Worked Like Magic

I was meant to be having the holiday of a lifetime, but I desperately needed a magical fix....

Sitting in the airport departures lounge, I excitedly flicked through the brochure for The Wizarding World of Harry

Potter in Florida. ‘I’m so excited to see Hogwarts!’

I beamed, giving it to my husband, Haydn.

‘You’re such a Harry Potter fan, I’ll be walking around with a right geek,’ he teased, winking at our daughter Molly*, 10.

We’d been planning to take Molly to Disney World and Universal Studios for years, and finally, the day was here.

They called for our flight, and we made our way through the airport terminal, rushing a little to keep up with the crowd.

I started to feel warm and slightly out of breath.

‘You alright love?’ Haydn called as he strode on ahead easily.

‘Yep, yep,’ I half-panted back, struggling to keep up.

After what felt like an age, we finally boarded the plane and Molly excitedly found us our seats.

I sat down as Haydn loaded our hand luggage and immediately noticed how tight the seat was.

I adjusted myself awkwardly, trying not to panic as I reached for the seat-belt.

It wouldn’t stretch over my bulging stomach.

I sucked in as much as I could and tried to heave the clips together, but I just couldn’t force it to make that magic ‘click!’ noise. Haydn sat down and clicked his together easily before turning to see me.

‘I can’t do it,’ I whimpered, my eyes filling with tears.

Before he could reply, a flight attendant came to check everyone was strapped in.

She took one look at me and smiled sympathetically.

‘Not to worry, I’ll grab an extender,’ she said, turning on her heel and walking up the aisle.

Thankfully, Molly was oblivious as she set about looking through the in-flight entertainment, but Haydn looked just as upset as I was.