Innocence

Chapter Twenty Nine

The two weeks of the Christmas holidays passed by in a blur. For once in a very long time, the Graves family forgot about the troubles of Ilvermorny, and enjoyed being a family once again. Sophia and David wrote to each other as much as possible, only pausing to give Mark breaks between flights back and forth.

By Christmas day, everyone was in a better mood.

"But why can't we go for a walk after we open our presents?" Sophia whined, trudging along in the snow behind her parents. "It's cold and wet and we should be sat around the fire drinking fire whisky."

Percival chuckled and turned to face her, continuing to walk backwards. "I'm afraid you won't be drinking any fire whisky no matter where you end up, my daughter who is only eleven years old."

Sophia started to grumble again before Credence cut in.

"You're not missing out on much, Sophia. It doesn't even taste good."

"Yes it does." Adam whispered, only loud enough for Sophia to hear. She turned to him, mouth open in shock.

"How..?"

Adam shrugged. "After game celebrations." He put simply.

After what seemed like a million years of walking, Percival announced that they had arrived at their destination.

"This isn't home." Sophia said, frowning. "This is a random house."

"Not any random house." Percival said, grinning as he flicked his wand and all four of them found themselves weighed down by mountains of Christmas presents. Sophia found it difficult to navigate her way through the door once it had been opened for them, but soon after felt as a pair of hands took the wrapped goods away from her. Blinking, she found herself face to face with David. He wasn't smiling, but she could tell that he was happy to see her.

"Merry Christmas, Sophia." He said, leading her into the sitting room.

"Merry Christmas David." Sophia's heart felt light as she gazed around the brightly decorated room in wonderment. She realised quickly that all of her parents' friends were here. "Where are we?" She asked.

"It's my house." David said, sounding a little embarrassed. "My aunt, uncle and cousins are here already, as you can see. We were just waiting for you to arrive to exchange presents."

Sophia saw Daniel across the room, sat between two other children who must have been his brother and sister.  He waved awkwardly at her when their eyes locked.

The next hour passed in a flurry of ripped wrapping paper and familial joy, followed by the biggest Christmas lunch spread Sophia had ever seen in her life.

She spent the rest of the evening upstairs in David's bedroom, where she, David and Daniel swapped chocolate frog cards and played roulette with a packet of every flavour beans. She couldn't remember the last time she felt as happy as she did in that moment.

When it came time to leave she saw that Adam looked disgruntled.

"What's up with you, moody?" She asked cheekily. "You look like David when you pull a face like that." She thought he would know instantly that she was just joking and didn't mean any harm in what she was saying by referring to her friend, but was taken aback slightly when all Adam did was sniff.

"Don't worry about him." Credence said softly. "He's just upset that we're leaving, is all."

Sophia shrugged it off and followed her Father out into the cold, darkness enveloping her as she stepped out into the night.

From then on for the last week of the holiday, Sophia and David decided to forget about sending each other letters seeing as they knew how close they lived to each other, and actually visit each other in person. They spent almost every day together, with most days Sophia walking to David's house and occasionally David walking to hers.

Two days before they were set to go back to school, Sophia was eating breakfast when she voiced an observation.

"Adam's been spending a lot of time in his room lately." She said nonchalantly, though grew concerned when she spotted her parents glancing at each other anxiously. "What's the matter?" She asked. "Is he okay? He isn't ill, is he?"

"No..." Credence began, cautiously. "We just think that he might be spending so much time in his room because you appear to have very little time for him anymore. For any of us."

Sophia blinked. "What?" She asked dumbly. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's just that you seem to be spending a lot of time with David." Percival put gently. "We feel that Adam may be feeling left out."

"That's ridiculous!" Sophia said, almost choking on her cereal. "If Adam has an issue, he can come and tell me himself. He could always ask to come with me. I wouldn't say no. And anyway, I thought you'd be happy that I have a good friend."

"We are happy, Sophia." Percival said, trying to calm her down. "We just think that maybe you should consider spending more time with your family. After all, you'll still have David to go back to school with, where as we don't know when we will be seeing you next."

Sophia scoffed. "I'm eating breakfast with you right now, which is more than Adam is doing to point out the obvious. And I expect you to be able to see me again next time you come to the school yourself, so actually I see you far more regularly than most kids see their parents including, funnily enough, David. You don't here his parents complaining about him hanging out with me though, do you?"

"There's no need to be rude, Sophia." Credence said.

"I'm sorry." Sophia said, sighing. "I just want to make use of being able to hang out with David without being so stressed out constantly. It can't be healthy to be stuck in a situation like the one we have been stuck in for so long."

Percival returned the sigh. "I understand, Sophia. Progress is slow, and I understand how frustrating that must be for you. But please understand that I am doing everything in my power to sort this out as quickly as I can."

"I know, Father."

- - - - - - - - - -

Please vote, comment and follow me if you want. It would mean the world to me.