𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲; 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐳𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧
꒰ ✨🌫🔮 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

❜ ─ 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐁𝐎𝐘! ─ ❛

(𝐋.𝐈.𝐁.𝐒.)

*𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚 𝗨𝗦𝗘*

ALYA VENUS BLACK JUST WANTED TO STAY IN BED AND SLEEP.

all she wanted in life right now was to stay in bed with her green dragon teddy (who she affectionately calls jupiter/ jupi), wrapped up in her duvet and a fluffy blanket and stay in the warm sanctity of her bed, while she attempts to get her sleep and enter her mystical dreamland.

but was that possible for her?

absolutely not.

not when you have two older annoying brothers, four if you count harry and draco, constantly pestering you every hour of every day.

you see alya was the kind of sleeper who could wake up with the smallest of all sounds. it was the main reason why her mum charmed her noise-cancelling earmuffs for christmas.

it didn't help that her brother, atlas leo black, was a serial snorer. no, really, his snores have actually scared people (alya can speak from experience). it especially didn't help that her room was very nearby to his, so his snoring -which she compared to a 'constipated duck shitting out an elephant'- was in her radius.

her oldest brother altair, however, though he didn't snore, was the kind of person who would talk in his sleep about the most random of things. last night, she could've sworn she heard him talking about having mimosas with professor sprout for teatime.

it was pretty clear that they were a bit bonkers.

yet despite all of that, she couldn't sleep for one reason; she was having weird vivid dreams of the shrieking shack, dragons and large purple light. she would see this dirty, rat-like man haunt her dreams. she didn't know who it was but something about the guy didn't seem right to her.

currently, in her bed, her arms tightly wrapped around jupi, her legs over the duvet and her body on her side, alya was asleep; a line of drool dripping from the sides of her mouth. it was currently 7:48 am and in two days time, she was going to start her third year.

"wakey wakey!"

"eggs and bacey little snake!" shouted altair and atlas, jumping in their baby sister's bed, effectively compressing all the air out of her lungs.

"get off you big oafs!" breathed alya out, as she pushed her brothers off of her, where they then held on to alya tight, one brother on each of her sides.

"mum! papa! your sons are trying to flatten me right now!" shouted alya groggily, whilst cuddling jupi. her brothers still have a tight grip on her.

"aly, we're not trying to kill you, darling. it's more like... showing you the love." says atlas, his finger going to boop at alya's nose, something he used to do as a child to her, only for her to try to bite his finger off.

"jeez, woman! i was going to boop your nose! not remove it and give it to voldy mouldy!" exclaims atlas, altair and alya laughing at him.

"besides sweetheart, you'll miss us when we get to hogwarts. we barely see you!" says altair, whilst brushing out a stubborn wave from alya's face as she yawns profusely.

"you see me every day?" says alya, bringing the blanket and duvet up, so that it covered her, jupi and her brothers.

"we're in different houses, love. we only ever see you during mealtimes and here and then in corridors. plus the weekends." says atlas.

altair and atlas were both in gryffindor, like their father, although atlas was early sorted into hufflepuff, whereas altair was nearly sorted into ravenclaw like his mother.

alya was a whole different story. she was a slytherin and she was proud to be in slytherin. her parents (mainly sirius and james too) were the most shocked at her sorting and were quite worried, due to their past experiences with slytherins. they simply associated slytherin with evil and bad people, which earned both of them a slap from leela, lily and remus for stereotyping.

so you wouldn't believe the shock they had when an eleven-year-old alya sent a howler to her dad and uncle saying that she was 'proud to be in slytherin' and that 'none of the other houses deserved her to be in it, especially snotty-nosed gryffindors' and that 'just because batty aunt bella and no nose voldy was in that house, doesn't necessarily mean that it's an evil house' and that if they didn't approve of her sorting, that she would 'beat the living daylights out of the two of them with her bat' and that she would 'play their internal organs like an accordion, one hand through their mouth and the other through' well.. you know where.

needless to say, after getting yelled at by alya ( and nearly shitting their pants), the two of them were happy with her placement and were really supportive of her in slytherin. plus it was kind of inevitable of her being there since her godparents (regulus black and narcissa malfoy) were both slytherins themselves.

"we'll still see each other though. every saturday,  we'll have our sleepover at the astronomy tower like we always do right?" asks alya. she loved those saturdays, as she and her brothers would share one sleeping bag and sleep together, whilst telling each other what they did that week. it was those small moments for the black siblings that they truly cherished.

