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~~(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)~~
Standard Disclaimer:
"So, after several months of hiatus," said Emily, "why do you think we're all making a comeback?"
Thorber, who was busy loading an exceptionally large blunderbuss with rabid hamsters, shrugged his broad shoulders. "If you mean, why is Triage Inc. writing Harry Potter FanFics again after a self-proclaimed superior burnout? Who knows? I'm just a fictional character like you, and I'm not about to ask questions that potentially lead to an existential crisis."
Emily sighed, then looked down at the blunderbuss, "Uhm, Mr. Stone, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Loading rabid hamsters...YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SHOOT READERS WITH IT, ARE YOU?!"
"Miss King, do tell me," Thorber hefted the now armed and loaded weapon over his shoulder, "what is the point of loading a rabid-hamster-shooting blunderbuss if I am not going to use it?"
"But they're our readers! If you shoot them, who's going to read the story?!"
Thorber Stone shrugged, "Not everyone out there's a reader."
"Don't you dare, Mr. Stone!" Emily lunged forward to wrestle the gun out of Thorber's hands.
"Hey, easy!"
Despite the fact that Emily was all of four feet nine inches and weighed less than a hundred pounds to Thorber's six feet two inches and over two hundred pounds, the redhead put in a serious amount of strength, but as was previously mentioned, both were fictional characters and empowered by Plot™.
Their struggling brought them to the stage without their notice, and unfortunately, both had their hands near the trigger, so with a loud BLAM! a rabid hamster soon found itself latching to the face of one Vernon Dursley.
"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD NOT HAVE COME TO WATCH THESE FREAKS!" screamed the corpulent man. He lumbered to his feet and tried in vain to pull off the frenzied rodent now squealing and biting and clawing. The blood was flying.
Staring in disbelief, Emily facepalmed and sighed, "C-can we just get on with it?"
"Hmm? Oh yes, wait, where's the note?" Thorber searched his pockets, and while doing so, squeezed the trigger two more times, launching more hamsters into the audience.
"Mr. Stone!" shrieked Emily, "Oh for goodness sake. Folks, we don't own Harry Potter at all. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling even if she doesn't know what she's doing with it."
"Ah found it…oh no, it's been eaten by hamsters…" Thorber looked forlornly at the mangled sheet of paper.
"Come on, sir." said Emily, gently tugging the large man off the stage, "Enjoy the story, everyone."
Author's Notes: I am quite fond of fancasting. So if anyone is wondering what Azalea looks like, or who is her celebrity/model equivalent, Azalea looks a lot like Emma Mackey. There is a lifelike artistic rendition of her with tiny flowers in her hair on Google Images.
The Convergence Paradox
By Triage
Chapter 1: Waltz of the Flowers
Iris Lily Potter was in hell. Any other time, she would have been considered a most fetching young lady, with her shoulder-length fiery red hair, greenish-brown eyes, and heart-shaped face. Even her glasses made her more appealing somehow. But that was before she had half her face melted off by an unknown curse.
Voldemort had not waited long after his resurrection. In her fifth year, Umbridge openly revealed her allegiance to the dark lord, and paved the path for his return. With Dumbledore dead, more than half the faculty poisoned or assassinated, the student body had been divided between those faithful to Voldemort, and those who decided to go out in a brave but ultimately unsuccessful last stand.
Draco defied his own father, and chose to throw in his lot with Iris. Their relationship more than probably had something to do with that. But for all his loyalty and bravery to the Girl-Who-Lived, he sorely lacked in skills and power, and it was his own father who ended him. And now Iris lay beside him, slowly dying. The last of the Defiants - the term quickly coined by those who chose to fight Voldemort to the bitter end - were falling. Ron and Hermione actually outlasted even Iris, as they still stood, whilst Iris was gurgling in her own blood and melted flesh.
Tears poured out of the girl's remaining eye. She couldn't even turn or look away from Draco's wide-open eyes, glazed over in death, and they were staring back into her.
It felt like accusation and fury. Iris wanted to close her eye, but it was pointless. She would be joining Draco soon enough, along with everyone else. Voldemort won, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, fighting to their last breath, were doing nothing but delaying the inevitable.
With her one ear, she heard Hermione shriek and there was a heavy thud. Iris could guess that her best friend was on the ground, most likely dead. It was a good thing the curse had done away with Iris' voice, or she would be screaming herself hoarse. The pain of her dying body was like a thousand cruciatus curses rolled into one.
