We weren't in America for long when I was little. I remember Boston, but it always felt like a holiday whenever we were there. Especially due to what happened on Halloween of 81' at Godric's Hollow because of that we stayed in Britiania long term only going back to the states for hoildays, but I like the kingdom better anyways. My parents both don't know that I know, but the reason we stayed here was because Dad has been trying to prove that the man imprisoned in Azkaban forthe incident was wrongly accused for the past nineyears. He hasn't been able to prove it because the man he believes actually did it was supposedly killed during everything that happened.

It's not like Boston and its wizarding community are bad; it's literally American wizard central—I mean, Salem is like an hour away and everything—they also don't care about blood relations nearly as much. Every pureblood in America is either descended from native magical families or from purebloods who came from somewhere else. We spend almost every summer there, and we alternate where we spend Christmas each year. Still, the kingdom has always felt freer than America. No question—the Scottish Highlands are thousands of times more my preference than whatever my brothers and cousins have in New England.

I do miss my family. A lot actually.

The Parr side was always much more spread out than the Kimura side. All my magical cousins on Dad's side have either already graduated from Hogwarts or won't start until after I graduate, so I'm all alone.

But I like being all alone.

I get to be me instead of my siblings' strange little sister like I was back in primary school.

I also finally have friends.

Friends who see me.

Friends who think.

Not people who just tolerate me because they know my siblings.

But being weird is fun.

Especially when your friends are just as weird.

As if on cue, the twins appeared behind me. They always tried to be sneaky, but there's something about the Parrs and our ability to sense magic, especially pure magic like theirs.

“You know, it's starting to get—” Fred's unusually high voice began.

“A little concerning how much—” George continued, his voice high too, though not quite as high as Fred's.

“You have your face in a book.” They said finishing the sentence together. I'm starting to think they only do that to freak me out but I'm too used to my own siblings, who are fraternal twins, doing this to mess with people to be so.

Fred was eating the last of the candy mix I'd gotten them for their birthday. I had asked Tonks to pick something up for me during the latest Hogsmeade trip since first- and second-years weren't allowed to go. I'd told her I didn't care what she bought, handed her the money, and she'd returned with a few assorted mixes.

Their birthday had been two weeks ago. I have to applaud the twins' patience sometimes.

That reminds me, I need to send something for Emery's birthday soon. In two more weeks, he'll be thirteen, and then we'll have to wait another nine months before we're the same age again. I jotted it down in my open notebook.

Get something for Emery — birthday May 4th. Wizard mail, maybe.

“You and your books,” Fred muttered as he sat down beside me.

“Shut up, Fred. You sound like a chipmunk.”

Fred scoffed, then looked even more offended when he noticed George silently laughing at my comment.“C'mon, don't agree with her. What even is a chipmunk?”

He shoved George's shoulder, which somehow turned into a bizarre tug-of-war. The two of them kept trying to push each other off the stone bench. It was shove after shove until Fred pushed George a little too hard. George grabbed onto my arm to steady himself, and if I hadn't planted my feet and shifted most of my weight onto my right side—the side he was on—we both would've fallen off. Instead, George used the momentum to shove Fred clean off the bench.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Payback,” George scoffed.

I've known the twins long enough to know that, despite our age and everything else, they carry around a surprising number of emotions, especially bottled-up ones. I don't know if it's because they're the middle siblings in a family of seven or because they share almost everything, from the same style of clothes to the same thoughts and ideas, but there's always been something simmering beneath the surface.

One twin hid it better than the other.

Then again, I've heard the story about how Fred turned their little brother's toy into a spider because he was angry with him, so maybe one of them has always just been more obvious about it.

I noticed Fred wasn’t really paying attention to George but was fixated on something under the bench before he reached underneath where he had been sitting.

“It’s a Moonlight Lily. I thought these only bloomed at night.” Fred held up a lily that looked like a basic lily, but it was more star-shaped, with a blue center instead of the normal yellow.

“I thought they also bloomed when there was a high concentration of magic around. That’s why so many are by the house around this time of year.”

Yeah, of course the twins would have more magical experiences than me. They’re purebloods with nine people in their immediate family alone. Their dad is also in charge of a whole division that deals with non-magical objects that got misused by wizards. That house is probably overflowing with magic, unlike mine. The Parrs have basically lived in the same area of Cardiff for years, but we haven't been purebloods since the mid-1700s, so we don’t have as many magical creatures and wildlife around like the twins would have when their family, the Lovegoods, and the Diggorys all live in the same area.

“Then why aren’t there more around, George?” Fred asked his brother sarcastically.

