Chapter One: The Household

The streets of Emerald City were crowded today.
People of all shapes and sizes were pushing and rushing to the places they needed to go, whether that be work or grocery shopping.

Magnus, a young canine caught in the middle of the crowd, was getting squished and pushed about like a pinball, not even sure where he was. He held his bag of groceries close, making sure he didn’t lose it. The halfblood was tempted to just rush through the crowd, but he didn’t want to bump into anybody and cause a ruckus.

As the crowd continued to push and pull, Magnus finally squeezed himself out of the oobleck crowd and found himself around the street corner. The people continued to weave and waver behind him, almost like ants.

Smiling to himself, he kicked up his feet, dusting off the bottom of his yet-to-be-replaced shoes. He then dashed away like a bolt of lightning, leaving a small trail of kicked-up dirt behind him, nowhere to be seen.

After a few minutes of running along the sidewalks, Magnus finally stopped in front of the Everett house. Looking up to the side, he sighed and walked up to the house, opening the front door.

“I’m home,” he called out, placing his shoes on the doormat. He stretched out his arms and put the groceries on the kitchen table. He sighed and rolled up his sleeves, turning around. “Took a while to get away from the crowd today. The place was packed.”

He began to chuckle to himself, but then he noticed the eerie silence. Ears twitching, Magnus tried to sense any movement or sound. But before he could sense anything of note, something tackled him from behind-

“SURPRISE!!”

Magnus didn’t even get to move out of the way as his closest brother, Felix, pounced right on him, knocking him off his feet. Chuckling, the younger brother softly pushed Felix off of him. They fist-bumped and exchanged their secret handshake, which was a usual brotherly tradition.

“Heya, Felix,” Magnus greeted. “How was track?”
“Good, thanks,” he answered, wagging his tail. “Got the ingredients for the cake?”

“Yup!” Magnus then turned to the bag. “Took a while to get out of the crowd, but I managed.” Felix snatched the bag and placed it right on top of the counter.

“Hopefully Sully and Samuel know what they’re doing,” he said.

“Come on, they’re the best cooks out of all of us! Combined! I’m sure they’ll make an excellent cake for the occasion!” Magnus replied, taking off his jacket. He then walked to the mud room again and set his jacket on the rack by the door. He walked towards the staircase in the corner of the living room, adjacent to the TV.

“When are they gonna be home?” Felix questioned from the kitchen, opening the cupboards to get a snack.

“Probably around four-thirty. Their after-school job’s close to home, so I’m sure they’ll be here as soon as they’re done with work,” Magnus told him. “Until then, mind putting the ingredients in the fridge?” Felix gave a thumbs up, picking up the bag. Smiling, Magnus went upstairs and walked into his room, closing the door behind him.

Pushing away the curtains, the halfblood looked down at the street below. Empty as always, but it was still sunny out. But before he could sit back down, there was a knock on the door. Magnus’ ears perked up, eyeing it.
“Come in.”

His eldest brother, Xavier, opened the door. He had one hand clenched on the handle and another holding some folded shirts. His sleeves were rolled up near his shoulders, ruffling up his fur.

“Heya, Magnus.”

“Heya, Xavier.” Magnus greeted, ears twitching. “How are things?”

“Fine, thanks,” the eldest replied, letting his hand slide down the door. “Just wanted to hand you your laundry.” 

“Thanks,” Magnus awkwardly responded, holding the shirts in his lap. Although his brother held a calm stance, Magnus could tell that he wasn’t exactly in the best mood. Not paying much attention to it though, he moved over to the side of the bed, letting his brother sit beside him, as they’d usually do.

“Heard Travis is working on a big project,” Xavier piped up. “He said it’s important, so he’s not really going to be able to respond to texts and stuff.”

“You think it’s for that project Fred mentioned? About the lesserbeasts and nature?” Magnus asked.

“Maybe. That fox is known for taking projects pretty seriously,” the eldest shrugged. “Guess he needs the alone time to focus.” Despite the previous assumption, Xavier still looked tense, but his muscles had relaxed a little.

“You sure that’s all that’s on your mind?” the younger brother asked.

“Of course. Just a tad bit curious,” Xavier answered, looking away. Before Magnus could say anything to him, Sully’s voice echoed under the floorboards from downstairs.

“Hey, guys! Food’s ready!” Xavier looked towards Magnus, who had also sat up from the bed, pulling on the sleeves of his gloves and setting down the laundry.

“Well, wonder what kind of tasty brick Sully and Sam have made this time?” Xavier smirked. Magnus rolled his eyes, smiling.

“It’s called a cake, Xavier,” he chuckled. The eldest brother smiled. “I know.” The two brothers then headed out the door, moving forward.