By the end of the week, Reginald had received the expected response, and agreed to the two-week visit. With great glee, Rowan took immense satisfaction in taunting Severus over the entire course of the weekend. Severus was not pleased whatsoever, but it was not like he could protest being left behind at Prince Manor. He was very much aware that his grandfather had gone easy with him given what he had put his twin sister through. And even Severus was not stupid enough to go and complain to his grandfather about it.
Luckily, the squib Abbot household was connected to the floo network since the Abbot family members regularly visited him. As such, after brunch, Monday morning Rowan was able to easily floo to their household. All she had to say was, "9 Mayfield Road."
After a twisting green whirl, Rowan emerged into a larger home than that of the Evan family. Rowan blinked at seeing the Abbot household waiting for. Andrew's round face grinned at her in relief as she turned to study his relatives.
Andrew's uncle was round and light haired much like he was. Mr. Abbot, however had a round belly and seemed to be rather relaxed with a pair of glasses on his face. His wife was dark haired, short and petite, a muggleborn witch. Their three children were two, four, and six.
Two boys with the youngest being a little girl. And despite being a squib, Mr. Abbot had married a muggleborn witch. As such the three younger children had all shown traces of Magic and would one day be attending Hogwarts.
Still Rowan could easily see why Andrew was going crazy. It would be hard on anyone to have two children under the age of five at the same time. And though adorable the little buggers got into everything much like a Niffler.
"Thank you for having me, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott," Rowan politely said and inclined her head.
"A pleasure," Mr. Abbot said as Mrs. Abbott chimed along.
"Please allow our nephew to show you to your room," Mrs. Abbott kindly said.
"Thank you," Rowan gratefully said, but not before reaching into her pocket for an envelope.
Pushing the envelope into Mr. Abbott's hand, Rowan says, "We the Prince's are aware that there will be no doubt expenses including outings. This should suffice to cover them all. And I nor my family wish to be a burden to our hosts. Please accept."
"Er, thank you," Mr. Abbott naively blinked unable to refuse the money under Rowan's stern gaze. Mrs. Abbott attempted to protest, but a simple stare from Rowan caused her to quiet down. In the end, neither of them was able to refuse the envelope full of money.
Rowan kindly smiles back before making her way past them and carrying her travel bag with her. Andrew shows her to the guest room on the first floor just past the living room. The bedroom walls where white with light floral-patterned curtains and floral sheets. But at least it was a simple tone and not overly floral. She could live with that for two weeks.
"Been going crazy yet?" Rowan softly teased as she put her bag in the closet and closed it shut.
"Tell me about it," Andrew rolled his eyes. "I'm the youngest in the family, so I've never really had kids underfoot. I thought it would be easy to live with muggles considering I'm taking muggle studies, but everything's really hard!"
Rowan chuckles and pushes her cashmere silk sweater sleeve up to make sure her wand is in her wrist hostler, before pulling her sweater sleeve down. A gift from her grandfather over the summer to use. There were leg and belt wand holsters too. But the most common and convenient wand holsters were on the wrist. All it took was a snap of the wrist and the wand plopped right into the wand casters hand.
Andrew glanced over Rowan in envy and said, "It's not really fair that you can use your wand over the summer."
"Pass the exams equivalent to the N.E.W. T's and you can too," Rowan smirked back.
"No, thank you," Andrew said with a violent shudder of terror.
Rubbing his hands all sinister like, Andrew says, "So what should we do first? The movies? Or should I introduce you to some muggle novelty?"
Rowan arches her eyebrow and drily murmurs, "Andrew, I was raised in this muggle town for the first eleven years of my life. I'm fairly certain that I know more about this town than you do and are much more familiar with muggle studies than you are at present."
"I forgot," Andrew sheepishly said with a shrug. "But no, really, is this the town where you grew up in?"
"Mm, Lily lives here," Rowan replied as they made their way out of the bedroom and down the light-colored hallway.
"Evans lives here?" Andrew exclaimed as they made their way to the emerald painted door.
