Gemini

When they were born, they were a surprise to everyone but themselves. They could feel their other half sleeping beside them. They could feel the magic of their family around them and the strangers that passed by. They could feel the magic in the air, in the ground, in the river their dame walked by every evening with their sire. But then that was gone. Their fathers magic joined with nature and their mothers magic protected them. They were taken from safety by a man with warm - too warm, it’s burning - magic, taken from home - mother, father, uncle, home - and placed on the doorstep of a place with stiff magic and they were scared.

(Magic should not be stiff. Magic is alive. Magic is wild - happy - angry - home. Magic should be free.)

And then they were taken by a woman with broken magic so similar to their mother that it ached. Because it was so familiar but so unfamiliar it hurt. Because someone took this woman's magic and didn’t give it back and that was so wrong - that shouldn’t be happening - give it back!

They were placed with a babe whose magic shouldn’t be straining - that shouldn’t be possible - it isn’t right! - so they help him. They show his magic how to sync with the earth and they feel the strain leaving already and babe relaxes with them when his core stabilizes. They quickly learn that the babes name is Dudley. They learn that they were given two names - Hyacinth - Rosemary. (They think no one understands how this twin thing works.) The broken woman is Petunia. The empty man is Vernon.

(They’ll come to realize how much they should fear the empty one. The ones who have no connection to the World but crave it without knowing. The ones who are infatuated with their sense of other. Who don’t care about certain things enough to STOP IT!)

They grow with this family in a stagnant World. With the broken woman and the straining child and the empty man who craves. With the broken woman who can’t see them. With the straining child who holds them every night and connects with the World. With the empty one who sells them.

Vernon is never found. (His buyers are.)

They grow with this family in this stagnant World. With the recovering woman and the helpful boy and the straining children. With the recovering woman who holds a ball of light in her hands for the first time. With the helpful boy who moves slowly and asks first and brushes their hair and knows everyone's favorites. With the straining children who learn to bond with the World and learn their favorite colors and their hobbies and their names and their powers.

They grow with this family of twelve in a living World in a manor left for the two halves once whole. With the recovering woman, the helpful boy, the half-veela who likes pink, the werewolf cub who likes knitting, the squib who likes to bake, the witch who loves potions, the fae child who likes painting, the three new bloods who loves chess and pottery and swordfighting.

They feel whole.