The Lost Child Returns

The gates of St Luke's stood tall and foreboding. A yellow Toyota rumbled through them. Two people stood out of the car and looked up at the grim face of the orphanage. They shared an excited look and began to make their way up the stairs to the hulking oak doors, which groaned open when they got to the top.

"You must be the Williams, welcome, come on in". Mrs Baxter greeted the young couple and ushered them inside. The old woman shuffled along leading the Williams down a long corridor lined with the faces of stern men and women, looking down disapprovingly. Eventually they reached another solid oak door, that when pushed open revealed a simple office overtaken by paperwork.

"If you are certain that you wish to proceed with the adoption, I just need a couple additional signatures then I can bring the child in", the Williams exchanged a nervous but excited look, "We are most definitely still planning to adopt little Ellen, however...". Mrs Williams looks at her husband, who grabs her hand supportively, "We also want to adopt her older brother Darren". At these words Mrs Baxter’s benevolent smile turned sour. "I can’t recommend that, Darren is an incredibly... disruptive boy". The couple shared a nervous look at that. Mrs. Williams added, "We want to make sure that Ellen grows with some connection back to her birth family. We don't want her to regret a lack of connection with her brother when she grows up." Mrs Baxter smiled sickeningly, "an admirable endeavour, however, Ellen is four years old, having Darren in her new life with you could only prove more destructive than helpful. He represents a very painful loss in her young life. And Darren is a very disturbed child, his presence could hinder Ellen's development."
The man and woman looked at each other uncertainty, Mr Williams spoke now, "but we don’t want to separate them, when they’re so young and have lost so much."
Mrs Baxter leant forward in her chair making direct eye contact with the couple, "Darren requires the kind of strict guidance that only we can provide in order to move on from his past traumas, separating him from his sister could even help in this healing process." The young couple seemed to consider this, "well if you’re certain. We would still like to bring Ellen to visit often." Mrs Baxter smiled her saccharine smile again, "Of course, but be sure to give a lengthy adjustment period so that Ellen can grow accustomed to her new home". With that the young couple stood, joyful smiles on their face as they signed the final paperwork to adopt Ellen.
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"Darren, Darren, were being adopted". Ellen hurtled through the halls shouting for her big brother. Darren was only 3 years older than her, but he was the closest to a parental figure she had in the whole world. Darren looked up from where he was sitting beneath the tree in the courtyard. The book he was reading fell to the grass as his sister jumped into his arms rambling excitedly. "Mrs Baxter says that the Williams are here to adopt us, they’re going to bring us to their house today!" Darren swung his sister around, grinning. "That's brilliant Ell, you can finally have your own room." The little girl grinned back, "yeah and I can have new toys and a puppy!" Ellen had had her heart set on having a puppy since they had all watched lady and tramp in the common room on one of the brief occasions when Mrs. Baxter decided to be kind. "We might not get the puppy right away though." Darren commented, Ellen pouted for a second then went back to grinning, clearly too excited to be sad for long.
At that moment Mrs. Baxter came out looking for Ellen. "There you are girl, hurry up, don’t leave the Williams waiting." The old woman scowled before handing Ellen a beat-up suitcase with her belongings in it. "Yes Mrs. Baxter, Darren just needs to pack his suitcase." The girl grinned over at her brother. At that Mrs. Baxter’s face contorted into a cruel smile, "Oh I am so sorry dear, but the Williams are only interested in adopting you, not your brother." Darren felt his blood run cold, "what do you mean only Ellen, we have to stay together, we’ve always stayed together." Baxter’s head snapped to look at Darren, "Are you really so selfish as to deprive your sister of a loving home just because the Williams have no interest in bringing a disobedient delinquent into their home." Darren opened his mouth to argue back but caught a look at his sister’s face. She was on the brink of tears, he couldn't take her chance of a family away from her, he couldn't keep her in this awful place her whole childhood. Pushing his pain away, Darren knelt in front of his sister, "you need to go with the Williams Ell, they're good people and they will give you a happy life. I’ll come visit don’t worry, you’ll be okay." Ellen started properly crying now. "But I need you to come too, I don’t want to go without you" the little girl flung her arms around her brother’s neck latching on like a barnacle. Darren rubbed comforting circles on her back, his own eyes starting to well up with tears, "It’ll be hard at first but you’re brave and I know you can do it, okay, promise you’ll give the Williams a chance." Darren pulled back looking his sister in the eye. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, "I promise, I’ll make sure they let me visit though." The little girl had a determined gleam in her eye. "Good", Darren smiled at her shakily, as he got to his feet. Mrs. Baxter grabbed Ellen's arm rolling her eyes, "No need for all the dramatics". She then dragged Ellen inside to meet her new parents. Darren rushed upstairs to watch the yellow Toyota drive away from the orphanage, his only family going with it.
