JAKE JUMPED FROM THE TWENTIETH floor of the Ministry of Magic when his letter fell into his hands. The statues always caught him, anyway. Now he was sitting on the twelfth floor, perched on the marble ledge, the statue of the griffin twisting its bronze head cautiously, peering at him, a few feet below Jake's hanging legs.

But Jake was too stunned by the envelope in his hands, running his finger through the vanilla crepe paper. He watched the envelope very closely as if a prey taking caution of their predator. It was thick and heavy and the parchment was yellow, nothing too grand about it—but his hand trembled greatly.

He hadn't clutched a paper this tight since he found those adoption letters in the top seventh drawer that his Mum liked to keep her Hidden Things when he was eight.

    The tick of his watch pounded along with his chest in his ears. His eyes glued to the red wax seal, bearing a coat of arms - a lion, a badger, an eagle, and a snake surrounding a purple 'H'.

    He thought, imagined, dreaded day and night to actually have this letter within his grasp. And now that it is, he didn't know why he was stalling. Waiting.
    As if once he'd open it, he'd be eaten alive.

    Mr J. Sim
    Extra Storage Room
    Room 349 of the 903rd hallway on the 22nd floor
    Ministry of Magic

    He continued to gaze at the address, with the ink so gray and the writing so thin, he was sure anyone could've missed it and would've passed it on. . .but every child he knew would've snatched this envelope if they were given the chance.

    He closed hid eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled. He slid his finger down the envelope, parting the seal. And there he saw the trifold letter inside. His heart got caught up in his throat, like a lump of knot hard to swallow. He carefully took the letter with his fingers, like a fragile glass. He unraveled the folds. And read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Con-fed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Sim,
  
    We are pleased to inform that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on the 1st of September. We await your owl by no later than 31 of July.

Yours Sincerely,
Minerva Mcgonagall
Deputy Headmistress

    Jake's feelings came in colors even brighter than usual. The urgent red of burning coals. The eager green of new grass buds. The frenzied yellow of a flapping bird's feathers.

   They'd finally written back.

However, he did have a word or two of Hogwarts' choice of wording the address,he did admit that he had to take the spare storage room of his home at the end of the corridor, but it had been his room for the longest of years. . .and he didn't have it half as bad as his younger sisters who had to take the attic, which had dripping ceilings every Tuesday because the office above always checked on unlicensed wands.

He read the letter again. Then again. And again. His eyes took in each sharp stroke of ink, every waxy curve of Hogwarts' school crest. The same seal was watermarked onto the enclosed slips of paper. This was no prank.

"Arlo!" Jake plunged down the steps into Room 349 and bounded up their twisting stairs for the attic room in search of his younger sister. The familiar scents of molasses and oak snaked up his nose, but his sort-of a scoundrel of a sibling was nowhere to be found. Then he heard screaming.

"Lo—where are you?" Oil lamps cast an amber glow over rum bottles emptied for seashells and played as telescopes, along with several freshly filled wooden barrels that was cloaked in white sheets, elevated into a tent. He heard a sniffle as he moved past, and caught bits of moans as well. "Sigr—" He choked on the last half of her sister's name.

"Oh, hullo, Jakey." Lo was sprawled on the floor, eyes red and misty as her cheeks, her sloppy smile wet from the snot of her nose. She was clutching a letter like Jake's, except the ink had smudged and gone blurry. She was wailing like a banshee.

"Had everyone gone dead to not hear you squealing horribly and bawling like a ghost up here?" Jake asked, his brows raised, staggering back in shock.

"Not really, but I think they left the house when she did," said a cheery voice.

Jake looked up and Sim Wendy, the youngest of the six Simblings, was hugging and down flat on a wooden beam on the ceiling.

"Wendy, get off the ceiling," Jake sighed.

Arlo continued to sob next to him.

Wendy gasped down at Jake. "Zounds! You rogue! You rascal!"

"Wendy, while I'm requesti—"

"Away, you three-inched-brain fool!" Wendy cried, jerking her head away in a disappointed flourish.

"First, Wendy, your brain is three inches. And second, have you been reading Muggle Shakespeare books again?" said Jake, throwing a pillow at Arlo's face in hopes to briefly suffocate her cries.

"Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows," Wendy harrumphed.

Jake heaved a sigh. "I can't believe this." He dragged a barrel beneath the beam, climbed atop it, and launched himself up, grabbing Wendy by the ankle, and she broke into shrieks. The barrel rolled away from under Jake's feet and he was left hanging onto Wendy's leg, while his youngest sister was clawing and clutching the wooden beam, screeching rabidly.

"Out of my sight! Thou dost infect my eyes! Thou crusty botch of nature!" Wendy breyed, chucking books at Jake, but smacking Lo's face instead. "I'll beat thee, but I would infect my hands!"

Arlo, on the ground, wiped her face down with her palm impatiently, scrambled to her feet, and jumped onto Wendy's other leg and three of them crashed onto the floor.

Wendy groaned, rolling to her elbows, "Uurgh—stupid siblings."

Arlo got up and smacked Wendy. "Stupid sister. I will let chair kiss thou's urchin face."

"Shakespeare never wrote an insult like that!"

"That's because Shakespeare isn't as stupid as you," said a tauntfull voice.

Jake, Arlo, and Wendy all writhe away from each other, rolled on the floor, and peered over to the attic's trapdoor. Sim Anna, who was six years older than them and had thrice the hair longer than the sisters, poked her head through the hole and watched them unimpressively from behind her rectangle glasses that could never stay in level with her eyes.

She arched her brow at them. "And you expect Hogwarts should be more hurried to send you a letter," she muttered. "Well, did you get them?"

"I did," said Jake, pulling out his letter.

"That's nice, sweetie, but I wasn't talking to you," Anna chuckled, "I'll be more than delighted to have you with me at Hogwarts, letter or not, I'll get you in with that new trick Taehyung's been practicing since last year. But I'm talking to Lo, who continues to bully us all with her presence."

"Do you not hear my cries?" Arlo accused with a frown.

Anna's head fell, sardonically, to one side. "Oh, I can, and I was praying it was because they denied you."

Jake told himself he was such an amazing person, surviving a household of his sisters.

Wendy yawned, "She said she could she could do all spells and potions in the biggest, thickest, book in the Wizarding World. And can do 8 cartwheels, 32 backflips, and run a marathon without magic."

"And I'm not very sporty," grinned Arlo smugly.

Anna's eyes gleamed over with a mischievous light and her lips curled into a smirk. "Oh, is that so? Willing to demonstrate, Lo?"

"To humiliate you, Anna?" said Arlo sweetly, "Of course."

"Your face is unfit for any place but hell," Anna said. "Anyway, Sunoo sent you a letter." Wendy bolted towards the paper in her hand; Anna shot it out of reach, grinning. "Ha! You wish, little killer. But it ain't for you, it's for Lo."

Wendy grumbled, crawling away, "It's always for the half-witted sister."

Arlo stood up to her feet, dusted off her sweater, and took the letter. Anna yawned and climbed down from the trapdoor, paused, and smiled up at them. "But, uh, great job on getting in—" Arlo smiled, "—Jake."

Arlo frowned. Jake smiled.

Jake carefully shut the trapdoor again as Arlo crossed the room and fell back onto her bed. Jake followed, cleaning up the sheets on the floor, dumping them at the foot of her bed, before sinking down on it.

"Must be a great birthday for you, huh?" Arlo said with a half-grin on her face as she took out the seal, lifted up the paper lid, and unraveled the letter.

Jake smiled, shifting on the space next to her. "As long as you're there," he said, before they read the letter.

Hey 'Lo!

Heard you got your letter! And well. . .so did I! Daniel got his too! WE'RE ALL FINALLY GOING TO HOGWARTS! I hope this letter reaches you. Tomo (Mom's gotten a new owl!) has been getting lost and unable to send our letters lately. The pesky thing keeps hooting at night! Daniel thinks it's a pleasant owl, I say otherwise.

SO MERLIN'S BEARD, I'M FINALLY GETTING MY OWN OWL! Since it's one of the requirements in supplies. Anyway, we're off to Diagon Alley on the weekend. You and Jake should tag along too!

