Open the list goes on

[Demi Zephyr]

The sorting ceremony was a strange affair, given that this time Demi wasn't a part of it. She'd been here to see her sister sorted of course, but now that she was sharing the school with more siblings than she wasn't, the Ravenclaw was starting to feel as though her home live was invading her personal life. She didn't mind Iris or Echo, or even Ares sometimes, but the idea that she had to spend all of the summer holidays around them and couldn't even escape them when she returned to school was a little depressing.

"Move up," she tapped her best friends shoulder, before squeezing in beside him at the Slytherin table. Regardless of whether it was traditional to sit with your own house after the ceremony, Demi hadn't been able to see Lumos or any of her real friends during the holidays, which meant she had a lot of catching up to do now they were back. "It's weird right?" she asked, "If this is how fast it feels to have one year pass us by, it won't be long until we've graduated." With very little ambition or idea as to what she wanted to do after Hogwarts, it was a scary thought. "That being said, I'm sure we weren't as small as them when we joined," the brunette mused, glancing down to the end of the table near the first-year Slytherins, thinking she had to have been about eight when she was their size.

"How is it to have another brother?" she asked Lumos. Lumos had Nox of course, but the twins only had one another for male company when it came to their siblings. At least, that had been the case until Lumos gained himself a baby brother before they'd broken up for the summer. From what Demi could tell, Lumos had always been the most involved with his little sister and so perhaps that had continued with James, too. Picking at a small pastry, Demi started to snack on the food at hand, glad she at least had the chance to speak to her best friend before they had to retire for the night.​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos didn't even need to look who it was when someone approached, the voice gave her away, but so did the fact she asked him to move up and so he shifted, knocking one of the other Slytherin second years up to give his best friend the required room (and then a tiny bit extra so she wasn't squished) to sit down. "Please don't remind me, Eden's four and she grew so much in the eight months I was away, I can't deal with it." he grumbled as she started talking. He didn't want to think about how much of James' life he was going to miss now. He was going to be seven before Lumos graduated! How did parents do that? He didn't like how that made him feel, he knew he would struggle, he'd struggled to let his new little brother out of his sight, which was ridiculous because he knew Geo would look after her own baby, but Lumos needed to be there because he was a big brother, so he needed to be a big brother to his new baby brother and that was hard to do when he was here at school. He chuckled when she complained that they couldn't have possibly been as small as the new first years. "I saw Echo, pretty sure she's about as tall as you were," he laughed, shaking his head. But she was right, it was weird having a new sibling and being back at school. He almost wished he wasn't. "I nearly asked mum to let me stay home this year, I might've been able to convince her, but Dad probably would've said no. But I didn't because then I wouldn't see my best friend," he told her grinning. "I'm gonna miss all the good parts."​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Once Demi was tucked into the table nicely, she felt as though she blended in nicely enough with the other Slytherins that not even Echo who was sat down at the end would notice her presence. "Eden is four?" the brunette's eyebrows shot up, wondering why she still imagined Eden as a baby in her head. Maybe it was the way Lumos spoke about her and how he'd take care of her, but she had to suppose that wasn't the case anymore, at least not until James had arrived. "You're the best brother Lumi, and when they grow up it will be you that they turn to," she nudged him against his shoulder. Demi wasn't close to her own siblings, in fact ,she found all three of them incredibly annoying so the fact that Lumos seemed to at least enjoy spending time with the youngest ones meant that Demi had no doubt they'd grow up feeling as though they'd bonded properly. "Oh stop it, I was never that small," she grinned at the Slytherin, resisting the urge to glance down the bench at her own little sister. Echo was half a foot smaller than her, and Demi was convinced she would be the first to stop growing. "Good I'm glad, I'm not sure how I'd feel about trying to break into your dad's office. "Sorry sir, just here to borrow your fireplace"," she acted, making a mental note to get Professor Cade more on her good side so that she could do that in the future, just in case. "Honestly if your dad can pop home, why can't you?" she asked in all sincerity, popping a small plum into her mouth before realising it was a little too large to chew in one bite.​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

