Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet [Hefin]

Meredith turned her face up to the sun and smiled.  Yes.  This is what summer is about.  Raising her hands above her head, Mere stretched luxuriously, enjoying the sunshine.  The weather was wonderful today with a clear blue sky and a lazy breeze carrying the heat of summer.  It was perfect conditions for swimming.  After visiting Uncle Sylvester’s place, she and Hefin had headed down to the beach.  Unfortunately, they were not the only ones to have the idea so the beach was already occupied by a fair few people.  Nonetheless they’d managed to find a nice spot on the soft white sand to lay out their towels.  It wasn’t so bad that there were other people around, Meredith thought as she coyly eyed some of the young men on the beach.  She knew that she herself was not going unnoticed, which was as it should be.  The simple black bikini she was wearing revealed all of her womanly curves.  Mere considered the beach to be a rare environment where modesty didn’t need much consideration.  Besides this was Italy.  A bright pink sarong wrapped her hips in any case, until such time as she was ready to get into the water.  Her long blonde hair was loose and tumbled over her shoulders and down to her waist.  The seventeen-year-old had kept her makeup simple (and waterproofed) as well as minimising her jewellery with just small silver hoops in her ears and her favourite pygmy puff necklace.

Unfortunately her athletic and famous brother wasn’t going unnoticed by the other patrons on the beach either.  “Urgh.”  Meredith made a small sound of disgust as she watched a gaggle of girls stare at Hefin rapturously only to explode into frenzied fits of giggling whenever he looked their way.  To her further disgust, Hefin seemed to be enjoying the effect he was having on them.  Rolling over on her towel so as to turn her back on the gaggle of idiots in the background, she raised her eyebrows at her brother’s smirk.  “Having fun?”  She enquired sarcastically and rolled her eyes.  Meredith couldn’t really blame anyone for being enamoured with Hefin, he was handsome and talented, but she really wished he wouldn’t encourage them.  Especially when he should be paying attention to her.  “So how’s your girlfriend?”  Meredith said, with a particular inflection on the word girlfriend.  “What’s her name?  Christine or Crystal or something?”  She knew full and well that his girlfriend’s name was Christèle but Mere had to find what small ways she could to mock the other witch.  Refusing to call her by the correct name was just a start.  “Are you bored of her yet?”

Much to Meredith’s chagrin it was actually very hard for her to find things to criticise about Christèle.  The Frenchwoman was beautiful, elegant, kind, talented and even came from a good family.  On the occasions that Mere had interacted with her, Christèle had been really lovely (despite the somewhat hostile behaviour Mere tended to display towards her).  There was a possibility, a small possibility, that Meredith liked her.  But this would be a secret she would hold very close.  It was part of Mere’s role as Hefin’s sister to never approve of anyone he was dating.  So she could never and would never admit to liking Christèle.  There was one thing that she would consistently dislike about Hefin’s girlfriend and that was that it meant he had less time for Mere.  She had been pleased that he had come with her for this little trip to Italy because sometimes between Quidditch, the family business and dating, he didn’t always have as much time for her as she would like.  Flicking her hair over her shoulder moodily (but otherwise keeping her face and demeanour pleasant), Meredith waited for her big brother to pay some attention to her and their conversation.

@Hefin Howell

It wasn’t often that he got to spend a lot of time with Meredith, and Hefin especially regretted that. He loved his younger sister deeply, and his hectic schedule after graduation simply made it almost impossible to him to spoil his darling princess as much as he would have wanted. Nonetheless, truth be told, he was also grateful for her presence out of school, and to her managing to capture half of their mother’s attention while she was on vacation. In a way, it felt like a vacation to him as well – one from the horrifying Heather Walker.

That day, much to both their luck, their mother was busy, so the two siblings had paid a visit to their Uncle Sylvester in Neroli. It had been relaxing enough, especially since the tea house had been as charming and soothing as always. Still, as much as he would have enjoyed playing the part of a perfect nephew and help Sylvester around at the tea house that day, Hefin wanted to finally be a proper brother to Meredith. He’d promised her they would go to the beach, to enjoy the warm Italian sun, so she would start working on the perfect tan. Which was very much needed, considering his dearest had come back from Scotland. Now that he was looking back at his own time at Hogwarts, Hefin found it slightly alarming how he’d survived for so long without constantly going to the beach.