At least I know that I won't be alone. . .We're finally going to the school of our dreams since we were 5!

Your Sunshine,
Kim Sunoo

Arlo smiled softly at the letter, folding it again. She thought about writing back later, before she got up from the bed, while Jake sat up against the headboard. He watched her walk towards her window, lifting it up. She leaned on the window sill, and smiled. Files and papers flew past like birds, followed by the noise of busy chatters floating in.

"We're finally going to Hogwarts," said Jake.

[ ARLO : The Weekend. . . ]

    SIGRID AIMLESSLY STARED at the ceiling. Both her hand laid in both sides of her head. Her head planted on the fluffy pillow.

    She raised an eyebrow at the ceiling, 'Why do I feel like there's something important I have to do today. . .?'

    She squinted at the plain ceiling, thinking about it hard. It shown all over her face. She knew she probably looked ridiculous glaring hard at the ceiling.

    Nothing came into mind and decided there's nothing important today.

    That's until Wendy barged into the room, "Hey sis. . .what are you doing?" She asked when she saw Sigrid still in bed.

"I don't know. . ." She replied bluntly.

"Okay! Well, you should start preparing soon. Jungwon will be here in an hour," The younger Sim said with her usual bubbly tone and left the door skipping and humming to some happy tune.

    Sigrid was left in the room with silence, Wendy's song still clear in the hallway.

    It took her a few moments to process what her sister had just said. When she fully registered it, she shot out of bed with her eyes wide.

"HOW COULD I FORGET?!" Sigrid facepalmed herself. Hard.

    She jumped out of bed and ran around the room. Closet. Bathroom. Fixing the bed. Tossing the clothes she plans to wear on the bed.

    She rushed back to the bathroom. 'Just a quick shower. . .'

    She removed her pajamas and entered the shower — yelping a short scream when freezing water rained down hard on her.

"It's me, ma'am," said a gruff voice.

    Sigrid sighed in relief, knowing it was a house elf.

"What is it, Blair?" Sigrid asked again, thinking it would be wise to hurry and change into her clothes.

"You are being called on downstairs for breakfast. You have been expected for about 20 minutes now," Blair answered, a bit muffled from the door.

"O-Oh! All right! Thank you, Blair! You may leave now," she replied while jumping to make the skirt fit in.

    Blair's feet walked away outside the door, while Sigrid struggled in attempts to fit the skirt, little grunts escaped her lips. "Why—is this. . .so hard?! WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY SKIRTS?! Oh, right! Dear mother thought I have too little. . ." she grumbled under her breath.

    Sigrid wore a sky blue blouse, with matching skirt that reached til her knees, with a pair of white stockings. She exhaled out of relief on accomplishing on wearing her outfit.

    Sigrid scurried to her shoe rack and got a pair of brown boots, as she messily laced it into a ribbon.
She stood up in triumph a moment later. "THANK MERLIN'S BEARD! IT'S OVER!"

    Sigrid swung the door open and bolted down the corridors to the stairs. She saw her Mother and Father downstairs, with Wendy stuffing her face with pancakes.

    Sigrid jumped on the last step and did a small smack on the back of Wendy's head, making the latter's nose touch her pancake and smeared with syrup; but Sigrid didn't stop and continued to skip forward.

"Morning Papa! Mornin' Mama!" Sigrid chirped as she back hugged her mom, while her dad was reading the Daily Prophet.

    Sigrid ignored Wendy's dangerous stares that stabbed unto her, as she continued to smile and hold her bubbly aura.

"I will sue you to big sis Anelle, Aleksandra, and Anna!" Wendy yelled at Sigrid, as the latter stuck out her tongue at her little sister.

"Speaking of them, where are they?" Sigrid asked her mom.

"If you forgot, your eldest sister is on another Ministry duty, so she left to work early. Aleksandra, is in Romania to study more on Dragons. And Anna. . .well. . .she went to the Alley early to meet up with her friends," Mrs. Sim answered.

"HA! You can't scold me you little goblin!" Sigrid teased Wendy.

"I'm gonna tell big sis Aleks to send me a dragon, and I'll train her, and she'll burn you to crisp!" Wendy yelled back, "But for now, maybe Jake will teach you a lesson."

