In Moonlight's Shadow

Chapter 13: Stricter Legislation

Matt's birthday dinner seemed to be the high point of the summer. The few weeks following it were much like the time before it. My parents went right back to their secretive meetings and as far as I could tell, things at Dad's work were only getting worse. He returned home later and later everyday and left early in the morning. Dad never talked much about work, but I walked in on him whispering to Mum a few times and they immediately stopped talking when they saw me.

I continued sending letters to both Olivia and Kenzie. Olivia was keeping me updated on all things to do with the Australian School of Sorcery. The new Transfiguration teacher was nice, although Olivia said she was a bit strange. Olivia didn't seem to care. She also told me that Carmen had given up on complaining that Olivia had her own room. In ever letter, she asked for updates about the move. This was the one thing Olivia and Kenzie's letters had in common. Kenzie also constantly wanted moving updates.

Unfortunately, I couldn't give either of them any moving updates. That was because there weren't any. It had been over a month since I found out we were moving and I still had no idea where we were moving to. I asked Mum and Dad about it once a day and they said the same thing every day 'we'll tell you when we know something'. Well, so far they hadn't.

The February full moon came and went, and with it another trip to Richard and Cinda's. This one had been on a Monday, so I had hardly any time with Kenzie at all. I went over to her house when she was done with school, but that was only for a couple hours. Mostly I just lounged by the pool and read. Cinda told me all about her party plans, but I wanted nothing to do with them. Apparently the party was going to be much like the New Year's party. I hoped Cinda wouldn't make me buy a new dress.

My house was very much the same when I returned two days after the full moon. Quiet and empty. Dad left for work as soon as he brought me home. I wasn't sure where Mum was, but she wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. Matt was probably still sleeping since it was incredibly early. Ellie wasn't around either and I figured she was cleaning some other room. She had been doing more and more work ever since Mum started holing up in Dad's study all day.

I poured myself a glass of juice and a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat down at the table to eat them. I hadn't had brekkie at Richard and Cinda's since I left so early. There was a pile of newspapers sitting on the table and I decided to look through them.

I rarely ever read the newspaper since it was usually rather boring. Occasionally there were exciting stories, like ones about escaped convicts and the like, but those were rare. I tossed aside the first paper since the most exciting story appeared to be some old witch out bush who thought she saw a Muggle UFO.

The next paper's headline made me spit out my juice all over the table. I quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe it up and then looked more closely at the front page article.

'Werewolf Brutally Attacks and Kills Child'

My stomach constricted and I pushed my bowl of cereal aside, pulling the article closer to me. That could have been my brother, two years ago, I thought. If Dad hadn't been able to get the werewolf off of him. Then I really felt sick as I realized that my brother could be the one doing the killing now, if Mum and Dad didn't lock him up every month.

A smaller headline underneath the big one read 'Wizards and Witches Everywhere Demand Tighter Restrictions and Laws'. The article then went on to describe the attack, which had happened just outside some tiny town in the northern part of the country.

'Wizards and witches all over the country are writing
to the Ministry, demanding they tighten the restrictions
on werewolves. 'They're dangerous creatures.' Says
Aromina Zander, mother of three young children. 'I
won't let the children outside on the full moon anymore.
I really think the Ministry ought to draft new laws to
increase restrictions on werewolves. They need to be
kept away from regular folk.'

However, not everyone in the Ministry agrees with
Ms. Zander's statement. To read what Walter Eckerton,
Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control
of Magical Creatures, has to say, turn to page six.'

I put the paper down and stared into the now disgusting mixture of soggy cereal and milk. I had no appetite whatsoever now. I felt like I was going to chunder, and not just because of the attack. Aromina Zander's comment was almost as bad as that. The way she talked made it seem like werewolves weren't even people. But not all werewolves attacked people. There were plenty of werewolves who were good and made sure they were locked up on the full moon.

'To read what Walter Eckerton has to say, turn to page six.' I read again. Dad issued a statement about this. For the first time, I realized how hard a job he must have. I wondered how he could react rationally to people like Aromina Zander when they say such awful things. I quickly flipped to page six, where there was a picture of my dad. He looked knackered and he wasn't smiling.

'Walter Eckerton has been known for his sympathy
towards werewolves during his three years as Head of
the Department for the Regulation and Control of
Magical Creatures. He has advocated on their behalf
and has rejected numerous amounts of legislation
that would restrict the rights of werewolves.

'What the public has to be aware of,' Eckerton said to
reporters the day after Monday night's attack, 'is that
not all werewolves are irresponsible like the man who
murdered the child last night. Plenty of werewolves
are responsible citizens who lock themselves up so as
to not attack anyone. It is not fair to punish all
werewolves for the faults of a couple. Punish those
who have attacked and try to prevent future attacks,
but we cannot restrict rights that we are all entitled
to.'

But are werewolves entitled to the same rights everyone
else is? That is what many wizards and witches are
wondering right now.

Many are also wondering if it is enough to trust
werewolves to set up their own places to spend
full moons. Protections, spells, charms, and the
like are not always foolproof.

'Spells werewolves use on their safe rooms have
been known to fail,' Ralph Lubar, Head of the Werewolf
Control Unit said on Tuesday, 'There have been
attacks that occur because of charms that do not
hold. I myself am in favor of more strict regulations
on safe rooms and werewolf rights in general.'

There are others in the Werewolf Control Unit who
agree with Lubar. In fact, 70% of them polled on
Tuesday agreed that tighter restrictions are needed.
Eckerton does not agree. In the wake of the recent
attacks, much of wizarding Australia is becoming
concerned with his sympathy towards werewolves
and might soon demand stricter legislation.'

I continued to stare at the paper long after I finished reading it. Words kept popping out at me. Tighter restrictions, 70%, charms that do not hold, stricter legislation.... Was this the stress at work that Dad had mentioned? Was this what him and Mum were so worried about? It seemed like Dad was the only one in his office who cared at all about werewolf rights. He was clearly trying to keep the tight laws from going through. What kind of laws was the article talking about anyway? The article never mentioned what the tighter restrictions were.

I heard footsteps coming into the room, but I didn't look up from the paper. The fridge opened and then closed. The footsteps began again and started coming closer to me.

"Hi Amy." It was Mum. She said as she walked over to the table. "How was Richard and Cinda's?"

I ignored her question and continued staring at the paper. "What's going on?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"What do you mean?" Mum asked as she sat down across from me. She glanced from me and then to the paper. "Oh, you saw the article. I-I meant to put that away before you came home."

"Why?" I demanded, glaring at her, "So you could hide something else from me?"

"No, so your father and I could explain properly, without you getting one-sided facts from this paper!" Mum replied.

"Really? Because it sounds like this has been going on for a while. Is this what Dad's so stressed about? He's been stressed for an awful long time. I asked him why and he said I didn't need to know."

"You didn't. You still don't," Mum said, "We don't know what's going to happen with this. We didn't want you to worry about it."

"Well, I've worried about other stuff!" I shouted, all my shock from the article turning into anger, "I worried about the two of you! Dad constantly being home late, completely knackered! The two of you always in Dad's study doing who knows what! I want to know what's going on!"

"Oh, Amy, I had no idea that you'd been paying that much attention to us," Mum sighed.

"How could I not notice Dad coming home later and later every night? Not notice that he's always worn out? Not notice that you haven't been cleaning all the time? It's not like you, Mum, to not help Ellie with the cleaning. She's been doing all of it lately. Not to mention the fact that you don't pay nearly as much attention to Matt as you used to. You used to watch him like a hawk and now you let him go off and do whatever he wants. That's why he tried to climb the wall last month, because you weren't watching him. I can't stop him from doing stuff when he wants to."

"I'm so sorry," Mum whispered, "We didn't mean to make you worry that much."

"It's all right," I mumbled, "Just tell me what's going on. I want to know. I hate not knowing. I hate being the only one in the family who's clueless about everything."

"Matt doesn't know about this either," Mum replied and then looked at me sharply, "And you won't tell him about it."

"I know. I won't." I could only imagine what he would think if he read that article. It would be worse than when he found out he couldn't go to school in Australia. "Now can you please tell me what's going on?"

"I will when your father gets home. We'll tell you about it together. Can you wait that long?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Good," Mum wrapped me into a hug, "And again, I am very sorry about making you worry."

"It's ok," I told her.

"All right. I've got stuff to do. Will you be ok?"

I nodded again. Mum kissed my forehead and then got up from the table. "Would it make you feel better if I went and helped Ellie with the cleaning?"

I smiled a little, "Maybe. But I think you ought to go help Ellie anyway."

"I will. Now go put your laundry in the hamper and put your bag away," Mum eyed my bag that I had thrown onto the kitchen floor.

I smiled to myself as I picked up the bag. Mum may be irritating at times with her obsessive neatness, but that was just Mum. I was used to her constantly telling me to pick up after myself and it had been strange not to have her do that. Too strange. She was my mum, and I loved her no matter how neat and obsessive she was.

After I put all my clothes in the hamper and put my stuff away, I went to my potions room. I spent the next few hours brewing, until I got hungry.

Mum and Matt were in the kitchen when I wandered down to find something to eat. Mum was looking more like herself than she had in weeks. Maybe things were finally looking up. She had cleared away all the newspapers and had set down a plate of sandwiches and grapes. Matt was already chowing down on a sandwich.

I sat down across from him and picked up a sandwich of my own. He still looked tired, despite the fact that he only just got up. He had a yellowish bruise on his left cheek and a large scab on his forehead. Other than this, he looked fine. Just looking at him reminded me of the article and made me wonder what kind of restrictions Aromina Zander and Ralph Lubar wanted to put on Matt and all the other werewolves in the country. I doubted that Zander had ever really personally known a werewolf, or she probably would have had a different opinion about the whole thing.

I wasn't even sure how I felt about it. I mean, I obviously didn't want my brother's rights taken away because of a few idiots who didn't lock themselves up on the full moon. But on the other hand, it was one of those idiots who turned Matt into a werewolf in the first place. If there had been tighter restrictions a few years ago, Matt may not have ever gotten bitten. Which meant that we wouldn't have to move, that I wouldn't have to switch schools.

******

Dad didn't get home until nearly eight o'clock that night. Mum, Matt, Ellie, and I had already eaten dinner and I was patiently waiting for Dad to come home so he could explain about the article in the paper. Well, ok, maybe not so patiently.

When Dad finally stepped out of the fireplace, I had to wait even longer. Mum told me that she and Dad wouldn't explain until Matt had gone to bed, since they had no plans on telling him about what was going on. Luckily he went to bed around 8:30, so I didn't have to wait long.

"Are you going to explain now?" I asked Mum when she stepped into the living room after putting Matt to bed.

"Yes, Amy, we'll explain now," Mum sat down next to Dad on the couch.

"Explain about what?" Dad asked as he ate his dinner.

"Amy saw the article that was in the paper yesterday," Mum explained.

Dad put down his fork, "Oh. I thought you were going to move those papers."

"I was, but it honestly wasn't the first thing on my mind this morning. I had been giving Matt his potions when Amy got back home," Mum sighed.

"Right. But we weren't planning on telling her about this," Dad pointed out. "I thought we agreed on that."

"She's read the article, Walter," Mum raised her voice a bit, "We have to explain."

Great, I thought, now my parents were going to get into a huge row and not tell me anything. Plus, they were talking about me like I wasn't there. I hated when they did that.

Dad shook his head, "It'll just worry her."

"She's already worried!" Mum snapped, "Ever since she got back from school! She's noticed that you're always at work and I'm always in your study."

Dad sighed, "All right. I see your point. It's just been a hard day."

"I'm sure it has. But you need to concentrate on our family now. And Amy needs an explanation."

"Does Matt know?" Dad asked quietly.

"No. He still hasn't got a clue," Mum told him.

"Good. It'll stay that way," Dad said sternly.

I nodded, "I won't tell him a thing."

"All right," Dad took a deep breath and then turned to me, "You know there has been an increase in werewolf attacks over the past few months?"

"Yeah, that's what it said in the article."

"Well, the article didn't really specify what's going on. The increase has taken place over the past six months. Before that, there would be one, maybe two attacks every couple of months. There were plenty of months without any attacks. Then, six months ago, there were four attacks all on the same night."

I stared at him in shock. I had had no idea about that. Maybe I should start reading the paper more often. Dad never elaborated on what went on at work, but I was amazed he hadn't mentioned that at all.

"Yes, four attacks. Two were on children, only one survived. The other two were on adults, both survived. Next month, two attacks. Then three. Then one. Then three. Then three more. Last week, there was just one. But there has been at least one every month since August. In September, one attack was on a Muggle. He survived, and is now coping with not only that he is a werewolf, but that magic exists.

"The paper has been reporting all of these attacks and hyping them up. Yes, it is something to worry about, but the paper seems to want to create mass hysteria."

I really had been living in the dark. I could only remember really hearing about a couple of those attacks. I had no idea there had been so many.

"Um, were the werewolves caught?" I asked tentatively.

"Most of them. The thing is, we often cannot tell who did the attacking. The only way we can know for sure is if someone catches the werewolf in the middle of the attack," Dad lowered his voice, "Like what happened with your brother."

"What about Wolfsbane Potion, though. Aren't the werewolves taking that?" I asked, thinking of the potion that wouldn't work for my brother. "Or are these werewolves like Matt and it just won't work?"

"Mostly they just can't afford it," Dad answered, "The stuff is expensive since there is only one Potions Master in Australia who can brew it. Most of it is imported from other countries. And a lot of werewolves just can't afford it since it's hard for them to get jobs."

