[gravesend] saturday sun | jr

April 2004

It had been months since Rheya had seen her baby bro, and she had a whole bag of trinkets for him. Every time she went somewhere, she managed to find some little gift for each of her siblings (well, the younger ones anyway, Kaelyn had no use for nonsense.) For Nola, it was usually obscure pop records or stuffed animals, and for JR, it was almost always something Quidditch-related. This time, she’d scored a tin full of vintage patches and stickers from Professional Quidditch teams at a rummage sale. It might have been Senna that found it; actually, Rheya never remembered. She recognized the teams, but half of them had outdated logos she thought JR would find neat. The stickers were faded, but that added to their charm. And of course there were candies too, but those were from this century; she’d picked them up at Honeydukes on the way to Gravesend.

It was Spring Break, and she was happy about it. Sometimes spending time with family made her anxious or exhausted, but it was mostly just their eldest sister and father. Sometimes Rheya had a hard time deciding which was bigger: Kaelyn’s ego or Wyatt Sr. 's muscles. And she could see little JR going in that direction, all bravado and sportsmanship, but when it came to her little brother, Rheya found his attitude endearing in some cute “good for him” kind of way. If she had had one percent of his confidence when she was twelve, things might have been a hell of a lot different for her in Hogwarts. And Rheya knew he had a whole group of friends, he and Nola both did, and that was such a comfort. It was hard not to worry about them. They missed the war, but it wasn’t as if Hogwarts wasn’t still a meat grinder, and she prayed they got out unscathed.

Turning the knob and walking back into her childhood home, Rheya’s torn-up Chuck’s clashed with the polished marble floor exactly as much as she expected them to. It took all three seconds to hear screaming from upstairs, and Rheya breathed a sigh of relief as the wave of nostalgia washed over her. Some things never changed. Siblings fought, and they made up. She’d had her fair share of bouts with each of them, even the little one, but none of it held for long. Rheya climbed the stairs, looking for JR first when she probably should have told her mum, Niobee, she was here, and knocked on the half-open door to his room. Little quidditch posters flew around the wooden door front, giving her dirty looks for interrupting the heated match between an 8x10 of Leroy Barlow of the Appleby Arrows, and Tau Idowu, the Griffins keeper. Rheya rolled her eyes, knocking again and pushing the door open softly.

“Brought you something….” She began, smiling at the pristinely organized bedroom. Bed made, dresser drawers all the way closed, and not a single item thrown on the floor. She imagined Magnolia’s room was a warzone, and if their mum had not turned Rheya’s old bedroom into a craft room, it would be the same; JR had always been neat. She held up the bag, the Honeydukes label glinting in gold on the front, the tin of Quidditch stuff inside, and looked around. “Thought mum said your girlfriend was coming for lunch?” Rheya had smiled when she’d read the letter. The sentence asking how Rheya had been, and inviting her for lunch, had been all of six words long. The briefing about JR and the young miss named Tomie, who Niobee assumed was his girlfriend, had been two entire paragraphs.

@Wyatt Hawkins Jr

JR sighed as he flipped through a book of strategies Wyatt Sr. had given him the moment he had gotten off the Hogwarts Express. To 'make up for his abysmal performance' during the second game, his father had said and JR couldn't really disagree. But he was also finding it difficult to study these plays when they seemed so far removed from the systems they actually used on the Slytherin team. They weren't a pro team and yet his father expected him to play like a pro? He rubbed at his forehead, shifting in his chair as he sat at his desk beside his bed in his childhood room.

For that reason, he was actually glad for the interruption even though normally he hated anyone coming in to his room. Rheya peering around the door was even more surprising. At least it wasn't Nola coming in to bug him again. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he turned in his chair and then got up as he noticed the items in her hands, a small smile turning up the corners of his lips as he came closer.

Cracking open the tin and expecting some weird crystals in another gift from her weird blonde friend, JR's eyes widened in surprise. "Woah, no way! Is this-- this is a Nordiques patch. Y'know the team that relocated to Tutshill after--nevermind," he said with a roll of his eyes as he caught her blank look. "Old team, these cool," he said condescendingly, slowly enunciating his words as if he were speaking to a cavewoman and then gave her an exaggerated thumbs up before smirking at his own joke.

