The Importance of Being Different

“Wake up little fairy princess,” said Irwin, “it’s time for your first day of school.”

“Daddy, do you think the other children will like me?”

Irwin noticed that this was the first time he had called her Daddy instead of Irwin, but he thought he shouldn’t to big a thing of it.

“Olivia, you are an exceptionally bright and friendly young girl, they’re going to love you.”

Irwin helped Olivia into her new uniform, a grey pinafore dress, a white school shirt and dark red cardigan.

“Where’s Mummy?” she asked as Irwin brushed out her hair.

“Mummy,” said Irwin as he brushed her hair into two bunches, “is getting ready for her first day at work, it’s a big day for both of you today.”

“Now then, let’s go get some breakfast,” he said picking her up, “you can’t go to school on an empty tummy.”

“Morning Livi,” said Anne as they sat down at the kitchen table, “don’t you look grown up?”

“Not as grown up as you,” said Irwin.

Anne was wearing a purple robe over a grey dress and she had done her hair in one long plait down her back.

“Ok Livi lets got over it again,” said Anne, “what do you tell people that we do?”

“Daddy is a lawyer and Mummy is a school inspector.”

They had had to find a muggle cover up story for when Olivia went to school.

“And if you want to have friends over?”

“I have to tell you first.”

They didn’t have any problems with Olivia having friends round after school but they would have to hide all signs of magic, the moving photographs, the magical plants not to mention Kreacher.

“Are you both taking me to school?”

“No, Mummy has to go to work, I’m going to take you.”

“I’ll be home this evening though.”

“Now then,” said Anne kneeling down after she had pulled on her cloak, “are you going to be a big girl for me today, make lots of friends learn lots of new things?”

“Yes,” she nodded.

“I’ll see you tonight then,” she said giving them both a big hug.

“Goodbye Mummy!”

“Good luck Annie!”

Anne waved at them both before dissaparating to the Ministry.

“You ready princess?”

Olivia nodded again.

Irwin checked that he had all the information to enrol in a muggle primary school, including her muggle birth and adoption certificates.

“Let’s go.”

He strapped Olivia into her carseat in the back of the car and drove into Rynmyney, the muggle town that was only a few miles away.

“So what are we going to do today?” asked Irwin as he drove the car.

“Read lots of books.”

“And?”

“Meet my new teachers.”

“And?”

“Make new friends.”

“And most importantly?”

“Don’t tell anyone about magic.”

“Or?”

“Show anyone my magic.”

“Because?”

“They’ll think that I’m weird.”

“Daddy?”

“Mmmm?” he asked as he drove the car.

“Why are you sending me to school?”

“What do you mean princess?”

“You and Mummy didn’t go to school.”

“Yes, we did darling, we went to Hogwarts.”

“Before that though.”

“No, we didn’t go to school we got taught at home.”

“So why are you sending me to a muggle school?”

“Well you don’t have any brothers or sisters yet, and we don’t know any little girls or boys for you to play with. Me and Anne, I mean um me and Mummy, thought that you might like to have some friends.”

“We just don’t want you to be lonely,” Irwin finished.

“I’m not lonely,” she muttered.

Irwin looked at her as he parked the car.

“Ok, so maybe I’m a little bit bored,” she giggled.

“Exactly,” said Irwin getting out of the car, “which is why you’re going to school.”

Irwin let her out of the car and took hold of her hand.

“You ready my little fairy princess?”

“Yes Daddy.”

“Let’s go find the head teacher then.”

They walked into a playground which was crowded with school children, who were playing and waiting for school to start. There were a few dozen boys playing a game of football and there was a couple of girls playing hopscotch.

The school bell rang, and the children started to form in lines to go into school.

“There’s so many of them,” muttered Olivia as she clung tightly onto Irwin’s hand.

“Don’t worry it’s ok,” he assured her, “you’re not going to be in a class with all of them, only thirty at the most.”

“Ok,” she muttered as they headed into the school.

Olivia clung onto Irwin’s hand as they walked into the school.

“Can I help you?” asked one of the teachers as they passed.

“We’re looking for Mr Llewellyn’s office, I’m going to enrol my daughter Olivia.”

“Of course,” they nodded, “it’s down that corridor and then the third door on the left.”

“Thank you,” said Irwin before they went to go find the right office.

They walked down the corridor until they found the headmasters office.

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered before knocking firmly on the office door.

“Come in!” called the headmaster.

“Good morning,” said Irwin as they went in through the door, “my name is Irwin Scamander, and this is my daughter Olivia.”

“Ah yes, I believe I’m expecting you, please sit down.”

“So,” asked Mr Llewelyn as they sat down, “why Rynmyney?”

“Well its our local school, and we want Olivia to make some new friends.”

“It’s a bit of funny time of year to be starting a new school, school closes in two months.”

“Well, we just moved to the area, starting a new life and all that.”

“Makes sense to me,” shrugged Mr Llewelyn, “you got the paperwork?”

