Another chapter!
Second year was fairly boring, Ariel thought to herself as she watched the final Quidditch match of the season. She was sitting with Leo by her side, and the two of them were cheering on their team of choice (it was Ravenclaw verses Gryffindor, and they were cheering for the former).
Nothing to exciting had really happened this year. Their mother had a new boyfriend, but the small family spent the Christmas Holidays together that year, much to the disappointment of Adam's mother.
"Let her know," Ariel said to Adam after the game was over (Ravenclaw won) with a completely serious expression, "that our Mum's boyfriend is a twit. He didn't even acknowledge us." She folded her arms across her chest, sulking slightly. "And he didn't bring us any presents, either."
Adam chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Well, from what I know of you mum, she'll move on to a new significant other in about a month or two, so don't worry too much about it."
The small girl shrugged.
"I'm gonna head back to my common room," she informed her companion, "I promised I'd help Leo with his transfiguration homework."
Adam nodded and watched her go, her long brown hair streaming behind her.
Easter break passed by in a flash, Peter realized as he studied for one of his final exams. There were only three weeks left in the school year already, and he found himself hesitant to return home. Not because he didn't want to leave his (only) friend, or the magic community as a whole, but because he didn't want to see his mother again.
He loved her, he really did, but he was getting tired of dealing with her. It seemed that as he grew older, she grew younger – at least, in mentality. Her frivolous behavior wasn't present when the twins were younger; in fact, she was a pretty good parent when they were kids. But ever since the two of them had discovered their magic, she'd grown distant and careless. She loved them still, he could tell, but she didn't know them anymore, just as they didn't truly know her.
It was not a predicament that he had ever imagined himself in.
He didn't know whether or not to discuss the topic with Adam, they were close, but he had only known the older boy for a little over a year or so. And Ariel was in a completely different house from him, so their time spent together was limited.
It really sucked.
He sighed as he packed away his ink and quill, tucking his books under his arm and returning back to the Slytherin common room to drop his things off before heading to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Hey, Adam," he called as he spotted his blond-haired friend.
Adam gave him a wave of acknowledgement before returning to his own meal. Peter sat down next to him, providing himself with a plate and piling it high with food. He ate with gusto.
Adam chuckled a bit.
"You have enough food there, Pete?" he asked, gesturing at the overflowing plate. Peter looked up at him in confusion, not understanding the sarcasm. "You have enough food to feed an army," Adam said. "You having a growth spurt, or something?"
Peter shrugged.
"I hope so," he replied. "It would suck to stay this short forever. I don't think Ariel would mind much, though. Makes people underestimate her."
The Prefect snorted a bit.
"I'd pay twelve galleons to see her take on an Auror."
Peter threw his head back with laughter.
"She may be tough, but not that tough!" he said. "Although, she is pretty scary when she wants to be."
"I'm well aware of that, having witnessed it first hand." The older Slytherin remarked with a smile.
Ariel kicked at the wall by the Slytherin common room down in the dungeons as she waited for her brother to exit. The early spring weather was absolutely lovely today, and she was looking forward to spending the rest of the day with Peter.
Now, if he would just hurry up.
Absently, she hummed a tune under her breath as she picked at her thumbnail. Gee, Peter sure was slow. She walked over a few feet to a decorative suit of armor and busied herself with making faces at her reflection.
"What are you doing?"
She jumped – only a little – and spun on her heel to face her twin, who was staring at her with a look of amusement.
"Waiting for you, slow poke." She said flippantly. "Why do you have to take forever?" She gave an exaggerated sigh and draped herself over her brother, who grunted under her weight.
"Gerroff!" he grumbled, but his tone was good-natured. When she released him, he straightened his tie and hefted his book bag higher on his shoulder. "Do you wanna work on homework or something while we're out?"
Ariel wrinkled her nose with mock-disgust.
"Ergh, no!" she said. "It's a Friday, we have all weekend to do our stupid homework. Let's do something fun!"
Peter eyed her warily.
"What sort of 'fun'?" he asked her cautiously.
Her face split in a devilish grin.
"Oh, you'll see,"
The 'fun' that she had in mind was to 'borrow' – "It's not stealing if you put it back later, brother mine." – a school broom and take turns flying around the pitch and tossing rocks at one another.
Peter, naturally, was not too keen on the idea. He didn't mind the whole 'borrowing' concept – that was what the brooms were for, after all – but the idea of either throwing rocks at his sister, or having her throw them at him, didn't sit well with him.
"What if one of us gets hit in the head?" he asked Ariel, gnawing on his lower lip in worry.
She waved off his concerns as if they were of little importance.
"Alright, alright, you won't have to fly. Just chuck the rocks at me and it will all be fine!"
"Ariel, that doesn't sound fun."
She fixed him with a glare and he succumbed to the stupidity of the entire thing.
"Fine," he growled under his breath. "But if you get hurt I'm blaming you."
She shrugged.
"Okay then!"
Adam didn't know exactly why he decided to go to the Quidditch pitch after lunch. Maybe it was because he wanted to be away from the massive crowds that choked the halls of the school. Maybe it was because he just wanted to find a quiet place to do his homework. Or maybe it was because he'd somehow developed a sixth sense that knew when Peter and Ariel were up to something stupid, and he had to go make sure that they weren't going to accidentally kill one another.
Granted, that probably wouldn't happen. Nah, they'd be accidentally killing someone else.
He didn't expect to see tiny little Peter tossing stones to his sister, who was perched on a broom at least ten feet up in the air. He also didn't expect her to be such a great catch.
He didn't want to call out to them, not quite yet, in case it startled one of them and they ended up with a rock to the head, but when Ariel gracefully landed the broom onto the field, he stood and clapped his hands loudly.
Peter was startled enough that he promptly fell over, and his sister laughed as she helped him to his feet.
"That was pretty good flying, Ariel," Adam said as he made his way down to the twins. "You should talk to the Hufflepuff captain about joining the Quidditch team next term."
Ariel smiled, a hint of blush barely visible on her cheeks.
Adam turned to the younger Slytherin boy.
"And you've got quite the arm on you, Pete."
Peter shrugged.
"Let's go head to the Great Hall for dinner," Ariel said suddenly, "I'm starving!"
Word Count: 1,317 without A/N