Estranged
"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you as you are to them." -Desmond Tutu, Bishop
Prologue
Tina's dairy entry for May 10th
Squibs. Branded as non-magical, little better than Muggles, needing to be fixed, not worthy by family members of all old Wizarding families like the Bones. Yes, it's me Tina and my twin (triplet actually, but we're like twins) brother Skye Bones. Related to noteworthy members like Amelia and Susan of Hogwarts battle fame, most Bones children begin exhibiting magic around age 3. But not us, execpt for our triplet Fantina. Life became a nightmare, our family looked down upon, our father showering our other siblings with presents and affection. We are the runts, the nobodys, whatever you want to call it. We soon became known as the 'Estranged': it merely drove me, Skye, and our Mom into a close bond few can understand. Mom was shamed because of us, but she dotes on us like nobody else.
Why can't anyone help us? The Ministry refuses to help, and yet we both fear that there will be no Hogwarts for us. That letter is what will restore our relationship with the rest of the family. As our relations put it, we are ourebloods without a birthright, without a home, without a life among family. Why must we be treated like crap? Mom is at a loss for words, Skye refuses to talk with it about it (how he deals with stuff) and I cry regularly about it. I cannot lose hope yet: many Muggle-borns don't exhibit any magic and still go to Hogwarts, why not us? Surely it can happen to purebloods too, right? All I can say is this, My God help us.
Often those moments that make us who we are forged in the refiner's fire...
The old yellow speedboat sped down the waterway, forests flying by on both sides, on its way to back to the Marina. On both sides of the reservoir, huge cliffs rose from the depths providing a majestic scenery. Inside, out of eight occupants of the boat, four were arguing.
"Come on, we've listened to Adele for years," one of the three brothers in the far back, on the three felt chairs that sat near the engine. "Bring on the Weird Sisters."
"No, you haven't," one of the only two girls under the age of ten in the boat said, louder than all of them. She glared at her three squabbling brothers behind her.
"NO TINA!" they all shouted back. "WE"VE HAD IT WITH ADELE! PUT ON THE WIERD SISTERS!"
"Keep it down," the second oldest of them all said. Unlike his more heavily built brown-haired brothers, he had sandy blonde hair and a lithe build more akin to that of his sisters. "We'll listen to Adele first, then we'll change it to the Weird Sisters."
"Skye, why do you always take her side?" the others said, turning their collective wrath on him.
Skye was visibly taken aback by the murderous glares they gave him. Why couldn't he: not only looking almost exactly the same, execpt for gender, they'd even been born hugging each other. How could he not always take her side?
Tina beamed at him, her hopeful blue eyes matching that of her one-piece swimsuit, shining with hope and pure adoration. Unlike their prim and proper Wizarding pride brothers, triplets (really twins) Tina and Skye Bones had a affinity for Muggles and their tech that baffled and frustrated their extended relatives, father, and siblings beyond all end. A shared love of the Muggle British singer Adele was one of them. The other triplet, Fantina, was more like that of her brothers, full of the old wizarding family pride.
"Hey, she's our sister. Cut her some slack."
Tina abandoned her position near the front of the boat and moved over to where her brother sat, enjoying the lake breeze generated by the speed of the boat. She promptly occupied one of her favorite sitting and napping spots: Skye's lap.
"Just once," she asked their father, making herself comfortable.
"Seriously," Fantina said from the front, glaring at her sister, disgusted. "Why don't you do that with me?"
"Why should I?" Tina retorted, her eyes flashing with anger. "You never do it with me."
"Easy Reuben, Platinum, Tina, Skye, Fantina, and Bruce," their mother said from the front, starting from youngest to oldest. "Adele first, then the Weird Sisters."
Reuben and Platinum didn't protest: both knew if they did they wouldn't be listening to the Weird Sisters at all.
"But they have a point," Mother conceded, lowering her sunshades, scrutinizing her most eccentric pair of offspring. "Why do you love Muggles so much?"
