So maybe I listened in on Cassie's talk with Mum when they all got back from Hogwarts. Sue me or whatever. But I think that I have the right to know what my twin sister is getting involved in right? No? Who cares.
Anyways, that was like two weeks ago and I want to be like 'oh yeah it's totally back to normal everyone is happy and Weasley again' but that would be a fucking lie and I don't like liars.
Cassie and Mum haven't really talked much since their argument and the entire house can feel it. Dad has been doing his best to fix the bridge between them but it hasn't been working.
Working in the shop has been an absolute nightmare. Freddie has been taking two hours for lunch breaks instead of one so that he can spend time with Evie who stops by every day. Mum and Cass can't be on the same floor cause the shadows around them get darker and the air drops like five degrees and puts the customers off, and it's hard to breathe.
"Dad? Evie's here so I'm gonna take off now!" Freddie comes behind cash and pops his head into the storage room where Dad is.
"Why doesn't Evie come back for dinner? We can't afford to have you gone for hours kiddo." Dad says coming out of the backroom, four different boxes floating in the air behind him.
"It's not even that busy! You can handle it without me!"
Dad puts the boxes down and flashes me a smile before talking to Fred again, "You'll survive not seeing Evie for a few more hours. You're needed here so you're going to stay here."
"Aren't you the one that kidnapped Mum one summer cause you missed her?" Freddie says to Dad. I laugh and instantly cover my mouth with my hand.
"This is totally not the same thing. Go get this stuff out on the shelves, tell Evie to come back for dinner." Dad nods towards the boxes. Freddie grumbles under his breath but he does as Dad asks.
Dad watches him walk out into the busy shop as he comes up beside me, "You can head upstairs for lunch if you want, come back down in an hour."
"Yeah?"
Dad nods, "Tell Cass that she can take her lunch break too."
"You're telling me that I have to take my break with the queen of darkness herself? Can't I just skip lunch?"
Dad shoots me a look and I mumble an apology before heading around the counter and up the stairs. Cass is dusting a shelf on the third floor when I get up there, "Dad says you've gotta take your lunch now." I say to her as I walk through the shelves of defensive products to the hidden door to the flat.
Cassie puts the rag that she is using in her back pocket and comes over to me, not saying a single thing as she walks past me and up the stairs to the flat. When we get inside, Cass goes into the kitchen and pulls out the stew that Mum has made and warms a bowl of it up in the microwave.
"It might not be my place to say anything..." I say to Cass, coming up beside her in the kitchen.
"It's not." She says coldly.
I ignore her completely and just keep talking, "But you really shouldn't have pushed Mum the way you did."
Cassie rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything. The microwave beeps and she takes her stew out and goes to sit down at the table.
"Being self-destructive is one thing. But destroying Mum in the process? Sort of selfish if you ask me...." I look over my shoulder at Cass; she's just stabbing her spoon into her bowl so I continue talking, "It hasn't been the same around here since you got back. Mum's constantly pissed off, Dad's stressed out of his mind because of it, Annie is worried she's going to say the wrong thing so she just stopped talking..."
Cassie slams her spoon down on the table and looks at me hard, "Blame all the family's issues on me why don't you. Next thing I know you're going to start saying that it was my fault that Teddy and Victoire broke up."
I roll my eyes and take my food out of the microwave before sitting down at the table across from my sister, "Don't be fucking daft."
"It's not my fault that Mum had a breakdown."
"You fucking sure about that? Cause ever since you've been home she hasn't been the same."
"What do you want me to say, Ophelia? Like Christ! You like listening to other people's conversations so much, so you already know that I've told Mum that I'll stop messing with that sort of stuff. What else do you want me to do?"
"Excuse me for not believing a word that comes out of your mouth. You've told Mum and Dad how many times that you weren't messing with that stuff? You manipulated Freddie so he almost thought that what you were doing was okay? And now you're sitting in front of me wondering why no one in this house trusts anything you say?"
"Go to hell."
"Living in the same house as you? I feel like I'm already there."
The front door closes loudly, the both of us look over to Dad standing in the doorway looking absolutely furious, "Ophelia, you're out of line." He says carefully, "Either apologize or head to your room and don't come out till you're ready to say sorry."
I look at Dad for a moment, then look at Cass, "Sorry Cassie."
Cass pushes her bowl away from her, "I've lost my appetite." She goes to stand up but Dad clears his throat.
"Sit back down," Dad says as he comes over to the table and sits down at the chair at the head of the table.
