"Bye guys! I'll probably be back around dinner, maybe? Or maybe later than that actually…" I thought aloud as I was saying bye to the three guys sitting on James' couches. I was in front of the fireplace, getting ready to leave to go to the Prewett house for the day. It'd been a while since I'd seen Gideon and Fabian, and as much as I loved Sirius, Remus, and James, they could be a handful.
"Do you really have to go see them?" James asked, obviously irritated.
"Really," Sirius added, crossing his arms. The guys had never gotten along well with the other two ever since they had all declared they were the best pranking duo in Gryffindor.
I rolled my eyes at them, "mind you, I was friends with them before either of you. And it happened in third year, get over it." They didn't look like they were getting over it, so I just turned to Remus. "Bye, Rems, I'll see you later," I added while waving to him, and floo-powdered out.
I felt the familiar spinning, and glances into rooms I'd never seen. And then I landed on a hard wood floor, sprawled out on my back.
I groaned, rubbing my backside, as I stood up, "bloody fantastic". I looked at the small, but very cozy room of the Weasley/Prewett house, and couldn't help but smile. Though I rarely came, the house had always been very homey and just brilliant in my opinion.
"Hello? Anyone here?" I yelled semi-loudly. I heard some bustling, and a flustered young woman came in. I grinned at Molly Weasley, Fabian and Gideon's older sister, and the two little boys that were following her.
"Izzy. Oh how lovely to see you!" Molly exclaimed while pulling me in for a hug. She was eleven years older than I was, but she was a friend, and an amazing person. Only a few years after Molly had finished Hogwarts, their parents had died, and she and her husband Arthur took in Fabian and Gideon.
I beamed at her, "great to see you too, Molly. And Charlie and Bill look absolutely adorable!" I kneeled down to the four year-old Bill, and the two year-old Charlie, who both had the family's flaming red hair. I hugged them both, and ruffled their hair as they giggled, and it made me grin even more.
"Oh, Merlin, where are those two? They were down here not ten minutes ago, and when you're here, poof! They vanish," Molly fussed as I stood up.
"It's fine, I'll just go up to them," I said, smiling as I quietly walked up the stairs to their room.
"D'you think that was her? I could've sworn I heard a thump earlier," I heard Gideon say, and I glared at the door as I walked towards them.
"I dunno, but I'm sure Potter and Black tried to hold her back as much as they could," Fabian answered, chuckling, and I couldn't help but laugh as I leaned against the doorway.
"Yeah, you guys really need to get over that," I commented and they both turned to me.
The pair grinned and yelled, "Izzy!" while getting up.
To mock their enthusiasm I yelled, "Fabian and Gideon! My you two have grown, I've missed you with all my soul!" To make it even better, I jumped up onto the two of them, making all three of us fall over.
I smirked in Fabian's face, "missed me too, I presume?" He blew a raspberry in my face as I stood up hastily, reaching out my hands to them.
They both pulled themselves up, but then accidentally pulled me down, and I landed straight on my nose. As usual.
I groaned, rolling onto my back as I felt some blood trickle out of my nostril. "Bloody hell, guys. I'm bleeding!" I was being a bit overdramatic, but it was pretty funny at how concerned they looked. It was just a nosebleed, after all. Gideon pulled me up and looked at my face, cringing slightly as he led the way back down to Molly. I stuck my nose out at the eyes, trying not to touch my sore nose as we walked into the kitchen.
Molly had been cleaning Bill, but when she saw me she wagged a finger at the boys. "Merlin's beard she's been here, what? Fifteen minutes and you've already managed to injure her!" The boys shrugged as Molly fixed up my nose, cleaning the blood away.
"Thanks, Molly," I said, smiling a bit as I went back to the living room. I sat down on a couch and crossed my arms stubbornly as the boys sat on either sides of me. I wasn't actually mad, but I wanted to make them suffer a bit before I led that on.
"Izzy… Izzy… We're sorry!" Fabian tried, but I just glanced at him, trying to hold back my smile.
"Honest! We didn't think you'd start bleeding or anything," Gideon added, attempting and failing to hold back a laugh.
"It's fine guys," I laughed out, standing up. "Hey, you know what we- race!" I exclaimed, running out the back door with them following behind me.
Looking around the yard, I noticed the perfect place to get my revenge. I ran as fast as I could, and made sure to slow down right before I reached my target. When they were almost next to me, I abruptly stopped, and they ran right into the large amount of fresh mud, slipping and falling into it. I took a few steps back, laughing to myself as the guys tried to stand up, but when they did they had malicious looks on their faces. My eyes grew as I realized what they were going to do, but it was too late. I was already being put down, right into the mud, yelling some very unladylike sayings.
"Gits!" I yelled at them as I stood up out of the mud, pulling them both back in. Since we were already dirty, we literally had a mud fight, which was actually just about as much fun as a snowball fight.
The rest of the day was filled with tons of laughter, and fussing by Molly about how dirty we all looked, so much that she actually made us all shower as she washed our clothes. We ended up playing a little with Billy and Charlie, who were very fond of both their uncles, I chatted with Arthur a bit(he asked me some questions about muggle things), and just hung out for the day. My hair was still wet by the time I realized how late it really was, and how I had to get back.
It sucked not being able to spend a little more time with the boys and Molly and them, but I'd promised I'd be back. I said my byes, which included: a rib-crushing hug from Molly, a handshake from Arthur, hugs from the kids, and complaints from Gideon and Fabian.
I was grinning from ear-to-ear, until I landed in James' living room and three people were glaring at me. My smile melted slowly, turning into a frown," uh… Hi, guys?"
