With blue cotton pants, some fuzzy rabid white Monty Python rabbit slippers, and a Tornado's jersey, Erik was perched atop a stool in the kitchen with a batch of goopy blue batter in a small pan sitting behind a pink and frilly journal propped up like a cookbook.

"Okay so it says we, um, add this next, for the 'candles,'" Erik lifted up some pointy black sugar-looking jacks and dropped some in the goop. He leaned back over to study the flourishing cursive scrawled over the pink book, "Then it should rise after we take it out of the oven, and bam!" He he hopped on his stool and proudly smiled at Keegan, "We have the leaning tower of Quidditch cake a-flambé!" 

There was a Quidditch scrimmage that had been going on the wireless for most of the day and into the night, so making the cake was a great time killer. And similar to how Erik's shirt looked, it appeared as though a tornado hat torn through the kitchen. Luckily, his mother wasn't home to admire his catastrophe, and his father was at work.

Erik then grabbed up the girly book as he flipped through the pages casually, as if it he were using the book to study for a History of Magic test, "I wonder what else is in here..." there was some nonsense about Professor Fraiser and other cute guys, and a loving mention of Xavier Tawse followed by a hateful mention of Tawse. There were a few more recipes, and then some mushy mention about... Blake Knight?

"Oh haha!" Erik pointed at it enthusiastically as he gave Keegan a better view, "Look at this rubbish!"

PAJAMAS

Keegan had never been to a sleepover before, at least not one that didn't involve him needing a place to stay while his mother was 'sleeping it off', so he was finding the entire thing rather educational. And fun, very fun in fact. They had already trashed the living room playing wizard chess. Well at least it started as wizard chess and then advanced to playing Aurors and Deatheaters with exploding snaps. There was a half finished fort in there as well, which they pretended was Hogwarts so Erik, who had wanted to be Voldemort for some reason, could run around in his older sisters robes (for proper dramatic effect) and attack Keegan, who was pretending to be Harry Potter. His inked on scar was still etched on his forehead, though it was too smudged to be recognizable as a thunderbolt any longer.

When they got tired of that, or at least ran out of exploding snaps, they listened to and argued about who was a better Quidditch team, the Tornados or the Falcons. Then that had somehow led to the kitchen, where they were attempting to make some crazy quidditch related cake or something that Erik found in his sisters diary. Keegan had no idea, the loopy writing was too hard to read.

"Okay so it says we, um, add this next, for the 'candles'. Then it should rise after we take it out of the oven, and bam! We have the leaning tower of Quidditch cake a-flambé!" 

"---Hweet" Keegan said past a mouthful of candy. He hadn't really contributed much to the cake, since he couldn't really read the handwriting. Feeling bad, he grabbed a handful of what looked like Red Hots and tossed them into the batter, where they swirled into the blue and created little purple irises with red pupils. It was a pretty neat effect actually. "There ye go... I 'elped" He chuckled before popping another handful of candy into his already sugar stained mouth as Erik put the goopy dough into the oven before he returned to reading the hot pink diary.

"Oh haha! Look at this rubbish!"

Keegan looked over Erik's shoulder, squinting as he tried to read the writing, his mouth moving along with the words. After a moment, he laughed "HA." Grabbing a towel off of the counter, he draped it over his head like it was hair "OOOOooooo Blaaaaaake.... Yer soooo hoooot..." He said in a very bad, falsetto, version of Ayla "... Yer blue eyes make my boobs tiiiingle..." That was what happened when girls thought a guy was hot, right?

Dahlia walked down the wooden backless steps that led from the upper floor of the Penthouse loft to the lower floor. She was wearing a pair of fluffy slippers, soft pajama pants and a t shirt. Her long raven hair was pulled back in a braid. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she eyed the destruction that was strewn all over the large open concept livingroom. She simply shook her head. She would be more concerned about the mess if she didn't think her parents had it coming. Her Dad was working late at the Ministry and her mom was in Paris on a business trip. They had left Ayla in charge but the fourteen year old was holed up in her room on the phone with someone and paying no mind to the walking disasters that were downstairs. There was blaring music coming from the older Collins' room, the random giggle coming through over the blare here and there.