Neville fell, Ginny fell, Ron was the last. She heard the laughter of the death eaters, but it was getting muffled. Yet, she heard the ominous footsteps of Voldemort like a thunderous shockwave as he drew near to her side…what was left of it anyway.
"Iris Potter," hissed the dark lord, "look at you now."
Gurgled noises and oozing blood was her reply, and the serpent-faced man laughed.
"Ah, what was it you promised me this time last year? Oh yes," he used a foot to tilt her head painfully so she could look him in the eyes, "You would see me dead for everything I'd done."
Iris wished she could move, even raise her wand just a little, to try and fire off one last spell. Anything really.
"Pity you won't get to keep that promise."
She was surrounded by the death eaters, all of them took off their masks, Umbridge among them, and she laughed that silly laugh of hers in that girlish voice. They all laughed.
"I would say it was a challenging battle and that you and your friends were worthy of remembrance," said Voldemort, "but that would be lying. Farewell, Iris Potter."
"AVAD-no…hmm."
Voldemort became thoughtful, "Much as I'd like to use the very same spell that had worked so well before, you proved the exception, didn't you? I'll do something different this time, I believe."
With a slashing motion across her neck, he shouted, "DIFFINDO!"
It was a morbid fascination to discover that she continued to live a few more seconds after having her head separated from her body. She watched as Voldemort disintegrated her body and the laughter of the death eaters turned to screams of horror for reasons beyond Iris' ability to comprehend or care.
White light engulfed her and she suddenly felt free of pain.
Sitting up, the redhead felt whole again. Whole, and quite naked. As soon as she felt alarmed by this, her nakedness was covered in her favourite clothes.
She took a while to process her surroundings, which looked a little like King's Cross Station, but there was a lot more white, no red train in sight, and the whole place seemed rather misty or foggy. If she had to guess, she surmised she was very much dead. Though this was somehow not her final destination.
"Oh, hello." said a dreamy voice.
Turning around, Iris smiled sadly. "Hello Luna."
"Hmm."
Just as she was in life, in death, Luna seemed unperturbed or even unaware of her situation or circumstances. She had that permanently surprised look, and was studying her surroundings with great interest. Unlike Iris, though, she seemed quite comfortable in nothing at all.
"Uh, Luna?"
"Yes, Iris?"
"Where are we?"
"I'm not quite sure, actually," replied the blonde girl, "but since the whole world is gone now, I just thought there would be more of us here."
"...what?"
Luna turned her wide-eyed gaze on Iris, and smiled, "Headmaster Dumbledore's final act doomed our entire world."
Iris blinked. This conversation was going places she couldn't even comprehend. "How?"
"Oh, he tied all of England's magical ley lines to your soul. It's a lot more complicated than that, but I didn't get all the details before it became irrelevant."
Luna turned to examine the railway tracks, "I think he believed you would prevail, as you have many times before. So maybe he thought you could use the power, or Voldemort would not dare kill you as he and every other magical would lose their powers if you were killed. But I think he did not count on the magical ley lines being responsible for keeping the world alive as well."
Iris gawked, "H-he could do that?!"
"Oh yes...it's quite easy actually," said Luna distractedly, "but most wouldn't, because if anything happened to the mortal wizard, well..."
She gestured around her as a finishing explanation.
"So...Earth is dead?"
"That is my guess. I was quite far away from the main battle, in the back, actually. But I just felt a terrible pain, and heard everyone screaming, and then there was a big bright orange light that rose over the horizon, and after that...I was here."
"You're taking this better than I'd expect," said Iris observantly, "well, so am I, for that matter. I thought I'd be…"
"Sad? Upset?" asked Luna.
Iris nodded, "Yeah...I mean, we lost, horridly."
"Hmm, but so did Voldemort, when you think about it."
"A cadmean victory," remarked Iris bitterly.
"Yes, that's one way to think of it."
The two fell silent after that. Occasionally, Luna would hum a tune to herself and skip over to look at whatever caught her interest.
"Don't you feel embarrassed running around naked?" asked Iris after a while.
"Should I?" was Luna's reply.
"...I suppose not."
They went back to silence, then Iris sat down on one of the benches. "Where do you suppose everyone else is? I mean it can't just be the two of us, right?"
"I'm not sure, Iris. I've never died before."
The redhead laughed, "This must be quite the novel experience, then."
"It is rather dull, actually."
"It's peaceful, at least." said Iris.
"Yes, yes it is." Luna skipped over to join Iris at the bench. The girl was so small, her legs dangled over the seat, and she started kicking back and forth.
