From behind a statue engrossed in a flood of lush green bushes, Naomi pressed her foot against the freshly-cut lawn and stepped out from behind the stone figure. Her gaze pulled and turned her head around, only to alert her senses to a serene silence rustling with the sounds of shrubs and plants. But the noises grew faster, possibly picking up pace with the wind, until something hopped out in front of her...

• "Ruff!"

Naomi's hair peaked white before she sighed and it settled back into its previous color as the dog wiggled up to her. Its forked tail was flailing as it jaunted close to her and briskly sniffed her feet when its tail stopped as it began to  hop defensively before pacing and wagging its rear in excited confusion. Finally it stopped, sat down in front of her, and whined pitifully as it lowered its head back towards the house.

The witched huffed; puppies were so much work sometimes. She stepped towards the house and the crup's tail reanimated as it trotted towards it and peered towards Naomi to check if she was still following it until it hopped up on the door to the house and whined, again.

First, since only the sick younger Reid sister should be home, (from the message she sent,) Naomi rapped her hand against, and when no one came to answer, the witch pulled out her wand and unlocked the door--at least the ease at which it opened indicated that Abigail Reid was home, she assumed. With her bag hanging off her shoulder she tucked the dog under her arm and entered the house.

Before she got much further into the home she had run into a crabby looking cat, glaring at her, and the crup under her arm barked in response... so she continued on, until, suddenly:

• "ACHOO"

An explosion and flash of light came from a room down the hall, followed, immediately by a calm reversal of the explosion--well now Naomi knew where the sick squib was. She stepped in the doorway, hanging on the door as she looked at Abigail standing in a corner with a tissue, but the crup under her arm squirmed and let out a low "ruff!"

• "Abby?"

Naomi swung herself around and stoo straight to face her Runes professor while simultaneously closing the door. A blond strand of hair fell across her expression, lips pursed tightly and eyebrows tall on her forehead, she wasn't exactly prepared for this.

Aileen was home early, carting a few shopping bags with her into the house. She made her way to the room at the end of the hall, where Abby had holed up with tissues, music, and books. Aileen had moved a lot of the furniture out of there, both for the furniture's benefit and Abby's in case any mishaps occurred. And they did occur. Daily.

It hadn't been so awful earlier in the week, when Abby had first gotten the sneeze-catcher lantern and been resting at home as instructed. It was when Aileen had allowed her to visit Sasha that her 'cold' had really started acting up again. Aileen had tried to entertain her over the spring holiday, but at some point familiarity led to frequent fighting, and after a tiff this morning Aileen had stormed out the door.

She'd come home bearing gifts. Guilt combined with sisterly concern was a powerful motivator. Once Aileen returned to teaching classes tomorrow, Abby would be left home alone, bored and lonely.

The explosive sneeze made her walk a little quicker, and Aileen stopped in surprise when she saw Abby abruptly shutting the door behind her. Something about her expression was... off. Perhaps she was still upset about this morning.

"Abby?" Aileen glanced past her at the closed door. "Are you quite alright?" She paused, looking curiously at the agitated crup in her arms.

"I brought you some things," she managed a playful smile, rummaging through the shopping bags in her hand. "Records, to burst my eardrums with. I actually set foot in Reducto Records," Aileen raised her eyebrows at her. "I'm certain they thought I was lost. But because of me, you can now warble to the new Wild Beings single to your heart's content. Your sneezing should blend in well," she teased.

"And," Aileen paused. "Here," she handed the smaller bag to Abby, taking the crup from the girl and setting Roxy on the floor. The animal let out a bark and stood behind Aileen's legs. That was odd.

"You'll have to ask Sasha to set it up for you," Aileen hinted, amusement in her eyes.

Behold! A once-a-year event! Aileen had braved a muggle technology shop and bought Abby a cell phone!

Naomi returned a pitiful half-smile back at her professor. Was her sister suppose to be all right after the sneeze of the century? Probably not, but it wasn't like Naomi could give an actual response since she didn't know Abby's voice well enough. Copycat Abby helplessly shrugged her shoulders instead.

