The Diggorys are a great family. They always have been. But like all the families living on the edge of town, they're strange.

And of course, there are rumors.

Each of the four families that live on the borders of Ottery —the Diggorys, Weasleys, Lovegoods, and Fawcetts—have been there since, well, forever. No one knows when or how they appeared; they were always just there.

The townsfolk call them "the Edge" families whenever referring to them; they've always lived on the edge of town yet no one really knows anything about them.

Which is why the townspeople feel a sort of dichotomy between them and the Edge families, no matter how kind or open the Edge families try to be.

Personally, Viola Wells likes the Diggorys. They go out more often than the other families, simply because the Weasleys have a boatload of kids and the Lovegoods have just had a daughter (Viola suspects Pandora has her hands tied with the baby girl). And the Fawcetts—well, if Viola had to be completely honest, they're not exactly the nicest family.

They're the family the townspeople see the least often, and on the rare chance that they're out in town, they're cold and politely distant.

So Viola likes the Diggorys the best. She doesn't care about the rumors; rumors always fly around when you live in a town as small as this.

But she does care about her daughter, Joy. She's always been a shy child, burying her face in books and preferring to let her best friend Marcia do all the talking for her while they're out in the park.

So when she brings her daughter to the park to play as usual, she's a bit wary when she sees Camilla Diggory with her twins. Camilla is great—she's kind and friendly—but she's never brought her children to the park before, and her twins are making a beeline for Joy's group of friends.

(And if the rumors about the Edge families being part of some illegal crime group nag on the edge of her mind, well, don't blame her if she keeps a sharp eye on her daughter and the Diggory twins.)

But she's distracted by the appearance and addition of Camilla Diggory to the group she's sitting with, and they haven't seen her in so long that they're chatting and trying to catch up with what they've missed and what she's missed.

When Fiona starts gushing over her daughter Janet's recent award in the first grade spelling bee—a story Viola's heard a million times—she takes the chance to turn her attention back to her daughter.

She's shocked by what she sees.

Her daughter, the painfully shy but sweet Joy, is laughing wildly; brighter and happier than Viola's ever seen her be in the park.

Viola inwardly cringes as she watches their sand fight and tries not to think about the amount of dirt she's going to have to clean up when they get home. But her daughter is happy, and really, that's all that matters. A little dirt never hurt anyone anyway.

As the kids clumsily throw clumps of sand at each other, Viola is surprised to see how easily the Diggory twins fit in with Joy's group. It's like they'd always been friends.

The sky is getting darker and she can feel the wind pick up, so she excuses herself from the conversation to take Joy home. Joy was born with a weak body and immune system, and she doesn't want to take the chance of her daughter catching a cold.

The children lie in the sand box, clothes and hair disheveled and smothered in sand. Joy looks up at her, big blue eyes shining, rosy-red cheeks, and all gap-toothed smile. It's beautiful and Viola doesn't have the heart to scold her for getting so dirty.

She tries not to snort when she hears Marcia's mum, June, scolding Marcia for all the sand. June's always been a worry wart. Viola watches as Joy bids goodbye to the kids left in the sandbox and when Joy turns to her with an exuberant face, Viola knows that they'll be coming back to the park very soon.

"Bye, Joy's mum!" Viola turns to see the male Diggory twin grinning at her and waving enthusiastically. He's such an adorable sight that she can't help but feel her heart melt and her face soften.

His twin, Celia, is hidden partially behind him, gripping his hand in a way that reminds her of Joy's bashful mannerisms. Celia waves at her, less animatedly than her twin, and smiles shyly.

"Bye, Mrs. Wells." She says quietly.

Viola raises her eyebrows, somewhat impressed and surprised that Celia knows her last name.

Nonetheless, the twins are just as adorable as Joy, with cherubic faces and shining grey eyes. She pushes the nasty rumors about the Edge families out of her mind and gives them a genuine smile.

"Bye, Celia, Cedric. Joy and I will be back tomorrow, so feel free to come and play again."

Cedric gives a grin equivalent to a thousand suns and Viola feels her heart melt all over again.

Camilla gives Viola and Joy a pleasant, warm goodbye and she can tell that Camilla is pleased that her twins have taken to the other kids so well.

