Jacen
The rest of the term went by quickly. Before I knew it, Christmas had come along. Aurors now guarded the tombs outside day and night. I never straight-out asked, unlike Ella, who got shot down every time she tried.
Is that really necessary?
It is, Els.
I never asked, because I had a feeling that it was classified, strangely enough. Something to do with the object that had been stolen from Uncle Harry, part of three powerful objects? It sounded like the Tale of Three Brothers. But that was just a fairytale, right?
"Mars!" I cried as I ran into the student library, where Mara-Jade was.
She shelved some file, and smiled. "Mars, now?"
I shrugged. "Suits you."
Her grin grew, with a bit of sadness. I cleared my throat.
"I've got a present for you," I announced. "Promise to wait to open it?"
"Um," she said, faltering. "Of course. Just. . . I haven't exactly gotten many presents in my life."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said immediately.
She shrugged. "That's the way my life is, Jacen. It's not some fairytale, and even though I may be a street rat, I'm not destined to be some great hero."
"Street rat?" I asked. Suddenly, how she seemed to have trouble even doing things like reading the textbook made a lot more sense.
"I'm a foster kid," she said with another shrug. "You tend to run a lot."
"That sucks, Mars," I said.
"That's my life," she replied. "But thanks, Jace."
"You're welcome," I told her. We were quiet for a moment.
Aw, this is adorable.
"Well, I've got to get going, home for the holidays, you know," I said awkwardly.
"Okay," she replied, not even looking at me.
I sighed and walked to go fetch my trunk, and get started on my winter holiday.
Ella
I stepped down onto Platform 9 and 3/4, trunk behind me.
"Daddy! Mum!" I cried as I ran over to them, and hugged them.
"We missed you, fairy princess," Daddy said, and he pulled a rather reluctant Jacen into the hug. "You too, Jace."
I was not reluctant. You guys just looked otherwise occupied.
Keep telling yourself that, Jay.
"Come on, we'd better get those trunks on a trolley, and get ready to move," Mum said. We did so, and went through the barrier, and down King's Cross station into the car, a grey sedan of the muggle variety.
"So, how is school?" Mum asked from the passenger seat.
"It's good," we chorused.
"Except for my prat of a brother?" Mum continued, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded eagerly, while Jacen avoided her gaze and looked out of the window.
"Jacen, are you okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine," he lied, his eyes wide.
"It's my dratted brother, isn't it?" She demanded.
He shrugged.
She sighed, exasperated. "We're still training you how to use your powers, so you can make the choice in the future as to using them, but you'll at least know how."
"Besides, it isn't all that bad," Daddy added. "Just because your skills scare people doesn't make them bad skills to have. In fact, some might add that that's a reason to keep them around. Those sort of skills are great in a bad situation."
"Too true," Mum agreed as she looked out the window. "Too true."
It was Christmas Eve, and we were going to our Gran-Merry's home to meet with the part of the family we did talk to, our father's family. See Aunt Rhys, Uncle Cedric, Uncle Lux, and Aunt Korr. And of course, our cousins!
I was so excited, dressed up in dark green robes that matched my brother's, with little golden bows and such. Snow fell outside in Queensferry, where we'd taken a Side-Along Apparition to.
"Gran-Merry!" We chorused as we ran into the house.
Gran-Merry smiled and hugged us. "There you are, Ella, Jacen," she said. "Come inside, your cousins are playing Exploding Snap, I think."
"Merry Christmas, Mum," Daddy was saying behind us as we rushed into the living room, where Uncle Cedric and Aunt Rhys were sitting on the couch, reading something, and Uncle Lux and Aunt Korr were nowhere to be found.
Our four cousins were sitting cross-legged on the rug with the Welsh dragon embroidered on it, playing with the cards for Exploding Snap.
Lena, the oldest, who was a fifth-year Hufflepuff on our Aunt Rhys's side, looked up. She's the pretty one of the family, you could see that then, with her long dark hair draped over her shoulders, and rather nice golden eyes that contrasted her silver robes, and an olive complexion.
"Want to join?" She asked.
"Sure," we chorused.
Lena and our other cousins broke into laughter.
"Hey, Jacen, Ella," my youngest cousin, Genevieve said. She practically worshipped the ground Jacen and I walked on.
"Hey there, Gen," I said as Jacen ruffled her hair. "You've gotten big."
"I'm eight, now," she replied proudly.
"Eight? Already? Wow. . ." I said.
"You'll be at Hogwarts in practically no time," Jacen finished.
She grinned proudly, and we played a few rounds, until we all tired of it, and began talking with each other.
I think we should ask Aunt Rhys about magical artifacts, Jacen sent to me.
Let's do it. Now.
We exchanged a glance, and went over to our aunt, who was now staring into the flames.
"Aunt Rhys?" I asked innocently.
"Oh, yes?" She asked absentmindedly.
"We were wondering about three artifacts, magical, can only be used together?" Jacen asked.
She didn't even look at us. "Korr would know more about that," she advised us.
"But you study magical artifacts," I pointed out.
"Trust me, she has ties to the artifacts I think you're talking about," she finished, almost in a dreamlike state.
"Thank you, Aunt Rhys," we chorused. We then walked over to Aunt Korr, our gothic aunt, who smirked.
"I heard you talking to Rhys," she said. "So you two want to know about the Deathly Hallows?"
We nodded in perfect sync.
"Ah, yes, my family is involved in the tale. I assume your parents read you the Tale of Three Brothers?" She asked.
We nodded again.
"So you know the Deathly Hallows, then. The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak," Aunt Korr said, amused. "The artifacts in use together are capable of truly bringing the dead back to life."
"How do you know?" I asked.
Such a questioning child, Ella. Never taking anything for granted.
Sounds more like you.
Aunt Korr chuckled. "It's been said the Ansels are descended from Death herself. In the true story of the fairytale Beedle witnessed, my family was the one the three brothers, the Peverells, encountered. Gave them the Deathly Hallows, although the idiots that have heard of the Peverell Quest have all thought that the Peverells created the objects themselves. Yet no one ever wonders if perhaps there was even more truth to the legend than they thought."
"How do you know they're real?" Jacen asked.
"I've seen them," Aunt Korr said. "So has your mother."
"Our mother?" We chorused.
"Ah, yes, although your uncle is the Master of Death and knows the location of all of the Hallows. Well, except for one, now," Aunt Korr added.
"Dinner!" Gran-Merry interrupted.
We stayed up all night, opened presents at three in the morning, it was awesome. Pure awesome.
It was. I wish things had stayed that way.
So do I.