- - chapter fifteen - -
wake up
Indigo was practically living on cloud nine, ever since the dinner she had been spending more time with George and the Weasley's and in fact, she had spent more time at the Burrow than she had at her parents' house. Everyone at the Burrow was welcoming and she had even meet some of the members that hadn't been around for the first dinner and they were just as she had expected. Ginny had come back for a dinner one evening, glad that she had no more homework to complete and could enjoy her mother's famous Shepard's Pie, surrounded by her large family. She had been more than happy to talk to George's 'girlfriend' and tell her all about Hogwarts, which deeply interested Indigo as she wanted to know everything about the famous magic school. Meeting Percy was something that she had been slightly nervous about but he seemed more polite than she imagined; obviously still trying to make up for the time when he wasn't the best brother/son in the world. He brought along his girlfriend to the dinner, who seemed snootier than the other members of the family and practically turned her nose up at the Burrow. Which not only angered the other Weasley children, but also the honorary Weasley, Indigo, who had become very protective of her new family.
Going back to work in the florist became more mundane than she had ever expected; opening the shop had been her dream and she used to love working on the bouquets. But now that she had learned about magic and her eyes had been opened to the wizarding world, she couldn't help but want more than the flower making job that she had always thought of having. Now that her eyes had been opened to more possibilities, she wanted to take a different path. Even though she was still working every day in the shop and making her masterpieces for paying customers, she was praying for the end of the day so that she could spend more time with George and learn more about this secret world that hardly anyone knows about. Every lunch break, George would discuss interesting stories about his life growing up and tell her about the different characters that he met during his school years; promising to introduce him to some of his old friends who he knew would love her just as much as his family did.
She was brought out of her magical daydream when the phone rang. Hoping that it was Molly, she practically skipped to answer it as the two had a new arrangement now that they were acquaintances. Instead of forcing George to decide on flowers, as he had no knowledge of the things, she would discuss the flowers extensively over the phone. Indigo loved talking to Molly and was intrigued at just how fascinated she was with the flowers that she worked with. They would spend about an hour talking about what flowers were in season and what flowers would look good together in a bouquet, until eventually either a customer would enter the shop or Arthur would complain about their phone bill. She wasn't sure if George knew how close she was getting to his mum but didn't think that it hurt, she liked talking to Molly and from their phone conversations, it seemed like Molly liked talking to her too. However, she was disappointed when answering the phone and hearing the dull tone of her own mother on the other line.
"Indigo, you haven't been to visit us."
Rolling her eyes, she leaned her head against the wall and stopped herself from banging it in frustration. "Mum, this phone is meant to be for emergencies, remember?"
"You weren't answering your mobile. And some would argue that this is an emergency, you haven't visited us."
"I've been busy-"
"Yes, we all know about your little shop but you need to come to the house today." Polly interrupted, not caring about whatever excuse her daughter had because she was more worried about what was waiting in the house.
"I can't just close the shop in the middle of the day-"
"Why? You wouldn't have got any customers anyway." She paused, sighing at her daughter over the phone. "Just come to the house. And wear something appropriate, I don't want to see a speck of soil on your clothes."
Before Indigo could argue, the phone was disconnected which meant that her Mum had once again hung up on her. If there wasn't anyone around then she would have screamed because this was how frustrated she got with her mum, but because there was an elderly woman scanning the flowers in the main room, she held her scream and plastered a friendly smile on her face instead. Deciding to serve this customer before heading over to her parents' house. Sadly, because of these changes, it meant that she wasn't going to be able to have her lunchbreak with George, which really angered her as it was the one thing that she had been looking forward to since she woke up that morning. Closing the shop early meant that she may not get back in time for her afternoon customers and she'd have to find a way to tell George what was happening without everyone else in the town finding out. She couldn't just leave a note on the door for him. She had to come up with something better and decided to leave a note in the flat because if he apparated then he'd see the empty flat and would want to know what was going on.