"I know!" he was having enough trouble with the fact she was four as it was, that having Demi find it unbelievable was just as silly. She'd been four for a while now, but that didn't mean he was okay with that. There was a part of him that hoped she took after him, but also he didn't want her to take after him either, because sometimes he didn't want to take after him. He liked what Demi was saying to him and he wanted to believe her, honestly he did, he just found it difficult to believe. He laughed slightly to cover his hesitation and picked up one of the plates from in front of him, scooping some mashed potatoes onto his plate. "Are you eating?" He asked, holding a plate out to her. She was probably going to be here until they were dismissed. Sometimes he wished they were in the same house. It was a shame honestly, he wouldn't have minded spending more time with her if he could see her in the common room, but he still saw Amory and Winnie so he supposed that was okay.

"We were all that small, trust me," he said, laughing properly now, "and if you want to see me over the holidays I can ask if you can come over, I don't know what your parents would think about that, but they might not mind, right? I would love you to come over, we have Tori sometimes, but I think she'll probably spend more time at home now with her brother graduated so you should just have me and the rest of my family. You don't mind Nox, right?" He wasn't sure what her feelings on his brother were, but he bet Eden would like her, so he'd love to introduce them and to his mum too. "You would love my mum she can turn into anything." And they would have so many places they could explore for their inquestigations. He hadn't ever asked about being able to pop home, but he felt like it probably wasn't allowed. "I feel like I might need permission from my head of house for that, right?"​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

With regret written across her face, Demi looked around the table for something to spit her pip into, not to mention the plum flesh that was attached to it that she was now unable to chew given that her jaw had started to ache. A goblet was her best bet. Reaching across to pick up the cup, she spat the plum contents into the golden receptacle before placing it back in its original position, "I better not.." she said, accepting defeat. It wasn't as though she'd not been snacking on the train with her sisters, nor she hadn't swiped a chicken wing before she'd come across the Slytherins. It was a good job Lumos was her best friend and not someone she was trying to impress, given she was blissfully unaware of the purple juice that was now halfway down her chin.

Demi wasn't sure how she felt about spending the holidays with Tori. She didn't mind the Gryffindor but she certainly wouldn't have called her a friend. Maybe this was just good timing if now that her brother was gone, Tori would be too. "Nox is cool," Demi nodded, remembering the time when she was convinced Lumos was Nox. Now however there was no fooling her, she was one of the few people who could actually distinguish the twins. Demi had heard about his other sisters too, although she didn't think she'd met them. It was Millie she was most nervous about meeting although she hadn't told Lumos about that. "Anything at all? Lumi why didn't you get that gift from her?!" Demi was practically groaning at the boy as though it was somehow his fault for not inheriting his moms abilities. "We could have had so much more access to things around here if you could just, shapeshift." Honestly, she wasn't sure how anyone like that was kept track of, when they could just turn into someone else and disappear. "Are you sure you've tried hard enough?" she added, ignoring Lumos' latest question as she was now far too distracted at the idea of what they could do. "Concentrate really really hard Lumos, maybe you just need to wake it up or something."​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos shrugged as she practically berated him about not being a metamorph like his mum. Honestly he wished he was, there was something about the way she folded into the family so well that he wished he was able to do. In some ways, oddly, he thought he was a little jealous of his mum. Maybe he shouldn't say that out loud, people would get the wrong idea. "I mean... she's not my biological mum," in her defence, he didn't think he'd ever specifically told her that, he didn't talk about it and most of his family didn't either. She'd been in their lives since he was really young to the point he didn't really remember Maddie at all, and all he really shared with her was a name. And even that wasn't much. "It's sort of hereditary, but.. yeah as far as I know no one in my family can do it, cept mum." He wondered briefly if any of his younger siblings would have the ability like Mum, but he wouldn't know what to look for, but he was pretty sure that his mum would know. If any of his siblings had shown any sign of being one, he hadn't heard about it. "Don't worry about it, we'll figure something out."​