Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 30

~A/N~ I'm sharing a bed with my little sister who snores and puts her legs on me so I might not get this done ugh
Ok nevermind I did finish it lol but now my sister's sleep-talking so maybe I should tape her mouth shut.
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

"You know what, I bloody hate homework," Michael sighed, flopping back onto Ashton's bed as he surveyed the empty sheet of paper, with only the title written on it. I just looked up in amusement before going back to my own work. "Why did Professor Binns have to give us holiday homework anyway?"

There was a brief silence, the only sound being Ashton's barely audible humming as he scribbled away at his sheet of parchment, only pausing to dip his quill in more ink.

"At least I have you two here to help me," Michael added, taking any opportunity to procrastinate. "If you hadn't invited me to spend the holidays with you, I would've been screwed."

"Michael, shut up," Ashton mumbled, rolling his eyes at the incessant complaining. "It'll be done faster if you stop whining."

Michael glared but closed his mouth anyway and I basked in the momentary silence, quickly scribbling another sentence into my History of Magic essay on witch burning. It was proving more interesting that I had predicted, and had sent my brain into a constant whirring.

The main question in my mind was whether the muggles in the 17th Century hated magical folk for the same reason my older sister Zara did. The only problem was, I didn't exactly know why Zara hated magical folk.

Most saw it as jealousy, but I couldn't be sure. It seemed deeper than that, and anyway, if it were jealousy she would presumably only hate me. No, the hatred of witches and wizards had been around for a long time and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Kids? Dinner's ready!" came the sweet voice of Ashton's mum.

"Coming!" Ashton replied, and I could hear his little sister Lauren echo his shout from her room down the corridor. Racing downstairs, I inhaled the sweet smell of coconut chicken and smiled.

"It smells delicious, Anne-Marie."

"You really are the sweetest girl," the young woman replied, placing the hot pan on a heatproof mat in the middle of the table. "If only Ashton was more like you."

"Hey!" the boy in question protested. "I'm a great son!"

"I'm joking, Ash," his mother ruffled his hair as his two younger siblings, Lauren and Harry, raced into the room. "You're my favourite older son, and I wouldn't swap you anytime."

"Love you mum," he said.

"Love you too."

I exchanged a sad look with Michael and could tell what we were both thinking. Although my family issues weren't half as bad as Michael's, they were still there. Neither of my parents had ever told me they loved me, and I knew they must do, but they didn't show it very well. They were always busy with work and barely ever had time for us - the time together was spent with negative comments from my mum about my appearance or integrity.

My dad I clicked with much better, but he too was always busy and only really cared about schoolwork, so I was much closer to my sisters and other family members I often ran into when wandering the village.

Michael's family issues were worse, though. He had been staying with the boys all holiday, rotating between their houses so he wasn't too much of a nuisance. For the brief time he had been at home his parents were trying to stamp out the Gryffindor in him, ban him from seeing us, and even went as far as locking him in his room when guests were around so they didn't have to see the 'Gryffindor disappointment'.