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The next few weeks were Darren's own personal hell, Mrs. Baxter had always disliked him but lately that dislike had turned to outright hatred. Maybe her hatred from his stemmed from the fact that Darren was odd. Even he could admit it. He could do things that other people couldn't, things he couldn't even explain. Once when Mrs. Baxter had been yelling at Darren when he was very young, he had made her hair disappear. He had no idea how, but things like that always happened to him for as long as he could remember. After Ellen left Mrs. Baxter clearly decided it was time for revenge, without Darren even doing anything he would be sent to bed without dinner, made to sleep in the cellar and hit with the metal ruler that Mrs. Baxter kept under her desk. When any of the other kids tried to intervene, they would just get punished alongside him.
So eventually they simply sent him apologetic looks when Mrs. Baxter started her tirade again. Some of them attempting to smuggle him food, but most of them simply ignoring him. Darren endured this though, because he knew that his sister would be coming to visit him someday soon. The days turned to weeks and then it had been 2 months since Ellen had left and Darren had heard nothing.
Mrs. Baxter opened the door to the cellar, letting him up the stairs to have breakfast for the first time in 2 days, surprisingly benevolent of her. Darren was so focused on his hunger pangs to notice Mrs. Baxter’s good mood. "I received a letter from the Williams this morning." Mrs Baxter waved an opened letter in his face, Darren could recognise Ellens untidy handwriting scrawled across the page. "They’re moving to England, taking Ellen with them obviously." Darren felt his stomach drop, "What?", his voice felt small as he took the letter from Mrs. Baxter’s hands, it was true, Ellen talked about how Mr. Williams had gotten a promotion that meant they would be moving from Kilkenny to somewhere in London. She wouldn't be able to come visit until next summer because she would be enrolled in a new school in London. She sounded very unhappy about this fact in the letter, but the Williams have also promised her a puppy when they get settled in their new house. Baxter grabbed the letter off Darren chastising him for grabbing. He wasn't paying any attention to her as he felt his world crumbling. When the usual Porridge was ladled into his bowl, his stomach suddenly seemed to forget it's previous hunger. Darren forced the food down regardless, his mind painfully quiet. The day passed in a blur of numbed pain, Darren's heart hurt like a physical pain, like a piece of him had been ruthlessly taken away. Even when Ellen was taken at first, he held onto the naiive belief that one day the Williams would come back and declare that they wanted him too and him and his sister would leave this place behind them forever. But now Ellen was going to England, so incredibly far away from him, she would go to a new school, make new friends and forget all about him as he spent the next 11 years stuck here, with Mrs. Baxter.
By the time Mrs. Baxter did her usual screaming at him for existing and then throwing him in the cellar, Darren had already decided what he was going to do. He was going to run away. He would go to England and find his sister. As soon as the orphanage became quiet, everyone settling down to sleep, he climbed up the cellar stairs and hunched in front of the lock.