Tina and Skye just traded looks, and shrugged at their mom, who frowned. She couldn't help but feel for them more: the triplets were the spitting image of her down to a tee: even Skye inherited her hourglass body frame. Mom made a mental note to herself to work to instill some proper Wizarding pride into the snuggling sibling duo. Within a year they'd be at Hogwarts, and they would need it.
As Adele's "Hello from the Other Side" began blaring through the loudspeakers, Tina closed her eyes and lost herself in the music. She cuddled into her older brother's body, her head resting now on his chest.
"Really Tina?" their father chuckled from the driver's seat, watching her through the plexiglass. "Aren't you old for that"
"So, and," Tina said, her eyelids growing heavy, ignoring the snide remarks and whimpering from her other three brothers. Her brother ignored them, shifting slightly to allow her to rest her head more comfortably.
That was what she loved about him most: he tolerated her wants, no matter how inconvenient, like none of her other siblings had ever done. It got to the point when she refused to sit anywhere near Reuben, Platinum, Bruce, or even Fantina during family meetings or other special nights.
Sometime later, she woke up suddenly. She glanced up again: Skye was wide awake, flashing through a Muggle smart phone. Behind them, the backseat was completely quiet, with the shirtless younger brothers and their parents having gone for a swim in the lake. Fantina was busy making various items levitate in the front seat, ignoring her nearly identical twins.
"Can't sleep?" Tina asked, stretching.
"Yeah, too brosick," he said, gesturing to splashes in the lake.
"Oh, watcha lookin' at," she queried, pulling the screen towards her. She had forgotten her phone at home on this day.
"Just what they call an E-, or I-book, or whatever they call it."
"Let's read it together, like old times' sake."
"Don't you..."
"And, so," she said, eyebrow going up.
They read the Kindle E-book together in silence as the afternoon slowly turned into early evening. Later, their father packed up the boat and began to head back towards the Marina.
Nobody saw it, not even their father who was driving. A massive, black houseboat careened out of control towards the small yellow craft owned by the Bones family. Metal crunched upon metal as the massive black silhouette swallowed its smaller brethren whole. Both boats rolled, sending metal and glass flying everywhere into the water. Onlookers watched in shock as the crafts twisted and contorted around each other-and their occupants.
In thr yellow craft, Tina gripped her brother around the abdomen as blood from both of their bodies intermixed together on the seat. Pain shot through her side and she cried out, hoping for relief that would never come. As the wreckage of the boat approached their seat, Skye and Tina both embraced in the tightest hug they could manage in their injured states. Both were determined that if death was coming, they'd meet it together. Never parted.
Tina's eyes widened in shock as they, and the body of their mother shimmered, and then passed through the instruments of death. As motor oil mixed and then exploded among the wreckage, three of them floated far longer than gravity should allow and landed gently on the bank, sprawling everywhere.
Is this death? Tina thought...
It's not so bad...Skye's thought said in her brain.
Tina tried to gasp in surprise, but she couldn't. Her eyes were heavy, but she used her last bit of strength to grasp her brother's limp hand before giving into death.
One year later…
Firm hands awoke Tina, now approaching eleven. She jolted awake in bed, covered from head to toe in sweat.
"Are you okay?" Skye asked.
"Yeah, it's..."
"A nightmare? The wreck?"
"Why? How..." she said, seeing the guilt telegraphed through the beloved, yet mysterious psychic connection they shared. "Please tell me you haven't been shown me farting yet."
"No, don't give it any ideas," he said with mocking seriousness.
"Maybe I should," Tina teased, targeting Skye's bare foot. By now she knew every weak point on her older brother.
Skye giggled like a little schoolgirl, before throwing every blanket he could get his hands over his sister's head.
"Come and get me!" he shouted, bolting out their shared bedroom in his Mickey Mouse pajamas.
"So childish," Tina yelled, nearly tripping over her white nightgown. "COME BACK HERE!"