Viola and Joy leave, and as they walk home, Viola thinks that she's never heard her daughter chatter so much.

"Celia's really cool mum! She's really good at making sand castles and we beat the boys in our sand fight!" Joy swings her hand happily.

Viola laughs, and she hopes that Joy's found a life-long friend.

At dinner, all Joy can talk about is her day at the park.

"And we made the best sandcastle and you shoulda seen Grant's face cuz he never loses and we beat him! Celia was so cool! Marcia says a fairy helped her make the sandcastle."

Viola's husband looks up at that. "Celia? Who's that? I've never heard you mention her before, Joy."

Joy jabs her macaroni and cheese cheerfully. "She's Cedric's sister."

It doesn't really explain anything and Viola smiles fondly. "They're the Diggory twins, John."

"The Diggorys?" John pauses in his wrangling with his steak. "Aren't they the family that lives on the Edge?"

"Yes, but they're good people. Camilla is wonderful. I had a great time talking with her today. And her twins are sweet and polite. There's nothing wrong with them, John." She frowns, knowing that her husband is thinking of all the rumors circling the Edge families.

"Viola," He says, uncertainty, "I don't know. I've heard some bad things about them."

Joy's face crumples at this. "Celia's not bad! She's super nice and she's my friend. Marcy likes her too!"

"Sorry, sweetheart, I know." John tries to soothe his daughter.

Viola gives him a look that says, Not here. Joy's listening.

They finish their dinner with light chatter, changing the subject to the new book Joy's been reading. The heavy words left unspoken hang between John and Viola, but thankfully, Joy doesn't notice and continues to tell them about the dinosaur that found his home.

After they tuck Joy in for bed, John and Viola settle on the living room couch.

"Haven't you heard the rumors?"

"Of course I have, it doesn't mean they're true."

"They're rumors, there's got to be some truth in them"

Viola shoots him a flat stare. "Do you really think the Diggorys are part of an illegal human trafficking crime group?"

"You never know. I'm not sure if I want Joy hanging around with them. What if something happens to her?"

"Nothing's going to happen, John." Viola sighs exasperatedly, "They're good people. Besides, Joy is already friends with Celia; we can't make them break their friendship."

John glares with hot irritation. "Don't you think it's weird that they've been living here for so long but no one really knows anything about them? Just think about it. They hardly ever go out, except for buying groceries and other necessities. None of the Edge family's kids even go to school here!"

Viola rolls her eyes. "They're just private people. Maybe getting homeschooled is a tradition. Or going to that fancy boarding school. Henlys, I think it's called."

"I just don't trust them." Mutters John grumpily.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Joy, if that's what you want."

John leans back wearily and rubs his head. "I just don't want Joy to get hurt."

"I know," Viola says soothingly, "But we can't just assume they're bad people. We've met Camilla and Amos plenty of times and they've never been rude or violent."

John makes a noncommittal sound and Viola sighs, resting her head on his shoulder. They sit in silence for the rest of the night.

Fall is approaching, and thus, the twins' visits to the park have been getting less and less, much to their dismay.

Ever since that day in the sand box, they've been begging Camilla to take them there every week. Celia likes to think that they've integrated themselves into the group pretty well.

Cedric's found close friends in Grant, Jordan and Andy; and Celia is a little jealous that his attention has been divided, but she's glad that he finally gets the male company that he needs. And Celia glad that she's found Marcia and Joy.

They may not be mature or magical, but they're a fresh breath of air that Celia needs.

Celia and Cedric are planning to beg a playdate off their mum soon, because they haven't seen their friends for a week—and that's way too long, in their opinion.

It's times like these that Celia feels like a child; like she can be a child, even though she's really not. It doesn't hurt her, instead, she relishes the times of freedom and innocence because honestly, the future is a heavy, crushing weight that she can't always handle.

Fall is also Celia and Cedric's favorite season precisely because their birthday is October 2nd. They're going to turn five, and in the Wizarding world, five is a big deal.

She knows this because Camilla and Amos have been super excited, and though it's only September, Amos has already been writing up a guest list.

A guest list.

All of the birthday parties before were small, celebrated only with the twins and their parents. But having a guest list changes everything.