They’d arranged their towels on the sand, which had been a nice change. It felt nice to sometimes live like the regular folk and not rent out an entire tent when going to the beach, or even go to their own private beaches. The Italian beach was quite populated, much to his own surprise; Hefin found it himself rather foolish of him, for this was normal. Places being crowded; he’d spent far too much time on their own private beaches, avoiding paparazzi. Still, today that issue posed no danger; he was out and about with his sister, so he doubted that would pose as an especially ‘interesting’ story to any journalist. Running a hand through his hair as he glanced towards the Mediterranean Sea, he felt grateful for a change. Swimming in a sea was always different to swimming in the ocean, and it was a pleasant experience.

He’d taken notice of some girls glancing in his direction, and ever the gentleman, Hefin nodded politely in their direction, and offered them a charming smile – the typical reaction from a famous person, for one would never want to disappoint their fans, despite obviously being during his private time. Still, they had the decency of not approaching them, simply starting to giggle all flustered by his reaction. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one to notice them, but his sister as well. “Heh.” Hefin let out, his gaze immediately turning towards his sister, the other girls now sighing disappointed in the background. “I apologise, princess.” He winked at her, realising that Meredith deserved his full and undivided attention. No fan could ever even think of matching up to his sister.

His sister’s question made Hefin arch an eyebrow as he straightened his back, and arranged his black swimming trunks – when out with Meredith, he enjoyed matching her. “Christèle.” He remarked simply, not emphasising on the fact that his sister, by now, should very well know the name of the witch he spend most of his free time with – his girlfriend. “Bored?” Hefin laughed, nodding his head in disapproval once and he stretched out an arm, to playfully pinch his sister’s right cheek. “I could never get bored of her.” It was true; Christèle was genuinely one of the most interesting witches he’s ever met. While he knew other witches from their social circles who were also very entertaining and close to him – such as @Luciana Bertinelli, his dear friend – there was always a certain element of surprise in his relationship with Christèle. They were so similar, yet so different, he could never get bored from spending time with her.

“Why though?” He ran his hand through Meredith’s hair, arranging a lock behind her ear. “Is my princess jealous?” Hefin teased, letting out a soft laugh. Hefin knew Mere was aware she would always be his number one, nonetheless it was always entertaining to see her react to his girlfriends. Her jealousy was absolutely adorable.

Apparently Christèle was amazing.  How positively annoying…  Mere let Hefin pinch her cheek and tried (and failed) not to smile.  Did her brother actually sound happy?  Turning her face away, the seventeen-year-old tried to sniff haughtily but her heart wasn’t really in the gesture.  A golden lock of hair fell over her face, hopefully hiding the smile she was still fighting to supress.  She was a little disappointed that Hefin hadn’t taken the opportunity to complain about his girlfriend in some way, it would have really cheered her up, but ultimately all she wanted was his happiness.  If Christèle could really make Hefin happy then maybe Mere should try being nicer to her?  Maybe she shouldn’t try to jinx the other witch the next time they met?  Maybe.  But Mere would never let her guard down completely; it was her duty to look out for her brother’s best interests. 

Hefin reached out and touched her hair, incidentally fixing the stray lock that was covering her face.  It was just the kind of affectionate gesture Meredith missed so much when they were apart.  She was so pleased that she seemed to now have his undivided attention that she almost missed what Hef said.  “Jealous?!”  It took some effort but the blonde felt she was successful in keeping the indignation she felt out of her tone.  There was no way that Meredith was jealous.  Sure, she resented Christèle for hogging her brother’s time but jealousy would imply that Mere somehow felt inferior to the other witch or was in some way threatened by her, which was certainly not the case.  “Of that old crone?  Preposterous!”  Meredith pouted but otherwise didn’t protest any further.  She was torn between being moody and just enjoying her brother’s company.  With a sigh, she decided to let it go.  He was lucky that she adored him so much.  Only Hefin could get away with teasing her like that.

