Wizarding Monopoly

The house was filled to the brim with excitement. Daddy was home.

Elijah hadn’t been in five minutes before he found himself kneeling on the floor of the sitting room playing Wizarding Monopoly with his cousins and his children. Finn and Euan were the bankers so they could cheat and Elisabeth was lying on the floor across from them, glaring over the top of her book. Harry was lying on the sofa drinking Butterbeer and Elijah’s father, Viktor, was sitting in the armchair watching the game curiously. Elijah’s children, Fauve and Thierry, were winning it seemed; or they had the most money between them – one or the two. Elijah was on Elisabeth’s side. That way everyone was in twos. He had a feeling that Finn and Euan had already foreseen the outcome of the game. They would no doubt bend the rules to ensure they won.

“So how exactly do you play this game?” Harry asked Elijah who was staring quizzically at the Galleons he’d been given by Finn. They weren’t real, either. Elijah shrugged and Harry smirked, shaking his head as he did so. Victor left his seat in the arm chair and sat down on the floor behind Fauve and Thierry. He picked the two up and placed them in his lap. Fauve showed him the money she and Thierry had and jingled the charm bracelet at her grandfather. Elijah smiled and caught sight of the ‘R’ encrusted with sapphire stones. His eyebrows came together in thought as he wondered where he’d seen it before. It certainly hadn’t been on Fauve’s bracelet. It wasn’t something he could hold. No, it was on paper. Elijah decided to pay it no mind and was taken out of the polluted thoughts by Harry who decided to lie down beside him.

He leaned close to Elijah’s ear and whispered, “Tell me again how you play?” The blatant innuendo did not go unheard by Harry’s sister who glared at her elder brother. The dark-haired northern-Bulgarian smiled innocently in response and plucked Elijah’s money out of his hands. “Okay,” he said decisively. “I want to buy Diagon Alley.”

Finn screwed his face up in indignation. “Well you can’t, arse! Lis isn’t there yet because she’s crap at this game! Fauve can buy it!” Elijah snorted back his laughter and watched as his daughter handed over the money to the devil, oh sorry, to her second cousin in exchange for a small red house. “Okay Lis, roll the dice!”

Cecilia came in the room just as her father got down on the floor and pulled Elijah's daughters into his lap. "wizarding monopoly?" she asked sitting in the arm chair Viktor had just vacated. she pulled her feet up in the seat and sat on them as she started to watch the game. before she left her room she had put on shorts and a tank top. "who's winning? You or your children?" she asked her older brother. she shook her head when Finn told Eli that he couldn't have Diagon Alley. "im sorry but i think Fin has a favoret in this game and its not you eli." she said laughing.

The warning look on Harry’s face did nothing to change Finn’s decision. Elijah merely sat there and smirked as the eldest Harrow slapped the fake money back down onto the carpet. Harry huffed in exasperation much to the delight of his younger brothers who exchanged high-fives. Thierry pushed his glasses further up his nose as he inspected the money that he and his sister had gathered. Elijah watched his son and daughter in interest as they counted their earnings. Elisabeth truly was awful at a game that was difficult to be awful at. It was an insult, really. Harry, Elijah could tell, was becoming more exasperated by the second and it was amusing because he was usually the more level headed of all of the Harrows.

Finn and Euan were hard to control. Elisabeth had anger issues despite being a lovely person. Adam was just an arse. Harry, or Henry as he was christened, was usually as good as gold. Today though it seemed he was channelling some of the genes that most Harrows inherited: irrational anger. If they didn’t inherit it then Elijah and Cecilia’s mother wouldn’t be in the state she was now.

“Neither,” Elijah laughed, casting a look over at the smug faces of the twins, “Finn and Euan seem to be ahead of us all.”

Harry rolled his eyes from beside Elijah, “I wonder why?” He asked, looking pointedly at the twin Seers that couldn’t see anything but harmless trouble and things that would either benefit or disadvantage them. “Okay,” Harry looked from Lis to Eli and back again, “I want a loan.” Finn and Euan grinned at each other and doled out money to Harry much to the dismay of his now enraged sister. She bopped Harry on the head, threw her money at him and rose from her seat. She stormed away from the game and threw herself down on the couch, determined not to talk to her brothers from now on.