She and Cedric see their dad scribbling on it and crossing things out before dinner, but when they ask him about it, he tells them that it's a surprise.

So she and Cedric decide to sneak into his office and find the list. It was more of Cedric's decision, really, but Celia's coming along so he doesn't get hurt or something like that.

They wait until Camilla's busy making lunch and they sneak into Amos's office while he's at work. Luckily, he hasn't bothered to lock the door—the office in in their home, after all—and they climb onto his desk to rummage around for the list.

His desk is neatly stacked with papers and quills and books. It's so neat that Celia's actually kind of scared by it. (Who organizes their things so neatly anyway? She's always been more of a "throw this here and find it later" kind of person.)

Cedric nearly falls off the desk while trying to reach for a sheet of paper, and Celia quickly steadies him before he can break his neck.

She realizes with bewilderment that she hadn't even had to look to know that Cedric was going to fall—she'd felt it before it happened.

But how? She'd always been able to sense Cedric's emotions, but she always assumed it was a twin thing. This was different. It wasn't exactly telling the future, but more like a sense of danger or warning for Cedric. Kinda like a sixth sense.

She wonders if Cedric can sense her emotions too, or if it's just something she can do. Before she can think of a way to test it out, Cedric pulls the list out with a shout of triumph.

Celia makes sure that Cedric climbs down safely before they huddle over the list on the carpeted floor. The fireplace crackles pleasantly and they scour the list of unfamiliar names. Celia spots the Weasleys, Lovegoods, and Fawcetts and isn't surprised. They're pretty much neighbors.

Suddenly, Celia feels a pang of disappointment that isn't hers and Cedric looks up with confusion.

"Where's Grant, Jordan, Andy, Joy, and Marcia?"

Celia re-reads the list of names and realizes that none of the people that live in town have been invited.

"I dunno." She says quietly, knowing that Cedric will be hurt if they don't show up.

"But why? Doesn't dad know they're our friends?" Belatedly, Celia realizes that Cedric's face has crumpled with dejection and she reaches out to pat his back comfortingly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure if we ask dad and mum they'll put them on the list."

It's a classic case of Muggle discrimination, no matter how unintentional it was, and Celia can't help the rush of anger and exasperation that runs through her.

Seriously, though. This kind of treatment is why there are some nasty rumors about the Diggorys in town. The separation between the Wizarding and Muggle families is so obvious that Celia just wants to take the two and smash them together so they can all get along.

Gently, she tugs Cedric out of the room and distracts him by teaching him how to play Wizarding chess.

(Psh, Wizarding chess. Why can't they just play normal chess?)

When Amos comes home, the first thing Cedric does is hug him and then ask him to add their friends to the list.

"Did you go through my stuff, Ced?" Amos doesn't look surprised but his frown makes Cedric look properly abashed.

"Sorry, dad." Glancing down with embarrassment, he remembers his original task and looks back up with determination.

"But can we invite Grant and the others? Pleaaaaase?" Cedric begs, giving him pitiful and pleading eyes. (They're basically Bambi eyes, but Cedric has amped it up to two times the adorableness, so Celia just calls them the Cedric eyes.)

Amos sighs and looks uncertain. "Let me talk to your mum, okay?"

"Okay." Cedric doesn't take it as a yes, but he doesn't take it as a no, either. "C'mon, Lia, it's almost dinner so we gotta finish the game."

Celia gives her dad a hug. "I'd like to invite them too." She adds her support for Cedric before rushing off behind him to finish their chess game.

Of course, Celia thoroughly creams Cedric in chess, but he doesn't mind, as long as he gets to play with her.

"I'll beat you next time." He grins at her challengingly and they scramble off to dinner when their mum calls.

The week goes on and Amos never tells them if he's going to add their Muggle friends to the list, so she and Cedric take turns badgering him whenever he comes home. Celia knows that Camilla is fine with inviting them over, so it's just wearing Amos down.

Finally, after a whole week, he responds to their annoying antics. "We can't, alright? It's tradition for the fifth birthday to have magic, and we can't cover it up if Muggles come." He bends down to their level. "Your fifth birthday is important because that's when your magic starts to mature, and we have to do a ceremony."

Cedric groans. "No! I want them to come; it's not fair! We went to Jordan's birthday party and I told him he could come to our house."

