Angst and Butterbeer

Daniel followed his parents into the pub. He had listened to his father talk about his time at a different wizarding school as well as his mother’s stories (Eileen is American and attended the Salem Witches’ Institute). He was really excited to go to Beauxbatons. The one thing driving this excitement was the thought of seeing Heather again. It had been two years since they had spoken. Daniel felt horrible about that… what if they met again and she resented him for not staying in touch with her. He chewed on his lip.

Mrs. Eaton noticed this and looked at him worriedly. Daniel reassured her that he was fine. She kissed his forehead and smiled gently. His mother led her boys towards one of the free tables.

And that was when Daniel saw her. He stopped and almost crashed into his father. He’d recognize that head of blonde hair anywhere. It was Heather. Daniel hurried to sit, his back was towards the direction she was in. He started freaking out. What if she didn’t recognize him? What if she hated him? Was furious that he didn’t keep in touch with her? But Daniel hadn’t spoken to anyone in the orphanage. It wasn’t because he wanted to forget about all of it, well kind of, it was to help him get used to being with the Eaton’s.

Daniel wanted to go over to Heather’s table so badly. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder to peek at her. She looked so happy and she was with two other teenagers that he didn’t recognize. Though… those teenagers were very focused on each other’s lips. But, Heather was giggling and grinning. She must’ve been adopted. That made him happy to think about. Heather was great, any family that chose her was lucky. Daniel turned back to face his mother when he was asked a question.

Heather hadn't really put much thought into it, but her life without Daniel had been...actually pretty okay? At first she waited for him to correspond with her first. He knew the address of the Orphanage Heather was sure. Daniel knew everything. However, he never did correspond. At first Heather thought she did something wrong, but then she slowly came to grips with the idea he was too happy to think about the orphanage.

Without Daniel the day by day routine of the orphanage was a lot slower. Heather would get up, brush her teeth, do her hair. Pick out an out fit from her limited selection of clothes she'd bought for herself with money she got sweeping the floor of a small restaurant. Heather did have Melody, but she was gone the following year.

Was Heather bitter about Melody and Daniel being picked over her? Yes, she was, but she also understood that's just how things at an orphanage are. You either get adopted or you don't.

Jane had always stopped in on the anniversary of her adopting Trent. Which was two days after the day he was born. Obviously, Jane didn't adopt the boy at the orphanage, but she did at a hospital. The orphanage that Heather was in just helped with the legal side to adopting a child. So, every year on the day Trent was adopted Jane came and helped out at the orphanage. Heather had seen her a number of times. She read to little ones and often made a gigantic meal for them all and it was always a thousand times better than the normal meal.

This particular day that Jane came in, Heather found that Daniel left one of her gifts to him at the orphanage while she was cleaning the older boys' room. It wasn't on purpose Heather knew, but it still made her extremely upset. It was just a stupid paperback book, but Heather got it for him. Jane had seen the little blonde girl being upset and her maternal instincts kicked in. Once the girl explained her problem Jane managed to cheer her up and had become rather fond of the girl. Next thing she knew Jane was a mother of two.

If she knew that Daniel was staring at her, Heather would have run across the room and tackled the boy in a hug, but she had no clue. So, she sat with her brother and Guen, and tried to avoid watching them play tonsil hockey. Heather tapped her red nails against the table. She was incredibly bored, but they still had a little more shopping to do.

Like Heather, Daniel had thought that being away from his friends was going to be awful. At first it had been, but then he grew accustomed to living with his adoptive parents. But, at first he needed to get used to living with the Eaton’ and once he was settled he was going to write one letter to Heather and Melody…but then he couldn’t remember the orphanage’s address exactly. Daniel felt horrible about that.

He didn’t want to forget about his friends, he never truly did. He always thought about them, wondering if they had been adopted or if they were still at the orphanage. After a few weeks with the Eaton’s, Daniel was tearing his room apart. He was panicking. He couldn’t find it. Daniel couldn’t find the book.

Eileen Eaton heard the ruckus and hurried upstairs to check on him. She was frightened and worried to see the room in shambles and Daniel sitting in the middle of it in tears. He told her that he left a book at the orphanage and that they had to go there immediately to get it. She held him close and calmed him down, making her husband go out to the store. Daniel appreciated what his parents did, but it wasn’t the same. The book wasn’t from Heather.

Daniel listened to his parents talk about the supplies and tell more stories about their time at school. But, he honestly wasn’t really paying attention. He was still worrying about what Heather thought about him now. She probably found the book there and thought he left it on purpose. That wasn’t the case at all! He would never want to forget her. She was-is, is his best friend and she always will be.

He looked over at her again, she looked bored. Which he didn’t blame her… those teenagers were getting, uh, pretty busy for being in a pub with young children and their families running about. Yikes.

“Daniel, is everything alright?” Eileen asked curiously. Daniel turned back to his parents who were looking at him only slightly concerned. “Oh, uh, just studying the place.” The couple nodded and their waitress came over to take their orders.