salem

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salem

          The flour burst into the air like a cloud of dust, falling over the marble benchtop. Her soft petite hands roll out the sticky dough gently over the floured surface with a delicate strength. Stretching and pulling the dough. Her shimmering eyes glance back towards the lackadaisical figure seated in the chair behind her, his chair standing on its two back legs as he balances just shy of the wall.

"Are you even doing anything?" She asked with a huff, slapping the dough ball back into the bowl and covering it with a towel. Wiping the back of her wrist against her forehead, leaving a white mark as her back meets the benchtop.

"I honestly don't know why you bother to do it all by hand, Jauney." Alistair sighed as he waved his wand in the air carelessly, pots and pans scrubbing themselves in the large sink, "We have magic for a reason." Jaune sends him a glare, reaching back to grab the bowl before attempting to leave the room.

"Wait, Jaune..." Alistair called before her foot stepped out of the kitchen, with a patient sigh she turned with a smile of mock interest. Only for her smile to fall at the sight of her brothers face. A piece of paper, crinkling in his long fingers. Jaune meets his shimmering eyes with curiosity and worries, before placing the bowl on the wooden bench by the door. Her tentatively footsteps being swallowed by the clashing of pots and pans being scrubbed.

No words were exchanged between the siblings as she took the flier from her brother's hand, a disturbing image Jaune had never seen before. Two hands hold a stick between their palms, thumbs bending the wood, — only the Ambrosia siblings knew it was a wand. Letting out a breath Jaune uses the chair to hold herself up. Alistair's fingers taking back the flier.

"The boy – Credence..." Alistair thought out loud. Almost shock enveloping him, "I didn't think —"

"I saw it." Jaune interrupted him, identical shimmering eyes meeting one another, "I saw it in the vision yesterday."

"You didn't tell me?" He asked standing up, the flier crinkling between his figures even more as emotion flew through him. Golden locks tinge into strawberry blonde.

"We don't usually discuss it, Ally," she said looking up at him, "besides I don't usually understand it any better than you do. I don't know how to control it."

Alistair stares down at his sister, glancing at the flier before looking at her face. Sighing he wraps an arm around her, looking at the image of the broken wand.

"I have a feeling there is more going on with this image Jauney," he said before sitting back in his chair, "we need to talk about your vision—"

"Hello!" The siblings stop, their breaths catching in their chests. Jaune's hand immediately grabs her wand from the inside pocket of her apron the pots and pans clanking loudly in the sink. Water spewing all over the floor. Alistair glares at her as it splashed up the side of his pants and shirt.

Shoving her wand back into her hidden pocket, she grabs the flier from Alistair scrunching it up behind her back as she turned only to jump in shock. A tall man stands at the kitchen door, his eyes bouncing from Jaune to Alistair who was fretting over his soaked pants. Slowly his dark eyes flutter down to Jaune's tiny figure in front of him.

The room stilled before Jaune took a step back from the man in the doorway. Her eyes watching him cautiously as Alistair stands behind him, dwarfing her in his height. Their eyes observing the man that intruder in their kitchen.

"Can we help you?" Alistair asked, his voice deeper and more authoritative than usual. The man looks around the kitchen again before welcoming himself into the kitchen, Alistair took this with a grain of salt and chose to stand beside his sister now. The crinkled paper in her palms burned against her skin with nervousness.

"Pardon my intrusion, I'm from MACUSA." The man issued them, his voice deep and warm showing he was fully aware of his own intrusion into their home.

"MACUSA?" Alistair asked watching him with raised eyebrows and he took his hat off. Jaune admitted to herself he looked very handsome but she wasn't very happy with his behaviour inside of her house.

"Yes, The Magical Congress of the United States of America." The man informed them, his eyes lingering between them. Jaune knew that this man knew what they were, his eyes shifting around the room but always falling on her.

"I know what it stands for. I'm concerned why an Auror from MACUSA is in our house." Alistair challenged, noticing his gaze falling onto his sister. Jaune shoves the paper into her brothers back pocket as he moved in front of her, her tiny body disappearing behind her brothers.

"Ah, my name is Mr Graves. I am an Auror for MACUSA, very well done Mr Ambrosia and I've come to ask about the boy that you recently came across." He asked, his smile is open and welcoming, telling them he is nothing of a threat to them. Jaune notices the air grow stagnant. The Ambrosia siblings watching the strange man..."I was wondering if you knew his name."

"Why would you need to know?" Jaune asked quickly, speaking up from behind the wooden island of the kitchen. Leaving a physical element between her and the Auror. Mr Graves glances between the siblings before letting his eyes sit on her tiny figure. Alistair shifting uncomfortably beside her though neither left eye contact.

"He's apart of a group, called the Second Salemers," his words echoed through the tiny kitchen, any witch alive all around the world knew about the Salem Witch Trials. The mass prosecution of women and men perceived to be witches or wizards, whether they were or not made the trials even more haunting, "I've been told to keep tabs on them and I saw he was welcomed into your shop yesterday. I wondered maybe if you found out his name."

"If I'm going to understand this correctly, " Alistair began grabbing the Auror's attention, "in New York City, there is a group called the Second Salemers who is to — what? — prosecute witches and wizards? In these modern times?"

"Exactly. You haven't heard of them?" Mr Graves enquires looking between them curiously.

"No," Alistair tells him before hesitating, his hand moving to his back pocket, revealing the crumpled flier, "not until today. We found this flier, just now, we know it was from the boy, —"

"— he posed us no threat. I hardly believe he even knew about us...unlike you." Jaune interrupted unsure if they should reveal anything else to a man who already knew more than they thought.

"Pardon?" Graves dark eyebrows shoot up in surprise at her wary tone. Alistair watching her with thoughtful eyes.

"How did you know we were magical? We do very well," Jaune sent Alistair a piercing glance who in turn rolled his eyes, "to keep to ourselves to look like muggles. I believe we blend very well."

"She's believing a false lie," Alistair snorted, his body relaxing as he sat on the island to be more comfortable, "The muggles know there is something..." Alistair pauses to think of a word,"...alluring about our shop. Something that pulls them in and I can tell you, it's not the books or the scones or the — well, maybe, the tea."

"Alistair!" Jaune scolded him, glaring profusely as Mr Graves chucked nodding in agreement, "No I agree Mr Ambrosia, I believe the No-Maj know there is something magical about your shop."

Jaune glances between her brothers gaze and Mr Graves eyes that both settle onto her. Her own eyes shimmering into grey steel. The silence is shattered by the ringing of a bell from the front of the store.

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Jaune || Newt ScammanderWhere stories live. Discover now