TW; abuse

Gemma was brooding. It was Easter day, and there was much bustling around the household; even Mrs Greengrass appeared in good spirits. But despite her friends' attempts, Gemma could not bring herself to enjoy any festivities, as she thought of Sturgis, who was probably sitting in the Hargreaves' basement somewhere. Finally, around midday, her bedroom was invaded.

'If you don't come out right this second, we'll kidnap you,' Ted announced.

'No you won't,' she said wearily.

'Three,' Luke began counting.

'Stop it.'

'Two,' Iz chimed in.

'I swear to god-'

'Three!' Ted announced. He picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and ran out of the room. She hit her fists on his back and yelled at him, but he ignored her.

'Its not three two three!' Luke was complaining. 'We were counting backwards Ted.'

'When did you become strong?' Gemma said exasperatedly, giving in.

'Well, I'm not just good for my incredible bone structure,' he said, shrugging. She rolled her eyes as she surveyed the room they were in from her upside-down position. It was far more homely than the one downstairs, and there were stick figure drawings stuck all around, which she assumed had been done by Eva.

'Morning,' Snyde said from the sofa. She started, only just noticing him sitting there, drinking a cup of coffee.

'Strange way to enter a room,' Gage commented, while Snyde snickered.

'She was being a sour- puss,' Ted explained, grinning.

'Shut up,' she said, but she couldn't help but laugh as well.

'I'm bored,' Iz whined.

'That's because we aren't talking about you,' Gemma, Ted, Gage and Luke all said simultaneously. Iz pouted.

'That was scary,' she stated. She sighed and looked out the window. 'I miss Blythe.' Gemma wanted desperately to tell her all the disgusting things she'd heard last night, but she held her tongue.

'Only another week until you get to see him,' Luke reasoned. 'You could write him a letter-'

'I don't miss him for him,' Iz clarified. 'I miss snogging!'

'I'm free,' Ted said immediately, putting Gemma down so quickly that she stumbled slightly. Gage frowned at him, since it was his sister after all.

'That would be disloyal,' Iz sighed. 'And I don't want to be disloyal.'

'I wish the same could be said for him,' Gemma murmured.

Their conversation was interrupted when a large, scary black owl with bright amber eyes swooped in through the window. He had a letter tied to his claw, and Gemma recognised him as Dorcas' bird, Demon.

She untied the letter, and hurriedly began scanning it.

ᴅᴇᴀʀ ɢᴇᴍᴍᴀ,
ꜱᴛᴜʀɢɪꜱ ɪꜱ ꜱᴀꜰᴇ. ʜᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ꜰʀᴇᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴇᴀᴠᴇꜱ ɢɪʀʟ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ. ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴇᴀꜱᴛᴇʀ,
ᴅᴏʀᴄᴀꜱ

Gemma nearly cried aloud with relief, but controlled herself as she saw her friends' faces and Gage and Snyde looking at her expectantly.

'Letter from my mum,' she said. That sent those curious looks away. She petted Demon, and he took off again, out through the window.

'Did your sister draw these?' Snyde asked Gage, inspecting one of the badly drawn sketches on a bookshelf.

'No,' Gage snorted. 'Nott over there did, over Christmas.' Luke and Gemma stared at Ted.

'You drew that?' Gemma said with disbelief, while Snyde doubled over with laughter.

'I thought-' he choked. 'I thought a ten year old girl drew that and- but-'

'Whatever,' Ted mumbled.

'Wait wait,' Snyde said, taking a break from his laughing. 'Is this a camel?'

'Its an elephant, actually, but-' He couldn't finish his sentence before Snyde was in a fit of laughing. Gemma couldn't help but wonder how he'd recovered from yesterday so quickly.

'Shut up,' Ted grumbled. 'Luke makes it look so easy!'

'I have practise,' Luke said, still in disbelief. 'But even without... how is that an elephant?'

This sent Gage and Iz into a fit of giggles, while Snyde and Gemma didn't even try to hold in their laughter.

'You are all going to hell,' Ted announced, walking out of the room dragging Luke with him. 'And Luke is going to teach me how to draw!'

'I did not agree to this!' Luke yelped, but he was ignored.

