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Zelda Spellman had always loved all of her siblings, though they might answer otherwise. When she had been born George had been half way across the world already, traveling to quench his thirst for exploration. Zelda had been three years old when she welcomed her sister Hildegarde Antoinette into the world, and she had been so happy, because now she had a playmate! She loved her sister, her plump cheeks, her bluish eyes and her golden mop of curls— Hilda , her Hilda, her little sister. The two were inseparable. Two more years went by and at the age of 5 blonde little Zelda had received her brother Edward with open arms, Eddie she had called him. Growing up with her siblings, Zelda knew that her heart held so much love for them she thought it might burst. Certainly there could not be any more space in her heart for anyone else, other than her siblings, or so she had thought. It took over two hundred years for Zelda to be proved wrong, not once, but twice.
She remembered the first time she had seen her nephew, he had been a babe and her mother had just given birth to him, and George had been so proud to call him son. Zelda and Hilda had been over a lot during Rita's pregnancy. Spellmans took care of their own, so when George had asked both his sisters to be his wife's midwives, they could hardly deny his request. As time flew by, history unfolded right before their eye and George and Rita had been ripped from them in the blink of an eye. Ambrose, now a man, was seething in his silent anger, how dare they take his parents away from him? And so he had sought revenge, in which way, you may ask? Nothing too excruciating, just an attempt to blow up the Vatican.
Ambrose had been an embittered and angered young man when he had fallen into his aunts' hands. With his house arrest came an extraordinary amount of time that he used for contemplation. His aunts had looked after him and had made sure that he felt as welcome as he could be in their home, and boy, did he love them for it. It was funny at first, to see such different dynamics played out right before his very eyes. Zelda, stern and sarcastic, with murder hidden behind her dazzling smile, and then there was Hilda, his loving, caring and sweet aunt who would never be able to hurt a fly. From the moment he moved in with them, Ambrose knew his life would never be dull. Eventually, he came to love them just as much as he loved the memory of his parents.
Zelda knew, she had known from the first time she had held her nephew's little hand that she would love that boy fiercely, and when the time to provide him with a home came, no hesitation appeared. She got to experience life in a different way with the help of her nephew. Years went by and Ambrose started taking more after her than Hilda. He started borrowing books from her, and when he found some chaotic use of magic he was the first to share with his oldest aunt. Zelda just knew that that boy wasn't just her nephew, he was hers and she would kill anyone who would harm him.
The second time she had been proven wrong was when Sabrina had simply appeared in the house and Zelda had known immediately that her brother was dead. Eddie had perished and so had his mortal wife, what other reason could there possibly be? And for once, she wished she had been absolutely wrong, yet she hadn't. As she held the tiny babe in her arms, and saw a little pudgy fist grabbing at her finger, Zelda knew that she could never love anyone as much as she loved her family.
As Sabrina grew older, she had started pulling away from her aunt Zelda in favor of a more permissive motherly figure, Hilda. The redhead's heart had broken a little. As the day to her niece's baptism grew nearer, so did Sabrina's restlessness. The trials that the Spellman family had faced were immeasurable, and each time, Zelda held onto her family as tight as she could, hoping to spare them from as much as possible.
Little had Zelda known, that years later, she would be sitting down on the couch with her sister in the loveseat right next to her watching a mindless movie. No words nor gestures could formulate how full her aching heart had been when her nibling—no, her children at either side of her, leaning into her for warmth, that Zelda had finally accepted that her family had come together. That her sister and her children were safe, and that every bad thing that had plagued their lives had amounted to that very moment. Zelda knew that she would do anything for those two young people that unsuspectingly held her heart in both her hands.
That same night after the movie, Zelda had made her rounds around the house, closing windows and doors and turning off any lights that might have been left on. As she made her way up the stairs she stepped first through Ambrose's room and looked through the open door. A brilliant smile made its way to her lips upon the sight of the warlock spread across his bed with the cover kicked off the lower half of his body. The witch walked on light steps and gently placed the duvet over his body. As she was walking towards the door she heard a mumbled ' Thank you, Mum ' and Zelda really had to stop herself from crying.
She traveled the halls of the old house silently and into Sabrina's room where she tucked the covers around the young girl and kissed her forehead sweetly before exiting. Once inside her room, Zelda's thoughts were quelled by her sister's light snoring from the bed at the other side of the bedroom. But one thought prevailed.
Being a mother doesn't mean having to get married and give birth to your children. I have two children and I will do my damndest for them.