Then the professor, capable of such a stern resolution and discipline when all hell broke loose in her classroom, was being nice--what? Didn't her mom tell them they were perpetually agitated with each other, lately? Who was this person? Maybe it was just a good day for her? Maybe Naomi didn't have to talk, either. Then she admitted to buying a new Wild Beings album, and Naomi's Abigail-morphed-jaw gaped open.

 Not only did her professor get an album for one of Naomi's favorite bands (and apparently the other Reid's), she gave permission to blow her eardrums, and made a joke in the same sentence, causing Naomi to press back a smile on her face and snerk behind a hand. If the disguised witch was the one with a ridiculous cold she'd have to agree.

The dog started acting weird again as Naomi came into the possession of the bag and instinctively starting rummaging through it while ignoring the pup. She smiled again at the site of the record, maybe Abby would let her borrow it? Then her hand slipped over cold metal. A quadrilateral form. A palm-sized rectangle. Something with plastic buttons. Ugh.

The witch remained emotionless and straight-faced as she slipped the cell-phone out of the back and messed with it in her free hand. She knew it was one of those muggle-proclaimed "smartphones," not that there was anything intelligent about the things. Her sole inward opinionated thought of the device was an inwardly and resounding, "Ew."

• "You'll have to ask Sasha to set it up for you," Aileen hinted, amusement in her eyes.

The young girl's disenchanted thoughts were quickly chased away by the reality of the situation, as she slowly nodded and let a modest smile creep across her face as she imagined the cell phone in her hand to be some...  nifty device that let her steal her mom things. Her slowed reaction finally blossomed into a beaming smile followed by a helpless glance at the floor.

She could think of a few different random things to say the "surprise", but she was sure her voice would crack, and give her away, so she decided to bypass the whole problem. With a shrug and a quick jump she wrapped around Aileen's waist and meekly whispered, "Thank you," with the unearthly lean of a British accent.

At least it was unearthly to Naomi.

And so was the hug.

Despite how fantastically weird everything was, Naomi held tight for effect, as her nervous chocolate eyes landed on the crup pup, now whining; she rolled her eyes at the creature.

Maybe this would weird Aileen Reid enough to make her leave copycat Abby alone, the dog sure wasnt going to do ir, but it probably wouldn't be that easy...

Abby was quiet. Aileen had expected plenty of giggles and interruptions, but the girl seemed subdued. Perhaps she really wasn't feeling well. Or perhaps Aileen making a huge effort to be nice had shocked her into silence.

Her younger sister spent a long moment staring at the phone with a neutral expression. Aileen felt relieved when a slow smile spread across Abby's face, then surprised when she leapt forward with a hug and a whispered thank you.

Abby was usually much more demonstrative than Aileen, generous with arm nudges, pokes, and quick hugs around shoulders. A heartfelt hug was rare however, and Aileen patted the girl's back, expression baffled.

She glanced down at the girl's head. Did Abby seem... taller? No, that was impossible. Her hair certainly looked less bright, which was another thing to add to her list of worries.

"You're welcome," Aileen replied, drawing back and giving her an odd look. "I still say owls are superior. More personal. You don't have to shout into a blinking device, or be woken by buzzing or ringing, or try to remember everyone's... passwords," she finished, clearly unaware of how cell phones saved phone numbers and contacts.

"But if it makes you happy," she sighed, sending her a wry smile over her shoulder as she started walking back down the hall.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to bring your lantern contraption into the kitchen?" Aileen suggested, nearly tripping over the crup who was weaving in and out of her legs in a hyper pattern.

Oh good, she was going away. Naomi hopped away with a smile, and then the mention of passwords made her stare at the phone accusingly. Passwords? What muggle would take the time to remember anything with these laze-inducing devices? But once the professor walked away, Naomi pushed open the door to the room while humming a decline to Professor Reid's question, and nearly tripping over herself in the doorway... erm Abby. 