"of course we'll still do that bug. it's tradition." says altair, bringing the girl in closer in his embrace, atlas also doing the same.

"just when i thought i escaped your loud pumba snores and your parrot babbling at night!" joked alya, pointing at each of her brothers.

the brothers looked at each other and had a silent conversation in their eyes, a smirk appearing on both of their lips. that same smirk their father would do when doing something mischievous.

"that's it. we've kept the lad locked up away for too long!" frantically exclaims atlas, getting up from his place next to alya.

"it is now... time to unleash..." exclaims altair equally as dramatic as atlas did.

alya was scared now. she knew what was coming and she was not ready for it at all.

"barney the tickle monster!" shouted the twins, as they pulled the blankets and duvet off their sister and tickled her aggressively.

hearing that, alya darted out of bed, with jupi still in her arms, and ran out of the room, fully knowing when barney the tickle monster was unleashed, there was no going back for her.

she ran out of the room, into the corridors, her brothers still hot on her feet. but she'll be fine, she wasn't a beater for slytherin for no reason. she slides down the stairwell to the floor below the one she slept in.  she could hear distant chatter coming from downstairs, probably her parents and her uncle.

"you can't escape barney baby sis!" shouts atlas from upstairs, the sounds of his and altair's footsteps getting louder and louder as they approach the ground floor of the house.

"catch me if you can idiots!" shouts alya, running hastily towards the kitchen, in hope that at least one of her parents or her uncle reg would save her from barney and her brothers.

"atlas you absolute wanker! just slide down the stairs! you're taking up more time!" shouts altair, slapping his twin's head whilst sliding down the stairs.

"oi! my hair! it took me a while to do it. you hitting it doesn't help!"

"really? it still looks quite shite mate," says altair.

"i'm sorry, not all of us have nice hair like you bro," says atlas, still running down the staircase.

altair finishes sliding down and yells out to his sister, warning her that barney was coming, but for now, he was patiently waiting for his brother to finish running down the stairs.

"you said it mate. not me," altair says with a smirk, patting his brother's shoulder before running off to the kitchen.

atlas stays standing still, thinking about what altair said to him.

"hey! i have nice hair too!" atlas shouts, running to the kitchen, in hopes of not only unleashing barney to alya but also backhand slap his brother in the head.

running into the kitchen, atlas was met with his mother sitting on one of the barstools in her healers uniform reading over some papers, drinking what looked like a cup of coffee, his father next to altair, who also looked like he wanted to unleash barney on alya, his darling uncle reg, who threw alya over his shoulders, helping her run away from his dad and brother, and finally his baby sister, who was still in her pyjamas tightly clutching onto jupi.

"morning mum," says atlas, kissing his mother's cheek before going to his father's and brothers side.

"morning darling. joining your father and brother to terrorise your sister and uncle?" asked leela, taking another swig of coffee from her large mug.

"you know it mummy dearest." says atlas with a wink.

leela laughs to herself before resuming reading over her papers.

"uncle reggie, we're gonna lose! it's three against two!" says alya to regulus, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

"no, we're not star. we're going to tactfully run away. besides, you and i are the quidditch players in the house." says regulus, running to the left side of the island.

"that's true. besides, papa's dad bod is peeking through again and attie and lassie have the fitness levels of a slug." says alya.

"hey! i'll have you know that i still have abs for my age!" exclaims sirius, seemingly offended at his daughter's comment, going as far as lifting his shirt up.

"and we're not that unfit! we can walk and stuff you know." says atlas.

"the point is we're fit when we have to be." says altair.

"you're making it sound like you're fit for ulterior motives," says leela looking up at her papers with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"no ulterior motives mum. it's just that me and at are lazy that's all." says altair smiling sweetly at leela.

leela cheekily winks at the twins.

"by the way, jamie and lily are going to meet us on the platform. remus can't make it." says leela, a ghost of a smirk on her lips.

"why isn't moonpie meeting us?" says alya, with a pout on her face. she gets down from regulus' arms and sits on a barstool perpendicular to her mother.

"he's got a job interview darling. he says sorry to the three of you."

"aw, man. i had to give the wandlore book back to him as well." says altair.

"plus, your mother and i need to tell you some news." says sirius, leaning over the kitchen island, as he faces his family. the boys sit down next to their mother and regulus settles down next to alya.

"mum's not pregnant, is she?" blurts out alya.

"she is looking quite glowy and all." adds in altair, looking at his mum.

