Title: Summer Vacation Blues
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: Teen
Length: 1,305 words
Content notes: Summer before her fifth year. Also written for my Womenverse "Summer Vacation" challenge.
Summary: Angelina is supposed to be on summer vacation with her family, but they get stuck.


Angelina glanced around the crowded airport at all the other travelers stuck there. Sometimes she got so used to the conveniences of Wizard life. Instantaneous, or near-instantaneous travel would have made going on summer vacation a breeze. But she was back with her family, who were all Muggles, so she went the old way. But if they had been apparating or portkeying, or even flooing, then they would never have to worry about storms shutting down the airport. They wouldn't have to waste the first two days of their vacation sitting on the uncomfortably shaped Muggle airport chairs, listening to unintelligible announcements every few minutes that so and so needed to report to someone, or that there was - obviously - a delay and to please be patient.

Well, Angelina was through being patient.

Magic could have fixed this in an instant, she knew, and it bothered her to know that and to be unable to do anything about it. Weather magic was tricky, to be sure, and you could only change it so much, but shifting a storm a mile over wasn't impossible. And come to that, Angelina shouldn't even have to mess with the weather. She was a witch! She should just be able to portkey her family to their vacation!

Her parents were proud of the fact that she was a witch, but she suspected that was only because it wasn't really real to them. It was like saying that she was a fairy tale princess. Until she turned 17 and could come home and show them, it meant nothing. She might as well be going to a fancy prep school for gifted students, which was what her parents told the rest of the family. They didn't mind waiting for the storm to clear, because that was all that Muggles could do. They didn't have the ability to change the weather, or to travel instantaneously, so they put up with what they had.

Honestly, she felt like she was living two different lives, as two different people. When she was at school, she was immersed in magic, and magical beings, and magical friends. She had quickly learned to drop her "Muggleisms," as the Lions called them. Things like reaching for light switches when entering rooms, and foregoing Muggle technology while there. Her first year, the sixth year boy's Prefect was a Muggleborn, and he had gathered all the firsties together that night.

Cheerfully, he had explained that any Muggle technology they had brought, like a Walkman, wouldn't work in Hogwarts. He also explained the address that they were to put on their letters to their parents, to keep up the prep school ruse, and offered a supply of paper and envelopes, if anyone didn't want to send parchment scrolls home. Angelina, knowing that her aunt would be over frequently and would want to see her letters, had often taken him up on his offer.

It was hard, to think of what to write without giving away too much. She had finally taken to writing two letters: in one she described how she had transformed a button into a needle and then had an amazing flying lesson, and in the other she spoke of her struggle with maths and the fact that she wanted to try out for her House basketball team next year.

When she wasn't writing to her parents, Angelina completely forgot about her Muggle life. She was wholly absorbed in all things magical, and her two best friends, and soon her spot on the Quidditch team. She was a witch, truly and completely, regardless of her birth.

But when she went home for the summer, Angelina was just another Muggle. She listened to her Walkman, and turned on light switches, and after about two weeks home stopped constantly reaching for her wand. She helped her mum shop and cook meals, and tried not to compare them to the House-Elves' fare at Hogwarts. She exchanged Owls with Katie and Alicia (and sometimes Oliver), and regular Muggle post with her old friends. Whenever neighbors and family asked, she told them her cover story, and by mid-July she almost believed it herself. But secretly, deep inside, she couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and become a witch again.

Angelina sighed and glanced around the airport waiting area again. Dozens of families were stuck here too, and children ran around everywhere, playing, while their tired parents mostly sat with piles of luggage. Each family had its own little plot of waiting room staked out - Angelina had snuck off early when the weather turned but the delays hadn't been announced yet, and she and her sisters had gotten the family a much coveted window space near the loo. Angelina glanced at her younger sisters, currently taking naps on their floor amidst their luggage.

In a week her middle sister would turn eleven, and they would see if she got her Hogwarts Letter too. Angelina suspected that was the reason behind the big family vacation. If Marina got her letter, then they would have one last chance to see her before she too was gone all year. And if it didn't come, she would hopefully be distracted from the disappointment by the wonderful vacation.

Angelina considered her sisters. As far as she knew, Marina had never performed accidental magic, though she suspected Gracie, who was six, already had. Angelina couldn't remember her own accidental magic, as it had apparently mostly involved summoning toys and milk bottles as a toddler, and had then had largely subsided. There was a chance that Marina had magic too, but Angelina simply hadn't noticed or remembered it happening. Still, she worried.

Shortly after her sorting, Angelina had asked Professor McGonagall about Muggleborns. She understood how recessive genes could make two Muggles have a magical child, but she wanted to know about siblings. Unfortunately, her professor had told her, it didn't always run through siblings the way one would expect. Some Muggleborn families had four children, all of them magical. And sometimes fraternal twins would be split up - one a Muggle and one a Muggleborn. If Angelina was a witch, it meant that the genes ran in her family, which made it more likely that her sisters would be magical, but it was not a guarantee. Angelina was afraid that Marina would be disappointed next week, and she tried to think of ways to help cushion the blow.

The vacation was supposed to help, but summer storms had kept them trapped in this airport for two days already. If the weather didn't clear up soon, Angelina feared she'd have to explain away an Owl visit inside the crowded terminal. As it was, her thoughts were already stuck in a loop. She had gone through these same thoughts four times already, with no changes.

She wanted to just pull her wand out and blast their way to freedom and a wonderful summer vacation, but it was safely buried in the secret compartment of her trunk. She had brought it in case of danger - Death Eaters had been spotted outside the Isles recently - but she knew that, barring life or death situations, if she used it she would be expelled. Somehow, going insane from being trapped in an airport didn't seem like a life or death situation. Although Angelina was sure she would feel differently if this went on much longer.

With another deep sigh, Angelina decided that a nap might be a good idea after all. Maybe when she woke up the weather would have cleared and they could start on their vacation at last. Or at least maybe she would think of something new to think of. Closing her eyes, Angelina quickly slipped off to sleep, dreaming of a world of magic: a world where she belonged.