Serenity | 1

NINETEEN

"Family Feuds"

January 1967, 1 month later

"What did we do wrong, Evie?" Chadwick leaned his face into his hand as the sleeve of his pyjama top fell into the crevice of his elbow. He sighed heavily and kicked one leg over the other, the heel of his slipper hanging lowly. "Olivia was expected, as was Anton. It makes no sense for two of our great-granddaughters to be defects; is there too many of them, great-grandchildren?" After a brief pause he chuckled. "No, you're right. It has to be Christian. He's the one that had twins with that Penniman woman, I never told him to split the girls." Pointing to himself, Chadwick's eyes widened as he justified himself to his wife. "I would have embraced them both equally, taught them equally... and then there was the other one. The Ravenclaw, honestly, he thought he could marry her without my consent?" With a scoff he shook his head. "The mudblood had it coming to her." His monologue was interrupted as the study door creaked open.

"Dad? Are you alright?" Rubbing a haggard hand over the loose skin of his forearm Chadwick looked from his son and daughter-in-law to the chair in front of him.

"Your mother and I were just discussing the defects and why there was two this generation." His smile was directed at an empty chair. "Do you have any theories, Reglin?"

Sitting down with a humph, Reglin eyes the empty seat where his mother used to sit and crosses his arms and legs. With a shake, he hangs his heavy head and rubs the tiredness from his eyes.

"If I'm honest, Dad, I think you're being harsh on the girls. They're my granddaughters- your great-granddaughters." Chadwick glowered at his son as he cleared his throat and sat up in his chair.

"They put shame to the Rier name!"

"They are children." Reglin stood and motioned to the chair by the fireplace. "Mum wouldn't have stood for this so why would you 'talk' to her like she would? Mother is dead. We lost her before we lost Olivia. My sister, the child you felt the need to disown for being Ravenclaw. It's not fair!" Chadwick launched himself to his feet, finding strength in his anger at the mention of his beloved. His nose twitched, the invisible whiskers on his face quivering as his eyes narrowed.

"Olivia was meant to DIE!" Reglin's knees buckled and he stumbled into his wife's arms, mouth gaping open.

*

Erin charged into Serenity's dorm. She took a moment to catch her breath and looked around at the five girls chatting in the room under hooded eyes. Untucking her hair, the blonde locks curtained the side of her face as she shuffled towards the bed where Serenity and Lakita lay beside eachother.

Now she stood in front of the twins, Erin finally acknowledged the similarities between the two. This was the first time the cousins had seen eachother and Serenity was in awe at how much her younger cousin had matured since she last saw her. The blonde in her hair had darkened and the baby fat was slowly dropping from Erin's face. An unknown force pushed Serenity to her feet as she encased her cousin in a longing hug.

"I miss you, 'Rin." Erin briefly buried her face into the brunette's shoulder and muttered a similar sentiment before pulling away. She offered a small smile to Lakita before looking back up at Serenity.

"We found something you should see." Serenity furrowed her eyebrows. "I was leaving the great hall and Merritt caught me and Dexter. She... she found something about Great-Granddad. I'll show you." Without another word, Erin pulled her cousin from the room. The second-year sent a weary smile to her sister before being ushered out of the Hufflepuff common room.