Chapter Text
When Amaris had first heard about the concept of a summer adventure camp, she thought it was the best thing ever invented. After being there for the better part of six weeks, she had not changed her opinion in the slightest. She had climbed trees, done obstacle courses, walked to beautiful places, slept outside in shelters she had built, pottery, kayaking, wood carving, and swam in lakes. It had been so long since she had swam in open water. She hadn't realised how much she missed the refreshing chill, the feeling of floating. Every day was a new adventure, a new experience.
And then there were the people. The first people she met were the group of older girls she was sharing a bunk room with. They had lots of bracelets and clothes they were always stressed about getting messy. They'd taken a look at each other and mutually decided that they weren't each other's kind of people. But Amaris had found that by complementing their fancy hair styles and promising not to traipse mud into the room that they got on OK. One of them even put Amaris’ hair in a braid that lasted for days and kept it all out of the way. Later on, she had convinced them to teach her how to do some of the fun hairstyles.
The next group were those in the older boy's room, they were rowdy and good for a laugh but they weren't very interested in being friends with Amaris. Most of them spent their time trying to impress the other girls in Amaris's room to varying degrees of success.
Also worth mentioning were the kids who seemed to be allergic to everything and spent a lot of their time sitting out. Amaris thought that this place wasn't really the right place for them and that their parents probably should have sent them somewhere else for the summer.
And then there were the younger kids who bounced between having the best time of their lives and screeching at the top of their lungs to be taken home to their parents. Which state they were in depended mostly on how tired or hungry or cold they were but there was never a moment that they were quiet.
Amaris managed to make them sit relatively still when they came gathering around her to hear another one of her ‘stories’ about elves and werewolves and magic schools. She wasn't entirely sure if it was breaking the statute of secrecy to be telling all these muggle children all about the Wizarding World but Steffan had told her it was the best option. As he'd explained it, if the other kids had questions it would only be more suspicious if she didn't tell them anything and she might as well tell them the truth as they weren't going to believe it anyway and it saved her the effort of coming up with lies. The unspoken part of the advice was that it would be Amaris's very unconvincing lying that would cause all the suspicions.
But he had been right about the questions, she'd only been in her cabin for a few minutes before she got a “What's up with your hair?”
Another had said, in a very load whisper. “Jess, you can't just ask something like that, what if its from a disease or something.”
But they all still looked at her, waiting for an answer, so she had responded with the truth. “It's a result of my werewolf transformations.”
The two of them had just stared. Then a third girl, who was sitting on a top bunk brushing her hair, said “I bet she just messed up trying to bleach it. Am I right?”
Amaris had just smiled which the girl seemed to take as a yes. She jumped off her bed and walked up to Amaris, “I'm Daisy, I'll show you around.”
She was also asked about the scar on her face a few times and her answer of “hazards of being a werewolf” were met with disbelieving nods and eye rolls. Then she would hear them later, whispering about a car crash or a violent dog. So that method seemed to be working quite well as far as Amaris could tell.
The group that Amaris had managed to fall in with were other teenagers who had also never come to the camp before. There was Micheal, who was technically one of the allergic to everything kids but he was too stubborn to admit it. Every morning he would pack himself with antihistamines, then throw himself into that day's activity with reckless abandon. Much to the stress of the camp staff who would be waiting to run at him with inhalers and, on one occasion, an epipen. He seemed to be having the time of his life. Isabel was timid by comparison and not a fan of heights but she still gave everything a try and she was smart, often helping them with the crafts and leading their team to victory whenever they had to do a puzzle.
Amaris had to leave for a few days in the middle for the full moon. The camp staff were told it was for a routine hospital checkup and that's what the rest of the kids believed too. Amaris was about to get in the car to leave when Michael had come up to say goodbye.
“Hurry back,” he said, then kissed her on the cheek.
Once she came back, Amaris returned the favour and before long they were sneaking off into the woods to ‘make out’, as Michael called it. Amaris had never done kissing before, not counting the incident with Steffan last year. She had to admit that she liked it. She had definitely liked the kiss she had gotten from Daisy when they had been dared to in a late night game of truth or dare between a few of the cabins. Though Micheal didn't seem too happy about it when he found out about it.