Gesturing at the door color with one finger, Rowan stares pointedly at Andrew. Andrew shrugs and says, "We're purebloods mostly. We've got a lot of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins in our family. Mostly Hufflepuff than Slytherin really, but uncle always personally thought he'd be Slytherin if he'd been able to have been sorted."
Rowan nods in approval as she moves out of the way as the blond six-year-old runs down the hallway fleeing the flaxen haired four-year-old brother. The two-year-old little blond girl in a cute pink dress sits on the floor playing with blocks and cars. Her doll lays on the ground sadly abandoned a few feet away from her.
"Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, if it's alright with you, I'd like to visit my friend Lily Evans," Rowan said to the sitting couple. "I hope that won't be a problem?"
"The Evans family?" Mrs. Abbott blinked in surprise.
"Yes."
"Oh, well, I don't see why that would be a problem," Mrs. Abbott said as she glanced at her husband in confirmation. "But please be back no later than dinner time at six. We'd like to go all out to eat tonight."
"Will do," Rowan replied as Andrew happily escaped the house with her.
The Author is watching Netflix, when her phone rings. Without paying attention she answers the phone and says, "Hello?"
"I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you stop making those bad puns, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will stalk you."
"Good luck," the author snickered, before haning up the phonecall. Unbeknown to the random caller, the author had recorded the entire conversation and sent it to a certain friend of cough.... in possession of ill-natured skills. Several days later, the poor reader is weeping in the middle of the night as a scary individual stares at them with a gun.
"It was just a joke!" The random reader shrieked in panic.
"Sure, it was," rasped the violent intruder, before beginning a very loud conversation via physical contact.
-A parody of the quote from Taken, Liam Neeson
The two of them walked down the warm sidewalk as they saw children rushing out to play on the street. The Evans did not live too far from here only about a fifteen-minute walk. As they walk along the street, Rowan says, "I do not mean to be rude, Andrew. But what exactly made you think it would be a good idea to live as a muggle in a household with three children?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Andrew mumbled in embarrassment as his cheeks turned pink.
Rowan sighs and shake her head muttering something about lack of common sense under her breath. The shade of the trees is still about cool in the morning air as they turn the street corner to see the street filled with rows of red bricked homes with small green yards full of flowers.
"This is nice," Andrew observed as they passed the houses full of flowers in plain bloom.
Rowan led the way up a front path past petunia's and lilies to knock on the front door. The two of them wait for the door to be Mrs. Evans answers the door and blinks at seeing Rowan and a friendly looking with light colored hair. "Rowan, what are you doing here?" Mrs. Evans asked in surprise. "And where's Severus?"
"Severus is grounded for the entire summer, Mrs. Evans," Rowan replied with great satisfaction. Served the brat right for everything he put her during the last school year.
Quickly changing the subject, Mrs. Evans pretends not to notice the smug gleam in Rowan's eyes. Knowing how siblings could be vindictive at times, Mrs. Evans instead says, "I'm sorry, hon, but Lily is currently sleeping over at a friend's house in the next town for the next two weeks."
"That's perfectly right, Mrs. Evans," Rowan cheerfully answered. "Actually, I'm here for Petunia. We have been corresponding ever since last year and since then have renewed our friendship. I'll be in town for two weeks staying at Mr. and Mrs. Abbot's place the uncle and aunt of my friend her at my side, Andrew Abbot."
"A pleasure to meet you, young man," Mrs. Evans said.
"A pleasure as well, Mrs. Evans," Andrew politely said. "And might I say that you're just as pretty as your daughter, Lily."
"Nonsense," Mrs. Evans protested the flattery as she pattered her light-colored hair back into place.
"Is that you, Row?" The voice of Petunia could be heard saying.
"Row?" Andrew whispered in utter shock. Not even Severus dared call his twin sister that.
Rowan shrugs and says, "I've never minded that Petunia's called me that ever since we were children. Severus hates calling me that and Lily never much liked that pet name." However, a steely gleam in Rowan's eyes warned otherwise for him to dare call her that.