Iris smirked at the girl's antics and then sighed, "Not that I don't appreciate your company, but I am hoping we'll find the others soon."
Luna gazed sadly up at Iris, "I…don't think there are going to be others."
"What?"
The little blonde girl's mouth opened and closed a few times, then she said, "I am...I think I know things...and I'm supposed to let you know."
"Know what?"
The girl got to her feet, and she was suddenly in a bright blue summer dress, a large, wide brimmed hat, and cream shoes with sunflowers on the front. Actual sunflowers.
"Things went horribly wrong for you and the whole world. But because the headmaster had committed his drastic act, not even time itself can undo this, because everything was tied to the magical ley lines."
"Sounds pretty final and absolute to me," said Iris bitterly.
"It is, yes." replied Luna, who turned back to look at the redhead, "For this world."
Iris sighed, "So what now?"
"There's nothing to be done…for this world."
"Yeah, got that part, Luna." Iris frowned, realising that Luna emphasised on one word. "What do you mean by this world?"
"This world...our world, is completely gone. Irredeemable. Nothing can be done to reverse its fate."
"Luna…we're dead," said Iris, "not like we can do a whole lot at this point, can we?"
"Most of us can't," agreed Luna, but she looked at Iris, "but you can."
"Do tell," said Iris disbelievingly.
"Your destiny remained unfulfilled, interference by a desperate man led to a complete derailment of the world. You will be given a chance to make a difference and fulfil your destiny." explained the small girl.
"H-how do you know all this?"
Luna smiled sadly, "I just do."
There was a sound, faint at first, but getting clearer as time went on. It was the Hogwarts Express. "It won't be the same Earth, and you won't remember most of this. Only a subconscious awareness," said Luna, "if you decide to get on the train, you will go to your new opportunity, but it won't be easy."
"What's the alternative?" asked Iris worriedly.
"You can remain here, find your way to your family and friends. But the other Earth may suffer a similar or worse fate than what happened to ours."
"What about you?" the redhead frowned.
"I'm staying," said Luna without hesitation, "I want to see my mother."
"I think I'd love to see my family." said Iris, then she faltered, "But not until I've taken care of this."
"You're going then," said Luna, without question.
"I think you already knew that." replied Iris.
"Yes, I suppose I did," the blonde smiled forlornly, "you always did have a saving people thing."
"Hnh, a lot of good it did." she saw the Express approaching rapidly, "Do you reckon Draco's there in the other world?"
"I would count on it." said Luna.
"I hope he'd be a bit less full of himself than he was here." remarked Iris without bitterness.
"I think he wouldn't be Draco otherwise," said Luna dreamily.
Iris chuckled, "No, he wouldn't, would he?"
She leaned over and hugged Luna, "I'm going to miss you."
"It's okay, Iris," said Luna, "I think I'll be there too, sort of."
"Good."
In truth, Iris had no idea what Luna meant, but she decided where the somewhat oddball of a girl was concerned, it was always better to just accept whatever she said and trust that it would make sense in time.
If she said that she was going to be there, sort of, then so be it.
"You know, I thought I'd be a lot more conflicted about all this, or upset or angry or something. Instead, I'm just…"
"Clear in mind and thought?" finished Luna. "That's immortality, Iris."
"What I'd give to stay this way forever."
"You can," said Luna.
"But I'd potentially be condemning another world, right?"
"Quite possibly, yes."
Iris sighed, "I don't think I could live with that…or…well, you know what I mean."
"Yes, I think I do," Luna smiled sadly, "See if you can find me a snorkack."
"I promise I will."
The Hogwarts Express was in the station. It was surreal to see no one else in sight. The two girls were silent, not feeling there was anything more to be said at this point. All Iris had to do was decide to get on the train, and she at least would get a chance for a do-over. How many could ever say they'd have such a chance?
Unlike the real Express, there were no warning horns rushing students to board the train. The engines patiently ran, ready to move as soon as the sole occupant was ready.
It might have been a literal eternity, or a few minutes. It was very odd not being able to tell time, since time was meaningless in the afterlife. But eventually, Iris resolutely rose to her feet, and marched towards the Hogwarts Express. She paused at the steps, and looked back at Luna, who smiled and waved at her, then the girl sat back down on the bench and looked away distractedly.
Smiling, Iris entered the train and sat down at the first cabin. She idly wondered, as the train began to move, how long the journey would take, and what would happen. If she couldn't remember her past life, what good would she do? Also, how would having a subconscious memory retention help?
