It's alright, just wait and see,
Your string of lights is still bright to me,
Oh, who you are is not where you've been,
You're still an innocent.

Oh, who you are is not where you've been,
You're still an innocent.


“Ariel Souvena Bonanza! Come down here, this instant!”

“Coming, mum.” Ariel’s voice floated down the stairs as, dragging a trunk behind her, the seventeen year old traipsed down them. Mrs. Bonanza’s eyes inspected her from head-to-toe [as usual] and her lips and forehead gave way to a frown [again, as usual] as they reached her dress.

The conversation began exactly as it had, last year.

“For Heaven’s sake, Ariel!”

“What’s the matter, this time?” Ariel asked cheerfully and, letting go of her trunk, she skipped over to the giant mirror that hung over the mantelpiece, to her left. She peered into it, and her reflection stared back at her, dressed in a short, blue skirt that ended a little above her knees, its shoulders half-hidden underneath a jeans mini-jacket. She blinked, her reflection blinked and then, hands on hips, the redheaded daughter turned to face her equally un-redheaded mother.

“I look downright awesome, don’t I?”

“You look mortifying,” Carmen Bonanza sounded disapproving as only the mother [and a mother of a young witch at that] can. “That clothing is not appropriate for a witch.”

“I was a girl longgg before I became a witch, mother,” Ariel pointed out cheerfully. She spun on her high heels in the centre of the room, batting her eyelashes at her mother. “Maybe you need to understand that. Please? PRETTY PLEASE, MUMMEH?”

Carmen would have snorted, if she had not been so sure that the thing was a most unladylike one. “It is not appropriate clothing for a girl your age, either, Ariel.” She already knew she had lost the battle [like she did every time], lost it even before it had begun [like every time] but she was not willing to give up altogether [like every time].

“And who decides that? The marmalade you made this morning?” Ariel sounded extremely cheerful, and perhaps that was the one reason Carmen Bonanza was only rolling her eyes, and not shouting at her only daughter [she had never shouted at Ariel but then, if you knew Ariel, you would know why no one could shout at her]. “Come on, mum, it doesn’t matter if I’m a pureblood, or a half-blood, or a crunchy Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour bean - I’m only going to get life once.”

“That is not the poi –”

“OHMIIIGOSH! I’m getting late!”

Ariel said the statement so loudly, Mrs. Bonanza [despite being used to her daughter's random outbursts] dropped the teacup she had been holding in surprise. The thing shattered on the tiled floor, sending little shards of glass everywhere. Ariel took her chance at once, grabbing her trunk and running out of the room, kicking off her high heels by the door once she realized they hindered her escape.

“ARIEL!” Carmen called after her, slapping her head in frustration – at seventeen, her daughter could still act [and almost always did act] like a seven year old. “Ariel Souvena Bonanza! Come back THIS INSTANT!”

“See you at the station, mum,” Ariel called back, and the loud crack ringing through the air only seconds later assured Carmen that her daughter had disapparated, to King Cross Station. Shaking her head, the poor mother flicked her wand, and the crystal scattered across the floor joined itself back together, in the shape of her favourite teacup.

Now she just needed to get to King Cross.



Reference:

[] "It's alright, just wait and see -" Lyrics of Innocent by Taylor Swift.