Dad comes walking through the hall when I catch his attention with a whine, "Dad, make Benjamin give me my wand back. He's being really annoying." Benji gasps and yells back, "I only took it because she called my eyes tiny!" The younger boy frowns. Dad retreats back upstairs, clearly not having any of this.
"You have tiny eyes! What do you want from me?" I raise my arms in surrender with a smirk playing on my lips.
"I do not! You just have the biggest eyes in the world...ugly troll." He mutters the last part under his breath.
"Now I'm being bullied!" I throw my arms into the air. "I'd never call you a troll – it would be an insult to trolls everywhere." I say the last part loudly making him respond by slapping my arm. I return that with a slap of my own and soon we're in a full-on wrestling match on the living room floor.
"Greetings Holland family, it is I, James!" James exclaims happily, dragging his trunk in behind him with a bright grin which falters at the sight of Benjamin on top of me trying to push my hands away as I slap at his face mercilessly. "What the...what's happened this time?"
Everliah sets her book to the side on the sofa and her blue eyes meet James' hazel ones. "Something about trolls. I honestly wasn't paying them much thought."
"Bets?" James asks with a smirk. This is a regular occurrence with them, betting on me and Benjamin's fights. It's all in good fun of course, we love each other really.
"You're on. I'll put five Sickles on Benji winning."
"I'll put six on Chiara." He fishes into his pocket and pulls out a handful of change before setting it in the table along with Everliah's five Sickles.
*
"Oh, Jamie, get over it." I roll my eyes and nudge the taller boy beside me. He pouts and turns his head away from me.
"What's with him?" A familiar voice asks, making my head whip in the direction of his voice and my eyes widen brightly. "REMY!" I rush forward to envelop him in a tight hug. He lifts me up off my feet and carries me further into the compartment before placing me down on the seat with a chuckle.
"I've missed you, Keeks!" He grins. I stare up at him for the first time in two months and take in how much he's grown in height and how handsome he's getting as he goes through puberty. His sandy hair's gotten a little longer and is messed up adorably while his eyes remain shining kindly as they normally do.
"You've grown." I state bluntly.
"Wish I could say the same about you." He replies with a smirk.
"Hey! I've grown." I cross my arms over my chest and pout dramatically.
"Sure you have, love." Another voice says from the compartment door. I whip my head around to find Sirius standing there coolly wearing his signature smirk.
I get up off my seat to greet him but James shoves me aside and runs forward instead, cheering, "Sirius!" I topple over and groan as I skin my elbows and knees on the rough carpeted floors. James and Sirius just continue to hug as if they're the only two in the world.
Remus leans over and offers his hands to help pull me off the floor, laughing as he does so. "You okay?" His fingers graze my hurt knees and he mutters an incantation to heal it. It's unnecessary since I was barely hurt but kind of him all the same.
"Thanks." I smile at him sweetly before turning back to the two hugging boys. "Oi!" I yell, clapping my hands together to finally separate them, and the moment I do I give them a look. "If you two lovebirds are quite done, I'd like to get in on the Sirius action now."
Sirius wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "The Sirius action, huh?"
"Oh hush up and hug me." He doesn't need to be asked twice as he embraces me warmly. I melt into his touch and sigh happily as his familiar scent enters my nostrils. When we pull apart I examine him from top to bottom. He's gotten undeniably even more handsome. I can't help but notice how toned his body is getting and how sharp that jawline is... okay, calm down Chiara.
James looks the same to me since I've seen him nearly everyday and his changes have been subtle but he's good-looking just as well. I've turned him onto some acne potion that Mum found for me and sent some to Pete as well so we've all got clear skin. Thank Merlin for magic because I've heard puberty does awful things to your skin.
Peter joins not moments later, already dressed in his uniform. He hasn't changed much as far as I see except for a little in height. He's ever the cutie though. "How's it been at Zonko's? Your letters got sloppier each week and I could barely make out what you were saying." Peter giggles, his large dimple showing.
