august fourth 2025|top & shorts

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english| welsh

ℬrookline sighed as she flopped in bed, her conscience slightly drifting away. It had been a long summer, and she was ready to die alone in a hole. At least school would be starting in less than a month. At least summer wasn’t that hot, here in Wales. Just 26-32°C (80-90°F), most days.

She grumbled as she tossed the duvet off her, and hastily grabbed a book. Flicking it open, she groaned again, and flipped over to her stomach, tossing the book on the other side of the bed. She rolled over to her duvet, and wrapped herself in it. Summer was long and boring when you feel like you aren’t good enough. Brookline fiddled with the corners of her pillow, and wanted to know the time. But of course, her mother hadn’t put a clock in her room. She rolled out of bed, kicking off the duvet, frantically.

Hair tangled and messy, (she hadn’t brushed in days), Brookline headed for the stairs, and sprinted to the father clock, the Quinn family had in their lounge room. 11:55 am, the hands pointed at. Ughhhhh... Where did my old self go? Oh right. My father sucked it right out of me, She internally groaned.

“Fantastic! You’re up!”

Brookline instantly froze, and spun around on her heels quietly. Pale green eyes that belonged to her seventeen-year-old sister looked distracted. Wrinkling her nose up in thought, she stared up at her sister. Why would I possibly need to be be up?

“We’re going to Diagon Alley. Could you get dressed and tell your siblings that we need to go soon? Minnie and Marie need supplies. Oh, also,” Lizy added, her gaze flicking to the tangled brunette mass that was atop of Brookline’s head, “Your hair is an absolute mess. Here, brush your hair.” The older sister shoved a heavy brush into Brookline’s hands, her gaze traveling back to the piece of parchment, her fingers held.

The Welsh Ravenclaw simply stared at the brush. She was going out. Out in public. Lizy’s head snapped up again, and in a chilly voice that reminded her of a strict mother, she stated, “C’mon! Brookline. Hop to it, your hair isn’t gonna brush itself. Just pop upstairs and get ready.”

“Er, okay.”

“Please! Hurry, we have to Floo soon!”

Brookline rolled her eyes, and headed for the stairs. She started brushing her hair, and the brush pulled on her scalp, causing her to cry out in pain. She started to comb more rabidly, went to the twins’ room, opening the door and stuck her head inside. “Liz says we gotta go. Hurry it up.”

Marie glanced up from her digging through a drawer, with a blank face. “Wait. Where?”

Minnie was brushing her hair, rolled her blue eyes, dropped her brush on the bed, and strolled over to Marie. “Diagon Alley, idiot! Did you not hear Lizy?”

“Well, jeez. No need to be that mean. I just forgot, okay?”

“We get to go to Hogwarts in less than a month. How in the hell could you forget?”

“What part of ‘I forgot’ do you not get? Also, language!!”

Brookline sighed, and she was definitely fed up. She was ticked. Striking her brush on the twins’ door’s frame, she exclaimed, “Shut up, both of you! You need to get ready; I need to get ready. I still need to tell Chase, and wake up Cash so if you’d stop fighting, I’ll be on my way. Stop fighting.”

Both Minnie and Marie gaped at their sister, surprised she outburst on them. Minnie recovered from the shock and crossed her arms, giving her twin a hard look; Marie looked ashamed and hung her head. “Sorry, Brookline.”

Venturing in the two-year-old’s room, (at least she thought Cash was two), she picked the toddler out of his crib, and changed his diaper. She was surprised that Cash wasn’t yelling and wailing by now. Then she got Cash all dressed and went downstairs with him. Then she went to find Lizy.

“Here’s Cash. What are we going to do with him when we go?” She handed the toddler to her sister.

“With Lynn’s mum. He’ll there for today, and Chase’ll come with us. Okay, get moving! We have to leave in, like the next ten minutes!” Lizy cuddled her little brother closer to her, and shooed Brookline upstairs.

“Okay, okay! I’ll go tell Chase ten minutes!”

“Brush your hair!!”

Brookline rolled her eyes, and skipped up the stairs. Stopping by Chase’s room, she called, “Hey Chase! We got ten minutes! Spread that to the twins when you’re now.”