He knew that he was able to do some unexplainable things so why couldn’t that include unlocking a door? Darren had once read in a book how locks worked. They were made of pins and a cylinder which would turn if the pins were lifted in the exact right way. Normally people would do this using lock picking tools, he didn't have any of those though so instead he began to picture the image of a lock as he remembered it from the book he had read. He focused on imagining that the pins were lifting, and the cylinder was turning. Darren didn't know how long he sat there like that, trying to picture the lock turning. He was about to give up, thinking he was stupid for having ever thought this would work when he heard a quiet but distinct click. His hand went to the door handle and twisted. The door swung open when he let go. The black-haired boy sat there for a minute not quiet believing his eyes. Suddenly he snapped back to life, he had to get up to his dorm quietly and grab some of his clothes before he could leave. The stairs were mercifully free of creaks and as Darren rounded the corner to the dorms breathing a sigh of relief at having gotten so far, only to see Mrs. Baxter directly in front of him. His heart skipped several beats before he realised, she didn't seem to be getting angry. In fact, it didn't seem as if she had seen him at all. He looked down at himself and then back up at her where she was now walking down the corridor. He chanced waving a hand in front of her face. She didn't react. She definitely wasn't sleepwalking so clearly his powers seemed to have made if so that she couldn't see him. Amazing, what else could he do? He decided to shelf that question as he continued down the corridor, waiting until Mrs. Baxter had stepped into her office before opening the door to the dorm, not wanting to test the limits of his apparent invisibility quiet so soon. Tiptoeing down the dorm room, he kept an eye on the other kids, trying to make sure they were still asleep. When he got to his bed, he grabbed the back pack from underneath and grabbed the few shirts and pants he owned from the locker by his bed, throwing the couple of books he'd been reading in as well. He didn't own a lot so packing wasn't difficult. Finally, he grabbed the little memory box at the very bottom of his cubby, inside was the only picture of his parents that he had. It was him and a baby Ellen smiling in the arms of a man and woman. Darren didn't remember them, not really but he felt it was important to try to remember them. There were also a couple of Ellen's drawings among other sentimental objects. He carefully packed the box and put his bag in his back, grabbing his coat as he left. With one last look back at the dorm room he had slept in since he was 4 Darren turned away finding an open window on the ground floor to clamber out of. When outside he climbed a tree that reached over the walls and dropped down from the branches to the far side of the orphanages imposing stone grey walls. At this point a feeling of smallness overcame Darren. He was all alone, no money, no food, in the middle of nowhere in Dublin. How was he supposed to get to England from here? Instead of panicking he took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts away, all he need to do was get to where the ferry took off.
The next few hours had Darren sneak his way onto a bus to the docks using his ability to go unnoticed, hiding in the back of the bus, watching as the fields turned to houses, then apartments. Soon Darren could see the ocean, the first hints of the sun rising from the horizon. Darren snuck off the bus in much the same way as he snuck on, the bus drivers eyes not even registering him. He approached the boarding ramp for the ferry, trying to hold the feeling of invisibility, biding the ticket clerk to simply not even notice him. It worked again. Neither the other passengers nor the ticket clerk said a word as a child boarded the ferry alone. Making his way to sit on a bench that would offer him a view of Ireland as they sailed away from it. He had never thought that he would leave Ireland, definitely not in this context anyway. Maybe one day when he had been older, he thought he might have had his own money to go on a holiday. He was going to miss it, Ireland would always be his real home. But now he had to find his sister, somehow.
~~~~~~
The years passed slowly; Darren spent all that time trying to find his sister. He had nowhere to go so he would find abandoned buildings and hide out there. He got better at using his powers, he could make himself basically invisible to anyone if he needed to, he had also learnt how to create a fuel less fire and clean water. Spells that had come in very handy over the months spent in abandoned houses with no heating or running water. He had also learnt how to turn leaves into money, the spell didn't last long, they would always turn back to leaves in an hour, but it would last long enough for Darren to get food. He didn't like having to steal and trick people, but he needed food, and he only ever stole from big shops like Tesco’s.
He spent his days in the library, disguised as an adult. A trick that he learnt when too many adults became suspicious that a ten-year-old was unaccompanied in central London. He would use one of the computers to try find which school his sister went to or what company Mr. Williams worked for. He also tried to keep reading and learning, he was acutely aware that he hadn't been to school since he was 8 and he was probably leagues behind everyone else his age. When he eventually went back to school, because either the Williams adopted him or because he was sent back into the system when he turned up on their doorstep.
His eleventh birthday was coming up soon, it felt weird to celebrate a birthday without Ellen, usually she was the only person who got excited about his birthday. Not for the first time Darren wondered if it was even a good idea to try to find her. She would be eight now. There was a strong chance she didn't even really remember him. He had to at least try to find her, at the very least so he could see if she was okay and happy. At that moment he was scrolling through the website for some random school in London when he saw a face he recognised. It was a post congratulating one of the students for winning an intercity spelling bee. Ellen Williams. There she was. Grinning out of the screen, holding up a little gold trophy. He had found her! St John's primary school, Mayfair. He didn't know how he was going to meet her, but he felt the first step was making sure that was definitely her. He quickly scrawled the schools name down on a piece of paper and raced to get the next bus that would take him to Mayfair.

