The countryside was beautiful, Anne would give it that. She remembered a trip her father had taken her on once when he had to lecture at Oxford, she remembered the green fields fondly and pointing out various animals to her father. She was doing the same now, distracting Lucy from the bumpy tracks and anxiety in her stomach.

Eventually, Anne fell into a light sleep, lulled into it by Susan's gentle voice, reading to Lucy. When they get to their stop, Peter gently shakes her awake and holds both of their trunks.

Out on the platform of 'Coombe halt', Anne rubs some sleep from her eyes, they were the only children dropped off here, and in the distance, they hear a car coming. They run down to meet it, but it drives straight past them.

"The Professor knew we were coming," Susan says confused

"Perhaps we've been incorrectly labelled," Ed suggests and Anne sighs, she takes Lucy's hand and notices a horse-drawn cart approach.

"Oh no..."

The woman on the horse stops in front of them "Mrs Macready?" Peter asks

"I'm afraid so... Is this it, then? Haven't you brought anything else?"

"No, ma'am. It's just us,"

"Small favours..." She looks rather disappointed, but gestures for the children to climb on back.

The ride to the mansion wasn't as long as Anne had expected, the fresh country air woke her up, and the blooming flowers raised her spirits. She tried not to think of home, but her hand lingered on the opal necklace her mother had given her.

Inside the mansion, Mrs Macready leads them up large stairs. The children had seen the house from afar and were in awe of its size. They had grown up in London after all.

"Professor Kirke is not accustomed to havin' children in this house. And as such, there are a few rules we need to follow. There will be no shoutin'!" she looks pointedly at Susan " Or runnin'. No improper use of the dumbwaiter," Anne watches Susan reach up for a statue "No touchin' of the historical artefacts! And above all, there shall be no disturbin' of the professor," her voice is sharp, and Anne is mildly terrified.

Later that night, Lucy is tucked into bed, and the older children are unpacking, Peter is watching the night sky as he listens to the radio.

"German aircraft carried out a number of attacks on Great Britain last night. The raids, which lasted for several hours -" the presenter's voice is cut off and Peter looks over accusingly at Susan, she gently gestures to their younger sibling, tightly hugging Anne's teddy bear. "The sheets feel scratchy,"

"Well, I doubt Mrs Macready puts as much care into washing as Mother does," Anne tries to joke as she enters the room, her hair braided for sleep, she sits next to Lucy.

"Wars don't last forever, Lucy. We'll be home soon," Susan comforts

"Yeah, if home's still there," Edmund says spitefully

"Isn't time you were in bed?"

"Yes, Mum," he rolls his eyes, and two sharp tones scold him: Anne and Peter.

Peter's voice softens and he looks to Lucy "You saw outside. This place is huge. We can do whatever we want here. Tomorrow's going to be great," he looks at Anne's doubtful face "Really,".

✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵

Tomorrow was not great, neither were the next four days. It had rained constantly for days on end, and the siblings had grown restless.

Susan had picked up a dictionary that evening after dinner, calling out words for her siblings to guess their meanings.

Lucy sat by the window, Anne on an armchair which Edmund was playing with loose threads under while Susan and Peter shared the sofa.

"'Gastrovascular.' Come on, Peter. Gastrovascular,"

"Is it Latin?"

"Yes,"

"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented'?" Edmund moans and Susan slams the dictionary shut.

"Do you have any better ideas Ed?" Anne asks teasingly, poking her brother with her foot, he swats her away and she laughs, just as Lucy walks over to Peter.

"We could play hide-and-seek!"

"But we're already having so much fun," he says sarcastically, looking at Susan

"Pete," Anne chides gently, smiling nonetheless

"Come on Peter, please! Pretty please?" Lucy begs, grabbing his arm and shaking it, Peter lets out a small smile

"One, two, three, four...."

"What?!" Edmund exclaims, he stands and runs out of the room with Susan, Anne sighs and stands up, and Peter looks at her pointedly, counting

" ....five, six, seven-" Anne grins and follows Lucy out of the room, watching the girl run away

"No run- oh never mind," she trails off, remembering the house rules, but then running into the next room, Peter wouldn't expect her to be right by him...right? God, she had far too much anxiety for this game.

"38, 39, 40, 41,"

Anne grumbles to herself and slides under her bed, she waits for Peter to get to 100, then holds her breath, she hears him go out into the hallway.

"You know, I'm not sure you two have quite got the idea of this game,"

"Weren't you wondering where I was?"

"That's the point. That was why he was seeking you!"

"Does this mean I win? Oh...No Annie"

Anne crawls out from under the bed at Susan's voice, she enters the hallway and finds her siblings in a semi-circle.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," Peter explains

"Is it because I won?" Anne grins, not noticing the tension in the room.

"But I've been gone for hours!"

"What?"

✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵

On the way to the room with the wardrobe, Lucy loudly explains that she'd entered another world through the wardrobe, with snow and a friendly fawn. Susan and Edmund examine the wardrobe, Susan enters it whilst Edmund knocks on the back.

"Lucy, the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe,"

"One game at a time, Lu. We don't all have your imagination," Peter says fondly, starting to walk away

"But I wasn't imagining!"

"That's enough, Lucy," Susan says sharply

"I wouldn't lie about this!"

"Well, I believe you,"

"You do?" Lucy is sceptical, hardly believing Edmund would be so kind about this

"Yeah, of course! Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboard?" Lucy pouts and Peter turns to his brother

"Will you just stop? You just have to make everything worse, don't you?!"

"It was just a joke!"

"She's clearly upset Ed," Anne adds, looking at their sister on the verge of tears

"When are you gonna learn to grow up?"

"Shut up! You think you're Dad, but you're not!" Edmund shouts at Peter

"Edmu-"

He storms out before Anne can finish her sentence

"Well, that was nicely handled!" Susan follows Edmund out

"But... it really was there,"

"Susan's right, Lucy. That's enough," Peter walks out and Anne kneels down to her sister's height

"Boys huh?" she mutters, tucking a strand of hair behind Lucy's hair

"You believe me right?" Anne doesn't know what to say. It was obviously a delusion, something Lucy had made up to cope, but she couldn't tell her that.

"Let's get you ready for bed yeah?".

✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✵

"Peter, Peter, wake up! Peter, wake up! It's there!" Anne wakes to Lucy's shouting, she rubs her eyes frantically and looks out the window, noticing it's still dark out, Lucy and Susan aren't in the bed next to her.

"It's really there!"

"Shh. Lucy, what are you talking about?"

Anne enters the boy's bedroom, she hadn't put a dressing gown on like Susan and was barefoot in green pyjamas.

"Narnia! It's all in the wardrobe like I told you!"

"You've just been dreaming, Lucy," Susan says tiredly

"But I haven't! I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time Edmund went too,"

"You... You saw the faun?" Edmund shakes his head

"Well, he didn't actually go there with me. He... What were you doing, Edmund?" Lucy seems confused

"I was just playing along. I'm sorry, Peter. I shouldn't have encouraged her, but you know what little children are like these days," his tone turns spiteful " They just don't know when to stop pretending," he sits on his bed and looks smugly at Lucy, Anne watches Lucy run out the room, she runs after her, not before looking over at Edmund.

"Don't be a prick," Ed gasps

"I'll tell mum!"

"Oh try it, as you keep reminding us, she's not here!"

Out in the hallway, Lucy has run directly into the Professor, she looks up and throws her arms around him. Mrs Macready appears in a flurry of anger "You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping' in the stable! Professor. I'm sorry. I told them you were not to be disturbed,"

"It's alright, Mrs. Macready. I'm sure there's an explanation. But first of all, I think this one is in need of a little hot chocolate," he leads Lucy towards the woman

"Yes, Professor. Come along, dear," she takes her down the hall and Anne steps forward to follow just as her siblings step back into their rooms.

"Ahem,".

Professor Kirke takes the older children to his office, taking some tobacco out of a silver apple case and putting it in his pipe, he looks at the teenagers "You seem to have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper,"

"We're very sorry sir. It won't happen again," Peter tries to pull his sisters back

"It's our sister, sir. Lucy," Susan explains

"The weeping girl,"

"Yes, sir. She's upset,"

"Hence the weeping," he grumbles, Anne looks down at her feet, intimidated by the older man.

" It's nothing. We can handle it!"

"Can we?" Anne asks Peter as the Professor sarcastically mumbles

"Oh, I can see that".

"She thinks she's found a magical land," The Professor smiles at Susan's words "In the upstairs wardrobe," that shifts his attitude and he suddenly stands

"What did you say?" he backs Susan into the corner, and she sits on the sofa

"Um, the wardrobe, upstairs. Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside," Peter explains, him and Anne sitting as well.

"She won't stop going on about it,"

"What was it like?"

"Like talking to a lunatic!"

"No, no, no, not her. The forest,"

"She said it was snowing -" Peter nudges Anne to get her to stop talking, but she continues, "Said it was called Narnia?" The Professor's eyes light up and Anne quickly continues speaking "I don't think she's lying! I think she really believes it there...but it isn't,"

"What else did she say?"

"You're not saying you believe her?" Peter asks shocked

"You don't?"

"But of course not! I mean, logically, it's impossible," Susan exclaims

"What do they teach in schools these days?"

"Edmund said they were only pretending,"

"And he's usually the more truthful one, is he?"

"No," Anne laughs

"This would be the first time..." Peter trails off

"Well, if she's not mad" The Professor looks at Anne " and she's not lying, then logically" then to Susan " we must assume she's telling the truth."

"You're saying that we should just believe her?"

"And that there's a magical wardrobe in your house?" Anne asks

"She's your sister, isn't she? You're her family! You might just try acting like one!".