He dumped the tin out on the bed, frowning as little crumbs of something (?) fell out on his his clean comforter, but the thrill of the vintage stickers and patches distracted him enough (for the moment). He flipped them over, setting the bag of candies next to him, as he sorted through them, stilling only slightly when he heard the word 'girlfriend' as he kept his eyes averted. "Who?" he tried to ask casually, feigning innocence and immediately blaming his mum for spilling the beans. There was a reason he didn't want Rhey and Nola to find out - especially Nola - and he was not mentally prepared for a week full of teasing about it.

 Rheya smiled when JR asked what she was doing, and in the JR-like way, he had asked. If she were five years younger, maybe it would have irritated her, but the age difference cleared up a lot of sibling rivalry she expected. “I’m here for lunch, fool,” she answered, mocking his attitude and then replacing the look on her face with a playful smile. Rheya entered the room and let the door half close behind her, not caring one way or another. JR was smiling by the time she’d approached, and Rheya noted his eyes on the box in her hand. Bringing him gifts was their thing, and Rheya was glad for it. They were so many years apart, and so very, very different, that she feared they might not have reasons to interact otherwise. And that would have been a shame.

JR quickly opened the little tin, and Rheya’s eyes never left him as he inspected each of the patches inside. He spoke like she knew what he was talking about as if anyone was as good at obtuse Quidditch trivia as he was, and Rheya shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, yeah, of course, Nordiques, everyone knows the Nordiques….” He rolled his eyes, and she laughed. And then laughed louder at his caveman impression and took a seat on the chair by his desk. She pulled her legs up and crossed them before setting her hands in her lap. “Good to know,”

Bringing up Tomie, Rheya watched JR’s reaction closely. The little Slytherin was way too good at pretending he wasn’t interested, and he nearly fooled her, but Rheya knew better. Even if they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, Tomie must have been significant if JR had risked telling their mother about her, and their mother had told Rheya about her. He asked 'who' as if he didn’t know, and it was Rheya’s turn to roll her eyes. The witch spun a little in his desk chair and looked for something to toss at him, “Tomie, that’s who,” she said as she threw a stuffed quaffle his way and laughed again. “You gonna tell me about her or what?”

"Oh, the free food, of course," he answered with the typical sibling sarcasm that one could expect around here. Him and Nola had a really good rhythm on it. Rhey only missed out because she wasn't living her anymore. Too bad for her because he was getting much better at one lined zingers.

Her reaction to the Nordiques what was he expected and there was something in it that made him smile, like a real smile. Sometimes he felt so different from Rhey, almost like she wasn't his sister the way that close proximity and arguing matches with Nola made her his, but he was glad that the sound of her laughter and her reaction felt so familiar.

That all faded rather quickly as she sat at his desk and he felt a little prickly at her inviting herself into his space so easily. He usually hated when people were in his room, even more sensitive about it now that nine months out of the year he was forced to room with other boys who clearly didn't have his habit of neatness. If he found one more sock belonging to someone else in his area, he was going to lose it.

"Don't do that," JR complained as she spun in his chair and touched his stuff, something that would have gotten Nola evicted immediately, but instead he was catching the stuffed quaffle and leaning against the footboard of his bed as he stared down and squished the plushie in his hands. "Mom told you, didn't she," he grumbled with a pout. Seriously, he was never telling her anything ever again. But.. who was he going to ask what a good birthday gift for his girlfriend was. Ugh.

"You better not tell Nola," he said, glancing up at her suddenly as the thought occurred to him. His voice was hard, demanding, but he was trying to hold off on her finding out for as long as possible. He glanced at the door, hoping she wasn't going to come bursting in any minute.

"Oh, the free food, of course," Jr. said, and Rheya was quick to respond. "Says the tween who's never paid for anything in his life," Rhey shot back at her baby brother and laughed. If there was anyone who'd inherited their father's sarcasm, it was Jr., though, Rheya supposed, that shouldn't have surprised anyone. Wyatt Hawkins, Jr. had inherited a lot of things from their father. She moved to sit at his desk, and the banter continued as he opened up the gift she'd brought him.

While Rheya sometimes worried that they might have thought otherwise, the witch loved her family dearly. She just… couldn't stand to live with them anymore. It was more than just being in her twenties and having a bit of wanderlust; the Hawkins family home had become too restrictive, too controlled, for her liking. And Rheya was never suited for a life of schedules and plans.

