Sincerely, The Stranger You Call Sister

Year 1: Icy Grudges

Dear Little Brother,

Back when it was just me and Jacob, before Nora was born, the two of us used to fight like bloody cats and dogs. Always arguing over the smallest of things -things like the classic "he's breathing my air!" or "he's looking at me!"- and it drove our nanny at the time up the fucking wall.

So she started sticking us together for everything in the desperate hope that we would eventually learn to get along. Playing with toys? Together. Watching a movie? We have to agree. Sharing a goddamn bath? Every time, twice a week. Granted, it did work out for the better in the long term, but oh boy was it a fucking painful to get there!

(I also think it was around the time I started to become a cunning little piece of shite. Since we didn't have cable but a Netflix account -am international company that allowed you to watch multiplies of shows and movies from home or on the go- and during the time Netflix was accessed through the PS3, I would give Jacob a controller - a type of 'clicker' used by gamers- and tell him it was on.

Meanwhile the true controller was behind my back and I would copy Jacob's movements up until we "decided" on a show "together." Obviously I didn't actually want to watch the crappy thing he picked, but nonetheless I agreed. When he pressed the show, so did I -only to immediately back out again. On, off, on, off, on, off, etc.

"Oh! I guess this one isn't working," I would say, dripping with false disappointment. "How about we watch this one instead?"

And you know what? My suggestion magically worked!)

Long story short, Jacob learned to stop being so fucking argumentative all the damn time, and I learned to not only pick my battles, but to use underhanded means to win the war.

Sincerely,

The Stranger You Call Sister

~xXx~

October 9th, 1938.

It's been a week since Malfoy and I's rematch, and it didn't take very long at all for Tom to remember the apparent bone he has to pick with me.

Really, everything was all rainbows and unicorns until supper, when in the middle of it he suddenly grew terribly quiet.

Malfoy, Lestrange, Rosier the Girl and Nott weren't present during the meal, and Rosier the Boy and Avery don't seem to possess the spine nor interest in picking a fight with us without either of their ring leaders present, so they were lost in their own conversation and the rest of us First Years in ours.

Tom had simply been discussing Potions with Black when he glanced towards me, gaze landing on my still braided hair. And in that moment I knew. I knew, as his gaze became hard and cold, something dark and dangerous crossing them as dread pooled in my stomach.

I knew that despite my best efforts to forget about it and bury the bitter emotions over this morning, Tom is prepared to start digging.

He hadn't said anything directly then, but the sudden frostiness between the two of us didn't go unnoticed by the others either.

That night Tom's hand wrapped around my wrist had felt more like shackles than anything else, and he had refused to let me change in the girls' dorm.

For reasons unknown to even myself, I allowed him to herd me to the boys' side where I proceeded to change in the bathroom -all clothes still securely stashed in my handbag- and afterwards Tom sat me down on his bed and thoroughly undid my braid with great prejudice.