"Oh. That stinks," I replied. It really did. If they could afford the Wolfsbane, they could probably get better jobs.

"Anyway, ever since September or so, more and more people have been demanding stricter laws regarding werewolves. Plenty of legislation has been suggested and presented, and most of it I have turned down. People have not been happy about this, but I've felt that most of the legislation has been too strict and is taking away too many rights."

"What kind of laws?" I asked quietly.

Dad sighed, "Awful laws. The paper never elaborates on what kind of laws. It just calls it 'stricter legislation' and people immediately think that's a good thing. The fact is, that they aren't good laws.

"Laws have been presented that would have a building built with extremely powerful spells on it for werewolves to spend the full moon. This in itself would probably be a good idea, since many werewolves aren't able to create their own safe places. But the law would require all werewolves to spend full moons there."

I shuddered. All the werewolves in one building? Were there any spells that were powerful enough to keep that many of them in? What if they all ganged up on each other and wound up killing one of them? I couldn't imagine Matt in a place like that.

"I had to reject that law. It would take away too many rights. It wouldn't be fair at all to require werewolves that already had safe places to go to one of these buildings. Plus, I could never allow Matt to go to one. Many of my colleagues were upset that I rejected the law, but they didn't have enough support to override my decision.

"Another law would have prevented werewolves from acquiring wands-"

"What?!" I shouted, "That's horrible."

"Indeed. That had a surprisingly large amount of support, especially from other departments, but I rejected it as well. I have rejected numerous others since September.

"The people in my department are starting to get fed up with my rejecting their legislation. They think I'm too soft on werewolves and it's causing innocent people to be harmed.

"I say otherwise. We have to remember that the more rights we take away from werewolves, the more angry and upset they'll become. I think this will cause more attacks.

"Only the people in the Werewolf Control Unit know that Matt is a werewolf. After he was bitten and we had to register him, they found out. They are sworn to secrecy and are not allowed to tell anyone, due to the fact that he is underage. They think that the only reason I am rejecting the laws is because of Matt, because I don't want my son to be forced to live by these awful rules. I have to admit that that is partly the reason, but not all of it. I know that stricter legislation is only going to breed more contempt and cause more attacks."

I nodded. So this was why Dad was so stressed lately. His colleagues were putting pressure on him to pass these horrible laws.

"Today," Dad began and turned to Mum, "You don't know about this yet, Julie. Today, they managed to override my rejection of a law."

Mum's face paled, "Which one?" she whispered.

"This one isn't that bad," Dad assured her, "If the Minister signs it, then all werewolves will have to have their places of transformation inspected by the Werewolf Control Unit. Unless they're on Wolfsbane, of course."

"Oh, all right," Mum said, "That's not too bad, then. Do you think the Minister will sign it?"

"Most likely. However, the Minister is very busy and it could be weeks before it reaches his desk. It's got to go through the Magical Legislation Department anyway. It'll go through no problem there, I'm sure of it. They've just been very busy lately as well so it might take a while," Dad replied, "But it's only one small step away from the law requiring werewolves to transform in a Ministry built facility. If a werewolf's place of transformation doesn't pass inspection, then they have to transform in a Ministry facility."

Mum nodded, "Ok, we can deal with that. The basement will surely pass inspection."

"It will," Dad replied and then turned to me, "Does that answer your questions, Amy?"

"Yeah," I nodded. I couldn't believe that they'd been hiding all of this from me. If these laws passed, it could drastically alter our lives. Of course, our lives were being drastically altered already since we were moving. The laws would only affect us if we stayed here, which we weren't. So, it wasn't that bad. I mean, how many laws could get passed between now and when we moved? "Anything else you care to tell me that you've been hiding?" I asked, thinking of how Mum and Dad had been spending so much time in Dad's study.

Mum and Dad glanced at each other. "No, that's about it," Mum replied.

I sighed. I really didn't think they'd tell me what they were doing in Dad's study, but it was worth a shot. I guess that was one mystery I'd have to solve on my own.

"Well, I'm going to go upstairs," Dad picked up his empty dinner plate and got up. "I'm positively knackered."

"I'll join you," Mum replied, "'Night, Amy."

"'Night, Mum. 'Night, Dad," I said.

"Good night, Amy," Dad said and the two of them left the room, whispering to themselves.

I sat in the living room thinking about what Dad had told me for a long time. It still amazed me that I hadn't heard much about these attacks. I really was secluded at school. Nobody at my school really read the paper. Occasionally if something big happened, we would find out, but most of the time we were clueless as to what went on in the outside world. I was definitely going to read the paper from now on, that was for sure. I wouldn't be left in the dark at my new school. Even if I was the only kid who read the paper at my new school, I would read it. I was sick of being clueless, sick of not knowing what was going on.

What was going to happen with these new laws anyway? How many would pass before we moved? My parents seemed extremely worried about it. I wondered if this issue with the legislation may have contributed to their decision to move. Would they still have decided to move even if Matt could have gone to school in Australia? Maybe the whole moving thing hadn't been so sudden. Maybe my parents had been thinking about it for months and Matt not being able to attend the Australian School of Sorcery was just the last straw.

Chapter 14: Off to New York

Dad continued to spend long hours at work the next couple of weeks. I wasn't at all surprised by this and was happy that I finally knew why he was spending more time there. This didn't make me worry any less, though. Dad still came home exhausted and stressed.

Mum spent more time in Dad's study and I was really curious as to what she was doing. I tried to listen in, but she was either making no noise in there or was putting up charms to prevent me from hearing anything. However, she did come out every couple hours and check on Matt and I and make us lunch. She also started helping Ellie with the cleaning again, which I was happy about. I didn't really think it was fair to make Ellie do it all.

"How is your homework coming, Amy?" Mum asked at lunch on Friday.

"Er," I looked up from my soup, "Well, I've got most of it done."

I hadn't done any of my homework after I finished the Potions and Astronomy. I really didn't feel like doing the rest and Mum hadn't mentioned it again until now.

"Can you have it all done by the end of the month?" Mum asked.

I shrugged, "I suppose."

"Good," Mum said, "I'll look it over when you're done and we'll see what else you can do."

"Great," I rolled my eyes, "I'll look forward to it."

"Oh, Amy, you know you've got to keep up your studies," Mum replied.

I rolled my eyes again and continued eating my lunch. I wondered what kind of homework Mum would give me. She'd probably just give me a few new text books and make me read them. Then she'd ask me questions about it.

There was a tapping on the window and I looked up. A large, dark brown owl was hovering in front of the window. I didn't recognize it. It wasn't Olivia's owl.

"Hmm, I wonder who that's from," Mum said as she got up from the table. She opened the window and the owl flew into the room, landing on the table.

"He's a nice owl," Matt commented as he stroked the owl's back. The owl dipped his beak into Matt's cup of milk. "He's thirsty."

"I see that," Mum smiled and picked up the letter that the owl had dropped on the table.

I leaned over Mum's shoulder and tried to read the letter, but she pulled it closer to her chest and gave me a stern look. I retreated with a sheepish look.

"I'll tell you if it's relevant to you," Mum said.

I watched Mum as she opened the envelope and started to read the letter. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes moved side to side. As she continued reading, her face lit up and her mouth cracked into a smile. Finally, she set the parchment down and grinned at Matt and I.

"Well?" I asked, raising one eyebrow.

"It looks like we'll be visiting New York," Mum smiled.

"To see Uncle Jack?" Matt shouted, "Yes!"

"Who's that from?" I asked, "Uncle Jack? That didn't look like his owl."

"No," Mum replied, "It's from the Adirondack Academy of Magic. They've agreed that Matt can attend, given certain precautions. They want to meet with us."

"Really?" I said, "That's great."

"Isn't it?" Mum grinned, "I guess we'd better start planning. The school wants to meet with us sometime this month. They want us to send a reply owl telling them what dates we'll be there."

"Are we going to visit Uncle Jack?" Matt asked.

"Of course," Mum told him, "I'll send him an owl once we're sure of our plans."

"What are we going to do there?" I asked, "Are we just visiting the school?"

"Well, we'll probably look at houses, too," Mum explained, "I don't want to fly over there twice."

I nodded. Looking at houses. I couldn't imagine living anywhere besides here, but we'd obviously need a new house if we were to live in New York. "So are we definitely moving to New York?"

"No," Mum replied, "We'll check out the school and look at houses. I want to visit a couple schools if it's possible so we can pick the best one."

"Oh, all right," I shrugged. "I think I'll go send a letter to Olivia and Kenzie."

I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. It didn't take me long to send off the letters to my friends, but I really didn't have anything else to do. I worked on homework for a little while and managed to complete my Transfiguration.

Mainly I just thought about visiting New York. It had been so long since we visited Uncle Jack; over two years. I wanted to see him, but I wasn't sure about visiting the school and looking at houses. Going to New York would make this whole thing seem so permanent. It was kind of hard to believe that we were actually going to move when we were still in Australia, just waiting for letters from various schools. Now, with a trip to New York in the works, the whole thing seemed incredibly real.

Dad came home around 7:30, and as soon as he Flooed home, Mum told him the news. He was excited too, and the two of them holed up in Dad's study for a while. Matt and I stayed in the living room and played Gobstones and his Nintendo DS. He was becoming kind of addicted to that thing.

When Mum and Dad came out of the study, they had the entire trip to New York planned. We would fly to the United States, just like we had the last time we visited New York, since international Apparition and Flooing weren't allowed. Dad got plane tickets from Sydney to New York City for the following Wednesday, which was the soonest day he could get them for. He told us we were going to Apparate to Richard and Cinda's and then they would drive us to the airport. Once we got to New York City, Uncle Jack would meet us there, and we'd floo to his house. Then we'd stay at his house until we went home. Dad said we would fly home on Monday.

"Why are we staying so long?" I asked. Almost a week seemed like a long time to visit one school and a few houses.

"Well, we'll need about a day to recover from the jet lag," Mum pointed out.

Oh, yeah. Jet lag. I'd forgotten about that. The last time we visited Uncle Jack, I wound up sleeping all day and then staying up all night for two days.

"And we're leaving some time open to visit other schools in the United States if any of them reply between now and then. I'd like it if we could visit a couple more while we're there," Dad added. "I'd rather minimize the flights."

I nodded. That made sense. I wasn't a huge fan of flying myself. First, I didn't like heights. Not at all. Second, the jet lag was awful when we flew to New York the last time. It wasn't something I was looking forward to. Third, it was just so incredibly boring. It took practically a whole day to fly to New York and that didn't include the time spent in security. Muggles were certainly strict with their airport security. Fourth, aeroplane food was nasty and they didn't let you bring your own food on the plane. I was always incredibly hungry, bored, and tired when I flew to New York. Not a good combination.

******

The next week flew by in a whirlwind of packing and preparation for going to New York. Luckily our passports hadn't expired yet, although it did take Mum a whole day to locate them in Dad's study. 'This is why I organize things,' she muttered after she found them. Next we had to pack up enough clothes to last almost an entire week, which was an interesting endeavor in itself.

We hadn't been to New York in almost three years, and it had been summer there when we last went. In fact, we had not once gone to New York during their winter. Matt and I had never even seen snow. This time, however, we were going to New York in the middle of March, which Uncle Jack informed us was one of the coldest times of the year. None of my family actually had any real cold weather clothes. Sure, we each had a couple jumpers and a light weight jacket, but we didn't need anything beyond that for winter in Brisbane or Sydney.

For winter in New York, we were going to need a lot more. Numerous jumpers, heavy down jackets, scarves, hats, gloves, and warm socks, Dad told us. So, one day shortly before we left, Mum took Matt and I to a Muggle shop in Brisbane that specialized in cold weather clothing. How it could possibly stay in business was beyond me. I suppose there were a lot of Muggles who traveled to colder climates. Mum bought us all a large amount of clothing that I thought would be appropriate to wear to Antarctica, not New York.

"How many jumpers do you expect us to wear?" I asked as we got back to the house after the shopping trip.

"As many as you need," Mum replied, "It's going to be quite cold there. Colder than you've ever experienced."

"Still seems like a lot," I said as I dumped my shopping bags on the kitchen table. In them were six jumpers, a hoodie, four pairs of jeans, a puffy jacket, two sets of gloves, two scarves, and two hats. Mum bought the same thing for herself, Matt, and my dad.

"Well, you'll be warm," Mum said and put the rest of the bags down next to mine.

"There's a couple owls out there," I pointed to the door that opened to the deck. There were two owls pecking at the door. One was small and pale brown and the other was large, mostly brown, and speckled with white.

"Go let them in, Matt," Mum said as she started to pull clothing out of the bags. "I hope they're from the other schools...."

So far we hadn't received any responses from other schools, and Mum and Dad were starting to get stressed about it since we were leaving for New York in three days. They had really been hoping to visit multiple schools while we were there.

Matt returned with two letters. "Here you go, Mum," he said as he handed her the letters.

Mum wordlessly took them and sat down in one of the chairs. I watched her carefully as she opened the first one. She read it and a frown appeared on her face. It quickly turned to anger and she crumpled up the letter, throwing it onto the table.

"We won't be visiting Pennsylvania," she said angrily and picked up the next letter.

I nodded but didn't ask her to elaborate on what the letter said. Based on her reaction, I guessed it was a lot like the letter from Professor Killigan.

Mum opened the next letter and after a few moments a smile appeared on her face. "Well, looks like we'll be able to arrange a trip to Massachusetts."

"More flying?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so. We should be able to just floo to the school there," Mum answered.

