Gone Awry

The ride from London to Blaise's home took around 1 and a half hours. He lived in the south west coast of the UK, the nearest 'bigger' city being Plymouth and that was still very far away... Blaise had shown her on the map, he lived at the very edge of the UK.

Ash thanked Merlin for magical cars - otherwise the ride would have taken them at least another five to six hours.

During the car ride Ash didn't really say very much, she let mother and son catch up with each other. She watched the landscapes fly bast her in a burr, never being able to tell what it was that they just passed.

About ten minutes before they reached the house, the car slowed down until it drove the normal muggle speed. Finally Ash could gawk at her surroundings.

They were driving along a forest road, before passing an gate. Behind the gate was a wonderful garden. Right now it was winter, and the snow was covering the landscape, making it seem like a winter wonderland. Snow covered palm trees decorated the driveway, and in the distance Ash thought she could make out an Labyrinth.

"Wow," she said fascinated by this white paradise she saw rushing past them.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Blaise whispered into her ear scooting over to sit nearer to her.

"No," she answered soberly before smiling, "it's absolutely wonderful," she sighed

"You should see it in the summer," he said with a smile. "It has an ocean of flowers of any kinds imaginable."

"Is this really your garden?"

"Yeah."

"I can't even imagine the house then," she said quietly and continued starring at the white winter landscape that spread in front of her.

After a few more minutes of driving, a house appeared in the distance. Only that it wasn't a house... it was a gigantic mansion. It was three stories high and had gigantic windows along the side. Ash gasped as she saw the beautiful mansion near them.

"I can't believe you live in such an wonderful house," Ash said as they parked in front of the heavy oak doors that led into the house.

"Well, my mother is one of the richest witches alive," he said and took Ash's hand. Pulling her after him.

"Wait, what about our ba-" she said, but saw a group of house elves rush to the limousine.

"Will be taken care off," Blaise answered. "Mom! I'll show Ash around!"

"Do that, dear. Dinner will be in an hour though. Be sure to be there and dressed in time, hunny"

"Damn... dinner. OK, I'll show you to your room first. It's right across from mine, so if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

"Would never dream of it."

“Good,” he said while leading her around turns and through hallways, all having something absolutely unique in it. For example, there was this one hall they passed that had a vending-machine in it.

“Blaise... You have a vending-machine.”

“What?” he said, not paying attention to his surroundings.

“A vending-machine.”

“Oh... That's what that is? One of my mothers husbands brought that here...” he answered with a shrug.

“One of you mothers husbands?”

Blaise stopped and looked at her. “Did you really just ask that?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t know about my mother? I thought I told you at one point,” he said. “Well, my mom is a widow.”

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She’s been a widow seven times already.”

“What? Seven times? Your poor mother...”

Blaise raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t worry about it... She got over it quiet well. It’s the reason why we’re so rich,” he told her.

“I don’t understand.”

“And I can’t believe a witch has not heard of my mother. She’s infamous for marrying rich guys and those guys dying, leaving her with huge amounts of money.”

Ash looked at Blaise, seeing his anticipation in his eyes, slowly it dawned what he was trying to tell her.

“Oh she..?”

Blaise nodded. “But don’t worry, only her husband is at risk,” he joked.

“Wouldn’t have guessed,” she said astonished. “Anyway. Do you think whatever is in this vending-machine is still consumable?”

“No idea...”

“I’ll try it out later,” Ash sang and pulled Blaise in the direction that they were just going. A few miles later they reached their rooms.

“Well, OK. I was lying, your rooms not across from mine, but right next to it,” he said, seeing her name written on one a little golden plate, that was put into one of the doors.

“I even get a name tag on my door?” she asked wide eyed and looked at Blaise.

“Seemingly...” Blaise said, also a bit confused, but he quickly shook it of. “You wanna check it out?”

Ash nodded enthusiastically and opened the door to her room - closing her eyes in the process to heighten the anticipation.

As she opened her eyes she gasped in surprise. “Merlin! This room is 10 times the size of my old room in Germany!”

Ash was looking at a large room that was fashioned similar to a suit in one of these 5 star hotels. One of the walls consisted of an gigantic window that lead to an balcony and showed the most beautiful view of the Ocean. There was also a comfortable sitting area at one end of the room and a queen sized bed that decorated the other end. The room in general was kept in a very warm blueish tone, that blended into the sky and ocean. Next to the room entrance, there were two other doors. One was next to the bed, while the other one was next to the sitting area.

“The door by the sitting area, leads to your bathroom and closet - just think about with one you want to go to,” Blaise explained. “The other one is connected to my room. So if you have any questions or need anything, just knock and come in,” he said with a smile. “Your stuff should be in your closet. I’ll get you for dinner in about 50 minutes,” he told her and went to the door next to her bed.

“Alright, see you in a bit!” Ash grinned.

“Oh and before I forget!” Blaise said half through the door. “Put on something nice”

“AyeAye sir!” she giggled mockingly, while he went into his own room, before she threw herself on the bed. It was nice and soft, allowing her to sink into the beds cushions.

Sighing contently she got of the bed again and walked up to the other door. Quietly she thought closet and opened the door, revealing a walk in closet in which her suitcase had been placed.

Kneeling down next to it, she opened the lid and plunged her upper body into the case. Searching through her different bubbles until she found her cloths.

“What to wear, what to wear?” she asked herself as she pulled out outfit after outfit. After a few minutes she decided to wear an elegant dark green dress, that showed of the curves.

Taking that, some underwear and her toiletries, she left the room and closed the door, thinking of the bathroom when she went through the door again.

Swiftly she took a shower and put on her cloths, with time to spear. Therefore, she started applying some make-up and experimenting with her hair until they looked absolutely perfect.

Walking back into her room she saw Blaise sitting on one of her couches.

"There you are!" he said as he heard her, turning around. When he looked at her his mouth stood slightly ajar. "Wow. You do know that I said nice, not gorgeous, right?" he said walking up to her.

"Is it too much?" she asked looking down at herself.

"A bit. But my mom will love it," he smiled and took her hand. "Come on, or we'll be late!"

And together they walked out of her room ad down the hall to the room where dinner would be served.