The Life of Portia Boyd

Chapter two.

Finding the silver lining.

27^thof August 1971, four days until Hogwarts

"Yes, yes, yes we are finally going," thought Portia as she got up from bed.

Yes, today was the day that she was going to Beverly to pick clothing for the Christmas and Easter holidays.

Portia flung herself out of bed and made her way to the cupboard. As she walked she kept thinking, "Yes, at last I am going shopping."

She opened the cupboard door and pulled out some clothes and noticing some muck on them she threw them back in and picked out some more. She again looked for any dirt on the clothes however tiny. If she found dirt on the clothes and wore them, she wouldn't be allowed to go shopping, and that would be the end of the world, well for her anyway. Her parents would be quite alright about not going shopping, their reason being they never wanted to go shopping in the first place. If Portia hadn't persuaded her mother to go shopping, then she had no doubt that her parents would have been doing some work against werewolves or healing people.

Her parents found things like that more fun and entertaining than shopping in Beverly. If there was any excuse for them not to go, then they wouldn't go however small the excuse was.

So when she put her clothes on she brushed them with her hands, making sure that not even the tiniest piece of dust was on them.

She then made her way to the chest of drawers next to the window, opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of black socks, a thin toothed comb and her wand.

She sat on the bed and pulled her socks on, which took quite a long time since they were much too small for her.

"I must remind mother to buy me some more pairs of socks," she said aloud.

"Oh today is going to be a wonderful day, new clothes, new socks and another trip outside the dales," thought Portia happily.

She picked up the comb next to her and combed through her hair about a hundred times. When she had finished she very neatly put the comb back into the drawer and she then sighed.

"All this fuss for a shopping trip, I just hope I haven't wasted my time."
Portia made her bed and before walking out of her room she remembered to close the drawer and pick up her wand; she wasn't going to lose that so soon.

When she reached the kitchen her parents were already sitting down eating breakfast.

Portia's father was reading the Daily Prophet, which read 'Suspicious muggle deaths in London.'

"There is some crab soup on the stove if you want it dear," said Portia's mother interrupting Portia's reading.

Portia looked over to her mother who was sitting down next to the table. Her eyes were red and looked very sore. She also looked tired and a little ill.

Looking away from her mother, Portia looked over to the reddish pot of liquid on the stove. Then she looked at the bread and butter on the table. Oh yes, her mother was feeling ill today and it was such a coincidence that it was the day they were going shopping in Beverly, the thing her mother didn't want to do.

Portia sat down. She took some bread and butter off the plate and began to eat. She ripped the bread so quickly she bit her tongue. She held in the pain, she didn't want her mother fussing over her, since her mother was ill. She felt angry, today of all days why did her mother have to choose to be ill, or pretend to be ill. Then Portia heard her mother's voice speak, "You don't want my soup?"

Portia found this little obvious, was her mother trying to be annoying? "No thank you mother."

Her mother looked on the verge of tears. Was she on the verge of tears because of some soup? "What's the matter with it?" she asked. "Isn't it good enough for you?"

"What? It's some soup. What's the big problem about me not wanting some soup?"

"Of course it is mother, it looks very appealing, I just don't feel very hungry," lied Portia.

"No the bread and butter look's more appealing."

"I will eat some if you want me to."

"It doesn't matter dear," said her mother, still looking on the verge of tears. She got up and said, "I'll just get our shoes okay Henry?"

She then walked out of the room on Henry's nod.

Portia opened her eyes wide, she didn't ask her. What did she do now? She complemented the crab soup; she even said she would eat the crab soup. Would her mother rather have her cooking insulted than lied about? Portia looked at her father who was still reading the paper.

"Have I done something wrong?" she asked.

Her father didn't look up. "No Portia, it's just well, you'll find out soon enough."

"When will I find out father?"

"You will know when I say you can know about it Portia." He looked up at Portia who looked confused. "Don't worry, you will find out."

"Is it bad news?"

"No I don't think so." He then looked a bit uneasy and looked back the paper.

Portia decided to go to get her shoes before she was tempted to ask even more questions; that would just cause more trouble.

She left her father sitting there, still reading the paper.

She then felt a little uneasy too, why couldn't she know now? It must be bad if she couldn't know. It would explain the reason her mother was on the verge of tears.

She walked into the cloakroom still thinking. What had she done to deserve this? All she wanted was not to have some crab soup.

So Portia finally got to Beverly after watching her mother giving her father the usual lecture about spending too much money. Portia didn't see the point in it; her mother was the one who spent most of the money.

It wasn't busy in the market square, maybe that was because the market wasn't on that day.

They walked down the street to the right of them and spotted a few clothes shops. The first one was called Madduck's Fashions. Portia had never heard of this muggle shop before. Her curiosity got the better of her and she went inside, followed by her parents. Inside, it was very different to the normal shops she went in. It was colourful instead of black and white walls; clothes were on racks instead of shelves and they sold shoes, and socks as well as clothes. Portia was beginning to like this shop already.