"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief. "What's the school there called?"

"The Salem Witch Institute," Mum answered.

"An all girls school?" I stared at her. No way did I want to go to an all girls school.

"Oh, no. They teach boys there, too."

"Then why not call it the Salem Witch and Wizard Institute?"

"I don't know. You an ask when we go there," Mum told me. "I'm glad they responded. We should have plenty to do while we're over there now. We'll need to look at houses in Massachusetts, too."

"Right," I muttered. I had never been to Massachusetts before. Sure, I'd heard about it and everything, but had never been there. The only part of the Sates I'd ever been to was New York. And honestly, that was the only part I would put up with living in. What would be the point of living in the States if we weren't anywhere near Uncle Jack?

"I'm going to go floo your father," Mum said as she got up from the table, "We'll need to make arrangements with The Salem Witch Institute as soon as possible. Why don't you and your brother get started packing?"

"Sure," I replied, although I wasn't exactly sure how we'd be able to fit all those clothes into our suitcases.

******

Somehow, we managed to fit all of the clothes and other stuff we needed to take into four suitcases and four carry-on bags, which was all we were allowed on the plane without paying extra fees. Well, it wasn't that difficult since Mum and Dad just used magic to make the stuff Matt and I couldn't get in fit.

One other school from the United States wound up sending us a letter the day before we left. That school would not allow Matt to attend, but my parents weren't too disappointed since we were already visiting two. Mum said we wouldn't have had time to visit another one anyway.

On Wednesday, we got up incredibly early (even for me) in order to arrive hours before our flight actually took off. Dad told me it was because the security and baggage check could sometimes take hours. Sometimes, the things Muggles did just made me laugh so much. They told us our flight was to leave at 10:50 in the morning, yet they also told us to arrive at the airport at 8 in the morning. It seemed to me that there could be a more efficient way of doing security and all that stuff, but whatever. Then Dad told me that the flight would probably be delayed anyway. Flying on Muggle aeroplanes was a right pain in the arse.

We said goodbye to Ellie and Apparated with all our luggage to Richard and Cinda's.

Richard and Cinda were actually awake when we arrived. I was kind of surprised since I hadn't seen the two of them up before eight o'clock in years.

"Ready for your adventure?" Richard yawned as he let us into the house.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Dad replied.

"I still can't believe you might move to the States," Cinda shook her head. "You'll be so far away. How long is the flight?"

"Twenty-one hours to New York City," Dad answered, "So an entire day, pretty much."

"Still seems odd that you can't do that disappearing and reappearing thing," Richard muttered.

"You can't Apparate that long of a distance," Mum reminded him, "Plus, the government has rules against foreign wizards just Apparating into the country."

"Guess that makes sense," Richard replied.

"I wanted to fly at night so we could just sleep," Dad explained, "But there weren't any tickets available at this short notice."

"Yeah, jet lag's going to be awful," Richard commented.

"Sure will," Dad agreed, "It'll be about four in the afternoon, today, when we arrive in New York."

"That's mad," I said. "So, if we're up for half the flight to New York, then we sleep the other half, we'll be nice and awake right in time for night in New York."

"Pretty much," Dad laughed.

"I hate flying," I muttered.

"So do I," Dad said, "But we've got to do it."

"Ready to go?" Richard asked.

"Yes," Mum replied, "And thanks for driving us. It's impossible to Apparate into the middle of a busy Muggle airport."

"No problem," Richard said and led the way out the door and to the garage.

Richard unlocked his fancy new Cadillac SUV and opened the back hatch. Richard rarely ever drove this car, only when we were all going someplace together. I hadn't even ridden in it yet, since he just got it a few weeks ago. Usually he preferred to drive his smaller convertible sedan, but we wouldn't all fit in that or in Cinda's car.

Dad loaded all of our bags and suitcases into the back of the SUV and then climbed in with Mum. The two of them were sitting in the middle seats, so Matt and I had to climb into the back.

I wasn't a big fan of cars either. I guess I just didn't like Muggle transportation. Matt, on the other hand, always loved riding in Richard and Cinda's cars.

"What's this do?" Matt pointed to a button on the ceiling of the car.

"Dunno," I shrugged.

Mum turned around in her seat and looked up at the button. "That adjusts the air conditioning. It'll make the car cooler if you're too hot."

"Oh," Matt replied, "Like a cooling charm?"

Mum laughed, "Yes, like a cooling charm."

"What about this button?" Matt pointed to the one next to it.

"That one opens the moon roof," Mum answered.

"Moon roof?" Matt eyed the button suspiciously.

"Not the real moon," Mum explained, "Don't worry. It's what that window up on the ceiling is called."

"That's a weird name for it," Matt said, "So if I push that button the window will open?"

"Yes," Mum said.

"Brilliant!" Matt grinned and pushed his hand onto the button. The moon roof slid back into the main part of the roof and sunlight flooded into the dark car. "Wow, that's like magic!" Matt shouted.

"It's electricity," Mum told him, "I suppose you could say that Muggles use it instead of magic."

"Like Muggle magic," Matt said.

"Yes, like Muggle magic," Mum laughed.

Mum seemed to have loosened up in the past week. She was laughing more and even spending less time in Dad's study. Dad still seemed stressed and exhausted, but Mum seemed so much happier. Probably because two schools had decided to let Matt attend. Either that or she just needed a holiday. We hadn't gone on holiday since the last time we visited Uncle Jack. My parents did travel a lot after Matt got bitten in order to try and find cures, but that couldn't really be considered a holiday. Especially since they didn't let me go. I had to stay with Richard and Cinda. This was the longest we had ever gone without going on holiday. Or she was just happy that she was making progress with this whole moving thing. Maybe she was excited about it. Maybe she actually wanted to leave Australia. Even Dad seemed a bit happier that morning. Maybe he wanted to leave too. I guess I was the only one who really wanted to stay. Matt didn't seem to care one way or the other, but why should he? He hadn't started school or made any real friends. He was probably excited about moving as well since he couldn't go to school in Australia.

The ride to the airport seemed to take forever, although I knew that it was nothing compared to the plane trip to New York. Richard and Cinda dropped us off in the front and said goodbye.

We stepped through the doors and into the airport and I realized how much busier the place was than I had remembered. The Sydney airport was absolutely huge and overflowing with people. It amazed me that there could be so many people in the airport and the city of Sydney itself still filled with people.

I stood next to Dad while he and Mum stared around at the huge building. People were still rushing through the doors, muttering apologies as they bumped into us. Mum grabbed Matt's hand as Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out a map. I glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was a map of the airport. A map of the airport? It amazed me that Muggles would build such a big airport that a map would be required to navigate it.

"All right," Dad shouted over the noise after a few minutes of looking at the map, "We need to go to security first, then get our passports looked at, and then we'll be able to go to Terminal 16, which is where our flight should take off from. Oh, and first we've got to go collect our tickets."

I didn't have the slightest idea as to where we would do any of that. All I could see from where we were standing was a huge staircase that led up to what appeared to be a shopping mall. I guessed it was for people who had forgotten things and needed to buy new ones. Either that or buy something to eat if their plane got delayed. Beyond the staircase was a lounge area, where people were reading, sleeping, eating, or chasing little kids around.

There were also mobs of people to the left and right of us. So many people that I couldn't even see what was beyond them.

"This way," Dad shouted and headed to the left. I squeezed through the people and followed Mum, who was dragging Matt through the crowds. I was vaguely reminded of the time we visited Uncle Jack when I was only four. Matt hadn't even been born yet. Mum had bought this Muggle thing that was basically a leash for your kid. She put it on me when we were walking through the airport, but I hated it. So I decided to crawl around on all fours and bark like a dog. Mum's face turned beetroot red and she never put it on me again. She never tried it with Matt either. Although I was beginning to see why she had done it in the first place, seeing how crowded the airport was that day.

I weaved through the crowd, following Dad, Mum, and Matt, until we finally stopped at the end of a monstrously long line in front of a counter. I assumed that was where we were supposed to pick up our tickets.

The line seemed to be moving backwards. We must have been waiting in it for at least a half hour before we finally made it to the counter. I was about ready to scream out of boredom and Matt had been complaining for the past fifteen minutes.

A bored looking man, who looked to be in his middle or late twenties was standing behind the counter. "Name?" he asked monotonously.

"Walter Eckerton," Dad replied.

"Four tickets to New York? Three adults, one child? 10:50 am flight today?"

"Yes," Dad confirmed.

"Flight's delayed," the man replied, "Should leave around 11:30."

"Fine," Dad replied.

The man handed Dad a piece of paper and a pen. "Sign here, initial here, here, and here. Then sign here."

Dad did as he was told, paid for the tickets, and finally the man gave Dad four skinny pieces of paper that I recognized as plane tickets.

"Finally," Dad muttered as we stepped aside from the counter.

"I'm hungry," Matt whined.

"We'll get something to eat after we've been through security and the passport check," Dad replied, "Come on, follow me."

Chapter 15: Muggle Watching

We got lost twice trying to find the security area. Mum wound up asking a Muggle who worked at a fast food place for directions and we finally got there. The line at the ticket counter was nothing compared to the line for security. This line was so long that I couldn't even see the security centre.

"Here we are," Dad said as we got into one of the lines, "We'll just have to wait for a while."

A while was an understatement. I think we stood in that line for nearly an hour. I had gotten so bored that I had started listening in on other people's conversations and counting the different number of accents and languages I'd heard. So far I'd heard about six different accents of English, and five different languages that I couldn't understand.

"Can we get something to eat now?" Matt asked for what must have been the tenth time.

"I told you, we'll eat after security," Dad said shortly.

"But I'm hungry now," Matt whined.

"I know. But we're almost to the front of the line and we're not going to wait in this again."

"And my feet hurt," Matt added.

"So do mine. Would you just shut up?" I snapped at him. I was thoroughly sick of his complaining. It was his fault we had to go to New York anyway.

"Amy, don't say 'shut up'. Matt, we'll be done soon. Want me to carry you?" Dad asked.

Matt nodded and Dad picked him up. I rolled my eyes. He was such a baby sometimes. Of course, Mum and Dad kind of enabled it.

After another fifteen minutes of complete boredom, in which I counted twenty sunburned and confused looking tourists, our turn at the security centre finally arrived.

"Put your bags up here," a bored looking woman, who was loudly smacking her gum, pointed to a conveyor belt that led to an x-ray machine. It looked pretty much the same way it did the last time we flew to New York.

Mum and I lifted all the suitcases and carry-on bags onto the belt and watched as they made their way down to the machine.

"Good, good," gum-chewing lady muttered after all our bags had gone through the machine. "Carry-on?" she pointed to the four smaller bags.

"Yes," Dad replied.

The woman nodded and picked up the four smaller bags. She set them down on the floor and then put the bigger suitcases onto the back of a nearby cart.

"All right," she said after she was done, "Take off any metal you've got on, and your shoes. Empty your pockets. Put them in this bucket." The woman put a bucket onto the conveyor belt.

I couldn't help but start to giggle at those instructions. Muggles were strange sometimes. I pulled off my shoes and threw them into the bucket. I reached into my pockets and pulled out a few Bertie Bott's Beans, a hair tie, and to my horror, a few Knuts. Why were those still in there? I thought I'd taken them out. Great, now the Muggles were going to see wizard money. I groaned inwardly and tossed them into the bucket. Maybe the woman would just think they were some sort of novelty item.

"Why do we have to take off our shoes?" Matt asked as he pulled off his left sneaker.

"That's just the way they do things here," Mum replied, tossing her wallet into the bucket.

Once we had all finished emptying our pockets and taking off our shoes, the woman gestured for us to go through the metal detector. Mum went through first, then Dad, and then Matt. The three of them went through fine, but when I went through, the machine emitted a loud beeping noise.

I shrieked and jumped over to where my family was standing. "What was that?"

"Step back through, please," the woman said.

I sighed and did what she told me to do. Why had it been me to set off the metal detector? I emptied my pockets. I didn't have anymore metal on me.

"Did you put all your metal in the bucket? Empty your pockets?" the woman asked. "Haven't got any jewelry on?"

"I took it all off," I muttered.

"Step through again," the woman said in a bored voice.

I went through the metal detector again and it started beeping. I stepped back over to where the woman was standing, but the beeping didn't stop. She sighed and started fiddling around with the machine.

People were starting to stare now. There were a few other lines of people waiting their turn at the security center and most of them were now looking in our direction.

"Figures," a large man wearing a horribly tacky Hawaiian T-shirt muttered, "Always get in the line with the dodgy metal detector."

"Is it going to take long to fix, mam?" the large man's wife shouted.

"I don't know," gum-chewing lady answered, not looking up from the machine.

"Can you at least turn off the beeping?" the wife asked.

"I'm trying!" gum-chewing lady replied shortly.

I edged away from the metal detector towards where my family was standing. Mum was staring at the machine and shaking her head. Dad had an amused look on his face and was trying not to laugh. He gave me a half-hearted smile and shrugged.

"Make it stop!" Matt screwed up his eyes and covered his ears. Dad picked him up again and he buried his face in Dad's shoulder.

"I'm sorry about this," the lady stopped messing with the machine and turned to my parents, "I don't know what's wrong with it. If you'll just hang on a second." She pulled out a phone and started muttering into it.

A few moments later, a man appeared and started talking to the lady. I couldn't hear what they were saying over the beeping, though.

"That your daughter?" the man shouted over the beeping.

"Yes," Dad replied.

"She empty her pockets?"

"Yes, we all did," Dad answered.