She waited til she heard her brother’s grunt, and sprinted to her brush she left in Cash’s room, then back to hers. She started brushing her hair frantically, as she rummaged through her drawers, tossing various outfits out, and finally chose a blue floral blouse and a pair of blue denim Jean shorts with a little splurge of daisies growing on the back pocket. Throwing it on, she grabbed her barrettes, threw her hair into a quick braid, for once in a while, actually brushed. Brookline twisted around in circle, in her room til she saw Tigeress, catching some zzz’s on her bed. She gave the kitten a little rub around the ears, and whispered, “We’ll be back. See you soon!”

Brookline went downstairs to find her sisters, and brother were all ready to go. “C‘mon, Brooke! We’re ready to go and Cash is with the Thompson’s.” Lizy grabbed the powder, and threw it in the fireplace, an emerald fire whooshing up in the ashes. “Diagon Alley!” The oldest pushed the Ravenclaw forward, into the fireplace, and all Brookline could see was green.

Next thing she knew she was in a pile of shoot and ashes in a fireplace. Minnie was next to her, and she grabbed her sister’s hands, pulling her up.

“You okay, sis?”

“Sure. What stuff do I need for Hogwarts?”

Brookline giggled, shaking her head. “Slow down. The rest of us aren’t yet, and you already want your supplies?” Minnie gave her a broad smile the rest of their siblings landed in the fireplace.

“Let’s go, first stop; Flourish and Blotts.” Lizy stated, brushing off the soot.

“Oi! New books!”

And soon they entered the quaint, little bookshop, and Brookline ventured off on her own, not needing to buy the same books as Minnie and Marie, no, she just wanted a new book. As she reached for a book, a small hand had snaked their way up under her arm. She backed away sheepishly.

“Ack, sorry!” She exclaimed, her voice a little high-pitched. “Uh, hi! You gonna be a little firstie at Hogwarts?”

ooc: since kaito is a 2025-26 first year, this thread is in August 2025, when both brookline and kaito grab their stuff for next year (:

It had been the weirdest, most chaotic summer of Kaito’s life. Sure, the summers before this year had been odd as well. It seemed weekly that their father hired a different babysitter to look after them while he was at work and they were on break. Each nanny was more suspicious than the last in little Kaito’s eyes. One had a very peculiar habit of changing hair colors every day. Another was older than Kaito had ever assumed a person could be. And the last one from the previous summer was almost normal, save for the weirdest looking scar on her hand.

Kaito had never really tried to get along with any of the nannies. They varied wildly in all aspects of personality and physicality, but no matter how different the next one was from the last, Kaito hated each. For them, there was always something to dislike about a person. But that was made even worse by the fact that each was more patronizing than the last, assuming Kaito to be the most incompetent child out there. It infuriated them. However, there was none of that this summer. Or this year, for that matter.

It had been a typical Dresden household birthday. Aaron smothering Kaito in the few perfect gifts he could afford and Kaito smiling their way through everything. Besides Christmas, birthdays were another thing that the child had always suffered through in order to provide their father some truly happy moments.

After the store-bought cake had been cut and eaten, there came a knock on the door. Kaito tilted their head to the side, trying to think of anyone who would care enough to show up and wish them a happy birthday. As usual, they came up null. Aaron gave them a quick squeeze around the shoulders and stood from their little dining table to answer the door.

He introduced himself as Professor Samuel Sauber. Kaito overheard the word “professor” and immediately hurried to the door to see, not one of the teachers from their school, but a man with a hardened expression and what appeared to be some sort of robe. After a curt exchange of pleasantries (if one could call it that) and a simple “happy birthday” the man invited himself in and requested that the little family find a seat.

It took Professor Sauber more than half an hour to explain everything, with the many questions from both Dresdens peppering him every two seconds. “Kaito is a witch,” the Professor would say simply. “Is there another word you could use?” Kaito would inquire. “What does that even mean?” Aaron would demand. So this went until both members of the Dresden family had fully heard the scope of the wizarding world.

After the arrival of the so-called professor earlier on in the year, Aaron had attempted to return his little family to some sense of normalcy. After school, Kaito would watch their father come home and frantically clean, organize, and fake smile at them, just for the sake of it. It almost felt as if he was trying to pretend nothing had happened at all. If anything, this frightened the newly-turned eleven year old more than the professor himself.

Aaron had struggled from week to week in this manner, pretending to be perfectly fine with the existence of the wizarding world and the fact that his child would be sent off to live there instead of with him. Kaito could almost see their father’s heart breaking every day he came home from his office.

