Of course it wasn’t. It was utterly nonsensical and conceived in a fit of irrationality. He didn’t need Selah to tell him that – bless her heart, she had enough on her plate and still had to make time for him and his ridiculous ideas. But she did so, gently and kindly as always, and counter proposed something else: wait till the New Year before deciding his next step.
The wait had been painful, and the answer never got clearer with each passing day until Christmas Eve came along. His father had spotted Kyle on the street and said he wouldn’t contest the divorce if Kyle’s mother filed the petition for it.
Selah had been right. Time had been the solution after all. Kyle had just been too impatient, too sick of waiting for something that might never come, and too lacking in faith that he always felt the need to take control and fight for what he wanted.
His mother would initiate the legal proceedings in a few days’ time. She could have done so earlier by citing unreasonable behaviour as ground for divorce but chose not to, a decision Kyle didn’t understand. They knew what to do: file the divorce petition (and pay a hefty fee), apply for the Decree Nisi, then a six weeks and one day wait before applying for the Decree Absolute which would finalise the divorce. And running in parallel were other ancillary matters like financial settlement and child arrangements if Kyle hadn’t already turned eighteen by then. The process in total would take anywhere from four to six months.
Why the fuck was it so bloody slow and complicated?
Kyle took a deep breath to calm himself. At least things were moving. Glacial pace, but moving.
Picking up his biro, he began to write. It was the easy part first: the names and addresses. He remembered Selah’s work address well after all these years of correspondence; he had just sent a Christmas card a few weeks before (an ingrained habit, even though the Owl Postal Service didn’t have the same cutoff date as their Muggle counterpart), before the chance encounter with his father that paved the way for everything to fall into place. As he wrote, he hope that by the time he had reached the salutation, he would know what to write to fill Selah in about the whole situation.
━━━━━━༻❖༺━━━━━━
Kyle Winters
Flat 22
134 Sunbridge Road
Bradford
BD1 2NB
2 January 2006 Mrs Selah Innes
Muggle Liaison Office
Ministry of Magic
Scotland Place
London
SW1A 2BD
Dear Mrs Innes,
Happy New Year! I hope things have improved for you since Christmas. For me, a lot has happened since then, which is why I am writing to you.
Six months ago I promised I’d wait till the New Year before deciding what to do next about my family’s issues. You were right: we just needed more time to think things through. My parents have agreed to a divorce, and my mother will be filing the petition soon. The entire process will take around 4 to 6 months.
My mother will revert to her maiden name as part of the legal process. However, I will keep my surname for the time being. I don’t fancy starting the whole administrative process for a surname change while I’m preparing for my N.E.W.T.s, and a surname change will invite questions I’m not mentally prepared to answer. Also, until I’ve turned 18, I will need to contact my father to get his consent, and I’d prefer not to contact him as far as possible. I’m still undecided though.
That should be about it for now. I’m still processing everything that has happened. It’s gone way better than I had expected, to be honest, and even though I think there’s going to be a catch somewhere, I hope things will proceed smoothly from here on.
Yours sincerely,
Kyle Winters