'Come back!' Iz called, but she couldn't control the laughter. 'We- we were kidding!' She ran out after them, and Gemma was left with Gage and Snyde. She looked at Snyde, who's laughter was finally subsiding.

'You look happy,' she commented. He nodded.

'Vexation Vanisher,' he said, holding up a tiny bottle of silver liquid for her to see.

'Never heard of it.'

'Some guy called Bletchley invented it. Fucking expensive, but one a day, it does the job.'

'So... your a potions addict?' She said sceptically.

'Wouldn't you be too, in his place?' Gage cut in. Fair enough.

The conversation was cut short as she heard yelling from the other room.

'Get off me!'

Definitely Luke.

'GIVE- ME- YOUR- SKILLS!'

Definitely Ted.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

The Greengrasses were a traditional family, and so insisted that they all eat dinner together. They were all seated around a table big enough for a couple of football teams, comfortably. Luke was discussing Wizarding politics with Mr Greengrass, Ted and Gemma were seeing who could eat the most potatoes, Snyde and Gage were betting on them and laughing at them, and Eva and Iz were being scolded by their mother over table manners.

Suddenly, a small house elf popped into view.

'There is a letter for Mrs Greengrass from the Lestrange family, regarding her own letter to them,' it squeaked. Ted dropped his fork, and Luke stopped listening to Mr Greengrass immediately. All four of them looked at each other, frozen in place, as Mrs Greengrass began to read the letter. Gemma hoped it had nothing to do with her, but as usual, she was wrong.

'Isolde,' Mrs Greengrass said.

'Yes, mother?' Iz said, barely able to keep the fear out of her voice.

'Could you explain to me why Mr Lestrange seems to think that Pandora is at home for Easter?'

Silence.

'Answer the question Isolde,' Mr Greengrass said quietly.

'I- I cannot,' Iz said, this time unable to keep the tremor out of her voice.

A sharp crack resounded as Mrs Greengrass slapped her daughter across the face, hard. Ted and Gemma stood in outrage, and Mrs Greengrass raised her wand at Gemma.

'Who are you?' She snarled. She seemed very ready to hex her.

'Wait!' Iz cried, standing. 'That's my friend. Gemma.'

Mrs Greengrass kept her wand raised but seemed to relax slightly, but things were far from over for Iz, as she questioned her further, 'and why, did you lie Isolde? We do not lie in this household, you know that.'

'I'm sorry,' Iz said.

'That is not a reason.'

'She's a half-blood,' Iz whispered.

Another silence resounded, before Iz's mother stood.

'Follow me,' she said venomously. Iz nodded, and Ted moved to follow, but Iz shot him a look, and he stayed frozen in place.

Gage clenched his cup so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, but he kept his head lowered. Eva was picking at her potatoes, and the others were unmoving. Nobody said anything, even when a loud thud was heard, and a sharp cry. Ted came close to running up after them, but Luke stopped him. You'll make things worse.

'Do you have another place to go?' Mr Greengrass asked Gemma lowly, breaking the silence.

'No,' she whispered. 'I can find somewhere.'

'I think that is best,' he nodded. 'I can try and sort something out for you.'

'Thank you,' she murmured.

The next ten minutes felt like eternity, but finally Mrs Greengrass came downstairs. Iz was not with her.

She sat down, and took a spoonful of salad, tipping it onto her plate gracefully as though nothing had happened. Pausing briefly, she looked at Gemma.

'I want you gone,' she said sharply. 'By tomorrow morning.'

'I will be,' Gemma said quickly. She excused herself and ran up the stairs, Ted and Luke following closely.

They found Iz in a darkened room. She was sitting on the floor in the corner, staring at the floorboards blankly. A small bruise was forming under her eye, and she looked otherwise unharmed, if not for the expression of pure betrayal on her face.

Ted was on the floor next to her immediately, wrapping his arms around her. She didn't reciprocate.

'I can't believe she did it,' Iz said finally. 'Its always just been the comments, the belittling, but she's never raised her hand...' She clenched her jaw tightly as she hugged her knees.

She turned, and rested her head against Ted's, their noses nearly touching. Finally, she let him hug her properly.

Gemma and Luke sat across the room, wanting to give them space but not completely leave, leaning against each other when they got tired.

They all drifted off eventually, and stayed there until morning, like that, uninterrupted.