But when Kaito pulled on their father’s arm and asked to go get supplies for this new adventure, things seemed to change. Aaron’s face twisted in an emotion Kaito couldn’t quite place and he was silent for an unsettling moment. There wasn’t anything he could do now, and he knew it. When that professor coldly informed him of Kaito’s magical talents, Aaron knew he had no choice. He had just been delaying the inevitable for the earlier half of the year.

It took the muggle and the muggle-born an immense amount of time to figure out how to get to Diagon alley from their little home in Kinsale. The trip was more than Aaron had ever bargained for, but the pleading look on his kid’s face made the whole thing more than worth it. Soon, Kaito was set to check off their first ever Hogwarts supply list.

The first store they wandered into was labeled Flourish and Blotts by a big sign out front. Glancing down at the parchment in their hand, Kaito determined that this was where a good bit of their supplies resided anyways. “Ok good,” they mumbled to themself.

Upon opening the door, however, it was clear that this shopping trip would take longer than intended. Kaito was pretty much immediately fascinated by the books, some of which were flying around their head, and the ancient looking pieces of parchment on the shelves. The moment of wonder was quickly ruined as a tall lanky kid slammed into them. “Watch it,” the other kid said sharply. Kaito only glared back in response before moving over to search the shelves.

“Magical Drafts and Potions,” the almost-first-year read outloud. A title on a shelf above their head caught Kaito’s eye and they promptly reached for it. “Oh-” Kaito grabbed the book and instantly took a step back as another’s hand brushed by them.

“Uh, hi! You gonna be a little firstie at Hogwarts?” For some reason, this rubbed the eleven year old the wrong way. They narrowed their eyes at the girl, trying to reason if the word “firstie” was an insult or not. “For your information, yes. I am getting supplies for my first year,” Kaito informed the older witch as a matter-of-factly.

permission given to godmod Samuel Sauber

august fourth 2025|top & shorts

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english| welsh

ℬrookline gave the first year a nervous half-smile, the smile not reaching her dark blue eyes. The eleven year-old narrowed their brow, and the Ravenclaw looked a bit confused. Was it because she had called the kid ‘firstie’?! She was getting more confused by the minute, and she wanted to know how she upset them. She wanted to make this right. Brookline was sure almost everything liked her, safe for her father, of course. He had came back that Easter break, and told her that he had been wrong for leaving but he didn’t love her enough to stay, she guessed.

The younger wizard (or witch I’m not too sure lol), explained that they were getting supplies for first year. The Welsh girl nodded, and started to bounce in the balls of her heels. Her smile grew huge, and reached her dark blue eyes. Sparkles formed, and now Brookline was smiling a real smile. She was happy a bit today. Though, she knew it wouldn’t last for long.

Brookline got a little excited, she remembered her first year. She was so much more comfortable, so much more lively, so much like herself, and so much not depressed. She was happy, in her first year. “Oh my Merlin, you’re going to have so much fun. First year was the best. Good luck with your classes!”

The Welsh girl realized she might have went off the rabbit trail just but so she backed up a little, and smoothing down her blouse, Brookline wiggled her toes in her sneakers. She smiled at the younger year, and she nodded at them.

“Well. I’m Brookline,” She started, her voice short, before she stepped forward. “And you are...?” She held out her hand for a handshake. She remembered there was a first year, last year, who wanted to shake hands as a sign of greeting and Brookline had been so annoyed over it. She hadn’t ever seen a first year shake before. Let alone greet themself in a polite manner. She even surprised herself by pretending to be nice.

Brookline smiled brightly, again, the smile not reaching her eyes quite and the smile only hurt a little bit. She was getting there.

ooc: since kaito is a 2025-26 first year, this thread is in August 2025, when both brookline and kaito grab their stuff for next year (:

─────Kaito watched as a big smile formed on the girl’s face. It brought a genuine light to her eyes, which only made the younger child’s expression soften a little. In that moment, the witch reminded Kaito a lot of their own father. The way he would smile when giving them a gift on Christmas. The way his eyes lit up when Kaito told him anything remotely positive that happened at school.

It almost made them feel a bit sad. Not because they wouldn’t see their father again. They knew he would be around them for as long as humanly possible. But because after Kaito’s journey to Hogwarts, he didn’t have anyone to smile at when he was happy. Nobody to come home to after his mundane desk job.

Part of the kid wondered if Aaron would be okay. Obviously he would get through it. If not for himself than for his child. But would he be the same when Katio returned to him the following summer? Would he still be as happy and energetic as they always saw him to be? Or would the distance from his only living kin take away the light in his eyes that Kaito saw so faintly in this girl’s face now?

