Life at Merlon Manor
Arthur went downstairs, joining some of the Merlons as they went to the kitchen and found Ben and Martha already there preparing breakfast for everyone.
Arthur always enjoyed breakfasts at Merlon Manor as they'd have some of his favourite breakfast foods, especially bacon sandwiches, and the chatter from everyone is infectious.
Arthur sat in between David Merlon and Michael McGonagall, the black haired and purple eyed boy in Arthur's year. Sitting opposite them were the girls, Chrysanthemum Ranger, whose brown hair was now cut shortly earlier in the summer before coming over to Merlon Manor, and Mary Merlon, who's silver hair was in a messy bun at the moment.
Both Chrys and Mike were staying over because in a few days time, they'd all be going to the Quidditch World Cup, which everyone was beyond excited for. Partly thanks to the fact that it would be Ireland vs Bulgaria.
There was also among the many breakfast foods, four leftover birthday cakes that Arthur got on his fourteenth birthday. One from the Dentleys, who he did visit on his birthday, one from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, one from Sirius and the fourth from the Merlons.
He couldn't possibly eat them all by himself so he shared them all.
After everyone's finished their breakfasts, two owls suddenly flew in through the open window and landed in front of Ben and Martha, who both tore the letters from their legs before the owls flew back out.
Everyone watched in silence as they read the letters until they looked excited.
"It looks like both Rob and Kenny are arriving at around noon tomorrow." Ben informed everyone, resulting in the Merlon siblings to cheer wildly.
Rob and Kenny are the eldest of the siblings and already have careers.
Rob, the eldest, works as a Curse Breaker in Egypt for the wizarding bank, Gringotts, which Arthur felt was a lot like a magical archaeologist. Then there's Kenny, who's the second eldest and works with dragons in Romania.
And knowing that they're finally arriving, Arthur felt more excitement about going to the Quidditch World Cup, especially because of Kenny.
Then after breakfast, everyone went off to do what they normally do around the manor.
Both Jack and Kevin locked themselves off in their room and shortly after, the usual explosions from their room became background noise. And Arthur was the first to be aware of what they're planning to do.
It turns out that they're planning to start a shop full of toys, sweets and trickster items and have been experimenting to make some items to pitch their ideas. They even showed a few items like joke wands and a punching telescope. Arthur was so amused that he couldn't help but encourage their dream to run a joke shop.
Sam, himself has been really. He's finally graduated from Hogwarts and is now working within the Ministry of Magic. He is currently working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation under Barty Crouch Senior. He isn't exactly thrilled with it as it can be a bit dull, but he is pushing through it as he wants to eventually work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He has even passed his Apparition test, even doing so one morning to breakfast to prove that he could do it.
Mary has been hanging out with Chrys a lot of the time, being the only girls among them all. And they've become like sisters, gossiping and chatting about whatever girls chatted about.
And of course, Arthur hung out with David and Mike. They'd sometimes fly in the Quidditch pitch the Merlons had alongside their manor and just fly around and play catch. Naturally, they'd catch up on how the Quidditch World Cup's been going and experienced the highs and lows that one would experience with a sport like Quidditch with wins and losses from certain teams.
And along with all of this was Arthur's progress of being an Animagus. At the end of Arthur's third school year in June, Dumbledore had given him the instructions to become an Animagus, a witch or can become an animal at will. He first wanted to be one when he first saw Professor McGonagall showcase how she's an Animagus, but his desire grew when he learned that both his father and Sirius are Animagi.
Of course, there's more to being an Animagus. Like how there's a register to keep track of who's an Animagus. And there's the fact that the process can be difficult and result in severe mistakes if done wrong.
Arthur's just glad that he got the most disgusting step out of the way from the start, where he had to keep a Mandrake leaf in his mouth from one full moon to the next. It was unbearable. Then he had to put it in a crystal phial that receives pure rays of moonlight with one of his hairs.
Then for the next seven days, he had to add a silver teaspoon of dew from somewhere that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched as well as adding the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth into the crystal phial. He then had to place it in a dark and quiet place and leave it until the next electrical storm which could occur in the summer. He placed it in a drawer in his desk, which he kept locked.
He was now in the middle of the step where he had to, during every sunrise and sundown, speak the incantation "Amato Animo Animato Animagus" with the tip of his wand of his heart until the storm came and including feeling a second heartbeat with the wand tip on his chest.
Ben and Martha helped out with getting what he needed to do the process and Arthur didn't have to worry about the Ministry coming after him for using magic outside of school because they're aware of him doing it, thanks to Dumbledore.
So overall, life at Merlon Manor proved to be great, it was the closest to going to a summer camp in Arthur's opinion.
Of course, he's yet to tell David and Chrys about his dream and how his scar hurt, but he will eventually.
And when Athena had finally come back from hunting, Arthur having seen her in her cage, he sent the letter to Sirius, after saying to Athena that she'll be on a long journey, which she clearly felt dignified to do so.
After a regular day of being at Merlon Manor and having dinner, as the sun was setting Arthur repeated what he did at sunrise with the incantation and his wand over his heart and hung out with his friends before going to bed, excited to meet Rob and Kenny, as well as going to the Quidditch World Cup.
This is a really short chapter, but that's the cost for me with deviating from how the book played out. And I realised that it'll be the next two chapters that will be combined together into one.