"but she's not fat though." pipes in atlas, "i thought pregnant women get fat?"

leela leans over to her sons and slaps them on the head, and does the same to her daughter, as sirius and regulus laugh.

"don't worry, she isn't." says sirius.

"at least i hope not," mutters leela to herself, though no one seemed to have heard.

"then what is it?"

sirius sighs as he takes out a newspaper clipping showing the children a hideous rat-like man screaming and thrashing around in the picture.

it sends alya chills down her spine as she takes a deep breath in; it was the same person she was dreaming of recurringly.

"this guy is peter pettigrew, he used to be our best friend whilst we were at hogwarts. got arrested after... you know... halloween where we found out he was a death eater. he's now escaped azkaban." says sirius, with anger and resentment in his voice.

"he's killed a few people whilst he was a death eater, but no one knew it was him. until he was caught that day." says leela, looking at her kids.

"our point is, just be careful this year. don't walk out late at night, unless you either have the map or the mirror on you." says sirius.

"or just don't do that at all. until pettigrew is caught." adds in regulus, taking a sip of his tea.

"but why would he be after us in the first place?" asks altair, looking at his brother who was playing with his fingers, then to his sister who was playing with her locket, then to his father.

"because... well, that's a story for another time." says leela, before sirius could say anything.

"and another thing, me and prongs are going to be one of the few aurors who are going to be at hogwarts. your mother's going to pop around here and there working for po-madam pomfrey. " says sirius.

"what?!" shouts alya in shock, letting go of jupi.

sirius and leela send a suspicious look over to their daughter who was in shock.

"why do you sound so shocked?" asks sirius.

"nothing. you can continue papa." says alya quickly, as she looks at her father with a sweet, innocent smile. she goes to pick up jupi from the floor.

in reality, she was freaking out inside. all the plans she and her friends were going to do had to be put on hold or done unknowingly.

"another thing, you three can't go hogsmeade this year."

"what?!"

"dad that's illegal!"

"now wait a damn minute young man."

"boys quit the yelling. alya, your father's much older than you, so please don't call him a young man." leela chides to the three kids.

"hey, listen. i'm what? only thirty-three? i'm still quite young."

"darling, you're going off-topic."

"oh shit yeah. so none of you three is going to hogsmeade. capiche?". he raises his eyebrows at the three.

all three kids nod reluctantly.

"if you see anything dodgy or suspicious, me, uncle prongs, your aunt flower, or your mother. or minnie." adds leela.

"just don't go to dumbledore. any of you." says regulus.

"step on any rats you see," leela says.

"boys, keep your dog tags on and lovey, keep your locket on okay?" adds in sirius.

all three children nodded.

"great. now hurry along you three. we have to leave on time this year." leela says, looking right at her sons and sirius, who, along with ron and harry, flew arthur weasley's flying car and crashed it into the whomping willow. she blamed sirius for dropping the kids off late.

needless to say, their parents (more like leela) were pissed off.

"yes, mummy." says the three kids in sync as they get up from their stools and go to get ready.

"mum, can you help me pack, please? i don't want to forget anything like last time." asks alya to her mother.

"sure darling. how you forgot your bat and broom last year, i've no idea." chuckles leela, as she finishes her coffee and puts the empty mug in the sink.

the mother and daughter duo then walk out of the room.

"mum, you know i have a bad memory."

"but you got all o's for your end of year exams last year?"

"mum that's beside the point. that's a different thing. i suffer from forgetfulness."

"sure you do darling," leela says laughing at her daughter.

"mum, i'm serious."

"no that's your father."

"muuuummmm. i should've seen that one coming."

"i've been married to your father for nearly 15 years now darling. it's caught on to me now." says leela, opening the door to her daughter's room.

"hahaha, mum. very funny" alya says. getting the trunk out from under her bed.

the mother and daughter duo laugh and babble as they pack alya's trunk. this time, however, not forgetting her prized possession: her beater bat and her newest broom; the firebolt, she got from her parents for her birthday this year.

"mum, do you know where my last year's history of magic book is?" asks alya, from her wardrobe, carrying a pile of joggers over to the bed.

"it's upstairs in the loft. why are you asking?" replies leela, folding alya's sweatshirt.

"mum, even you know how boring history of magic is. i fell asleep in all of professor binn's classes."

"then how did you manage to pass?"

"thank blaisey mum. for some readon he adores hom."

"well, next time you see him, tell him i said hello and thank you." replies leela, "why don't you go to the loft and get your textbook? we're nearly done packing."