She balanced and shut the door with more ease, looking the other girl up and down before finally clicking a breath through her teeth, "Oh yer short. And Veela blond." She plopped the bag next to the real Abby and firmly patted the stupid phone into her hands before sliding in front of the mirror next to her bed, while her height melted to that of the real Reid.

Her fingers raked and twisted through her hair, pulling and revealing away darkened batches of strand before they faded into a brighter blond, "Being a squib don't mean you're dense when t'ings come to magic," the witch arched an eyebrow at Abby, her hands still woven through her hair.

Abby had her ear pressed to the door and her hand over her nose, expression switching from ecstatic to conflicted as she eavesdropped on Naomi and Aileen's conversation. She had a cell phone! And new records! But she was supposed to borrow the dagger for a few days, which meant sneaking around and lying to the person who'd just bought her those things!

Of course, Abby could simply tell Aileen that she'd confided in Delilah Foley about everything, but there was a nagging worry in the back of her head that her older sister would get fed up and never speak to her again, or worse, send her back to their parents. So she'd take the risk and lie.

Abby jumped back from the door when it swung open, both thrilled and startled by the (almost) carbon copy of herself standing in front of her. The girl gave her a critical look and made comments as she started adjusting her hair, while Abby blinked in fascination for a moment before grinning down at the phone in her hands. Her own phone!

"Hmm?" She murmured distractedly in response, turning the phone over in her hands and looking at it quizzically.

"I didn't know Aileen would be home so early!" Abby told her, making eye contact with her in the mirror. "You were brill, though. And yeah, looks much better!" She approved of the minor changes.

"The sour expression isn't exactly me," she teased. "But it does make you look more related to Aileen."

She paused, then grinned. "How's the voice? I'm curious. Can you do a British accent?"

Abby seemed to respond to all the questions she didn't ask rather skillfully, while commenting on her sour look and being related to Aileen... she twisted her lips at the awkward thought and laced her fingers through the ends of her hair, before turning to face Abigail Reid like a condescending reflection.

"That's dependent," she drawled with an all too familiar voice[1], "How are you with your wards and runes?" Her blond eyebrows rose assertively as she held her hand next to Abby's face, comparing the skin-tone.

Then she chirped to a more Abigail pitch, "I can work on it through the day, as long as you don't stop talking..." her practicing voice growled with a hint of her own accent, "not like 'dat'll be a problem for you." Her professor's voice was much easier to feel, accomplish, and to get used to, since she'd been listening to it all year, but the teacher's sister was another story (and a whole other personality) all together.

1.

Aileen's

Abby was impressed. It took her a moment to catch on to the vocal demonstration Naomi was doing, but when she did, she clapped a hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter.

"Not a problem at all," she assured her with a wry grin. "Getting me to shut up is the real challenge."

Abby glanced at the door, then shrugged. "I'm pretty good at recognizing wards and runes and such. I've seen her cast them, at least, so I can show you where you're going to encounter them and what they might be," she informed her with an inkling of guilt.

"Right. I can do that, run to the kitchen every so often so Aileen doesn't get curious about me, run back to the office where you'll be stealthily nabbing the dagger, and we'll have everything taken care of in no time!"

She started for the door, then looked at her to see if the girl agreed with the plan.

"Uh, hold it," Naomi said looking around the room, and then reaching for Abby's  Clasp, "Take 'dat, in case..." Naomi had just held the device out in front of Abby when her lips peered into a smile and her voice dipped into Abby's tone, "But your sneezes might be a good distraction too... Try and sneeze if you need to." The young witch didn't actually know if Reid could sneeze or induce a sneeze somehow, on command, but she figured it was a good strategy to at least have.

"I 'cin fake them at least," she revealed her twisted cocobolo wand before using it to gesture between them, "And our clothes, should match," Her voice grated back to its normal tone, "Yer illness 'snot 'dat weird. You 'ave somet'in available or do I need to transfigure stuff?"