Celia feels fury burn in her chest like a lightning bolt but she's not sure if it's hers or Cedric's. Cedric shares a glance with her, grey eyes flashing storm clouds, and she knows that her own look the same. It's both of their rage combined, and when it comes to volatile emotions, magic is never one to back down.

She doesn't really understand the connection she has with her twin, but she gets to see some of it in action as the air around them starts to crackle with a static electricity that doesn't exactly feel safe.

She's angry; angrier than she's ever been before, and it eats at her, filling her up with pure rage and force and she's a rising whirlwind; a tornado bursting in gusts of sheer power. And she feels Cedric next to her, a hurricane matching her tornado, and everything goes downhill from there.

The lights start flashing, windows start shaking, and the walls are trembling. The ground beneath their feet rumbles in tune with their emotions, and Cedric's anger feeds into hers as hers feeds into his.

They're unstoppable, unreachable; a twin force of natural disasters just waiting to ravage and destroy.

Celia hears glass shattering and objects falling to the ground with loud thumps, but she doesn't care. All she can feel is rage, rage, rage, and all she wants to do is let it out.

It's a fucking earthquake in here and everything, everything around her is breaking and changing into fractured pieces of what they once were.

Time stops and goes on; it feels like a lifetime yet it's not, and everything. is. broken.

And then it all stops.

They always say the calm before the storm has the most frightening silence, but, Jessica thinks, it's the calm after the storm that scares her the most. It's when you have to face the aftermath of all the destruction.

Jessica's pretty sure she and Cedric just recreated a 6.0 magnitude earthquake, and shit has really hit the fan.

She's on the floor, trembling in the mess around her, and somehow, Cedric's hand has found its way into hers, and he's gripping her hand like it's the last thing he'll ever do.

Flashes echo across her mind; flashes of her past that she can still remember like it was yesterday. Jessica grew up in California, and earthquakes weren't exactly uncommon.

But she can still remember the day they had an earthquake so bad her ceiling was covered with cracks after it was over.

She remembers the terrifying seize of her heart, the jolt of adrenaline, the smashing of decorations and cabinets and shelves and it was chaos all around her.

She still doesn't know how she made it outside with her brother in tow, but it was the single most horrifying experience she'd ever been through and the memories echo in her heart as she folds herself into a ball, still gripping Cedric's hand.

"Lia." Cedric whispers, "We're okay. We're okay." His other hand comes up to rest on Celia's trembling shoulders and Celia can feel his calm bleeding into hers, and her violent shakes begin to settle down.

She huddles closer into his embrace and she feels another hand, just as gentle, come to rest on her back.

Without having to look up, she knows it's her mum.

After what seems like an eternity, Celia looks up. Cedric and Camilla have wrapped themselves around her in a warm cocoon, and she's never felt more safe or loved.

"Thanks." She murmurs, half embarrassed by her meltdown, and half shaken by what just happened.

Camilla smiles, all affection and worry, "It's alright. I'm just glad you're okay."

There's nothing left in Celia, she's empty and exhausted, and she doesn't even have the energy to move from where she is. From what she can tell, Cedric is the same. He's leaning into her with a tired slump, and she can tell that he really wants to sleep.

Amos stands above them with an imposing posture and he is angry.

Camilla stands up and faces him. "Amos, it's alright. They didn't mean any harm by it, you know that too. They were just angry. They've never thrown a temper tantrum before, so I'm not surprised this happened."

"It's not alright! Look at the mess they made! It was just for a few Muggles getting onto the list and they made this amount of destruction. No, they can't do this whenever they don't get something they want."

His face contorts and Celia realizes, suddenly, that Amos loves and hates with the same amount of passion and it isn't always a good thing.

"They've never done this before!" Camilla's eyes are fire.

She flicks her wand and everything starts to return back to its original state. Amos glares and then does the same. While they fix the house, Celia musters up scraps of strength she didn't have but needs to have, and drags Cedric to their room.

They shut the door, and then the yelling starts.

This is the first time Celia and Cedric have heard their parents argue.

Cedric climbs onto Celia's bed and burrows under the covers before letting out a whimper.

Celia joins him and they huddle together under the darkness of the blanket.