Irwin passed over the birth certificate and muggle adoption certificate.

“So Olivia’s only been with you a few weeks?” asked Mr Llewelyn going over the adoption certificate.

“Yes,” nodded Irwin, “we moved to Wales a fortnight after adopting her.”

“I hope you’re all going to be very happy in Rynmyney.”

“Olivia,” said Mr Llewellyn turning to her, “you’re going to have to do some tests today so we can see what you’re good at, how good your reading, writing and maths is. Is that ok?”

“I like tests,” beamed Anne swinging her legs back and forth on her chair.

“I wish I had a dozen other six-year olds like that,” he chuckled.

“Livi’s very bright, aren’t you my little fairy princess?”

“I like to read.”

“Well that’s always good,” nodded Mr Llewelyn, “why don’t I show you both to her new class.”

They all got up and headed out of the office. They walked down a few corridors and stopped outside a year one classroom.

“This is Miss Evans classroom, she’s going to be your new teacher,” said Mr Llewellyn as he opened the door.

“Miss Evans, this is your new student Olivia Scamander.”

“Hello Olivia,” beamed Miss Evans from behind her desk.

Irwin and Olivia walked into the classroom, there was about two dozen boys and girls who had been listening to a story that Miss Evans had been reading.

“There’s a space next to Bethan if you like Olivia.”

Olivia gripped onto Irwin’s hand even tighter, as she looked at the little girl with a dark ponytail who was sitting on her own in the front row.

“It’s ok Livi,” said Irwin gently, “I’ll pick you up this afternoon.”

Olivia gave him one last hug before she went to go sit down next to Bethan.

Irwin stood in the doorway watching her for a moment as she settled into her desk. Irwin eventually left to take the car home.

Irwin got back to the house and suddenly the large house felt very empty without Anne and Olivia in it.

He eventually found himself playing the piano in the living room for most of the day. He had been wanting to learn for a few years, and today seemed as good as any to start. By the end of the day he could play a basic scale and had even managed to learn to play London Bridge is Burning Down.

At three o’clock he apparated to an alleyway a few steps away the school.

He walked back to the school and waited at the playground gate, with the other parents for the children to come out.

At a quarter past three the children and their teachers came pouring out through the front door into the school.

“Daddy!” screamed Olivia running over to him at the school gates.

“Hi there little princess,” said Irwin lifting her up in the air.

“How was school?”

“It was great, I’ve made a friend her name was Bethan.”

“Do you want to head home now then?”

“Miss Evans said she wants to talk to you.”

“Really,” said Irwin putting her pack on the ground as he noticed Miss Evans walking over ot them.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

“Couldn’t be better,” grinned Miss Evans, “I gave her the assessments for her reading and maths today, she’s extraordinarily bright.”

“Oh, we know that,” said Irwin giving Olivia a quick hug, “she comes from a family of bookworms, we all love to read.”

“She’s even made some friends; I hope she’s going to be really happy here.”

“I’m sure she will,” said Irwin, “and thank you for being so welcoming today.”

“Do you want to head home now princess?”

“Will Mummy be there?”

“Mummy, will be home in a few hours, she’s still at work.”

Irwin walked to the deserted alleyway, holding onto Olivia’s hand.

“Hold on tight,” said Irwin as he prepared to dissapparate.

Olivia clung on tightly to Irwin’s hand as they spun back to the house.

“How do you feel?”

“I’m ok,” said Olivia trying to find her feet, she still didn’t particularly like the feeling of apparating.

“Apparating does take some getting used to, but its much faster.”

“I’ve got a reading book,” she said as she fished in her schoolbag as they went into the house.

“Do you now?”

“Yes, I have to read to you or Mummy for homework.”

“Let’s see here,” said Irwin, as he took the book from Olivia.

“It’s seems this book is about a little girl called Matilda, who loves books and has some very special powers.”

“Hmmm?” he muttered as they sat down on the sofa, “remind me of someone we both know?”

“Miss Evans said it’s usually for older children, but she said I’m already at the right reading level.”

“Well let’s see what’s so special about this Matilda,” said Irwin as they opened the book to the first page.

Olivia read the first few chapters to him and Irwin helped her with some of the longer or more complicated words.

“What’s going on here?” chuckled Anne as she came into the sitting room.

“We’re doing homework, I have to read for five minutes.”

“You’ve actually been reading for nearly an hour and a half,” said Irwin, “but the book was so interesting we just couldn’t stop.”

“Well although I’m sure that it’s fascinating,” said Anne, “it’s gone five o’clock, dinners at six.”

They spent a while talking about their first days at their new school and job and then had Olivia’s favourite meal for dinner.

“Homemade chicken goujons, chips and peas,” said Kreacher as he brought over the plates.

“Thank you Kreacher, it looks wonderful,” said Anne.

Olivia dunked a chicken goujon into ketchup whilst she told them about school.

