awesome beautifulness by midnight_witch!
“I’ll come and visit you every day,” Eva promised, another tear dripping down her made-up face as she looked up at James.
Eva is, evidently, extremely distraught about her separation from ‘Jamie’ (gag). In fact, she has been bawling for the past twenty minutes. At this point, she’s probably created enough water to sustain a small country. It’s nothing short of a miracle that her make-up still manages to look absolutely impeccable.
Though she probably put a waterproofing charm on her face.
Wow, she would.
“Please don’t,” I muttered, smiling innocently and humming to myself when they turned around to shoot me glares.
Don’t look at me. I’m just the innocent little Hufflepuff.
I love it when people buy that bullshit. Being a Puff definitely helps you get away with things. The world thinks we’re too dim to actually do anything even remotely cunning, so whenever something happens (like, for example, McGonagall’s knickers appearing in the Great Hall via owl. Gosh, wonder how that happened), we’re completely looked over.
It makes life so much easier for me when I want revenge on certain tartan-clad old women.
I mean, she started it first! She was the one who gave me insane amounts of homework!
Well, that’s her job. But still!
“I’m going to miss you so much!” She gulped, letting out another almighty bawl and flinging herself into Potter’s arms again. He hugged her, patting her hair and looking pretty grim himself. I sighed and checked my watch.
“How long has she kept this up?” Fred muttered to me as he came up behind me, carrying his bags. Charlotte, appearing on my other side, looking absolutely repulsed as she took in the farewell scene.
“About twenty-five minutes or so,” I sighed, rolling my eyes as they started snogging. Again.
“I can’t believe I share genes with that,” Charlotte said in a disgusted voice.
“I like to pretend that you don’t,” I told her. Her face brightened.
“Really? Me too!”
“Though it’s hard to do that when you’re identical twins,” Fred mused. “Apparently, the people in my family couldn’t tell my father and his identical twin apart.”
“No, I think it’s safe to say that we can tell Charlotte and Eva apart pretty well,” I said.
“Yeah, she’s the one with the clown face, whereas I look relatively normal,” Charlotte said proudly.
“She uses the term ‘normal’ very loosely,” I added.
SMACK.
“Ow!”
***
“This is insane,” I said faintly, looking at the small, cute little cottage with a mildly repulsed expression.
I mean, honestly – they’d given us an actual, honest-to-god house. How could they afford that many houses? Why would they go as far as to get them is the question that I’m mostly wondering, though.
I get that this is a project where we learn to live in the real world (apparently, living in Hogwarts their whole lives have made many witches and wizards completely incapable of functioning in the real muggle world), but honestly? Do they really have to go all-out?
The door opened, and out stepped McGonagall.
In a dress.
Holy God.
I’ve just been mentally scarred.
“Welcome to your home!” She said cheerfully, ambling down the sidewalk towards us. My mouth was slightly open and my eyes were wide in my signature ‘WTF?!’ expression as I took her in.
“Erm,” I closed my mouth hastily upon realizing that I looked like an idiot. “We’re living here?”
Wow, Sherlock. This is what you can come up with?
Potter shot me a sideways look that clearly read: ‘Great Question, Genius.’
Whatever.
“Yes, you are. You’re a married young couple desperately in love –” Here me and Potter inched away from each other rather hurriedly, “–Play your part well, as it will be a part of your grade for the class. Also, all household appliances are muggle, and you will be learning to use them. Magic is allowed, but remember to be careful around muggles. Here are your house keys. Have a nice four months together!”
She turned around and walked down three houses, where Charlotte and Fred were currently engaged in a loud, screechy argument that rang around the whole development.
Yeah, good luck pretending that those two are in love.
“Alright, well,” Potter said resignedly. “Better settle in.”
“Yeah,” I responded, picking up my suitcase with one hand, Logan’s baby carrier with the other, and proceeding to waddle towards the house. Potter walked on ahead, his own suitcase held loosely in his hand. I gritted my teeth. Arse.
