Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 85 | Broken

It was a busy July morning in the Potter household, situated in Godric's Hollow, and Everleigh Potter had been bustling around the house, completing various chores and tasks, since the moment she had woken up, really. Summer holidays had come around much faster than the woman would've liked and, before she had had time to prepare, both of her teenagers had returned from Hogwarts for seven weeks.

As soon as they had arrived home, Charlus had rushed up to his bedroom straight away, with hardly a coherent word to any of his family and the situation hadn't changed much for the past week, with him simply staying there and only showing his face at mealtimes (and, even then, Charlus looked so stony faced and miserable that no one even attempted to ask him whether he was okay for fear of being snapped at).

Sighing, Everleigh waved her wand to dry the dishes that were lying on the side, just next to the sink that was overflowing with bubbles and froth from the washing up that the matriarch of the Potter family had just completed. She had a few moments to herself, a few minutes of peace, before the telltale footsteps of her youngest daughter sounded in the background and she instantly snapped into mother mode again.

"How can I help you, sweetie?" Everleigh found herself asking before Olivia had even stepped into the kitchen and the seven year old froze, her eyes widening in surprise as her mouth fell open, "How did you even know I was there?!" she shrieked, looking alarmed and annoyed with her eyes now narrowed suspiciously.

"I'm magic," Everleigh said drily, waggling her fingers in a jazz-hand fashion whilst her daughter stood there, with her hands placed on her hips as a dead-pan expression masked her face, one eyebrow raised, "Haha, Mum. That was such a funny joke that I actually forgot to laugh!" Olivia told her with a heavy sarcastic tone lining her words, a fake smile on her face.

"When did you develop such an attitude?" Everleigh asked her daughter with a great degree of shock and incredulity, wiping her wet hands on a tea-towel before sitting herself down at the newly polished kitchen table, elbows propping her chin up as she stared inquisitively at Olivia, who was still appearing extremely unimpressed with her mother.

"Sarcasm isn't an attitude, Mum, it's an art," Olivia flicked her blonde hair insufferably, smirking a little at Everleigh, who was extremely exasperated and simply buried her head in her hands with a deep sigh. At that moment, Rochelle entered the kitchen and rolled her eyes at the sight of the smug Olivia and evidently despairing Everleigh.

"What have you said now?" the fourteen year old demanded of Olivia, who sent her a dirty look, "Why do you always assume that I've said something?" she placed a hand on her chest and adopted an innocent expression that convinced absolutely no one, especially not Rochelle who glanced at her disparagingly.

"Well, no one else is in the room so you must've said something, idiot. Unless you're going to tell me that the dishes started insulting our mother?" Rochelle challenged her sister and, when Olivia opened her mouth in order to retort, the older girl waved her off dismissively and told her not to bother, earning her a black look from the girl in question.

Rochelle walked over to Everleigh and placed a hand on her arm, "What's wrong, Mum?" she asked her mother with a great level of concern and it was at this point that Olivia subdued from her glaring state and also sat next to Everleigh, making the woman lift her head slowly and smile wanly, "I'm just worried about your brother, to be honest," she admitted.

Olivia instantly pulled a face, "He's hibernated but July isn't in wintertime so I reckon he thinks he's in Australia which is why he's hibernating now," she shrugged, evidently proud of her knowledge about the difference between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.