Massengill was supposed to arrive by five o’clock and Olivia was dreading his arrival more and more as the hour drew closer. Mr. Rainford started getting ready at a quarter to four, telling Olivia and Pearl to do the same. The family all washed up and put on very nice clothes, as Mr. Rainford wanted look as presentable as he possibly could for Massengill. Aunt Margot waved her want several times to make sure that the house was clean.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpG4yr1LVp
Olivia found the nicest dress she had and put it on. It was bright pink and had silky, smooth ruffles. Olivia then put on her shoes and went over to help out Pearl, who was having a hard time finding out what to wear.
“I hate that dress!” Pearl whined after Olivia picked out an outfit for her.
“It’s the nicest thing you have,” Olivia said, sternly. “We’re trying to put on the best impression we can for Mr. Massengill so that he doesn’t write another insulting article about Daddy. Although, I think he’ll try to find some reason to do so anyway since he’s such a jerk, but that’s beside the point. Put this on right now.”
“Isn’t there something else?”
“Pearl!”
At that moment, there was a knocking on the door that was so loud that Olivia could hear it from upstairs. Olivia felt a chill down her spine.
“Oh no, he’s here,” She said, nervously.
“Massengill?” Pearl asked.
“Yes, Massengill!” Olivia said in an irritated tone of voice. She tossed the dress on Pearl’s bed. “Put this on RIGHT NOW!”
Olivia could hear Pearl whining some more as she raced out of the room. As she ran downstairs, she heard the pounding on the door again.
Aunt Margot was in the living room, waving her wand several more times to ensure that the house was clean. Olivia ran towards the front interior, ready to greet Massengill as nicely as she possibly could (although she was much more ready to kick him in the shins). Her father ran downstairs a second later, straightening his tie as much as he could.
“How do I look?” He asked.
Aunt Margot waved her wand. The tie was then straightened in a much better fashion.
“Learn to tie a tie,” Aunt Margot said.
Mr. Rainford rolled his eyes and walked towards the door. Pearl, who had finally gotten dressed, walked downstairs with an irritable look on her face.
“Okay,” Mr. Rainford said. “Here goes nothing.”
He slowly opened the door.
A tall and very overweight man walked inside the house. He had short black hair and a very shaggy beard. A much shorter man walked in behind him. This other man was also overweight, had a very ugly looking mustache, and wore glasses. Both men wore black suits.
“Mr. Rainford,” The bearded man said. “What a pleasure it is to be here.”
“Hello, Mr. Massengill,” Mr. Rainford said. “What a pleasure it is to see you as well.”
“This is my associate, Dwight Harriman,” Massengill said, pointing to the mustached man.
“Hello,” Harriman said with a smirk on his face.
“Are these your children?” Massengill asked, walking over to Olivia and Pearl. Olivia cringed.
“Yes, they are,” Mr. Rainford said. He had a smile on his face, but it seemed forced.
“They sure are beautiful,” Massengill said.
“Oh, yes,” Harriman said, walking towards the girls. ”They are really beautiful.” He put his hand on Olivia’s face and slowly rubbed it. The instant that Harriman’s chubby hand touched Olivia’s cheek, a shock wave went through her body. Her heart was now beating at the speed of light. If Olivia hadn’t had the Trace on her, she would have turned Harriman into a frog and squashed him at that exact moment.
“What little angels,” Harriman said, taking his hand off of Olivia. He then started to rub Pearl’s face. She turned bright red.
“Uhh…Mr. Harriman,” Mr. Rainford. “I really hope I don’t sound rude, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t touch my daughters like that.”
“Ohh…uhh…sure,” Harriman stammered, taking his hand off of Pearl’s face.
“Oh, Harriman,” Massengill said. “Where are your manners?”
Harriman snickered.
He cleared his throat and turned to Aunt Margot, who had a rather angry look on her face.
“So this must be your wife,” Massengill said.
“That’s my wife’s sister,” Mr. Rainford said. His forced smile was now gone.
“Oh. So where is your wife?”
“She passed away eight years ago.”
“Oh, I’m very sorry about that (Massengill’s tone of voice didn’t really show that he was sorry). So, how did she die?”
“She was bitten by a Venomous Tentacula.”
“Ouch. Dangerous things, those plants are. I’ve heard a few stories about people who actually survived their bites. But those people just got lucky. Looks like your wife wasn’t one of them.”
Olivia was about an inch away from pouncing on Massengill. She clutched her fists very tightly and took a deep breath.
Mr. Rainford probably caught the look in Olivia’s eyes, because he then walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder. Olivia laid her head against her father’s chest, trying her hardest to calm down. She was begging for the night to be over.
“Was your wife pretty?” Harriman asked. He still had that ugly smirk on his face. Mr. Rainford just ignored him.
“So, how old are your girls?” Massengill asked.
“Thirteen and Eleven,” Mr. Rainford answered, stroking Olivia’s hair.
“They are attending Hogwarts, am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“What houses?”
