It Was Always You

“Oliver, get your arse out of the bathroom, now!” Maxine Wood had had about enough of her older brother that morning, and it was only seven AM. It seemed as if everything he was doing was merely to get on her nerves and it was definitely working. Maxine raised her hand to, once again, pound on the bathroom door, when it opened and her fist collided with her brother’s chest.

“That was uncalled for,” Oliver frowned, rubbing the spot where her fist had collided with him,

“Yes, well, I disagree,” Maxine retorted, before shoving past him and slamming the door shut. She let out a groan as she took in her appearance in the mirror. She’d only have five minutes to make herself presentable. Of course, being an animorphmagus had its benefits; this meant that she could change her appearance at will. Unlike some others who had this gift, she tended to keep the same look from day to day: dark brown, curly, shoulder-length hair, gray eyes, and rounded facial features.

After applying eyeliner and light gray eye shadow, Maxine dressed in jeans, black trainers, and a dark blue jumper that her mother had made her the previous winter. She also, like every other day, double-checked that she was wearing the beaded, pearl bracelet that George Weasley had given her for her thirteenth birthday; she only took it off for bathing.

Feeling satisfied with her appearance, she made her way downstairs to the first floor of the Woods’ home to find her father, mother, and Oliver waiting impatiently in the living room. “I would have been down here much sooner, but someone had to hog the bathroom.”

Oliver simply rolled his eyes before picking up his more-than-full bag and slinging it over his shoulders. Maxine walked over and picked hers up from beside the nearest armchair and stood beside her father, linking arms with him. Before she had time to register what was going on, that the suffocating feeling was due to the slide-along apparition, they had arrived at their destination. Oliver, being of age of course, could apparate all on his own, a fact that he never missed the opportunity to rub into Maxine’s face.

Maxine looked around, taking in the misty moor that surrounded them. In front of them were a pair of interestingly-dressed wizards, one of which was holding a large gold watch and the other a roll of parchment.

Mr. Wood told them his last name and he directed them to their campsite, which was apparently in the first field they came to, about a quarter mile’s walk from where they stood. After about twenty minutes of walking, a small stone cottage came into view, as well as the barely visible silhouettes of hundreds of tents.

A muggle man by the name of Mr. Roberts appeared and pointed them in the direction of their campsite. Once they arrived, Mr. Wood quickly set up the tent with the use of his wand, mumbling that he was technically breaking the rules by doing so, and Oliver and Maxine threw their bags inside, eager to be rid of them. “Can we walk around?” Oliver asked Mr. Wood, who nodded and added, “Take this bucket and get us some water, will you? Here’s a map that Mr. Roberts gave me. There should be a tap marked on there somewhere.”

Maxine tried not to grin at Oliver as he rolled his eyes and took the map and bucket from his father. She knew that he had been waiting for the World Cup for ages and had not planned on any of his time being taken up by performing trivial tasks such as this.

“Here, you find it,” Oliver grumbled, handing Maxine the map. Giving him a small scowl, she scanned the piece of paper in her hand and found what she was looking for.

“It’s on the other side of the field,” She stated, “That way.”

The two set off, taking in all there was to see in silence. There were tents with multiple stories, chimneys, and even gardens attached to the front. Maxine could not believe that the Ministry was able to keep any muggles from finding out about this. She imagined the memory erasing charm must have been being put to good use.

The sun was rising as they walked and those who had arrived the previous night were beginning to wake up and mull about, and Maxine wondered just how many witches and wizards were there. At one point, Oliver couldn’t help but grin as they walked through a patch of tents that had been decorated completely in shamrocks; Oliver was a big supporter of the Irish quidditch team, one of the teams that would be playing in the World Cup.

On their way back from the water tap, they ran into Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley, three fourth year Gryffindors. Oliver was thrilled to see Harry, as he was the Gryffindor quidditch team’s seeker and Oliver used to be his captain, but Maxine was more excited to see Ron; she knew that it meant her best friends were there as well.

After asking Ron where their tent was, Maxine set off to find the ginger twins that she’d missed so much over the summer. Poor Harry had been dragged off by Oliver to meet their parents. She got some rude remarks as she pushed through the crowd, but as soon as the crudely erected tents that could only belong to her favorite wizarding family in the world came into sight, she couldn’t help grinning from ear-to-ear. Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ginny were all sitting around a stack of logs as Mr. Weasley seemed to be concentrating on something.

When Fred Weasley looked up and his eyes found Maxine’s, a grin matching her own spread across his face. “Maxi!” He yelled, jumping up and closing the few feet between them. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up off the ground, spinning her around. “We’ve missed you, love.”

“Well, I’ve missed you too,” She smiled, pulling away from him. George Weasley, an identical replica of Fred, grin and all, was standing beside his brother.

“Hello, Georgie,” Max grinned, before he pulled her into a gentle hug. “How have you two been?”

“We have loads to tell you,” Fred answered, but before she could ask any more questions, Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived with the water.

“You’ve been ages,” George told them.

“Met a few people,” Ron shrugged. “You got that fire started yet?”

“Dad’s having fun with the matches,” Fred grinned. Maxine noticed for the first time that the ground was littered with used matchsticks and realized that that’s what Mr. Weasley had been trying to do.

“Oops!” Mr. Weasley lit a match and dropped it promptly afterwards due to surprise. George grinned at Maxine, obviously finding his father’s predicament humorous.

“Come here, Mr. Weasley,” Hermione stated, before taking the box of matches from him.

When the finally got the fire started, Mr. Weasley looked up and obviously spotted Maxine for the first time. “Oh, hello,” He grinned. “Have you had a pleasant summer?”

“Yes, thank you,” Maxine answered politely.

“Would you like to stay for breakfast?”

“Well-”

“Of course she would,” Fred interjected, before grinning cheekily at her.

“I’ll need to ask my parents,” Maxine said sternly, “But if they say it’s alright, then of course I would love to.”

“Let’s go ask, then,” George stated, before grabbing Maxine by the elbow and whisking her away.

“What are you two in such a hurry for?” She asked, as they headed in the direction of the Woods’ campsite.

“We told you,” Fred began.

“We’ve got loads to tell you,” George finished.