Note: With such a large time jump we have a whole new cast of OCs to be dealing with! I shall do my best to be clear about who is who as I go along, but if anybody gets confused, feel free to PM me and I shall make some sense of it all!
I'm sorry for the pathetic length of this chapter. But it is more of an introduction to various characters and it seemed like a nice place to end!
Cousin Robin's mishap in this chapter is in actual fact precisely what happened to my brother when he was about six! :-)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
2: Up In Smoke
Pandora arrived home that evening to find her elder sister lying sprawled upon the sofa in the sitting room, nose buried in Quidditch magazine.
"Hey Pan." the twenty-one year old witch mumbled without looking round as she turned a page of the well-thumbed magazine.
"What're you reading?" Pandora asked as she dusted the soot from her jeans.
"There's a new Comet broom coming out next month." Imogen announced, tossing the magazine aside in disinterest.
"Is it any good?" Pandora asked her, feigning interest and frowning when her dusting only seemed to smear the soot over her knees.
"Mm...nothing special." Imogen mumbled glumly, only to suggest: "Try not to get soot all over the place, won't you? Mum's just swept the floor."
"Have you heard from Jamie?" Pandora wondered, and from her sister's glum expression she was not at all surprised when Imogen sighed heavily and mumbled:
"Nope." Imogen shifted to bury her face in a cushion and as Pandora came to perch upon the arm of the sofa beside her, the eldest Lupin daughter asked: "Nana and Grandad alright, are they?"
"They're fine..." Pandora began, only for a voice from upstairs to call:
"IMOGEN?!"
"For Merlin's sake!" Imogen groaned aiming a half-hearted kick at nothing in particular. "She's been going on at me all bloody afternoon since she got home...YES, MUM?!"
"I've run you bath!" their mother's voice announced expectantly, and Imogen sighed heavily, throwing the cushion she was holding to the floor.
"I don't need a bath, Mum!" she cried, reaching to tug at a few stray strands of wavy chestnut hair in frustration. "I've already said...!"
There came the sound of swift footsteps on the stairs and within the blink of an eye Carrie Lupin appeared in the doorway, her hands upon her hips.
"And I've already said, Im, you can't possibly go round to Uncle Timothy's looking like that!" the muggle insisted, casting her daughter's attire a distinctly unimpressed look.
As Pandora eyed Imogen's jeans and jumper with an uncomprehending frown, Imogen's face contorted in frustration as she informed her mother:
"I don't want to go to Uncle Timothy's, Mum!"
"It's your cousin's birthday!" Carrie snapped impatiently. "Now stop moping and get up those stairs! I've had enough, Imogen, you've been sat on that sofa all afternoon! You've not lifted a finger! The least you can do is have a bath, put on some clean clothes and go and wish Robin a happy birthday!"
As Imogen slowly consented to dragging herself up onto her feet, muttering irritably under her breath, Carrie's gaze came to rest upon her younger daughter and she insisted:
"And you, Pan! Go and get changed, you're covered in soot! We've not got long..."
"Dad isn't even home yet, Mum." Pandora pointed out, but no sooner had she finished her sentence the fireplace had roared into life, and a burst of emerald flames announced her father's arrival home from work.
Dressed in the scarlet robes of the Ministry's Auror Department, his ruffled hair today a dark shade of brown, Teddy Lupin stumbled wearily out of the fireplace.
"There you are!" Carrie said, hurrying forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "You're late, Ted! I was getting worried..."
"Sorry, darling." Teddy mumbled through a wide yawn.
"How was the raid?" his wife asked, leaning back to get a better look at him, and as she too peered over at him Pandora winced along with her mother at the sight of a large purple bruise blossoming upon his forehead.
"I need a lie down." the Auror confessed, reaching to rake a tired hand through his hair, only to frown deeply when his wife regretfully informed him:
"It's your nephew's birthday dinner in under an hour, Ted."
"My nephew? Which...which one?"
"You've only got one nephew, Dad." Imogen pointed out from where she stood in the sitting room doorway, leaning up against the doorframe. "Jackson doesn't count!" the young witch's face suddenly contorted in horror as she found herself wondering: "Oh Merlin, he's not going to be there too, is he?!"
Jackson Bryant-Winters, Uncle Timothy's thirty year old stepson, was without a doubt both Pandora and Imogen's least favourite relative, so much so that they liked to pretend that he was in actual fact not a relative at all. Unlike his far younger half-brother Robin Winters, Jackson, who had spent a large proportion of the Lupin girls' younger days away working in various nightclubs in Ibiza, was a loud and frequently obnoxious presence at family gatherings.
"Don't talk like that, Im." Carrie said rather half-heartedly from Teddy's side. "Jackson is part of the family."
"Well yes," Imogen agreed, nose wrinkling at the notion, reaching to slap a hand down upon Pandora's shoulder. "But at Auntie Natalie's birthday party last month he walked up to your darling sixteen year old daughter here and asked: So what size bra is that you're wearing there, Sweet Cheeks?!"
