Ophelia and Cressida sat at the grand breakfast table in the Marcus Manor. Ophelia had her hair pulled back into a sloppy bun; she was wearing her light grey bought-to-be-ironic, tacky velour sweat suit. She had bought the sweat suit on a whim with her best friend Rose {who also bought one, hers in navy} two summers ago, when they had become very obsessed with the American show, the OC. Cressida had her hair plaited down her back. Her sapphire eyes were stuck in a staring match with her younger sister's hazel ones. The two sisters were trying to delude themselves into thinking they weren't bored, it wasn't working.
Suddenly mountains of glorious food appeared on the long table. There were sausages and eggs, crepes and pancakes, waffles and croissants, and the most delicious looking fruit in the world. Almost as if they could smell the mouth-watering food from three floors up, three boys descended one of the back staircases in a rushed manor.
Demetrius was the eldest of the Faraday children, turning twenty just two weeks ago, in late July. He had a job working with dragons in Romania, but he was back for the summer. Sebastian had just finished his last year at Hogwarts and was going on to work at the Dailey Prophet; he was fairly wonderful at making up horrendous stories about all the high society witches and wizards. Cressida was going to be a seventh year at Hogwarts, while Ophelia had just finished her fifth year. Then their was the youngest, dear Titus going into his fourth year. He, along with all his siblings, his mother, and his grandparents had been and were in Gryffindor house.
Lady Imogen Marcus had met her husband Benedick Faraday in a Classical English Studies 101, when they were both freshmen attending Oxford University They fell in love over Shakespeare, and little less than a year later, when they had Demetrius, they decided to begin naming their children as an ode to the great Bard. Lady Imogen had attended Hogwarts, but her husband was a muggle, this came as a disappointment to her parents, not only because he wasn't a wizard, but also because he didn't have a title.
The boys shoveled food down their mouths like they hadn't eaten in years, Cressida was hardly eating, only taking dainty bites, trying to keep her composure in the midst of all the chaos, Ophelia had already finished and was now reading the funnies. Conversation was always scarce during breakfast in their grandmother's mansion, the children only speaking to say "Pass the butter" or "You cheeky wanker! You ate the last of the pancakes when I specifically said I wanted the last one!"
Once everyone had had their share of food, all the table settings disappeared, three stories below, in the kitchen, where the house elves cleaned the dishes scrupulously. The Faraday's didn't have house elves in their own manor house, usually the kids had to clean their own dishes, but every summer when they stayed with their grandmother, Lady Katherine Marcus, the dishes, and all the other cleaning in the house were done by the poor house elves.
Titus pushed himself away from the table and ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair. All the children of the Faraday clan had dark midnight blue hair like their mother, except Ophelia who had honey gold hair like her father. Another thing the children had inherited from their parents was their astonishing good looks. Titus stood up and stretched his arms towards the ceiling, grunting as he did. Then he said, "I think I'm in love with Lily Potter." That was Titus for you, so sure of himself. Being the youngest in a big family made it hard to be reserved, he had grown up always trying to be "one of the guys" with his older siblings.
"Are you now? Well I'll be darned! She's hot stuff bro." Sebastian congratulated his brother.
"Have you told her yet?" Demetrius, being always away in Romania didn't really have great knowledge of any of his younger siblings' love lives.
"That would mean that they have been going out for some time, and that would mean that Titus has actually spoken to Lily, and we all know that's never happened before." Ophelia informed.
"Do we? Have you never spoken to this girl you say you love?" Sebastian queried.
"How could I possibly? She is the most sought after girl in my whole year. She doesn't even know I exist."
"That is such bull. She knows exactly who you are. Have you forgotten that her older brother is one of my best friends? Hello! Every time I have ever seen her try and talk to you, you just stare at her and walk away. It makes you look like a totally arrogant emo arse." Ophelia was not being sympathetic to her younger brother.
"Well, she is just so fabulous and fascinating, I doubt I'd be able to hold her interest for more than a minute if I ever did start talking to her."
"Well how do you propose to tell Lily that you love her?" Cressida asked.
"I have no idea. I was thinking about just pining away for her, maybe she secretly loves me too."
"I doubt it," Cressida shot Ophelia a death glare, "I mean, not that you aren't loveable, its just that she probably thinks you don't have any interest in talking to her or being her friend. Because you have been such a silent boy in the past."
"What if you gave her the snitch after one of your quidditch games, that would be kind of nice."
"Ugh yeah, if this were the middle ages, and girls were still interested in having things won in their name, or honor or whatever." Ophelia said grumpily to her eldest brother.
"I don't see why you have to get testy with me. I'm only trying to help. You don't have to be such royal b---" Just then an owl came crashing into one of the large windows that looked over the palatial grounds. Cressida, Ophelia and Titus suddenly became very quiet, anxious for their letters from Hogwarts. Cressida pulled her letter out of the envelope, and with it came a little badge. All the siblings clapped excitedly and patted Cressida on her back, congratulating her on receiving the title of Head Girl.
After reading their letters, all the Faraday children went off to their separate rooms to get ready for their annual visit to Diagon Alley.
