"Come on Brey! You're starting to sound like our grandmother for love of Merlin! Where did all the fun go?" Aurora was obviously not happy with the changes occuring in her sister's behavior.
"I'm gonna politely ask you to take your fun and shove it up your ar-" Aubrey's not-so-favorable suggestion was cut off when Aurora let out a loud groan.
"That most certainly is not polite!"
"And I most certainly couldn't care less."
Aurora rolled her eyes at her sister's retort, poking out her bottom lip."Please prank uncle Algie with me. We don't have much time to prepare considering he'll be here in less than 15 minutes. I can't do it alone." Aurora's plea was ignored as Aubrey kept her nose stuck in her book. Aurora huffed and marched out of their shared room, down the stairs, and right out of the back door. The backyard was a soothing place for Aurora. She had found herself coming there more and more as of late. It provided a quiet place for her to gather her many unexplored thoughts along with the thoughts that kept her awake into the early morning.
She didn't understand why it felt like her sister was pushing her away. They had done so much together when they were little and she hated to admit it stung a bit. She even remembered one time in particular where they placed hair color changing toffees into their Gran's morning tea to give her a fright. Hair color changing toffees did exactly what were in the name. They made the consumer's hair periodically change into every color which was part of the rainbow. Their Gran most definitely wasn't pleased when she caught sight of her indigo hair.
Aurora sat her annoyed little self down in a swing, not even noticing when it started to rock back and forth on it's own. It took her a solid few minutes to pick up on it due to her state of being in deep thought when a wide grin broke out on her face. This was the sixth time, yes she kept count, that she had experienced something magical. Her first experience had been when she was 8. Her Gran said that was late, but Aubrey and Neville had yet to experience anything to their knowledge. They couldn't be too sure about their statuses yet seeing as Aubrey and Aurora's birthday was only three days away, June 18th. That was why their uncle Algie was visiting. He wanted to be there when his nieces turned the "Grand Eleven," as he liked to put it. He would probably also try to get Aubrey and Neville to show magical abilities again. Last time... oh great Merlin.
"Aurora!" Speak of the devil.
"Uncle Algie!" Aurora jumped off the swing and ran to give the man standing in the back doorway a hug. The man could be intimidating, harsh, and even better at payback pranks than Aurora, but she really did enjoy spending time with him. Maybe they would be able to prank Aubrey since she seemed to have a stick shoved up her backside.
"There's my soon to be preteen." His raspy laugh was music to Aurora's ears as he led her back inside the house and to the living room. Her grandmother had managed to drag Aubrey away from her book, which Aubrey did not seem the least bit happy about.
"You three-" Augusta pointed to the three children before continuing, "-need to wash up. We're having a nice dinner tonight. I've made a pot roast with beans and mash."
All of their faces lit up at this announcement. They did quite enjoy their grandmother's cooking. But the girls noticed how Neville would get sad anytime they had a 'family dinner'. He didn't believe it was a true family dinner without their parents. They tried explaining to him many times that there was nothing they could do to change it, but he would just get even more sad each time.
It of course upset Aubrey and Aurora as well, they just went about things differently when coping with how they felt. They used to both find comfort in pranks and mischief. It seemed nowadays that Aubrey preferred silence, a book, and to be far away from Aurora.
The Longbottom children made their way to the bathroom to wash their hands, lining up eldest to youngest. It was unintentionally, but that's how it always ended up happening.
Aurora wasn't sure how they ended up in this situation after the delicious dinner, but she had called it. Uncle Algie stood at the second story window of the home, dangling both Neville and Aubrey out of it by one foot.
Somehow, their grandmother was unaware of this as she offered him a pie from downstairs. He lost his grip on the two, both of them in complete free fall. Aurora rushed to the window to see Neville bouncing off the ground and Aubrey screaming... but levitating about a foot in the air. Aubrey promptly snapped out of it, falling the short distance onto the grass. Both of them appeared nothing short of terrified as Aurora tried to mask her small grin.
"Whoops. They aren't dead are they?" Her Uncle Algie appeared next to her, a smile on his face as he caught sight of Aubrey and Neville.
Aubrey now looked furious as she helped Neville up off of the ground.
"Are you mad! You just dropped two children out of a window in blind faith of them having magic! This family will be the death of me, I swear it." Aubrey's words were dripping anger as she led Neville inside, her arm draped over his shoulder. He hadn't said anything, probably still in shock.
Aurora rushed down the stairs, Algie following behind her. A smile was evident on her face as she was met with three frowns.
"You both had an experience!" Aurora understood that the circumstances weren't the best, but it still happened.
"Need I remind you where you can shove that experience?" Aubrey was still fuming. Aurora could almost imagine steam blowing from her ears. This didn't make matters any better as she let out a quiet giggle.
"Aurora, shush. Aubrey, language. Algie, don't do whatever you did again. But what was this about an experience?" Their grandmother didn't seem thrilled but she was quite curious.
"It was magnificent! Uncle Algie accidentally dropped them out the window. Aubrey floated and Neville bounced!" Aurora was practically over the moon, but her sister looked ready to cut her head clean off.