"He what?!" Carrie exclaimed as Teddy's expression grew instantly disgusted, and as Pandora's cheeks reddened Imogen gave a rather satisfied huff and suggested:
"I'll get in that bath, shall I?"
"That bloody boy..." Teddy muttered as soon as his eldest child had turned to head for the stairs.
"He's thirty, love." Carrie pointed out as she reached to straighten his crumpled robes.
"Yes, well he doesn't act like it." the Auror retorted irritably. "How does your brother put up with him?! I always knew Timothy was a saint..."
"Go and have a lie down and I'll find you some fresh clothes." Carrie suggested, leaning to press a kiss to his cheek. Once she had given her husband a firm push towards the door, the muggle told her youngest: "Hurry and get changed, Pan. And give Imogen a shout whilst you're up there, tell her I need her to wrap Robin's present. I don't have time myself, I've not finished icing that cake yet!"
Pandora trailed off upstairs and into her bedroom to eye the contents of her wardrobe in brief deliberation, before reaching to extract a skirt and striped jumper from the rail. Depositing them on her bed she went to ransack the chest of drawers in search of a pair of tights. By the time she had found a pair that were not littered with snags and holes, had gotten changed and dragged a brush through her hair she could hear the beginnings of an argument brewing out on the landing.
"...well I don't see why not!" Imogen's voice was complaining loudly from somewhere in her room opposite.
"You've got your own money, Im!"
"Exactly, Dad! I'd pay you back!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Why not?!"
"Because! I've got better things to spend my money on! Like bills! The food on your plate! Your sister's education!"
"But I'll pay you back! When I get paid..."
"It's a waste of money, Imogen!"
"No it isn't! It's cool, I've wanted to do it for ages!"
"Merlin help me..."
"I'll ask Nana Dora, then. She'll lend it to me..."
"Absolutely not!"
"I bet she got her nose pierced when she was my age."
"When your grandmother was your age, Imogen Lupin, she was much too busy working her way through Auror Training and living independently off the stray knuts in her pocket to waste her time and money on ridiculous things like body piercings!"
"No she wasn't, Dad. I've seen photographs!"
"I'll burn those bloody photographs..." Pandora heard her father mutter as she dared to peer around her bedroom door to find him stood upon the landing, fumbling the with the buttons on a freshly pressed shirt. As Carrie appeared out of their bedroom door behind him, unscrewing a small white tub in her hands as she went, the wizard turned to tell her: "I could hex her, you know!"
"Imogen?" Carrie sniggered, grinning broadly. "I think we all could, Sweetheart. Even me, and that would be quite a feat...stay still..."
As she reached to smear a generous layer of Bruise Away across his forehead, Teddy gave a small shudder.
"Not Imogen, I mean Mum." he muttered wearily. "She sets an utterly appalling example!"
"Yes well love," Carrie chuckled as she replaced the lid of the Bruise Away and made a beeline to rinse her fingers in the bathroom sink. "I very much doubt that whilst she was thinking of getting her nose pierced your eighteen year old mother was giving a whole lot of thought to what sort of an example it would set for her grandchildren several decades later..."
"She got rid of it within a month, anyway. Decided it would make a bad impression when she got interviewed by the Head of Aurors. Kept the pink hair, mind you. How her minds works I have no idea..."
"Let's hope Imogen's the same, then." Carrie suggested. "It's probably just a phase she's going through...Pan, love?! Have you seen my perfume?!"
Glancing rather guiltily over her shoulder at bottle upon her bedside table, Pandora pursed her lips together in consideration for a long moment before deciding:
"I think Immy had it, Mum!"
"IMOGEN..."
Cousin Robin's fifteenth birthday dinner was far more enjoyable than Pandora had expected. Firstly because she had beaten Imogen in the race to take the one seat at the dining table that wasn't next to Jackson, secondly because Auntie Natalie had cooked a very impressive roast dinner, and thirdly because she had left plenty of room for a slice of the impressive looking chocolate birthday cake that Carrie had set down upon the table after dinner had been eaten. The entire family had sung Happy Birthday To You at the top of their lungs with great enthusiasm, Uncle Thomas had snapped a few photographs...
...and quite suddenly the entire evening went up in smoke.
Quite literally.
Because as the birthday boy had leant over his birthday cake to blow out the candles, pausing to push the glasses up his nose, he suddenly leant a little too far and with shrieks of horror from his mother and aunt stood beside him, Robin's t shirt brushed against the candles and within the blink of an eye the material had caught on fire.
"DON'T MOVE!" Uncle Timothy demanded as sheer panic dawned upon his son's face. As chaos began to ensue up and down the table, Jackson let out a shout of laughter and Imogen was about to cast a furious glance over at him when out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Imogen snatching something out of her pocket...
And all of a sudden there came a sudden spray of water across the table and the flames were smothered with a damp hiss.
"Goodness!" Carrie exclaimed as Natalie reached to fling an arm around Robin's shoulders as he slumped back in his seat with a huge sigh of relief. "Are you alright, Robin?"
