"Good morning," Rose's little brother, Gabe, turned from the waffle maker as Rose arrived downstairs.
"Good morning," Jessica echoed, already seated and eating her waffles.
"Morning," she said sleepily, slumping down at the kitchen table.
"What's the occasion?"
"Well, I'm so proud of you for noticing," Gabe said, leaning against the counter.
"You know, you are so bright- I woke up and I realized that today is a very important day."
"Is it?" Rose mused, continuing the sarcasm.
"Yes! Today is August second. And do you know what that means?"
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Gabe-"
"Yes, exactly! Gabe. That's exactly what it means." He gestured with the fork in his hand.
"August second. Two and eight. That makes ten. And you know who is a ten out of ten? Me! So I decided this morning that today, August second, should be Worldwide Gabriel Moon Day. What do you think?"
Jessica shot him a look, but Rose just smirked.
"You know I can legally hex you now, right?"
Jessica pulled a small box from her lap and pushed it across the table to Rose.
"Here, Rose."
"Thanks, Jess," Rose said, her smile for her sister much warmer as she opened the box. A golden ring sat inside with a horse on it.
Rose looked up to her sister.
"It's like your patronus. Like Faith," Jessica said quietly. She smiled.
"Happy Birthday."
"Aww, Jess, thank you-" Rose leaned over the table to hug her little sister, holding on just a moment longer before pulling away.
"I love it." She put the ring on, admiring it on her finger.
"Oh, it's your birthday?" Gabe asked. He sighed, unplugged the waffle maker, and set a plate of waffles in front of Rose, somehow shaped like a cat's face, piled up with strawberries and chocolate and whipped cream. It looked like heaven.
"I completely forgot. I guess I'll have to reschedule Worldwide Gabriel Moon Day," he grinned, sitting down to eat his own.
"Happy Birthday, Rose."
Rose rolled her eyes, suppressing a smile.
"I'll hex you later."
"Hey, I made you waffles! Look- it looks like a cat, see? That took me a long time."
"He drew a diagram," Jessica added.
Rose laughed, digging into her waffles.
"How very Ravenclaw of you. Thank you. Frankie would be proud." She paused.
"Where is Frankie, anyway? I can't imagine he'd pass up waffles."
Her older brother, Franklin, had just graduated Hogwarts and through his impressive grades and an excellent interview, he had already bagged an entry-level position at the Ministry of Magic. He was still, however, working on finding a place of his own, something that their mother, while often having to be at work herself, was not rushing in the slightest.
"He..." Gabe and Jess exchanged smiles.
"You'll see," Jessica concluded.
"What does that mean?" Rose's heart sank.
"Is he at work? I know he took off for dinner tonight, but I didn't know he'd have to go early-"
"No, he took off work all day. And he already ate," Jessica said.
"He..."
"You'll see," Gabe echoed, the mischievous smile lingering on his face.
After finishing her waffles, Rose headed up the stairs, and knocked on her brother's door.
"Frankie?"
Peeking inside, Frankie looked like he'd been caught committing a crime.
"You're awake," he said.
"...Yeah," Rose said, skeptically. His room, usually neat and tidy, looked like a tornado had run through it.
"Have you been... stress studying?"
He grimaced.
"Yeah."
"But you don't even have any classes to study for anymore."
"Well... yeah." He got up from his desk, which was not the only surface covered in papers and books, and crossed his arms, smiling. "I'm just... really excited about today. I have a surprise for you."
Rose let the door open all the way, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Meet me downstairs dressed and ready?"
The redhead narrowed her eyes at him, but couldn't help but smirk. She had no idea what this surprise could be.
"Okay... what should I wear?"
"You can't get any clues out of me," Frankie grinned.
"But something casual. Not pajamas."
~
It was twenty minutes later, and Rose was ready. She was dressed in overalls that kinda made her feel like a hippie, with a little bit of makeup and her shoes on, and her wand was tucked into her pocket. She doubted that she'd need it, but it felt good just to have it. Just to know that she could cast spells if she wanted to.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said, arriving in the living room.
Frankie smiled, handing her the bag of floo powder that rested on their family room mantle.
"Incendio," he murmured, pointing his pine wand at the fireplace. Rose grabbed a handful of powder and handed it back to him.
