I will be your guardian -- Summer 2007

My little cousin, Quinn, was seven years old.  Since I was fourteen and Dad and Mum had to work, I told Uncle Charlie that I could babysit her.  I was quite protective of her... I could not help myself.  The rest of my cousins could easily handle themselves.  But I just worried about Quinn.  I was not entirely sure if it was due to her health problems or what, but I knew that if something ever happened to her, whoever hurt her was going to have to go through me.  I was not going to be okay with that.  There was no way.  She sat at the table coloring while I made us some lunch; she needed to take her medicine with food.  I knew that Uncle Charlie had to convince Aunt Desi to let me babysit and that I was responsible enough to handle it.  There really was not much to do... just make sure that her medicine was on the time table and that she did not do anything stupid.  She was a lot calmer than either set of twins and their parents let me watch them without any help, so I knew I could handle Quinn.  "What are you coloring?" I asked her from the kitchen, smiling at her through the archway.

I looked up from my coloring book and smiled at my cousin.  He was more like a big brother to me.  I saw Seth just as much as anyone else saw their siblings.  "Just some zoo animals," I said, lifting the book up so he could see what I had colored in so far.  Right now it was a scene with two parent swans with some babies swimming along behind them surrounded by water and greenery.  Of course it did not matter what color i Made them, so they were a rainbow family o swans.

I grinned at her use of multiple colors.  "Well, they look beautiful," I said, putting our grilled cheese onto plates.  I added some fruit and set the plates down on the table.  I went to retrieve the pill bottle and some sodas for us as well.  When I sat back down, I distributed the correct number of pills for Quinn and made sure she took them before I started eating.  "What all wold you like to do today?  This is one of the few times you'll see me because I'll be heading back to Hogwarts here soon."  It was not that far off, the beginning of my fourth year at Hogwarts.

I popped the pills into my mouth and swallowed them with a gulp of soda.  I started to eat as I thought about his question.  "Why don't we have a tea party?" I suggested, knowing that Uncle Bill and Aunt Tonks had a tea set here that was for all of us girls when we came to visit.  Uncle Bill told me they were just mine and that I needed to share.  I was nto sure if I believed him, but it was nice to think that he was secretly spoiling me.

I laughed and nodded.  "Alright, we can have a tea party after lunch... we can have some crumpets with it as dessert," I said, knowing tat Quinn would love it.  I was sure that she would end up having us play dress up at the same time.  I did not mind dressing up like a goofball if it would make any of my cousins smile.  I was quite protective of all of them... I was the oldest after all, it was my job.

I grinned at my cousin.  "Can we dress in princess outfits, too?" I asked him.  I knew his answer would be yes.  Seth would pretty much let me do what ever I wanted to do with him.  I wondered if I could get to paint his nails, too.

I knew that was coming.  I finished my grilled cheese and nodded.  "Yeah, I can handle that.  Just no pictures," I informed her.  "not even drawings."  I really did not want her to document this at all.  Though I knew that all the girls knew I did this with all of them...  I also was pretty sure that at least one of them had evidence.

We would see about that.  Us girls had our ways of getting drawings or pictures without Seth knowing we did them.  We each had our own little scrapbook I was sure of it.  I knew I did.  I grinned at my older cousin.  "If you say so," I said, though I would get a picture.  End of discussion.

I laughed and started to clean up our plates, knowing that it was closer to tea time.  I looked at Quinn.  "Why don't you get our outfits ready, kid," I said, smiling at her.

I nodded and grabbed all of my princess outfits I could find.  I brought them back out to Seth.  "I could be nice and let you choose, though," I pointed out, figuring that being nice would be the best thing in this istuation.  Until I took the picture, of course.

I laughed and looked at Quinn.  "I don't know... I'm not sure I have the fashion sense to play dress up like this with free choice," I said to her.  Sometimes I wondered why I volunteered to babysit the girl cousins when Rosalynn could do it... but I enjoyed having time wiht them.  It made me feel good at least.

I grinned at Seth.  "Yeah, Ros is a little better at this," I said to him honestly.  "But you're not too bad... I'll help you."

I laughed and nodded.  "I am definitely going ot need it," I said, purposely grabbing things that did not match.  "What do you thinka bout this?"

I shook my head, laughing.  "Silly!  That doesn't match at all!  Here," I said, taking away the one tutu and handing him another one.  "That looks best with that tiara."

"Oh, well I'm sorry!" I said, loving her giggles.  I stepped into the tutu and put the tiara on my head.  "I think we need pictures of this..."  I did not mind getting silly for the sake of my cousins.  I loved them all.