The grandiose structure of Olwyn Plas, the family home of Theo and Maddie Whitman, rarely felt like home to the young girl, especially since her brother had been away on some spirit journey for most of the past month as far as she could tell. Maddie had tried to spend as much time away from the cold mansion as possible, often spending weeks at a time with her best friend Linus and his mother, Audrey, but the extended sleepovers put an increased strain on her already complicated relationship with her mum.

Truly, the soon-to-be-second year Gryffindor could hardly wait for school to start back up at Hogwarts. She could finally try out for Quidditch, where she was hoping to get a position as either a Chaser or the Seeker, and see all of her friends again. A large number of the older students had gone on the summer trip, but she had yet to see them since they only had just returned a few days ago.

Her teacrup, Bijoux, nibbled playfully on her blonde hair splayed across her pillow as she gazed at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling in her room, and Maddie picked up the small, white puffball of a dog and rubbed her nose against the animal's. Bijoux licked her nose affectionately, causing Maddie to erupt in giggles. Theo had given her the puppy as a birthday present, though she had not been the most subtle in dropping hints as to what she wanted. Still she had been beyond ecstatic when he revealed her new pet, though Theo made sure to remind her of the responsibilities she now had to take care of Bijoux. The girl delighted in teaching the puppy all manner of tricks, and Bijoux almost had toilet training down pat. The few slip ups she had had were always in her father's shoes, and Frau Pech was getting wise to the fact that the incidents might have not been completely accidental despite Maddie's very sincere apologies.

Bijoux's ears perked up and she leaped off the bed and scrambled to the door, yipping loudly in order to get Maddie's attention. The girl sat up and smoothed out the wrinkles from her dress before tiredly getting off her bed and opening the door, at which point the diminutive dog burst out of her room.

"Bijoux, what's the hurry?" Maddie shouted and ran after her puppy, dodging house elves busily tidying up the house.

She reached the stairs down to the foyer, and saw what got Bijoux so excited and she breathlessly thanked the dog for alerting her. Theo stood at the foot of the stairs, and a broad grin spread across Maddie's face as she took the steps three at a time before practically jumping into her brother. It had been a month since she'd last seen Theo, which caused her to lose what little sense of propriety the Veela Heritage Society had managed to ingrain into the girl's stubborn head.

"I've missed you so much! How have you been?" She inquired with animated exuberance.