The Importance of Being Different

On the lead up to the twentieth of January, Anne studied from dusk till dawn, she needed to know the curriculums back to front before she took a weekend off. Finally it was the nineteenth of January and Anne was going around to the Scamander’s for a few days off.

She pulled on a rugby jersey and a pair of jeans and put some spare clothes for the next few days in her backpack,

When she arrived at the Scamander’s on the Friday evening the table was full of cake samples.

“It seems like I’ve come at a good time,” said Anne as she looked at the twenty different types of cake on the kitchen table.

“Grab a fork and a chart and we can get started,” said Rolf who was already sitting there his fork at the ready.

“What about dinner?” asked Anne.

“What about it?” asked Averett.

Anne shook her head as she sat down next to Irwin and took up a fork pencil and chart. They were rating all the cakes out of ten and then choosing their favourites.

Quite a lot of them were chocolate, some were plain sponge, others were lemon drizzle, a few of them were fruit cake.

“Wedding cakes should not have dried fruit in them,” said Rolf sticking his nose in the air.

Rolf looked to Anne and Irwin who were sitting on either side of him.

“Agreed,” they both nodded.

“Well that cuts twenty down to sixteen,” chuckled Landon.

“Marzipan, or icing?” asked Gwen.

“Is this a Christmas cake?” asked Irwin.

“No marzipan,” nodded Gwen.

“This one’s good,” said Aislynn as she tasted one of the cakes.

“Plain sponge with chocolate chips,” muttered Newt as he tried some, “that is good.”

“If we don’t have it at the wedding can we have this kind of cake for my next birthday?” asked Rolf as he tried the chocolate chip cake.

“Try this one Annie,” said Irwin forking some cake onto his fork and putting it in Anne’s mouth.

“Mmmm,” she groaned, “chocolate sponge and salted caramel.”

“It’s good isn’t it,” beamed Irwin.

“If I eat too much of all this cake, I won’t fit in the wedding dress.”

“Don’t do that!” exclaimed Aislynn.

“I think I’ve found a winner,” said Landon passing Anne and Irwin the cake they had saved until last.

The cake was a plain sponge with whipped cream in the middle. Anne shrugged as she and Irwin both dove in with their forks.

“Chopped strawberrys,” she moaned as she tried the cake, there was chopped strawberries in the cream.

“Did you make this Gwen?” asked Anne.

“Well,” Gwen blushed, “I was picking up all the samples from the bakery in town and I made one myself.”

“Its delicious Mum,” said Irwin giving her a hug.

“You like it?”

“Its perfect Gwen,” beamed Anne, “I wouldn’t put icing on though.”

“Icing sugar and fresh berries?” suggested Gwen.

“Spot on,” said Irwin.

“Can we finish these off then?” asked Averett looking at the half-demolished plates of cake scattered around the table.

“Knock yourselves out boys,” said Landon as he got up from the table.

Rolf and Averett’s faces cracked into huge grins as they attacked the rest of the cakes.

“So you two have got a busy day tomorrow?” asked Newt.

“Yeah,” nodded Irwin, “two house viewings and a concert, and then Sunday another three house viewings.”

“What are you looking into?” asked Landon.

“Well we know we want Wales,” nodded Irwin.

“Wales is a big country love,” chuckled Gwen.

“We want quite rural and out of the way, we’re looking at some in North Wales tomorrow and some in the South on Sunday.”

“After seventeen years of being the centre of attention I just want to be left alone,” sighed Anne.

“It’ll all be over soon dear,” said Newt.

“I hope so,” she muttered.

“At least they won’t be fawning over you tomorrow, they’re muggle relators and then a muggle concert.”

“Yeah I guess,” she chuckled.

The next morning Anne and Irwin woke up at seven o’clock in the morning and got dressed warmly in jumpers and jeans before heading downstairs for a quick breakfast. And then they pulled on muggle clothes and apparated to near the muggle relators.

“Its weird to be back here,” said Anne as she looked around the tall hills, “I was only in Wales two months ago, hiding from Tom.”

“Well he’s gone now, come on lets go see some houses.”

They met their real estate agent who was called Gareth and Irwin got in the front of the car and Anne got in the back.

