Things Were Good When We Were Young

[Imogen MacFusty]

Though Imogen had known Mac since their days at Hogwarts together and was already well-adjusted to his quirky antics, she had to admit that she was rather nervous of visiting his home, though she honestly could not explain why. Perhaps it was because their first meeting after eight years or so occurred only a week ago, and she was intrigued by what his life could be like? That reason seemed plausible, and rather than dwell upon this thought for hours on end as she would usually do, Immie decided to distract herself with preparing her boys for their first floo journey. However, rather than distract her as she had believed the task would do, the thought of the many dilemmas that could possibly arise from the situation caused her to become even more anxious and frantic.

"Please Leo," she pleaded as she witnessed her eldest son fidget in his navy-blue clothes for the umpteenth time, "stop moving, and I promise that you shall be much more comfortable." Dressing her sons for the journey had been an interesting task, to say the least. Leo preferred the color red, whilst Roy preferred the color blue; Leo refused to get dress and threw a little fit, whilst Roy watched on in curiosity and perceptiveness; Leo preferred this, Roy preferred that...the same cycle over and over again for an hour and a half before they were scheduled to leave. Finally, Immie became fed up with Leo's atrocious behavior, and threatened that he would NOT get to see his first, real dragon and neither would he able to eat dessert or ride his toy broomstick for a month - these threats resulted in Leo altering his attitude real quick. No dessert, no broomstick? What would he do with himself for a month?

"But it itches, Mama," the dark-haired young boy protested as he once again proceeded to itch his arms and his legs, and Immie sighed. As much as she loved her two sons, they were certainly a bit much to handle but she supposed that was what she received for giving birth to twins rather than just one son. However, according to how Roy seemed to be much more well-behaved than his twin brother, Immie had to admit that it was only Leo that she had the most difficulty in raising; then again, it was possible that Roy's disposition could change over time. Merlin, help me, she thought with some weariness as she held tightly to both boys hands as they stepped through into the fireplace, I am not looking forward to the teenage years.

After stating their destination, Immie and her boys suddenly shot upwards much to the shock of the twins. At one point in the journey, Leo attempted to jump out of random fireplaces, but it was fortunate that Immie had just a tight grip upon his hand or she would have lost him. She did, however, acknowledge the fact that if Leo were to get lost in the flooing system, it was a consolation to know that he most likely would have ended up in one of Mac's brothers' homes. In a way, the image of a three-year-old boy appearing out of nowhere from a fireplace in a random home rather amused her, but the amusement soon went as fast as it had come when she remembered that said three-year-old boy was her son - it would not be good parenting to be amused, she reckoned.

They soon reached their destination, Mac's home in the Hebrides, but rather than gracefully climbing out as she had planned to, Immie was thrown out of the fireplace and onto the floor, her twin sons in tow. "Ow...," she muttered as she let go of the twins' hands to rub her aching knee, but she was soon distracted from her pain when she quickly inquired, her voice filled with concern, "Are you boys alright?"

"Yeah Momma, can we do it again?!," Leo excitedly said as Immie rolled her eyes, but she fondly patted Roy's head and quietly chuckled as he softly muttered, "No, let's not."

Immie smiled up at Mac's exuberant greeting before hoisting herself from up off the floor, and laughed, "That could have gone much more gracefully, I think, but hello to you to! It is wonderful to see you again. We had very little trouble with our journey, thank you for inquiring." Gesturing to the two youngsters in front of her body, she continued, "This is Leo, and this is Roy; boys, this is Mac. He's a good friend of mine. He cares for dragons." At the mention of dragons, both of the boys' brown eyes lit up and Immie had to put a hand over Leo's mouth to keep him from blurting out excited gibberish - one could not say that Immie did not know her sons well.

However, Immie had the sneaking suspicion that she was being watched, and looking behind Mac's form, she witnessed a pair of brown eyes regarding she and her boys with curiosity. For a young babe of only five months, she seemed far too perceptive than what would be deemed normal. Was that judgement she could see in the young girl's eyes? Blinking away those evidently ridiculous thoughts, Immie removed her hand from Leo's mouth as she gestured to the cradle, "And this must be your Isobel." Taking a step closer, she gently cooed to her, "Hello, sweetheart."

Words: 925 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here