused, “you were there when they killed your father.”
Kathleen’s whole demeanor changed from happy to distraught all over again. “How come… I don’t remember any of this?”
Irene bit her lip, “The day of the funeral I met someone who was willing to erase your memory of that moment and all traces of magic… I even had them seal away your magical abilities.” She whispered the last part. “I still had a hard time accepting that magic was real and in my grief, I took away Daniel’s precious gift.” Irene, finally let herself shed the tears that threatened to leave her face.
She had ten years to explain to Kathleen about her father and explain that there was a whole other world she was a part of. Instead, she took away her gift with no consideration for her well-being despite being told what might happen and took away all traces of magic in her memories. All these horrible thoughts popped up in her head until she noticed a pair of arms develop around her.
“Mama,” Kathleen said softly, “while I can’t fault you for what you thought was right, you can make it up to me now.” She wiped her mother’s tears away, “‘They want me at Hogwarts as a fifth year.” She nodded her head for her approval, and finally, the weight in her heart went away.
Professor Fig twinkled at the heartwarming scene before him. While having Daniel as a student was chaotic and quite frankly migraine-inducing, he hoped that his daughter would be just like him. Before Fig left, he gave her one last gift.
“This was your father’s wand, use it wisely. I’ll be coming over later this week so we can practice proper wand work and get you up to speed with the other students.”