Shopping date

[Wesley St. Clare]

Wesley was especially nervous as he and Natalie walked to Evangeline's house. He was going to go with her to take Natalie on her first shopping trip in Diagon Alley. He was worried about everything... that they might run into trouble in Diagon Alley, that Natalie might not like Evangeline... it seemed that there were so many things that could go wrong. But he clutched Natalie's hand and walked without a word.

Finally, they reached Evangeline's house and he stopped on the top step and turned to look at Natalie. "Are you ready for this?" he asked.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie nodded. She could feel that her father was nervous about something, but she couldn't really understand it. He'd also had a really long talk with her about him trying to get over her mother's death and seeing new people. She understood all of that. Furthermore, she had also seen the woman in a vision of her father's path. She knew that things were about to get better for him, but she had decided not to tell him. She hardly mentioned her visions to anyone at all anymore. She felt like it didn't do anything when she did, so she preferred to just pretend they didn't exist. "Go ahead, Daddy," she said quietly.

[Wesley St. Clare]

Wesley smiled. "OK, then," he said. He ruffled her hair affectionately, then took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

[Evangeline James]

Evangeline finished getting ready for going shopping with Wesley and Natalie. She had slept a little longer than she had planned and woke up only twenty minutes before they were supposed to be there. She rushed around getting dressed. She heard a knock on the door as she was walking into the living room. Evangeline headed towards the door and opened it. A smile crept across her face. "Hey Wesley. You must be Natalie," she said looking down at her. "It's nice to finally meet you."

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie looked up at the woman. She was very pretty and she seemed very nice. She had a nice smile. "Hi," she said quietly.

[Evangeline James]

"Let me just grab my bag, and we can head off," said Evangeline reaching on the bookshelf beside the door. "So Natalie, are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie shrugged. "I guess so," she said unenthusiastically. The only thing she was really looking forward to was seeing Severus again.

[Evangeline James]

Evangeline noticed that she didn't sound too excited, but she just let it go. "Well, I promise you that you'll have a great time there. On our way back, I want to take you somewhere and show you something that I saw that was beautiful and happened to think that you might like it too, alright?"

[Natalie St. Clare]

"OK," Natalie replied quietly. "That sounds really nice." She began to walk ahead. She liked Evangeline, and thought she was very pretty. She knew that her Dad liked her, and she was OK with that. She just coudn't help being shy.

[Evangeline James]

Evangeline looked over to Wesley and gave him a smile, then turned to watch Natalie as she began to walk ahead. She had to say that she liked Natalie. She seemed to be a good child, but a bit on the shy side, taken after her father. Evangeline smiled again at the thought.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie kept walking, thinking about Severus. It was good to know that she had at least one friend in the school already. She wondered how his summer had gone, and if everything was all right with his father.

[Wesley St. Clare]

Wesley slipped his hand into Evangeline's. "I am sorry, she's very shy," he said. "I think she likes you, but she's never been the most chatty girl in the world."

[Evangeline James]

"It's no problem. I remember being like that," said Evangeline. "She seems to take after her father when he was younger," she added with a grin.

[Wesley St. Clare]

Wesley smiled. "It's true. Natalie is more like me, and Sabrina..." he sighed sadly. "Sabrina was more like Olivia. She even looked like her." He took a deep breath to try to stop the rush of sadness that had come over him. "Natalie's been quieter than ever since... well, since it happened."

[Evangeline James]

Evangeline gave a light squeeze of his hand. "That's understandable, but I'll see if I can get her talking just a bit more. It never hurts to try, right?"

[Wesley St. Clare]

Wesley smiled at her. "No, it couldn't hurt. Thank you, Evangeline. Losing her mother and sister like that has been hard for her... she could use a mother figure in her life."

[Evangeline James]

"I understand," replied Evangeline. "It was like that when both of my parents died. I became quieter than ever. It doesn't do could to dwell on what has happened, because you never can progress forward. I learned that the hard way."

[Wesley St. Clare]

"Well, I think it will help her to have someone to look up to... other than me, of course." Wesley looked over at her sadly. "And I hope she won't be too shy once she gets to school. I'd like to see her make friends with some of the other girls."

[Evangeline James]

"She probably will," said Evangeline. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure that if she doesn't go to them first, that they'll come to her. It'll be alright."

[Wesley St. Clare]

"I hope you're right," Wesley said. "She didn't really talk to any neighborhood kids when she was growing up. Sabrina did... she was very popular with the muggle children. But Natalie always hid away from them. She told me once that she felt like they knew she was different and that they hated her for it." He sighed. "I don't even know how long she's had her power as an empath. She only told me about it last year, but I think she's had it longer. Maybe even since she was born."