"That was quick thinking!" Uncle Thomas said, still clutching hold of his camera. "Where did that come from?!"
Pandora's watched Imogen's mouth fall open a little uncertainly as she shoved the magic wand discreetly back into her pocket, and as the young witch ummed uncertainly Pandora saw her father hastily reach to pour his glass of orange juice into the remnants of his dinner, before holding the empty glass aloft and announcing:
"Over here!"
"Bloody hell!" Thomas laughed, "Good shot, Ted!"
"Did you get a picture of the look on Robin's face, Thom?" Jackson wondered with a smirk, and his mother instantly snapped:
"It's not funny, Jackson!" To Robin, who had remained entirely mute in shock, she asked: "Are you alright, love? God...get that t shirt off...look at the state of the cake! Never mind, eh?"
"Tell you what," Carrie suggested as Robin reached somewhat numbly to pull the scorched t shirt over his head, Natalie bustling off to find him a fresh one, "We'll make a start on clearing the table, and Uncle Ted can pop out and buy a new one! The garage over the road will still be open."
"Oh really, you don't have to do that..." Natalie called over her shoulder, only for Teddy to rise swiftly to his feet and insist:
"It'll only take me a minute...come on, Im! You can help me pick."
There was something about her father's tone that made Pandora suspect that this was no mere suggestion and more of an order, and she thought it quite wise that Imogen wordlessly got to her feet and trailed after him into the hallway.
"Purse is in my bag, love." Carrie called after them, and a moment later when she set about carrying a few empty plates out into the kitchen, Pandora caught sight of Teddy rifling searchingly through his wife's handbag, muttering somewhat furiously to Imogen as she looked on, her expression bleak.
"...entire room full of muggles, Im!"
"So what...you'd rather I just sat there and let poor Robin get burnt alive?"
"No, but...! The Ministry takes these things very seriously!"
"I don't care, Dad."
"Well you should! You can get into a whole lot of trouble..."
"Merlin, I can't do anything right, can I?" Imogen muttered as she shrugged her coat onto her shoulders with a huff, and with that she stomped over the open the front door and lead the way outside.
Pandora did suppose that Imogen had a point. The eldest Lupin daughter always appeared to be doing something or other that her parents did not entirely approve of. And yet it never seemed to really matter, as far as Pandora could tell.
Because Imogen was the Golden Child. She was clever, witty and beautiful. She had graduated from Hogwarts with good grades despite having seemingly spent more time out on the Quidditch pitch than in the library studying. The year that she had been made captain of her house Quidditch team had seen Hufflepuff win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in over a decade, she exuded boundless confidence that her sister found somewhat dazzling and it appeared to Pandora that everybody who ever met Imogen seemed to think her somewhat wacky, yet utterly charming.
Pandora was jealous.
She had been jealous of Imogen for as long as she could remember. She didn't seem to be able to help it...
It was difficult, being so jealous of your own sister. Especially when you loved her as dearly as Pandora loved Imogen. Loving her only made Pandora's jealousy make the squib feel utterly wretched.
After all, it wasn't Imogen's fault that she was so wonderful. And it wasn't as if she seemed particularly aware of her brilliance, either. She didn't go out of her way to make Pandora feel so inferior, indeed she made an effort to do the exact opposite. She let Pandora tag along on outings with her friends and the two of them often went out together as a pair. They liked to visit the local muggle cinema together, or go for picnics in the summer. They shared books, shared their music collections, borrowed one another's make up and jewellery. Some evenings they would sit upon Imogen's bed and chat about all those perfectly mundane things that sisters talked about; the boys Pandora liked at school, what dress Imogen might wear when she went out for dinner with Jamie the next day,...
Normal things. Things that had nothing to do with magic, nothing to do with being different. Boys were boys, not wizards or muggles. Clothes were clothes, not cloaks or jackets...
Indeed it was both a relief and a nightmare, having a sister like Imogen.
It was quite shameful of her, Pandora supposed as she set about helping with the washing up, that whilst Imogen was always so good to her, Pandora often gave very little thought about landing her older sister in trouble. Like blaming Imogen when their mother's perfume disappeared from her dressing table, like telling tales to their grandparents about whatever it was Imogen was doing that they Pandora knew they would surely disapprove of...
But sometimes Pandora didn't think she could help being so unkind. Sometimes it just happened, even though she didn't mean it to. Just like being jealous.
Because Imogen didn't much care about getting into trouble. She took anything disapproving her relatives said to her on the chin, nothing ever seemed to upset her or get her down. She was notoriously thick skinned.
Unlike Pandora, who could not bear confrontation or the disapproval of her family in the slightest. Imogen was a convenient shield. An easy target to shift the attention on to so that Pandora could remain untouched...
But Pandora was soon going to discover that hiding behind her sister was suddenly going to cease to be a viable option. The young Squib's life was about to be thrown into such a mass of confrontation and trouble that not even a sister as tenacious and strong willed as Imogen could keep her from harm.
And at long last Pandora Lupin was going to have to learn to stand up and be counted.