Her parents didn't like it though. They didn't say anything but by the looks on their faces they liked it as much as they liked werewolves and that wasn't very much.

"Maybe we can come back to this shop," suggested Portia's mother.

"No let's look in it now, oh please mother please," begged Portia.

Her mother gave in without a fight. Portia jumped with joy and walked over to a rack with some strange dresses on it.

"Well I'll go look around the street, I don't like the fact that I'm in a girls shop," said Portia's father. Portia didn't bother to watch her father leave she just stared at the dresses. The dresses were white with either both red and orange or green and blue flowers on them. Though they were strange, they did look rather pretty. Portia's mother looked at them critically.

"These are rather short, aren't they?"

"Mother these are muggle clothes after all," whispered Portia.

Her mother nodded and then said, "Right, what size are you Portia?"

Portia thought. "I think I am a size eleven or twelve."

Portia's mother looked at the sizes, "these are strange sizes; they say eight, ten, twelve and fourteen." The satisfaction on her mother's face was indescribable.

Portia was beginning to lose hope, until she heard a voice.

"Oh my god, its Portia Boyd, isn't it?" asked the voice.

Portia turned around to see one of the people she met that day in Diagon Alley; Katie Taylor.

Portia's mother also turned around. She pulled the face, which was a bad sign.

"Hi, Katie," said Portia.

"Portia dear who is this child?" asked her mother.

Katie raised an eyebrow to Portia when her mother wasn't looking. Portia guessed why.

"Mother this is Katie Taylor, I met her in that robe shop," explained Portia.

"I see." she examined Katie. "Well it's nice to meet someone who is at Hogwarts."

"Yes starting this year in fact," said Katie, her voice had changed.

Portia's mothers eyes widened. "Really you look much older; I could have sworn you were about thirteen."

Katie obviously took this as a complement because she smiled a little more. "Thank you."

"I think it's because of the makeup; my mum says it makes me look older."

"There's that word again, mum," Portia thought, however she realised Katie had said something more puzzling.

"Makeup?" asked Portia.

"Its paint that you put on your face dear, I sometimes wear it when I go out," explained Portia's mother.

"Oh right, well anyway, Katie can you help us with these sizes, oh sorry."

Katie smiled, "What for?"

"That was really forward and selfish of me, please forgive me," pleaded Portia.

"Don't worry about it, I'd love to help you, I was buying something in here anyway."

"You come here often?" asked Portia looking at a price tag.

"Everyday when I'm not trying to study, it helps me with my maths and problem solving."

"How do you get here?" asked Portia's mother.

"I walk, I live only a few blocks away, usually I come on my own, but my mum is with me today."

"You live in this town, I live in the Yorkshire dales," said Portia.

Katie's face lit up. "I have always wanted to go there, what's it like?"

So then Portia and Katie got into a conversation about the Yorkshire dales. Portia felt better that she was explaining something for a change, but something still bothered her; why hadn't she known about makeup? Her mother knew, Katie knew, but why didn't she? Portia's mother also seemed to know a lot of things that Portia didn't and sometimes her mother corrected her daughter if she got things wrong (which was not unusual), but Katie didn't seem to mind Portia making mistakes.

The conversation lasted until they had bought some dresses, trousers, tops, jumpers and socks. Katie had helped with the fashion as well; it turned out a lot of wizards and witches were wearing muggle clothing and the dresses that Portia had seen (and had now bought) were one of many of the most popular items of clothing in the London area, since Katie had seen a catwalk.

It turned out Katie had seen a lot of things Portia hadn't. She had also been to a lot of places too, such as Spain, France and Ireland. Katie had stated that Ireland had a lot of rain for weather.

Portia's life seemed boring compared to Katie's, but Katie didn't think that. She insisted that the Yorkshire dales were more exciting than Ireland.

When Portia had told her about the hippies smoking drugs, Katie nearly screamed with excitement. Portia nearly got hit in the face, but she didn't care because Katie made her laugh, made her feel liked and she made her feel special. She was like a sister to her and she had only known her properly for only about thirty minutes.

Katie took Portia and her mother to a coffee house. She told them to make the most of the weather and stay outside; the weather at that time was extremely hot.

Katie went inside the coffee house and brought back two banana milkshakes (something else new and delicious to Portia) and a cup of lemon tea made from tea leaves for Portia's mother.

And another conversation started; this time about Hogwarts. It turned out Katie was really nervous as well and though she confessed that she wasn't really intelligent she thought she was pretty smart.

"You should have seen this kid, he was talking about work that sixth years do, and he was in first year."

Portia never thought of herself as intelligent. She could do sums and interesting quadratics, but doing quadratics was easy.

"Well what house do you want to be in Katie?" asked Portia's mother.