As the school bell rang, a throng of children raced from the building. Darren had gone back to looking like himself, he didn't know if Ell would recognise him at this point, she had grown a lot. Then he saw her rushing out to run up to two people in the school yard, Mr and Mrs Williams. She looked so happy as she excitedly talked to them about her day. Suddenly their eyes met, and he saw her frown, her eyes registering with half recognition, as if she could recognise him but couldn't figure out from where. She gave a look to her parents who looked over to me they didn't seem to recognise me instead they pulled on her hand leading her back to the car. She gave me a confused wave as they left. "She doesn't remember me", he muttered. His world felt like it was collapsing all over again. It was everything he had feared. She only seemed to be able to vaguely recognise him but couldn't to remember why. What was he supposed to do now. He supposed he would still go and tell the Williams who he was, ask if they would take him in if not, he supposed he would have to go back into the system. That feeling of numbness from years ago was back, as he made his way blindly along the streets of Mayfair not really knowing where he was going. He would have to go back to the abandoned house he had been living in recently and come back here on Monday to tell the Williams everything. His birthday was Sunday he had hoped that finding Ellen in that post had been some sort of cosmic birthday gift but clearly not. Darren crashed down onto the mattress in the abandoned home he was holed up in right now. He pulled the blanket over himself and tried to block out the memory of Ellen's face not quite recognising him. Eventually he drifted into a fitful sleep.

Darren woke to a knocking at his door. Not good, normally if someone if knocking on his door, they’re either a police officer or another homeless person, neither of which Darren felt like confronting right now. As quickly and quietly as possible Darren grabbed his stuff and shoved it into his backpack before climbing out the window and up onto the roof. Just as he got to the roof, he could hear someone had entered the room below him. He guessed this house was burned as a potential place to crash. Darren started to pick his way across the roof.
"Hello Darren, I was hoping i might be able to talk to you." The boy whipped around to see a sliver bearded man standing behind him on the roof. "Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name." The old man had a strange twinkle in his eye that Darren didn't trust for a second.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I run a school for witchcraft and wizardry." Darren didn't speak for a moment just stared at the old man like he was mad. "You what?" Dumbledore seemed amused by his response and chuckled before continuing. "You’re not the only one who can use magic, in Hogwarts hundreds of witches and wizards train their powers every year. I am here in fact to deliver your letter of acceptance into our school and to speak to you about attending."

A school for magic? That really existed? Darren hadn't given much thought over whether other people like him existed, hadn't really thought too hard at all about why he could do what he could. But now he could go to school for magic, what about Ellen, would he even get to meet her now, to ask the Williams to take him in. Also, what about money, magic school had to be expensive, he didn't think banks gave loans for magical educations. "I don’t have any money", he told the silver haired man. "Not to worry dear boy, Hogwarts has a fund specifically for students such as yourself, to allow them to buy books and uniforms and such." This all seemed far too good to be true. "Why would I even want to go to magic school, I can already use my powers just fine for what I need." At this the old man stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Its true you have a remarkable control over your magic for one so young, and without a wand and everything. Hogwarts will allow you to learn more complicated spells, such as how to transform any object into another, how to create potions that can do any number of things and even how to grow a range of magical plants."

It honestly sounded tempting, Darren had been worried about not being in school and now suddenly here came a strange man who was offering to send him to magic school for free. "How do I know you’re actually magic and not some weirdly dressed nutcase." Darren waved his hand to Dumbledores bright red and silver robes. The man chuckled again, "aside from the fact that I am up here on this roof I can also do this..." with that the man pulled out a stick and waved it in front of himself. Suddenly a brilliant ball of light appeared at the end of the stick and began to float between the two of them. "Okay... so you’re magic. How can I be sure you’re not still going to try to kill me." Darren levelled a questioning look at the man who seemed to only be amused by his line of questioning. "I can assure you Darren that if hurting you had been in my plans I would not have stood here talking on this roof all this time." Darren still didn’t properly trust him and the offer sounded too good to be true but if there was even a chance that it was true he couldn’t risk passing it up. Dumbledore seemed to sense that Darren had come to a decision, “Now, if you will allow me to, I can show you further proof of our world, but first we need to get off this roof.” Dumbledore held out his hand to Darren, who hesitantly took it. Suddenly he could feel his stomach being jerked forward and the world squeezing in around him. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer in the street but instead they were now in the street beside the building. Darren immediately let go of the old man’s hand and tried to steady himself against the side of the building. “Apologies, side along apparition can be a bit jarring the first time.” Darren looked back up at him, “Did we just teleport?!”, Dumbledore tilted his head to the side thinking for a moment, “Yes I suppose you could say we did, though I’ve never heard it referred to as such”. Darrens mind was racing, was there any limit to what magic could do?! Was it like having every superpower simultaneously? “Now, lets go…” the old man turned walking down the street expecting Darren to follow.