"okay, mum. give me a couple of minutes," says alya, getting up from her bed and making her way to the door.

"darling, ask your father or reg or one of the boys to open the loft for you. it'll be hard for you to reach the latch. it's on a set of shelves right at the top."

"yes mum, i will," says alya, before leaving the room, before rolling her eyes.

alya was always the baby of the family. not only was she youngest, but she was also the smallest, only reaching a mere 5 feet and 1 inch -well just barely- something she was utterly ticked off about (she was still patiently waiting for her growth spurt), considering everyone else in her family was incredibly tall. the shortest person next to her was her aunty drom, who was 5 feet 7 inches. needless to say, she was sick and tired of her brothers using her as their personal armrests and endless neckaches from looking up at everyone.

she was now walking towards her older brother altair's room, seeing his room was the closest to the loft. knocking on her brother's room, and hearing a come in, she enters.

"hey, allie," she says, calling him the nickname she used to call him as a child.

he walks out of his wardrobe and comes towards her, a large smile plastered across his face. altair's room was the definition of a nerd, according to atlas. the beige walls full of posters and notes on wandlore - a career he was very much interested in - and a very small portion of the room, had photos and little memories of his. his room was a very open one; like all the other rooms in the manor, there was a bay window with a seating area (altair's was full of books naturally).

"hey there monkey. why are you here?". he wraps his arms around her tiny stature and brings her in for a hug.

"i need to go to the loft. can you get the latch down please?", her voice slightly muffled.

"sure. let's go." he brings her out of the hug and places his awfully large and heavy arms on her shoulders.

they exit altair's room and walk down the hallway.

"where's attie gone?"

"he's in his room probably. i don't think he's packed yet." replies altair, "come on, let's get him too. don't want him to feel left out."

"can you give me a piggyback ride, please? i did a bit too much training yesterday." alya says puppy dog eyes and pouty lips present on her face. she and altair both knew no one, no one, could say no to her dog eyes.

"urgh fine! i'll give it to you. but switch to at when we get to his room. deal?"

"yes, deal!" alya exclaims, not wasting a single moment on jumping on her brother's back, gaining a grunt from altair in response.

"be careful! my back!". his knees buckle slightly, due to the sudden impact.

"i'm sorry. on we go, my noble steed!"

the two 'galloped' along to atlas' room, which wasn't that far from altair's, probably about a corridor away we could say.

another fact to note, yes, altair and atlas are twins, but no, they are not identical. yes, they share a few odd features here and there, but they are strictly and always fraternal twins. they couldn't be more different.

altair looked more like his mum's side of the family. she would always tell him 'the more and more you grow up, you look like your uncle faizi', who to himself and his siblings was a name with no face. they had all only seen baby pictures of their mother with an older boy, but other than that, they knew nothing of this uncle faizi character. he had curly black hair, which he got from his father, except his was less unruly, it kind of resembled his uncle regulus's in a way, except he would style his hair; altair was unbothered in that sense. he had these stunning eyes; they were brown, yet one would compare it to the colour of cinnamon. sweet, woody yet powerful.

atlas, on the other hand, was a mini version of his father, except he was more tanned. his hair was definitely straighter, which he got from leela. if it was one thing atlas loved, it was piercings. his ears were full of them, his favourite being the ones in his left ear. the lady who offered to pierce his ears did a constellation piercing, comprising of many piercings, which coincidentally was the taurus constellation. he had one on his right brow, his septum and nose rings on either side. he was obsessed. he had very dark brown eyes, they kind of looked black in certain lights. his were what he would call black coffee (which was his favourite beverage): bitter but so smoky and aromatic.

the two black siblings arrive outside atlas's room, where they could already smell the pungent wafts of weed and the sounds of 2pac rapping to 'same song'. the three accidentally stumbled across 2pac when they were walking across the streets of soho, the three adored it, but atlas was obsessed.

"where does attie get the weed from?" says alya, getting off altair's back, the pins and needles attacking her feet, "he doesn't even let me take one puff."

"you're 13. you're too young for that shit alya."

"i'm just curious allie. but with the way it smells, i'll pass."

"let's keep it like that," altair says, ruffling her hair (to which she slaps his hands' away) "let's go in yeah. brace yourself."

the two, holding their breaths in, entered atlas' room, which, to sum it was messy. clothes were strewn on the floor, books messily on shelves, smoke fogging up their vision and a half-naked atlas (thankfully in his boxers) on his bed, wearing red sunglasses and smoking a joint.

altair, upon seeing atlas' half-naked self, quickly moves his hands to shield alya's eyes from premature childhood trauma. it wasn't a pretty sight and altair, although knowing his sister was anything but innocent, covered her eyes anyways.

