Relocation to Mystic Falls

// THIS IS AN OLD CHAPTER. THE NEW CHAPTERS ARE IN VOLUME 2. YOU CAN READ THESE CHAPTERS IF YOU WANT SOME INSIGHT ON WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN LATER BUT SOME EVENTS CAN BE DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW CHAPTERS.

The day after my breakup with Daphne and the purification of the Horcrux. We're finally back at our home in Mystic Falls. My parents are unpacking our boxes and installing my mother's work equipment. We took Susan with us for her safety, but we were unable to convince my aunt to come with us, she is convinced that her negotiations with the Goblin King and her duties to the ministry are more important than anything else. I just hope that the story has changed enough for her to survive or that Lucius will warn me if something happens.

Meanwhile, Grandmother Stryga is delighted to see us relocate to town. Mom helps her with the wedding preparations, there are only twenty days left to finish everything!

I had to change my hair and eyes color to my golden blonde hair when we got back to town. People would have asked questions if I had come back with snow-white hair and frost-colored eyes. I cannot wait to go to Ilvermorny to return to my old appearance since I got used to it.

Speaking of Ilvermorny, we will surely have to spend our whole summer there to catch up with some classes. There is no problem for the subjects in common with Hogwarts where we can make up the difference during the year, but we will have to take classes for the week of learning how to make a magic wand and a year of alchemy classes for me. Susan is lucky enough to just have the wand-making week and some remedial lessons.

But this morning, Mum asked me to buy groceries. We have to fill the cupboards if we want to eat. It is already very hot for this time of year; the thermometer shows 34 degrees Celsius outside.

People come and go to the city center and some take the opportunity to stop and enjoy the sun sitting on a bench. There aren't many people when I walk into the convenience store. I take out my shopping list and start with the first point, eggs.

I fill my cart going up the aisles one by one. Until I get to the alcohol aisles. Maybe I should take a bottle of Tequila?

"Sean?" I hear a voice behind my back. Bonnie and Sheila Bennet have just arrived behind me. "Wow, you've changed so much in just two years!" Bonnie had changed a lot too. The young girl begins is becoming a young woman. Her chocolate eyes go wonderfully with her crisp white teeth and long brown hair.

"Hi, Bonnie. Mrs. Bennet, nice to see you again." Sheila looks at me coldly, as if she caught a kid red-handed stealing a packet of candy. "So, is everything going well in Mystic Falls?"

"For the moment everything is going great. Are you going to be around for a long time?"

"Actually, I'm coming back more or less definitely. I'm still going to a private school in Massachusetts, but I would be back some weekends and for the holidays too."

"It's great. Some people will be happy to see you again. Elena keeps talking about you, you know. There's no way we can talk about boys without her speaking about you." She gives me her most beautiful mischievous smile but deep inside me, my heart hurt thinking about Daphne's smile. "We're having a party by the river this afternoon; you can come over if you want."

"Why not, that might be fun. I could bring Susan with me. It'll give her some fresh air. She's still sad that our aunt had to stay in London." I add a packet of crisps to the list. Finally, I did well to take this bottle of tequila, it will be useful sooner than expected.

"Bonnie, could you go get a jar of pickle please. I'll be waiting for you here, that will give me some time to chat with our young friend." Sheila gives a reassuring smile to Bonnie who looks a little surprised.

"Uh, yeah okay." Bonnie is a little confused but walks off down the condiment aisle. As soon as she is no longer in sight, Sheila and I drop the front smiles. She knows who I am, and I know who she is, there is no use in acting like we don't.

"I guess you don't have an ID for that bottle. Are you planning to hex a poor cashier? Do you at least have money to pay him?"

"Just a little hypnosis so that he doesn't mind my age. And don't worry about my money, I have enough to buy your house dozens of times, witch." She takes the bottle from my cart and puts it back on the shelf.

"And I think you're going to do without that bottle and your little black magic tricks, kid." The witch and I stare into each other's eyes. Neither of us wants to give in to the other. It's only when Bonnie comes back with a jar of pickle and a jar of mayonnaise that we resume our false smiles.

"I found it. I also took some mayonnaise; I finished the jar last night to make myself a sandwich."

"Thank you, Bonnie, we're going home. Thank you, Sean, the conversation has been very instructive." They both go to another alley leaving me alone in the liquor department. I really want to cast a curse on that shitty witch. But wait, what is preventing me to do it? I put the bottle of tequila back in my cart and add some beers.

I barely have time to put the beers away and get to the cash register when Bonnie and her grandmother are about to get out of the store. I whisper my curse softly, pointing to Sheila with my fingers "Mucus ad nauseam". Sheila's nose instantly began to spill snot on her blouse.

"Grandma is everything okay?" Bonnie turns around and looks worried. Sheila waves her hand, and her nose stops running.

"Yes, everything is fine. It's just the temperature change with the outside. Come on, let's go home, I have to go and change." She turns and glares at me.

I go home to drop off the groceries. Then I go to my room to clean it up a bit, well enchant things so that they clean for me while I turn on my computer. I find the old files of the textbooks that I had started to write to bring Hogwarts up to standard. They seem very unnecessary to me now that I would not go back there. I don't even know why I wanted to write them anymore. I start by updating the system and software. I spend the rest of the morning surfing on the internet and what a joy to reconnect with civilization. It's around noon when I hear someone knocking on the front door.

By the time I get down, my mom is already talking to Bonnie and Matt.

"Oh yeah, what a good idea. Oh wait, I think the bear is coming out of its cave. It's for you."

"Hey man, ready to go to a party by the river?" Matt grabs my arm; he took a lot of builds. He was already thick when he was younger but he's bulky like a fridge now. He has hair as blond as mine and eyes so azure blue that they look like two turquoises. And he's almost as tall as me too! I don't understand why he remained single so long after his breakup with Elena on the show. He's cut out like a supermodel, not the kind of boy who normally sits on the sidelines for so long.

"I'll quickly make a bag with my things and we'll be on our way." I go up the stairs. "Susan, put on your swimsuit, we are going near the river with the others!" I put on sunscreen and the tequila bottle with as much beer as my backpack can hold. I go look in the cupboards but the only beach towels I find are the ones I used when I was younger, they are covered with little suns with glasses and big smiles. I put on beach shorts and a sleeveless white t-shirt before heading downstairs to wait for Susan.

"I love your towel, Bones." Matt can barely hold himself back from laughing at me.

"Easy with the jokes. I just arrived and I didn't have time to go buy some towels yet."

"No no, it looks good on you. It brings out your manly side." He bursts out laughing and even Bonnie lets out a smile.

Susan eventually arrived with a large beige bag under her arm, she had put on a white dress over her swimsuit and was wearing big sunglasses and a huge hat that gave her a weird look. I see they didn't learn fashion sense in her Muggle Studies class.

"So how are we getting to your party? Because none of us have a driver's license." If I knew where it is, I might just Apparate us before I erase their memories.

"Elena's mother and Sheriff Forbes are going to drop us off there." Bonnie is holding back from laughing for some reason that escapes me.