I could feel my cheeks burning. Why had I set the thing off? And why was it still beeping? Maybe it was broken.

The man seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was now inspecting the metal detector. He pushed a few buttons and it started beeping even louder. People were now stopping to stare at us.

The man pulled out his own phone and muttered something into it. Then he did something else to the metal detector and it finally stopped beeping.

"It's broken," the man said to the gum-chewing lady. "I'll have her go through another one."

The man gestured for me to follow him. I turned around and looked at my parents. Dad nodded his head and I started to follow the man. He led me to the next security station, which was only a few metres away. He said something to the man who was running the station and then told me to go through the metal detector.

I closed my eyes as I did so, hoping there wouldn't be any beeping. Thankfully, there wasn't. I stepped through it without it making any noise at all.

"Sorry about that," the man said once we had rejoined my family and were collecting our stuff, "I don't know why the machine broke."

"That's all right," Dad replied.

The man and the gum-chewing woman were now trying to explain to the people waiting behind us in line that the machine was broken and they'd have to join a different line. The large man and his wife were not taking the news very well and were yelling at the two workers and waving their arms around.

"Glad that's done with," I said once we started walking away from the security center. "Stupid bloody machine."

"Amy, it's actually the magic that was causing the machine to not work correctly," Dad told me, "All four of us emit a kind of magical impulse all the time and the machine kind of went haywire with so much magic around."

"Didn't happen last time," I pointed out.

"Different machine," Dad shrugged, "Anyway, we've got to go get our passports checked."

I followed my parents through the mass of people towards the passport area. I hoped there wouldn't be any metal detectors to go through.

As it turned out, the passport thing only involved standing in another boring line (surprise, surprise), and then Dad handing our passports to the lady behind the counter. She stamped something on them and then handed them back.

"Now can we eat?" Matt asked as we walked away from the passport counter.

"Yes," Dad smiled at him, "Now all we've got to do is go to Terminal 16 and wait for the plane. We've got about an hour. There'll be someplace to buy food at the terminal."

Terminal 16 was far away from the passport counter. We had to squeeze through loads of people to get there. When we got there, I saw that it was basically a huge waiting area surrounded by a few little shops and fast food places. There were couches and chairs and random newspapers and magazines laying around. There were also three or four televisions mounted on the walls, but they were all tuned to boring Muggle news stations.

Dad led us over to a few empty chairs and set his carry-on bag down onto one of them. He started looking around the terminal and said, "Well, what should we have to eat? I see McDonald's and what appears to be some kind of sandwich shop."

"Why don't you just go get a few sandwiches?" Mum suggested, "We'll wait here."

"Sounds good," Dad replied and set off to get food.

I dropped my bag onto the ground and sat down on one of the chairs. A whole hour until the plane was supposed to arrive. An hour of boredom in an airport. And then over twenty hours of boredom on a plane. I leafed through the Muggle magazines that were on the table next to me. 'Preventative Health', 'Star Watch' (which, to my dismay, did not have anything to do with stars in the sky), 'Cars & Trucks', 'Surfer's Weekly', and numerous newspapers. I sighed and tossed them all back down onto the table. Why didn't they put anything interesting to read down on the tables?

Dad returned a little while later with sandwiches, drinks, and biscuits. I practically inhaled mine. It was amazing how you could get so hungry just by waiting in a bunch of lines all morning. I was just happy that that part of the trip was over. Of course, we'd have to wait in more lines when we got to New York, but that was still hours away.

After I finished my food, I resorted to 'Muggle Watching', which I really had been doing all morning and hadn't had a good name for. The large man in the ugly shirt and his wife showed up shortly after I finished eating. They took seats opposite us and started looking through the pathetic assortment of magazines. The man picked up 'Cars and Trucks', while his wife (who was almost as large as her husband) chose 'Preventative Health'. The two of them quickly became absorbed into their reading material and I gave up on watching them.

Behind me, a couple were in the midst of an argument about what they would do first when they reached New York.

"I think we ought to just go to the hotel. We're going to be completely exhausted," the man was saying.

"I told my parents we'd go to their flat first," the woman said, "You'll have plenty of time to sleep after."

"I don't want to go to your parents' on practically no sleep," the man insisted.

"Fine, you get your beauty sleep. And after we'll go see my parents. Maybe we'll spend the entire week with them."

"Oh, no. This was supposed to be our holiday. We're not spending the whole time with them."

"We'll see," the woman muttered.

In the middle of the waiting area, a husband and wife were chasing four little kids around. None of the kids looked above the age of eight. How they were going to keep the kids still on the plane was a mystery to me.

"Charlie! Get back here!" the wife shouted at the oldest, who was climbing all over the empty chairs.

Charlie jumped off the chair and ran in the opposite direction that his mother was standing. His sister, who looked about five or six, had meanwhile found the remote to the television and was pressing random buttons. The channel changed from a weather station to a loud music station that blasted rap throughout the waiting area.

"Tara!" her mother shouted and grabbed the remote from her hands. She switched the channel back, muttering apologies to the people sitting nearby.

The husband had caught up with the other two kids, who I thought were twins. They had been picking up newspapers and throwing them all over the floor. One of the twins started screaming when his dad took away the newspapers.

He picked up both kids at once and carried them over to where he and his wife had dumped their carry-on bags. The wife met him over there a few minutes later, with Charlie and Tara's hands clamped firmly in her own. Other people were peering at them over their reading material, probably grateful that they didn't have to travel with four young children.

Once the kids settled down, I continued to take count of who else would be traveling on the plane with us. A bloke who looked to be in his late teens was sleeping in a chair next to the one Charlie had been climbing on. He was dressed in all black and had ear buds in his ears. A few chairs down from him was a businesswoman typing on a laptop. It was definitely an interesting group of people to be traveling on a plane together.

I turned away from the businesswoman and looked to see what my own family was up to. Dad had picked up one of the Muggle newspapers and was reading it, shaking his head and smirking every so often. Mum was reading a novel that she had brought. Matt was sitting in between them, completely absorbed in his Nintendo DS. They weren't nearly as interesting as the Muggles who were in the waiting area. Of course, if the Muggles knew we were witches and wizards, they would probably think we were the most interesting people in the entire airport.

As the time wore on, more and more people began to congregate in the waiting area for Terminal 16. I soon lost track of the young family, black-clad teenager, businesswoman, arguing couple, and the couple from the security centre.

"Should be boarding anytime now," Dad mentioned as he glanced at his watch. He had put down his Muggle newspaper and was watching the television that was displaying the weather. "Looks like we'll have good weather for at least part of the flight."

The last time we flew to New York, there had been a huge thunderstorm during the flight. It was pretty scary. Lightning is much scarier when you're up close and personal with it. I had been hoping this flight would be storm free.

"Jack said there's about three inches of snow on the ground right now," Dad continued, "And they're expecting a storm a couple days from now. You kids will be able to see a real blizzard."

"Excellent," I grinned. I had never seen snow in real life and couldn't wait to experience it. That was one good thing about this trip.

"Flight 531, Sydney to New York, is now boarding at Terminal 16," someone announced over the loudspeaker.

People all around us started getting up and collecting their things. Parents were shouting their kids names, trying to find them. I got up and swung my bag over my shoulder. Dad fished the tickets out of his pocket and we followed him to the back of the boarding line.

I peeked out from the line and saw that there was another metal detector at the front of it. Great, I thought, another one. I only hoped the magic wouldn't interfere with this one.

The line to board the plane moved relatively fast, compared to all the other lines we had waited in that day. Dad handed the ticket lady our tickets and she gestured for us to step through the metal detector.

I held my breath as I followed Dad through it. Then I breathed a big sigh of relief when it didn't make a sound. Mum and Matt walked through after us and neither of them set it off either.

We walked towards the plane, following the businesswoman, and finally emerged into the coach section. It was already crowded with people settling in for the long flight ahead.

Dad looked at our ticket stubs and gestured to us to follow him. Our seats were about halfway down the plane on the right side. Mum and Dad got the two seats closest to the front of the plane, and Matt and I sat behind them. I gladly let Matt have the window seat. I didn't want to look out the window at all during the entire flight. Then I could just pretend that we were still on the ground, even though I obviously knew we weren't.

"We're lucky we got seats together," Dad commented, "Considering how last minute I bought these."

"I like this seat," Matt said, "Look how tiny the people are." He peered out the window.

If they were tiny now, they would be impossible to see after we took off.

I put my bag under my seat and sat back in it. It was relatively comfortable, but I knew I would think otherwise in a few hours. There was a light above me, along with a set of headphones. On the side of the plane, just below the window, was a phone. Maybe I could call Kenzie if I got bored.

Matt had started fiddling with everything. He was turning the light on and off, messing with the headphones, and pulling the tray up and down. This was going to be a long flight. The last time we flew to New York, he had been hyper the first half and then slept the entire second half.

After what seemed like forever, one of the flight attendants finally announced that we were going to prepare for take-off. The seat belt lights came on and everyone made their way to their seats. The plane was packed with people and I couldn't see any empty seats.

I closed my eyes and squeezed the arm rests as the plane started up. I knew it wouldn't be taking off for a little while, since we had to get in line behind other planes and wait for our turn. That's pretty much all we'd been doing all day, was waiting in lines. But I was freaked out anyway. Take-off was my least favorite part of flying, well, that and landing. I wished I could just sleep through those parts. That was impossible, though, since they were also the noisiest.

The plane started moving forward and I opened my eyes a bit. Matt had closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears. Ever since he became a werewolf, he's hated loud noises. Dad told me that his ears are more sensitive now and every noise is a lot louder than normal for him.

A little while later, the flight attendant announced that we were going to begin take-off. I shut my eyes again and listened the engine rumble louder and louder. The plane vibrated and I could feel it tipping up and up into the air. My stomach churned and I swallowed, trying to keep my sandwich where it belonged. That was another thing I hated about flying, it always made me sick.

"How are you two doing?" I heard Dad ask.

"I feel sick," I muttered, my eyes still closed and hands still firmly holding onto the arm rests.

"My ears hurt," Matt's voice cracked, "It's too loud."

"It'll be quieter once we're fully in the air," Dad assured him, "You need a barf bag, Amy?"

"I've got one," I replied, hoping I wouldn't have to use it.

I opened my eyes and loosened my grip on the arm rests when the plane was finally fully in the air.

"You are now free to move about the cabin," the flight attendant announced.

Mum turned around in her seat and looked at us, "Better now?" she asked.

I nodded, not wanting to open my mouth. My stomach still felt uneasy, but it was starting to settle down.

"My ears still hurt," Matt said as he rubbed his ears.

"It's the air pressure changes," Mum explained, "Here, chew a piece of gum and they'll feel better." Mum handed Matt a pack of Muggle gum.

"Ta," Matt took the gum and started chewing a piece, "Hey, this stuff is good!"

Mum laughed, "Dad bought it where he bought the sandwiches."

"Want any, Amy?" Matt offered.

I shook my head and stared directly at the tray in front of me, trying not to think about the fact that we were hundreds of metres in the air.

"Welcome everybody," a voice announced, "This is your pilot speaking. I would like to welcome you to Air Australia Flight 531, Sydney to New York. There will be a brief layover in Los Angeles in order to re-fuel. Please see one of the flight attendants if you are in need of anything."

I was in need of being back on the ground, but I doubted the flight attendants would be able to give me that.

The noise of the engines quieted down to a low roar and the plane started flying a bit more steadily. Around me, the other passengers were settling in for a long flight. A few of them had already started leaning their heads back on pillows and closed their eyes. A fair amount of them had ear buds shoved into their ears. Others had pulled out various books, magazines, and newspapers. The business woman I had seen earlier had her laptop out again and was typing away. A few other people had laptops out as well. There were also some kids running up and down the aisles, followed quickly by their stressed out parents.

I dug around in my bag until I found one of my potions books. Of course, to the Muggle eye, it merely looked like a regular old novel. Mum had put charms on all the books I brought before we left so I could read them on the plane. She had even transfigured all of our wands to look like everyday objects. Mine looked like a Muggle pencil and was currently in my pocket. Not that I could really use it or anything, since I was underage. But if anything really bad happened, I'd be able to do something.

Mum and Dad had started talking to each other in low whispers. No doubt it was something not for the Muggles to hear. Matt was staring out the window and shouting out in delight at how small everything looked. It was becoming increasingly annoying.

"Amy, look! The houses look like someone put a shrinking charm on them!"

"Uh-huh," I muttered as I tried to focus on a chapter about the effects of clockwise stirring versus counterclockwise stirring on various potions. "I'd really rather not look."

"It's not that scary," Matt replied.

"I don't like heights."

"But you climb the wall into the bush," Matt pointed out, "And trees."

"That wall's not that high. And trees are different. I can climb down whenever I like and you can't even compare a tree's height to how high we are now."

"Yeah, but it's not like we're going to crash or anything," Matt said.

Great, now I was thinking about the plane hurtling to the ground and all of us dying a horribly slow fiery death. Clockwise and counterclockwise stirring, I thought, think about potions. Think about anything other than the plane crashing.

"And even if it did start to crash," Matt continued, "Mum and Dad would just Apparate us out of the plane."

Unless I was in the bathroom when it happened, I thought. Why did I always have to think the worst when we were flying? Breath, I told myself, breath.

I continued reading my book and ignored everything my brother said. He finally stopped talking and started playing his DS.

Chapter 16: Turbulence

My parents were still whispering to themselves. I set my book down and leaned forward to try and hear what they were saying. One good thing about being stuck in this plane was that they couldn't hole themselves up in a separate room to talk. Maybe this was my chance to find out more about everything that was going on.

