It was Saturday morning, and Sophia woke early, deciding to get her homework done as quickly as possible in the library. Walking up the stairs and into the common room, she said good morning to Jasper, who stopped her before she could leave.
"Miss Graves, please be aware that a new notice has been put up over night." He said, smiling. "It would do you good to check for yourself every now and then."
Sophia returned the smile apologetically. "But then we would have fewer excuses to talk to each other Jasper." She said, walking to the back of the room, where the notice board was hung up under the Wampus crest.
"My dear, I am always here to talk if that is what you want."
Sophia quickly scanned the sheet of paper that had been pinned onto the cork and sighed in annoyance. "An extra assembly." She said. "Just what we all need. On a Sunday morning, and all!" She shook her head, and turned to leave once more.
"Somehow, I feel like you may enjoy this one though, Miss Graves." Jasper held the door open and helped her down onto the ladder.
Sophia raised an eyebrow questioningly, but didn't think the comment was worth inquiring after. "Please tell David where I've gone."
"Of course."
- - - - -
The morning wore on slowly, although David came and joined her in the library after a couple of hours. When they decided to head back to the common room again, Sophia suggested they should go to the owlery to give Mark some attention.
"You can go back if you want and wait for me." Sophia said. "You don't have to stick with me if you don't want to."
David shook his head. "No, I've actually got a letter to send to my parents. I've been carrying it around these past couple days, and I guess now is as good a time as any to actually send it to them."
Sophia said nothing to that, although in her head she was wondering how it could be possible for David to casually have such little contact with his family when he was missing them so much. He would never say as much out loud, but Sophia could just tell these things about him now.
As they were getting closer to the owlery, they could hear footsteps coming in the opposite direction, but they paid little attention to this. It was, after all, a school full of multiple teachers, students and creatures. However, when they rounded the corner and came face to face with who it was, Sophia had to use all of her strength not to scream. Instead, she froze to the spot, and David stopped when he saw something was wrong, glancing between her and the two men in front of them with a scowl on his face.
"Hello, Sophia, my darling." Credence said, opening his arms out wide. Sophia didn't need a secomd more to consider and flew into the arms of her Dad, almost knocking him off of his feet. She had just enough strength to let go of him in order to then fall into the arms of her Father instead, and the three of them stood for a bit, wrapped up in their own world together, until Sophia finally managed to pull away from them properly. She turned to David, and saw that the boy was stood there looking very awkward, glaring at the ground and scuffing his feet.
"Dad. Father. You know David." She said, causing the boy to look up at them and blink.
Credence smiled again. "Yes, of course."
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
Percival looked around and grabbed his daughter's hand. "Come on." He said. They began walking back in the opposite direction, before Credence turned back around to see David frozen, watching as they walked away.
"Aren't you coming, too?" Credence called back to the lone figure. Looking shocked, David quickly nodded and jogged to catch up with them, as Percival quickly led the four of them down the hallway and into an empty classroom.
"We're here because I have been asked to present an assembly to the school." Percival said. Sophia suddenly felt a twinge of guilt as she remembered the conversation she had with Jasper earlier that morning.
"Why?" She asked, confused. Percival shot a glance at Credence and saw the slightest movement of his chin. A small shake of his head: No. Percival understood that his husband wouldn't want to worry or involve their daughter or her friend.
"No particular reason." He said calmly. "I believe your Headmaster just wishes for the year to start off on a good note."
"What's the assembly about?"
"You'll find out when you're there in the audience watching it tomorrow now, won't you?" Percival grinned at her. "I'm sorry. I understand that it wouldn't be the best way to spend your Sunday morning. Anyway, we have got to get going, we'll be able to talk to you more tomorrow."
Sophia was taken aback slightly but understood where her Father was coming from. As she turned to leave she suddenly remembered two things.
"What about Adam? Don't you at least want to say hello to him? He'll be very hurt if he finds out that you were here today and didn't speak to him." She then turned to David. "And David, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot that we were on our way to send your letter."
"You have a letter for your family, David?" Credence asked. David nodded. "Give it to us, we can pass it on to your parents in person."
David didn't say anything but looked thankful as pulled out a crumpled envelope from his robes and handed it over to the man.
Percival spoke up again. "I think Adam will be alright, Sophia. We'll come back with you to the common room for a quick hello with Jasper, before heading off. Adam will be able to see us later, before we go home."
As if on cue, there was suddenly a soft scritching sound coming from the closed door. Credence went over to it and yanked it open, surprise written across his face.
"It's Thumble!" He said in excitement, as the little black cat flung himself into the room at full speed and began winding himself between Percival's legs.
"Well then this makes things easier." Percival said, kneeling down in front of the cat. "Thumble. Go and get Adam and bring him to us." The cat purred as he trotted back out if the room, rubbing his head against Credence's ankle as he passed him."Sorted. See?" Percival grinned. "Let's get going."
So this time, as they left the room and walked towards the common room, it was Sophia and David leading the way. Lagging a bit behind them, Percival leaned down to whisper in Credence's ear. "I'm looking forward to showing you where I spent seven years of my life."
- - - - - - - - - -
Hi. In all honesty I'm surprised I managed to get this out on time. I've been in a car all day, driving to Scotland.
YOU ARE READING
Innocence
Fanfiction'Percival carefully took Credence's hands in his. "My darling." He said softly. "Hatred is a foul creature born initially from fear. But like a fire, as it spreads it becomes all-consuming and destructive. In time, the hatred may be quenched but fro...