Seriously – I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be, you know, chivalrous.
He’s a disgrace to Godric. HA.
Pleased with the knowledge that Potter was a suckish Gryffindor, I managed to make it to the front door without many problems. I closed the door behind me with my foot and looked around.
Okay – I’ll admit it. This is nice. Not just nice, this house is pretty. I left my bag and the sleeping Logan by the door (I’ll hear his screech if he wakes up, trust me) and wandered around the house. There was a small family room, a little kitchen, a bathroom, and a sun-room on the first floor. The second had three bedrooms (yes!), and, unfortunately, just one bathroom. Everything was already furnished, and I was shocked to realize that McGonagall really had an eye for decorating. My nose wrinkled as I looked at some of the pictures on a table in the family room. One was of me and Potter kissing at our ‘wedding’, another of us at our ‘honeymoon’, and a third of me and him posing with Logan.
Dude, this project is taken really seriously.
“Oi, we need some food.”
I turned around from the table and saw that Potter was standing rather awkwardly in the doorway of the kitchen.
“The kitchen’s absolutely empty?” I asked.
“Completely.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, letting out a muttered oath. Trust McGonagall to force us to go grocery shopping on the very first day.
“Alright, let’s go find a store,” I said, flicking my wand at my bags to send them upstairs and picking up Logan’s carrier.
Potter stood there looking at me as though I was mentally challenged. “Um. Right. You can go find a store.”
I looked at him, my eyebrow raised. “And meanwhile you will…?”
“Stay here, obviously.”
“Uh-huh,” I said skeptically. “And I’m supposed to be completely okay with doing all the work around here?”
“Well, duh,” He rolled his eyes. “You’re a Hufflepuff. You like doing stuff for other people.”
My eyes narrowed. Oh, that was the wrong thing to say.
***
“I still don’t see why I can’t drive,” Potter said childishly, crossing his arms over his chest in the passenger seat.
“Because,” I explained patiently, yet again, “You don’t know how to, whereas I have a driver’s license.”
“Where did you even learn how to drive?” He muttered resentfully, sending another envious glance at the ease in which I drove the car.
“I’m a muggle-born,” I said shortly.
He turned towards me. “Brilliant. You’re in charge of all the muggle shit.”
I shot him a dirty look. “You still have to learn how to use it.”
“Nah,” He laughed. “I’m James Sirius Potter. I don’t have to worry about living in the muggle world.”
My eyes narrowed. Stupid, pompous prat.
“What if you fall in love with a muggle?” I asked.
“I won’t.”
“But what if you do?”
“I won’t.”
“Okay, but let’s just say that you fall in love with a muggle –”
“Reese,” He cut across, looking slightly pissed. “I won’t.”
“How do you know you won’t?” I pressed.
“Because I just won’t!” He threw his hands up.
“You can’t control who you fall in love with,” I retorted icily.
“Hah,” He snorted. “Right.”
“Alright, who do you see yourself marrying, then?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Probably Eva.”
I stopped at the red light and looked incredulously at him. “You’re in love with her?”
“Merlin, no,” He laughed. “I just like her a lot, and she’s obviously totally in love with me, so –”
“She’s vile!” I cut across.
He shot me the finger, scowling angrily.
“Then again, you two are perfect for each other,” I said drily, pressing my foot to the gas pedal again.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.
“Nothing,” I smiled innocently.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You know, for a Hufflepuff, you are awfully rude.”
“Ha! That’s rich, coming from you!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked angrily. “Stop making little inferences about me! You don’t know me!”
“You don’t know me! You have no right to be making all these rash generalizations about my personality just because I’m a Hufflepuff!” I shot back, turning rather roughly into a grocery store. Logan let out a startled little yelp as his booster seat jostled back and forth.
“I know enough to conclude that you’re a total bitch,” He told me.
“Yeah, coming from the idiot who’s dating Eva Grace,” I retorted scathingly.
“Leave my girlfriend out of this!”
“You’re the one who brought her in this conversation!”
“That’s because you asked me a question about her!”