"Sorry," I smile sheepishly. "and it's been great! It doesn't even feel like work honestly, Zonko's more of a friend to me now." I say excitedly. "Ooh, I should go greet the others! I'll see you boys for dinner, yeah?"
"I hate you for having other friends." James frowns.
I ruffle his messy but soft hair, messing it up even more. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." I say and slip out with one last giggle. I make my way down the train in the direction of where the twins usually seat themselves.
"Chiara!" The Prewetts exclaim at the same time.
"My babies!" I laugh, moving forward to bring both boys into a hug wrapping one arm around each of them.
"How was your summer?" Fabian asks once we sit down.
"Brilliant as ever. Worked for most of it but you know this." I shrug happily. "And you boys?"
"Pretty boring really." Gideon shrugs. "But we did visit little Bill and Charlie! They've grown so much and Molly and Arthur are making great parents. We've always said it's what she was born to be since she's been sort of a mum to Fab and me all these years, isn't that right Fabian?" He raves, fondness clear in his turquoise eyes.
"Right you are, Gideon." Fabian nods.
My heart does cartwheels. "I'd love to meet Molly. She sounds lovely."
"She'd love you really. We'll introduce you sometime." Fabian says.
*
Dumbledore cheerfully walks up to his podium and raises his arms to silence the hall. "I'm sure after this even if I start some speech, half of you will be too distracted by the empty feeling in our bellies to listen. Tuck in!" Just then, the feast begins as the tables fill up with food.
After dinner, Dumbledore gives his beginning-of-term speech during which I intentionally zone out for, much too excited for what Remus and I had discussed on the train. Being the polite students we are, he and I wait for Dumbledore to finish before going through with our plans. "...and now, will the Prefects please –"
I cough dramatically signifying Remus to cast his specially altered jinx. Remus smirks and mutters the incantation with a swish of his wand under the table. Suddenly, quiet farting noises are heard coming from the table at the front of the room. Dumbledore shuts his mouth and turns around curiously. The entire hall bursts into laughter as they hear Professor McGonagall in particular farting loudly. Before long, all the professors including Professor Dumbledore begin farting uncontrollably.
Remus snorts and howls in laughter and I join in at the sight of the disgruntled looks on each of our teacher's faces. The laughter grows louder and louder and some professors even exit out of sheer embarrassment.
Dumbledore merely stands there chuckling lightly along. Though once he's had enough, he waves his hand and the farting comes to an end. "Well," He chuckles again, "now that we've all gotten a good laugh in, it's off to bed, pip pip!"
On the way up to the Gryffindor Tower a tall boy with a handsome face calls after me and as I stop so do the boys. Each of them glare at the boy protectively. The boy ignores them and smiles charmingly at me. "Hello, love!"
I smile back kindly even though my stomach lurches at the nickname usually reserved for Sirius. "Hi?"
"What do you say to a date with me for the first Hogsmeade trip?"
I take a second to think. Why am I so put off? He's good-looking, one year older too, and he seems nice enough. I smile sweetly but shrug my shoulders. "It's a tempting offer but one I have to decline." His face falls so I reach out to hold his hand. "If it makes up for anything I think you're very attractive." I leave him with a wink and his lips part as he watches me walk away. I've never turned down a date before, I hope I've done it right. Is there a right way? I figure a compliment can't hurt.
I totter nervously back over to the boys who are still glaring daggers at the boy. "Well, that was odd." I giggle.
"Not really." Remus shrugs, though his dismay for the boy is still prominent. "You're probably the most beautiful girl in school, also the most popular – we all knew this would happen eventually."
I blush and punch him on his arm. "I am not the most beautiful."
"You are." James nods and I whip my head toward him in surprise. "What? I'm not gonna deny it."
"Wait, why didn't you say yes?" Peter speaks up.
I frown. "I – well – he isn't, uhh..." My eyes subconsciously flick over to Sirius. "I'm too young for him." I settle on saying.