Conversing over Flodeskum (Delanoir family)

Playing in the palace lost it's charm after a while, Magali thought. It was big, yes, it was easy to imagine monsters, true, there were lots of caverns and crannies, sure, but she was used to the palace now and she knew there'd be plenty more years to come. Playing in the house, which was even smaller and more well known was somewhat worse, and yet the homeliness was nice. Still, she was pretty bored at the moment.

"Gabriel!" she called in a sing-song voice, wondering whether her brother was anywhere nearby. "Gabe?" Magali enjoyed playing games with Gabe; they had different ideas and that made things fresh in her mind. "Wanna come play something?" There was no answer. Magali closed the wordpad she was writing in, a story about elves and dwarves and dragons, and stood up, opening the door, taking in a deep breath.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABE!"

When he heard a loud yelling of his name, Gabe toppled off his bed, hitting the floor hard. He scowled as he realized it was Magali who had yelled. His sister somehow always managed to startle him. In about a billion different ways. She was utterly talented at it.

He got off the the ground quickly and stalked towards where he thought Mag was. 'You startled me! You couldn't have just knocked on my door like a normal person instead of shouting my name so it echoes off the walls?' he told her in a huff, crossing his arms over his chest. He wanted to stay angry, but his curiosity got the better of him. 'Why did you call me?' he asked after a few moments of silence.

Iréne groaned as she put a hand under her chin and skimmed her eyes over one of the five papers she had placed on the bed, infront of her.

She really didn't like Professor applications. She'd never understand why the same old Professors couldn't just stay in their jobs, forever. That would make her job easier, at least.

Picking out replacements was always such a hard job, especially when there was always that one job that no one seemed to want. Or well, one of them did this time but she was not in the mood to give that certain person a job anywhere near her, ever.

When finished with the first, Iréne moved onto the next piece of paper, but before she could get past the first paragraph she was interrupted by her daughter's loud screams (the girl seemed to be looking for her brother, probably to force him to be he horse or something) and another noise soon followed Magali's yell, this time not a human noise but the doorbell.

Sighing in relief, that she didn't have to read anymore applications for a while, Iréne slid off the bed and out of her bedroom and worked her way towards the door to let the guest in.

Claude walked up to the door of the house, ready to make sure his sister hadn't killed any of her plants, and that his niece hadn't killed her brother, when he heard a very familiar sounding scream run through the house, barely able to make out the word 'Gabe'. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. So she hadn't killed her brother quite yet.

Ringing the doorbell, he stood on the steps waiting patiently for an answer. It never really took too long for someone to answer the door, and he could always just walk in if it did.

As the door opened, he turned his attention to the woman who answered the door, giving her a bright grin and stepping forward into the house. "Hey, heard Mag scream, I assume that wasn't anything to be worried about?"

Magali beamed as her brother's voice entered her head. Opening her bedroom door she waved to Gabe and beckoned towards him.

"If you could be an animal, what would you be?" she asked complacently, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I think you'd be a rabbit. Or an alpaca." The doorbell rang through the silence and she peered over the banister to see who it was. When age recognised her Uncle Claude she grinned and turned to Gabe. "Race you downstairs! Three, two, one, go!"

Gabriel seemed to think about this, the anger for his sister for startling him long forgotten as he thought about which animal he wanted to be. He knew he wanted to be able to fly. That would be brilliant. But he didn't want to be a dragon because they were terrifying. He didn't like birds much either. 'I think I'd like to be a flying horse,' he told her, just before the sound of the doorbell filled the house.

Maggy was already running down the stairs and Gabe quickly followed her, having recognized his uncle's voice as well. "Maggy you're cheating! You ran of earlier!" he yelled after her as he bounced down the steps.

Iréne greeted her brother with a wave as she closed the door behind him. "Mags screams all the time, so far it's never been too bad," she winked. "I'm almost imune to the sound of her screams now, but it's hard. They are very loud if you haven't noticed."