Dahlia crossed the livingroom to the kitchen to join the boys. She had spent her day in her own room as well. She knew that Keegan was over and was somewhat avoiding him. She had no problem spending time with him at school, talking in class, hanging out afterwards, getting into all sorts of trouble but having him in her house made her feel . . . weird and she couldn't explain why. The main reason she had ventured out of her room was because her stomach was growling and she needed to find something to eat.

Her cheeks turned scarlet at Keegan's impression of Ayla and she couldn't help but laugh. She had no idea if boobs could actually tingle and she wasn't exactly looking forward to finding out. Being around Keegan and Tynan made her feel weird enough, she didn't want to have to deal with awkward tingly parts as well, "That definitely sounds like Ayla." She gave him a smile then moved over to the fridge to find something to eat, "What are you guys doing anyway? Aside from violating Ayla's privacy by reading her diary?"

Erik quickly took a double-take of the oven for a moment, pondering whether or not their cake was going to look fantastic or not, but then Keegan did a fantastic impression of his sister and he nearly fell off his stool and hit the floor from his uncontrollable laughter. Then his fairer half arrived in just as good spirits.

"Completely accurate Reenactment of Potter vs. Voldy," Completely hilarious more like, but pretending the Dark Lord took a summer vacation every year for six years or so completely made sense. Erik happily continued, "Cooking a smashing cake," possibly literal from the strange bubble-blowing precursors that the batter was producing; probably a precursor to something volatile, but Erik wasn't paying too much mind to it. "Falcons versus Tornadoes," and obviously the latter was better, "and--wha-wait, this is suppose to be private?" Erik's cheery demeanor tripped over feigned curiosity.

A large toothy grin pulled across her face as Erik proceeded to hop over to Dahlia and explain, "I never pegged her for terribly private, you always know when she's fawning over someone... Now we just happen to know," Erik generously turned his palms out, "as a loving brother that's my business, who else am I suppose to pran--I mean, properly gather info on to relay back to my dear sister?" Topped with an arched eyebrow, Erik's face was about as believable as a pair of twins from Slytherin.

"That definitely sounds like Ayla. What are you guys doing anyway? Aside from violating Ayla's privacy by reading her diary?"

The moment Dahlia entered his line of sight, a switch was flipped on in Keegans brain. It was something that had been growing over the last couple of months, now that he was nearing teenhood, and it caused him to suddenly straighten up and puff out his skinny chest . "'ey Dahlia..." He said casually, leaning against the counter like he wasn't wearing spiderman slippers and a t-shirt splattered with unidentifiable foodstuffs.

"We were... uh..." He started to explain when Erik broke in and listed off their achievements proudly. "Yeah... What 'e said..." Keegan added off-handedly as he realized that the towel 'hair' was still on his head. Hastily pulling it off, he tried to hide it behind his back like it didn't exist. "Ye know... bloke stuff..." His attempt at nonchalant was weak at best. It was times like these that he was thankful to finally have a father to teach him how to do better... he just wished he knew exactly what he was trying to do.

"I never pegged her for terribly private, you always know when she's fawning over someone... Now we just happen to know, as a loving brother that's my business, who else am I suppose to pran--I mean, properly gather info on to relay back to my dear sister?"

"Yeh... We just wanna 'elp 'er out..." Keegan added, conflicted between impressing Dahlia (For whatever reason) and supporting Erik's flimsy excuse. He didn't have older sisters, so it was difficult to follow Erik's logic. " 'sides, She shouldn't just leave it layin' around if she didn't want us to see it..." He added, taking a seat next to Erik "It weren't even properly charmed!" He scoffed, popping a crisp in his mouth.