The light frown returned to Kaito’s face, fraught with worry for the future. Stress that was much too premature. They could only nod when the witch wished them good luck. Kaito knew they could do good in classes, of course. But having fun? They knew that that was really going to be the hard part.

It took them an awkwardly long moment to realize that this was an invitation to introduce themself, but quickly they took the older girl’s hand and gave it a small shake. ”Kaito Dresden,” they announced. Then, realizing that that was an even more awkward thing to leave the conversation at, they added ”I’m new to all of this”

With the hand they had shook Brookline’s with, the younger wand-holder gestured around the store, trying to convey that by “all of this” they meant the wizarding world as a whole. So far, they hadn’t really talked to a wizard or witch, save for the professor that had explained everything a few months ago.

Kaito wasn’t quite sure how to tell who was or wasn’t familiar with magic, but considering this girl had already been through her first year at Hogwarts, it was safe to assume she at least knew more than Kaito did. Hopefully by knowing someone a year or so ahead of them, the new wand-holder would be able to glean more information about their new life. And their new school.

Unintentionally being more outgoing than usual, Kaito surprised themself by asking questions ”What house are you in?

august fourth 2025|top & shorts

xxx

xxx

english| welsh

ℬrookline was happy. Happier than she was for a long time. She felt free, and she was glad that she popped into Flourish and Blotts, because this, inch by inch, was freeing her from all the demons, all the voices, all the unpleasant memories. Everything.

She was free. For the moment.

The younger kid's face seemed to slacker, and in fact, it seemed like there was a spirit lifting inside them. Even just for a little bit. Just like her. She studied the first year's, and the soft expression harden and disappeared just like that. Brookline let her real smile slip from her face, not account to the first year, but because there were heavy bricks on her shoulders again, there were voices slightly whispering around her ears, and she slumped in her shoes.

The Welsh girl noticed when she wished them luck, the silent kid only nodded. She wasn't upset or anything. She just noticed something. That was what she did. Poor, quiet, sad Brookline did that. She would nod, and say short sentences and that was that.

That was that.

Brookline stood there for a while, waiting for the younger first year introduce themself. She looked really stupid, standing there, with a short arm extended out, with a small fake smile plastered on her face. She would of done anything, anything, to go ahead and run away. The voices started to taunt her, to haunt her, everything! And she hated it. She wished, oh how badly she wished, she could scream her anger to the sky, and rot away, shouting til she was hoarse, and she wished she would keep screeching.

But. She couldn't. Brookline could not. She was older than she was. She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't even scream her woes to the sky. She would be mature. She would be happy. Scratch that. She would try to happy.

Then, just then, the kid shook her hand and introduced themself. Brookline nodded quickly, and the first year remarked, sweeping their hand across the little shop, most likely meaning the wizarding world. "I’m new to all of this."

Pretty sure this kid, Kaito, they're a Muggle-born. That wouldn't surprise me if they are, Brookline thought. Most Muggle-borns in general, were almost always overwhelmed, just like young witches and wizards raised in the wizarding world. Pure-bloods, like her, were confused at Hogwarts, for the most part.

She let out a hollow laugh.

FAKE, A voice curled around her ears, and made her cringe.

Brookline ignored it for now, with a mountain-sized effort to, and nodded understandingly, (mostly forced), took two steps, taking in a deep breath before she smiled knowingly. "Oh yes," She uttered quietly, "Every first year is, including pure-bloods." She didn't elaborate. She could have told Kaito that she was a pure-blood, and that she was mightily confused and new to most at Hogwarts. She also could have told the muggle-born that what a pure-blood really was.

But she didn't. Of course she didn't. That was Old Brookline. Of course it was.

Brookline nodded again, more so for herself, and to ground herself. Then just as she was thinking of an nifty excuse, a nimble escape, a polite but quick hey, I gotta leave. See you around? but the first year asked a question.

Her house. Her palms started to sweat. Real bad. (She was so glad she wasn't still shaking the kid's hand). What was her house? She forgot. She never used to forget her Hogwarts house. That was her identity. Her rock. It was almost like she had forgotten her own self.

She did, though.

Honestly, it was a pretty stupid thing of her to do. To forget? When she's usually smart?

Oh, wait. She's smart. Smart. Witty. I'm suppsed to be wise. Ravenclaws are wise, Brookline thought, I'm a Ravenclaw. I'm supposed to be smart. Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart. Was she?

