COUNTING STARS ( SIRIUS BLACK ) ¹

o. a rose equals chaos

Cardell had never spoken much about his pureblood preaching family, rather distancing himself and his family from their warped and cruel views of the world. And it was clear from the day he entered Hogwarts himself he wasn't anything like his blood supremacist parents.

Becoming a Ravenclaw among an abundance of Slytherins didn't quite fit into the perfect facade the Rose family had created over time. Even going as far as marrying a Muggle after Hogwarts, a final act to cut ties with his supposed legacy. Cardell wasn't really popular amongst his side of the family if anyone ever were to ask.

Annabelle held her giggles back as she watched her parents, neither seen her enter yet and she basked in the sight of the two bickering, or more so her mother trying to help her father, and the man too stubborn to let her.

"Sweetheart. Please let me do this." Lillith sighed as she watched her husband work in the kitchen, a worried expression stitched on her face as she nervously observed him.

"Dad I would appreciate it if I get an edible breakfast." Laughed Annabelle, making her presence known to her parents as they both turned to look at their doe eyed daughter.

She watched as her father become flustered from the beeping noise the alarm made, smoke filtering through the air as he looked back at the Muggle contraption.

"Just let mum help at least?"

Her dad turned around quickly looking at his daughter with a glare before cracking a smile he couldn't hold back anymore.

"Listen to your daughter Cardell." Lillith told him, a fond smile displayed on her lips. "She is going to be sick before she even gets the chance to go to Hogwarts with your cooking skills."

Finally, the man admitted defeat as he stepped back from the oven, untying his apron while Lillith took his place, throwing away the burned eggs and bacon.

"Just a happy little accident sweetheart." Cardell smiled sheepishly at his wife.

"Honey, it is burned seven ways to hell, it is not happy, it is dreadful."

Annabelle looked amused as her father sat down across from her, slumping down in his seat and she laughed when she saw some bread crumbs stuck in his hair.

How they got there she didn't even know.

Cardell looked up, confusion swirling in his eyes. "What? Is there something on my face?" he asked rubbing with his hands over his face.

"No nothing at all." Annabelle chuckled. "But I like what you did with your hair."

Cardell mumbled something under his breath when he finally was able to get the crumbs out of his hair. "So are you ready, Belle?" he asked when Lillith placed their plates with eggs and bacon on the table and joined them.

"I think so... I am rather curious which house I will be in." Annabelle spoke excitedly, a hint of nervousness laced in her tone.

Lillith quietly chuckled when her daughter went into a spiel of all the houses and their characteristics, animatedly waving her hands about while they listened to her rambling. Annabelle had purchased Hogwarts a History when father and daughter went out to get her school supplies in Diagon Alley last week and the brunette hadn't been able to put it down until she was done with it later that same evening.

Cardell grinned happily as he listened to his daughter, his own memories of his time at Hogwarts filling the man with joy, something Lillith clearly recognised on her husband's face as she reached for his hand, rubbing her thumb over his skin in small circles. She could never relate to anything about Hogwarts in Cardell's younger years, or anything Wizarding World related as she never experienced such things herself. So when Annabelle had been born, the man was ecstatic to teach her all kinds of magical things Lillith couldn't ever comprehend.