“I didn’t ask about her, specifically, you ass –”
“Who uses the word ‘ass’? What are you, American?!”
“YEAH, I AM!” I shot back. “What are you going to do about it?”
(Okay, fine, I haven’t lived in America since I was twelve, but still.)
“I hate Americans,” He muttered.
“There you go making rash generalizations about me again!”
“Merlin, I should have realized with that blasted accent of yours –”
“I happen to like my accent –”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Logan’s piercing cry cut across our argument, and his gold-dusted green color exploded into my vision. Added with the sharp echo of Potter’s relentless screaming, the colors were absolutely overwhelming. I clapped my hands over my ears and leaned against the wheel, trying to block out the noises and sharp, jagged lines of colors shooting across my vision.
Note to self: confined spaces + loud noises = BAD.
There was a gentle touch on my shoulder, and I raised my head to look at Potter, who looked confused a just a little worried.
Well, he’s not a total dick.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“Make the baby shut up,” I told him through gritted teeth. “I don’t like loud noises.”
Still looking confused, he got out of the car, appearing in the backseat a couple of seconds later to pull Logan out. I sighed in relief and stepped out myself, glad for the soft colors that occasionally wafted across my sight instead of the sharp knives of color splatters that I was being assaulted with in the car.
“What,” Potter demanded as soon as I turned around to face him, “Is wrong with you?”
I stifled a grin at the sight of him bouncing Logan on his hip. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but…he looks like a dad right now.
Wow.
“I have synesthesia,” I explained, taking Logan from his grip and starting to walk towards the supermarket.
“What’s that? Is that a disease?”
I whipped around to glare at him. “No. It’s a joint perception.”
“…uh-huh.”
Of course he’s too dim to understand what that means.
I sighed. “My unconsciousness associates colors with names and sounds.”
He looked, dare I say it, slightly impressed. “So…you see colors when I say certain things?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“Like, literally see them?”
“Yeah,” I said. “They like, float across my vision.”
“So…what color is my name?” He asked, falling into step beside me. I grinned slightly.
“Ocean blue. It’s slightly shimmery, like sunlight bouncing off of the water, in a way,” I explained, my voice softening immediately as I remembered the beauty of his name.
“That sounds…nice,” He said, struggling to remain cordial in our rare moment of civility.
“It’s my favorite color,” I confessed.
“James Potter?” He asked, laughing slightly.
“No – your full name. James Sirius Potter.”
“My name is your favorite color?” He sounded immensely proud of himself. Dude – your parents named you, so get over yourself.
I shrugged. “Don’t let it get to your head. It’s just your name.”
“What color is your name?” He asked, after a moment of short silence.
“It’s a sunrise. Full of oranges and reds and yellows, and one streak of dark purple,” I explained as I adjusted Logan on my hip and gestured for him to take a shopping cart. He looked at it, utterly perplexed.
“Er…”
I sighed and handed Logan to him, taking the cart myself.
“They’re wheels, see?” I explained quietly as I pushed it along. Potter followed, looking at the cart in interest. “They help carry things easily.”
“This is genius!” He said excitedly. “Here, take the baby.”
I couldn’t help but giggle slightly as he shoved Logan into my arms and took the shopping cart, rolling it back and forth. He looked up at me and grinned widely, looking like a little kid who had just discovered the coolest thing in the world. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“So cool,” He murmured, pushing it faster.
“Er – Potter,” I said as I followed along, trying to ignore the odd looks we were getting. “Stop pushing the cart so fast. You’re drawing attention to us.” I put my hand on his arm to stop him, and he looked at it for a couple of seconds. I quickly took it off, realizing my mistake.
“Just act like this is normal for you, okay?” I asked quietly. He rolled his eyes and shrugged. But when he thought I wasn’t looking, he rolled the cart back and forth quickly one more time, excitement still splashed across his face.
I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I turned back to the aisle to look for some food.
the queue is only 22 hours?! chapters are coming up super fast?! COOLNESS :D
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