"I'm still surprised you were able to take this much time off from work," Mum was saying.

"Well, er, I'm Head of the department, so no one could really say I couldn't take the time off... I mean...I haven't taken too much time off in the past year, so it's not like they could've stopped me..." Dad stammered.

"What exactly happened when you said you were taking time off?" Mum asked curiously.

"Er, they weren't too happy about it. They demanded to know why."

"And what did you tell them?"

"Well, you know they know that we pulled Amy out of school. They know we had an, er, disagreement with the headmaster, although they don't know what it was about. I told them I just needed to take some time off to relax with my family, so we were going to visit Jack in New York. Wasn't exactly a lie."

"I'm guessing they weren't pleased."

"Oh, not at all. There was a fair bit of yelling. But like I said, I haven't used up my holiday days yet this year, so they couldn't do anything."

Mum sighed, "They could fire you."

"They could," Dad agreed, "But they won't have the grounds to do it if I take a week off from work. I'm perfectly within reason to do that."

"Nevertheless, it's a strike against you. I really hope you don't get fired over this."

"Honestly, Julie, what would it even matter if I did? I'm going to have to quit anyway when we move."

That was definitely a good point. Although I did wonder what job Dad would find when we moved. There wasn't exactly a high demand for Heads of Departments for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It's not the kind of job you just apply for anyway. You had to start out in a lower level job within that department. That's how Dad landed his job in the first place. He started out in the Werewolf Control Unit and then got promoted.

"You know full well that it matters," Mum replied, "You'll want to leave on good terms if you've got any hopes of finding a job somewhere else. They'll contact the Australian Ministry, wherever you decide to apply."

"Julie, I'm not ever going to be able to leave on good terms. Not when I'm vetoing all their laws. The only way I'd leave on good terms is if I passed all the proposed legislation. And there is no way I could do that, you know that."

"I do. I wouldn't pass it either."

"I think I'll be getting out of a sinking ship anyway," Dad continued, "The Ministry's gone down hill ever since Gabishi became Minister."

Vincent Gabishi was elected Minister a few years ago. He had actually been the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures before Dad. Dad got promoted to the position after Gabishi left it vacant to become Minister. I met Gabishi once and did not like him one bit. He's a tall lean man with a pointy mustache and sinister grin. He struck me as extremely creepy. His policies are harsh, yet he puts on a kind face when he addresses the public. That's how he got elected. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever anti-werewolf legislation slipped past Dad would get signed and put into law by Vincent Gabishi.

"I've never liked that man," Mum muttered.

"You and me both," Dad agreed, "The amount of rows we got into when he was Head..."

Mum and Dad were silent for a moment. I rarely ever got to hear them talk about the Minister and the rest of the Ministry. They usually talked about such things behind closed doors. Hell, they probably thought I wasn't even listening right now.

"I have to admit that it kind of worries me what kind of legislation will be passed after we move," Dad admitted, "I'm the one reason most of these laws haven't been passed. Most of the department wants them passed and Gabishi is all for them as well."

"I've thought about that as well," Mum said, "But sometimes you have to put your family before the general public, Walter."

"I know. And that's why we're headed to New York," Dad reminded her.

"Any idea who's going to replace you as Head?"

Dad sighed, "To be honest, it'll probably be Lubar."

Ralph Lubar? That arse who was quoted in the article? I didn't know the man at all, but judging by his comments, he'd make a horrible Head of Dad's department.

"Lubar?" Mum said skeptically, "They can't find anyone better?"

"Lubar's tight with the Minister," Dad said. "And connections are meaning more and more these days."

"You didn't need any connections," Mum pointed out.

"Afton appointed me, remember?"

Zachary Afton had been Minister before Gabishi. He lost to Gabishi, but Gabishi had vacated his spot as Head of Dad's department before he actually won the election. Pretty arrogant, if you ask me. What would he have done if he lost? He would've been out of a job. Plus, he didn't get to appoint the next Head. He was probably regretting that now. Anyway, Afton got to appoint the new Head of department and he appointed Dad.

"Yes, but not just because he knew you," Mum said.

Afton had shared Dad's view about werewolves. He was sympathetic towards them, as well as centaurs, merpeople, house elves, and goblins. Afton was a kind man who always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Pretty much the complete opposite of Gabishi.

"I know, I know. And Gabishi will appoint Lubar because they share the same views."

"When are you going to let them know you're resigning?" Mum asked quietly.

"Not yet. I'm not telling anyone about our plans until they're final. Once we have Amy enrolled in her new school and our new house bought, I'll put in my two weeks. Then Gabishi can go ahead and appoint Lubar or whomever he wants."

"Good idea," Mum said.

Neither of them said anything else. I heard Mum rummaging around in her bag and I knew their conversation was over. I stuck my nose back into my potions book and got absorbed in it for the next hour or so.

The first five or six hours of the flight went by surprisingly fast. I read a few chapters of my potions book and read an entire novel (yes, that one was actually a novel). I also did a little more Muggle-watching. Most of the parents on the plane spent the entire flight so far chasing their kids around and taking them to the bathroom. The businesswoman, along with a few other people I assumed to be businessmen and women, spent the time on their laptops and talking on the phone. Black-clad teenage boy listened to his music and slept. Hawaiian t-shirt man and his wife spent the time complaining and flagging down flight attendants in order to complain to them. The young couple who had been arguing at the airport had apparently made up and were kissing each other, causing Charlie and Tara to shriek 'ew, gross!'.

I smirked to myself as I saw the couple break apart from each other on my way back from the bathroom. Charlie had just ran up to them and shouted 'Mum, they're kissing!'. Charlie's mum was looking more and more stressed out and tired. She grabbed Charlie by his arm, muttered an apology to the couple, and gave Charlie a glare that I had seen on my own Mum on multiple occasions.

When I returned to my seat, Mum and Dad were talking again, but not about Dad's job. This time they were talking about what kind of house they wanted to buy. I didn't want to listen in on that conversation. I just didn't want to think about buying a new house.

"I'm bored," Matt said once I had sat down, "And hungry."

"Well, I saw them getting ready to serve the disgusting meal back there," I told him.

"Good," Matt replied, completely ignoring the fact that I had said the meal was disgusting. For some reason, Matt actually liked the food they served on planes. Either that or the last time we were on a plane, he was so hungry he would've eaten anything.

"99 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 99 bottles of butterbeer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of butterbeer on the wall," Matt sung quietly.

"Ugh, not that song again!" I groaned. The last time we flew to New York, Matt had gone through the entire thing three times. It drove me mad.

I was well on my way to madness when the nasty meal arrived. Matt had made it down to 67 bottles of butterbeer, but stopped singing when the flight attendant put his meal down on his tray.

I glanced at my own food. There was a piece of meat that slightly resembled chicken, but I couldn't be sure. The mystery meat was drowning in some kind of creamy sauce with chunks of who-knows-what in it. Then there was a baked potato wrapped in tin foil. I took off the foil and found that it actually looked like a normal potato. That might actually be edible, I thought. There was also a pile of mixed vegetables that made an odd squishing noise when I tapped them with my plastic fork. Besides that, there was a cardboard cube of chocolate milk and a little tub of chocolate pudding. At least they knew to give me chocolate.

Matt was already digging into his meal. I tentatively stabbed at the chicken and ate a bite of it. I immediately regretted it. The 'chicken' tasted like a combination of cardboard and socks, not that I'd ever tried either. Well, ok, I did eat a bit of cardboard once, but it was on a dare. I'd never tried socks, though.

The only part of the dinner I actually ate was the potato, pudding and milk. The rest of it was just too disgusting. I'd just have to eat a whole lot once we got to Uncle Jack's. That wouldn't be a problem, though, since Uncle Jack always cooked the best food.

"Are you going to eat that?" Matt pointed to my uneaten chicken.

"Uh, no," I raised an eyebrow at him, "You can have it if you want it."

"Excellent," he grinned and grabbed my plate.

Sometimes I wondered how he could still be so skinny and short when he ate so much. Of course, he hardly ate anything the day of the full moon and a couple days after, so I guess it evened out.

I drifted off to sleep shortly after I finished my mediocre dinner. There wasn't really anything else to do besides sleep at that point. I had already gone through an entire book and didn't want to start another one yet.

I was jolted awake by the pilot announcing something on the loudspeaker. I had no idea what time it was.

"Hello, everyone, this is your pilot. I just wanted to let you know that we have crossed the International Date Line. It is now, well, yesterday! It's March 17th. Although we will be arriving in New York on March 18th."

Thinking about that just made my brain hurt. How could it be yesterday? I didn't even want to think about it. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The plane was dark now, with only the lights from the inside to illuminate it. A fair few of the passengers were sleeping and most of the others were watching the movie that was playing.

Both of my parents were asleep and they were leaning on each other's shoulders. Matt was asleep as well. He had curled up in his chair like a cat and had his head leaned up against the window. That was one good part about being short. You could curl up on an aeroplane seat. I was much too tall to do that now.

It was still dark out when I next woke up. I kind of liked it when it was dark. I could see the stars and the moon through the window. It was also hard to tell that we were so high up when it was so dark. Mum and Dad were awake as well. Once again, they were whispering, only this time it was so quiet that I couldn't hear them.

I started and finished another book before we landed in Los Angeles to refuel. By that time, the sun had risen and was lighting up the plane again. Despite this, only about half the passengers were actually awake. I was extremely knackered and was feeling achy due to lack of movement. Matt was awake as well and was singing '99 bottles of butterbeer' again. I had long since given up on trying to get him to stop and was trying to ignore his redundant song.

Shortly after we took off again from Los Angeles, we were treated to yet another wonderful in-flight meal. This one was actually somewhat edible since it was breakfast. I received a dried out bagel, some warm cream cheese, a cube of orange juice, and a not quite ripe banana. I ate all of it since I was starving. I hadn't eaten much of the previous meals and this one was a bit better than those. I fell asleep again after eating because the only other alternative was listening to Matt comment on the ground outside.

When I woke up a few hours later, the sky outside was ominously dark. I saw a bolt of lightning and swallowed hard. Great, I thought, we're going to be stuck in a storm.

A loud dinging noise started and the fasten seat belt light started blinking. I grabbed for my seat belt and shakily buckled it.

"We're going to be flying through a storm," the pilot said in an annoyingly cheery voice, "Nothing to worry about, but please fasten your seat belt."

"Nothing to worry about?" I muttered, "We're flying through a thunderstorm and that's nothing to worry about?"

Dad turned around. "It'll be fine, Amy," he assured me.

I nodded but didn't say anything. Thunder and lightning were surrounding the plane and I could see rain drops on the window. We were in the midst of it now. I closed my eyes and gripped the arm rests, waiting for it to be over.

The plane started shaking a few minutes later. It was crashing, I just knew it. We were all going to die in a fiery plane crash.

"Dad?" I whispered, "I think the plane's going to crash."

"It's just turbulence," he replied.

Sure enough, the pilot was on the loudspeaker again. "We're experiencing a bit of turbulence, nothing to worry about!"

What was with this bloke? The plane was shaking and he said there was nothing to worry about? My stomach was starting to hurt again and I was regretting eating my entire breakfast. Why did the turbulence have to come after breakfast?

I opened my eyes and looked out the window, where it was still storming. Matt was sleeping through the whole thing, figures. He can sleep through anything.

The thunder clapped loudly and the plane lit up with lightning. A kid shrieked and my stomach churned. I grabbed for my chunder bag. I bent over and retched into it.

Dad turned around again. "Amy, are you all right?"

I nodded, wishing more than ever that we could have brought potions on the plane. But no, all liquids had to be less than 4 ounces. This was beyond disgusting. It was one thing to chunder in your own house, but on an aeroplane where everyone could see?

Once we had flown out of the storm, my stomach felt much better. The remainder of the flight was boring but not nearly as nerve wracking as the storm had been.

The plane landed in New York about two hours later than it was scheduled to. We exited the plane and immediately had to go through security and the passport place again. Both went smoothly and I was relieved that I did not set off any metal detectors.

When we finally had finished collecting our luggage and getting through security, we went into the crowded sitting area and I immediately spotted Uncle Jack.

"Uncle Jack!" Matt shouted and ran over to him.

"Hey! Matt, you've gotten so big!" Uncle Jack grinned and picked him up, "How's my little guy doing?"

"Good," Matt replied.

Uncle Jack is my dad's little brother. He's four years younger than Dad, but he acts even younger. He's taller than my dad and keeps his dirty blond hair in a long ponytail, much to the dislike of Mum. Unlike Dad, his hair has hardly any grey in it and his face isn't lined with wrinkles. My dad and Uncle Jack get along wonderfully, despite their differences in lifestyles. When they were just out of school, they traveled all over the world together, looking to find the 'Deathly Hallows'. They are a cloak that renders the wearer invisible, a stone that can sort of bring back the dead, and an unbeatable wand. They're explained in this kid's story, 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' and most people don't really believe they actually exist, but Dad and Uncle Jack do. Even Mum went with them to look after my parents got married, but eventually she and Dad gave up because they wanted to settle down and start a family.

Uncle Jack, on the other hand, kept looking. He stopped looking actively years ago, but I'm pretty sure he still thinks they're out there. I'll bet if he heard any rumors about them, he'd go check it out wherever it was. He's a very spontaneous and active person. He moved to New York after he actively gave up finding the Hallows because that's just the last place he had traced them to. He liked it there and just decided to stay.