She then moved her head towards the staircase her children were running down. "Come to say hello do your uncle?" she asked, amused. "Were you guys playing again? Perhaps in a screaming contest?" she gave her daughter a look.

"Common, lets go into the kitchen. I feel like eating the last of the cake I made yesterday." Iréne really did need something sweet, and a chocolate cake was perfect, to take her mind of work related stuff.

Claude laughed as the twins raced down the stairs, turning back to his sister. "I don't know how you do it. She can be very, very loud. Though I suppose its part of her charm," he said with a grin.

"Cake sounds wonderful!" Claude agreed, clapping his hands together and ushering the children into the kitchen, turning to speak to his sister in a quieter tone, giving her a pointed look. "Though it's not everyday you eat cake without a reason," he said. Claude hoped she realised that he was going to bring that up again when Magali and Gabriel were more distracted.

He moved into the kitchen and lent against a counter, waiting for the cake to be served, turning to the children. "What have you two been up to then? You seem to play a different game every time I visit."

"I was not cheating," Magali said indignantly, turning to look at the stairs. "I ran when I said go. Want to rematch?" She twirled around to look at the adults.

"What animals would you like to be?" she asked them, clapping her hands to her sides and staring at them curiously, before following them through to the kitchen and clambering onto a bar stool. "We weren't playing, Uncle Claude, I was writing a story about a magic forest. I don't know what Gabe was doing." She shrugged and swung her legs to and fro.

Gabriel huffed at Maggy. She was cheating and she knew it. Had it been a fair game he would totally have won. That was for sure. He was faster than his sister, it wasn't fair if he wasn't. She was a girl after all.

When he saw his uncle, a bright smile formed on his lips. 'Hello! I was reading about Beauxbaton, until Maggy caused me to fall off my bed. It was very interesting.' he informed his uncle, not bothering to speak out loud as it wasn't information he was meant to share with everyone. At the mention of cake, his grin widened and he followed his family members into the kitchen.

'Is it the chocolate cake, maman?'

Iréne winced at her brothers words, leave it to him to know her so well, he'd know that she would only suggest to eating cake on a week-day if something was up. "I just want cake." she said, her eyebrows narrowing before she could stop them. "That's all." she tried to brush it off, by adding a softer sound to her second sentence.

She placed plates on the tables, before she got out the cake, holding it up for Gabriel, she smiled. "Indeed it is, son, the most amazing chocolate cake ever, isn't it?"

Iréne grinned as she placed it on the table and sat down, she had actually made it herself and was rather proud of it, she wasn't the best at making chocolate-related things, because she always seemed to finish the chocolate before she could actually make something with it.

Claude looked surprised as the girl told him she was writing a story about a magical forest. "Oh wow, that sounds very cool. Can you show me it? It sounds like a very good story," he said, admiring his niece's creativity for a moment. She was a very imaginative child.

He couldn't help but laugh at Gabriel's answer, ruffling the boy's hair. "Hope you didn't hurt yourself. Was it an interesting book?" he really doubted it. But Gabriel seemed to find lots of things interesting that, as a child at least, Claude wouldn't have touched for fear of learning something.

"I'm sure that's all," Claude said, giving Iréne a look that said he didn't believe her. "Everyone loves having cake. Especially chocolate cake- did you manage to not eat half the ingredients this time?"

Claude's eyes lit up as the cake was placed on the table, taking a seat and rubbing his hands together eagerly, wondering if he should help get things to eat it with. But he was sat down now. And he was a guest. Sort of. "Looks divine," he said honestly, grinning at Iréne. "Thank you very much!"

"Chocolate cake?" Magali licked her lips. "Mmmmmmmm. Please may we have some?"

She turned to look up at her Uncle and grinned. "Well, I guess you could read it. It's not finished though. It won't be finished for a while. But still." She shrugged and kicked her legs out.

"Uncle Claude, Maman, if you were animals, what would you be?"