"Are mum and dad mad at us?" Cedric's voice sounds so, so, small.

"No, of course not. It was a mistake. We got mad so our magic reacted; we didn't do it on purpose." Celia wraps an arm around his shoulders.

"Then why are they yelling?"

A small sting of hate buries itself in Celia's heart. She hates seeing Cedric like this, and though she knows Amos has a right to be angry, she can't stop the irrational hate.

"It's really messy so mum and dad are trying to clean it up, but it's hard. Yelling is a good way to let go of emotions." Celia honestly doesn't know what to say.

Cedric doesn't look convinced, but he doesn't know what to say either.

"I'm scared." He admits. Celia's heart breaks for him and she pulls him closer, trying to give him as much comfort as she can.

"Don't worry, just go to sleep." She pets his back and Cedric moves his hands to cover his ears.

She wishes that the covers could block out all the sound from the outside world.

Slowly, the sounds start to fade out, and all she can hear is Cedric's breathing. He blinks at her.

"The yelling's gone."

Did she just Silencio the blanket? She wants to revel in her accomplishment, but there's no room for that. She shushes Cedric and tells him to sleep—she can feel his exhaustion.

She falls asleep to the sound of his even breaths.

When they wake up, the covers are pulled from their heads and Celia blearily rubs her eyes to see Camilla.

"Mum?" She asks, her voice scratchy with sleep.

Cedric sits up and leans on the headboard of the bed. Celia places herself next to him and looks at their mum expectantly.

"Is everything okay?" Celia knows her dad isn't the type for domestic abuse, but she can't help but feel scared.

"Don't worry." Camilla smooths a hand over their heads. Her face is tired and lined with the weight of her years.

"Mum." Celia reaches out to touch the side of her mum's face. Celia wants to cry.

Cedric copies her and places his hand on the other side of Camilla's cheek and Celia feels a tear fall onto her hand.

"It's alright." She hugs them close to her with a watery smile.

The door creaks and the three of them look up to see Amos stepping in.

Instinctively, Celia wants to cringe. But she holds herself back—this is her father—and he bends down in front of their bed.

"Ced, Lia, I'm sorry for getting so mad. I know you two were upset so I don't blame you, okay?" His voice shines with sincerity and tension escapes Celia like a balloon.

"Sorry for making such a mess." Celia murmurs, and Cedric does the same.

"Group hug?" Amos looks uncertain, but they all open their arms towards him and when he encircles them with his arms, they feel like a family. Complete.

He lets them go. "I'm sorry, but we can't invite your friends this time, okay? But we'll invite them your next birthday for sure."

Cedric beams, happy that everything is back to normal. "Okay."

Celia shrugs. Her dad may not be perfect, but he's a good person. He may have his faults, but he's the person Camilla married, and Celia knows Camilla would never marry a bad person.

The distance between the Muggle and Wizarding world is too big to fix in one step, but with time, Celia thinks that they could close the gap.

(And by time, she means a few decades.)

It's the day of their fifth birthday, and Celia is freaking excited. Cedric is ecstatic. Ever since the incident with the magic-induced earthquake, their magic has improved substantially, and has started to stabilize as well. She can see why the fifth birthday means so much to the magical world.

Camilla and Amos haven't said anything about the traditional "ceremony" that's supposed to take place, and the twins are left to their imaginations.

Honestly, they don't really know what's going to happen today—all they know is that a ton of people are going to come and most of them will be strangers.

Celia is definitely not ready for that kind of exposure.

It's only ten in the morning, but the whole house has been transformed. Their house is practically out of a scene from a historical movie with all the extravagant and elegant castles.

Every inch of their walls are covered in decoration or color, and the floors are cleanly carpeted with a moving story. Several objects are hovering and there's even something flying around and sprinkling a translucent kind of glitter that looks like silvery snow.

Their house is sparkling.

Wizards may go overboard with all the parties and magic, but it's gorgeous.

The doorbell rings and Camilla goes to answer it, already expecting the Weasleys, who offered to help and bring food.

The red-headed family files in, and Cedric lets out a shout when he sees Charlie. He's come to see him as a cool older brother, and because Bill is gone for his first year at Hogwarts, Cedric's excited to know what Bill's been telling Charlie in his letters about Hogwarts.