    Sigrid scoffed, "That huge softie can't do anything to me!"

    Wendy pouted angrily at her.

"Where is Jake anyway? I need to greet him Happy Birthday," said Sigrid.

"He's probably walking around somewhere," Mrs. Sim said, taking a drink out of her coffee cup.

"Oh! Okay!" Sigrid jumped.

"Daddy, what are you reading?" Wendy asks their dad.

"Nothing much. Just the latest Quidditch game," He answered.

"Well, we'll be expecting a lot now. I have a feeling that this year promises something, and of course, that Rita Skeet will be there to sniff out a story." Mrs. Sim rolled her eyes. Sigrid giggled at her mother's behaviour.

"Well, I'll be heading out to find Jake! Sunoo and Daniel might be stopping by so we can head to the Alley together!" Sigrid mentioned to her parents.

"Wait! Sunoo?" Wendy jumped and quickly looked to her.

    A smirk had formed on the older ravenette, "Yes. Sunoo." Wendy turned to a shade of pink as her eyes widened; Sigrid loved seeing her struggle on not to smile.

"Oh! Your cousin, Jungwon, would be coming along then," smiled Mrs. Sim.

    Sigrid gasped, "Jungwon?! HE GOT HIS LETTER TOO?! THIS YEAR WILL BE THE BEST ALREADY!" She squealed and jumped.

"Just go!" Wendy yelled at her, as Sigrid saluted and left to find her brother.

"Wendy, don't yell at your sister," scolded Mrs. Sim with a sigh.

"But she's annoying," Wendy whined, and continued to eat her breakfast. "We should've disowned her by now. Jake is the nicest."

"Wendy!"

—————//•//—————

    Sigrid skipped on the carpeted floor, along the bright corridor, of the Ministry; dodging any flying rolled parchments or magical sweeping brooms with other House Elves of the Ministry.
    Who and what is the Ministry of Magic? Well, they are the main governing body of the magical community. Responsible of regulating and enforcing laws for the magical community, as well as keeping said community hidden from the muggle world.

    On the way, Sigrid spotted Blair from a distance. She smiled and skipped towards his direction. "Mornin' Blair!"

    Blair gave her a very weary and exasperated look, but Sigrid knew he didn't mean anything by it. He barely had any color in his skin and his cheeks were sunken which made him look very curt all the time. Blair wasn't her family's House Elf, but her eldest sister and Father worked in the Ministry and Blair visited their house often to clean it.

"Lady Sigrid," He grunted.

    However, she awkwardly chuckled, "Don't look so disappointed by my presence, and no need to address me so formally, Blair."

"It is simply Blair's job, m'lady. Blair's a house elf, Blair's sure Lady Sigrid would know considering you have Blair," He answered back while wiping dusts of the wallpaper's corners.

    Sigrid smiled awkwardly, knowing Blair isn't a talker much. "W-Well then. . .um. . .have you seen Jake?"

"Yes. Blair's seen Master Jake. He just passed by eight minutes ago. Just keep walking down there and Lady Sigrid might just spot him."

    Sigrid smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Blair!"
    Blair didn't return a word as Sigrid continued making her way to find Jake.

    As she continued to skip down, she finally spotted a boy her age, with lighter hazel hair like Wendy's, wearing a brown checkered polo that was too big for him, sitting on the railings, with his legs dangling on the edge of a fall.

    Sigrid smirked as she quietly snuck behind him, just to pounce on his back with a hug and screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKEY!"

    He let out a loud yelp, that almost came as a scream.
"Lo!" He breathed as she gave an innocent smile. He sighed in relief and placed a hand on her head. "Don't scare me like that."

    Sigrid giggled slyly, "Sorry. . ."

    He shook his head and smiled, "Thanks for the greeting."

    She shrugged then beamed, "As long as I'm still a bit taller, I'll continuously greet you."

"We both know I'll grow soon." He chuckled.

    Sigrid rolled her eyes, "Whatever, shortie."

    He rolled his eyes with his smile still on his face. "Wanna sit with me?"