She caught up to him at the bottom of the stairs. As the two siblings proceeded to nearly destroy the family room, their mother rolled her eyes in the small kitchen. She said a silent prayer of gratitude, for her two children who'd survived the wreck. The two's antics were the only semblance of normality she had since the wreck that had so devastated their lives. She flipped over a pancake on a small frying pan that was clearly showing the signs of repeated use.
Mom, or Karen as everyone but her children called her, thought on the many changes that had jolted their now small family, mixed with a tinge of sadness, yet cushioned by joy and amazement. The trials and grief of the past year had wielded the entire family into one cohesive survival troop, united in purpose and spirit.
"Ow," Mom heard Tina yell, as she flopped into a chair.
"Really? Don't lie," Skye responded, folding his arms.
"Why can't I ever lie to you?!"
Mom flipped the last of the three pancakes onto a small plate, and paused, wondering at the marvelous gift that connected the two survivors.
"BREAKFAST!" Mom yelled, causing the ruckus in the family room to immediately die down.
She poured three hot pancakes onto three plates on a rickety table that also served as the setting for sewing, board games, home reading and study sessions, magical craft projects, make up and eye shadow lessons, and Muggle tech experiment lab.
The fireplace burned emerald green, and without flinching, Mom addressed the woman who had literally appeared out of thin air.
"Welcome Susan, nice to see you again."
"Auntie Susan," Tina said, coming into the kitchen.
"The rest of the family is on the way," Susan Bones informed her adopted sister, holding her wand and a large plate of homemade wizarding goodies on a plate.
Tina sensed her brother slowly ease out of the kitchen before Aunt Susan could notice him. One difference between them was that Tina didn't share his distaste for the rest of the extended family.
"I forgot something," Tina invented. "I'll be back."
She made a beeline for the small room the she shared with Skye-not Fantina. Fantina had a room all to herself, proudly decorated with images of the Appleby Arrows and painted silver in green in honor of Slytherin. Tina brushed by Fantina's door, and flung open the one to find her brother on his bed across the room from hers.
"Still not happy about it?," she asked, joining her brother, who was laying on his bed, staring at the blank white wall.
"Never," he said. "I'm sick and tired of our family's wizarding pride nonsense."
"You sound like Albus Dumbledore or Gandhi," Tina said, stroking his hair, a form of endearment between twin brother and sister. "I am too. I just hide it better, I guess. That's probably why there isn't a wizarding object in here."
Tina wasn't kidding at all. On and in the old school desk they'd scavenged from a local middle school was two TVs, a Nintendo 64, a Wii, two Gameboys, three old Pokemon games, two smartphones, a computer, several robotic experiments, and a Internet router all of which the two had rigged to run on their mother's Incendio spell.
"Will we really get to Hogwarts?" Skye asked, looking his sister in the eye. Tina was taken completely by surprise: it was a topic neither one of them like to discuss.
"I don't know," Tina conceded, taking his left hand, not making eye contact. She glanced at her right, willing some form of magic to come out of it, but none came as always. "Remember, plenty have never exhibited magic before and still have gone to Hogwarts."
Even as she said the words, Tina Bones didn't have an ounce of faith in her own words. She'd been doing a lot of research lately: every one the ancestors in the Bones family had began exhibiting magic by age three. Nary Tina nor Skye could ever recall anything unnatural that had ever happened to them. Except the boat wreck: neither one of them preferred to dwell on it though.
"If we don't go, we'll be the first Squibs to be born into the Bones family in nearly 300 years," she finally said, looking him in the eye. Her voice became shrouded with dread as she spoke her next few sentences. "Almost our entire status with our family rests on that letter. As you know, they already think we lack 'proper wizarding pride' due to the fact we love to play the Nintendo 64 and listen to Adele."
Silence greeted the implication of that revelation, and the reality of what was riding on their Hogwarts letters, due any day now. The problem haunting them was that Fantina's had already arrived the previous day, but Tina and Skye's had not.
"I don't know if we can stand that," Skye finally said.