She'd slipped into a stream of thoughts and wonderment, failing to notice how the scenery changed from forests and open fields to outer space, stars and bright lights and nebulas all slipping past her. She did finally notice after some time, and blinked in shock. And just like that, there was a blinding flash of white light, and she was cold, uncomfortable and miserable.
There flashes of lucid memory and consciousness, where she saw another baby girl with her, who had dark hair and brownish-green eyes to her red hair and greenish-brown eyes. She remembered words, thoughts and memories, but it all didn't make sense to her anymore. She knew they were important, but it was impossible to hold on to them.
Her twin sister was silent, never spoke and rarely responded to any noises Iris made, though she responded to touch. Days, months, went by with little change, but one night, there was unparalleled terror in the air, and a sense of great familiarity. But her one-year old mind was not able to piece much together. Her sister seemed to be greatly interested too, and the two stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the crib.
Their mother burst into the room, and there were sounds of battle and cries of fury and outrage. Lily was doing something around and on the floor. Then she stood up and kissed her and her sister on the forehead, saying, "I love you, my sweet flowers."
"Ma..." Iris managed before a horrid man burst into their room, and Lily screamed.
"Not my girls! Please, not them!"
"Step aside, woman, and I will let you live."
"PLEASE DON'T HURT THEM!"
"Enough," he slashed his wand and there was a bright flash of green, and Lily Potter lay dead on the floor.
Iris and her sister began to cry, though only Iris made noise.
"Now, which of you two shall it be?" said the man.
Iris' sister glared up at the man, and clutched Iris protectively. The man smirked, and said, "How noble. Fine, both of you, then. The Potter line ends here. Such a pity."
"Avada Kedavra!" a bright flash of green again, but this time it was the man who cried out in shock and alarm as the spell struck Iris and her sister, then it rebounded on the man.
He vanished into thin air, and the two girls collapsed, bearing scars on their foreheads.
~ O ~
"WAKE UP YOU TWO! WAKE UP!" cried Dudley Dursley, who did his impression of a stampeding elephant on the staircase, directly above where Prim and her twin sister Iris slept on the tiny cot most definitely not made for two girls, despite how tiny they were for their age.
Prim sighed softly, so as not to bother Iris, who had the amazing power to sleep through a hurricane and an earthquake, and carefully extricated herself from her sister's grip. Iris was quite clingy, not that Prim minded.
Despite being twins, the two were complete opposites to one another in appearances. Where Prim had dark hair, bordering on black, and brownish-green eyes, and her eye shape was slanted slightly downwards, Iris had vivid fiery red hair, greenish-brown eyes that were large. Prim was extremely pale, whilst Iris had a slight tan in her skin tone. No one would think them sisters at all if they looked.
But the most jarring difference between them, at least, as far as people were concerned, was that Iris had a voice and could hear perfectly well.
Everyone believed Prim was deaf and mute, including Iris. But in truth, Prim had suddenly gained hearing and speech shortly before Voldemort had struck her and Iris with the killing curse that had rebounded on him.
She didn't know why she knew the man's name, or what a killing curse even was, because that certainly sounded like stuff that her uncle Vernon hated. She knew though that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were lying through their teeth when Iris once asked about their parents, and they'd been told that their parents were drunkards who died in a car crash.
No, her nightmares about that night were too vivid and familiar. Her parents died fighting an evil being that was more something else than human anymore. She felt like she'd seen that incident twice, but that didn't make any sense. To say nothing of the dreams of a past life that seemed impossible.
Because she had never flown a broom nor tangled with a dragon, but they all felt like something she had done. There were people, a castle, and things she saw in these dreams that just didn't make sense to her, but they also felt too familiar to be just dreams and a vivid fantasy.
Maybe she was just crazy, like her relatives often claimed to any neighbours that asked about the handicapped child. She also never stopped pretending to be still deaf and mute. It amazed her about the amount of things people revealed when they thought she couldn't hear.
She sat up in the cot, near the very edge. Uncle Vernon would soon unlock the door to let her and Iris out. Though it'd be Prim that did the cooking and preparing. As had been arranged from when she was seven years old. Clutching at her face with her left hand, she went through her morning routine, and mentally told herself, Silent as the grave, hear everything. Silent as the grave, hear everything. Silencio."
