#26 Welcome Home

Martha helped her mum make sure everything was brought into the house and then started the tiresome task of dragging her heavy trunk up the stairs. She hated the way it would thunk off each step as she went but eventually she made it to her bedroom door.

Opening it slowly, Martha noticed that Amelia was already up here and she gave her twin a tired smile, "How long before we're given chores? I give mum about five minutes, I'm hoping Tobias is distracting her."

She knew something was off, since Amelia was quiet on the way home, and Martha had a feeling she knew what was wrong. She dragged her trunk over to her bed and then struggled to pull it on top. If she left it on the floor, she'd be more tempted to ignore it and Martha wanted to unpack her things quickly.

With a sigh, her trunk was opened and Martha started to place things around her side of the room where they belonged.

Martha knew her clothes were fine, since the house-elves took care of a lot of things at the school, so she put them away without worrying about laundry. Besides, she didn't want her mum to get mad at her for throwing down a load of clothes. The only ones she left out to the side were the robes she had worn on the train home.

She smiled as Amelia replied but didn't stop her task, putting her textbooks in a neat pile. Her brothers would need those for next year. "Hopefully. Maybe he has some weird story about his friends. At least they seemed to behave on the train."

At least, Martha hadn't heard them get scolded for running around or being too loud.

Once her trunk was cleared out, Martha stowed it under her bed and kicked off her shoes. She laid on top of her duvet and sighed. As much as she loved her dormitory at school, there was just something special about being home in her own bed.

She stayed quiet, listening to the sounds of the house around them and tried not to, once again, worry about exam results.