“You two are a bit young to be house shopping, aren’t you?” asked Gareth.

“Annies parents are dead and left her a lot of money, we’re getting married in April.”

“Ah so newlyweds looking to find a nice house to start a family?”

“Yeah,” nodded Irwin as Anne stared out the window.

The first house was a new build and very modern. There was six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a huge garden, an outdoor swimming pool and a huge driveway.

There was a lot of neighbours though, only a short fence between them and the other houses on either side, that wouldn’t be very good when it came to teaching the children to fly broomsticks. The house also just seemed to modern, there was no character to the place.

They tried another house about an hour away, this one had five bedrooms, three bedrooms, and a massive garden. It wasn’t as modern as the other house, but it was on a cliff which wouldn’t be very safe for Olivia or any future children. Also even though it wasn’t very windy that day, the wind was whistling all the way through the house.

Both of the houses were very nice, but neither of them were right. They supposed they’d just have to try again tomorrow.

They apparated to London after a quick meal in a pub in Wales so that they could go to the concert.

“You excited Annie?” asked Irwin as they queued up with their tickets to get into the concert venue.

Anne nodded enthusiastically. She had listened to them so many times and now she was actually going to see them play in person. She had met Keith before and she had been pretty starstruck and that was only one member of the group, today Judith, Bruce and Athol were going to be there as well.

Their tickets were checked and they were directed to their seats. There had to be over least a thousand people here and nearly all of them were closer to their parents age group than their own but Anne and Irwin just didn’t care.

Keith had sent them some pretty great seats, front row right in front of the stage.

Anne was waiting nervously as she waited for the show to start.

“Are you hyperventilating?” chuckled Irwin as he looked over to Anne in the next seat.

“No,” said Anne as she tried to slow her breathing down.

“They’re just people,” said Irwin putting his arm around her shoulders.

“I know,” she shrugged, “but I just cant believe we’re here.”

“Well you’d best believe it Annie,” whispered Irwin as the lights dimmed and the four band members walked onto the stage as the curtain raised.

“Good Evening London!” said Athol walking up to the microphone.

There was a large amount of cheering from the audience.

Anne noticed Keith wink at her as he and Bruce set up their guitars.

“We’re back on tour, after taking a break last year, we hope you haven’t missed us too much!”

“Anyway, take it away Judith!”

Judith waved at the audience as they played the opening guitar chords of I’ll Find Another You and the show began.

Anne and Irwin hardly stayed in their seats for any of the show, they were enjoying themselves far too much to sit down. Irwin spent half the show twirling Anne around in the front row, it was like they were back in the Common Room, but this time instead of the music being played off of old records The Seekers were standing in the same room as them.

All too soon the show came to a close as they played The Carnival is Over. They got a standing ovation from the audience as always.

As the audience clapped away, Brenda suddenly appeared next to them and started to pull Anne and Irwin backstage.

“I’m glad you both came,” said Brenda as the noise of the crowd started to quieten, “there’s some people who want to meet you.”

Anne was in shock as Brenda pulled her along, she had already seen them play in person and now she was going to get to talk to them?

“You sure they won’t be too tired?” asked Irwin.

“I’ve spent the last six months telling them all about you,” she begged, “they’d be offended.”

Irwin seemed still seemed slightly confused as Brenda knocked on the door.

“Come in!” called Keith.

Keith and Athol were sat down on a sofa, Judith was removing her stage make up at a mirror and Bruce was tuning his guitar.

“Hi Uncle Keith,” said Brenda, “Aunty Judith, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Athol, these are Anne Potter and Irwin Scamander the friends from school I told you about.”

“Anne, Irwin, these are, Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley and Athol Guy.”

Anne’s mouth just dropped open.

“Um hi,” stammered Irwin.

“Star struck?” chuckled Keith.

“Annie,” said Irwin nudging her slightly.

“Hi,” Anne said in barley above a whisper.

“So this is the famous Anne and Irwin who have been trying to introduce our songs to your boarding school?” asked Bruce.

“Yeah,” nodded Irwin, “we think you guys are great.”

“We could tell, that was some pretty energetic dancing you were doing,” said Athol.