Celia greets the Weasleys politely and waves shyly at Mrs. Weasley, who is holding a baby Ginny.

Cedric is already ushering Charlie inside, who is followed by Fred and George, and Percy leading a toddling Ron.

They're a huge family, and Celia is overwhelmed every time she sees them. They visit the Diggorys a few times a year, so Celia is already fairly well acquainted with all of them. Still, it's been a while since they've last met, so she's already anticipating everyone's change.

Fred and George bound in like the mischievous troublemakers they are, and Mrs. Weasley makes sure to warn them not to break or ruin anything before letting them go.

Celia immediately gravitates towards Percy's side as the Weasley children gather in the living room and entertain themselves while the adults set everything up.

"Charlie, tell us about Hogwarts! What did Bill say? He got into Gryffindor, right?" Cedric grins excitedly as he tugs Charlie into a sitting position.

Charlie laughs good-naturedly and sits down with the rest of them. "Of course he did, and Gryffindor is really awesome. He says that they've got really good food—it's not as good as mum's but it's good."

Cedric listens, enraptured, and Charlie continues to talk while Fred and George roll on the carpet.

"I'm Ron." Ron pads up to Celia and she smiles.

"I know. We met when you were a baby."

Ron looks amazed. "Really? Wow, you're old, like Charlie."

"Ron!" Percy frowns, "That's not very nice to say."

"It's okay." Celia looks at them fondly. Though the Weasleys don't come by too often, they're genuinely nice people and Celia can't help but like them. And it doesn't help that Ron looks absolutely adorable as a two year old.

"Oh yeah," she turns to Percy, "we finally got a board for Wizarding chess. Want to play?"

She's always liked Percy. He's a year older, but he's quiet and calm, like her, so they get along famously. Both of them like to read, and he's not loud or intrusive, and she's glad for that.

"Sure." He grins as she tugs out the board and settles it in front of them. Ron looks at it curiously, tilting his head in a way that makes Celia want to squeal.

Fred and George have abandoned their rolling aimlessly on the floor and are badgering Charlie about Hogwarts with Cedric. Celia knows they'll lose interest soon, but she leaves it to Cedric to entertain them. The twins are hard to deal with, and Celia is too passive to handle them.

They're also twins like her and Cedric, and she's interested to know if they have a similar bond to the one she and Cedric have. Judging by the way they always seem to know what the other is thinking, they definitely have a bond, but she doesn't know to what extent it reaches. Twins in the Wizarding world are rare, and it's nice to have another set of twins around, even if they can be really annoying.

She turns her attention to the chess game and waits for Percy to make his first move. Ron sits by the board attentively and watches them move the pieces.

Celia knows it isn't really fair that Percy has to play against someone as old as her, but she figures that he could use the practice. She doesn't really have anyone close to her real age to play with anyway, so she'll take what she can get.

Percy is surprisingly good for a six year old, but is nowhere near Celia's intellectual level. The game ends with Celia's win, but Percy is stubborn and asks for a rematch.

She has nothing else to do, so she indulges him. Cedric and Charlie have moved onto chess as well, with the other chessboard that they have, and play against each other as Ron tries to follow both boards.

Halfway through her third game, Celia realizes that Fred and George are nowhere to be found.

She hopes that they haven't gone somewhere to wreak havoc.

Then she hears a loud bang and all her hopes are dashed.

Cedric gives her a look of equal exasperation and they interrupt their chess matches to find the other set of twins.

"Was that Fred and George?" Percy's brows are furrowed with irritation, no doubt tired with their antics that he deals with daily.

"Most likely." Charlie rolls his eyes fondly and looks at Cedric and Celia. "C'mon, I'll help you find them. Percy, can you watch Ron?"

Percy nods, relieved that he doesn't have to go deal with Fred and George.

Ron looks disappointed that he has to stay, and is about to protest when Celia gets a genius idea.

"Why don't you finish my game for me? I bet you can beat Percy." She tells him, gently nudging him towards her unfinished game.

"Okay!" Ron cheers, and sits down opposite of Percy.

Another loud bang sounds from the backyard, and she and Cedric quickly go to investigate, followed by Charlie.