"Well I know I don't reckon I'll be in Slytherin, I'm not really that ambitious, I might end up in Hufflepuff," Katie sighed as she said this.

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin Katie, when I was at Hogwarts everyone in that house was so horrid."

"What house were you in Mrs. Boyd?" asked Katie.

"Ravenclaw. Portia's father was in Gryffindor, so it's a split personality in Portia."

Portia hadn't really thought about her personality like that before. She was good at maths like her mother and quite brave like her dad. Some of the things she did in the dales were rather dangerous and her mother and father used to comment on how brave she was and how it ran in her fathers gene.

Then a quick thought flashed past in Portia's head. If her mother was in Ravenclaw and her father was in Gryffindor, and her mother disliked boys then why did they get married? Were they using each other? Portia had never experienced using but her mother always used the term when she was talking about Portia's father's brother. He used her father a lot.

"What're you thinking about Portia?" asked Katie smiling.

"Nothing, just about Erm.... Boys I was thinking about boys."

"That was great thinking Portia."

"Oh yeah, seen one you like?" laughed Katie.

"What do you mean?"

Before Katie could answer a woman with short black hair came up to them.

"Katie Taylor, where have you been?" the woman screamed. "I've been looking for you for ages, and what's that in those bags?"

"Clothes mum, you know for Hogwarts?" Katie looked around her when she spoke. Her voice was quieter too.

"Yes I know what's in them, but I thought you were shopping with me today?"

"Well you walked off somewhere and I wanted to get some things before the day was over."

The woman looked as though she wanted to hex Katie to the next wizarding world. She was rather short and had dark eyes. She had red rings around her eyes just like Portia's mother did. "Maybe there's some illness that's going around." thought Portia.

"Katie how many times have I told you to behave and keep your attitude in order?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "About a million times, look I'm sorry, but let's not let this disagreement ruin our day."

Katie looked towards Portia. "Mum this is Portia Boyd, a girl who is going to Hogwarts like me."

Katie's mum looked at Portia and then to her mother. "Hello, I'm Rene Taylor, Katie's mum."

There was a hint of anger when Katie's mother mentioned being Katie's mum.

Portia's mother nodded. "I'm Jayne Boyd, Portia's mother."

After that Jayne and Rene were talking like bees in a beehive. They talked about when they were at Hogwarts, how old they were when they got married and how the weather was getting hot; it was one of those conversations which Portia was glad she wasn't invited to talk and by the look on Katie's face she was thinking the same thing.

They sat outside the coffee shop for about three hours before they moved on. Then for the next hour they walked around the town of Beverly; looking in flower shops, sweet shops, clothes shops and shoe shops. To Portia's disappointment there weren't any other sock shops in Beverly.

Then Portia heard a strange singing voice coming from a shop, which had some boxes with large trumpet, ends. The voice was a man's voice and he was singing a song with the most peculiar words.

Portia stood still and listened.

"And it's high ho silver lining, everywhere you go now baby."

"What is that?" Portia asked Katie when Katie stood next to her.

"It's a gramophone or a record player."

"I see your sun is shining, but I won't make a fuss, though obvious."

"Who is singing?"

"I think its Jeff Beck, this song was released ages ago, but I still love it."

"You listen to muggle stuff?"

"Of course I do, there are not many wizarding activities around this area, are there?"

"No, I suppose not, the gramophone looks expensive."

"That one probably is; you can buy cheaper ones in Diagon alley."

"Can you really buy them down the alley?"

"Oh yeah, I saw one in one of the shops."

"Come on you two, we better get going, it's getting quite late," said Portia's mother.

Katie and Portia walked away from the shop window slowly. Portia really had to admit that the song was very good; she wanted to hear it again. She tried to slow down even more, but it was no use.

Katie and Portia's meeting came to a close. Portia was quite annoyed when her father joined them and kept complaining that he was tired. Portia was tired too, tired of his complaining.

Their goodbyes were simple and short, since they were going to see each other on the Hogwarts train a few days later.

So the shopping trip ended and the Boyd family went home. Portia kept staring into her bags on the way. In Portia's opinion the clothes looked beautiful, in her fathers opinion they looked strange and in her mothers opinion they didn't look unsuitable, they were unsuitable. But it was too late; the clothes had already been bought.

When they finally arrived home, Portia kissed her mother and father good night and went to her room. She wanted to hang her new clothes up straight away, her wardrobe looked quite boring without them.

And so for the rest of the night Portia kept walking up to her wardrobe and looked inside to admire her clothes. She didn't try them on again; she didn't want to ruin them.

After she had had her supper, which was (thank the lord) not crab soup, Portia went to bed. As she went into a deep sleep she heard some words and a tune.

"And it's high ho silver lining,

Everywhere you go now baby,

I see your sun is shining,

But I won't make a fuss, though it's obvious."

Portia smiled, that song was going to be her and Katie's song forever and her final thought that night was Katie and herself walking down a road, which was covered in snow.