Lions Inside¹ | James Potter

fifteen

-//-

(No Woman, No Cry//Bob Marley)

2nd of January, Wednesday, 1974

"Wake up, occhioni," Marco said quietly, shaking his daughter slightly. Andrea let out a grunt but didn't stir any more than that. 

Marco rolled his eyes and headed out into the hallway. "Your turn," he called down from the bannister to the first floor. Aisha set the basket of laundered clothes on the kitchen island and went into the cupboard. 

She headed into the grand entrance and climbed the wide staircase, meeting Marco on the first-floor landing. "Did you even try?" she chuckled when she reached her grinning husband. He just smiled sweetly and kissed her cheek.

"Of course, I did. And now it's your turn," he winked. Aisha sighed. "I swear, I'm too old for this." "You don't look a day over 20, mi amore," he smirked at her. 

She rolled her eyes as he left, heading down the long hallway and turning the corner at the end, going to get ready for their departure to Godric's Hollow. 

Aisha went to her daughter's bedroom door. The curtains were still drawn, and the only light Marco had turned on was her desk lamp. "Yeah, you really strained yourself," she muttered to herself, knowing her husband had done minimal effort to wake their zombie daughter. Opening the door wider, she flicked the light switch and brought the wooden stirrer up to the frying pan she had brought up with her and started banging it loudly.

Andrea jumped up in fright and fell to the floor beside her bed, her legs tangled in one of her blankets as she smacked her head into her nightstand.

"MAMA! CHE CAVOLO?! Sei pazza?!" she screamed at her, plugging her ears with her fingers. Aisha stopped the banging and grinned at her daughter. Her Italian always got stronger after they had been in Italy for a visit. Marco's too.

"Ah bene, you're up. Fai i bagagli and get ready. We're expected at the Potter's in an hour," she smiled, walking over to her window. She opened the curtains only to see it was still dark out. "Il sole non è ancora sorto! Why do I have to be?" Andrea complained when she saw the dark outside, falling onto her bed again.

"Come on, hurry up. Mia wrote to me and said she'd have pancakes ready for us when we got there. Chop, chop!" she called out, walking back downstairs. Andrea groaned loudly in protest but got off her bed, shuffling to her en-suite bathroom.

"Papi is my favourite parent!" she yelled after her mother. "Gian is my favourite child!" Aisha yelled back immediately. Andrea gaped at her door, highly offended her mother had been so quick to name one of her siblings.

Their new house in England was much bigger than the townhouse in New York had been. Technically, the house was a manor, but they preferred to call it a mansion. Less Medieval.
In Andrea's en-suite she had a large built-in shower in the far corner, the dark grey tiles along the wall complimenting the misty glass wall to the shower beautifully.

Andrea stopped in front of her sink basin and looked in the large mirror above it, letting out a shocked chuckle when she saw her reflection. Her wild curls looked like a crow's nest after her good night's sleep. Running her hand over her hair to try and flatten it, she reached in and turned the shower spray on to let the water heat up.

Finishing her shower, Andrea headed back into her bedroom wrapped in a towel. She opened her closet doors in search of clothes to wear for her long train journey. It was more like an extra room than a closet. Walk-in closet, her mother had called it. Packing lightly for the move to England, Andrea hadn't even filled half the space yet. She'd have to see to that over the summer. It had been cold through their Christmas in Atrani, but the temperatures in England had been brutal compared to Italy, so she needed to layer up. They were heading up to the Scottish Highlands later today, so the temperature was surely only going to drop.