For a few moments they didn't say anything, until Remus finally opened his mouth. "Hi? Izzy, you're late. And you were out with some bloody boys you know I don't trust!" Remus yelled at me, standing up. The anger in his voice was obvious. It was very lucky that Mr. and Mrs. Potter's room was under a silencing charm.
I was standing in shock. Remus never, and I repeat, never, yelled at me. He never acted like he was older than me, and he never dared lecture me. "Sorry, Remus, but it was only an hour… And you can trust them!"
"I don't care! You couldn't at least owled or something! How was I supposed to know that you were safe? Do you realize how stupid you can be sometimes? You need to think about the consequences sometimes!" Remus lectured, and my shock turned to annoyance. I opened my mouth to speak, but he interrupted me. "Oh! And why is your hair wet?" he added, as if accusing me of something.
I balled up my fists, trying to keep a low voice, "What do you thinks gives you the bloody right to lecture me? You're ten minutes older than me, so bleepin' what? I'm not some stupid little girl that you can boss around, Remus. For Merlin's sake, Molly was there the whole bloody time! And I fell into some mud, boo-hoo, that automatically must mean I'm an idiot who can be tricked into anything! You're a right bloody arse, you are! Enjoy your summer, without me."
It was a rash and immature decision, but I was too furious to care. I rushed up the stairs, threw my things into my trunk and stomped down the stairs. The three of them were still there, but I stormed past them without a word. I scowled at Remus for a moment before yelling "Weasley house!"
I was met by Molly, who had been cleaning up the living room. I told her about my fight with Remus, obviously distraught, and Molly offered to let me stay there for the last week and a half of the holiday. I thanked her, and she told me she was just relived to have another girl around the house for a change. She also recommended (well, more forced) me to write James an owl, informing him of where I'd be staying I grudgingly agreed, and Molly took me to the room I'd be staying in. Molly led me to a small room, leaving a piece of parchment and a quill with ink, promising to owl the letter tomorrow for me.
I begrudgingly wrote the letter, and then looked up through the window, groaning. The full moon was just in a few nights. I'd have to spend hours with Remus, alone. I'd also have to think of an excuse for Fabian and Gideon as to why I have to leave for the night. "Bloody wonderful," I muttered to myself, finally getting into bed and realizing how tired I actually was.
The days with Fabian and Gideon were a lot of fun; we played Quidditch and degnomed the garden, which I thought was actually kind of fun. I got to play with Bill and Charlie, which Molly was relieved about, and Arthur asked me tons of questions about muggles. They were the nicest family I'd ever met, and I loved being with them, but I couldn't help but be a little bit upset. It wasn't the same without a smug Sirius and a pretentious James. I even missed Peter, even though we barely ever saw him during summer holidays. I also missed Remus a little bit, but I'd never admit that.
It was the night of the full moon, and I felt like I had a weight in my stomach that was flying around, hitting me while trying to find a way out, if that made any sense. I'd told the Weasleys that we had something really important planned and I couldn't get out of it, and they took it well enough.
I took a deep breath as I walked into my very own living room. The room was empty, but I could hear my families' voices in the kitchen, so I braced myself as I walked in. My parents greeted me, but it wasn't quite so cheery. My mother kissed me on the cheek, but her face didn't look happy to see me under the circumstances.
See, our parents loved us. They did. They spent so long trying to get Remus and me better; they'd sacrificed everything to keep our secret, but it had drifted us all apart. We loved our parents, but we knew we were major burdens on them, which was one of the many reasons we were so thankful that Dumbledore allowed us to go to Hogwarts. At least they wouldn't have to deal with our problem nine months out of the year. Not to mention, the fact that we tried to spend summers away from home too, or the neighbors would get suspicious, and we would have had to move into another village.
The distraction of my mother went by far too quickly, and I turned to Remus who was sitting at the table. He looked really pale, and it didn't suit him well, but then I realized I must have looked the exact same way.
Reading a book (though I didn't see his eyes actually moving) he didn't turn towards me, hell; he didn't even glance at me. It was as if I wasn't there, but our mum didn't seem to notice the elephant in the room, so I guessed Remus had told her a different story about why I was staying with other people.
"Kids, you've only got a few more hours or so, it's probably best if you go now," our mother, Hope, gravely informed. She had a sad, forced smile on her face. I couldn't help but cringe while nodding, going to the door. I waited a few moments for Remus, and he stood up, waving to our parents and walking behind me out to the backyard.
Our parents had chosen our home very carefully. It wasn't a large house, but the backyard was very broad, filled with a small, but dense forest.
You would never be able to see anything in it, unless you'd spent a long time exploring it, or you were looking for it. Our father had set up a shed-type building right in the middle of the trees, and it was protected by some very powerful charms, a lot like the Shrieking Shack.
I watched my feet not to trip on any branches, which was more of a diversion than precaution since neither Remus nor I had said a word to each other. I was relieved not to be fighting or yelling, but the silence just made me more upset. Remus and I had never fought before, other than little things like for a toy or piece of candy or whatever. But I'd never not spoken to Remus for more than an hour. He was my twin brother; it felt strange.
We reached the shed, where our father was already waiting for us, wand in hand. He greeted us, but as my mother, he was obviously not excited. Quickly, Remus and I walked inside of the small building and I waited a few moments until my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
It looked a bit like the Shrieking Shack, with high up windows that let in some moonlight, a few beds, a trunk. I sat down on the bed as far away from Remus as possible, and listened… To nothing. The shed was protected by multiple silencing charms, so no noise came out, and no noise came in.
Normally, Remus and I would talk, or at least be in a comfortable silence. But this was far from comfortable, and neither of us had anything to do. I just made myself focus on other things, like Hogwarts, and classes, and anything else.
It took a while, but finally the moonlight hit me right in the face, and the night had officially begun.