What followed was the strangest bus ride of Darrens life as he sat beside Albus Dumbledore in his bright red and silver robes reading a copy of HELLO! When they eventually arrived, they were standing in front of a dingy looking bar, the smell of beer rolling off the place in waves. “I hope you know that this place isn’t doing much to dispel my belief that you’re secretly planning to kill me.” Darren said nonchalantly as they passed through, Dumbledore waving hello to several of the other people in the bar as they passed. When they had gotten through the bar, they came out into a back alley with a red brick wall and a couple of empty crates. The robed man went up to the wall and began to tap out a pattern on the bricks, Darren was pretty sure he had actually lost his mind and was slowly backing back into the pub to run away, when the wall melted away revealing a bustling shop street.
“Welcome to Diagon Alley Darren”
They both stepped through into the busy shop street, people running every which way, ducking in and out of shops. The shops themselves were no less amazing, they seemed to sell everything from magical creatures to cauldrons and potion ingredients.
“First up we need to withdraw some money from Gringotts and get you a line test done.” The old man was marching determinately down the street, once again expecting Darren to keep up. “What’s a line test?” Darren tried to ask as he speed up to keep pace with the surprisingly speedy old man. “To find out if you have any family remaining in the wizarding world.” Oh, he hadn’t realised he could have magical family members, his case worker had told him that his parents hadn’t any living family left when they died so no one else could have taken them in. Could he really have other family in the wizarding world.
They entered into the tall imposing foyer of the wizarding bank, dozens of creatures lined the sides, busy weighing jewels and writing notes into massive ledgers. Goblins is what Dumbledore had told Darren moments before they entered. The silver haired man walked up to one of the goblins at the end of the hall, “Hello Griphook, I would like to withdraw 50 galleons from the Hogwarts reserve account as well as get young Mr. Blackwood a line test.” The goblin looked up from his ledger to the headmaster and then down at Darren, he gave a small wave, not really sure what else to do.
“Very well follow me.” The goblin climbed down from his desk and began to lead them to another door that took them away from the main hall. After a few minutes of walking, they reached an office and all three of them filed in and sat down. Griphook took a contraption out of one of the drawers of his desk. It was a massive copper ball, roughly the size of Darrens head, with strange symbols carved into it. “Do you consent to give a copy of your magical signature?” the goblin asked. “Do I what? What even is that thing.” Darren was getting nervous again, maybe he should have taken the chance to disappear into the crowd back in Diagon. “It’s a device that will take a copy of your specific magical signature, in order to test if it matches any others in the wizarding world. Think of it like a fingerprint scanner.” Dumbledore explained calmly. “Will it keep a copy of my magical signature?” Darren asked suspiciously, “Not unless you want them to”, Dumbledore continued, giving Darren a reassuring look. Darren didn’t feel reassured but there probably wasn’t any other way to find out if he had magical family. He placed his hand on the copper ball, and it began to glow, the symbols floating around his hand. When it eventually stopped it spat out a scroll, Griphook took the scroll and read its contents, nodding at whatever they said. “Good news Mr. Blackwood you seem to be of the Longbottom line”, Dumbledore seemed to be genuinely surprised by this. Who were the Longbottom’s, were they bad people, would Darren have to go live with them even if they were? “That’s wonderful news I will let Augusta know, I’m sure she’ll be delighted.” With that the headmaster turned to Darren, “The youngest Longbottom, Neville, is also starting Hogwarts this year.” That could be nice, depending on if this Neville was actually an okay person. “What about my sister, does that mean she’s a Longbottom as well?” Dumbledore nodded, “Yes she is however, Ellen is living with the Williams correct? You are the one who needs a magically accepting home. The Longbottom’s can provide that.” That stung a little, the realisation that the Williams might never have wanted him because of his magic. At that moment another goblin entered the office carrying a drawstring purse on a silver tray. Dumbledore plucked the purse up and thanked Griphook before making towards the door. “Thanks Mr. Griphook” Darren nodded towards the goblin before leaving, he got a toothy smile in return, “Of course Mr. Longbottom.” Oh no, he did not want to change his surname already, he liked his surname, it was one of the only things he knew about his parents. Darren nodded again and then raced after Dumbledore. “I don’t have to change my surname do I”, he blurted out as soon as he caught up with the man. “Not if you don’t want to, no”, the old man assured him, Darren breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Their next stop was an owlery so Dumbledore could send a letter to Walburga about him, apparently wizards communicate through owls delivering letters. It baffled Darren why they couldn’t just use phones, when he ask though Dumbledore explained that magic tended to react badly with technology. First they bought Darren his potions things and his books. Dumbledore had had to drag Darren from the book shop, insisting they didn’t have the time and he could go back another day. Next was the school uniform, which for some reason had to be tailor made, Darren had been amazed by the floating tape measurer which zipped around taking his measurements. With almost everything on the list that Dumbledore had given him in his letter bought there was only one more thing they needed.