The word sounded odd to her, but she always said that to herself, and noted that not a sound escaped her lips after saying that in her mind. She heard Vernon's heavy footfalls on the stairs and stood up. She was so small that she could still stand upright in the cupboard, as could Iris, who was actually slightly smaller than her. She took a slight perverse pleasure in unnerving Vernon with how she was always awake and standing ready as soon as he opened the door.
As far as he was concerned, she was deaf, so there was no way she'd know he was going to be there.
True to form, he threw open the door and gazed uneasily at the girl, who stared evenly back at him without blinking. Gruffly, he signed with his hands though he also spoke them out loud, 'Get moving with making breakfast. And nothing burnt this time!'
Using her left hand mostly, she signed back, 'Yes, Uncle Vernon.'
'Wake your sister up!'
This was a daily affair, but Prim was content to let Iris lie in for at least a few more minutes. So she sat by the cot, and gently shook Iris.
"Nnnuuhhh," was the sleepy reply.
Giving her a few more minutes, Prim then began to prod the other girl. This got more noises and complaints, but little else. After one more minute, she resorted to exploiting how ridiculously ticklish Iris was. After a muffled shriek, Iris was awake.
"Sorry, how long was I asle-oh...sorry, Prim." Iris sighed and started asking the question in sign language.
'You slept only ten minutes longer than me,' replied Prim.
Prim knew she wasn't always a left-hander, but in her dreams, especially the ones where she was older, she seemed to become a left-hander by necessity, having lost her right arm entirely, as well as her left eye and left leg. When she woke, she'd always checked herself to ensure her limbs were intact, but the habit of relying on her left hand for doing everything never quite stopped, so it made her look a bit odd when she acted like she was only one-armed, or how she walked gracelessly.
'Dudley's birthday, right?' signed Iris.
Prim nodded, 'I will make the cake.'
'Sneaky, sister,' said Iris, who smiled, 'you're leaving me to make everything else.'
'Only because you still can set water on fire,' replied Prim.
"Hey! That was one time!" Iris said and signed at the same time, smiling.
"Girls! Stop wasting time and get moving!" called out Vernon.
As one, the girls sighed, and Iris frowned, then she signed at Prim, 'Did you hear him?'
Prim shook her head, then replied, 'I could feel the vibrations when he shouted.'
"Oh."
Iris got off the cot and headed to the bathroom upstairs. Prim, as always, headed to the kitchen to actually get started on making breakfast. Aunt Petunia had shown the girls how to make everything the way they liked, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Prim especially was something of a savant at cooking.
Iris was also a quick study, but Prim was on a whole other level.
Mostly because Prim seemed to have vivid recollections of doing all this from years back, which was odd given that she was only ten years old, soon to be eleven in a few more weeks. But nevertheless, she always knew where everything was in the kitchen, and she knew exactly what to do. Iris only needed to see anything done once in the kitchen to be able to do more or less the same things Prim did.
Prim had had dreams where she saw a matronly red haired woman with many children who made lots of food all the time. From those dreams, she could replicate the woman's work and often made culinary dishes that made Petunia frown, because she certainly didn't know how to make those things, so where and how had Prim learned them?
Today though, since Iris was going to make breakfast, Prim only did simple preparations, chopping onions, crushing garlic and young ginger, and chopped up the spring onions. She then warmed the stove, so when Iris finally entered, things were mostly ready. It was always the chopping and preparing that took time. Cooking was a fairly quick affair.
Although she was only teasing her, Iris actually had set water on fire once when they were seven, and the response of the Dursleys was nothing short of spectacular. Vernon had been screaming something about freaks and freakish behaviour. He'd given such a hiding to Iris, and Prim by proxy. Neither girls had cried out or begged. Iris because she was resigned to it, and Prim because she couldn't even if she wanted to.
But revenge came quite early for the girls. Not more than a week past the incident, Petunia had taken Iris and Dudley to the school due to some kind of incident that involved them both, Prim was alone in the house with Vernon. The man was grumbling and working on his car, and suddenly there was a shout. Prim, who had been gardening, pretended not to hear, but eventually looked up, to see Vernon desperately signing to her.
His legs were pinned under the car tire. It wasn't anything life-threatening, but without help, he was going to be in a lot of pain and unable to get out on his own.
Prim didn't make exorbitant demands, but a deal was made. Prim would mostly do all the cooking, whilst Iris would tend the gardens. Though in actual fact, Prim preferred tending the gardens, seeing it as a relaxing pastime rather than a chore. Plus, she got to be with all the animals and creatures that were drawn to her. But seeing sparrows, squirrels, chipmunks and other little creatures frolicking with the girl was unnerving to the Dursleys, so she tried to minimise the encounters for their sake.
