Lydia

July 2013

"It's not fair! Why does she always get to be Hermione, mummy?" I wipe my tear-streaked cheeks. Mummy gently pulls Mr. Pickles, my stuffed unicorn, from my hands, and takes my face in her warm, soft hands.

"Don't be upset, sweetheart" Mummy says, rubbing her thumbs over my cheeks. "Ginny Weasley is a very powerful witch. You know that. Besides,", mummy smiles, lowering her voice, like she does, when she is about to tell me a secret, "She gets to marry Harry."

"Eww" I scrunchy my nose, grabbing Mr. Pickles back. "I don't want to marry Harry. Mark is Harry. In fact, I don't want to marry, ever."

"Ooh, Lizzy, we've got ourselves a little feminist here!" Aunty Dee exclaims, winking over her sunglasses. She takes a sip from her glass. I try to remember a time, when aunty Dee didn't have a glass in her hand.:I think I can't.

"Hush, D! Why is that, sweetheart?" Mummy asks, letting go of Mr. Pickles.

"Because I don't want to cry, like you do, Mummy!"

Mummy's face turns pale. She looks as if she's suddenly become angry.

Why did Mummy get angry? Did I do something? Is it my stupid questions again? Is it Mr. Pickles? She told me it's not appropriate for a young lady to be walking around with a stuffed animal, but I didn't listen. I know I am too old to play with stuffed toys, but Mr. Pickles has been with me all my life. I didn't want to leave him alone, while I have a sleepover.

Aunty Dee looks at me above her sunglasses, as if I've turned into a rock. Mummy looks at the ground, before taking Mr. Pickles from my hands again. She gently tugs at my braid.

"Off you go, honey!" She says, her voice low. Her eyes are dark and there's one deep line across her forehead. Aunty Dee once told Mummy that, if she didn't want to get lines in her face, she needed to get a buttocks. I don't know how that works, but she's probably right.

I turn around and start walking towards Gloria and Mark. They are sitting on the fence, eating cookies.

"Mummy said Ginny is a very powerful witch, too!" I say, climbing the tree to sit next to them.

"Ugh, Caramel, why are you such a crybaby" Mark teases.

"I'm not!"

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

"You are, Caramel!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Not call you what? That's your name, right? Caramel?"

"No, it is not! My name is Lydia Young Bellanger!"

"Whatever you say, Caramel!"

I poke his shoulder with my finger.

"Shut up, Harry! When we get married, I will turn you into a toad!"

Gloria and Mark glance at each other and then they burst into laughter.

"When we what?" Mark chokes.

"Don't laugh! You know that Ginny and Harry get married in the end!"

"We will certainly not get married, Lydia!"

"I know, silly! It's just for the game!"

"You two are boring!" Gloria says, stuffing an entire cookie in her mouth. Mummy and I brought the cookies. Gloria is not allowed to eat sugar, but when Mummy and I bring cookies, aunty Dee lets her. Oh, and Ellen secretly makes us hot chocolate, when we watch Harry Potter.

"Let's do something! We don't have all day!"

"Let's play teleportation again." I clap my hands.

"No, let's play Hide and Seek" Mark says, poking my elbow. "Gloria and I will hide and you'll seek, Caramel!"

"No! I don't want to seek!" Before I finish my sentence, Mark and Gloria jump off the fence and start running, laughing on their way.

I climb down the tree and start walking towards the house. Mark and Gloria are nowhere to be seen

I hate Mark Carter! He is so annoying! He always gets his way with me! I hate him calling me Caramel! I hate when he makes fun of me! Plus, he always makes me seek first!

Mummy's right. Ginny is a very powerful witch, but not because she gets to marry Harry. She just is.

I'll never marry Mark Carter. I know that, in order to marry someone, you have to be in love with them. I'm not in love with Mark Carter, and I will never be. First off, he is a boy, secondly, he is annoying, and third, I know that, when people are in love, they kiss each other on the mouth. Ewww. Not. Happening.

And Gloria...She never lets me be Hermione, not one single time! I told her that she cannot always play her... And...and she always takes Mark's side! Even though he is a dumb boy...
She is my friend! She should be on my side! And she should let me borrow the Sorting Hat Ellen made her...

As I walk through the garden, I see Mark's shoe peeping from behind Aunty Dee's greenhouse. I stop in my tracks, hold my breath and start walking again, on my tiptoes. As I approach the greenhouse, I hear muffled laughter and low voices.

Gotcha.

I glue my back to the wall of the greenhouse, slowly drawing in on the shoe...just one step further...

I jump from around the corner and grab Mark by the collar. He wobbles on his feet, then falls back, grabbing my wrist in his fall. We hit the ground together, but I grab him by the collar again and crawl up, until I am sitting on his chest.

"Surrender, pirate!" I yell, victoriously.

Gloria tumbles to the ground next to us. Aunty Dee says that Gloria doesn't like to be left out. We all laugh until our tummies hurt.

They're not so bad, I guess...