“Do I really need a wand?” Darren asked the old man as they plodded towards Olivanders, apparently the only place that sold good wands. “I’ve been doing magic just fine for years without it” Dumbledore threw an unreadable look at Darren after he said that, scanning him before simply turning at keeping walking, “You will require a much greater deal of control for the coursework in Hogwarts, a wand will help you with that control.” It still sounded like a scam to Darren but what did it matter, he could always just never use his wand.
The bell chimed above them as they entered the dusty wand shop, boxes of what Darren can only assume we’re wands were stacked up to the ceiling. A man suddenly appeared behind the counter, blinking out from behind circular glasses, silver hair madly exploding from his head. “Hello Albus, how are you today” the old man’s voice held and errie quality to it that set Darren’s nerves on edge. “Another Longbottom, how unusual.” The old man stared at Darren curiously. How did he know who he was, he hadn’t even known who he was until a few hours ago. Dumbledore didn’t seem surprised that the other man knew who Darren was. “Id recognise that magic anywhere, now lets try you with a wand.” Suddenly the far away demeanour vanished to be replaced by a determined gleam in his eye.
It was not a simple process though, Darren had easily tried almost 50 wands by now, all of them causing explosions of various kinds when he tried to use them. He honestly though Dumbledore would have just thrown in the towel by this point and decided he was right and he didn’t need a wand but the old man seemed entirely unconcerned that Darren seemed incapable of cause nothing but explosions when he held a wand. Just as yet another wand caused a bang to go off so loudly that it rattled the shelves and left Darren’s ears ringing, Olivanders eyes lit up with an idea and he raced to the back of the shop. When he emerged he was carrying a single dusty box, he removed it from the box without a word and handed it to Darren. The wand was undeniably beautiful, a cherry red with a handle carved into it. Darren took a deep breath and waved the wand. This time felt different, like the wand had clicked with the part of himself that his magic came from. Sparks of gold exploded around him and the space around him glowed with a golden light. “That’s the one” Mr Olivander was smiling, “Cherry wood and dragon heartstring, two determined combinations, ideal for those who are strong willed and independent.” Darren just wordlessly nodded as he handed the wand to Olivander to put back in the box. His magic was buzzing after using the wand as if a new level of power had been unlocked for him. Dumbledore paid for the wand and they made their way out of the shop and back onto the street.
Just then a letter appeared in front of Dumbledore, floating in midair. He opened the letter and turned to Darren, his eyes twinkling again. “Augusta has agreed to meet you and potentially take you in, she wishes to meet at Fortescue’s and she’s bringing Neville.” Already?! He wasn’t ready to meet his newly discovered family yet, what if they didn’t like him, what if he didn’t like them, what was he going to do? Dumbledore, as if sensing Darren’s internal panic, placed a comforting hand on the boys shoulder. “Augusta is a fair woman, she will not judge you unfairly, I don’t believe you have anything to worry about.” Darren only felt minority comforted as he followed Dumbledore to Fortescue’s to meet his relatives.