George scoffed. “I don’t know. We haven’t gotten there yet in Herbology.”

Fred handed me the flower he picked. “Here, this reminds me of you.”

“Why would you say that? I’m—”

“Don’t you dare make a joke about skin tone, Honey Badger. It’s because of the blue. Your hair’s black, but it always seemed like it had some blue in it.”

Fred wasn’t wrong. When we first met, I had some blue streaks in my hair.

“I mean, which is weird because you’re a Hufflepuff and not a Ravenclaw,” George added, earning a slap on the shoulder from Fred behind my back.

I grabbed the flower from Fred’s hand. “Thanks, I guess.”

I placed it on top of my notebook and closed it so the stem would be pressed between the pages.

“So, are we gonna bring up the thing we came here for?” George asked.

I was confused before Fred spoke up. “Oh, right. We were gonna show you tonight, but someone forgot the thing, George. Meet us in the library after Potions tomorrow.”

They’re asking me this when we have Potions together? “We have Potions together?”

“Yeah, but it’s a secret, so we can’t show you the thing in class.”

The two kept emphasizing the words “the thing” It was weird. I don’t understand why they’re being so secretive when they’re probably talking about the parchment we found in Filch’s office. This is what I meant when I said it’s hard to be considered weird when other people are just as equally insane.

I should get back to my dorm before dinner.

“Alright, then. I don’t know why you keep emphasizing ‘the thing,’ but I’m gonna head back to the basement before dinner. See you guys then.”

They waved me off as I headed back to the basement. Sometimes I’m jealous that the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws have their towers—never the Slytherins and their dungeons—but then I remember the basement doesn’t have to deal with the weather as much. Unless a leak happens, and we’re all goners since we’re underground for the most part. Another thing is that we have a password that’s very hard to crack, unlike everyone else. Slytherin and Gryffindor have passwords you can just guess if you’re smart enough, and Ravenclaw’s is a riddle you have to solve. Something else you just have to be smart to figure out.

Some fourth-years were already tapping the barrel and opening the door when I got to the staircase leading down to the basement. Then I saw some pink hair and realized it wasn’t just some fourth-years.

“Parr!” Tonks basically shouted as she waved me over.

Tonks was a friend of Charlie’s, and like Noelle, she could change her hair at will, but she liked keeping it a pinkish color, just like Noelle liked to keep hers in braids.

“How was Transfiguration?”

“Eh, I don’t know how you and Noelle are so good at it.”

Tonks chuckled, patting my back. “It just comes naturally to me and her.”

Tonks soon bid me farewell as she had something to do, which probably meant she had homework to do that Charlie had already given her the answers for. Tonks was really smart, but Charlie convinced her to take a class she didn’t like, and now he just gave her the answers. It was crazy for the prefect to pull that, but she did the same for him in different classes.

I found Professor Sprout looking after some of the potted plants in the common room. You could find Professor Sprout in five places if you needed her: the greenhouses when it was class time, the Great Hall when it was time for meals, the common room, or her office. The greenhouses were practically on the roof of the common room, and while her main office was there, they were also outside, so she kept a smaller office connected to the common room for her things as well.

I didn’t want to bother her, so I waited until she was done tending to the plants. I think she could tell I was waiting for her. The thing about Professor Sprout was that she liked calling us things other than “Miss“ and “Mister.“ She liked calling Noelle, me, and some of the others “dearest.“

“Oh, Augustine, dearest. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, Professor. One of the Weasley twins in Gryffindor found this lily and gave it to me. I was wondering if there was a spell or something to preserve it.”

I pulled the lily out of my notebook and showed it to her. Professor Sprout’s eyes widened a bit. “A Moonlight Lily. Where was this?”

“Under one of the benches in the courtyard. I know they mainly bloom at night, so I’m guessing it didn’t close because it was in the bench’s shadow.”

“Yes, that is possible,” she said after a pause. “They usually don’t grow within the castle walls. They’re usually found by the lake.”

Professor Sprout looked at the lily between her fingers. “Nonetheless, come with me.”

Professor Sprout led me to the small office she had off the common room. It was covered in plants like everywhere else in the basement, but it also had a bunch of other things: a stack of essays, another painting of Helga Hufflepuff, a broomstick signed by some age-old Quidditch star hanging on the wall, and various miscellaneous items. She placed the flower on her desk.

“Don’t tell the others I showed you this. You’re not supposed to learn it for a few more years.”

“Okay.”

I nodded before she waved her wand and muttered a charm toward the flower. A bubble-like film developed around it. It was like the lily was suspended in water but frozen in place. It was incredible.