And before long the camp was over and she had to say goodbye to everyone. There was still a few days until Hogwarts started so she was now staying at the Leaky Cauldron where she had run into Steffan.
And that was the jist of what Steffan managed to process from Amaris’ very enthusiastic, in-depth and rambling tale of her summer. He hated to admit that he hadn't been paying the closest attention, as he was trying to decide what to tell her when it was inevitably his turn to recount what he did with his summer.
“So-” Amaris started.
But Steffan said quickly, “Did you hear from Professor Lupin this summer?”
It was cruel, he knew, and he felt bad the moment he saw Amaris' crumpled expression.
“Nothing,” she sighed, “but I managed to only send him two letters over the summer, which I think was quite considerate.”
Steffan nodded, thinking about how long those two letters must have been.
“Anyway, what was your summer like?”
Resigning to the fact that he couldn't put it off any longer, Steffan said, “It was nothing of note. I spent my time doing a lot of reading.” It's amazing what people will talk about around you if you've been sitting still enough and quiet enough for long enough that they forget that you are there. Cadoc kept ruining it though, coming into rooms looking for Steffan and loudly announcing when he had found him.
“Oh, and Cadoc is engaged, he's very proud of the fact.”
“Engaged?” Amaris said, aghast.
Steffan nodded. “Though I suppose he is technically betrothed. No wedding is being planned yet.” That didn't stop Cadoc from going on and on about it, how happy he was, pointedly.
“Who's the, er, lucky lady?” Amaris asked.
“You have met her, she was the girl always following Cadoc around.”
“Ah, the one who was afraid of pigeons, I remember.”
“That's the one. It seems that their relationship survived us ruining their date at the Yule Ball.”
“Well, I hope they'll be very happy together.”
“He ensures that they will be.”
He had gone on and on about how great it was that he would be marrying one of his school friends, and that he was so glad he got to choose. It got on Steffan's nerves so much that he had contemplated leaving in the first week. But he couldn't, he was here to find things out.
“So, did you find out?” Amaris said hesitantly, “I know you went back to see if they were- you know.”
We're his family Deatheaters? Amaris didn't even want to say it out loud. After a moment, Steffan nodded. He didn't want to say it out loud either.
Though he had to admit, he wasn't surprised. He'd known that his parents and oldest siblings had fought for the Dark Lord in the first Wizarding War but had managed to weasel their way out of punishment. Why wouldn't they go back to their old ways now that He Who Must Not Be Named had returned?
He hadn't officially been told, of course, he was still just a child and too young for family business. “Everyone was there for the meeting.”
“Like all of your siblings?” Amaris asked, “That's rare, right?”
“It's been nine years since the last time we were all there, I barely remember it.” And he doubted it would happen again for a long time.
“Who are they all again?”
Steffan smiled slightly at that, he had definitely never told Amaris about them before, besides the fact that he was one of seven. But he supposed if he was going to teach her some of the tricks of conversation he could hardly be surprised when she started using them on him. Steffan sighed and stared counting on his fingers.
“First there is Eluned, my eldest sister by twenty years and the heir to the family.” Which as far as Steffan could gather, meant that she would never be allowed to move out of the family home and seemed to spend her life in a constant state of stress and anger at those around her. To Steffan she had always seemed more like another parent, rather than a sister, always rushing about, planning things and giving orders.
“Three years younger are the twins, Dilys and Trisan who are always squabbling and trying to prove who's better.” Dilys was the oldest, which is why her name was always said first, but officially they were ranked the same when it came to inheritance so they were always competing for the parents approval in hopes that it would move them up the list. Trisan was currently in the better graces due to some deal he had managed to secure but Steffan was sure Dilys was coming up with some way to sabotage it.
“Then there is Padrig, who is thirteen years older than me.” He thought for a moment on how to describe this brother, as he probably knew him the least. As soon as he had come of age he had left the house to pursue an ever changing career in what his parents referred to as promising fields but what anyone else would call borderline criminal enterprises. “He's the ambitious one.”
