magnolia ~ h. potter

thirty-five

[CHAPTER 35] 

THE TALE OF ANNABELLE ROSIER

[ I hope you know

That you're my home ]

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THE GIRLS SPENT the whole day cleaning the house, partly due to the fact it was necessary, and partly because it stopped them all thinking and worrying about the others. There hadn't been a scrap of news from anybody since yesterday evening, and the lack of information did nothing for Emily's anxiety.

"I'm done, I can't clean any longer," Violetta puffed, falling down on the armchair from her role in dusting the cabinet windows.

"You've used your wand for literally everything in this house," Kate pointed out, and Violetta looked affronted.

"Spell work can still be exhausting!" she exclaimed, and Kate raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Hm," she said, sitting down on the arm of the chair, "Vi's right though, we should take a break,"

Emily said nothng, continuing wiping down the windows.

"And by us I mean you, Em, you've literally not said a word or taken a break since this morning,"

"House needs to be clean," Emily said with a shrug, but Kate's eyes bored into her.

"Vi told me about your breakup," Kate said, and Emily sighed.

"I figured she would've," she said, throwing down her rag, "But I don't want to talk about it,"

"Alright," Kate said, "Now that I get,"

"What were we planning for dinner? One of us would need to go–"

An almighty crashing sound from downstairs interrupted her, and at once, the three girls were on their feet, wands drawn towards the door.

"INTRUDER," howled Mrs. Pickett's shrill voice up the staircase, and there was loud swearing from the entrance hall as the girls shot into action.

"Hide," Emily hissed at her friends. Kate nodded, crouching behind the large armchair and out of sight as Emily went to stand by the side of the door, wand drawn towards the entrance so that anyone coming in would receive a spell to the face. Violetta stood on the far end of the room behind a curtain, wand drawn at the doorway.

The person coming up the stairs made no attempt to hide the fact they were an intruder. Heavy footfalls made the wooden staircase creak loudly as the stomps echoed through the house. Emily could feel her heart beating out of her chest, thumping loudly and sending the blood rushing in her ears. There was the sound of the doors being thrown open, another echoing smack as they made contact with the wall. Emily tried to take a few steeling breaths, trying to hold her shaking hand steady and her wand from shaking.

The footsteps approached the living room, closer and louder until–

A body breached the doorframe, a tall, pale man with chocolate brown curls on his head covered in a newsies cap.

"If you so much as move an inch," Emily said, her wand touching to his temple and making him stop dead in his tracks, "I will stun you to all hell,"

"Ah, Emily Poole, is it?" he asked, and Emily frowned as there were more footsteps on the stairs. Their eyes met, and for a minute Emily was startled by the brightness of his eyes. They were the exact same greenish-blue color's as Violetta.