“They are both in Ravenclaw.”
“Ravenclaw? I guess that means they love learning about things. My brother was in Ravenclaw when he was Hogwarts and that’s the way he was.”
“That’s nice.”
“What a wonderful home you have here, Rainford,” Massengill said, looking around. “You seem to keep it well in shape.”
“Yes I do.”
“Or do you?”
“What do you mean?”
Massengill had a grin on his face that was even uglier than the one Harriman had. “Either you always keep it orderly, or you recently had your house cleaned and organized because you knew I was going to be here and you wanted to make a good impression for me. Because you don’t want me to have another interesting article about you written in The Unthinkable.”
Mr. Rainford turned white.
“Rainford,” Massengill said. His ugly grin was getting wider and wider. “I’m quite smart. I do hope you know that.”
Olivia put her arms around her father and clutched him tightly. A moment ago, he was trying to calm her down. Now she was trying to calm him down. However, it didn’t seem to be working, as the terrified expression wouldn’t leave his face.
“But let’s not worry about that,” Massengill said, still grinning. “As long you continue to make a good impression for the rest of my visit, I shouldn’t have a reason to have another article written about you. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?”
“Umm…how about some dinner?” Aunt Margot said, waving her wand. After a minute, the table was completely set.
“Dinner!” Massengill said. “Of course! Let’s get a bite to eat, shall we?”
Everybody then sat down at the table. Olivia wasn’t in the mood for eating anything. Pearl didn’t seem hungry, either, although she did take a few bites of mashed potatoes. Mr. Rainford and Aunt Margot both took a bite of food about once a minute. Massengill and Harriman were the only two at the table who were actually eating their dinner. Harriman finished his entire plate in less than a minute and asked for at least eight more plates in the next few minutes that followed.
“I remember my days at Hogwarts,” Massengill said, sticking a fork of meatloaf in his mouth. “What wonderful years those were. It’s too bad that I was expelled during my fifth year. Oh well, I guess unexpected things happen sometimes, don’t they?”
Nobody said a word. Mr. Rainford took a drink from his glass of tea. His hand appeared to be shaking.
“But then I soon found out I didn’t even need Hogwarts,” Massengill continued. “A job at my father’s wand shop was enough make me a living for the next ten years or so. Then my father dies and I get put in charge of everything. Now look where I am!”
Harriman let out a loud belch.
“It may have been sad that my father died, but hey, at least I benefited from it. Being in charge of that shop has earned me more of a living than I possibly could have imagined. It sounds much better than making a living off of The Daily Prophet, wouldn’t you agree?”
Mr. Rainford, who had been drinking more tea, set his glass down on the table so hard that it nearly broke.
“Careful, Mr. Rainford,” Massengill said. “We want to continue to make that good impression, don’t we?”
Mr. Rainford said nothing. Olivia was burning with anger.
“So, in the end, getting expelled from Hogwarts led to me having a better future than I thought I wanted. Like I said, I guess unexpected things happen don’t they?”
Harriman burped again.
“Yep, unexpected things,” Massengill continued. “Kind of like your wife. Bet you weren’t expecting that Venomous Tentacula to bite her, were you?”386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxapMp9kPMe
At that moment, Olivia exploded. Without thinking, she grabbed her full glass of tea and flung it at Massengill. The glass smashed against his face, causing him to fall out of his chair. Tea and bits of glass flew everywhere.
Massengill pulled himself off of the floor. Everybody, including Olivia herself, was shocked. Everybody was wide-eyed and staring at her in silence.
That is, everybody except Massengill. Although he had tea and blood dripping down his face, he was grinning very widely.
“Well,” he said, wiping his face off. “It probably wouldn’t be appropriate for me to stay any longer. So I should probably get going.”
Massengill walked out of the dining room and towards the front door. Everybody else sat at the table and remained silent.
“Harriman, fix my face,” Massengill ordered.
“Episkey,” Harriman said, waving his wand. Massengill’s face was then completely healed.
“I had wonderful night, Mr. Rainford,” Massengill said. “I really hope we can do this again sometime in the near future. Merry Christmas, you ignorant fool.”
After that, Massengill and Harriman were finally gone.
Before anybody had a chance to say anything, Olivia marched out of the dining room and up the stairs.
“Olivia!” Mr. Rainford called to her.
Olivia didn’t listen. She ran into her bedroom and collapsed facedown onto her bed. Barney, who had been asleep on the bed, leaped off it in shock and ran out of the room.
Olivia buried her face in her pillow and cried. She didn’t know whether to be more upset about the horrible things that Massengill had just said or about the fact that Massengill was now going to say even more horrible things about her father in The Unthinkable and now it was all her fault. How could such a horrible person be allowed to take control of a store? How could such a horrible person become popular enough to make friends with journalists who were willing to publish any article that they please for them?
It didn’t even matter. Everything that was happening was, in fact, happening. At this point, Olivia could hardly even think about Christmas being around the corner.
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