"Else we jus' improvise... try not to actually 'run' around," Naomi scrunched her Abby-face skeptically, wondering if the other girl meant that part literally or if she was using a figure of speech, but she had a suspicion that the Reid sister could get excited enough to do it. "She might follow you and get suspicious, so kind of detour a lot... or somet'in."

Abby took the clasp from her with a thank you. It would be a shame to sneeze and mess up the furniture in the middle of their scheme, though that would certainly prove to distract Aileen for a while. She might be able to sneeze on command, and shrugged, having never tried it before.

"Can you transfigure stuff? I wanna see," Abby wondered, always up for a display of magic. It was easier than rooting around in her overflowing closet for an outfit that looked similar.

"Okay, okay," Abby reassured her with a grin once their outfits matched, poking her head out the door. No running! Merlin, Naomi really did  belong in the Reid family.

The coast was clear, so Abby walked quickly to Aileen's office, testing the door before gesturing Naomi to follow. Abby shut the office door behind them and glanced at the girl. "She doesn't usually worry about locking it when I'm home," she admitted in a sheepish whisper.

The office, or the library as Aileen liked to call it, had rows of bookshelves and even a ladder for the lofted area. A large wooden desk with a window behind it sat with a few piles of neat papers, a lantern, and an old globe on top. There were several nooks, crannies, and hidden cabinets tucked away in the shelves, and several treasures transfigured to fit into tiny containers. Abby knew where the dagger was. It was a matter of reaching it.

"There's an invisible shield in the air about one metre from where we're standing. It's held up by a bunch of runes. If you touch it, the alarm is going to go off." Abby refrained from stating the obvious: don't touch it.

"You can cast one of those... reveal charms, above the shield," she pointed close to the ceiling. "And the sides, and the floor. Then you'll see the runes she's using. And then you can work on dispelling them."

Abby gave Naomi a slightly sympathetic glance. She had her work cut out for her. "There's guards on the bookcases too, but the only one we need to worry about is that one," she pointed at the row of shelves to the left of the desk. "That's where the dagger is. She keeps it in a metal box. If you don't dispel it right, you can actually get burned."

Ever since the thief had taken the dagger in the fall, Aileen had implemented more extreme measures for keeping the artifacts safe. Aileen had good reason to be paranoid, but even she wouldn't have guessed that her own sister would help steal it a second time.

When asked to transfigure because Abby just 'wanted to see,' Naomi cocked a hip and knocked her shoulders uneven, "Lucky you got 'dem crazy cold..." she lilted as she directed her wand and circled around the real Abby, to whom correcting her clothes to match. If they weren't in a magical community or home, Naomi wouldn't have even offered to wave her wand, due to the Trace; they paid extra attention to it around muggle locations, but seemed to ignore it whenever older wizards were expected to be around, and since Abigail had a strange cold she hoped it'd act funny anyway, "Wouldn't be so easy to get away wit' otherwise."

Then they left the room and entered Aileen's office, guarded with plenty defenses, as elaborated by Abigail. Rather than move for her wand again, Naomi pulled out an ornately carved black box and pulled few thick pieces of incense out of its side. She brought the sticks up to her mouth and breathed, blowing a mirage of heat onto the sticks until one lit with a blue fizzle, and the other with a green. One to reveal everything, and one to (hopefully) rewind most of what she was about to do.

"They'll last an hour," she explained, "ish." She'd be lying if she said they were fullproof, since she hadn't done something so vague and difficult before, "I've only got to more, and if th' green one runs out we 'ave to start over." After positioning them inside the box, Naomi slid it shut, letting smoke waft and faintly crawl across the floor and up the walls until there was a sheen of symbols and marks shining throughout the room.

"Mmnn great," Naomi said with a chipper lilt but a pitiable expression.

She slipped on two gloves and rolled a yarn of gold-tinted metal into her hand, "Go see where yer sister is, and try on getting her occupied--'den come back and tell me how it went," she also pulled out a little notebook, a much more helpful guide on Runes than what she had currently learned in Runes class, and stepped toward one of the bookcases, but shot a suspicious stare at the door, when she heard a familiar scuffling patter of feet and a brush of sniffing that left as quickly as it come came. Ugh. Puppies.