"Do what?" Rheya asked because she honestly didn't think she'd done anything wrong. Rheya wasn't like Jr. or their parents; she didn't like planning things, organizing, or having her stuff. Everything at the house she lived in with Senna was shared. And before that, they'd lived in France with a ton of witches and wizards where there was nearly no such thing as privacy or personal space. And Rheya had been okay with that too.

"Yeah, she did," the witch answered as she began to drum on her knees. "Should she not have?" Rheya imagined she knew the answer based on his body language, but she wanted him to see that she didn't know that before she got here. She needed Jr. to understand that she had not meant to make fun of him, at least not in the typical way they made fun of each other, the endearing way. "I won't," Rheya meant it when she told him, and her eyes followed Jr.'s to the door, expecting to see their sister any moment. "She sounds cute, though," She added, tilting her head to the side a little and offering him a small smile, hoping they could meet in the middle at least.

Rhey laughed at him and the sound needled him, but a smirk turned up the corners of his lips a second later. He had missed Rheya. They had somehow gotten along better than he and Nola did even though they were so far apart in age, or maybe because of it. Whatever it was, he didn't mind much her being in his space. Just this once, though.

"Stop touching everything," he added a few seconds later. Sure, he didn't mind her being in here but did she really have to touch everything. It was bad enough being at Hogwarts where he had to share a room with four other boys, almost none of them as neat as he'd like, but he could already see her twirling on his chair and inadvertently bumping his desk was making his neat stack of quidditch cards askew. He couldn't resist stepping over to straighten them.

The Slytherin sighed at her confirmation. Of course, their mum had spilled the beans. He was surprised his father hadn't said anything to him about it yet. Then again, he had only been home for the night. He couldn't help but worry and wonder what his father would say, what his father would think of Tomie. Then again, she was a stellar quidditch player so he probably would but there was still part of him that didn't want to find out. At least he didn't have to worry about Rheya telling Nola, although he was pretty sure that wouldn't last long.

"Cute?" he repeated with a scoff and a roll of his eyes. As if that's why he had decided to date her. "She's a wicked quidditch player and really competitive, like me," he bragged instead, but then he couldn't stop thinking about that day where it had been raining out on the pitch and they had been on their brooms and dived down. How Tomie had been quick and agile even in the rain and how droplets had stuck to her eyelashes. JR felt his cheeks heat and he avoided Rheya's gaze. "Are we getting food or what?" he suggested instead, wanting to venture off the topic of his girlfriend.

Rheya wrinkled her nose at JR but respected his wishes and kept her fidgeting hands to herself, at least for now. Long thing fingers tapped a silent rhythm on the tops of her bare knees, and she did her best not to spin in the chair too much as they continued the conversation. Rheya found it hard to believe that little-miss-gossip-queen Magnolia Lane didn’t know about her baby brother’s relationship yet, but there was the tiniest twinge of some feeling she didn’t like when Rheya realized that she had found out first. The older witch bit back the emotion, reminding herself that she didn’t have to compete with either of her sisters anymore, and refocused on JR.

Wicked quidditch player, check, competitive, check, Rheya smiled at how he described her and couldn’t help but imagine the adorable little brown-skinned badass that had captured her brother’s attention. “Well, I suppose we could….” She teased him again but stood up from the table. “Unless you’d like to tell me more about the young miss?” Rheya knew when it was time to move on, not that JR had been at all subtle about it.

“Fine, whatever, tell me about the rest of your year, then?” She said with a laugh and moved toward the door of his room. Somehow JR had grown what felt like ten inches, figured out how to brush out his hair, and become even more stubborn than the last time she’d seen him, and that made Rheya nostalgic. She remembered the little kid who had more opinions than experience, and she felt like she could see him catching up in the experience department now.

JR rolled his eyes, looking up at his ceiling, and sighed heavily, but at least she was moving. Up and away from his desk. He caught the chair with his left hand as it spun away from her and pushed it neatly back into place before he shook his head. "Nope, nothing else to say. You know all you need to know," he said firmly. Then he straightened the cards one last time before he shooed her out of his room and closed the door succinctly.

The rest of his year was pretty easy to talk about, especially with Rheya. Why, he didn't know, but as they took the stairs down to the main floor, JR told her about the quidditch team and tryouts and practices and his one great game (not mentioning a word about his one terrible game) and he was just in the middle of talking about the moon calves and how he deftly escaped a bite from one of the babies when their mum stopped them. Niobee had glanced up from the end of the kitchen table where she liked to work sometimes, her glasses on the end of her nose, surrounded by her parchment and notebooks. "What are you two up to?" she asked as JR rounded the island and hopped up to sit on the counter, his legs dangling.