Fortescue’s seemed to be an ice cream shop. When the headmaster and Darren walked in a foreboding old woman was already seated inside. She wore a stuffed vulture on her hat and a stern expression on her face. Opposite her was seated a round faced boy around the same age as Darren, he was currently eating a chocolate ice cream. Dumbledore and Darren sat down at the table with them and nobody said anything for the next few minutes. Mrs. Longbottom was looking Darren up and down, clearly assessing him. “You must be Ophelia’s child.” , the woman announced. Darren looked at her confused, “who’s Ophelia”. He had been pretty sure his mums name was Susan. “She was your mother, and my daughter.” Oh, why was her name different though. “She was born a squib”, with that the round-faced boy opposite Darren looked up from his ice cream with a gasp. They made eye contact, this was his cousin, his family. “I have no idea what that means but I’m assuming its bad based on the reaction.” Augusta nodded seriously. At that moment an ice cream was floated in front of Darren. He looked over to the counter to see the man who owned the shop give him a kind smile. Darren smiled back, slightly confused but took the ice cream. “A squib is a person from a wizarding family who is born without powers.” Oh, that sounded isolating, “Your mother Ophelia was born at a time when being a squib was very dangerous and could likely get you killed. Because of this when we realised she would never use magic we made an incredibly difficult decision to send her away. We wiped her memories of magic, replacing them with ones of a muggle childhood and sent her to live with muggle adoptive parents in Ireland.”, Darren waved his hands in front of him, “Wait a minute, what’s a muggle?”, August seemed genuinely surprised by the question but continued on patiently, “A muggle is what wizards call non magical people. As I was saying… Those muggles raised her and she lived a perfectly happy life entirely oblivious to the truth of her family. A reality that ensured her safety. However one day after you and your sister had been born, she and her husband were targeted in an attack. We still don’t know if those who attacked her knew her real identity, or simply attacked her because she was apparently a muggle, but regardless they did. The attack resulted in the death of both of your parents, the only reason you and your sister survived was because the order of the phoenix arrived in time to stop the death eaters. When they found you two they brought you to a muggle orphanage, when I found out I thought it was for the best. As far as I was aware you were non magical children and there would be no point in bringing you into our world.”
With that Augusta seemed to have finished her explanation. That was a lot to unpack. Like a lot. There were several words in there that Darren was pretty sure weren’t words. “What’s a Deatheater?” Darren asked first, he could be angry about this once he fully understood what happened. At the word the boy in front of him, Neville, flinched. What was that about?
Once again Augusta looked surprised at Darren’s lack of knowledge, but again she answered him patiently, “ The Deatheater’s were the followers of You Know Who during the last wizarding war, they were blood purists and delighted in murdering those their Lord deemed unclean. Their Lord being Lord Voldemort.” Her voice dipped ever so slightly when she said his name as though even a woman as around as her was scared of saying this Dark Lords name. Even so Neville still flinched at the name, whoever Voldemort was he must have been terrifying for even his name to invoke this much fear in people. Dumbledore seemed to be the only one unbuttered by the mentions of Voldemort’s name. The old man had sat there silently throughout the whole conversation. “What happened to You Know Who then? Is he dead?”, Augusta nodded her head, “He tried to kill an infant child named Harry Potter eleven years ago but for some reason the spell backfired and he died. No one has seen him since that day so the world assumes him to be dead.” Darren just sat there nodding, trying to take all of this information in. At this moment Dumbledore pulled a complicated pocket watch out of his ridiculous robes and flicked it open. “I am dreadfully sorry Augusta but I need to go, I have a meeting with the board of education in a few minutes.” The old woman looked up and nodded. Now Darren felt uncertain, Mrs. Longbottom hadn’t mentioned anything about him staying with her, was he meant to go with Dumbledore? Darren made to stand as well, “Sit down Darren, you’re coming home with myself and Neville. I’ve already had the elves set up your room.” Darren didn’t really have a response to that. She really wanted him to live with them? Neville gave Darren a small smile, “I can give you a tour of the house when we get back”, the boy offered, clearly shy, but willing to try. Darren nodded slowly as he sat back down into his chair, “Okay.” “Brilliant well now that that’s settled, I will see you two in September.” With that Dumbledore bellowed out of the ice-cream parlour, lurid robes flowing behind him. Darren had a feeling that even by wizarding standards, Albus Dumbledore was odd. Darren looked back at Mrs. Longbottom and Neville now and levelled his next question at Augusta, “What should I call you?” The old woman smiled slightly and answered, “I hardly expect my own grandson to call me Lady Longbottom. You can call me grandmother.” It sounded so ridiculously posh to call the woman grandmother but he supposed he would get used to it. “And I’m Neville by the way”, the other little boy piped up. “I’m Darren” He said smiling at the other boy. It was so mad that he had cousins, all this time he thought he was alone in the world only him and his sister and now. He discovered he had a whole other family. Wait, his sister, he never got to meet her again. “Can I ask you something?” Darren asked his grandmother again. “You may” the woman raised an eyebrow curiously. “Can I visit my sister before we start school. I have been looking for her for years and I finally found her yesterday and I never got to say hello.” He could sense he was starting to ramble. Augusta titled her head in thought “You can, provided you promise to tell her nothing of our world. We don’t know yet if she will develop magic, we cant risk her talking about magic outside of safe walls.” Darren eagerly nodded his head, “Absolutely, I wont say a word.” “
Very well, then we can go tomorrow.” Oh God, he was actually going to get to meet his sister again! After another few minutes Augusta took him and Neville back to the Longbottom estate. The place was massive, with a pool, stables, a library and even a ballroom. Darren was barely paying attention though, still on a high from the fact that he would actually get to meet Ellen tomorrow. As he lay in his new bed that night, the mattress more comfortable than any he’d ever slept on in his life, his nerves were twisting themselves into knots. What if she never remembered him fully? Or worse what if she didn’t want to remember him?