Dahlia smiled widely at both boys, looking ever so much like the budding young woman she was. At the age of twelve Dahlia was starting to be graced with the early acting genes of the Hallowell women and while she was doing everything she could to hide the fact her body was changing, she seemed to have a new air about herself all the same. She nodded along with Erik's list of what they were doing, all the while glancing at Keegan out of the corner of her eye. Her stomach still feeling all Topsy turvy.

She giggled at how outrageous Erik sounded but knew it was all in good fun. A blush of crimson rose to her cheeks as Keegan chimed in. She wasn't about to admit that the only reason the boys could get into Ayla's diary was because she had removed the charms before they left the school. Without being able to perform under age magic outside of Hogwarts grounds there was no way for the older girl to put them back on. Besides Dahlia had only done it because like Erik, she wanted to know what her sister was up to.

"Well I supposed it's alright, " She gave the boys a coy smile, pausing a moment longer on Keegan before looking at the stove, "If that thing blows up, mom will kill you." She looked at the bubbling batter, "What is it anyways?"

Erik narrowed his eyes at his sister and then looked back at Keegan, he knew his sister was acting a little weird but his brain couldn't be bothered to piece together why. He scratched his nose and looked back at his sister as his scraggily eyebrows widened around his eyes in rebounding ignorance, "What?" then his eyes squinted as he blew a raspberry on his lips and added, "It won't explo--"

Then the oven breathed with all the force of a balloon inhaling a sack of feathers, and the its door gave a pitiful creek. Erik simultaneously held his breath as he slowly stepped farther away from the oven, and waited.

The door burst open and a many-tiered and rainbow-frosting cake flew from the inside and lodged itself onto the side of a cabinet with a spark. Erik gave a short cough as he turned around to see the cake rigidly hanging off the side of a door cabinet with some treats Keegan and Erik put in popping on its red edges.

Once the dessert finally quieted Erik cautiously said, "Edible, hopefully?" And with that, a piece of candy sparked and popped off the side of it like a firework and Erik instinctively ducked as it disappeared into some corner of the kitchen.

"If that thing blows up, mom will kill you. What is it anyways?"

"Ah... just a cake..." Keegan said offhandedly, too interested in making Dahlia blush more than the fact that the batter was beginning to bubble ominously. He tried to look suave, leaning against the counter as he 'eyed' her (If you called staring furiously 'eying'). He even went as far as to run his hand through his hair, which was a very bad idea considering he still had clumps of dough stuck to his fingers. The effect was lumpy, blue hair gel. Luckily for him, he didn't have a chance to get embarrassed about it before the room shook with an explosion of rainbow dough. Keegan immediately hid behind the island counter, grabbing Dahlia on the way. Whether or not it was to protect her or use her as a shield was unclear.

"Edible, hopefully?"

As the room cleared, Keegan peeked out from behind the island at the mess. Cautiously, at least as cautious as a 12 year old boy could be, Keegan picked up a piece of the still bubbling cake. He was determined to show Dahlia how brave he was, and like any other 12 year old, he figured that eating something weird would do it. "Well... Let me see..." He said, eying the glowing red candies. This was either going to be very very painful, or very very awesome. Closing his eyes tight, he took a big bite of the cake and chewed. His expressions changed, rotating from wary to pleased to ecstatic to...

BUUUUURRRRP PHOOOOM

A burst of crimson red flames exploded from his gaping jaws, shooting about 6 feet in front of him and propelling him violently through the doorway into the next room. A crash and bang later, through the smoke, you could see a slightly charred Keegan laying on the floor. He sat there for a moment, watching the rings of smoke curling from his sun burnt lips with the fascination that only someone who had seen death and survived could muster. "That... That was..." He stared in front of him, still dazed, barely able to whisper breathlessly "....awesome."

Another blush came to her cheeks when Keegan looked at her. She tried to pass it off as her imagination but she couldn't ever remember him looking at her like that. Why was he looking at her like that anyways? She suppressed a giggle when he ran blue batter into his hair and turned to her brother instead.