"allie, there is no point in you covering my eyes. i think the smoke has done that well enough for me," she says, taking her brother's hands off her eyes.

altair, or as atlas and alya called him mother hen, rushes to open the windows, the smoke and fog now making it hard for himself and his sister to breathe.

he pulls the curtain to either side; the rays of light now entering the previous dark and red room. he pushes the bay window open and the swirls of smoke, now exit the room.

"al, you wanker! i was enjoying myself, you know?" atlas says, finishing off the joint in his hand, "why did you have to do that for?".

"because, you need to pack your stuff up for school, remember?" he says, hands on his hips, as he scolds his younger twin, "plus little monkey here needs our help getting to the loft."

"well, why didn't you say that then?" atlas exclaims, getting off his bed, "is it me or is it a bit breezy in here?". he looks around the room, even looking at what his siblings were wearing.

"alya! my baby! why are you wearing shorts for! you might get a cold!" he yells, going as far as giving her a blanket to cover her legs.

"attie, my love, look down. that's why you're breezy." alya states, "and for the love of merlin, please cover up. i don't wanna see that!". she chucks a yellow silk robe, which was at her feet to her brother.

"atlas, come on mate. mum's waiting for her right now. she has to get some history book from upstairs." altair ushers his brother to hurry up.

"oh fine! but when you opened my door, you saw me sleeping on my bed, and i was cuddling my pillow.". atlas raises his brows at both of his siblings

"we were trying to get you up at," confirms altair, nodding his head at his brother.

"honestly, we tried waking you up, but your snoring was just so overbearing," alya says, smirking at her brother.

"good children," he says, now tying up the robe around his waist, "well, what are you doing just standing there. hurry up you tarts!". atlas rushes them out of his room, altair leaving the room first, but alya still in her spot.

"attie, my darling brother-"

"what do you want vinnie?". his deadpanned expression looking right at his sister.

"i want a piggyback. my legs hurt from training." alya says, her puppy dog eyes showing yet again. she knew deep down, atlas would need more persuasion - out of him and altair, altair was the one who would cave into anything. atlas, however, was much like herself.

"well, no one told you to train so hard."

"well, no one told you to be such a bitch about it."

"language!" exclaims altair from his place at the door.

"al, she's thirteen. of course, she'll swear now," replies atlas.

"plus, it doesn't help that mum cusses for every little thing."

"well, you're still a baby to me aves," altair says, ruffling his sister's hair.

"what is with this family and messing up hair?" asks alya, swatting her brother's large hands away from her head.

"why are we just standing here? i thought you were the one who wanted to get the bloody book?" asks atlas.

"will you piggyback me though?"

"fine. but you're doing my astronomy homework until christmas." atlas argued, knowing that his sister quite enjoyed astronomy, plus the added benefits of having a star as your namesake had its perks.

"yes! i love you, i love you, i love you."

"what about me? i carried you too!"

"i love both of you. happy?"

"eh."

"sure."

"alya! hurry up and get ur books!" shouted leela from the other side of the corridor, "i have work in 25 minutes, so if you could hurry your arse..."

"language sis!" exclaims the voice of regulus.

"english reginald, it's english!"

"oh, for the first time it isn't me getting told off!"

"shut it bitch boy!"

"make me lightsaber."

"i dare you jar jar."

the young blacks turn and look at each other.

"weirdos, i tell you," alya states, looking (painfully) up at altair, herself now sitting comfortably on atlas's back.

"i know right. we came out alright," adds atlas.

"let's go get aves book or else mum's going to bite our heads off," states altair.

the three kids make their way to the attic, laughing about their parent's antics. even at the age of 34, their parents were still children at heart, having the littlest of fights, mainly revolving on sirius' food-stealing habits and leela's terrible sailor mouth. yet despite all that, sirius and leela just clicked; they were simply meant to be. it was as the two said: they were cradle to grave.

the kids arrive at the latch of the ladder, alya now sliding off atlas' back, settling herself back on the ground. altair, being the tallest, reaches up to the latch with the hook.

"allie, just asking, how does it feel to be tall?" asks alya, looking up at her brother.

"fewer neck cramps for sure aves," altair remarks, a glint of a smirk plastered on his face, but still looking up at the loft.