Andrew tactfully puts the nickname out of mind as his mouth flops open at seeing the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. Her hair was light colored, pale eyes, and pink glossy lips. She wore a light-colored blouse and a plaid skirt with sandals.
Rowan did not miss the besotted gaze of Andrew. The poor guy had fallen head over heels for Petunia Evans. She certainly had not expected that would occur when she accepted Andrew's invitation. But then again, Andrew Abbott was a far better choice for Petunia than Vernon Dursley.
With a shudder, Rowan turns and smiles warmly at Petunia. Clearly finding her talent for cooking had been doing wonders for Petunia's self-confidence. Not only did Petunia look much happier than ever before, but she even walked with her head held high.
Always taller than Lily, Petunia had always felt inferior by the fact she was so much taller and less pretty. But ever since she had begun to dress up, she had received a ton of compliments. But most especially about her legs, her height was now one of her proudest features.
"Mum, I'll be back by dinnertime," Petunia said.
"Mm have fun dear's," Mrs. Evan's called out after them as she made her way down the sidewalk.
Petunia raised an eyebrow to stare at Rowan, who was still that much taller than her despite their singe year in age difference. "What do they feed you that you're freakishly tall?" Petunia snorted rather good natured unlike her previous sour self.
"The same can be said about you, beanpole," Rowan smirked back. The two girls shared a similar grin given their similar like grim humor. But then again, Rowan and Petunia had always gotten much better along than Rowan and Lily ever had.
Intertwining her arm with that of Rowan, Petunia glances over the shoulder of Rowan. "So, who's the fatty?"
"I'm pleasantly plump!" Andrew protested awakened from his stupor.
"His name is Andrew Abbot, Petunia," Rowan warned. "Please be nice to him, he's a friend."
"Oh, what kind of friend?" Petunia asked with a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
"Just a good friend," Rowan said, before leaning over to whisper. "And besides, he's already fallen for your charms."
Petunia flushed bright pink as she peeked over at the round-faced boy, who really was not all that chubby. He was fair, light haired, and had a kind smile. But most of all, he stared at her like no other boy had ever stared at her before; like she was a star in the sky.
Blushing a bit more, Petunia leans over to whisper, "It's just a phase. I am a muggle and he is a wizard, isn't he? Plus, he's a year younger!"
"His uncle is a squib and married a muggleborn witch like Lily," Rowan softly replied. "And unlike most boy's, he's rather open minded and knows how to live in the muggle world. He would not be a bad choice. And it certainly helps that he has money. Plus, if I recall correctly your mother is two years older than your father."
Petunia snorts, but still does not resist peeking at the shorter boy from time to time. The three of them finally arrive at the center street as Petunia says, "The Cinema won't be open for a bit, but what should we watch?"
"Jaws," Rowan instantly replied.
"But that's an adult film!" Petunia protested.
"Don't be such a goody two shoes," Rowan smirked. "Beside I've got a wand."
"I thought you're not allowed to use that over the summer?" Petunia blinked in surprise.
"We're not supposed to," Andrew eagerly interrupted in order to answer the beauty's question. "But Rowan and Severus are both apprentices and as such are allowed too."
"I'd forgotten about that," Petunia said with a frown. "The both of you are basically geniuses, huh?"
"I suppose you could say that," Rowan muttered as she eagerly sniffed around. "It's lunch time, let's have a cheeseburger with chips."
"A vanilla malt for me," Petunia sniffed.
"And you, Andrew?" Rowan asked.
"Mm, I think, I'll have the same," Andrew flushed in reply.
The three of them walked over to the open shack and ordered food and drinks, before taking a seat and wait for their order to be called. The three of them chat over common topic's which they all can discuss. Such as what was going on in the news as of late with the new female leader of the conservative party, Margaret Thatcher. Or how the American's had finally pulled out of Vietnam in April, and all the terrible things that were presently still occurring with the occupying regime. Either way, there was plenty to converse about.
"Oh, did you expect me to play fair?" Cupid laughed. "I am the God of Love. I am never fair." -Rick Riordan
And yes, I do think that Petunia had a thing for chubby guys, hello, Vernon!
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GOT IT