“Were we that obvious?” asked Anne pulling at one of her plaits.

“I thought your moves were pretty groovy!” chuckled Bruce.

“No one says groovy anymore Bruce,” said Judith shaking her head.

“Unless they’re being ironic,” nodded Brenda as she leaned against Judith’s dressing table.

“Well I still use it, so clearly somebody does” said Bruce.

“So do you two want a photograph then?” asked Keith.

“If you don’t mind,” said Irwin pulling out his camera.

“Anything for our two biggest fans!” said Athol as Irwin passed Brenda the camera.

Anne sat down on the sofa between Keith and Judith, Bruce was sitting next to Keith and Athol and Irwin were perched on the arms of the sofa.

Brenda took a couple of pictures on Irwin’s camera which before the pictures were printed looked like a perfect ordinary muggle camera.

“Well it was lovely to meet you guys,” said Irwin after a while, “but we’ve got some house hunting to do in the morning.”

“Good luck with the hunting,” said Athol shaking his hand as he got up.

“And good luck with your exams,” said Brenda.

“Are you taking yours now or next year?” asked Anne.

“Now, in March, I’ve already missed so much school.”

They walked out of the room and Anne and Irwin both apparated back to Scamander Hollow. Anne had finally got her apparition licence a fortnight ago.

“Did you enjoy it?” asked Irwin as they got back to the house.

“It was amazing,” said Anne, “I can’t believe that we got to meet them afterwards as well.”

“I know, I can’t wait till we get these photos developed,” nodded Irwin, “and we can tell our kids someday about the day we met The Seekers.”

“But for now,” said Anne, “we need to get to bed, more house hunting tomorrow.”

The second Anne and Irwin’s heads hit the pillows they were asleep within seconds.

“So, where you two off to today?” asked Newt as they ate bowls of porridge for breakfast.

“A couple of houses near the Brecon Beacons, on the outsides of Merthyr Tydfil” said Irwin as he added brown sugar and raisins into his porridge, “and another one somewhere called Rynmnyey.”

“So, are you two thinking of moving to Caerphilly then?” asked Gwen.

“Isn’t that a cheese?” asked Rolf.

“It’s also a county near the Brecon Beacons” chuckled Gwen.

“It sounds wonderful Irwin,” said Landon.

“Best get going, you ready Annie?” asked Irwin as he finished off his breakfast.

“Yeah,” said Anne getting up from the table, and pulling on her coat.

They walked out of the house and apparated to the estate agents in Merthyr Tydfil.

They were met by a young man named Geraint who was waiting for them.

“Good morning,” said Geraint as they walked into the office.

“Bora da,” greeted Irwin shaking his hand.

“I thought you said were English over the phone?” laughed Geraint.

“My Stepmums Welsh,” Irwin explained.

“So why are in the market in South Wales then?”

“Well it’s a beautiful country and me and Annie just want to get away from it all, we’re getting married in about two months.”

“Well congratulations, she’s a beautiful young lady,” said Geraint as he fetched several sets of keys before they all got into his car.

They visited several houses in Merthyr Tydfil first, they were like the houses they had seen yesterday, one was modern and was slightly rustic, but both were still surrounded by other houses, and to be honest they wanted some privacy.

Then Geraint drove them to a house a few miles outside Rynmyney. It was right in the middle of nowhere and had no houses surrounding it. There was a large hill with sheep grazing on it that rose up behind the house and even a small pond in the garden, and the house came with about four acres of land.

There was a stone wall and gate built around the actual house which was also stone built.

“This is a stone built, seven-bedroom Victorian house, with four acres of land, it’s quite secluded apart from the local farmers.”

“It’s beautiful,” said Irwin looking at the old house.

“It’s magical,” muttered Anne looking at the stained-glass windows on top of the tower towards the side of the house.

“Do we want to take a look inside?” asked Geraint.

“Please,” beamed Anne.

There was a laundry room with a built-in laundry machine and dryer

There was a beautiful rustic kitchen with a breakfast bar as well, it had a dining area attached.

“All mod conned,” said Irwin looking at the built-in electric oven

There was a brightly lit sitting room with bookshelves built into the walls that were just calling to be filled.

