WHO: The MacMillans!
WHAT: They're attending the engagement party of their siblings (fml they say)
WHEN: Tonight!
WHERE: A fancy dinner hall!
WHY: Because they are the black sheeps of their family!




Izzie smiled and thanked her great-aunt for the compliments on how lovely Ernie's eyes were. It was nice to hear, especially since the last week had been nothing but talking of arrangements for the social event of the summer, her mother liked to call it. It would definitely be an event, all right, if Izzie's magic had anything to do with it.

Well...if all her plans actually worked.

She turned to her husband, whose emotions she couldn't read tonight. It was the engagement party of her sister Eloise and Archie's brother Pyxis, and while Izzie had found some way to suppress her anger (or, well, unleash it as she would soon show), she wasn't sure how Archie had been handling the news. Neither of them had good relationships going on with either sibling, and it was more of an ego bruiser that they had fallen in love and decided that yes, they too were going to be the MacMillans.

If she thought about it, it was stupid to get mad over. Isobel couldn't have stopped her sister from falling in love with Pyxis, and Archie couldn't have done anything about Eloise. It was just this irrational jealousy that had been within Izzie since she was young that always forced her to believe that her sister did everything to hurt her. So---it was only the engagement party that Izzie wanted to cause a scene at, and no one would have any idea it was her to begin with.

Not as if she was crashing the wedding or something.

"Love," Izzie started, handing off Ernie to her brother Ulrich, her co-conspirator in the plot. He was to take Ernie to the lobby of the restaurant, where they would remain out of the chaos, "Do you remember when I asked you for those books on time-release spells?"

Archie generally walked the other way when he saw his brother approaching at the Ministry, of the two or three times it actually happened. Pyxis, of course, was a very successful, very senior Minister of finance working on things much more important than those which Archie encountered whilst he tooled about in his junior law offices. What he could not believe was that he was currently sitting at his brother's wedding reception, where he watched his brother tie those bonds of holy matrimony with an Egg. Of course, he was the better, more improved version of Archie. Pyxis was a senior Minister, he was independently wealthy, he was marrying the right Egg.

He sourly assumed that Pyxis wasn't rushing to marry Eloise Egg because he'd knocked her up. (Love you, Izzie!)

So, Archie had sat and stared glumly at a blank spot on the wall, suffering through the ceremony, and now the reception. Heavily, he turned to Isobel, eyes morose. "Yes… I suppose I do." A hint of wariness crept into his tone.

She smiled, putting her hand out to touch his face. Oh, she really hoped he wouldn't be mad at her after this. Izzie bit her lip and looked toward the head table, where her sister and brother-in-law were seated, looking disgustingly regal. Eloise had set her eyes on Pyxis the second the two families met after her and Archie's engagement. She probably had him under some spell, just to be able to wear him on her arm as an ego-inflated accessory.

Izzie knew that she shouldn't care so much. She was very happy with her marriage, with her husband, with her son, with her whole life, so why should her sister's immature ways get the best of her?

Because she wasn't a good person, okay?! She got jealous, and irrationally so! Izzie had been living the calmest of lives after her son was born, finally finding true inner peace, and here comes Eloise, just---stripping her of that! Why did Izzie have to live with the constant reminder that she was not what her family had expected from her? Why couldn't they just love her like she stupidly loved them?

"I love you very much, so please don't kill me for this." Izzie smiled one again at Archie and pushed her chair back, "....I would recommend getting under the table," she said, because out of the corner of her eye she saw some chocolate covered strawberries begin to hover over their plates. "Right...now."

"ISOB—" In the end, he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter, for he felt a tug at his wrist and fell over the table, before succumbing to the inescapable pull of his wife's hand and slithering to join her under the tablecloth in a heap. "—EL!"

Panting more out of a kind of fear and subsequent burst of adrenaline rather than exertion, he clutched a hand to his chest to try and steady his heartbeat as he gave his wife a look of uneasy exasperation.

"I'm not really sure this is the proper time or place for a tryst, Isobel!" he exclaimed, slightly indignantly. "They're just about to t—," but was rudely cut off by the sounds of pandemonium just above the table.

Izzie waved her hand frantically at her husband to shut up as the shouting and shrieking grew louder and more frantic. It took all her might not to burst into laughter, and she felt like a third year walking into Zonko's for the first time. Had it really worked? Was there really a magical food fight going on out there, pieing everyone in the face and sending pork chops flying across the room?

Feeling brave, and putting a finger quickly to her mouth to keep Archie quiet, Izzie lifted the table cloth. Just as she did, a big splatter dropped down into the seat she had just been in, splashing her with a fairly large amount whip cream from---yes, flying pies.

"Oh my God, it worked," she let out quickly, ducking back under the table and looking up at Archie. Izzie tried to wipe herself, but was too jittery to do much. She wasn't sure if he understood, or that if he did and was really quite mad at her. "I should've told you---I jinxed the food, but...I didn't think you'd let me do it." Izzie winced, realizing that this could turn out quite sourly for her. Even the sounds of Eloise's shrieks couldn't calm her nervous heart at the idea of Archie being disappointed at her childish behavior.

"At..least it wasn't at the wedding?" she said weakly, flushing.

He gaped at her in equal parts horror, confusion, disbelief, and outrage. Imagine all those dressrobes ruined! What kind of bill would have to be paid to fix all of that? No combination of spells could remove vodka sauce! And if they should be caught--whatever would people think! His parents would be so upset, further reminding him that if they'd had their way, he'd have been married off to a Parkinson girl by now. Jacqueline would shake her head in that smug, superior Parisian way she'd adopted. Everyone would judge him. He'd have to pay all the bills. And probably apologize in public, and this was just absolutely no g—

Then he heard "WHAT THE BLOODY F—!" in a thundering baritone that could only be Pyxis Liberius MacMillan and felt a little part of his heart swell in warm, loving devotion of his wife.

"You've got whipped cream on your cheek," he told her shyly, stroking a finger down her cheekbone.

A smile immediately spread across her face and Izzie shifted on her knees closer to her husband. Oh good. She had been very concerned about his reaction, and for a second there it looked like he was going to grab her ear and tug her toward her parents and tattle. But, Izzie could tell by the expression on his face that Archie did understand why she chose to make such a mess of this engagement party, and she couldn't help but feel extremely happy at the fact.

Maybe she should've asked for his help, it would've saved her a lot of time having another wand at work!

"I've got it on my neck, too," she said lowly, tilting her head to expose the length of her neck. Isobel was glad for the enlargement charms set under the tables (for house elves to rush around without getting kicked by the guests), for it made climbing into her husband's lap much easier than it should have been. Izzie bit her lip, feeling like she should pull her hair out of its twist and let it flow across her shoulders---she was in that kind of mood.