"very funny, well, i can play hide and seek and never get caught." alya bites back, her arms crossed across her chest and brows furrowed.

"i remember when you got stuck in the oven when you were younger. thank merlin dad didn't turn the oven on without checking!" exclaims atlas, laughing lightly at the memory of his sister stuck in the oven.

"it's not funny!" exclaims alya, punching atlas quite hard on his arms, receiving a yelp of pain from him, "i swear i have nightmares about the oven. imagine papa looking manically at the oven. that's what i see."

"well, vinnie, you shouldn't have hidden there in the first place."

"i was five! how was i supposed to know we weren't supposed to hide in ovens!"

"uhm, hansel and gretel?" altair says, now unfolding the ladder to the loft.

"what's that?" asks alya

"i'll give you the book when we go to my room."

"don't trust people who give you free sweets."

"i only trust moonpie and blaisey for sweets."

"just a word of warning, don't accept anything that fred or georgie may give you," warns altair.

"noted."

the loft ladder was now unfolded and in front of the three siblings.

"go up and go get the book. we'll wait down here," states altair.

"mum said it's on the top of some set of shelves. can you help me please?" asks alya to her brothers.

"do we have to? i have a crazy migraine right now," asks atlas, his fingers massaging his temples.

"yes, we will. it's not my fault you smoked that much weed." chimes altair

"well, i needed to remove some stress, and i happened to have some weed with me"

"atlas, smoking weed's going to fuck up your lungs man,"

"altair, you only live once, so fuck all that shit bro."

"avie, back me up here-" altair starts, before looking down, only to realise that alya wasn't there, "where did she go?"

"hey!" shouts a voice from the loft, the boys look up to see alya look down at the open loft, which was now lit, "can you lot hurry up and help me get the bloody book, so mum won't have to yell again."

"how did you get up there so fast?" exclaims atlas.

"my legs. duh."

"no shit sherlock," mutters altair.

"are you both going to stay there or come up and help me? i need to train after packing."

"coming vin."

the two brother's quickly make their way up the loft, climbing up the stairs, although, atlas having a quick wardrobe malfunction where his silk robe got caught on one of the screws. thankfully, nothing too bad happened, except atlas 'mourning for the loss of his robe', when in actual fact, just a small part of the threads of the robes was knotted together.

"you know, now i realise how small people look like to you guys.". alya smiles cheekily as she looks at her brothers.

"too bad you're back to being a midget eh?" adds atlas.

"too bad you're back to being a bitch. oh wait, you were always one." fires alya.

"both of you zip it. find the bloody shelves mum was talking about and let's go." it was clear to say altair got much of his personality, especially his sternness from.

"yes mum" "aye aye mama hen"

the three young blacks look across the loft, looking for some random shelves full of books. in all fairness, it was bound to take some time, considering that the loft on its own was pretty large; roughly spanning the size of one of the master bedrooms in the manor. the actual loft was airy and clean, walls painted in fresh white, the old spotlights on the ceiling were emitting some sort of yellow, warm hue. masses and masses of boxes were surrounding the children, but it was an organised mess. things like leela and sirius' old school stuff, regulus' old work folders, the kids old clothes they used when they were younger were all there.

"hey! i think i've found it!"

alya and atlas turn around from their positions and see their brother's head pop out from the top of a box, beckoning them to come over. alya walks over to altair, whereas atlas remained at his spot, his gaze fixated on something.

"isn't this the book you wanted?". he hands alya over the book, which, as her mum said, was on the top shelf of a white bookcase. she opens the book over to the front page.

"yeah, it is. thank you, allie!"

"come on. let's go now," altair says, guiding his sister out of the loft, to the open latch below, "atlas, come on. we've found her book now."

atlas still stood still.

"attie? are you gawking at one of papa's old playboy magazines or something?" asked alya, also looking at her brother's frozen stance.

the two siblings look at each other, then proceeding to walk over to atlas. altair slightly nudges his shoulders, which seemed to have snapped atlas out of his reverie.

"you alright there mate?" asks altair, draping his arms over his shoulders.

"is it me, or is that an actual treasure chest over there?". he points to a wooden chest in front of him. the three kneel down to the chest so that it was now eye level to them.

it was quite big. made of thick, brown wooden panels and lined with gold coloured metal, the wood was engraved in a beautiful pattern, consisting of elephants and lotus flowers. it had a large gold padlock at the front, sealing whatever contents were inside. alya traces her fingers around it, tracing over what appeared to be initialled. nva.

