[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter One

Aubrey had hopes for that summer, hoping it would involve seeing a lot of the twins and Lexy, however, none of this truly due to one treacherous event:

The return of the Half Sisters.

In planning her summer she'd forgotten one crucial detail, her sisters, whilst different in some many ways, had one quality in common. Whenever there was drama, they were drawn to it like moths to a flame. The death of a student paired with a dark wizard returning and their younger sister potentially getting a boyfriend? It would take a literal killing curse to keep them away.

Sometimes when Aubrey looked at her sisters, she wondered how they were even related: other than the same jaw and nose, they looked nothing alike. Isabelle, Cynthia and Dulcie greatly resembled one another greatly, all holding the typical French beauty that Acelina too possessed. They were pale, lithe girls with round, rich brown eyes and equally chestnut hair that tumbled around their shoulders all the way to their waists. When she was little, Aubrey had found herself greatly resenting that particular feature, especially when they would come down the stairs each morning with pretty braids and french ponytails when her hair would barely stay in bunches. The sisters hadn't helped by constantly pulling at their curls until Mary, in a fit of rage, had put a reciprocity spell on them: any pain they inflicted on Aubrey, they felt on themselves too. That had quickly put a stop to it and several years later, whilst a mild animosity hung between the family, the three sisters had made their peace with Aubrey.

However, now they were here, Aubrey was essentially under house arrest so the resentment was a little more amplified than before. Apparently, it was considered 'rude' and 'highly anti-social' to stay with friends when you're sisters had come to visit even though two of them hardly spoke to her.

Not that it mattered anyway, Fred had gone annoyingly silent for the holidays so she'd been forced to spend her time in other ways. The unfairness of Cedric paired with the ministry's awful censorship had been playing on Aubrey's mind since the Third Task so she figured that was a good a way to spend the time as any. Of course, she was doing it in her own special way, without Fred and Lexy, there would be no big show or extravagant plots. She was doing it in her own special way...

Out of the three sisters, Dulcie was the closest in age to her and whilst she may have been a little ... extravagant for Aubrey's taste, she was definitely the lesser of two (well, three) evils. Dulcie liked to talk and Aubrey didn't mind listening as she wrote her letters so the two of them spent most days lounging in the beautiful gardens of the Jackson cottage.

"So ... have you and Fred kissed yet?"

"We have."

Dulcie squealed, sitting up suddenly from the lush grass, the sun sitting her face. Instantly, Dulcie recoiled, squinting at Aubrey who was leisurely basking in the sunlight without a care, "Interesting, the Americans would call it, first base, I believe ... and what else?"

"Well, as you know, I was in his body for a while, where does that land us on the almighty scale?"

"Um ..." Dulcie blinked a few times before brushing it off, "It's probably a foul ... I think they have those in baseball. Okay, I don't know, I've only been in America a few months now, I'm sorry for not being fluent in their lingo yet," She leant back, arranging her hair so it fanned out from behind her, "Anyway ... did you, you know ... do other things?"

Aubrey cringed, raising an eyebrow at her sister, "No. I like him but I'm just not really interested in that as of yet."

"Well, that's a little bit sad," Dulcie said firmly, "By your age, I think I'd shagged a couple of boys already."

"You know what else is sad, hon? Coming back home because your little sister's got more going than you do," Aubrey replied coolly to which Dulcie rolled her eyes.