It occurred to her then that maybe Hefin hadn’t meant she was jealous of Christele.  Maybe he meant that she was jealous because he’d found someone awesome to be in a relationship with, while Meredith herself was yet to go on a single date?  Lately Mere had really been feeling her lack of a love life.  Sure, she was only seventeen but so many of her peers were dating and had been dating for years.  Sometimes it seemed that one could hardly get around Hogwarts castle without stumbling onto some couple having a snog in the corner.  The other girls in her year would get together and have a good giggle about the boys that they kissed and Meredith was left feeling very left out.  And she really didn’t like being left out.  That was certainly not a good enough reason for Meredith to lower her standards and go around just kissing anyone though.  She was saving that for her Prince Charming.  It was just that Mere was starting to feel a bit impatient about him showing up. 

It didn’t help that Heather was seemingly obsessed with the idea of husband-shopping for Meredith.  She constantly wanted to talk about arranging a marriage with a suitable Pureblood boy, despite Mere’s clear resistance to same.  Meredith loved love.  Romance stories were her favourite and she really enjoyed hearing romantic “how we met” stories from the couples she knew.  An arranged marriage would just thoroughly lack the sense of romance Mere was looking for.  ”Our parents set it up” was not a good story.  Besides, she was hardly about to let her mother pick out an outfit for her these days, let alone a partner for life.  They hadn’t exactly been seeing eye to eye for some time now.

Turning her attention back to her brother, the girl prodded him gently but firmly in the shoulder.  “If Crystal is so amazing, why don’t you just marry her then?”  It wouldn’t be very lady-like of Meredith to stick out her tongue but the gesture was implied in her teasing tone.  She hoped that Hef picked up on that.  Mere wasn’t literally suggesting that he get married.  Shrugging casually, she pretended to examine her fingernails.  “Might get mum off my back”.  It was a simple comment but not one that Mere felt she needed to elaborate on.  Hefin knew all too well how suffocating Heather could be. 

Hefin couldn’t but gasp at the manner in which Meredith addressed Christèle. “Old crone?” He repeated, not believing her words still. Normally he would have been very amused by the appellative, and obviously joined his sister in making such comments. It wasn’t something unusual, especially for the two siblings. Nonetheless, as Christèle was so close to him and she became one of the people he trusted most, Hefin couldn’t but feel slightly offended at the remark. Of course, it was also the fact that Christèle, while older than Meredith, was younger than him. If she was deemed as old by Meredith’s standards, was he already ancient? He shivered at the thought, and glanced in his sister’s direction. “If she’s old, than what am I?” Hef inquired, not masking his slight annoyance. “Are you saying I’m over my expiration date?” He added, rolling his eyes; in the end, it was best to let go off the comment, he figured. Meredith and he never fought, so it would be ridiculous to start now, over a trait of his sister’s he usually found very endearing.

Meredith was jealous, and he was aware of it. Spending as much time as possible with Christèle had been a priority for him, and, on top of his very busy schedule, that summer he hadn’t paid as much attention to Meredith as he would have liked. On the plus side, it implied he didn’t socialise as much with their mother too, and Hefin couldn’t help but wonder if Heather’s attention now shifted towards his sister. No, it seemed improbable. Meredith was yet too young and, as far as he knew, she hadn’t even gone out on a date yet. If anything, Meredith was a perfect definition of an innocent angel, and Hefin would fight with his mother over this issue if Heather even thought of trying to fix up his sister so early in life. She was still young, she was still in school. Hopefully, with him compromising, Meredith’s love life would as free as possible from their mother’s intrusion. Perhaps though it had been wrong of him to avoid Heather; he knew nothing of her plans regarding Meredith, which was truly worrisome.

His thoughts proved right as they were soon confirmed by Meredith herself. Hefin let out a soft “Ha.” as his sister mentioned marriage, crossing his arms above his chest. “Well, Crystal has exquisite taste, so I can’t rush anything. Perfect things take time.” He nonchalantly shrugged one shoulder. “She’s been at Stringfellow’s though, and consulted with Michelle Tang.” Hefin alluded to the fact that his girlfriend has indeed got herself concerned with jewellery, which wasn’t something unknown; the media had been all over that since June. “But amazing, my dear, it seems that you want me married as well. I am really over my expiration date if everyone’s in such a rush to get rid of me.” Hefin remarked teasingly, with false annoyance. “To think my princess wouldn’t miss me at all hurts, you know.”

