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"Is it true you know five languages?"
I glance up at my cousin as he plops down beside me on the plush couch, giving him a mildly amused look. "It is true, actually. Not fluent in all of them, though. Yet."
"Well, what are they, then?"
"English, of course, if you couldn't tell," I say dryly, earning a light punch on my shoulder. "A tiny bit of Japanese. A fair amount of Portuguese. I'm mostly fluent in French."
"What's the fifth language?"
"Mermish."
Blaise gives me a look of disbelief as he punches me a little harder on my shoulder. "Hah, hah. Very funny."
"I'm not kidding," I say with a shrug and a slightly smug look on my face as I look away from him and fold my hands over my lap.
"Yeah, right. Whatever."
"It's not my fault that I inherited the Zabini gene for greatness but you didn't," I say with a smug smirk, ignoring the kick I get in my shin as he mutters something about me being an asshole.
"You've been here for all of two days, and you're already giving me cheek," he grumbles, crossing his arms.
"What can I say? I've grown comfortable."
My parents, Corinne and Alaric Zabini, have worked for the Ministry of Magic for all of their adult lives. More specifically, the Department of Mysteries. Their job has sent them all around the world, consequently sending me all around the world. I wasn't even born here. I was three months in my mother's womb when she and Father moved to the United States.
Now that I've begun my fifth year of schooling, they both agreed that I should stay in one place in order to successfully complete my O.W.L.s, and so now we're back where they grew up so that I can attend the same school they did—Hogwarts.
Blaise is my cousin (Colette Zabini is be my mother's sister), and he lives in a manor far too big for just him and his mother, which is why Aunt Colette insisted that my parents and I stay with her for however long we remain here—even if it's forever.
"Yeah, you were comfortable the last time we met too," he grumbles, giving me a slight glare. "You were only seven, but you had a strong grip on my hair. Gave me a bloody bald spot for a month."
"It's what you deserved," I say calmly, my smirk growing. "Now you know not to touch my Wizarding Chess set, little cousin."
"We are one month apart!"
It's this moment that Aunt Colette strides into the parlor room, her eyes widening when she sees us. "Why aren't you two ready! We have guests coming in thirty minutes!"