Dahlia barely had time to scold him for making such an experiment when the whole thing blew up in his face. As the cake burst from the oven Dahlia felt warm hands grab her and pull her down behind the island. A burst of flames that had nothing to do with the combusting confection danced across her skin as she felt herself briefly pressed against her friend. She eagerly pushed herself away not entirely pleased with how uncomfortable it made her feel and was glad neither of the boys seemed to notice.

She stumbled to her feet just in time to see Keegan give her a devilish look before shoving a piece of the rainbow disaster into his mouth, "KEEGAN DON'T!" She screamed out far too late and quickly dropped to the floor, falling hard on her behind, in order to avoid the flame that erupted from his mouth.

Dahlia gingerly got to her feet once more, rubbing the seat of her pajama pants. She looked around at the batter, candy covered and charred kitchen. She instinctively reached for her wand to clean it up until she remembered her Dad had locked them away. More for Erik's sake than her own but he didn't want any of his children being tempted to use magic outside of school.

Ignoring the mess she dashed into the livingroom where a very smoky looking Gryffindor proved her was still alive. Dahlia knelt down next to Keegan. With blush coloured cheeks she smiled sweetly at him, "You're such an idiot." She had one hand placed on more or less the center of his chest while she used the other to inspect his face. She had her hand under his chin, her thumb just below his lower lip, "Those look pretty burnt. I think my mom has some cream or something you could put on them."

As Keegan was flung from the room from his risque snack, Erik couldn't help but suffer from his own implosion: his cheeks expanded, he doubled over at his waist, and blurted out a loud, "HAH!" Erik couldn't have done anything more amusing at that moment, and a flaming belch was just brilliant. He would have do discover how to accomplish that during breakfast in the Great Hall one morning.

For the moment, Erik picked up bits of fluffy pieces of cakes there were, avoiding the exploding candy as he tested the taste of his and Keegan's rainbow massacre of a pastry, "I dunno doctor," his stuffy voice said around the squishy cake, "Maybe we can just go to Mungo's and get some free candy too." They could probably just make those explode as well, with a little bit more effort.

Ayla had spent most of the evening holed up in her room. The young Hufflepuff wasn't exactly pleased with having to watch the twins for the night. She had her music blaring and was on the phone to a friend back home racking up the long distance bill just to defy her parents. She was almost fifteen and they still treated her like she was ten. She could be dancing the night away at Spellpunk, instead she was trapped here with not only the troublesome duo but one of their equally troublesome friends. She only knew the Gryffindor by reputation but that was bad enough. She just knew something was going to go wrong.

When the exploding kitchen rocked the rest of the penthouse, Ayla dropped the phone and leaped from her bed racing out of her room. She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked out over the open living room to what used to be the kitchen. The usually pristine room was covered in icing and bits of cake, along with other unidentified mess. She balled her fists at her sides, her whole tiny body was trembling with rage, "ERIK JOSEPH COLLINS!!"

Ayla began to race down the stairs heading straight for her brother, "When I get my hands on you!"

Even the recent destruction of the kitchen and living room didn't compare to the whirlwind that was Ayla's anger. She was serious. Furious. But the younger brother didn't move, and Erik continued chewing his piece of perilous pastry, until she finished. Then he swallowed and began his most ridiculous fake show of innocence, "What?" He yelled back at the top of the stairs, "Why do you just assume I did it?" Of course, Erik had help, but it wasn't like he'd set Ayla loose on the fire-belching Keegan, that wasn't fair. And it wasn't like Ayla would care much either.

And so Erik slowly began to back-pedal behind the doorframe of another room after casually taking another bite of cake. "Not like you were paying much attention either way..." he swallowed and gave a cheeky smile before he jumped back into the room and began to do his best to keep away from his eldest sister, "Maybe you should do that next time!"