Hefin then stretched out his arms, enjoying the slight warm breeze under the Italian sun. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed deeply, and decided to approach a more serious subject. “What about Heather though?” He inquired, genuinely wanting to know what their monster of a mother had done this time. He genuinely thought that she’d spend all summer spoiling Meredith, and making sure she was having the time of her life before starting her last year at Hogwarts, but reality seemed different from what he’d imagined. “Is there anything I can help with?” He placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, wanting to make sure she was aware that he would always have her back, no matter what. 

“What?!  No, of course not Hef.”  It exasperated her to have to say it.  “You’re not old and neither is Christèle.”  Mere hadn’t expected him to take the poor excuse for an insult quite so personally.  It should have been obvious that she didn’t really mean it.  The fact that the few extra years Christèle had on her was all Meredith could find to criticise spoke volumes about her real feelings towards the witch.  In the past Mere had been far more enthusiastic and creative about expressing her distaste of Hefin’s girlfriends.  It was not the sort of thing that Hef had seemed to care about with previous girlfriends and so far Christèle had been getting off pretty lightly on that front.  The fact that he had been bothered by the comment at all further cemented Meredith’s impression that he’d actually found someone he was serious about.  Though she’d be happy for her brother if it was true, it made her feel a little uneasy.  It wasn’t like Meredith would ever force her brother to choose between them… but she couldn’t help but think – Who would win?  Me or Christèle?

Hefin’s answer to the question of marriage was disconcertingly vague.  “Hef!”  She exclaimed, starting to get a bit of a whine in her voice.  “Don’t give me your PR response, please.”  Shaking her head, she wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or amused.  His response had been almost word for word what he’d previously given the media.  “I’m your sister for goodness sake.”  It really shouldn’t be necessary for her to remind him.  “If you don’t want to talk about it, fine.  But you have to tell me right away if you two decide anything!”  If she wasn’t the first one to hear about any real developments with the couple then she was really going to flip out.  It was one thing to tease the media but another thing entirely to leave Meredith out of the loop.

As her brother teased again about having reached his ‘expiration date’ and feigned hurt at the suggestion he get married, Meredith threw up her hands in defeat.  She wanted to be annoyed but couldn’t help laughing.  “I take it back, ok?  You’re not old.  Christèle is not old.  Nor is she a crone.  Get married.  Or don’t.  Whatever."  She tried to be flippant in her tone but even Hefin's feigned hurt had been enough to get to her.  The two of them didn't go around dissing each other or hurting each other's feeling, even in play.  "Don't be silly." She sighed and started playing moodily with the sand next to her towel - picking up handfuls of the fine granules and letting them run through her fingers.  "If you run off and play house with Christèle, I will miss you terribly."

What about Heather?

So he didn't know?  He'd been too busy to notice that - No, that's not fair.  She stopped that childish train of thought as soon as it began.  Mere didn't blame Hef for having a life.  His career kept him busy and now Christèle... but he deserved all of the good things coming to him.  She could hardly expect him to keep up with the petty dramas between her and their mother.  Meredith hadn't told Hef herself and it seemed very doubtful that Heather would have mentioned it.  But just because he was in the dark about the issue, that didn't mean he didn't care.

He would fight for her, she knew that without a doubt.  No matter when or where, if she needed him, he'd be there.  But Meredith was coming to the point in her life where she realised that just because she could rely on Hefin to take care of everything, that didn't mean she should.  Sitting now on the beach, enjoying the warmth of the sun, with Hef so serious and supportive next to her...  It would be so easy to break down into tears and beg her brother to fix everything for her.  That's what Princesses in stories did right?  Just waited for a Prince to come along and save them?  In the end Meredith wanted to be strong enough to stand on her own.

"It's ok."  She patted the hand on her shoulder reassuringly.  "It's nothing I can't handle."  Turning to face her brother, she smiled and patted him on the cheek.  "You've already dealt with more than your fair share.  Honestly, I don't know how you've put up with it all these years."  It seemed to her that Hef was always able to stay so cool, calm and collected through all of Heather's antics and bullying.  Meredith herself had always been a bit less refined, with more stubbornness and a temper to boot.  This difference of personality could perhaps be the core reason that Meredith's trouble with Heather was escalating so quickly.

