TWENTY-ONE

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The phone was ringing

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The phone was ringing. The sharp bell, or whatever the hell it was, rang and rang, yanking both Thalia and James from their peaceful slumber.

"I'll get it." The girl sleepily called, rubbing her eyes and slithering out of bed, ending up as a heap on the floor. She crawled across it, reaching up to open the door handle, and falling back to the floor with a small "oof!". James chuckled he heard the whole commotion from his room, through a number of bumps and lots of swearing. Thalia dramatically stood up, and flounced out of her room, towards the telephone in the hallway. "Scamander Household." She picked up the red receiver, and held it to her ear, wrapping the curly cord around her finger as she did so. "Really?" She exclaimed. "That's fantastic! Thank you! Yeah, I'll tell him. Brilliant! Marvelous! Incredible! Yes alright thanks for that." Her tone suddenly went flat, all previous excitement lost. "Yes, I know you're joking!" She giggled, her buoyancy returned. "Love you too." James' ears perked at the last sentence. Who did Thalia love? Did she have a boyfriend? Was it Regulus? What was going on? He snapped out of his reverie upon her entry into his room. "Good morning! That was my Grandpa, he gave me some fantastic news!" 'So that answers that question' James smirked to himself.

"Grandpa, as in Newt Scamander Grandpa?" The boy questioned.

"The very same." She replied. "He thinks he's found a magical creature that can cure what my mum's got! Isn't it fantastic?" The boy's face lit up,

"Thals, that's amazing!" He jumped out of bed and pulled her into a hug, twirling her around until they were both dizzy, choosing to pretend the conversation of the previous night didn't occur. Slightly breathless, the pair collapsed onto the bed, laughing and grinning like maniacs.

"I've gotta go tell Dad, Grandpa will be home soon!" She beamed at him, her green eyes sparkling, and skipped off down the hall towards the stairs leading to the lower levels to tell her Father the news.

****

Upon the arrival of Thalia's Grandfather, the two teens were gently asked to remain out of the way until called. Much to their distaste, the pair agreed, and dejectedly walked off back to the third floor.

"How about that house tour?" James asked, attempting to take the girls mind off whatever was going on in her Mother's temporary room they'd been shut out of. She obliged, and the tour began. It consisted of four floors, plus an attic, the first floor containing two living rooms, each with multiple windows, making them light and airy, a few offices, a drawing room, a grand dining room, a smaller dining room, a snug, a very open plan kitchen, with an island and breakfast bar, and a laundry room, with an airing cupboard the size of Remus' bedroom, according to James. The second floor was bedroom after bedroom, bathroom after bathroom and a number of rooms containing a variety of magical creatures.

"If you didn't guess, my Grandpa lives with us." Thalia confirmed, as James studied the creatures with awe. The third floor was broadly the same, however there was a large playroom, and a few music rooms, each with grand instruments. One contained a harp, another hosted a grand piano, one was devoted to woodwind, such as flutes and clarinets, and another hosted strings, such as violins and cellos.

"Blimey, Thalia, do you play all of these?!" James choked, as he saw the array of instruments. At Potter Mansion, they might have the size, but the decor was much less intimidating. Euphemia and Fleamont played down their wealth with comfy looking furniture rather than expensive material so, where the Scamanders had footstools made of elegant silk and wooden chairs from the seventeenth century that no one sat on, the Potters had plush sofas with small tears from Padfoot's claws and armchairs that were worn in the centre were Eloise would curl up with a book.

"God no!" Thalia laughed. "I play about three instruments, but Thomas was the music maestro of the family. The music rooms were his request, the Quidditch Pitch was mine."

"QUIDDITCH PITCH?" James roared, clapping his hands and jumping up and down. His house certainly didn't have one of those.

"All in good time Jamsie!"

He finally saw his bedroom and Thalia's own in daylight. Her's was a soft rose pink, with white floorboards, and furniture to match. Fairy lights were artfully strung around the room, casting attention to many polaroid moving pictures of Thalia with various people, who James assumed were her friends from Ilvermorny. He also noticed many of Thomas. There were baby pictures, all the way through to Christmas the year prior. In many of them, the pair were clad in wetsuits, or swimwear, revealing the girls toned stomach, and her brother's chiseled abs, holding surfboards, and generally each other, huge grins plastered on their faces and salty beach waves in both of their hair. There was a rather hilarious picture of the siblings standing in Ollivanders. Thalia looked about eleven, and Thomas twelve. They were holding their wands. Thalia was in the process of childishly pointing hers at Thomas, and to both of their surprise, a huge jet of water shot out of the wand, knocking him off his feet, before he got up, looking like a drenched rat, and pouting because he couldn't do the same thing to Thalia.

"Do you miss it?" James asked.

"Miss what?"

"Childhood. Before blood purity mattered. Before being constantly afraid of the war that's a lot closer than the horizon now." She took his face between her hands.

"I'm not afraid, and you shouldn't be either. I'm not scared of dying, and I don't care when it happens. As long as I've lived well with people I love, I'll die a happy person. I want you, and everyone to be able to say the same."

The fourth floor was very boring, all Newt's rooms and experiments, as well as the rooms of a number of house elves (which explained how the house was so immaculate.), as well as the attic, which just contained old junk and school trunks. To James' relief, they ventured outside, and around the vast grounds. There were many lawns and trails, leading to the clifftop, or down to the beach depending on your path. There was a giant maze that Thomas apparently memorized and taught to Thalia when they were young because she refused to step foot into it without knowing how to get out.

"Smart." James remarked, bouncing on his toes, eager to get to the quidditch pitch. Finally, they rounded a corner of the house, and two sets of eyes fell upon the six golden hoops. A broomshed was in one corner of the pitch, and Thalia immediately answered James' unasked questions.

"Yes there's quaffles, bludgers and snitches in the shed. We used to have all of our cousins around to play matches. I have a lot of cousins, I know."

"Thalia!" A voice echoed around the grounds. "Come and say hello to your old Grandpa!" She grinned ear to ear, expecting good news at his jolly tone.

"That's our cue!"

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