Whereas Dad has a high-powered job in the Ministry, Uncle Jack dislikes the government and wouldn't want to work for them. However he does respect Dad's career. Uncle Jack works at a used book store and does random jobs that I think involve tracing people and magical objects. He makes a decent living and he's got inheritance money, too. I don't think he's ever really had a serious girlfriend and I honestly can't see him getting married.

The best thing is, is that he doesn't care at all that Matt is a werewolf. Richard and Cinda pretend they're ok with it, but I've heard them talking to Mum about it and they're really kind of nervous about it. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, isn't bothered in the slightest by it. He treats Matt exactly the same as he did before he was bitten. Even my parents don't do that.

"Jack," Dad grinned, "How the hell are ya?"

"Brilliant!" Jack grinned back, "I've been waiting here for the past two hours, but no matter. I don't have to work tomorrow so it doesn't matter."

"Hi, Jack," Mum smiled.

"Julie, how have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Surviving," Mum replied.

"Hey, Uncle Jack!" I grinned at him.

"Amy!" Uncle Jack shifted Matt over to one side and hugged me with his other arm. "Guess what I've got at home, just for you?"

"Spiedies?" I guessed.

One of my favorite things about going to Uncle Jack's house is the spiedies. Spiedies are little pieces of marinated meat that you barbecue or cook in the oven. Uncle Jack's preferred method is to barbecue them, Muggle style. They're usually made with chicken or pork, but there are lamb ones too. I like the chicken ones best. You're supposed to eat them on a roll or in a salad, without any ketchup or mustard or any other condiments. They originated in the Southern Tier of New York and Uncle Jack discovered them during his travels. I absolutely adore them and can't get them in Australia. They've stayed pretty local anyway. Uncle Jack says it's hard to find them outside of the Southern Tier and even harder to find them in other states.

"Sure do," Uncle Jack replied, "I'll just cook them up as soon as we get home."

"Excellent," I grinned, "I'm starving. Aeroplane food is awful."

"Let's go, then," Uncle Jack said and started leading us out of the airport. "There's a Floo station a couple blocks down. Oh, but you ought to put on your winter coats. It's quite chilly out."

I laughed as I looked at us in our t-shirts. I had completely forgotten about the whole winter thing. I opened up my suitcase and pulled out my puffy jacket. The rest of my family did the same and as soon as we were all bundled up, Uncle Jack led us out the door.

I followed, trailing my suitcase behind me. I was immediately hit by the image of New York City in the winter. There were huge buildings all around, cars and buses clogging the streets, steam coming up from the sidewalks, and small piles of black snow. There wasn't any white snow in sight. I guess I'd have to wait until we got to Uncle Jack's to see that. Then there was the noise. Cars were honking their horns, brakes were screeching, people were yelling, dogs were barking, and music was blasting out of cars.

"This way!" Uncle Jack shouted and led us to the left, "Stick with me now, it's crazy tonight!"

Matt, who was still in Uncle Jack's arms, had clamped his hands over his ears as a car honked its horn right next to us. I couldn't blame him one bit. Even I hated the noise and I didn't have super sensitive hearing. Cities have never been my favorite places. I much prefer a rural setting.

A few minutes later, Uncle Jack led us into a crowded pub that the Muggles walked past without even noticing. It was dark and there was smoke everywhere. Not the kind of place I would want to frequent very often.

"Floo's in the back," Uncle Jack muttered, "Dodgy place, don't make eye contact with anyone."

I heeded his advice and followed him quickly to the fireplace. I could feel people's eyes on me and wanted to get to Uncle Jack's as soon as possible.

Uncle Jack pulled out a bag of Floo powder and passed it around. Dad went first, then Mum, and then me. I threw in the powder, shouted the name of Uncle Jack's house, and stepped in. A few moments later, I stepped out of the fireplace and into Uncle Jack's house.

Chapter 17: The Adirondack Academy of Magic

The best way to describe Uncle Jack's house is, like Uncle Jack, unique. I have never been in a stranger house than Uncle Jack's. It's situated on a plot of land that's about five acres, which he owns. It's mostly bush, but there is about an acre of open area that Uncle Jack uses to grown his own fruit and vegetables. He grows all sorts of stuff like potatoes, cherry tomatoes, peas, corn, strawberries, blueberries, and apples.

The house itself is on the small side compared to mine. Uncle Jack inherited a load of money from my grandparents just like Dad did, but I'm not really sure what he did with most of it. I know he bought his land and built his house with some of it, but I've got no idea what happened to the rest. His house has got to be the strangest design I've ever seen. On the first floor is the kitchen, dining room, and living room. When you first walk into the house, you're in the kitchen. If you turn right, you'll be in the dining room, the left you'd be in the living room. None of the rooms are square. The kitchen's actually got five walls. The other two rooms have four walls, but they're all different lengths. The doorways aren't level either.

On the second floor are the bedrooms and bathrooms. There's three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Only one bathroom's got a shower and tub. These rooms aren't normal looking either. They've got sloped ceilings and strange sized doors. They're also situated in a circle. When you reach the top of the stairs, you're in the middle of the circle. Across from you is a bedroom, next to that a bathroom, then another bedroom, the second bathroom, and finally the third bedroom.

However, the oddly shaped rooms and strange construction of the house is only the beginning. What's more interesting is what you'll find inside the house. The decor is so mismatched that Cinda would probably have a hippogriff as soon as she set foot in the kitchen. There's an assortment of Muggle contraptions all from various eras, from a telegraph to a black and white television to a fancy new computer. Then there are the wizard items, from old broken wands to sneakoscopes to worn out invisibility cloaks. Plus, there's the random junk that's just laying around. Uncle Jack swears he'll find a use for all of it, but I'm not so sure. He collects everything and I mean everything. He's even got a large box full of stones of various sizes that he insists he needs.

Today was no different and as soon as I stepped out of the floo and into the living room, I saw the normal piles of stuff cluttering up the room. I didn't even try to suppress my grin as I gazed around at the house. It had been so long since we visited and I hadn't even realized how much I missed the place before now.

Mum and Dad were already looking around at the room. Dad was grinning and shaking his head as he fingered an ugly cloak that Cinda wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole. Mum had picked up a broken copper kettle that no longer had a bottom and was eying it with trepidation.

"Same old Jack," Dad smiled.

A moment later, the fire turned green again and out stepped Uncle Jack and Matt. Uncle Jack lowered Matt to the floor and he immediately went to check out a pile of stuff on the floor.

"Welcome back to my abode," Uncle Jack grinned.

"Hasn't changed a bit," Dad laughed.

"Just added more stuff," Uncle Jack commented, "Now, Amy, Matt, go look out the window."

I ran over to the window and pulled up the blinds. Uncle Jack turned out the light and I gasped as I saw the white blanket that covered the yard. Snow! It was snowing! The snow looked so much better than it had in the few Muggle movies I had watched. It looked so peaceful outside with the white fluffy dots falling softly from the sky. It was as if nothing could be wrong in the world if the snow was there.

"It's beautiful," I murmured.

"I want to go play in it!" Matt shouted.

"Maybe tomorrow," Uncle Jack told him, "It's almost dark now. And it's time for dinner."

"Oh, yeah, spiedies!" Matt exclaimed and ran into the kitchen.

"I'll have to cook them in the oven," Uncle Jack said as the rest of us went into the kitchen, "Since I can't barbecue in the snow."

Uncle Jack had the spiedies cooked in no time. I'm pretty sure he has altered his oven with magic, but I can't say for sure. We all sat down at the table and I piled my roll high with spiedies. Then I added ketchup and mustard. I didn't care if that really wasn't how you were supposed to eat them. I liked the way they tasted with ketchup and mustard.

After dinner, we went back into the living room and Uncle Jack and my parents started talking about the visit to the school the next day. I listened carefully as I played a game of Gobstones with Matt.

"What do you know about this school?" Dad asked.

"Not much," Uncle Jack shrugged, "Never really bothered to look into it since I haven't got any kids. I know a few people who do have kids who go there, though. They're happy with it, although it's the only wizarding school in New York, so it's pretty much the only option besides home schooling. Just like in Australia."

"Seems like it's that way everywhere," Dad said, "How about the Headmaster? Know much about him?"

"Nope. Never met him. Heard he's a very understanding bloke, though. Kind of the opposite of Killigan."

"That's what we're hoping for," Dad muttered.

"Never thought Killigan would turn out like this, though," Uncle Jack continued, "I mean, he was tough when we were there, but it never crossed my mind that he was so prejudiced."

"Never really would have, though, would it?" Mum said, "I mean, we were kind of blissfully ignorant at that school. Did either of you really think about what the teachers were like outside of school?"

"Not really," Dad said.

"I guess not," Uncle Jack said.

I agreed with that. I hadn't really thought about any of my teachers besides how well they taught. It never once crossed my mind that any of them could be prejudiced or anything like that. They were just teachers to me, there to teach us and nothing else.

"Makes me wonder what would have happened if we did know back then. If it would have changed anything," Dad sighed.

"Think about it, Walt," Uncle Jack said, "Would it really have changed anything? Would you have moved years ago if you had known Killigan was so prejudiced?"

Dad thought for a long time before answering. "Honestly, I don't really think we would have. Do you, Julie?"

Mum sighed, "No, I don't think we would have. Because back then, it wouldn't have really mattered."

"Exactly," Uncle Jack replied, "So you shouldn't be beating yourselves up over this. Nobody could have foreseen this. You've just got to deal with it as it happens."

"I know, I know," Dad murmured. "It's just, I keep thinking that maybe we shouldn't have waited so long to find out if Killigan would let him in. If we had done it sooner, we could have had this all behind us...."

"And it would have been just as hard then," Uncle Jack pointed out, "Maybe even harder. Could you have imagined dealing with finding a new school when you were already dealing with everything else?"

"I guess not," Dad said after a few moments, "But there's plenty going on now...."

"I think it's good you're doing it now. In reality, you could have even waited. Matt's got three years until school. But if you had waited until then, Amy would have been going to a new school just for her last year."

I hadn't thought of that. They really could have waited. I shuddered at the thought of having to switch schools for just one year. Of course, maybe that would have been better. If I hate the new school, I'm going to have four years of it to deal with.

"I suppose you're right," Dad sighed.

"Now, when are you visiting the school?" Uncle Jack asked.

"Tomorrow, ten o'clock," Dad replied, "We're Flooing to the nearby village and the headmaster is meeting us there."

"Mind if I join you? I'm off work tomorrow."

"Not at all," Dad smiled, "We'd be glad to have you. I was hoping you'd be able to direct us to a good real estate agent afterwards anyway. Got to look at houses while we're here."

I groaned inwardly. Look at houses. Houses that we might live in. I just hoped that my parents wouldn't actually buy one this trip. But if they made up their minds that we were going to move to New York, chances are they would buy one this trip.

"Of course," Uncle Jack said.

Mum insisted that we go to bed shortly after that. Since I had slept on the plane, I wasn't the least bit tired, but I didn't want to argue over a simple issue like going to bed. It's not like I had to go to sleep anyway.

Matt and I entered the bedroom we usually stayed in. Our room was also used as another storage place, so there were boxes of random stuff all over it. Among all the boxes were two ornately carved wooden beds with patchwork quilts. I set my suitcase down at the foot of the one that was closest to the window. I gazed out into the night sky and all I wanted to do was stargaze all night. The sky was totally different in the Northern Hemisphere and I rarely got to look at it.

I watched the stars for a long time while Matt rifled through Uncle Jack's boxes. Eventually, the moon rose high enough to shine into the window and I had to close the blinds before it gave Matt a headache. Why my parents had scheduled this trip so close to the full moon, I had no idea. Maybe they were thinking that it would pay off in the long run if we wound up moving here.

I dug a book out of my suitcase, grabbed my wand, and climbed underneath the quilt. Despite the cold outside, Uncle Jack's house was toasty warm. I settled back, lit my wand, and started to read.

"Amy?" Matt whispered after a few minutes, "Are you awake?"

"'Course I am," I muttered, "Slept all day on the plane."

"You don't want to move, do you?" he asked so quietly I could barely hear him.

"Not really," I replied, "I like my school."

"But the headmaster doesn't like me."

"Never said I liked the headmaster," I sighed, "I like my teachers and Olivia's there."

"If we move here, I'll go to school like you do, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the point of moving here," I rolled my eyes.

Matt was silent for a few minutes and then mumbled something incoherent.

"What?" I asked.

"What if nobody likes me here either?"

I sighed. I wasn't the person to have an emotional conversation with. Even though I had made it perfectly clear that I didn't want to move, my brother was looking to me for reassurance about it. That made a whole lot of sense.

"Why wouldn't they?" I asked, hoping that maybe there was another reason besides the obvious one as to why he thought nobody would like him.

"Because of what I am," Matt whispered.

Nope, no other reason. "Well, we wouldn't be here if the headmaster hadn't already agreed to let you attend. And you heard Uncle Jack, the headmaster is nice."

"I don't mean the headmaster," Matt's voice cracked, "I'm talking about the other kids."

Oh. I definitely wasn't the one to be asking advice for on this. Most of the other girls in my year didn't like me.

"Well, er, it's not like they're going to know. It's not like you'll be walking into brekkie the first day and shouting, 'Guess what? I'm a werewolf,'" I suppressed a laugh at the thought of that, "None of the other kids will have any idea you're a werewolf."

"What if they guess? What if they figure out why I'm gone once a month?"

"You'll have excuses, they won't find out. And if they do, I'm sure Dad will figure something out."