“And then my youngest sister is Meinir, who is eleven years older than me, she's not around much,” The meeting over the summer had been the first time Steffan had seen his sister in seven years and by the look on her face as she had stormed out of the dining room part way through, he doubted he would ever see her again. Steffan had been sitting on the stairs outside the room trying to listen in and she had looked at him for a moment and smiled a sad smile. Then she grabbed her cloak from the hat stand and was gone.
“And you know Cadoc, of course,” Steffan said before he got too lost in thought. “And thankfully he won't be at Hogwarts this year.”
Amaris whistled, “That's quite a lot to keep track of.”
“Your house was definitely more full than mine.”
“Huh, I'd never thought of it like that.” Amaris said, scratching her head. “How many of us were there? There was Celly and Darius of course, and then-”
Smiling absently as Amaris went through her extensive list, Steffan found his thoughts drift back to Meinir. He had gotten no warning at all when she had left last time but that sad knowing look had been worse. It was strange, he only had a few memories of her from his childhood: holding his hand, making objects float around his room. But she seemed more like a sibling than any of the others. Well, he supposed he had a normal brotherly hatred of Cadoc but the others he could only ever remember as adults who had had little time for him. So there hadn't been many opportunities for bonding. He wasn't sure he had bonded with Meinir either, he didn't have any clear memories of talking to her but he had missed her when she had left. And he still missed her.
The next few days were spent shopping for the coming year in Diagon Ally and Amaris also dragged Steffan on a trip to explore the surrounding muggle London. After last summer's trip around Manchester, Steffan had resisted going but this time he found the noise and bustle of it all a welcome change compared to the stiff silences and dullness of his summer. And this time they avoided any near death encounters with any high speed vehicles. Partially because there was so much traffic that none of the vehicles were going that fast.
Before long it was the first of September and they were meeting Kim and Matt on Platform 9 ¾. Katy, Matt's little sister, was also there for her first year at Hogwarts, and she was looking around her at everything with wonder. Steffan remembered that at the start of their first year Matt had worn that exact expression for several weeks straight. But now, though he smiled and joined in the group hug, Matt was wary and alert.
“Come on, let's find a space on the train,” he spoke and signed before leading Katy by the shoulder to a carriage door.
“So, Matt, how was your summer?” Amaris asked, once they had found themselves a compartment.
“Nice,” Matt said. He had relaxed now that they were away from the crowded station and he casually brushed his hair out of his eyes in-between signs. “Uneventful but nice.”
His mother must have made him cut his hair as it was now only just reaching the base of his ears but it wouldn't be long before it was its usual shaggy mess. Though this was not the most notable thing about his appearance.
“Matt, how did you manage to get a black eye during an uneventful summer?” Steffan asked, referring to Matt's very green and purple bruise.
“Oh, right,” Matt chuckled, lightly touching the colourful skin. “It happened nearly a week ago so I'd forgotten. Adam's found a new hobby in the martial arts, that's fancy styles of fighting to you magic folk, and he dragged me along to the classes over the summer. This eye is the last in a series of bruises and scrapes over the past few weeks.”
“And this is for recreation?” Kim asked.
“It was so fun,” he replied without a hint of sarcasm.
Katy made a sign that even Steffan could understand as a comment to Matt's sanity. She got a playful elbow from her brother in response.
Steffan shook his head in disbelief. “What about you, Kim?”
She shrugged, “The usual. Trips around Europe so my parents can go to their meetings. There was more this summer than usual as the Ministry is trying to convince the other countries that there is no truth in what Harry Potter says and calm them down. None of them like the idea of another Wizarding War.”
“Did you try and convince your parents that it all is true?” Amaris asked.
Kim shrugged. “There was no point. I barely get halfway through a sentence normally without them saying that they don't have time for whatever silly thing I have to say.”
“It's bound to get out sooner or later,” Matt said, “it can't be easy to amass an army in secret.”
Katy squinted at her brother and gestured to his hands, asking him to translate.
“Later,” was all Matt replied and there was silence for a moment after that, as they all contemplated the looming war.
Then Amaris spoke up, “So, does anyone want to know about my summer?”