I know that I've been sleeping • { a r i c k }

APRIL

Freya rushed to the cafe, her blonde ponytail bouncing behind her as she dodged passing strangers. It was moments like this when she wished she owned a watch. There was probably a spell that would help her tell the time, she thought. If that was the case, though, she certainly didn't know what it was. All she knew was that she was definitely late. The girl's honey brown eyes scanned the cafe as she searched for her youngest older brother. Catching sight of him, Freya waved, then entered the place.

"Ahhh, I'm sorry I'm late," she gushed, pulling him in for a quick hug before dumping her bag and her jacket on the spare seat at their table and taking her own. Freya wiped at the thin sheen of sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. "I just got out of the shower and I dunno, a pipe burst or something and suddenly everything was flooded and I don't know the first thing about plumbing magic or home repairs and... yeah," she breathed the last word sheepishly. Freya had ended up soaking wet and sobbing on the bathroom floor, wand in hand, trying to vanish the water as quickly as it was spewing from the pipe but it had all been a disaster until she'd gotten a hold of an emergency home repairs wizard to take care of it for her. Flustered, Freya looked at the laminated menu in front of her. She didn't know why she was looking; she already knew what she was going to get.

"But how are you?" she asked, leaning forward to whack his arm with the menu. The blonde grinned at her brother, relaxing a bit now that she was here and confirmed that he didn't hate her for her tardiness. "Tell me about Paris and your school and everything," she said. Freya leaned one elbow on the table, resting her cheek in her palm. "Any girls I should know about?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.


@Arick Trickett

“Ugh, I’ve been waiting for ages,” he moaned and rolled his eyes. In truth, he had only been several minutes ahead of his sister, but he was so used to being the tardy sibling, he was going to enjoy his momentary superiority. Bursting into a grin, he accepted her hug before taking the seat opposite to her.

While listening to the story of Freya’s home repair woes, Arick shook his head. “How do you not know how to repair your pipes? That is basic plumbing magic that everyone should be able to do.” Of course, he too did not know the first thing about plumbing magic, but he figured that didn’t really take away from his point. Everyone should know how to repair their pipes. He wondered if it reflected badly on him as a brother to have never taught Freya how to do, what he assumed, was basic home repairs.

“I’m doing pretty good,” he responded flatly. That felt like the appropriate answer. It had been approximately two years since he had begun his training at the academy, and while it mostly had been a wonderful two years, at times it was gruelling. Contrary to what he believed when he first arrived in Paris, it turned out that there were plenty of wizards who were as good, if not better than him, at duelling? It would be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed by his lack of instantaneous fame. That said, Arick had recently seen some success in the semi-pro duelling circuits around Western Europe, so he was definitely showing improvement. “I have a competition coming up soon. In Orléans. You should come!”

“Any girls? Well, I AM pretty popular with the ladies,” he joked. “But I’m not really seeing anyone seriously at the moment.” Between the academy, practice, and competitions, Arick barely had time for socialising, and when he did, he was usually doing it in England with his family. Given that he probably wasn’t leaving France any time soon, it was probably about time he started putting his roots down and making some friends.

Arick turned the conversation on Freya. “What about you? How’s everything with work? Still enjoying yourself?”

"Pretty good?" she repeated, ignoring the admonishments and focusing on his lacklustre response instead. The blonde shifted, pulling her seat a little closer to the table so she could lean her forearms on it comfortably. "Just give me the dates," She said, smiling, "I'll come! I'll bring Finn or Ari or something." Finn was so busy these days that he probably wouldn't be able to come. Ari spoke French, though. That could be fun. "Oh yeah," she said, nodding dramatically, as if asking about girls had been a stupid question. Of course, she thought, playing along. She was admittedly a little disappointed when he mentioned not seeing anyone seriously. Maybe she just wanted to hear stories of romance from her friends and family so she could live vicariously through them.