"Are you sure?"

No, I'm not sure. How could I possibly be sure? "Yeah, don't worry about it."

"Ok."

I sighed and went back to reading. Why was he looking to me for reassurance? It's not like I'd done anything remotely like this before.

"Amy?"

I sighed again and laid my book down on the bed. I guess I wouldn't be getting much reading done that night. I pointed my wand at my brother and he squinted his eyes as the light flooded him. When he opened them again, he looked scared.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you really that mad about moving?" he asked quietly, hardly moving.

"Yes," I said after a moment. There really wasn't much point in lying to him. "The last thing I want to do is move right now, but I haven't got a say in the matter."

"Oh," he replied and rolled over. My wand was now illuminating his small back.

I watched him for a few minutes before picking my book up again. He didn't say anything else. I guess my blatant answer to his question made him not want to talk to me anymore.

******

I must have fallen asleep at some point during the night, because the next thing I knew, Mum was shaking me awake. I groaned and sat up, feeling very tired. I hated jet lag. Now I was going to be tired all day.

I put on the bulky winter clothing I had packed and went downstairs. Uncle Jack, who was a morning person like I usually was, was reading the paper and enthusiastically eating a bowl of cereal. Mum and Dad were both looking exhausted and drinking large mugs of coffee. Matt was leaning his head on his hand and lazily eating a piece of toast. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and began to eat it.

Shortly after I finished, Dad stood up and announced that it was time to leave. Suddenly, I was very nervous. We were about to visit the school that I might be spending the next four years at. What if I hated it?

"We're Flooing to a place called the Mooning Dragon. It's in the village closest to the school, which is in the middle of the Adirondacks," Uncle Jack explained as we followed him to the fireplace. "I'll see you there." He threw in a handful of powder and disappeared.

"You go first, Amy," Dad said.

I nodded and threw in a handful of Floo powder. "The Mooning Dragon," I said clearly after I stepped in.

Once the spinning stopped and I could begin breathing once more, I opened my eyes and stepped out of the fire. I was standing in a room that seemed the exact opposite of the pub we went to in New York City. This place was bright and airy and had a very homey feel to it.

The tables and chairs were all wooden and looked to be hand carved. The bar itself even looked like it was hand carved. The lady behind the bar was a round woman with a large smile on her wrinkled face. Her curly white hair was half hidden underneath a knitted cap. She said hello to me as I looked around her pub.

The walls were adorned with pictures of outdoorsy scenes, many of which included various animals. Most of them were so realistic that they could be mistaken for windows, had it not been the middle of winter.

The customers were also vastly different from those at the pub in New York City. Here, there were parents with giggling children, older couples out for a late breakfast, little old ladies with shopping bags, men reading the paper by themselves, and a few older teenagers laughing at one of the tables.

Uncle Jack was waiting for me next to the fireplace. A few seconds later, my parents and Matt stepped out of the fire and joined us. Uncle Jack gestured for us to sit at one of the nearby tables.

"Welcome to The Mooning Dragon," he said as we sat down, "One of my favorite pubs."

"It's a very nice place," Dad said as he looked around, "Quite rustic."

"That's why I like it," Uncle Jack grinned.

"Jack!" the lady behind the bar said as she strode over to the table, "How nice to see you."

"You, too, Nat," Uncle Jack stood up and embraced the older lady. Then he turned to us, "This is Nat Fernski; she owns the place."

"Nice to meet you," Dad stood up.

"Nat, this is my brother, Walt," Uncle Jack gestured to my dad, "And his wife, Julie, and their kids, Amy and Matt."

Nat gave us all tight hugs. "It's really wonderful to finally meet Jack's family. Although I still say he needs to settle down and have some kids of his own."

Uncle Jack blushed, "I'm happy the way things are now, Nat."

"I know you are, dear," Nat smiled, "So, what brings you to New York?"

"They're visiting the school," Uncle Jack told her.

"Thinking of moving?" Nat asked.

"We are moving," Dad told her, "Just not sure where yet."

"Ah, well, the school here is excellent. I went here myself as a girl," Nat said. "Can I get you anything right now?"

Dad looked at his watch, "Maybe after the visit. The headmaster is supposed to be here anytime."

"All right. I'll see you in a few hours then," Nat smiled and went back to the bar.

"She's nice," Mum commented after Nat was occupied behind the bar.

"Oh, she's great," Uncle Jack replied, "Very motherly, though. Keeps telling me to settle down."

My parents laughed along with Uncle Jack and I glanced towards the door. It had just opened and a man stepped in amongst a swirl of snow. He closed the door and looked around the pub.

He was a tall man, who looked maybe ten years older than my parents. His face was lined, but his eyes were kind and he had a smile on his face. The man's hair was mostly hidden by the hood of his cloak, but I could see bits of grey sticking out underneath it.

The man kept glancing around the pub and then his eyes met mine. His smile broadened and he started walking over to our table. I watched as he got closer and closer to our table.

"Are you Walter Eckerton?" the man asked Dad.

"Yes," Dad replied, standing up.

"Hi, I'm Marvin Roberts, Headmaster of the Adirondack Academy of Magic," he said as he stuck out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," Dad shook his hand, "My brother Jack, my wife Julie, and our kids, Amy and Matt."

The adults exchanged handshakes and greetings as I watched Marvin Roberts. He seemed nice enough. His smile seemed genuine and I didn't get the sense that he was particularly nervous about this. The man radiated a sense of calm and leadership. In the span of two minutes, I could tell that he was a better headmaster than Killigan.

"Well," Roberts clapped his hands together, "I thought we'd start by a tour of the school and then we could talk in my office. I would show you around the grounds as well, but there's a raging snowstorm out there, so we'll skip that."

Mum looked relieved about this, but I kind of wanted to wander around in the snow. I hadn't had a chance to do much with it yet. I wanted to build snowmen and go sledding and all the other snow related stuff Uncle Jack had told me about.

"Sounds good," Dad replied.

"Right this way," Roberts turned and led us out of the pub.

Roberts was certainly right about the storm. Snow was billowing everywhere and my face froze as soon as I stepped outside. I didn't really care though since the rest of me was perfectly warm. From what I could see, the little village was beautiful under the blanket of white.

"The village is called Dichtebos, which means 'dense forest' in Dutch. You can see why it got the name," Roberts shouted over the wind.

I could barely make out the trees surrounding the village. It looked like the village was nestled in the middle of the bush.

"Dutch wizards were the first to settle here," Roberts continued, "Long before European Muggles arrived."

I followed Roberts through the village, passing a few more pubs and some shops. There were also quaint little houses and a church. It looked like a very nice place, but I didn't really want to live there or anything. Roberts explained the history of the village to my parents, but I didn't pay much attention. Mum and Dad were walking alongside Roberts and Uncle Jack and Matt were just behind them. I lagged behind, not really wanting to participate in the conversation.

"The school is just up the path," Roberts said once we'd reached the outskirts of the village. He gestured to a snow covered path that went through the thick bush.

The path was very short and a few minutes later, we emerged onto the grounds of the school. Roberts paused and turned to look at us.

"The grounds start here. Directly behind me a couple yards is the main building, which houses the dining hall, library, my office, the nurse's office, and the other teachers offices. To the right of that is the upper level building, where all the classes for years four through seven. On the other side of the main building is the lower level building, where classes for years one through three are held. Behind the main building are the dormitories. The greenhouses are directly to my left and the Quidditch pitch is to my right. I'll start the tour with the main building."

It seemed to me that we'd be doing a bit of touring the grounds since there were so many buildings. At my school, there were just two buildings. This place had four. I trudged through the foot deep snow behind my brother and soon we made it to the building.

Roberts opened the door and we walked into the Entrance Hall. There was a staircase directly in front of us and a few doors that led off the large hall.

"The dining hall is right this way," Roberts said as we followed him to the left. "There aren't any meals going on right now, so it will be deserted."

Roberts opened the large wooden doors and stepped inside. I followed and saw that the dining hall looked much like the one at my school. It was filled with small round tables and chairs to go with them. There was a large rectangular table in the back, where the teachers probably sat. What caught my attention, though, was the way it was decorated. The ceiling was emblazoned with stars. Twinkling stars that looked incredibly real. They even formed the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. That was one thing that I really liked. Even the tables each had a star carved into them.

"The ceiling is brilliant," I said as we walked around the room.

"Glad you like it," Roberts replied, "Our theme is the night sky here. Mainly because this is the best place in the state to star gaze. We are most well known for our Astronomy department."

"I love Astronomy," I told him.

"You should like it here, then," Roberts smiled.

Maybe, I thought. So far it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but we had only seen the dining hall.

After we'd finished in the dining hall, Roberts showed us the library. I was very impressed by their collection of Astronomy books and wished I could have just stayed there for a while. There were also a few students there who looked at us curiously, but didn't say anything.

Next we went to the lower level classes building. It looked pretty much like any other building of classrooms I'd ever seen, not that I'd seen many. I loved the Astronomy department, though. It was much better than the one in Australia. The telescopes were state of the art, even better than the one I had at home. So that was another thing that wasn't as bad as I'd thought. The upper level building looked exactly the same as the lower level, only it was a bit bigger.

The last stop of the tour was the dormitories, since no one really had any desire to see the greenhouses during the raging storm. The dorms looked pretty much like the ones at my school did, with two people per room. Roberts also showed us one of the common rooms, which was also decorated with a starry theme. I had to admit that it was a bit nicer than my common room in Australia.

I was torn in my thoughts about the place as I followed Roberts back to the main building. On the one hand, I actually liked this place so far. But on the other, I still didn't want to move. I liked my school better because that's where Olivia was. I really didn't want to have to make all new friends. I wasn't even sure that I could.

The headmaster led us up the stairs in the main building and down the corridor past the library. He muttered a password to a painting of a knight and it swung forward to let us in.

Roberts's office was a warm cozy room with a roaring fire in the fireplace. There were comfy looking armchairs in front of it. The walls were painted a dark blue and everything else matched it. There were shelves of books and weird looking instruments all over the place.

Roberts gestured for us to sit down in the chairs. I sat down in the one on the far left. Uncle Jack sat next to me and pulled Matt onto his lap. My parents sat on his other side. Roberts took the remaining chair and smiled at us.

"What do you think of the school?" he asked.

"It's very nice," Dad replied, "Seems like a good atmosphere."

"I agree," Mum said, "I get the sense that it's a very relaxed place."

"I like it," Uncle Jack commented, "Seems like a better place than where we went to school."

"Good, good," Roberts said and then turned to me, "And how about you, Amy? Do you like it?"

All eyes fell on me and I tried to think of a word to describe the school. "Er, well, it's nice enough. I like the star theme, but I still don't want to move."

"Understandable," Roberts smiled, "Nobody wants to switch schools in the middle of their education. But I assure you that you'll fit in here."

I wasn't so sure about that, but I nodded anyway.

"And what about you, Matt? Did you like it?" Roberts asked.

Matt yawned and shrugged, "I dunno."

"We're all tired from the jet lag," Mum explained.

"Ah, right. Jet lag is a killer," Roberts replied.

I yawned as well. All I really wanted to do now was go to bed. I hadn't slept much the previous night and now that we weren't walking around anymore, the fatigue was hitting me. With that and the comfy chair and warm room, I was ready to drift off within a few seconds.

"Well, I guess we'd better get down to the details," Roberts began, "The most obvious thing is figuring out some place for him to transform. You said he does not take Wolfsbane?"

"No," Dad replied, "For some reason it does not work for him. It's got no effect whatsoever, so we stopped giving it to him."

"How strange. And you have no idea why?"

"No. We've taken him to numerous Healers, but no one has figured it out."

"Huh. Well then, he will obviously have to transform away from other people. I was thinking I could have another building put up. A small one to be used for this purpose. I would just have to come up with a good excuse as to why it's there.... Well, there's time to come up with excuses."

"That might work," Dad rubbed his chin, "But I'd like to put up wards myself."

"Of course," Roberts agreed, "That would be fine."

"What about your Ministry? Do they have an opinion to this? Did they say it would be all right for my son to attend your school?" Dad asked.

"Our Ministry stays out of school related matters for the most part. I did run this by them, since we've never done anything like it before, and they said it would be fine as long as precautions were taken. They even suggested that if it worked out, that we could advertise the school as a place werewolves could safely attend."

That would be the complete opposite of my school, I thought. I couldn't imagine Killigan ever advertising the place as a school for werewolves.

"That's an intriguing idea," Dad commented, "One I would be very supportive of."

"I had a feeling you would," Roberts said, "I've heard a little bit about your opinions of werewolf control laws in Australia. I daresay I agree with you."

"You're in the minority," Dad said darkly, "Things are changing down there and I cannot stop it my own."

"Well, all we can do is set a good example," Roberts replied, "And having your son attend here is only the beginning."

As I listened to Dad and Roberts's conversation, I became more and more convinced that we would be moving to New York. The two of them were talking about changing the way werewolves are perceived around the world, starting with this one state. I doubted there was anything that would convince my parents to move somewhere else. Even Mum seemed interested in what they were talking about. Uncle Jack looked absolutely fascinated. Matt was starting to fall asleep in Uncle Jack's lap. I turned away from their conversation and started reading the book titles on the shelf nearby. There were some potions books that looked good.

After what seemed like forever, Roberts and Dad stopped talking about changing the world's opinion of werewolves.

"Well," Roberts said, "We've gotten a bit off topic."

"Quite all right," Dad replied, "It was an interesting idea. We'll have to talk about it again."

