freckles || {Sirius Black} #Wattys2018

One | The Christmas Lights Went Out

Rosemary knew something was wrong when the Christmas lights went out.

Actually, all of the lights in the Peterson's household, along with the power, went out, but Rosemary was too focused on the sudden darkness of the Christmas tree to immediately notice the other outages.

It was the beautiful night of Christmas Eve, 1976. Excitement was in the air for the day just hours in the future, where gifts would be given, candy would be eaten, and a great feast would be prepared for the Peterson Family to enjoy.

So when the lights went out, the family was instantly suspicious. Perhaps all of them knew something was wrong. Perhaps they all felt a feeling of dread rise in their stomachs as Quentin Peterson, the father of the household, went to look out of the windows to see what was happening. Did any other houses lose power? Did a tree fall down and take out the power? Did a sudden snowstorm cause the outage?

But Rosemary was especially terrified by this seemingly simple occurrence. The moment the lights went out and her mother cast Lumos, Rosemary looked to her sisters.

The Petersons never expected to have four daughters within ten years, but Quentin and Patricia Peterson wouldn't change the world for it. Each girl was their pride and joy.

The sisters were all quite different, which was surprising, due to the close proximity of their ages. The oldest sister, Linnea Kristen Peterson, had already graduated from Hogwarts. She was twenty-one years old and had dark auburn hair, fair, ivory skin, and amber irises. Linnea had always wanted to secure a job at Hogwarts, but she couldn't. Not when the Petersons were such prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix. It would be too dangerous to be apart of.

Rosemary was the second-oldest girl, in her Sixth Year at Hogwarts. She appeared much different from Linnea, but she didn't mind it; with her bright ginger hair, brown eyes with golden flecks in them, and millions upon millions of freckles that were bestowed upon her pale skin. Rosemary always looked a bit distant, as if she were thinking thoughts that would never see the light of day, and that was probably true. Rosemary was a deep thinker, and she did not want to share the miraculous details of her mind to the world.

Ivy Samantha Peterson was in her Third Year at Hogwarts. Ivy had the same hair and freckles as Rosemary, but she had piercing hazel eyes instead of golden-brown ones. Ivy and Rosemary were quite close and they both loved each other very much. They shared everything the other was willing to share, and it helped them get along well.

The youngest daughter was named Olive Harriet Peterson. Olive had started her First Year at Hogwarts and was fascinated by it. She was almost constantly murmuring the names of spells and was quite the studious student. Olive appeared similarly to Linnea, only that Olive had blue eyes while her eldest sister had amber eyes. She was a hyper little thing, almost always chatting about something.

And Rosemary loved all three of them with her whole heart. They were all she had ever known, and all she ever would know.

Just the thought of any danger coming to them made her heart clench up and her lungs breathe quickly. It was too much to handle.

Rosemary gripped the hands of Ivy and Olive instinctively, quieting them before daring to look back up at Quentin. Her mother, Patricia, was now standing, her wand pointed at the door. Linnea rose beside her mum, mimicking her position.

Confusion swirled in Rosemary's belly. Was there any danger past the solid oak door that protected the Petersons from the outside world? Whatever it might be, they were ready for it. That, at least, was a relief to Rosemary.