North Berwick, Scotland: Surviving Your Best Friend Meeting Your Embarrassing Family

Melanie was freaking out. Her best friend was coming to her house. Her house in Scotland! It was a big deal and everything needed to be perfect. Her home was nothing compared to his and she felt horrible about that. Hers was so bland and muggle and so middle class. She hoped that he didn't mind. Her little sisters watched as their crazy older sister ran about the house like a maniac cleaning. She made her dad clean his office, she was thankful her mother's studio was in the shed in the backyard. The twins were expected to have their bedroom cleaned. Melanie had the spare bedroom ready for Hayden. She didn't know why she was nervous. Oh right, her father was embarrassing, her mum was alright, and the twins would cause some sort of ruckus. They always do.

She waited on the sofa in the living room. Hayden was traveling by floo-powder. Something that was completely foreign to her family. Melanie bounced her knee nervously. What if something went wrong and he exploded or ended up somewhere that wasn't her home? Oh Merlin, could he actually explode? She seriously hoped that couldn't happen. She jumped as a person swooped in through the fireplace. Melanie grinned. He wasn't missing a limb or anything! Perfect. "Hayden!" She exclaimed and jumped up from her seat to help him up.

Cori was curled up in a chair with one of her dogs on her lap enjoying herself as Melanie had a heart attack over their home being presentable for Hayden. She stroked Fluffy's fur gently. "Melanie, calm down. You are being so absolutely creepy right now. It is just Hayden. It's not like the queen is about to appear in our home. It's just Hayden." Cori rolled her eyes. Her sister was always so weird about Hayden.

"I'm going to talk to McKenna." Cori went upstairs, missing Hayden's grand entrance. She plopped onto her sister's bed. "Melanie is so weird about Hayden. It is so annoying." Cori sighed softly.

McKenna was smart. She knew to stay out of the psycho rampage that was their older sister. The middle Arnett stayed nice and safe in her bedroom. Like Cori, she had no clue why Melanie was acting so crazy about their house being nice and neat for her friend. It’s not like McKenna did this for old friends. She just let them show up to the house no matter what it looked like.

She looked over at Cori and laughed, shaking her head. “Why do you think I’ve been staying up here and out of her way? Hm?” McKenna looked up at the ceiling. “We have to spend a whole week in the same house as them.” She wrinkled her nose. “They’re gonna be all annoying around each other. But at least we get to see Willow out of the deal, right?”

"Ugh, I know. And they're going to like be all weird too. Like they'll do the stupid laughing at absolutely nothing thing. And then they'll curl up closer. I swear to god they must be married. Maybe Melanie gave birth to a cat or something because this is just silly. They honestly treat each other like they're married. It's so freaky. And I'm so sick of the creepy staring thing Melanie does around him." Cori shuddered. "If I ever get like that around a guy, you have permission to cut off my head with an axe." Cori giggled at her sister. "Wanna watch a movie?"

McKenna stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Melanie’s not alone in that either, I mean Hayden does the weird staring thing too, but he waits till she’s distracted by the cat or not looking at him.” She wrinkled her nose at the mention of her older sister birthing a cat. That sounded gross. Could wizards give birth to animals? She would have to Google it. “Only if you promise to cut my head off if I get like that too. Deal?” She held her pinky out to her twin, giggling along with Cori. “Yeah! what movie should we watch?”

Knowing Melanie Arnett, Hayden assumed she was freaking right about now. He knew she'd never experienced the method of travel so he had a good guess she was wondering if he was about to combust. Obviously he wouldn't, but Melanie didn't know that, and part of him was really glad she was probably worrying over him. Of course he had no idea she'd also one crazy worrying about every minute detail about her house for his arrival. He didn't want to be such a disturbance. When Melanie stayed in Boston he'd only cleaned the most important parts of the house. Stepping through the fireplace Hayden smiled. "Hello, Melanie."

Melanie grinned brightly at him and hugged him tightly. She inspected him and he was all in one piece. “You didn’t combust!” She made him promise that he wouldn’t, she was glad that he hadn’t…that really would’ve put a damper on things. Hayden wasn’t being a disturbance, Melanie was simply being herself and an extreme worrywart. She was also convinced that after this week he wouldn’t want anything to do with her or her crazy muggle family. “How are you? How’s your mum doing?” She hugged him gently again. “I should bring your stuff up to the guest bedroom.” She accidentally said aloud, that was supposed to be a mental note to herself for herself in the role of hostess.

Hayden hugged Melanie back tightly and held her close probably for a bit longer than most hugs, but he couldn't help himself. Laughing, he picked up his bags. "Just tell me where the room is an I'll get on it. I don't want to make you carry my bags, Melanie. I am perfectly confident in my ability to hold...." He tripped over a bump in the floor and when his suitcase his the ground clothes sprayed out all over the place. Sighing gently, Hayden began to scrounge his clothes off the floor. He picked up a pair of his boxers and quickly hid them in the suitcase. He buried them under his sweatpants so they would never see the light of day.

Melanie was so not complaining about the hug at all and wished they could’ve stayed like that a bit longer. “Oh, please, you’re the guest I’ll carry your suitcase.” Dang it! She forget the bloody bump in the carpet. Fudge. “Oh, Hayden! I’m so sorry…” She was trying her best to contain a giggle from his clothes exploding. Melanie hurried to gather his clothes and turned beet red upon realizing that she picked up a pair of his boxers. She sheepishly held them out to him. “S-so, to the guest bedroom?” She asked once his clothes were all pack away once more.

"To the guest bedroom." Hayden nodded quickly. He couldn't believe that Melanie had seen his underwear (It wouldn't be the last time in their lives by far). Hayden followed excitedly. He loved guest rooms because they always had a touch of the last person that was their and that really interested Hayden, like how many people had been guests in the particular home. Why were they guests? Were there any people that they didn't want to stay over who stayed over in the room? All these questions intrigued Hayden to no end. He knew just about everyone who had stayed in his.