In any case, Prim tended to the cooking, since she was far less likely to set things on fire. So, despite Vernon's demand for nothing to be burnt today, Prim was leaving it up to a coin toss in fate, because Prim needed time and concentration to make her masterpiece birthday cake for her cousin.
It wasn't that she was fond of Dudley, but cooking and baking was a point of pride for the girl, and she always gave it her all when it came to this. Besides, part of the deal with Vernon included having a share of the food they helped prepare for the family, so she could essentially enjoy the fruits of her labour.
After they reached an agreement, Prim had fetched a jack to help lift the car up and Vernon was able to extricate himself. If either of them had noticed that Prim had made the jack fly into her hands from ten feet away, neither made comment on it. Ever.
As Iris took over from where Prim left off, the dark-haired girl moved to prepare the ingredients for the cake. She was seldom hungry despite how little she ate, so while Iris and the Dursleys would eat breakfast, Prim was busy baking, and the smells wafted throughout the kitchen, causing Dudley to gaze greedily at the oven many times.
'Stop looking and finish your mash,' signed Prim at some point.
Dudley made no comment that he saw her quick hand signs, but she no longer felt like she was being watched, and relaxed a bit. She was a bit like an artist, and had eccentricities. Like with Vernon, Prim's relationship with Dudley changed after some incidents. And it was also what got Vernon and Petunia to work better at mastering the sign language, even though Prim could hear just fine. Nobody knew that, so most thought she was just good at reading lips as well.
When they were younger, Dudley and his gang, whom Prim seemed to recognize right away on the first day they met, liked to pick on the girls. There were even a few chases and beatings. But it wore out fairly quickly, because although Prim took it, Iris fought back. Prim also took the initiative of coordinating and launching fierce counterstrikes and ambushes at later dates. Even though the girls lost because of the boys' sheer numbers, size, and strength, they never forgot the vicious scratches, cuts, and bites inflicted.
Plus, no matter how they looked at it, nobody was going to respect a bunch of boys who could only pick on two little girls who were clearly underfed and malnourished. They both wore glasses, and Prim was super-handicapped, and even moved oddly, only using her left hand for the most part to do anything. It was also doubly embarrassing if word got out that the boys were startled whenever the girls retaliated, often in public, but when they least expected it.
So eventually, Dudley talked to Iris at home one day, and Iris deferred to Prim on this, since she often took the brunt of the boys' ill-treatment. Though they never quite figured out how or where Prim mastered the sign language (including Prim herself), she taught her cousin how, and pointed out that this knowledge could serve him well in the future as many people appreciated someone who had such skills.
The proud Dudley had shown off the skills to his parents, who made the effort to learn for Dudley's sake, and probably also to show off to their neighbours. Since then, Iris and Dudley had a fairly friendly relationship with one another, whilst Prim had a cordial understanding with him.
Bringing herself back to her task at hand, Prim noticed that the cake was ready. It was Dudley's favourite. A rich chocolate sponge cake covered in melted chocolate, crushed almonds and walnuts, strawberry slices and whipped cream with cherries on top.
On top of making a delicious meal and this wonderful cake, the girls had joined their meagre allowances (mostly loose change that Vernon or Petunia would give them from time to time) to buy a few simple but nice presents for their cousin. Prim somehow had the premonition that this year, there would be a blowout if Dudley did not have either the exact amount or more presents than he got last year.
So to avoid making the scene uncomfortable or horrid, the twin girls saw to it he had exactly one more present than last year's bundle. It wasn't something they believed he deserved, but the girls enjoyed having peace and quiet where possible.
So while Prim served the cake and even sung the birthday song in sign language, she was already acting on another premonition as soon as they finished singing and clapping for Dudley. She exited the kitchen, silent as a ghost, and retrieved the mail. As she had anticipated, though she didn't know how or why, there was mail for her and her sister, addressed directly to the cupboard under the stairs.
Having a dark feeling, the girl stuffed the letters into her dress pocket. They would look at it later in the night. But she knew things were about to change soon, and not for the better.
She returned to the kitchen with all the letters for everyone else, and went about bustling around as usual, but when they had some time between chores, Prim signed to Iris, 'Please steal the torchlight tonight, there's something we need to see before we sleep.'
Iris frowned, but signed back discreetly, 'Okay, but can I get a hint?'
'We've got letters.'
AN: Thoughts, reactions, Vernon's old Grunnings drill, or feedback, pretty please?