Not so smart now, huh? The whisper came in slow, and quiet, but at smart, the whisper turned into a shout.

Brookline wanted to clamp her palms in her ears. If, just for one day, literally one day, she could forget those whispers, she would be happy. But forgetting her house? It made her want to puke. Or die.

Then, she realized that she still needed to answer. She nodded to the kid once again (how many more times will she nod??!), suddenly just as her words was to leave her small lips, her mouth went totally dry.

First sweaty palms, and than dry mouths?! This never ever happened. I'm making a terrible first expression.

Brookline coughed, and then cleared her throat.

Then finally! The words finally tumbled out of her mouth.

"Uh. Ravenclaw."

One word. One pitiful word. Brookline realized that Old Brookline would have already been asking a different question, and than waited an answer, then asked another question, and would of never gotten sweaty palms or dry mouths.

Okay. Calm down, Brookline, she thought, Take a deep breath. You're fine.

You are fine. More than fine. You’re great. You’re not dying. You’re fine.

Brookline tried to hype herself up, but it wasn’t working, in fact, it made her feel more empty inside. Of course it did! Everything did. It was just that thing that sucked, and it happened with the rest of herself disappearing slowly and quietly.

Empty.

She quite liked that word, if she did say so herself. Old Brookline would not like that pitiful word, but New Brookline did, with all her turning-dark heart.

As they said, Evil is not born, evil is made. She had never understood til now. But she knew who made it happen. And she knew who let it happen. She knew it. She just did.

Brookline decided she would ask her new acquaintance what house they were thinking they would like. She took another relieving puff of air, almost shivering, cringing from the horribly terrible voices.

“You? I mean... what house are you thinking you might be in?”

And.... that would be all she would say for now. Brookline just wanted to crawl into a small, rotting hole and die. Okay, maybe not completely die, but still, perhaps, disappear from humanity. It’s like no-one would care, right?

No-one cares about you, the voice fibbed sneakily, but Brookline believed it. She believed it in all her slowly blackening heart.

Of course she did. That was New Brookline. New Brookline was plagued by horrible nightmares nightmareish whispers, and she was cursed with the most horrible luck ever, and the worst father in the world.

Of course she did.

ooc: this reply was mostly written on another device, hence the change from these "" quotation marks to these: “”.

─────The way Brookline so easily mentioned that every first year was new made Kaito feel as if a brick had suddenly been lifted off their mind. For a lot of their life, Kaito had struggled with the anxiety of presenting just like everyone else did. Of fitting in. So when it sounded like everyone else would, for once, be in the same predicament all the way around, it made them feel marginally more at ease.

They felt a small smile grow onto their face, just enough to not be a grimace. Kaito’s brain kept moving, though, even when they genuinely felt reassured. What if the upper years made fun of the first years all the time? What if wizards from houses other than their future one were mean? What if muggleborns like them were set apart from everyone else? Kaito didn’t want to stand out normally, but especially not in that way.

Attempting to pull themself out of their thoughts again, the future first year looked up at Brookline, just in time to notice a flash of panic before she began to answer Kaito’s question. Their tiny smile faltered, replaced with a familiar expression of worry. One that plagued them many times at home when they saw the stress of life poke through their father’s chipper exterior. Did Brookline struggle with the same stresses? Or was she plagued with anxiety that Kaito knew only too well?

Kaito only nodded when the witch identified herself as a Ravenclaw. It made sense to the observant child, having noted the quiet joy Brookline seemed to have when they first noticed her. Only a studious Ravenclaw would have such a feeling about them when in a bookstore.

“I want to be a Ravenclaw,” Kaito admitted out loud for the first time. After looking into a bit of Hogwarts history already, they were heavily drawn to the wit that characterized the house of Rowena Ravenclaw. “But I don’t know for sure.” They didn’t want to seem picky, especially when they really weren’t. In all honesty, the kid would’ve been fine with any house, just so long as they could find a quiet spot to thrive in.

“I think I’m just…” they paused, looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping for no reason “nervous.” Kaito wasn’t entirely sure why they had felt like admitting such a thing to a stranger. But something about the older girl did feel slightly comforting. An only child themself, Kaito had noticed that often older siblings had experience protecting younger ones. It seemed that Brookline had such protective energy, if only just a little bit. Or perhaps Kaito was completely off the mark. They glanced at the floor, worried they had overstepped somehow.