“Look at all the shelves,” muttered Anne as she walked over to stroke the mahogany shelves.

“We’re both big bookworms,” said Irwin as Geraint looked at Anne’s amazement at the book space.

“There’s a good space for a piano there,” said Irwin who had been thinking about learning.

“And this makes a great reading area,” said Anne running over to a huge window seat looking out over the gardens.

“So, I see you two are sold on the sitting room,” said Geraint, “but there’s a lot more of the house left to see.”

They then went through to the conservatory.

“Wow, this will be great for the plants,” said Irwin, thinking how great this could be for their herbology stuff.

“You two planning on a big family then?” asked Geraint as they looked at the first bedroom which was on the first floor.

“Yes,” nodded Anne.

“We’re already adopting Livi,” said Irwin, “she’s six.”

“Well with seven bedrooms and four bathrooms there’s plenty of space for kids.”

They looked at the other bedrooms on the second floor, there was three bedrooms on the second floor and then two more in the attic. The bedrooms were all spacious and well-lit with large windows.

The second floor had two more fully fitted bathroom and there was another bathroom in the attic as well as loads of storage space.

“And I haven’t shown you the best part yet,” said Geraint passing them a set of keys.

They walked over to an old wooden door and Anne inserted the key into the lock which clicked open.

They opened the door and found themselves in the tower that was attached to the house. The sun was beginning to set and the stained glass windows were filling the room with multicoloured lights.

“Dad’s been getting really good at carpentry,” said Irwin as he looked around the tower room, “he could build us a a bed and wardrobe to fit into the walls.”

“This isn’t meant to be the master bedroom,” said Geraint “but its certainly big enough.”

“And,” he said moving aside a rug on the floor, “you haven’t seen the best part yet.”

Geraint had just revealed a stone trap door with a latch attached to lift it open with.

Irwin knelt down and lifted the trap door. There was a wooden stepladder leading down to the room below.

They all climbed down the ladder into the other room, which was built out of stones. The room was windowless but there were candle brackets all along the walls. There was no entrance into the room apart from through the trap door the floor above.

The room was completely empty.

Anne and Irwin looked at each other as they looked around the room.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Irwin.

“Private office cum library?” asked Anne.

“We think so alike,” beamed Irwin.

“The only thing we’ve got left is the grounds,” said Geraint.

Whilst Irwin and Geraint had a look around the grounds whilst Anne took another look around the house.

When Irwin came back Anne was leaning out of the tower window with her waist length hair loose and trailing out the window.

“So my beautiful auburn locked goddess,” Irwin called, “have we finally found our Asgard?”

“Yes!” she called down.

“We’ll take it,” said Irwin shaking Geraint’s hand.

“Let’s get back to the office and we’ll sort out the paperwork then.”

They all piled back into the car and drove back to the estate agents in Merthyr Tydfil.

“So are you taking out a mortgage or paying in full?” asked Geraint.

“Paying in full,” nodded Irwin.

“Can I get your bank details please?”

Fortunately, Gringotts had previous experience with buying muggle houses, so all Anne had to do was write down her account number and the bank would sort everything else for her.

“Gringotts Bank, account number four hundred and fifty-six?” asked Geraint confused.

“It’s a very exclusive bank,” nodded Anne, “give them a call if you need to.”

She typed in the Gringotts phone number which they had for dealing with things like muggle born parents or muggle real estate agents.

“Hello, is that Gringotts bank?” said Geraint down the phone.

“This is Merthyr Tydfil real estate agency, we’re calling about a house on behalf on an Anne Potter and Irwin Scamander, account number four hundred and fifty-six.”

“They want to talk to you,” he said handing them the phone.

“Hello,” said Anne.

“Hello Miss Potter,” said the Gringotts representative wizard, “would you like us to transfer the money to the real estate agency for you?”

“Yes please,” nodded Anne.

“How much is it,” Anne mouthed.

“Seven hundred grand,” said Geraint.

“Seven hundred thousand pounds,” said Anne.

“Thank you, could you please give the phone back to the muggle so I can sort out the transaction?”

Anne handed the phone back to Geraint and they arranged for the transfer of the money and Anne and Irwin signed off all the paperwork. It was official, they were moving to Wales.