“I won’t run off and play house with Christèle.” Hefin replied simply to his sister’s words, his words while warm, especially determined. While he had desired to share certain aspects of his relationship with the French witch with his sister, Hefin was aware that, ultimately, Meredith was as much of a Hufflepuff as he was. He couldn’t bestow on her the burden of a lie; for, in the end, he was playing something with Christèle — their entire relationship. While they were close, yes, they were friends and nothing more. It was nothing but an arrangement made so he regains his freedom, so Christèle as well manages to experience a new sort of liberty as well; nonetheless, he would have never thought that his own freedom would come at the expense of Meredith’s.

I’m sorry. “I promise.” His words revealed the utmost seriousness.

Hefin felt a pang of guilt, and then decided that their mother was slowly turning into the worst woman alive across all continents. Heather Walker was a new sort of demon, unleashed on his world to cause nothing but torment to its children. He supposed that once his own masquerade would be over, Meredith wouldn’t be in the spotlight anymore. She only had to survive the summer; and hopefully not take it more personally than she should. Still, while not burdening her with his own mischiefs, Hefin would do his best in consoling his sister. Ultimately, he did not know any woman more worthy of his love; it was all for Meredith. Of course, he did want to meet someone, fall in love, and live a happy life like another other man, but Hefin was aware that, perhaps, such an option would not be available for him. He had resigned. But his sacrifice would ultimately imply Meredith’s freedom; he would make sure of it.

He sat next to her, taking in a deep breath. She reassured him, and patted him on the cheek, endearing gesture which further enhanced Hefin’s feeling of guilt. “No.” He commented, interrupting her, and placing his arm around her back, encouraging her to rest her head on his shoulder. “Trust me when I say this, it’s Heather Walker who cannot handle me.” His voice was confident, determined, and slightly revealing a newly-discovered mischievousness. “I shall spare you the details for now, but let’s say I have a surprise in store for our darling mother that will cause her to scream so loudly, you’ll hear her at Hogwarts, all the way from Melbourne.” He let out a soft chuckle, and while he was certain Meredith would inquire to know more of this affair, she would also be quite entertained to find out of it step-by-step. “Tormenting our mother has always had its charm to me.” Hefin sighed, amused, yet also a bit resigned.

“If you feel it is too much though, you can and should talk to Sylvester.” In the end, Hefin himself had also resorted to talking to the proper head of the family when Heather got too overbearing. That had proven to be only fruitful, for their uncle had been generous enough to gift not only his own Manor in Melbourne, but also a flat in London. At least he was free of Heather in his house. “And you’re his favourite, my princess.” Hefin added, thinking that if Sylvester had done so much for him, then he would most definitely put Heather in her place directly if he were aware Meredith was suffering. But it was not his place to talk to Sylvester for Mere; she had to gather up the courage and do it herself. All good things had to be properly earned, in the end.

“Anyway,” Hefin continued, on a much lighter tone, deciding that such serious discussion was rather inappropriate for a day of vacation, of fun on the beach. “I know you’ve had a busy schedule and paid a lot of visits, went to a lot of social gatherings, parties.” He let his voice linger for a moment, as his vexatious smile surfaced; surely Meredith knew what this meant, it was time for the Howell siblings to discuss and (very harshly) judge the rest of mundanes from their high pedestals. In the end, it was only natural for them to do such a thing; as perfect people among mere mortals it was quite tiring always encountering and having to deal with those unworthy of their time. Sometimes, they truly were too generous; just like today, gracing a public beach with their presence, when they could’ve easily gone to one of their private ones.

“So, my princess,” Hefin turned his gaze towards his sister, their eyes meeting as he waited for her to begin her report. In the end, it was only natural for him to expect the latest news. “who has disgraced themselves this time? Is it again that one witch from Manchester?” He couldn’t recall her name, but the certain heiress had always followed him around for years now, wanting to capture his attention. As such, she would always act in a certain manner around Meredith, trying to get in her graces and acquire her approval. Obviously, that would never happen; nonetheless, it was always entertaining to learn what tricks have been put into action.

“And who else did you visit, actually?” Hefin inquired, a bit curious. “I wanted to take you out for dinner the other evening and you were in England apparently.”