"Neither do I," Tina agreed. "We must get that letter. It should be coming any day now. Our 11th birthday was last week. If we don't...if we don't...then what'll we do?"
Tina nearly burst into tears, seeking refuge in her brother's arms.
"Tina, Skye, come on down, everyone is here," came from downstairs.
Skye helped Tina compose herself before opening the door.
"What do you want to bet, who'll say 'have you given up your Muggle obsession' first?" Skye queried his best friend. "I say Aunt Susan."
"I'll wager my TV set," Tina volunteered. "It'll be Uncle Alpheus."
"My TV then too is on the line," Skye said. "Before we go, let's hide all this junk."
Tina and Skye hid all of their Muggle gear and textbooks snipped away from landfills, garbage cans, second-hand stores, and various other sources into a basket hidden under a collection of Tina's newly acquired undergarments.
"Ready to brave the rabble?" Tina asked Skye.
"I heard that," their mother's voice came from outside, the door flinging open. "Remember what I said, difference in opinion doesn't cut out family. Now come on, everyone is here."
"Letter?" Tina and Skye asked together, looking like schoolchildren on the last day of school.
"No, nothing yet today," Mom said, looking as sad as her offspring. Just by the look on her face, Skye and Tina could see she too shared their fear and dread of what might happen should they be declared as Squibs. "The day is still young my dear ones, just have faith in yourself and who you are."
She gave both of her favorite children a hug, then led them downstairs. Skye braced himself for what was coming next.
They went into the main living room of the small apartment, now crammed with ten people, plus Tina and Skye's immediate relations. The 'rabble' welcomed them with open arms, all chattering excitedly about the newest family members to go to Hogwarts. Uncle Alpheus pulled the two in, telling them a tale about his days at the wizarding school both were sure was not completely accurate, as it ended in him fending off a twenty foot werewolf.
Their cousin Susan related tales of her Apparition class she had with the very famous Harry Potter, while her husband told them about his time in Ravenclaw as the best student of the year-until Susan corrected him. Strangely, everyone was treating them normally. Probably Fantina's letter, Skye and Tina thought together. If one of three is going, then the other two must've gotten lost somewhere. Has been known to happen, owl post isn't lost proof.
Fantina was with five other cousins, all of whom were at Hogwarts. They were talking about the school excitedly.
"Why do you want to go so bad?"seventh year student May Stewart asked Fantina. "It's not as great as you've heard. Okay they teach magic, but it's nothing great."
"I want to get away from, them," she said quietly, jabbing in the direction of her siblings.
"They'll go with," May pointed out.
"They'll go to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," Fantina said. "Or some other house where I won't be. I'm going to be a Slytherin."
It only generated looks of disgust on the faces of her cousins, most of whom had gone into Ravenclaw.
"Sick and tired of being overshadowed by them?" May guessed.
"Totally."
Eventually Tina and Skye were separated from each other, until they reunited near the water coolers underneath the kitchen window. Skye poured a glass for himself and one for his sister. They were both drinking when they heard a plunk against the window. Four ocean-blue eyes locked on it, and excitement electrified the twins as a large barn owl fluttered against the window, clearly wanting to be let in. Tina glanced around her, and silently opened the window. The barn owl flew in, dropped a parchment envelope on their heads, and flew around the room, clearly pleased with itself.
Tina picked up the envelope and her heart flew to the heavens: it had the Hogwarts emblem on it.
The Smallest Bedroom
Tina and Skye Bones
114th Cheshire Blvd
Godric's Hallow
But Tina and Skye exchanged worried looks: why would Hogwarts just send one letter? And why was it lighter than Fantina's? They both felt dread bubbling up into their stomachs and fear taking hold of their hearts, threatening to choke them.
"Maybe they just combined our letters together?" Skye offered. It sounded lame even as he said it.
Tina threw him a 'get real' look that immediately sobered him up.
"We'd better get Mom," they said together, as the barn owl finally left the way it came.