“Cecilia why don’t you play in Elisabeth’s place?” Victor asked diplomatically.

"you know those to are cheating. only reason they like being the bankers." Cecilia said giggling a little. "Aw dad, are you really going to make me play with those cheaters?" she asked jokingly and got up walking across the room to sit next to her brother. she crossed her legs tucking her feet under her. "how long have you two been playing this game any way?" she asked shaking her head to her it had always seemed to take forever to play a game of warding monopoly. "and which pice was Lis's?" she pushed her hair behind her ear. "brothers are there to make you mad sometimes," she said shaking her head. "you'll forgive these three soon enough, Lis. then they will eventually learn that they can't live with you there. if you weren't around who would they pick on?"

The twins were smug. They liked knowing that they were getting one over on Elijah. The preferred knowing they got one over on their elder brother though who was idly playing with a lock of Elijah’s hair as he sorted their money out. Finn and Euan were going to win as always, Harry knew this and so did everyone else crowded around the board. Elijah jumped up after sorting the money out. He walked over to the window seat and opened the window. He plopped himself down on the pillows and lit himself a cigarette, angling it so the smoke wafted out of the window. He inhaled the nicotine, watching his family all the while. Lis had turned around by now but her arms were still crossed over her breasts. It made Elijah smirk. She was ridiculous sometimes. If Adam wasn’t the source of comedy then she was. It was always the way. She was the youngest after all.

“Miss Elisabeth’s piece was...” Finn leaned forward and looked over the deck, his shock of pink falling into his eyes. “Ah!” he plucked the Quaffle off of Diagon Alley and chucked it at Cecilia. “You owe Fauvie two-hundred and fifty galleons now.” He announced with a smirk in the French girl’s direction. Fauve smiled brightly and Viktor chuckled, shaking his head at the antics of the family he was surrounded by.

When Cecilia ended her piece of ‘advice’ with a question, everyone spoke. Elijah took his cigarette from his mouth and in unison they all said, “Adam.” Even Lis answered. Harry laughed heartily and got to his feet. He walked over to Elijah who raised an eyebrow at him. He took the cigarette off of Elijah and smirked before putting it to his lips. He inhaled the smoke and leaned towards Elijah. He parted the younger boy’s lips with his thumb and pressed his lips against them. He exhaled the smoke and nicotine into Elijah’s mouth and pulled away, smiling slightly at the dazed look on his cousin’s face. He handed the cigarette back and got to his feet again.

“Matthew taught me that,” he admitted quietly before moving back over to the board and taking his place.

Matthew, the eldest male cousin of theirs born during the Second Wizarding War. Sensible Matthew, normal Matthew taught the supposedly normal (and sensible) Harry that? Jesus Christ Elijah thought. He flicked his cigarette out of the window and leaned up to close it. Then he returned to the board, taking a bottle of wine off of the sideboard as he did so. He pressed the wine into Euan’s hand and sat back down beside Harry. “Remind me to treat you to something next time I see you.” He murmured in his ear before picking his money up again. “Okay Euan. Give me the dice. I want Honeydukes.”

“Sod off you arse. That’s mine!” Finn exclaimed irritably, begrudgingly handing over the dice yet still holding onto his smile.

Cecilia laughed when every one answered her question. when Finn tossed the quaffle at her she caught it then started to sort out the money she owed Fauvie, "Okay Fauvie, here is two hundred and fifty galleons. " She was sure that her cousin was up to his antics again a d cheating but she gave the money to the girl any way. she glanced over at Eli when he went to the window and lit a cigarette. "those things will kill you eventual." she said "and if i start anything as stupid as that please slap me until i see the error in my ways." she turned back to face the board as harry got up and walked over to Eiljah. she'd rather be watching the game instead of playing it but she didn't see she had much choice in it. "family full of cheaters," she muttered to her self.