"let's open it, shall we?" atlas announces, standing up looking around, "there's a hammer there. let's use that."

"no, you idiot. it's locked for a reason. plus, we can't open what's not ours."  altair reasons, "plus if we use a hammer, mum and dad will know we opened it."

"then let's use my bobby pin," alya replies, taking out a bobby pin from her hair. her fringe falls onto her face.

"we can't do that avie! it's not ours."

"allie, my inner alya is telling me to open it. when is my inner alya ever wrong?" she askes both of her brothers.

"well, for starters, last year, you got petrified by a bloody basilisk," adds altair.

"who actually figured out it was a basilisk in the first place?" she asks, "me and mia did."

"but you still got petrified love."

"i wasn't quick enough to close my eyes with the mirror. but, other than that, when has my inner alya ever gone wrong?"

"the point is she never has been wrong. come on, let's open it." adds atlas. he just wanted to see what was inside too. the fact that it was locked just made him more curious.

"fine. but if mum finds out-"

"i'll take the blame happily." alya finishes, "now, can i open this?"

"hurry up, you cow." atlas blurts. alya gives him a death stare and goes to push him back.

alya opens up one of her bobby pins, using her teeth to remove the rubber things at the end. she opens it and inserts a small portion of it in the lock before pulling it down and taking it back out, then looping it around her fingers to make a handle of some sort. she hands atlas another bobby pin.

"can you bend this in half for me please? like a right angle."

he then bends it in half for her and gives it to her. she then puts the right-angled bobby pin on the bottom of the look and puts the bobby pin with the handle on the top, fiddling it up and down. after a while, she turns the bobby pins, open the lock.

"see," she says taking the padlock off the chest, "easy as pie."

"where did you learn that from?" asks altair, looking at his sister bewildered.

"erm, got bored one day."

"teach me how you did that yeah?" atlas asks his sister. she nods in response.

atlas goes to open the chest -which wasn't as easy as it sounded, considering the lid was quite heavy.

the inside was a sight to see. there were many things: ranging from kindjals to jewellery to clothes. it was clear there was an extension charm put on the chest. altair, being the swordsman out of the three, picked up the twin kindjals. he loved sword fighting, much like his mother, who, from a young age, had taught it to him. atlas, however, picked up what looked like paintbrushes and a small painted canvas. he was the more creative one out of all three siblings. in his free time, he would paint the walls of the house for fun. his favourite wall (more like the ceiling) was definitely the library, where he painted constellations and planets one summer.  alya, on the other hand, takes out some music sheets she spotted in the corner of the chest. it was a well-known fact that besides quidditch, alya truly adored music. her uncle reggie taught her much of what he knew and it became their little thing. she would always carry around a little notebook, solely to write down little tunes her mind composes.

atlas takes his attention off the brushes and looks into the chest to see a book. he picks it up and sees a stage engraving on the back of the book.

"yo, look at this."

the corner he was pointing at looked like some sort of crest, but it wasn't a crest at the same time. it had two elephants whose trunks were overlapping each other with a snake intertwined in the middle. perched on top of the snake, was a bird. the whole sight enveloped with a ribbon, with some sort of flower dotted here and there. there was an inscription on the bottom of it, in some foreign language, one that none of the three could understand, which was weird since between the three kids, they were fluent in 5 and a half languages. out of nowhere, three more lines emboss the leather book.

a.e.b

a.l.b

a.v.b

"what is this thing?" asks atlas, for all three of them.

"is it me, or did our initials just pop up on that book?" asks altair.

alya sneezes in her place.

"well, whatever the fuck this book is, it's dusty as fuck." she says, before going into a sneezing fit again, "why don't you open it?"

"you don't read old, dusty books that are locked away in some chest," exclaims altair, remembering the many muggle movies he's watched.

"well, it's just a book. it won't hurt anyo- ow!" atlas bellows, tightly holding his head. he turns around only to see his sister smiling at him sheepishly.

"what? you said books never hurt anyone. i just wanted to prove you wrong!"

"why you little-"

"can't the two of you go one day? one day without biting at each other's necks!" exclaims altair, aggressively holding both his siblings' ears, "aves, apologise to atlas and atlas, apologise to aves. now."

"sorry attie. i won't throw a book at your head to disprove your point."

"sorry vinnie, i won't give you a chance to disprove my point ever again."

altair sighs in disapproval. "shite apologies, but that'll do for now."

