Mara's Magic

ii - digonilly

I returned on the morning that my family was going to be heading up Diagon Alley. 

I walked into the kitchen with my duffle bag over one shoulder and wearing my new favorite necklace - a dragon tooth one that Charlie had gifted me for my birthday, a matching earring (yes, just one, like Bill), a white tank top tucked in with a black belt, denim jeans that had long since been ripped, black aviator sunglasses were on top of my dutch-braided blonde hair, and black high-top muggle shoes called Converse that I'd inherited from one of the girls, Artemis. 

Overall, I looked like a completely different person.

Overall, I looked exactly like Charlie. 

But, that was something I'd grown used to after spending the whole summer with him - his friends had even taken to calling me 'baby Charlie' and he even referred to me as his 'mini-me'.

I even had his same stupid grin on my face as I entered the kitchen, calling out a classically-Charlie, "Hello family!"

My mother's face dropped when her eyes landed on my outfit and her mouth fell open wide, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head. Percy rolled his eyes at my loud entrance, his hair still a mess on his head and his glasses nearly falling off his nose, and the twins shook their heads at me, each throwing a muffin in my direction. I dropped my duffle and caught both swiftly, sending them a smile. 

"Thanks, boys!" I called, setting them down on the counter next to me. 

Dad laughed lightly and shook his head, sliding his glasses to the bridge of his nose to get a good look at me. "You certainly got some sun, darling."

"Of course I did, Dad," I replied with a grin. "I spent the entire summer in sunny Romania out with dragons!"

When a fork dropped, I noticed our visitor. Harry sat next to Ronald and his mouth was opened wide in shock and excitement. "Dragons? You got to work with dragons?!"

"Yep!" I proclaimed. "I was with Charlie. I even earned some money!"

I pulled a pouch off of my belt and waved it around as an example, the galleons inside jangling against one another. 

"Bloody hell! You're rich!" Ron exclaimed. I laughed and hooked it back onto my belt with a shrug. 

"I worked pretty hard," I explained. "And Charlie's boss is really generous with his payments."

"How is Charlie?" Mum asked, beginning to put away the food from breakfast. I quickly moved to help her as I answered. 

"He's good, he's really good. He loves his job, and now that I've been I can see why," I replied. She smiled and nodded. 

"That's good," she said. "Did you have fun, dear?"

"I did, yeah. It was the best summer of my life," I laughed. "Though, I'm sure you could tell by my letters and pictures."

"I loved the pictures," Mum said, shooting me a warm smile. "I especially loved the ones with you and Charlie. It's sweet."

"Can I see some?" Harry asked hesitantly, raising his head in my direction. I nodded eagerly.

"Of course! Here, let me put my stuff away and I'll pull them out. I have several you could keep if you'd like - the ones with the dragons and other creatures. Oh, I've got to tell you about our pandapig, Ralph!" I exclaimed as I crossed the room towards the stairs. He nodded excitedly.

"Okay!"

"Mars!" Suddenly, I had an eleven year old slamming into my torso and I let out a strangled laugh as I caught my breath.