"I shall owl you soon, then," Roberts smiled, "Now we should get back to the details of your son attending here. We were getting a bit ahead of ourselves."

"A bit, yes," Dad laughed.

"Well, I guess now we've got to talk about what exactly goes on during the full moon. What I'll need to know in order to fully understand."

Dad glanced at Mum and then cleared his throat. "Right. I guess I should start at the beginning, then. He gets tired a few days before the full moon and then gets sick the day of. We usually give him potions for that, but he winds up spending the whole day sleeping anyway. Then he goes down to the basement shortly before the moon rises and spends the night there."

Dad sighed and paused before continuing in a quieter voice. "I'm sure you know what goes on during the full moon if a werewolf is not on Wolfsbane and is shut away by himself. That's what happens with Matt. We get him from the basement as soon as the moon sets. He's always unconscious and we start with the healing spells and potions.

"Is your nurse up to this? We would be able to teach her the appropriate spells if necessary."

"I am sure she will be able to handle it," Roberts assured him, "She is quite skilled at healing. I'll admit that she has never treated a werewolf, but I don't think it will be a big deal."

"Good to hear it," Dad replied, "We will of course go into greater detail if we decide to move here."

If? I thought. If? It seemed to me that Dad had already made his decision. I guess he just didn't want to voice it yet. Either that or he had to discuss it with Mum. She had been awfully quiet.

"Excellent," Roberts grinned. "Do you have any questions?"

"Well, how do the other teachers feel about this?" Dad asked.

"I have not told them yet. If you'd like me to get their opinions before you make your decision, I certainly will."

"That would be nice," Dad replied.

"I will owl them shortly, then," Roberts said, "When can I expect your decision?"

"Soon. We'd like to have Amy enrolled for the upcoming year," Dad said. "We have a few more schools to visit. Within the next two months, we should know."

Two months. I had two more months before I was officially going to move. Would we move right after that? Did I just have two whole months before we left Australia? Two months was nothing. Hardly any time at all.

"All right," Roberts said as he stood up. "I'll be expecting your owl."

"It was nice to meet you," Dad stood up and shook Roberts's hand.

"You, too. I'll walk with you back to the Mooning Dragon."

I followed everyone out of Roberts's office and down the stairs. It looked like lunch was about to begin because students were entering the dining hall, wrapped in layers of winter clothing. They looked happy, though. They were laughing and joking around. Would I be with them in six months? Was there a chance that some of the kids I was watching now would be my friends?

Chapter 18: House Hunting

We wound up having lunch at the Mooning Dragon and Nat was delighted to have us there. Roberts told us that he regretted not being able to eat with us, but he had other business to attend to at the school.

Mum, Dad, and Uncle Jack talked about a whole range of topics including the school, Uncle Jack's job, and the weather. I didn't really pay much attention. I mainly just sat there and picked at my food. I wasn't really that hungry and my stomach was a bit queasy. Seeing all the students at the school just hit me hard. Knowing that I might be amongst them next year. It just seemed so weird to see a school that I might go to. A school that's not the Australian School of Sorcery. Could I really do this? Could I fit myself into a group of kids that have known each other since they were eleven?

I sighed and glanced up from my food. My parents were laughing with Uncle Jack and Nat. They looked truly happy. Mum's face was lit up like I hadn't seen it in months. Even Dad looked happy. Maybe we did belong in New York. If we moved here, would my parents be happy like this all the time? Or were they just happy now because they hadn't seen Uncle Jack in so long and because Dad hadn't worked in a few days?

Was I the only one that was going to miss Australia? I felt kind of sick just thinking about it. No one else in my family cared. They would probably move today if they could. They wouldn't care. Surely Mum would miss her parents, wouldn't she? Well, maybe not after Cinda threw that going away party.

I nibbled on a roll and watched my brother's eyes slowly close. He wasn't cheery and happy like my parents were. He looked utterly exhausted, which is exactly how I felt. The jet lag certainly wasn't helping my mood.

"What did you think of the Adirondack Academy of Magic?" Nat asked as she refilled Dad's water glass.

"It was nice," I smiled. What else could I say?

"I'm very glad," Nat replied and then turned to Matt, "And what about you, dear?"

"Huh?" his eyes snapped open and he glanced around confusedly.

"Are you all right, dear?" Nat asked with a look of concern on his face.

"Just tired," Matt replied.

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting you just flew in yesterday," Nat said, "I hope you liked the school."

"Yeah, it was good," Matt told her and then leaned his head onto his hand.

When lunch was finally over, all I wanted to do was go back to Uncle Jack's house and go to sleep. Mum and Dad wouldn't let me, though. They said the best thing to do was just wait until night to sleep and then my body would adjust to New York time. I was less than enthused about this, especially when Mum told me we were going house hunting.

"We'll have to Apparate there," Uncle Jack announced once we finished lunch. "The Real Estate office I'm going to show you specializes in both Muggle and wizard houses, so we can't Floo. We'll Apparate to the closest Apparition center and walk from there."

Mum grimaced. I knew the last thing she'd want to do is walk in this storm.

"It's not near here," Uncle Jack grinned, "So it might not be snowing there. It's actually closer to my house."

I reluctantly followed my family out of the pub and into the street. I didn't really think it was fair that Mum was letting Matt sleep in Uncle Jack's arms but she wouldn't let me go back to his house to take a nap. But Mum always let Matt sleep when he was tired, so I didn't complain about it. I wordlessly went into Dad's arms and we Apparated to the place Uncle Jack described.

We wound up in a small room with a few chairs and a desk. Behind the desk was a very bored looking witch who didn't look much older than me. She was flipping through a magazine and eating French fries. She glanced up as we appeared, but didn't say anything.

"This way," Uncle Jack muttered and we followed him out onto the street. "It's not far from here."

It wasn't currently snowing on this street, but there were high snowbanks alongside the road, so it must have snowed recently. It was also ice cold. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my face and tilted my head down as we walked straight into the wind.

Luckily Uncle Jack was right and we didn't have to walk far. Only a few minutes after we stepped outside the Apparition center, Uncle Jack led us into a building that looked in dire need of a paint job.

The inside was much nicer than the outside. There was a sitting area with green chairs and a television that was tuned into a news station. Nearby that was a desk with a secretary typing onto a computer and talking into a headset. Beyond that was a corridor which seemed to lead to a few offices.

I stood behind my parents as they waited for the secretary to be done with her conversation.

"May I help you?" she asked after a minute or so.

"Yes," Uncle Jack replied, "My brother and sister-in-law have an appointment with Miss Josephina Hawkings."

Dad turned to look at Uncle Jack with a raised eyebrow.

Uncle Jack grinned, "Made the appointment this morning."

"She'll be with you shortly," the secretary gestured to the waiting area.

We all sat down in the chairs and waited for the agent to call us in. The adults talked quietly about houses and I stared at the Muggle news. There wasn't anything interesting on it. Right now they were discussing the snow storm that was supposed to arrive the next day.

Matt was still asleep on Uncle Jack's lap and I was incredibly jealous. I was dreading this house hunting and it appeared that Matt would just sleep through the whole thing. I wanted to sleep through the whole thing. I doubted my parents would let me have much say in the whole thing anyway.

"Walter and Julie Eckerton?" a voice from behind me said.

I looked up and saw a very tall woman with dark brown hair pulled in a tight bun. She had a long face with a pointy chin and a rather prominent nose. She wore glasses on the very tip of her nose. She also seemed to have the same fashion sense as Cinda, based on the peach colored pants suit she was wearing.

We all stood up and the agent stuck out her hand, "Josephina Hawkings."

Dad shook it, "Walt Eckerton, my wife Julie, and our kids Amy and Matt. I believe you know my brother."

"Yes, I helped him find his plot of land," Josephina Hawkings replied.

We followed her down the corridor and into a tiny room that was her office. It was quite cramped with all five of us, plus Josephina in it. There were only three chairs in the room. Josephina took the one behind her desk, while my parents took the others. I stood behind them with Uncle Jack, who was still carrying Matt.

"So, you're looking to buy a house," Josephina said.

"Yes," Dad replied.

"What area of the state?" Josephina asked.

Dad looked at Mum and shrugged, "Well, perhaps somewhere near Jack, but we're not too picky."

"Could you tell me a bit about your current house to help me get some ideas?" she asked.

"Well," Dad began, "It's rather large. Ten bedrooms, six baths, completely walled in-"

Josephina's eyes lit up, "Ah! You live on an estate now! This gives me so many more opportunities! Let's see, there are a few houses like that up for sale. Let me see here..." she rifled through the papers on her desk.

"Wait," Dad said after exchanging a glance with Mum, "We were actually looking for something a bit smaller."

"Nonsense!" Josephina laughed, "Just wait until you see these houses."

"Really, we're only four people, we don't need that much space," Mum told her.

"But your house now is so large," Josephina said.

"It was my parents' house," Dad sighed, "I inherited it, so we moved in. It's not like we would have set out to buy something so grand."

Josephina looked a bit disappointed, "Well, if you're sure...."

"We're sure," Mum said.

"All right," Josephina sighed, "What size were you looking for?"

"Anywhere from three to five bedrooms would be fine," Dad replied.

"And would you be interested in a Muggle or wizarding house?"

"Either is fine," Dad said.

Josephina nodded and pulled out a binder. "Well, the best way is to just see the houses. I've got portkeys for all of them. Does that sound good?"

Dad nodded, "Yes, that will be fine."

"All right then," Josephina pulled out a keyring that had a variety of different colored keys on them. They were all rather large. "Each key is a portkey. I've got a great house for sale only a couple miles from Jack."

Josephina held out the key and we all placed a finger on it. She tapped the key with her wand and I felt myself being transported to some unknown house.

I landed with a thud onto the snow covered lawn of the house. I got up and tried to brush the snow off my pants, but it was already melting into them. Great, now I was going to have wet pants the whole time.

The house looked nice from the outside. It was in the middle of an open field, with hardly any trees. It was painted dark brown and had blue shutters on the windows.

"Four bedrooms, two baths," Josephina said as we started up the path to the front door, "About fifteen years old. The wizards that lived here moved about a week ago. Been on the market for about two months."

Josephina opened the door and we all stepped inside. The outside of the house was much nicer than the inside. The carpet was ripped up in places and had mysterious stains in others. There was no furniture anywhere. The walls had a few holes in them. Not to mention the smell. There was a very odd smell in the entire place.

I followed my parents into the house and we started looking around the living room. Mum had a look of shock on her face and Dad was peering into one of the holes. Uncle Jack was walking slowly into the kitchen.

"Well, what do you think?" Josephina asked excitedly.

Mum stared at her, "Well, it's not in the greatest shape, is it?"

"It's a fixer upper, I'll give you that," Josephina said, "But now you can fix it up however you'd like."

Mum and Dad exchanged glances, "I think we'd prefer something with a bit less 'fixing up' involved," Dad said.

"Oh, gross!" Uncle Jack called from the kitchen. "There's an old cauldron with a fermenting potion in it in here."

Josephina's cheeks turned red, "I guess I'll have to clean the place up a bit."

"We're leaving," Mum announced. "On to the next house."

"Don't you want to see the upstairs?"

"No way," Mum said.

Uncle Jack returned from the kitchen and Matt was awake now, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "It's nasty in there," Uncle Jack muttered.

"It stinks," Matt said flatly, "I don't like this house."

"None of us do, sweetie," Mum smiled at him. "We're going to go look at another one."

Josephina led us out the door and then she pulled out another key. We wordlessly took it and portkeyed to another house.

The entire afternoon was spent looking at houses. I was completely knackered by the time we finally finished. I personally thought the whole afternoon was pointless because we didn't find a single house we liked. They were either too small, too big, too much fixing up involved, or in a bad location. The only nice one we found was a Muggle house, but it was in a neighborhood with the next house only meters away. That wasn't going to work with Matt's transformations.

"I guess we'll just build a house," Dad said as we all sat around the dinner table.

"I think that would be a good idea," Mum agreed.

"So we're moving here?" I asked.

"Nothing's final yet, Amy," Dad told me, "We still have a few places to visit."

I nodded and continued eating my food. I was a bit hungrier now, but still not as much as usual. I was kind of glad we didn't find a decent house, though. Now my parents could just build one and decide for themselves what it looked like.

I went to bed early that night since I was so exhausted. Matt was already asleep when I slipped underneath the covers. I fell asleep quickly, despite my worries about the new school and new house.

The next day I finally got to play in the snow. Dad had to visit the New York ministry and see if there were any sort of jobs available that were anything like the job he had in Australia. The rest of us just stayed at Uncle Jack's house all day.

The snow was completely awesome. I built an entire snow family, complete with a pet dog. Mum, Uncle Jack, and Matt helped as well. Then we all went sledding on a nearby hill. I don't think I've ever enjoyed anything as much as sailing down a snowy hill on a piece of plastic. The wind was bitingly cold, but I didn't care.

We didn't stop until we couldn't feel our fingers and toes. Well, Mum went inside after only two hours, but the rest of us stayed out much longer. Mum had soup and hot chocolate waiting for us when we finally got too cold to stay outside.

Dad returned home late in the day, but unfortunately the New York ministry had no openings in their version of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. He said he would just have to do something different if we chose to move there. It wasn't really something he wanted to do, but he would if it was necessary.

Maybe we weren't definitely going to move to New York. I was sure that if another country had an opening in a place Dad wanted to work, we'd probably move there instead. I had kind of been hoping we'd just move to New York, if we had to move at all. But if Dad couldn't get a job, there's no way we could move there.