"Rheya said she was hungry," he answered immediately before he grinned and bit into an apple he snagged out of the bowl. He was hungry too and the apple was just a snack, but he was curious what his mum would make for her/them.

Rheya rolled her eyes at Jr and his wealth of information, but she kept smiling. It was good to see her baby brother, even if he was being his stubborn baby self. She'd have to remember that he wasn't a little kid anymore. That he was about to be a third year, and all the things he'd go through. She let go of a silent breath she'd been holding, praying on it that he wouldn't have to go through anything too harrowing.

She hoped for nothing worse than a heart break over witches and quidditch, and spats with his mates that were resolved quickly. Nothing like what she'd been through. Jr was blessed to have missed the worst of it, but she expected he didn't understand precisely how much. And how could he? He had been a child, and their parents were pureblooded. As much as she wanted him to know what the world was really like, some part of her still clung to the idea of protecting her baby brother.

Conversations like that could wait. If he'd even have listened anyway.

Rheya headed first out of his bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. The house felt the same, but different, and she caught herself watching for the changes. Wondering if it was quiet now that Kaelyn and her were gone, and Magnolia and JR spent most of their time away at Hogwarts. She wondered if their parents were pleased.

Wondering ran in the family, it seemed, and almost as soon as they hit the kitchen Niobee was upon them. "Oi!" She half shouted at her brother, picking up a grape from the bowl and throwing it at him. Niobee scanned them, giving Rheya the last glance and asking if that meant she wasn't starving. "well, no, I am." She smiled, popping another grape into her mouth and laughing.

"Where is dad?" she asked, stilling chewing on the grape and giving Jr a mock-frown. Rheya considered bringing up Tomie again, this time in front of their mum, but she was too kind for all that.

JR smiled innocently at Rheya before she launched her attack, but with his quick reflexes, he was able to snatch the grape out of the air. He smirked as he popped it into his mouth and gave her a shake of his head. "You'd be a terrible chaser," he told her before he snagged a grape of his own and threw it at her, aiming for her giant forehead. That'd show her.

Niobee got up from the table, giving them both a look for throwing food in the kitchen, but went to see what she had that she could rustle together. JR probably should've rethought his approach because his mum was hardly better than he was at cooking. Wyatt Sr did most of the cooking or the house elf, but she searched and found some chicken salad in the icebox, she held it up and JR nodded. "On croissants?" he said, mimicking his mother's French accent with a smirk.

Turning to Rheya, he popped another grape in his mouth as his mum started putting together the sandwiches. "At another Alumni appearance. For some charity on how every kid deserves a broom or something?" JR explained with a glance at his mum who confirmed it. "He'll be gone most of the day, yeah?" he askd as an afterthought, trying to make his voice sound casual. He didn't dare be hopeful considering how the rest of this week had gone, but he would really love one night off from having to do drills in the backyard and perhaps it was naive to hope that his father might be too tired after the event to do so, but he still hoped.

Rheya had never been good at Quidditch, or sports, and not even her drummer coordination could stop the grape JR had launched at her head. It hit her square and made two plunking sounds, one as it hit her head, and the second as it dropped onto the pristine counter and rolled away from her. "Alright, chill, man," she told him with a smile, but eyes that said she was done. Rheya was as playful as the next Hawkins, but she didn't care for flying fruits. Especially not when their mum gave them an eyeful, and Rheya knew she'd be the one to blame if Wyatt Sr. heard about it later.

JR's rendition of their mother's French accent had her back feeling cheerful, though, and Rheya sat up a little straighter on the stool. "Certainly not on a baguette; we are not monsters," Another look, and Rheya chuckled, and they were back on the top of their father.

"Every kid does deserves a broom..." Rheya answered Jr, but she imagined his tone had nothing to do with the charity and everything to do with their father. She didn't know everything, but she'd grown up in this house years before JR, and she knew enough. Rheya had watched the way Wyatt Sr. pressured Kaelyn into Quidditch, and she imagined it was even worse for the golden baby boy. The apple of their father's eye.

"If that's the case, can I steal him for a while? Maybe head into the city?" Rheya turned to address their mother, popping another innocent grape into her mouth as she hoped she'd give her permission to take JR out for the afternoon.