Professor Sprout picked up the bubble and held it out to me. The bubble stayed perfectly intact in her hand.

“Here you go, dearest. The charm I just used is meant to preserve plants for traveling. The bubble will reshape itself to fit whatever space it’s in or on, so if you place it on a table, the bottom will flatten.”

I took the bubble from her hands and held it in my own. “Thank you, Professor. You’re the best.”

“No problem. I wouldn’t let a pretty flower go to waste.”

I brought the bubble back to the girls' dormitory. There were six of us girls, but only five shared the room because Callie Blythe, a pureblood girl who had even worse social anxiety than I did, also had severe asthma and needed a no-maj machine to help her breathe while she slept. Making have a smaller room to herself. It was either that or have the rest of us deal with the noise from the machine because not even magic could mask it or help her condition.

“What’s that?” Noelle asked as I placed the bubble on the bedside table next to my bed.

“Professor Sprout didn’t say what the charm was called, but it preserves plants. One of the Weasley twins found a Moonlight Lily and gave it to me. Professor Sprout helped preserve it.”

Noelle hummed without looking up from the book in her lap.

“Was it George?”

I felt something twist in the pit of my stomach at her question. I decided to brush it off, along with the question itself.

“No, it was Fred. He found it under the bench I was sitting on.”

And if on queue, she clicked her tongue. “Okay, whatever you say.”

Noelle would swear on her life that I had a crush on one of them, George specifically, but I personally believed otherwise. He always found a way to get on my nerves. I mean, they both got on my nerves, but George was always finding new ways to irritate me more than Fred, despite Fred being the louder and more outgoing twin.

It was quiet in the library the next day. I saw the twins in class, I sat across from them and everything but they run off as soon as Professor Snape dismissed us. I hate how all the books here are magical books. From books of spells, magical history, animals, to books made by wizard or witches like Gideon or was it Glideroy, Lockhart. There were no plain old books made by them. Not even the children books. I'd have to ask mom to send me more non-maj books. She sent me two bunches of them on my birthday and I've already ran through them and even read some twice, one of them being the one i'm reading right now.

It went dark. Someone's hands slipped over my eyes. A voice rang through. “Guess who?”

The voice was only dogs could hear making it Fred. “Fred, you know this trick never works”

He whined removing his hands from my eyes and placing his head on top of mine. “You're mean, you that, August?”

“Only to you” He tapped my shoulder in response before wrapping his arms around my shoulders making me feel his body press against the chair behind me. I noticed George wasn't there. “Where's Georgie?”

“In the loo.” He paused. “I thought you said we need to be apart more often”

“I mean it's nice you guys don't accompany each other to the toilet when it's not needed” I replied. “But I didn't mean it like that”

He laid the side of his head on my head for a second before letting go and sliding into the chair next to me. “Haven't you already read that one?”

“Yes,” I said putting my bookmark in and shutting my book. “I know. I need to send a letter to my mom asking for more”

“Mom,” He quipped. The twins thought the way I was the funniest thing in the world. My accent was a mix of my mother's American and my dad's british. The closest thing to call it would be botched transatlantic but it wasn't like that. Me and my siblings, not sure about Cove at the moment though, picked up things from our mom and her side of the family and others from dad and his . Even spelling. I spell words like colour, favourite, etc like everyone else here while others like realize, aluminum, and really anything that Americans spell with a 'Z', is like an American. The twins love how I made an 'ah' sound instead of an 'uh' like everyone else making fun of it and rhyming it with words like 'Palm'. making me sure that one day these two freakishly tall for being twelve year olds goblins will be the death of me one day.

I side eyed Fred, “I'm not in the mood right now for you making fun of me for the way I talk when your voice is so practically a dog whistle”

Fred pouted , whined, and proceeded to blow his cheeks out. “Like I said before you're so mean, you know that”

“I know”

A laugh rang out behind us. It was George. “At least, she's honest about it”

“Unlike someone” Fred replied to his twin. Both of them looked at each other before they clearly came to some sort of a agreement that allowed George reached into his bag and pulled the parchment we got from Filch's office.

“Can you look at this?” Fred asked.

“We were messing around with it the other night and it started opening—well we think— but stop” George added placing the paper down on the table. “It had words appear and everything”

“Well what did you say?”

“Okay, so we sitting in the window inbetween our bunks, right?” Fred started saying “and one of us made a comment about being up to no good—”

“And the other said “Well, I am up to no good but”and the words started appearing but stopped after it after a moment” George continued.

“So, the phase has the words "I'm up to no good" whats missing?”

“The one named Moony says it missing the beginning” One twin replied.