"Our destination... is Wild Hearts Creature Sanctuary."
"What-"
"All your questions will soon be answered," he said, in an effort to sound mysterious.
"I'll be right behind you."
"Okay," she said, tossing her floo powder into the fire and watching it turn green. She let out a breath to steady herself, and stepped into the fireplace.
"Wild Hearts Creature Sanctuary."
The sensation of traveling by floo wasn't something Rose was sure she would ever really enjoy. It was incredibly useful, of course, but also wildly dizzying. Rose stumbled out the other side, fighting to keep her balance. She looked up, and she was in... a magical place.
She was in what seemed to be a ginormous atrium- a glass dome, broken up only by the sparkling golden supports, four doorways, and the fireplace she just walked out of. It had a small pond in the middle, framed in a stone path that stretched an arm toward each of the doors as well as the fireplace. The place was filled with grass and a few trees, reaching up towards the top of the dome. Everything stopped to watch the sunbeams filtering through the green leaves and reflect off the pond, quiet in an enchanting way. She watched a bright pink bird fly from one branch to another.
In her awe, Rose didn't even hear the flash behind her that signaled Frankie had, as promised, been right behind her. And she didn't notice a middle-aged, dark-skinned witch come through one of the doors.
"Ah. You must be Rose."
The redhead turned around to see her. She was quite beautiful, and the wrinkles and gray hairs just starting to form only seemed to add to it.
"Hello," Rose said, turning to her as she stopped in front of the redhead and her brother.
"I've heard so much about you. My name is Tindra Ashvin. I am the director of the Wild Hearts Creature Sanctuary," she said, holding out her hand for Rose to shake, which she did.
"Creature Sanctuary?"
"Why, yes. We protect, care for, and research many different types of magical beasts here, which I'm told you are very interested in," she continued.
Rose turned, in awe, to her brother.
"How did you-"
"I met her at the Ministry. She had some business there, and we ended up chatting for just a minute," he shrugged.
"She said she'd be happy to give a tour to an aspirant Magizoologist."
"A tour?!"
Frankie grinned.
"Happy Birthday, Rose."
~
It was, honestly, the best gift Rose had ever been given.
The Entry Atrium was reasonably quiet- the only creatures in there were Bowtruckles, Jobberknolls, and Fwoopers, all either under silencing charms or not particularly talkative. Tindra (She had insisted Rose call her Tindra, despite all of Rose's social programming to call her by her last name or at least Miss Tindra) showed Rose many of their enclosures, giving stories and fun facts about the creatures inside. A demiguise even stared right at her, which Tindra said it wasn't usual for him to even stay visible around strangers. They took a walk through the open outside space, and Tindra pointed out the herds of winged horses and unicorns, and noticed the spark in Rose's eyes when they saw the hippogriffs, so she let her say hi.
"You know, Rose, I am impressed by you," Tindra said, stroking one of the hippogriffs.
"Not only your knowledge of magical creatures, but your gentility and passion for them. Anyone can read a book and tell me that hippogriffs are proud, but not everyone can truly understand them."
Rose, who had earned the trust of one handsome brown hippogriff, smiled.
"Thank you. I don't know why, but to me, they just... make sense, you know?"
"Hippogriffs or all creatures?"
"All of them. They're kinda like people- every one is different. And I like that about them." She scratched the hippogriff (Tindra said his name was Potato) under his chin, and he leaned into her before shooting an untrusting glance at Frankie. The former Ravenclaw had kept his distance from most of the animals, which Rose understood.
"Perhaps this is a premature comment-" Tindra said, thoughtfully.
"-since you have yet to graduate, but I need more people like you working here at the sanctuary. Kind and firm." She stroked the neck feathers of the hippogriff in front of her, laying them smooth.
"And passionate. If you're ever looking for work to help you on your way to being a magizoologist, please stop by."
"...Are you serious?"
"As an Augrey before a thunderstorm," Tindra said, a twinkle in her eye as she smiled at Rose.
The redhead smiled back.
"Thank you. And thank you so much for the tour."
"Oh, I enjoyed it. I hope it was a good birthday."
Rose looked over her shoulder at her brother.
"It was perfect."
