The Secret Marauder

3: Kings and Queens

Queenie felt bad for leaving her friend behind, but she knew that it was not her right to get involved with personal matters that Miya didn't understand. Queenie would share with her sometime, but this was not working in her favor.

Queenie kicked a rock and frowned, grabbing the tips of her hair. She frowned at the sight of them.

While the rest of her hair was a midnight black that was wild and crazy, you would think that was all there was to her hair. But no, it wasn't.

If you looked close enough, you could see that about an inch of the tip of her hair had turned dark grey, getting lighter the closer it got to the tip.

Queenie pulled out her wand and waved it in a complicated pattern, her lips moving but no sound echoing out.

As her hair returned to normal, Queenie was tackled from behind. Usually, if anyone else did this, she was quick to whirl around to throw them off or she would let herself fall back onto her attacker. But she knew the weight of the little first year on her back by heart.

So instead, she gripped onto the small legs that squeezed her torso and threw her body forward, keeping her feet planted on the ground as she looked at the three other first-year boys from between her legs.

"Hello, boys. I assume little Kingsy wanted to introduce you to the Queen of Hogwarts?"

She stood up, keeping a firm grip on the squealing boy. She knew he loved to be flipped upside down, so it was a little trick that she always did for him.

The boys seemed to stutter, leaving Queenie to shake her head as she pushed her brother up, letting him clamber onto her shoulders to see better.

"Guys, this is my sister Queenie. Queenie, these are my friends, Mason, Hector, and Leo."

He pointed out each of the boys from atop of his sisters head. He began to look around before he smiled.

"Why is Bryn hiding behind you?" he asked. He directed the question towards the boys, who seemed to be shuffling around something. Or someone.

"Don't worry," Queenie called to them. "I don't bite!"

"Yes, you do!" King squeaked, causing her to force his hands off her shoulders before leaning back a bit, causing him to end up upside down as she still had his legs in her grasp.

Queenie then began to spin and bounce a bit, letting her brother giggle until he started to hiccup.

She crouched down and grabbed his arm with one of hers, yanking him up. He was fairly dizzy when Queenie put him down, causing him to stumble and fall.

The siblings shared in a laugh together, as they often did. This was something that the two always did back at their father's place.

The three boys were looking a bit uncomfortable until a small laugh was heard from behind them. Once Queenie looked close enough, she could see another pair of legs hiding behind the boy called Leo.

"Bryn, you don't have to hide," said King, making his way over.

"I don't want to hide, but Leo is making me," a soft voice came replied. Kingston shook his head at his friend.

"Come on, you never let her play or go anywhere on her own!"

"Do too!" Leo replied, crossing his arms. "I just prefer to see where she's going and who she will be with wherever she goes."

A girl that looked like Leo steeped out from behind him. She was skinnier and a bit shorter than her brother, and Queenie could see a bandage on her cheek.

She huffed at him. "I am not a little girl anymore. I do not care if you want to protect me, I want to be my own person."

"But–"

"Oh don't you 'but' me!" she growled, poking him in the chest. "I wanted to come here and learn magic, make friends, and thanks to you, I have hardly learned anything, and I have no friends. Happy day. I'm safer without you."

With that, she stormed away, but she hadn't known where Queenie was, so she ended up bumping into the older girl.

Queenie caught Bryn before she fell, but she still stumbled.

"Sorry, my brother riles me up," she grumbled, brushing herself off. "I can't do anything. Did you know that I have to wait until he checks my food to eat?"

Queenie chuckled. "Then show him you're the boss. You know, when Kingston was six, I was ten. He went through a phase where he was super protective of me. So I kicked him in the arse and twisted his nip until he said sorry."

Bryn stared at Queenie before giggling, which soon made the girls burst into a fit of laughter.

"What did you tell her?" King asked. He had a feeling that she said something embarrassing about him.

"Remember that time you were oh so protective of me?" Queenie asked, louder so that all of the boys could hear her and the amusement that tinged her voice. King went to stop her, already knowing what she was going to say.

Queenie pinned her brother in a fluid motion, cover his mouth with a finger under his jaw, just like she did with Miya.

"Well, I got tired of him 'protecting' me, so I kicked his arse and twisted his nip until he apologized."

Just as King feared, his friends burst up laughing, causing Queenie to let go as she laughed once more.

"Queenie! Stop telling them that stuff or I'll tell them about that time with the fire-crackers when you wanted to hang out with the older boys!"

Queenie froze and glared at him playfully. King was one of the only few who could tell if she was truly glaring death, or if she was playing around.

"You tell them about that and I'll tell them about the time with your haircut!"

"I'll tell them about the basketball incident!"

"I'll tell them about the bathtub problem!"

And on and on it went, leaving the four others to watch them go back and forth.

"I'll tell them about the dumpster incident!" Queenie yelled at the same time King shouted, "I'll tell them about the bookshelf incident!"

Both gasped and said, "You wouldn't!"

"Stop copying me!" they shouted together. "Shut it! Stop talking! No, you stop talking! No–"

"SHUT IT!"

The two siblings looked at the four others that had shouted at them. King looked flustered, but Queenie put on a look of confusion as her posture relaxed.

"Shut what?"

King rolled his eyes, his face becoming less red. Queenie did this a lot back at home, and their father was usually the victim. Of course, the orphans also were ideal targets. Especially the older ones. They were always so easily frustrated by the younger kids which is what made them ideal. Although, it backfired sometimes as a few also might have endless patience, but Queenie and Kingston knew which ones were perfect.

Queenie ruffled her brother's hair, pushing him forward so he stumbled. "Go play with your friends, I have some work to do."

Walking away silently, she heard King call out, "See ya, Royal!"

Without turning back, Queenie replied, "Later, Prince!"

Queenie set her pace to the Forbidden Forest. After all, she had work to do.