“Of course, you two would figure out the ending before the beginning”

“Hey!” Both twins exclaimed. Both muttering something.

“Did they at least tell you guys an idea of the start?”

Fred scoffed in a way felt like he mocking someone elses as a joke. George let out a small laugh at it. “Yes, they said something about it being a phase and needing your wand to fully open”

“Didn't say what the wand was for though” George added on to his brother sentences.

At that point I got confused why they were coming to me when they had almost everything right “And you came to me for?”

“August, you're the smartest person we know” Fred responded tilting his head. “You're like a bajillion times smarter than both of us”

“But theres two of you and only one of me”

“You're still smarter than both of us COMBINED” By this point we— by we I mean Fred— were getting kind of loud and Madam Prince was bound to show up sooner or later. “And you two couldn't put your heads together for two days now?”

“We tried, but we're completely stumped by what to add and how our wands come into play,” George replied, finally joining the conversation again. “Do we wave it like a charm? Do we hold it toward the parchment? We don't know.”

“Okay, if it's missing the beginning and it's a phrase…” I started to ponder.

“See, this is exactly why we say you're smarter than us,” Fred remarked, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Fred, shut up. I'm thinking,” I replied, pushing his shoulder.

“Yeah, Fred, let the girl think,” his brother stated, sliding the parchment across the table.

“Okay, experiment time. One of you say the words you said before, but do the actions George named earlier and see which one sticks,” I said.

The boys tried waving and even holding out their wands while repeating the phrase from the other night, but nothing changed.

“Okay, those don't work. Was there anything else that happened the first time?”

Fred's eyes went wide for a second before he exclaimed, “I was holding my wand in the same hand as the parchment when it happened!”

“What are you waiting for? Do it again. Hold your wand to the thing and say it again.”

This time the experiment wasn't a dud. The parchment started showing lines, and the names of the people inside it began appearing before it all stopped. A moment later, more words appeared.

“Final hint, to open up you must say: I ________ _____ that I am up to no good.”

George read off the parchment. “Huh, so you have to hold your wand to it.”

“Come on, August. Use your smart brain and say what you think those last words are,” Fred whined, grabbing my shoulders and shaking both of us.

“I do declare that I am up to no good?” I shrugged. “I genuinely can't tell what they could be.”

The guys couldn't tell I was making a joke—a Gone with the Wind joke. At least Noelle would've asked about it, and Beck and Drew would've laughed while Emery shook his head.

Fred tried it again, but the same thing happened. It started, then stopped. He sighed.

“I feel like that was a joke we have no idea about because of your smirk.”

“I don't know what you mean, Fred,” I said, still smirking as I held in my laughter. There was something about hearing a British twelve-year-old say such a Southern American phrase.

“They call themselves Messrs., right?” George commented, tapping his unusual wand against his forehead. “It's probably something really fancy like vow or pledge.”

“It could be something like a solemn oath, like I said, since declaring is considered an oath.”

“Like what? 'I solemnly oath that I'm up to no good'?” Fred replied, tapping his wand against the parchment. “What the— Augustine, look!”

The words and lines from before appeared, but they were clearer and lasted longer before ending with "are proud to—" and disappearing. Then “I solemnly _____ that I am up to no good appeared in its place.”

We were all standing now, staring at the parchment on the table.

“I knew you were a genius, Auggie!” Fred exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders again and shaking us both. He finished by resting the side of his head against the top and side of mine.

“Try vow instead. 'I solemnly vow.'”

At my suggestion, George quickly tried it, but the same thing happened as before.

“Please don't tell me it's declare,” Fred whined afterward.

“Why would it be declare when 'I do declare' didn't work?” George replied to his brother's whining.

“I don't know.”

“I was going to say ensure, but that doesn't make sense. What about pledge or assert?” They were both duds. The same thing happened again.

“Okay, maybe you're not that smart,” Fred joked, putting his head and hands on the table.

I scowled at him. “What's another word for it?”

“Promise? That could work. Maybe attest,” George replied, tapping his wand against his forehead again.

“Where did you learn the word attest?” his brother asked.

George leaned over and used his wand to tap his brother on the head. “You suggested declare when that was already done. I swear on—wait, what about swear? Like, 'I solemnly swear.'”

“You could try it.” I shrugged. “They use words like Messrs. and solemnly. I would've thought it'd be something fancier—”

“I say try it,” Fred cut me off.

“Okay, only to prove August wrong,” George said, placing his wand on the parchment.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

And this time, it worked. All the lines connected. The words appeared in full, and we stared down at the parchment as it read:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, & Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map.