"You're such an idiot. Those look pretty burnt. I think my mom has some cream or something you could put on them."

"I don't..." Keegan started to retort and paused, clearly conflicted. He was, at 12, on the verge of puberty, which meant that his 11 year old self was fervently reminding him that girls were 'icky' while his soon-to-be 13 year old self was finding the placement of her hands very interesting. Now he didn't know what to do: either push her off or try to cope a feel. Luckily for him, the awkwardness was waylaid for a moment when Ayla came storming in, face red and furious. Keegan peeled his eyes off of Dahlia's and watched with a smirk as Erik was chased out of the room by a vengeful 15 year old. "No, he's an idiot..." Keegan snickered at the scene before turning back to Dahlia.

And suddenly the awkwardness was back. Until now, Keegan had fought his future libido by insisting that Dahlia wasn't a 'woman' enough for him to find interesting. Closer inspection revealed that she wasn't too far from proving him wrong. He could see a hint of future curves under her night shirt and that was enough to spurn Teen!Keegan's interest. Swallowing hard, he stared back into those crystal blue eyes and pursed his lips. This proved to be a bad idea as a surge of pain from the burns radiated through his face, causing him to break the stared with a wince "Ow... Okay, maybe that cream would be useful..." He finally admitted, his lips throbbing.

Dahlia had leaned into Keegan a little bit to hide the snicker that was forming. The last thing she wanted was to have Ayla see her laughing about it all. She was supposed to be the responsible one and she hadn't done anything to waylay her brother from doing something stupid, which to be honest was what usually happened but just the same she'd let Ayla deal with Erik all on her own.

When Keegan turned back to her another surge of heat rushed through her. She could have sworn he had never looked at her like that before and as much as she wanted to ignore and deny it her senses were telling her that she very much liked it. Dahlia was wrestling with her own budding hormones and she had been doing everything she could to hide the fact that her body was suddenly changing as well.

When he started to purse his lips Dahlia felt her body automatically mirror the action in response until he winced and turned away. Her cheeks turned bright red again as she tried to process what had just almost happened, "Of course." She sprang to her feet and raced to the bathroom. She whipped open the medicine cabinet and with a foggy mind and trembling fingers she searched for the salve she knew her mom kept around. It had been something her father had given her when the kids were a bit younger and random acts of magic were more common. She grabbed the container and came back to Keegan once again kneeling by his side.

Without thinking much of it, she leaned over the prone Gryffindor again. Dahlia opened the lid of the container placing it down on his chest and bracing her left hand there. With her right she leaned in even further, scooped some of the blue cream and began to gently run them over the chapped skin of his lips. The whole time her green blue eyes were focused on the task afraid of catching him looking at her strangely again.

As she ran off to get the salve, Keegan had a chance to think about what had conspired earlier. Did he or didn't he like the feel of her hand on his chest? Did she have cooties or was he attracted to her now? It was confusing enough to make his head hurt and Keegan didn't have enough time to really figure out what he felt about her before she returned, salve in hand.

"Okay so how do I put..." He started to say, expecting her to hand him the salve, when she shut him up by doing it for him. At first a wave of irritation washed over him but it was quickly followed by a different feeling all together. One that was pleasant but also a bit awkward. Staying perfectly still as her cool fingers brushed over his lips, sending tingles through them as well as down his spine, Keegan's eyelids drooped closed in peaceful satisfaction. It wasn't until her fingers pulled away that he realized how much time had seemed to stop right then.

His pale blue eyes cracked open and met her brilliant ones. For a moment, he just sat there and stared at her in silence. Then, without warning to her or himself, his body moved on its own will towards her, closing the gap between them with surprising speed. Then their lips met in an awkward, tight-lipped kiss. As clumsy as the kiss was, a pleasure he hadn't known flooded him and he felt like his entire body was engulfed in flames. Merlin, if this was what being a teen was about, maybe he should give it a try!