"Yeah, work is good," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she nodded along. "I mean, it's not that interesting, but the hours are good and the pay is fine. And I get to hang out with Erika at least every week, so that's pretty neat," she said. Freya had gotten the job through their cousin despite not having the appropriate NEWTs for the position. Freya figured that she'd been given a little leeway considering the way her seventh year had gone. That plus the whole nepotism thing, of course. "No boyfriend," Freya said with a sigh, answering the question he was probably wondering about and purposefully not bringing up. "Not a lot of dating opportunities at work, you know," she joked, smirking a bit. "I've been mostly hanging out with friends, going to parties, going for coffees, you know. The usual." Lots of socialising for Freya Trickett.

"Have you seen any of the little ones recently? I can't believe Janne is at Hogwarts now - almost finished with her first year. Isn't that just crazy? I remember when you left for school and Janne wasn't even born yet." The blonde glanced across the room, as if one of their younger cousins could walk in at any moment. Honestly, it was part of why she'd picked Hogsmeade for the visit; the fact that there were opportunities to see the others made her smile.

He was pleased with her enthusiasm. “Well, I’m glad to hear it!” Arick exclaimed. “I would miss my adoring fans. Maybe I should whip up some shirts with my name on it for you.” It was mostly a joke.

“It’s a shame that work isn’t getting any more interesting.” When Arick had first heard about Freya’s job, he was a little jealous. He had assumed that it was a life of excitement, breaking into tombs and escaping intricate traps; from what Freya had described it was a lot more paperwork and a lot less pizzazz. Not really up his alley. He wondered how long Freya would end up working there.

It saddened him to think that his sister was feeling lonely without a boyfriend, but he couldn’t afford to drop the years-long running bravado act on the subject. “Well, before you DO get a boyfriend,” Arick smirked, cocking an eyebrow. “You tell him that he has to speak to me first.” He wasn’t really sure what he would do if Freya were to actually bring a boy to him for appraisal. If Arick really didn’t like him, maybe he would challenge the suitor to a duel. Pretty devastating if I lost, though, he thought to himself. “But I’m glad you are spending time with your friends.  I wouldn’t want you to get lonely without me,” he said while nudging her across the table. It struck him that they might both be in a similar place emotionally regarding the lack of a fulfilling social life and it made him appreciate Freya more for pressuring him to come back for a visit.

“Honestly, I haven’t really spent much time with anyone back here in a while,” Arick responded. “I miss everyone a lot. I know it’s not exactly a huge deal to get back and forth between here and Paris, but it’s made a difference. I really need to make more of an effort to see you all.” He said something like that every time he made a trip home, but he was confident he meant it this time.

"You're gonna need a lot of shirts," Freya commented with a serious nod. She couldn't imagine what her siblings would say if she was the only one that got a shirt. Freya knew by now that she held a special place in her particular branch of the tree as the baby of the bunch, but that didn't mean she got too much special treatment. She waved a hand dismissively when he commented on her work. "It's fine," she said. The girl shrugged, she knew just how lucky she was to get this job, to have a job where she only worked four days a week and still made rent. "It's not even that boring really, and sometimes I get to go on field trips and they're always exciting." She pushed her glasses up her nose a little, leaning in. "One time I almost electrocuted myself with this enchanted sword thing Erika had me hold for her."

Pleased, Freya sat up straight again. "Oh yeah," she said, rolling her eyes into another dimension, "I'll make sure to get your permission before anything happens." Now that she was older, her brothers had laid off a little. Sometimes, however, they seemed to lose the memo that she was nineteen now, an adult, totally capable of making her own choices. A part of her wanted to tell him that she wasn't the totally innocent little kid anymore, but Arick would probably have a heart attack if she brought up her sex life without warning.

"You should," Freya said, nodding enthusiastically, "you really should. Mum misses you and you're not nearly far enough away for distance to be an excuse. Even the muggle train only takes a couple of hours from Paris to here." The blonde stopped talking as someone came to their table to take their orders. "I'll have a hot chocolate, thanks," Freya said, beaming at the waiter before flicking her eyes to her brother as he gave his order too. "There are like a hundred birthdays you could come to."