Uncle Henry! Solo

It had been a regular day in the Rotanski household, if you excluded the fact that there were two new pets that were not living there just a few weeks ago. Pyce had been reading up about brooms from one of the books in their mother’s collection. They were seated at the dining room table, a forgotten sandwich sitting on a plate in front of them.

And then there was a knock at the door. Visitors were far from rare, so Pyce hopped out of their seat and bounded over to the front door. One quick glance out the window had Pyce throwing the door open.

“Uncle Henry!” They cheered happily, running into the man’s arms. Henry, an old friend of Pyce’s mom, scooped Pyce up and twirled them around.

“Hey, hatchling! I heard you went school shopping!” Henry set Pyce back on the ground and herded the excited 11-year-old into the house, closing and locking the front door behind them.

“Yeah! Mum got us pets!!” Pyce ran over to the dining room table, where their book still was. Not too far from it was an enchanted rock with a small lizard napping on it. “This is Horrorcow!” Henry tousled Pyce’s hair.

“A mighty fine dragon she is.” Pyce beamed. “Is your brother up yet?”

“Mm. Maybe. He keeps sleeping in because it’s summer.” Pyce pouted. Lazy was what it was. But Pyce couldn’t fault him, they’d probably sleep in too, if they actually enjoyed it. “I can wake him up if he isn’t already.”

“You go do that.” Henry nodded and Pyce ran upstairs. They knocked on Hecate’s door and waited. There weren’t any sounds coming from inside the room. Pyce waited a few seconds before knocking again. Still nothing.

“Hecate! Uncle Henry’s here!” Alas, Hecate’s room remained silent. Pyce glared at the door before heading into their room and acquiring a small coin. It was a muggle coin of some kind, and Pyce isn’t even sure where they got it. Actually, they had their suspicions, but now was not the time. Pyce made quick work of the simple lock on Hecate’s door and turned the handle. Hecate was, in fact, still sleeping. Pyce stared for a long moment. They walked around over to Hecate’s bed and poked his cheek. Hecate sleepily batted their hand away. “You need to get up.”

“Noo. It’s too early.” Hecate whined sleepily, turning away from Pyce.

“It’s past 12.” No response. “And Uncle Henry’s here.” Hecate shot up.

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me!” He got himself out of bed and zipped out of his room.

“I did!” Pyce called after him, walking rather than running back downstairs. By the time they made it back down, Hecate was already in one of Henry’s bear hugs, frog-like smile on his face.

“I take it he was still sleeping?”

“Of course he was.” Pyce complained.

“Well, thank you for getting him.” The child beamed. Hecate huffed.

“I’m right here...” He grumbled. Henry set Hecate down and the boy immediately left for the kitchen.

“So, I’m sure you’re both wondering why I’m here, what with school right around the corner.” Hecate got over his grumpiness to stare curiously. “Your mum’s at work, but you both need to get packed. Considering you’re both going to summer camp first!”

“We’re going to summer camp?!” Hecate cheered.

“We are? But- We’re not students yet...”

“Not a problem. You two can go to camp, meet some students, and a few first years. Socialization, if you will. Now, what’s top of your packing list?” Henry pulled a notepad and quill from... Somewhere.

“Clothes.” Pyce said, stating the obvious. Henry scribbled it down.

“Moxy and Horrorcow.” Hecate chirped. Pyce whipped their head around to face their twin.

“You think we can bring pets?!”

“You can.” Henry replied.

“Oh. In that case, yeah, they’d make the top of the list. Moxx and the bitty baby, then clothes. Then, um. Our school stuff. And our wands. Then extra stuff, like Circus.” Pyce counted each object off on their fingers. With each one, Henry added it to the list he was making. With the list done, he set it on the table, where both twins would be able to come back and read it. If they needed to. Pyce doubted they would need it. Hecate not so much.

“Okay!” Henry clapped his hands together. “Do you want to race?” Pyce saw their brother grinning like a maniac before shaking their head frantically. “No prize, but you can go for it. Ready?” Pyce tensed, Hecate giggled. “Set.” They sucked in a short breath. It was always something fun with Uncle Henry, but Pyce did not need to deal with Hecate’s competitive streak. “Go!”

The twins bolted back upstairs and into their rooms. Pyce’s school supplies had all been piled together, so it was easy to grab. Next, they nabbed a couple outfits from their closet. Quite a few sweater vests and collared shirts, they had a style, after all. Some regular sweaters for the cold months, as well as a few hoodies and t-shirts for whenever casualness called. Pyce knew that Hogwarts hosted many balls, but they didn’t want to deal with formal wear right now. So they didn’t.

After that were the less important things. Their old journal, filled to the brim with subpar dragon drawings and notes on Hecate. It was a silly thing they started back when they first read the How to Train Your Dragon books and had never quite gotten rid of.

Pyce stared at it for a long moment before tearing out the sketch pages, leaving only the title page and the one on Hecate. Pyce grabbed a pencil with a partially used eraser and erased the title that had originally been there. After a short moment, they settled on writing down the words ‘A Personal Guide to Friend and Foe’ and underneath that ‘By Pyce D. Rotanski.’ They shut the book and placed it with the rest of the things they had gathered.

A few other sentimental items were gathered up, as well as Pyce’s favorite stuffed animal companion, a crochet possum named Circus. Circus was a colorful creature, and Pyce would hate to spend a whole school year separated from her. So she was packed too.

Pyce made it back downstairs rather quickly, in their opinion. And in a far more organized fashion than Hecate, if the noise from his room was anything to go off of. Hecate seemed to still be in his room, as Henry was the only one at the bottom of the stairs. He was looking at the various pictures and drawings Pyce’s mom kept in a drawer in the kitchen. A sentimental drawer, filled with everything from kindergarten age crafts to pictures from last week. Pyce dropped their things on the ground, getting Henry’s attention.

“Great job, Pie. Looks like you got Hecate beat.” He smiled, and Pyce smiled right back.

They weren’t all too sure about camp yet, but the start of the school year was so close! They could handle it, no problem. And, at the very least, Hecate would be by their side until they were both sorted.

Hecate half stumbled down the stairs and nearly spilled his things next to Pyce’s, goofy grin on his face.

Yeah. Hecate was a pretty good person for Pyce to have.

WC: 1228	Interacting With: @
Extra Notes: Reducio Finally getting around to establishing Henry as a part of the twins' lives. While they don't know he's their uncle by blood, they do still call him uncle because he's their mom's best friend. Also, the aforementioned Circus: Reducio While that is not my picture, I do own such a creature	Outfit: Reducio A soft, yellow t-shirt and jeans