Chapter Text
Matt sat in the passenger seat of his mother's old car as she drove down the motorway. He was absently shuffling through his collection of CDs and cassette tapes of music that he had missed during his time at Hogwarts and he wondered how he had gotten into this situation.
Glancing in the rear view mirror, he could see Amaris leaning against the window in the back seat. She had spent the first part of the journey looking at every car and building they passed. But now her still recovering body had defeated her curiosity and she was asleep with her face still pressed against the glass. Next to Amaris, wedged in the middle seat, Kim was looking slightly greener than usual and she was staring determinedly forwards. She had insisted that she always got a bit of a headache while in a car but nothing worse than that but Matt's mother had given her a bottle of water and a sick bag, anyway. Just in case.
Next to Kim, and behind Matt, Steffan sat with perfect posture and arms folded. His head was turned slightly towards the window and he'd barely moved the entire journey. His eyes just flicked continuously to the surroundings whizzing by and he had an expression Matt couldn't decipher. At first, Matt had assumed it had been disdain for the muggle environment but, watching him in the side mirror, he wasn't so sure. Considering that Steffan had weaselled his way into being here, Matt thought he could at least look happy about it.
Matt once again thought about how he had gotten into this situation. When the train had arrived at King's Cross Station, Matt had found his mother and had wasted no time giving her a hug. Sarah Clark was a short woman, though still taller than her son, with skin far paler than his. But they had the same waves of thick brown hair, hers was kept from her face by a large clip at the back of her head. Matt considered her to be strong minded in her kindness and he was yet to have ever needed anything that wasn't in her handbag.
He had introduced her to his friends, slightly self conscious about what they would all think of each other. Matt had told his mother vaguely about Amaris's circumstances but Sarah had still been shocked to see the dressing on the side of Amaris's face.
"Oh, you poor thing," she had said, reaching out to touch Amaris's hair. But she had quickly noticed Amaris's discomfort and had backed away.
He had been getting ready to leave with Amaris when Kim had received an owl right in the middle of the muggle station from her parents saying that they had been delayed and wouldn't be back in the country for another week. The delivery had also included a bag of money for Kim to use for lodgings somewhere in London.
But Kim had simply sighed, "That's just typical,"
Matt had known Kim's parents were unreliable, usually putting their oh so very important jobs at the Ministry and muggle government ahead of their daughter but this seemed far worse than usual.
Luckily, Matt's mum was having none of it. "Now that is shameful, what are you, fourteen? And I'm sure you can handle yourself, dear, but I will not allow you to spend a week on your own in the middle of a city. You can stay with us until your parents deem it convenient for them to collect you."
Kim had tried to protest but it was no use, she would be coming home with them whether she liked it or not.
They were just about to head off when Steffan had done his thing. Matt wasn't sure what exactly it was he had done, possibly something in the way he stood or that particular type of not speaking where it is clear that you want to. But whatever it was, it had made Sarah turn back, "How about you dear? Where are your parents?"
"I'm sure they'll get here at some point," Steffan had replied in a voice that sounded calm and confident but somehow gave off the exact opposite impression.
"We can wait with you, if you want," Sarah had said, already firmly in his trap.
"You don't have to do that, they usually take a while and you've still got your journey home," Steffan had replied, "and I have enough money for a room at the Leaky Cauldron if they get their days mixed up again."
Now looking concerned, Sarah had asked, "How often does that happen?"
Steffan had looked slightly sheepish, "Every year,"
Matt had rolled his eyes, "Mum, listen-" he started, intending to point out that Steffan's older brother was also somewhere on the platform and that Steffan could probably take the Flu Network back to his house without much effort. But she had cut him off.
"No, Matt," she'd said, "this is ridiculous. Do wizarding families not know how to look after their children?" She'd turned back to Steffan, "You'll be coming with us too, no arguments. You can send a letter to your parents telling them where you are when we've arrived and I'd like to add a piece of my mind to it."
"You don't have to do that," Steffan and Matt had said in sync. They looked at each other.
"Ah, ah," she'd said, putting her hand up, "It's been decided." And with that she had picked up several of their bags and marched off in the direction of the car park. Kim and Amaris had shrugged and followed her.
"But, we don't have the space," Matt had called after his mother.
"The garage has been refurbished," Sarah had called back, not slowing down.
