Up and Down

Slytherin and Ravenclaw

The next day, Anne is still understandably exhausted. But there is no time to let her recover. Time is of the essence, and Solomon should be awake now and probably panicked and enraged.

She washed and dressed and helped Anne do the same. Her friend is pale, and Anna worries if she pushed too hard. Perhaps there was another way. If only they could Apparate...

But she wouldn't trust herself to do that properly. She knows that neither Sebastian nor Ominis would be confident to do so either.

Flying this long would be just as hard and risky. There would also be a good chance they'd be spotted along the way, and someone would alert the Ministry about unknown hippogryph riders, giving them away.

No, she did the only thing she could, to get the four of them from the Highlands to London safely. Travel by rail was the only option for them, not-quite-yet adult witches and wizards.

Speaking of which...

"Many happy returns," Anne hugs her, and Anna can't help but notice how weak the squeeze of her arms is, "may there be many more."

"Thank you," she smiles and hugs her back, trying to share some of her warmth with her, "let's go meet with the boys."

"Alright."

She leads Anne down the stairs, which takes a while as the girl is unsteady on her feet. Sebastian and Ominis are already in the foyer, a porter waiting nearby with their luggage.

"Many happy returns," Sebastian smiles, looking up at her, the shadow of sadness marring his features.

"Many happy returns, Anna," Ominis echoes and turns to face the stairs.

She smiles at them, and Sebastian runs up the stairs to take over guiding his sister down. Anna lets go and rolls her shoulder before walking down herself and taking Ominis' elbow.

"Many happy returns, madam," the porter touches his cap and she smiles at the man, "are you and your husband ready to leave now?"

"I... uh, yes," she wills for her face to stop burning, "please, follow us."

"Of course, madam."

She can feel the soft rumble of Ominis' laughter against her and pinches his arm through his suit.

"Do behave," she hisses.

His fingers brush her cheek and she knows he can feel how warm it is.

"Who am I to disobey my wife," he responds with a wry smirk and she covers her face burning with intense embarrassment.

She takes a turn to the ticketing booth and secures their passage to London. The train comes up to the platform soon enough, and they pile into the compartment, with Anna climbing in first and taking a seat by the window, pointedly not looking at the boys across from her.

"Is aught amiss?" Ominis sits down across from her, his long legs brushing against hers through the skirt. She glares at him, but of course, he cannot see it.

"Oh, Anna..." Anne curls up against her and rests her head on her shoulder, "Sebastian has something for you."

"Y-yes..." her twin searches the inside pocket of his suit jacket, "here."

He offers her something atop his palm. A small pocket watch. She picks it up. It's warm gold in colour, with cerulean blue enamel inlays. She flips it over. The back is covered in more intricate white and blue enamel, in the shape of wings and feathers.

"It was our Mum's," Anne smiles softly, her fingers tracing the feather design on the back of the watch, "she was a Ravenclaw too."

"I... didn't know that," Anna opens the delicate watch. The dial has beautifully detailed planets and stars instead of numbers and hands.