"Wicked!" Abby enthused in a whisper, peering at the green and blue incense sticks and coughing a bit at the sudden waft of smoke. The runes and other symbols lit up in the air, hanging in an eerie pattern and shimmering in the sunlight that filtered through the window.

Abby was impressed. "Can do," she agreed with Naomi's plan, turning to head out the door. "Good luck!" She grinned over her shoulder and shut the door quietly behind her.

Abby plodded down the hall with the lantern swinging from her hand, a part of her wishing she could help Naomi with the spellwork instead of acting as the distraction. Wizarding folk would always need to do things for her; she knew that. But it didn't stop the resentful tug on her thoughts, or the conflicted emotions that sprang up when she spotted her older sister lounging on the living room couch with a cup of tea while she stared out the window.

Resting the lantern on the coffee table, Abby sat next to her and curled her legs up on the couch.

"You got me a cell phone," she said in a congratulatory tone, smiling as she gave her arm an affectionate nudge.

"I did," Aileen raised her eyebrows, handing her an extra cup of tea. "Don't tell too many people. You''ll ruin my reputation," she teased.

"Wouldn't want to do that!" Abby rolled her eyes. "But since you're in such a generous mood, maybe you could go out and get me some ice cream?" She gave her a pleading look. "I'd do it myself, but I'd probably sneeze someone into oblivion, and that would be bad. Roxy could play in the garden, and we could sit on the porch and eat ice cream, and laugh at all the muggles!"

Was she trying too hard? Probably.

Aileen tilted her head at her, "If you're hungry, you should eat something more substantial than junk food. Like I said earlier."

Oops.

"Okay, um... fish and chips, then!"

Aileen wrinkled her nose.

"No? Awww," Abby was getting the sense that her odd food requests were making it sound like she had more than a cold.

"Ah... gum balls!" Abby suggested desperately. "From Honeydukes!"

Aileen looked at her and started laughing. Abby grinned, unsure if this meant Aileen would actually make the trip to get her something, or if she'd finally driven her sister batty.

"What are you on about today? Has being cooped up here made you more eccentric than usual? Abby, I'll think about it, after you've had a proper dinner. I'm starting to suspect you just want me out of the house," Aileen gave her a mock hurt look, standing to take her empty tea cup into the kitchen.

---

Meanwhile...

Crabapple the cat opened one eye as she sat on her throne, smelling something unusual. It wasn't coming from the two humans or the crup. It seemed to be coming from the older, sensible human's lair of musty parchment and ink. The cat stretched, raising her bum up and reaching with her claws out, then stepped off the plush window seat and slunk towards the office.

She paused, staring at the crup as it trotted towards her, wagging its tail and looking for company. The cat stared at the dog for a moment, stuck her nose in the air and then continued for the door.

Something smoky wafted out from the crack underneath the door, but it didn't smell like fire. The cat lowered her head and peered into the room.

Lights! Magical lights!

Crabapple scrambled back, surprised. Ignoring the crup completely (who was sniffing the smoke), she stuck a paw under the door and meowed.

The lights continued flickering, but there was no answer from within.

The cat swiped a paw underneath the door again, trying to catch the pretty lights, and meowed louder.

Still no answer!

Now Crabapple the cat was normally very good. She knew that everything except for the scratching post was off limits. But this time was different! This time, the lights beckoned her! The cat started scratching at the door, and the crup, thinking this was a fun new game, pawed at the doorknob and let out a bark.

Naomi blew on her ball of wire and it began to bathe in a hot glow. With her gloves on she peeled away at a string of metal, letting it stick out from the side of the ball, as she moved to the bookcase covered in runes she needed to undo, and began to write with it. She traced marks in the air, tearing a golden glow of runes next to her teachers’ in a slow and tedious process, offsetting the current marks with her own with all the caution she could muster.

