Facing the Future
Archibald stood up, thanked her, and then whispered his destination into the flames before stepping in and vanishing in a whoosh of hot, displaced air.
'Floo travel is always such a weird thing to see,' I mused. It was like watching a person fall down into a trapdoor that was surrounded by a green blaze. Very odd.
Immediately after Archibald had departed, Wisteria Hunch staggered over to a rocking chair, her expression painfully blank as she sat down. I remained standing, shifting nervously from foot to foot, waiting for something – anything! – to happen.
Eventually, mother finally looked up at me, and bit her lip before calling out for Inky. With a pop, the elderly House Elf appeared, and she looked from me over to him.
"Inky, Edward here might be moving out soon," she said, her voice choked with emotion. "Would you be willing to keep looking after him, even after he leaves?"
"Inky would be happy to keep serving Young Master Eddy," Inky said with a firm nod.
"You would be willing to be his custodian until he turns seventeen years old?" mother pressed, and again, Inky nodded in acceptance.
"Then so be it. No matter where my son my be, you will always look after him, and answer his summons to the best of your ability," Wisteria instructed Inky, who bowed at the waist. She then gestured for the two of us to approach, and she made me hold Inky's hand.
She then took out her wand, and waved it over us, muttering something that sounded like 'Manumissus' or something along those lines.
"There, that should do it," she murmured under her breath, before giving me a strained smile. "Don't make too much trouble for Inky, okay? He's not as spry as he used to be."
Inky let out an overly exaggerated gasp at that, and I snorted in amusement.
"I promise, mother," I told her.
She nodded, her expression melancholic, before getting up from the rocking chair. "Inky, help me make dinner tonight, okay?"
The two of them left for the kitchen, leaving me alone. I was content to let them be, ideas already swirling through my mind about how to take advantage of this situation.
'This works out perfectly,' I thought to myself. 'I could have lived without Inky's assistance, but having a magical butler like him is beyond useful. Several of my plans can actually be moved up with his magic at my disposal.'
I grinned to myself. It'd taken eleven years, but things in this new life were finally looking up!
....
Over the next couple of days, nothing really changed. Oh, sure, there were some differences. For one, I went to bed each night with a lot fewer bruises without father around. And I was actually feeling excited for the future. Not to mention Rudy's antagonism towards me had decreased, at least on the surface.
Oh, he hated me, I could tell. Rudy blamed me for father's death, but without that wretched oaf to beat mother senseless when he wasn't busy abusing me, Wisteria Hunch had grown a bit of spine and had ruthlessly spanked my brother the first time she discovered him putting acidic mucus into my shampoo.
Rudy didn't try and do anything else to me after that, but he did glare and refuse to speak to me. Which suited me fine, honestly. I barely considered him a sibling at all in the first place. Maybe mom could stamp out the evil that father had incubated inside my brother. Maybe she could convince him Squibs and Muggles weren't sub-human garbage. I doubted it, but wished her all the luck in turning him from the path of the Death Eater. I wasn't going to stick around to watch, however.
Still, my week was going well. And, as the sun dawned on a fine Wednesday morning, I was up early and eager to meet Archibald Tarsworth at the Leaky Cauldron. We were meeting up there to go into Muggle London to have my knowledge tested so they knew where to put me for schooling purposes.
It was the first time I'd get to visit London, in this life or the last. I'd always wanted to travel back in my old life. Sure, I'd gone on plenty of road trip vacations across the USA, visiting the different states during the summer, but I'd only gone overseas once, and that had been to Malta for a distant relative's wedding. Not a lot of time to go sightseeing then, sadly.
'Well, I've got plenty of time now,' I thought to myself giddily as I stepped up to the fireplace.
"Leaky Cauldron!" I called out as I tossed the floo powder into the crackling flames, grin widening as the fire turns emerald green.
I step through, and feel my body get yanked downwards, then sideways, and it is only the prior experience of traveling like this that I knew to keep my left foot up and out, so when I was spat out of the pub's fireplace, I had a foot to put forward, so I didn't stumble or trip. It was still a wild ride, and I wobbled a bit on my feet as I regained my bearings.