"what are we going to do about this bloody book?" asks atlas, yet again attempting to open it. it was no use though, it was closed shut.

"is there like a keyhole or something?" asks alya, her bobby pin in her hands yet again.

"doesn't look like it, no." says altair, looking at the entire book, "out of curiosity, what's you inner alya telling you to do?"

alya  raises her eyebrow and crosses her arms together, "i thought my inner alya was wrong?"

"what's the bloody thing telling you sis?" he says, narrowing his eyes at her.

"well," she twirls her fingers around the locket around her necklace, looking at the book which was currently in atlas' hands. she looks down to her locket and then to each of her brother's dog tags, "for some reason it's telling me it's something to do with our necklaces weirdly."

"as in this?" atlas says, taking out the dog tag, which was hidden under his robe.

"yeah...". her voice fades away, "i might be wrong but that's what it's telling me."

"we've had these for as long as i can remember and mum's always told us to keep them on," altair adds.

"so has dad and uncle reggie."

"i don't see the link between the necklaces and the book," replies alya, looking back and forth at the necklaces on their necks and the book, "listen, my inner alya might be wrong this time, but let's still take the book."

"it's literally just a bloody book," states atlas, with a deadpanned expression.

"attie, look," she says pointing to the book and the chest, "they both say nva, and i bet you they're someone's initials. and plus, why would our initials pop out of nowhere? whoever it is, it belongs to them."

"how are we supposed to take it then?" asks altair.

"we can put it in your room for the time being and i can ask dray if he recognises the emblem on the back. uncle lulu made him memorise pureblood history so it won't be a problem." alya replies to her brothers. she remembered the time where her aunt cissy and draco stayed over this summer, as lucius (or as she calls him, uncle lulu) went on a business trip.

"sounds good to me," atlas adds.

"in the meantime, let's close the chest and go down. one of you hide it and i'll take it on the 1st."

the three siblings all agree to the plan as they attempt to tidy up the pieces they took out. the boys close the chest and then lock it again with the padlock.

"don't forget your history of magic book!" altair adds, "atlas, hide this in your robe."

"no, i won't mum," alya replies, taking the book off the floor and into her arms.

"well, let's make a move then. i'm feeling a bit too breezy right now." atlas remarks, retying his robe together, with the book now tucked in securely.

they make their way down the ladder of the loft, ensuring that all was in its place before leaving. it was safe to say it seemed as though the kids barely went to the loft. atlas leaves for his room, the book still hidden amongst robes, also taking the opportunity to quickly get changed, as his two siblings (more like altair) folds the latch.

"allie, how do we even open that bloody book?" alya whispers to her brother, tightly holding onto her history of magic book.

"i don't know avie. let's ask draco as you suggested. maybe even ask zabini, whilst you're at it." altair replies, though muttering the last bit. alya and blaise were a bit too close for his liking, but. she always seemed to brush it off.

"his name is blaise, allie, blaise." alya emphasises.

"it's all the same wish wash."

"you like luca though."

"who doesn't love luca. he's luca for fucks sake!"

"eh. you're not wrong. he sent me a letter and some chocolate from his holidays." alya states, recalling the poor owl who was struggling to carry the weight of carrying a large basket, filled to the rim with confectionery.

"see, luca is too cool."

"i suppose he is." she smiles thinking about luca.

"let me go and see what atlas is doing with the book and all. i'll help him out with his packing whilst i'm at it." altair tells alya, "see you at lunch?"

"until then allie."

alya parts ways with altair, walking down the steps to the corridor where her room was located. she couldn't help but wonder why the book wasn't opening, but also what the link between the necklaces and the book was in the first place. was it something in the necklaces? it couldn't;t be. the dog tags couldn't open and hers has a picture of her and her brothers on one side, and the whole family on the other.

"alya! where were you?" leela exclaims from alya's door. she was leaning against the doorframe, her head tilted at her daughter. she didn't realise she was even at her room; she simply let her thoughts lead her astray.

"oh! nothing mum. i went to get attie and allie from their rooms. attie went for a nap, so me and allie went to wake him up." alya replies to her mum, a smile plastered on her face.

"you got the book right?"

alya hands the book to her, "here you go, mum."

the two enter alya's room again, making their way over to the bed finishing up on her packing. she only had to put away one book and the rest she only had to pack the day before.

the mother and daughter duo chatted away but soon stopped after hearing the loud stomping of sirius' who seemed to be running up the stairs.

"guys, you won't believe it.  prongslet inflated his aunt!"

© winnie