Finally, after a small eternity, her and her teachers’ runes faded away into a shatter of mist and Naomi exhaled as her eyes grazed the remaining stretch of the bookcase; the witch was beginning to wonder if her mother had imperioused her into this mess.

Barking, Meowing, and scratching quickly disrupted the girl’s thoughts and she dragged a glare over towards the door, where she saw two fuzzy shadows moving the rhythm of the raucous—she didn’t care if they were just playing or not they needed to go.

Resisting the urge to reach for her wand, and rather than just stand there and think of a way to make them leave, she put wire away and slipped out of the doorway and into the hall.

“Lovely,” Abby’s voice grated from her throat as her eyes surveyed the hallway. The dog was still wagging its tail, probably in anticipation of some sort of game, but all this Abby did was pick up the dog and started toting it away from the office, and the cat pranced behind her with an air of snobby curiosity.

Naomi quickly darted into a room with a metal vase, as a distraction began to form in her mind. She put the dog down, picked the cat up and sat it next to the vase (regardless of it’s narrowed and suspicious glaring,) and then picked up the vase, and dropped it on the floor.

It hit the floor with a metal bellow and spun with a smooth scraping against the tile. Both animals jumped and looked on in even more confusion, until “Abby” quickly scooped up the vase and placed it over the dog.

Naomi gave a short chuckle as the vase began to scurry and scrape around the floor and the cat lied down and flopped its tail about as it watched for a moment.
Then, Naomi heard her professor again, and darted out of the room before she was seen in there, and quickly went to the kitchen to try and find a few towels.

Aileen's good mood dampened as her suspicions rose. She rinsed out the teacup using a swish and flick of her wand, and glanced back at Abby, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen looking guilty. A few faint yips sounded from the other side of the house, leading Aileen to assume that the crup was annoying the cat. That was nothing new.

Then a sharp clang sounded, and Aileen took her wand and strode towards the source of the noise.

"It's ok!" Abby said quickly, stepping in front of her. "I'll check on things!"

Aileen stopped to stare at her for a moment. "You've never been so quick to help before," she said dryly, eyes narrowing as she stepped around her sister. Abby trailed behind her, and Aileen heard the girl's stifled, nervous giggles as they came upon the scene: the poor crup with the vase on her head, barks sounding tinny as water dribbled around her snout. Flowers were strewn across the room. The cat hid under the couch, giving Aileen a moody, offended look.

Her mouth thinned. She counted to ten, then carefully levitated the vase off of Roxy's head and started casting drying charms. Abby took that moment to slip away. But a moment later, a telltale 'oof' sounded from the hall.

Determined to get to the bottom of this ridiculousness, Aileen moved swiftly and quietly back towards the kitchen, while the crup followed. She stood there and blinked in surprise when she saw two Abbys.

One of the Abbys had fallen on her bum, staring at Aileen with wide eyes, and then sneezing. Her sneeze caused the towels to float up towards the ceiling. Aileen glanced at the other Abby, with the slightly taller frame and darker blond hair.

"What is this," she demanded in a low voice. "Who are you?" Her grip tightened on her wand. One of them had to talk first.

Naomi had nearly gotten rid of her problem, but then Abby came out, ran into her, and fell down. The younger girl opened her mouth to say something but then the sister came out, and Abby picked that fabulous moment to sneeze, prompting the towels to float to the ceiling, and an ever defensive "who are you" from her Runes professor, but Naomi didn't falter.

The young witch's common sense was overridden by a sense a strong sense that she'd rather be hexed or cursed by her professor than deal with the whole complicated issue of explaining everything. For some reason, it also seemed to give her an excuse to just skip this whole problem in general, so, rather than admit her identity, Naomi gave her gave a nervous shrug, smiled weakly, and in her best imitation of Abigail Reid let her voice innocently whine, "A sneeze?"

The witch in disguise then looked down at the fallen squib with a hopelessly pitiful look, only to have it reflected back at her.