"You know, you could have just asked if you wanted to stay with us," Matt had said, "You didn't have to do all that."
"Do all what?" Steffan had said innocently. "Your mother is very kind," He had added as he picked up his bags and started to walk.
Matt had gone to protest further but thought better of it. Steffan had definitely convinced Matt's mother to invite him to stay. But whether he had done that by lying or by telling the truth, Matt realised he didn't know. He had no clue as to what Steffan's home life was like, so if he wanted to stay with him, Matt wasn't going to stop him.
So here he was, in his family car with the boot packed tightly and bags in the footwells. It wasn't that Matt didn't want to spend more time with his friends, he'd been expecting Amaris after all. It was just that he already spent so much of his time away at Hogwarts and so little at home. He wasn't sure how to feel about the two parts of his life colliding.
By the time they arrived home to the Clark's terrace house, after stops that had taken far longer than they had needed to due to Amaris's fascination with everything in the service stations, it was very late. Why the Hogwarts Express didn't make intermediate stops along its journey down the country was something Matt was continually confused by as he then had to be driven back most of the way to his home on the outskirts of Manchester.
Matt took a moment to take in the familiar smell of his home, taking note that the living room had once again been rearranged. Then he set to the task of dealing with his three friends who were standing politely in the hallway with large amounts of luggage. He sighed, "Come on, take a seat in here. Toilet's the door labelled toilet upstairs and there are cups by the sink in the kitchen if you want water."
Then, Matt found his mother in the kitchen in the process of opening the back door.
"I take it, Katy isn't coming home tonight then," Matt said.
"No, she's staying over with one of her friends," Sarah replied. There were only two ways that the key could be put in the lock but due to the universe's very simple sense of humour, it always took at least three tries to get it right. "She'll be back in the morning."
Matt flicked his hair out of his eyes, "Does the friend and their family understand how to-"
"Yes, Matt, they do," she said, her tone of annoyance slightly at both him and the door. "You know I wouldn't leave her somewhere I thought she wouldn't be looked after. And she's getting to an age now where she isn't completely reliable on others anymore."
Matt took the keys from his mother, "I know, I'm trying not to be over protective, but I just get worried sometimes. And I was looking forward to seeing her." He put the key in the lock and the door opened on his first try. Sarah smiled warmly and kissed him on the head. Then she headed outside.
"You're not really putting them in the garage, are you?" Matt asked, following her out.
"I told you, it's been refurbished," she replied. "I was planning on getting a lodger at some point, now that Katy is older and you're away most of the time."
They walked across the few metres of grass that made up the narrow garden to the iron roofed garage. Even in the dark, Matt could tell it had changed, the walls were no longer encrusted with dead ivy and the door had been painted. Sarah opened the door and turned the light on.
"Woah," Matt said, "You have done this place up."
There was a bed, a settee, a desk, shelves and a rug. It looked surprisingly homely. But it wasn't a big space, as part of the garage was still being used for storage. It had clearly been designed for one. Sarah stood in the room, evaluating its size.
"Well, it'll do for two of them," she said, "So I guess-"
Matt raised an eyebrow at her, here it was.
"So I guess Steffan will be staying in your room," she said reluctantly.
"You're the one who invited him."
"Well, I could hardly just leave him there," his mother argued. "So I want you to promise me that-"
"Mum," Matt said, looking her dead in the eyes, "nothing's going to happen. He's my friend, okay?" When she didn't look convinced, he continued, "What? You'd think I'd take advantage of Adam being away the first month of the holiday? What do you take me for?"
She conceded, "Fine, fine, let's get them settled in then, shall we?"
Katy came home the next morning and Matt smothered his sister in a hug before she had fully made it through the doorway. She had batted him off her, embarrassed, before turning to wave goodbye to the friend and parent that had dropped her off. After they had left, Katy turned to glare at her brother but Matt simply grinned back at her until she rolled her eyes and gave him a hug back.
Katy was in many ways a mini Matt with longer wavy hair and braces that she often showed off in wide smiles matching her brother's. Though, mini wasn't that accurate anymore, Matt realised. She had grown a lot even since Easter and she was now definitely above his shoulder height.
Then he beckoned her into the dining room where the others were still eating breakfast. "Guys, this is my sister Katy."