Augusta looked dumbfounded and shocked as she turned to the great uncle responsible. He had a sheepish grin as Aurora turned to face him as well.
"Oops?" He scratched the back of his neck, unsure of his next move.
"Oops? We could've died, you git." Aubrey took Neville along with her as she pushed past Aurora and Algie, stomping up the stairs.
"Seriously, Algie?" Augusta tried to put on a stern voice as she placed her hands on her hips. It was obvious to the other two that she was happy about the experience, though.
On the morning of Aurora and Aubrey's birthday, Algie tiptoed into the twins' shared bedroom, Neville and Augusta following quietly behind him. The twins had not woken up yet and Algie decided they would wake them up. Very loudly.
Neville was holding the cake as Algie climbed up onto the foot of Aubrey's bed. He wased no time as he started jumping up and down.
"Up! Up! Up! It's the big day! The grand 11!" Aubrey was the first to wake at her great uncles yelling, Aurora waking up only seconds after. The girls sat up groggily, rubbing their eyes as they attempted to fully wake up. Algie clibed off of the bed and Neville held out the cake with a smile.
"Happy birthday, Aubrey! Happy birthday, Aurora! Gran and I made a cake for the both of you. One half is vanilla and the other is red velvet since you like different kinds. And gran even let me decorate it!" Neville seemed to be very proud of his and his grandmothers joint effort. The cake wasn't the prettiest but the twins loved it no less. One half was covered in purple frosting, Aubrey's favorite color. The other half was covered in red frosting, Aurora's current favorite color. It seemed to change every other week. Aubrey's half had white sprinkles and Aurora's half had black sprinkles.
Aubrey and Aurora both got up, Aurora taking the cake and setting it on the nightstand so they could both give Neville a big hug.
"Thank you, Neville! We love it." Aurora thanked him profusely, Neville looking over the moon with the praising. It wasnt something that occured frequently in the home.
Algie and Augusta looked on with smiles, joining in on the hugs a few moments later. Algie, the jokester he is, decided it would be a good idea to hug them all as tight as possible. They all started groaning and trying to escape, Aubrey being the first to do so.
"Trying to kill us on the day of our birth, are you? That's rather rude." Aubrey scolded him in a teasing manner. "First dropping Neville and I out of a window, then trying to strangle us. Tsk, tsk. The first time is an accident, now it's getting suspicious."
Laughter was heard as Algie released them. The family had gotten over the incident with the window, now seeing it as a laughing matter. It was comforting knowing that Aubrey was a witch and Neville was a wizard, even if the means to find out weren't all that comforting.
Augusta picked up the cake after she gathered her breath, waving for the small group to follow after her.
"Now let's go enjoy this cake and open presents." She had a playful smile, which seldom happened, as the twins quickly turned to her with shocked expressions.
"Presents?!" Their question came out in unison, both of them rushing past the grandmother and down the stairs. They had never gotten a present for their birthdays since living with Augusta. They would typically get one present each from Algie and a handmade gift from Neville. Augusta wasn't one for gift giving.
Augusta laughed quietly as the few remaining in the room descended down the stairs. She was careful with the cake, making sure not to drop it.
The girls were impatient after finishing the amazing cake, Aurora wringing her hands in anticipation. They were very curious to see the gifts. Augusta hadn't ever gifted them anything. So this was to be interesting.
Aurora's gaze snapped up as her grandmother entered the kitchen again, bringing out two seperate boxes. One was red and one was purple, just like the cake. Augusta handed the red box to Aurora and the purple one to Aubrey.
Aubrey and Aurora exchanged glances before squealing excitedly when a quiet and muffled 'meow' escaped Aurora's box. They wasted no time lifting the lids.
Inside Aurora's box was a tiny, white kitten. Aubrey's held a full-grown little owl. Aurora scooped up the kitten, gasping quietly as she did so.
"Wow..." That was all Aurora could say. She looked over at her gran with a wide grin at a complete loss for words.
Aubrey was ecstatic as the brown, little owl hopped up to perch itself on her arm. They had been begging to get pets before starting at Hogwarts, but they had never imagined it would actually happen.
Aurora gently placed the snowy white kitten back into the box before rushing over to her Gran, wrapping her small arms around the woman.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Aurora was practically beaming as Aubrey let the owl hop onto the table before joining her sister in the hug.
"What are you going to name them?" Neville sounded just as excited as he asked the question, petting the kitten.
Aurora broke away from the hug to go sit with Neville, a look of thought plastered on her face.
"Hm... Gran, is it a boy or a girl?" She looked up again at Augusta, scratching the back of her neck.
"Girl."
"Then I'm thinking Prim." She pet the kitten along with Neville, smiling the most she had in a long while.
Aubrey made her way back over to the owl, letting it back up onto her arm before looking back to her grandmother. "Is the owl a girl too?" Augusta simply nodded before Aubrey thought for a moment.
"I'm naming her... Remi." She looked satisfied with name as she kept her gaze on the adorable little owl in front of her.
What a year it would be.
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