    Sigrid went silent for a moment as she leaned forward to look at the drop that she might just fall into if she joins him. She nervously laughed, "N-No thanks."

    He sighed, "You won't fall. You know I won't let you."

"Still, just let me be," Sigrid huffed with a pout.

"You and your comfort zone." He rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Sigrid pouted and looked away. "A-Anyway, we should probably head back. Daniel, Jungwon, and Sunoo will be here, so that we can all get our things at Diagon Alley together. And you know how Wendy just might be with Sunoo there."

    Jake's eyes widened. "Oh right! Yeah, we should really hurry back," he said jumping down from the railing, next to Sigrid. He quickly grabbed her hand as they sprinted back.

—————//•//—————

The door burst open and three boys threw themselves in. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKE!" Jungwon, Daniel, and Sunoo greeted loudly.

    Jake gave a heartfelt laugh, "Thanks, guys!"

Yang Jungwon was Jake and Sigrid's cousin from their Mum's side. He had a round face but a white smile and sharp eyes—so Sigrid used to say he was like a cat. His sharp eyes sometimes scared Jake, he was very keen and always caught up on things before anyone could. Like, once, during a Thanksgiving dinner, when he, Jake, Sigrid, Sunoo, and Daniel were playing Gobstones and Jungwon guessed Sigrid would lose two rounds straight, and that Jake would only be able to knock five gobstones but win, right before they happened. Drenched in foul-smelling muck, Sigrid snapped and accused Jungwon of having some secret power. However, as keen as Jungwon was, he wasn't the best in games—especially chess.

Kim Sunoo was the one they all avoided when playing chess. No one could beat him in a game of chess. Sunoo has very colorful personalities—though any of them could argue that Sigrid's was brighter. No one liked rude awakenings, but everyone knew that Sunoo was the red sign to never interrupt his sleep because if his hair didn't have its natural sheen or his skin was a tad bit duller, he's scarier than Mrs. Sim after Sigrid tells for more five minutes after the last four times. Even more colorful was Sunoo's knack for stealing basic objects, he was very subtle about it. Jake would advice not to make too much of a big deal around it—even as Sunoo was currently inching his fingers to a black chess piece ornament on the fireplace shelf and Jake had to slap his hand away. Sunoo also had a younger brother, Kim Daniel.

Daniel, however, was the opposite of Sunoo. He was that kid in class that actually returned to you the quill that you didn't realise you dropped–and possible lost–off the floor, rather than snatching the unadorned thing and keeping it. He was also that nice kid in class that everyone knew because of his brother but he was the brother everyone felt was their friend. He's also probably the only one that could keep up to Sunoo in chess. He was the closest with Wendy. Jake was confident that she told more secrets to Daniel than himself or Sigrid. The five of them have been very close friends from a younger age that the two brothers could mistakenly be family.

"You sure you boys don't want any cookies?" Mrs. Sim asked.

    Jungwon was about to raise his hand until Daniel nudged him in the ribs. "No thanks, Mrs. Sim! We're good!"

"Yeah, we should probably hurry to get our stuff at Diagon Alley?" Sunoo smiled.

"Oh, right! The streets are usually packed at this time," Mrs. Sim said.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Sigrid asked.

"Oh, no, dear. Your father will accompany you," Mrs. Sim replied with a warm smile.

"Can't I go too, Mummy?" Wendy asked with puppy eyes.

"Oh, but I wanted us to bake some more pancakes and cookies," Mrs. Sim smiled, knowing it will work on the little girl.

"OH! NO, I'LL HELP MUMMY!" Wendy jumped.

Sunoo chuckled and bent down to Wendy, "Make sure to make some for me, okay?"

She turned bright red. "YES! OF COURSE!"

    Jake chuckled, "She's at it again."

    Mr. Sim came down from the stairs, with his coat and hat, heading to them by the door. "All right, everyone ready?"

    All of them smiled and nodded. "READY!"

"All of you have fun, okay?" Mrs. Sim said, as Sigrid and Jake nodded back at her.

"BYEE!" Wendy waved energetically. "I hope you get lost, Arlo!" She ended, making Sigrid hit a nerve.

"I hope you ruin those cookies!" Sigrid yelled with a forced smile.