Cass does as she's told. The three of us sit in silence for a while, I can tell that Dad is trying to figure out what he's going to say. "It's fine if you two don't get along all that well. Siblings fight, that's apart of growing up. But there is a big difference between not getting along and speaking the way you two were speaking just then," Dad looks at me, "Ophelia, you have no right to speak to Cassiopeia like you are somehow better than she is. You are not her mother, you are her sister and you will act as such. I get calling your siblings out on their shit, I've done it thousands of times. But I have never spoken down to them like I am somehow better. Understand?"
I nod a few times in response.
Dad turns his attention towards Cassiopeia, "And you do not have the right to walk around acting like you are better than anyone else either. There is a difference between apologizing for your actions and owning up to your actions. You're going to have to own up to the wrongs that you have done and accept that you were in the wrong. I know it's hard, Merlin knows I have a hard time owning up to the fact that I'm wrong but it is something that has to be done. Once you have come to terms with that then you'll feel a lot better. Being wrong is okay, it's a part of life."
Cassie nods a couple of times too but doesn't say anything.
Dad sighs, "I wish I was nicer to Percy growing up. I was a right brat, constantly making fun of him, stealing his prefect's badge, you name it I did it. And I know that we get along fine now but it took years to mend our relationship. I can't help but think that if I were nicer to him then he wouldn't have gotten so involved with the Ministry during the war, that he might not have acted the way he did. I don't need you two to feel that way about each other when you grow up because it's not a fun feeling."
Cass and I look at each other from across the table but neither of us says anything. As much as she pissed me off recently, I don't want to lose her the way that Dad lost Uncle Percy years ago. Dad, satisfied with his little speech, gets up from the table and heads back down into the shop. Cassie and I don't say anything for a very long time after that. My stew is cold by now but I don't really feel like eating anymore.
"I don't want to lose you, and I'm sorry that I've been so horrible recently." Cassie says in a voice barely above a whisper, "It was..." she takes a breath, like whatever it is that she's going to say genuinely hurts her to say, "It was wrong of me to practice the dark arts. I shouldn't have done it. It was selfish." Cass looks at me, her eyes red and full of tears, "But it happened and I can't take it back, I don't have a time turner, I can't make things right again..." Her voice cracks and she looks down at the table.
"It's alright, not like it's totally your fault. I mean you've been the butt of my jokes for years now, it was only a matter of time before you snapped. I'm sorry doesn't cut it, but like... I'm sorry, and I'll stop doing it."
Cassie smiles, "And I'll stop Dark Magic... seriously this time, it won't happen again."
"Cool beans."
Cassie raises one of her eyebrows at me, "You know what? I take it all back. I don't mind losing a person that says dumb stuff like cool beans."
"Better than saying shit like, 'names have power' blah, blah, blah."
Cassie laughs and rolls her eyes,
"Really just going to toss that one in my face right now huh?"
"Damn fucking right I am."
By the end of the week, it seriously felt that things were back to normal again. Mum and Cass were talking to each other, Annie was talking in general again. Things were great; so great that Mum and Dad thought it would be a good idea to have the family over for a dinner party.
"So we had Mum standing out in the backyard ready to levitate Hugo down to the ground. You should have seen Dad's face when Hugo tosses himself out of his bedroom window. I mean seriously, it was an Ophelia level prank, you should have seen it." Rose says to me.
We're sitting on the big bean bag we've got by the fireplace together while everyone else is milling about having their own loud conversations.
"See, I would have been surprised if it was you that took the jump, but Hugo? That's something that I expect from him."
Rose laughs and swats my arm, "You really think I would just jump out of a window like that? Please if anything went wrong it's better him than me."
I laugh and roll my eyes, "You've gotta live life on the wild side once in a while. Jump outta windows, ride dragons..."
"Ride dragons? Okay, Uncle Charlie."
Uncle Charlie, who is sitting on the couch talking with Uncle Bill looks over at us, "You two aren't talking shit are you?"
"That's all we talk," I say back to him which makes both him and Uncle Bill laugh.
Louis, Freddie, Dom, and Evie come upstairs from where ever they went. Scratch that, I know exactly where they went, out into the back to get high as a kite, and the bastards didn't invite me.
Teddy and Victoire both stand up from the floor and look at each other.
"What's with all the announcements recently?" I whisper to Rose.
"Might not be an announcement, could just be that they wanted to stand up."
"Alright, two galleons says that one of them is gonna clear their throats to get our attention."
"bet."
As soon as Rose and I shake on it Teddy clears his throat, "Uh sorry everyone, but we have something to say."
"Bastard!" Rose says a little too loudly.
Everyone looks at us instead of Teddy and Vic, and Vic doesn't look to pleased about it all. Rose goes bright red and shrinks down and I can't help but laugh my ass off.
"Are you two done over there?" Victoire says, clearly annoyed with us both.