The journey to the large house was long as the mayor lived in a large house near the coast and Indigo lived in the centre of town; one of the reasons for opening the shop there was because she knew she'd be far away from her controlling mother. She had gotten dressed, making sure that there was not a speck of soil on her clothes otherwise she would never hear the end of it and even tried to make her hair look styled which was hard when it had been frizzing in the heat of the late September sun. When arriving at the house, she had to knock on the big wooden door and wait for one of the servants to open it for her as she didn't have her own key. The servants seemed to like the children of the Mayor and Mayoress because they were approachable, they were more polite than the parents and seemed warmer; although James could sometimes snap at them when things weren't done the exact way that he wanted them.
"Miss Parker, what a pleasant surprise." Gerald smiled kindly, using his arm to point in the direction of the room where the adults were waiting for her. "Mr and Mrs Parker are in the drawing room."
"Thank you, Gerald. Have a nice day."
She pushed open the door to the drawing room, which was a large room with big open windows and two plush sofas sat opposite each other. There was a fancy fireplace against one of the walls and the other walls were covered in paintings which Frank had done himself; the same kind of paintings that Indigo had hanging up in her own flat as they had been moving gifts from her Stepfather. Speaking of, Frank was sat on one of the sofas with a newspaper in his hand and was scanning the articles that were taking up the sports section of the page. Beside him sat Polly, who was sipping on a cup of tea and keeping her posture straight as she waited for her daughter to arrive. Despite them not being very posh, Polly liked to think that she was from an upper-class background and tried to keep this persona as much as possible but in reality, she was as common as they come and her daughter wasn't going to pretend to be someone she's not. Indigo was proud of where she came from and wasn't going to lie about her heritage just to make some snooty friends that she had nothing in common with.
"Indigo, you're late." Polly snapped, her back to the door but somehow being able to sense the presence of her daughter in the room which always freaked everyone out.
"Sorry, I had a customer in the shop and she-"
"Did I ask to hear your excuse?" She interrupted, still not looking at her daughter as she pointed to the sofa opposite the adults. "Take a seat."
Indigo bit her tongue because the truth was, they had never agreed on a time so there was no chance that she could be late to whatever this meeting was for. After living with her mum for almost twenty years, she knew better than to pick an argument. When it came to Polly Parker, you needed to choose your battles carefully and this was not one that was worth having. Frank rarely argued with his wife as he also knew better, and usually just agreed with whatever she said because he was a pushover and was no match for his dragon of a wife. Even now, when Indigo was getting scolded for no reason like a toddler, he just carried on reading the paper as if nothing was wrong because there was no way he would tell Polly how to parent her own child. Instead, he just looked up when Indigo was seated and flashed a bright smile in her direction, deciding to play it safe. "Nice to see you, Indie, glad you could visit."
That wasn't good enough for Polly, who thrusted an envelope into her daughter's hand. "She should visit us without an incentive, Frank. We're her family."
"Mum, what is this?" Indigo asked as she looked down at the envelope in her hand, not sure if she wanted to open it or not.
"What does it look like, Indigo? Use that brain of yours, for once, it isn't difficult."
She ripped open the envelope and pulled out a glistening gold card which seemed to be able to be broken into two pieces which she narrowed her eyes at. "An invitation?"
"To our annual charity gala." Polly beamed, if there was one thing she loved, then it would be her parties but the reaction of Indigo wasn't what she was hoping for and her smile vanished. "It really shouldn't be a surprise; we hold one every year."
"But I thought we agreed that I didn't have to attend anymore, not after last year-"
"You really thought that after one mishap, you wouldn't have to attend again? Darling, you're the daughter of the mayor, you have to attend."
Indigo sighed, knowing that she couldn't argue her way out of attending as that wasn't possible but frowned when she broke the invitation into two parts, she had two tickets. "Wait, there's been a mistake. There's two tickets."
"No mistake, dear. This year you need to bring a date."
"A date?" Her eyes widened and she shook her head, there was no chance that she was bringing a stranger to one of these events, it would make things more torturous. "No way!"
"You need to bring someone."
Frank smiled, as this seemed to be the only thing, he was able to do in this situation and tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, James is doing the same."
"We need to show the town that our family is expanding and the only way is with connections. So, choose wisely before asking someone. The next elections ride on this gala. No mistakes."
a/n: things are getting exciting!😅 -lizzie ⭐️
date published: 31/08/21