“I made a new friend she’s called Bethan.”

“That’s a pretty name,” said Anne.

“We played with two other girls at playtime, they taught me how to play hopscotch, we all sat together at lunch too.”

“Sounds lovely,” said Irwin, “not made friends with any boys yet?”

“Boys! Yuck,” she scowled.

“I hope it will be at least a few years before you want to start being friends with boys,” said Anne.

“But when they do, they’ll be all over her,” nodded Irwin.

“Kreacher thinks Master Irwin is right, Mistress Olivia is a very pretty young girl.”

After dinner Anne got Olivia in the bath and helped her wash her hair.

Olivia sat in her room which was pink that night and Anne tucked her into bed.

“Ok Sleeping Beauty,” said Irwin stroking her hair, “what bedtime story would you like tonight?”

“Narnia!”

“Ok Narnia it is,” chuckled Irwin.

Last time they had been about to start The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so they read her the first chapter.

“Good night Livi,” said Anne kissing on top of the head.

“Good night princess,” said Irwin getting the light.

“Harry said he wanted to come around tonight, he wanted to wait till Olivia was in bed so he’s coming round in about ten minutes.”

Anne and Irwin headed back down to the sitting room and waited for Harry to arrive.

Ten minutes later he arrived having apparated.

“Hey little sis, Irwin,” beamed Harry giving them both a hug.

“Hi Harry,” said Irwin.

“Is there something wrong Harry?” asked Anne.

“Why would you ask that?” he chuckled.

“The fact that you wait to come round until after Olivia’s in bed.”

“Well you know that I’m working in the Auror department now?”

“Yeah,” nodded Irwin, “whats your point?”

“We’ve been trying to round up some of the deatheaters, we’ve managed to find most of them, but there’s a still a few deatheaters running loose. “

“You can’t expect to find all of them Harry,” said Irwin, “you’ve got most of them.”

“Yes, but the ones we haven’t found are the most clever and the most dangerous. They’ve been managing to hide properly for six months, if they can hide for six months Merlin knows how long this will go on for.”

“Who’s still free?” asked Anne nervously

“Mulicber, Nott and Rowle,” said Harry.

“And they’re probably working together?” muttered Irwin raising his eyebrows.

Harry nodded.

“Why are you telling us all this?” asked Irwin.

“The one’s we have pulled in are angry,” said Harry, “they’re furious in fact, with me and with.”

“Annie?” Irwin asked gripping onto her wrist, “because she killed Tom?”

“Yeah,” nodded Harry, “I just want you to keep your guard up, ok Anne?”

Irwin held onto Anne’s wrist even tighter and her breathing started to become unsteady.

“Tom’s gone,” she stammered, “I was supposed to be safe.”

“You are safe Annie,” said Irwin gently, “nobody’s going to hurt you, hardly anyone even knows where we live.”

“You said we’d be safe,” she stammered as she got up from the sofa and ran up to her room.

“I’m sorry I had to drag you two into this,” said Harry running fingers through his hair, “but she had to know.”

“Thanks Harry,” said Irwin getting up from the sofa, “I should go check on her.”

“That’s ok Irwin, see you around yeah?”

Irwin ran up the stairs to find Anne.

“Annie?” said Irwin knocking on the door.

He tried opening the door, it wasn’t locked and swung open.

Irwin could see her curled up under the duvet in the foetal position with her knees pulled into her chest and she was sobbing like mad.

“Annie,” said Irwin gently sitting down next to her.

“You said we’d be safe,” she sobbed in a muffled voice from under the duvet.

“You’re going to be fine Annie; we just need to be careful alright?”

Anne nodded slightly.

“Come on sweetheart,” he said picking her up and laying her down properly, so she was more comfortable.

He tucked her in gently and kissed her on top of the head before brushing away the tears from her face and tucking the stray locks of hair behind her ear.

He headed down to the kitchen to go and check one of the cupboards. They still had one bottle of Draught of Living Peace left, it only had about half a dozen doses in it. He had a bad feeling that they were going to need to make some more and soon, but it was a complicated potion, he and Anne would have to make it together over the weekend, when Anne had a day off.

He picked up the bottle off the shelf and took it back up to their room.

“Annie,” said Irwin coming back in with the bottle and a tablespoon.

“Annie, I need you to take this for me,” he said as he poured out a tablespoon of potion for her.

“No,” she mumbled, grimacing.

“Please darling, it’s a calming draught, it’ll make you feel better.”

She looked at him uncertainly.

“Please Annie,” he begged.

She closed her eyes and winced as she took the tablespoon from Irwin. She swallowed the potion in one gulp.

“That’s my girl,” he beamed.

“You promise I’m going to be alright?” she stammered.

“I can’t promise you that, but I can promise that I am going to look after you and keep you safe.”

“I love you Irwin,” she muttered as he got into bed and he pulled her in close protectively.

“Goodnight Annie,” he whispered as she fell asleep almost instantly in his arms.