"Floors yours darling! My bad!" I say which makes Uncle Charlie laugh.
Victoire rolls her eyes and nudges Teddy to continue to speak, "Anyways, uh, we just wanted to say that we're... well... we're engaged!" Teddy says. He takes a hold of Victoire's hand and brings it to his mouth to kiss it.
No one reacts right away. Then Aunt Fleur breaks down into tears, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny cheer loudly which triggers everyone else to do the same.
"Wasn't she pregnant with someone else's kid a few months ago?" Rose whispers to me as we both clap along with everyone else.
"Yessir," I say back to her. No one else seems to remember that bit of information though because everyone in the room is thrilled. Mum shouts something about celebratory drinks and all of the adults squeeze into our kitchen.
Us kids just sort of look at each other awkwardly. I can't read James's face but I don't think he's too thrilled with the whole thing. Dominique definitely isn't, she looks like she's about to punch someone in the jaw. I wouldn't be too surprised if that someone was Victoire.
"Sorry, I've gotta go," Dom says to us before apparating off.
We all stare at the spot that Dom was just standing in, none of us really knowing what to say or do till Molly says, "I'm gonna go find her," and she and her girlfriend apparate away too.
Louis sucks his teeth, "Teddy and Victoire getting married? Didn't have that on my summer bingo card."
"Yeah? What did you have on that bingo card?" I ask him.
Louis deadass pulls out a bit of parchment from his front pocket and unfolds it dramatically which makes Freddie lose his fucking mind, "Let's see here... Cassie sets the shop on fire... Dominique and Victoire getting into a genuine fistfight, which could still happen..."
Everyone is laughing now as Louis reads off his bit of parchment, "Freddie knocking up Evie, which isn't off the table quite yet with the way you two go at it..."
"Oh gross!" I shriek and cover my ears, but I can still hear enough to hear Annie ask what that means which sends everyone into a fit of giggles.
I uncover my ears as the adults start coming back into the living room.
"Louis, where did Dominique go?" Aunt Fleur asks, her words slurring together just a little bit.
The two of them start talking in fast French, Victoire looks almost proud that Dom isn't here anymore and Uncle Bill, bless his little heart is clearly trying desperately to keep up with what Aunt Fleur and Louis are talking about.
"Ah, my Mums outside. I've gotta head home." Evie says loud enough for the whole room to hear.
"Why don't you invite her up Evie? We've got loads to share!" Uncle Ron says happily.
Me and the rest of my siblings shout, "NO!" at the top of our lungs which throws Uncle Ron off massively.
"Not when Mum's been drinking, that's definitely not a good idea." Freddie says, "I'll walk you downstairs Evie darling."
Everyone shouts a goodbye and waves to Evie as she gets her coat and things and heads out the front door.
"Is it really that bad between Aunt Vi and Evie's Mum?" Rose says to me.
I lean my head on her shoulder, "Pretty fucking awful. Mum looked like she wanted to kill her last time and with all the stress that has been floating in the air recently, I think she would have actually done it if Angelia came up those stairs tonight... Besides. You don't see a girl that Uncle Ron has snogged in the past hanging around the family do you?"
Rose laughs, "You mean the dead girl with the portrait at Hogwarts? No, I don't see her around, reckon it would be a little odd to see a walking picture frame."
"Speaking of dead people... Hypothetically speaking, if I was to find the resurrection stone..."
Rose moves so I have to lift my head off her shoulder, "Like the resurrection stone?"
"There's only one."
"What do you need that for? You've got a dead hamster that you wanna see again or something?"
"Or something... anyways, you're the smartest one out of the bunch. Would that work? Using it to bring something back?"
Rose thinks for a very long minute, "Yeah? Whatever it is would come back to life at the age that it died, but it should work just fine."
"And like, it wouldn't be all weird and zombie-like right? Like it would be that person? No strings attached?"
"No strings attached. Though I only think you can use it once, there are books about it in the library at school... what are you planning on doing?" Rose looks at me long and hard and it finally clicks for her, "You're not seriously thinking..."
"If I find it and use it, then I can use an ageing spell..."
"Ophelia..."
"Do you know how happy it would make my Dad? My Mum? Nan and Pops? Auntie Em? Literally everyone?"
"Yeah but... does he even you know... want that?"
"You should have seen how hurt he was when he saw Auntie Em at the quidditch match."
Rose closes her eyes for a minute then opens them, "Do you need help finding it? The stone?"
"I don't think so. Sure it might take a long time to actually find it but it'll be worth it don't you think?"
"I mean... yeah. And if anyone is going to do it, it makes sense that it's you."
I scrunch up my eyebrows, "Why does that make sense?"
"Cause you're the only one mad enough to actually do it."