When they finally open the back door and walk outside, they're greeted by a mess of fallen chairs and tables. And worst of all, ruined cake.

Fred and George are sitting in the middle of the mess, shoving pieces of birthday cake in their mouth.

It's like a scene from a horror movie. She feels great, deep, despair from herself and Cedric, and they launch forward with wails of dismay.

"Cake!" Sobs Cedric, "What happened to the cake?"

Fred and George look up with identical faces of guilt. Awkwardly, George hands Cedric a piece.

"Want some?"

Celia drops to her knees next to the fallen cake and mourns the loss of her beloved dessert. The cake was beautiful. It was glorious. And now it's gone.

"I can't believe you ruined the cake!" This is the first time the Weasley brothers have heard Celia raise her voice.

Charlie rushes forward, alarmed and ready to do damage control.

"It's okay, I'm sure our parents can make another one." He pats her head, trying to reassure her.

Cedric sits down next to her, mouth smeared with the cake that George gave him, and hands her the last part of his piece.

Celia sniffles and gratefully accepts the piece.

And then tries not to burst out laughing. Here she is, a grown adult (including the years she's lived as Celia) and she's lying on the floor crying about cake. Cake.

In her defense, it's the best cake she's ever tasted.

They all watch as she chews and swallows the piece, and then relax when she doesn't scream or burst out in tears.

Celia shrugs nonchalantly and wonders what her dad will say when he sees the mess.

The adults are still in the kitchen and haven't noticed the mess, so they can either try to clean it up or leave it there.

Exchanging a glance with Cedric, they decide to leave the mess and drag Fred and George inside the bathroom to clean up.

"Should we clean up the mess?" Charlie stares at the jumble of chairs and tables and cake. Celia can tell he really doesn't want to clean up.

"Nah, it's fine." She grabs Fred and George and herds them towards the bathroom sink.

Charlie heaves a sigh of relief and heads to the kitchen to notify the parents about the mess.

"Prepare the paper towels." She mutters to Cedric, who nods solemnly, and dashes to the closet where they keep the paper towels.

She's thankful they even have any, because with wands, there's really no need for paper towels.

She and Cedric scrub the twins clean and try not to spill too much water as they wipe the cake off of Fred and George.

After they finish, they move backward to inspect their work.

Fred and George are mussed by all the scrubbing, and most of their clothes are wet from the water. Celia tries not to groan because they've kind of made the mess worse.

"Oh well." Cedric says cheerfully, and pulls them towards the living room again.

(And because Celia is his twin, she can tell that he pulls them a little harder than necessary.)

If this is what happens before the party, she really doesn't want to know what will happen during the party.

A/N: I messed up the ages of the Weasleys, whoops. (I'm trying not to slam my head on the desk right now.) Percy is a year older than Cedric and Fred and George are a year younger. Bill is seven years older and Charlie is five. (I'm so sorry I fucked up.) Also, this chapter is a lot shorter than usual, and I'm really, really sorry for that. I usually aim for at least 7k words, but finals week is coming up and I don't have enough time to write chapters that long. I'll keep updating but the chapters will be a lot shorter for this month (just a heads up). Good luck to everyone who has finals coming up as well!

Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed; I really, really appreciate all the support for my story. And a huge thank you to bladeworksfan, Riku Yamamoto, DarkDust27, Scaevus, Mokina, PrincessBlonde, xenocanaan, Adhara Snow, Goldspark1, Lizzie00, ThePhantomismyLove, magicdownunder, Hanna, and Lady Syndra for reviewing.

As usual, thanks for reading and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Replies to guest reviews:

Goldspark1: Haha, yeah… Fireworks Against the Moon is pretty much a crack fic that I only write when I'm in a hyperactive/weird mood. I don't know much about twins either—I only have one sibling—but I'm trying my best to describe their bond. It's mostly magic-oriented and I like to think that it exists because of how in-synch Fred and George were all the time. But it's mostly my speculation, so I hope the bond thing turned out okay.

Hanna: Thank you so much! I'm still undecided on the House she'll be in but I'm leaning more towards Hufflepuff. I know that she can't rely on Cedric all the time (that's something she has to learn) but I feel that her loyalty to her twin would land her in Hufflepuff. Also, I like Hufflepuffs so I want to write about that House.