Matt turned back to his sister and introduced the three of his friends in turn, spelling out their names.
"Oh," Kim said, then signed, " Hello, how are you? "
Katy smiled and responded with, " I'm fine, I wasn't expecting you to know BSL, when did you learn?"
Kim gave a lost smile in return."That greeting was all I knew, sorry," she said, mostly directed at Matt.
"Don't worry," Matt said, singing as he spoke, "Katy's pretty good at lip reading, anyway and she can always teach you more if you're interested."
"Wait, what's happening?" Amaris asked.
"Hmm? Oh, Katy is deaf," Matt explained, "she communicates using BSL, a language of gestures, I guess you could say."
"Ooh, there's several creatures that communicate like that," Amaris said, her eyes lighting up, "It's due to their environment, and it's fascinating to see how they've adapted. You see, they use-"
Matt watched as Katy's brow furrowed trying to decipher Amaris's unknown words. He hurriedly stepped between them, " Mum hasn't seen you yet, has she? She's upstairs, I think. "
Katy waved them goodbye before rushing up the stairs.
Matt turned back to his friends, "OK, guys, probably should have explained all this sooner but nevermind. Katy doesn't know about any of the magic stuff."
"Why?" Kim asked.
Matt sighed, "We thought it was for the best. It was a shock when I received my letter from Hogwarts, it took a lot of adjusting. And we thought that we didn't want to get her hopes up for life in the magical world if she turned out not to be a witch. We'll know either way by next summer and then she'll be told the truth regardless. But until then, you're just my friends from a boarding school that I got a scholarship to go to."
The three of them nodded in agreement.
Everyone got settled in surprisingly quickly over the next few days, it was particularly unexpected from Steffan. Matt would never have described Steffan as snobbish but there was still something wrong about seeing him helping with washing up or sleeping on a roll mat on the floor of his bedroom. But there were parts of muggle life that Steffan simply didn't comply with, such as plug sockets and their gas cooker. But where Amaris approached everything with an eagerness to learn, except for her vendetta against the toaster, Steffan regarded all the technology with suspicion. Matt had to try really hard not to laugh at how cautiously Steffan would do something as simply as flick a lightswitch. There were so many day to day muggle things that Matt hadn't even considered as being unknown to purebloods.
A far less amusing example of Steffan's different view of things was when he asked Matt, "Why is your sister still deaf? At St Mungo's they can easily fix stuff like that."
Matt had taken a deep breath to calm himself before answering. "First of all, my sister is not broken so don't you ever say she can be fixed, again." His words had still come out sounding harsh. "Secondly, whether she wants to undergo a procedure so that she can hear is up to her and as she doesn't know about the wizarding world yet, she can't make that choice."
Steffan had tensed his jaw and nodded stiffly, at the very least acknowledging that he'd said something wrong.
Kim seemed slightly more quiet than usual, she was probably hurt by her parent's sudden change of plans. Though she refused to say as much and Matt guiltily realised that it had taken him several days to notice the change. She was quite used to the Muggle world so Matt didn't have to spend his time guiding her through everything like he did with the others. But he tried to show her a little more attention.
Amaris was somehow even more energetic than Matt had ever seen her before. She was fascinated by everything, studying every minute detail of mundane muggle life and making note of all that she saw. Matt wasn't sure how he felt about being a test subject but Katy seemed to like the attention. Amaris was determined to learn the entirety of BSL before the end of the summer and considering her progress in the short space of time she'd had, it was plausible that she could. Steffan and Kim were making pretty good progress with it as well.
They'd at least managed to have enough of an interaction with her for Katy to have assigned them all sign names, which was a great honour. It meant that she thought your name would be used often enough that spelling out the whole thing every time would be a pain. Though depending on what the sign name was, it wasn't always seen as a privilege. For example, she had a friend who's sign name was Sneeze because he always had a cold.
Matt had several sign names, varying from simply brother to things like stupid fish face depending on whether he had annoyed her or not. As Katy didn't know his friend too well, theirs were based on appearances or characteristics. Amaris' referred to the streak in her hair and Kim's was to do with the fact that all her sleeves had holes chewed through them. Steffan's technically translated to upright or snooty but Matt told him it meant posh instead. Sarah had told Katy that it wasn't a very nice name to give someone but Matt was sure she found it as funny as he did.