Eventually he drifted into fitful sleep only to be awoken by a stream of sunlight shining in his eye. At breakfast Darren was quiet, Neville seemed to sense his nerves and tried to give him a reassuring smile, Darren tried his best to smile back. Their breakfast was brought by a small creature called Inky, who was a house elf for the family. Inky was thrilled to have another mouth to feed, generously piling Darren’s plate high with chocolate chip pancakes. Eventually breakfast was over and Augusta was standing in the hall waiting for Neville and Darren, she held a piece of rope in her hand, “I asked a friend in the ministry to get us a portkey to the Williams house in London.” With another stomach turning lurch forward the three of them were standing in front of a pretty two story town house. The door was a bright colourful yellow and children’s toys littered the small patch of grass outside. Darren took a deep breath and walked towards the door. Neville and his grandmother held back. He walked up to the cheerful yellow door and held up a finger to press the door bell. Taking one final breath he pressed it. From inside he could hear excited shouts and two sets of footsteps making their way to the door. Suddenly the door flung open and Ellen was standing there, Mr. Williams behind her. “Uh… hi, my name is Darren. I’m Ellens brother.”
Ellens eyes suddenly went wide as if something had clicked in her head, “Darren?”, “Hi, Ell”, Ell tackled her brother into a hug, starting to sob. “I know I had recognised you.” Through all this Mr. Williams just stood in the door looking confused. After this Darren, his grandmother and Neville all filed into the Williams home, Ellen glued to her brothers leg and Darren began to explain how he ended up on their doorstep making sure to leave out any parts about magic. In the end the Williams seemed horrified that Darren had been all alone all these years explaining how they’d wanted to adopt him too, but Mrs. Baxter convinced them not to. By the time they’d decided to adopt him regardless of what Mrs. Baxter said he had already ran away and no one could find him. The part they didn’t say out loud but Darren could hear, was that everyone had assumed he was dead somewhere. Ellen hugged him tighter. Darren then explained what he could about the school he would be attending and that he would be living with the Longbottom’s. Naturally the Williams had offered that he could stay with them but Darren knew he should stay with his grandmother, at least for now, he had. A lot of the wizarding world to catch up on and he wanted to learn as much as possible before starting school. When it came time to leave Ellen tried to convince him not to but he promised to visit again before they left and to write loads.
The next few weeks were filled with a complete crash course onto the wizarding world curtesy of Neville and his grandmother. Darren’s head felt like it was going to explore from all the new information. On top of learning about the history of the society he was newly a part of Darren also had to learn a lot about the Longbottom family themselves and their traditions. They were apparently a very important wizarding family and his grandmother refused to allow Darren to embarrass himself by being unaware. By the time the final day of summer came Darren was nervous but excited. Him and Neville had been speculating what houses they’d be sorted into. Darren honestly had his money on Neville being a Gryffindor but every time he said that the boy would go bright red and say that wasn’t likely. Darren didn’t rally have much idea where he was going to end up, didn’t really care either. Despite how nervous Neville seemed to be about the whole concept it just seemed like a really dramatic personality quiz to Darren. Regardless he would find it all out tomorrow.