Note: Muggle!AU
Lysander stared at his wet hands as he kicked his legs back and forth on his bed. This was the method he used when he didn't want to overthink or cause a scene: go to his room, find something to stare at, and move his legs.
His reason for nearly causing a scene in public was completely warranted, but Lysander knew better than to do anything knowing that his mother would find out. She'd have the Sputters on him in no time; and Lysander happened to like his skin free of boils.
Though Lysander always had this feeling that there was something missing from his life (all seventeen years of it), but he would have never imagined that it had been a brother that looked exactly like him. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Lysander didn't have those answers yet, and he planned to talk to his mother about it. But he had to make sure that he didn't let anyone down by being irrational in his questioning.
When Lysander first found the missing link, he was wandering in the woods.
Lysander wasn't a 'daredeviling spitfire' like some of the locals liked to call him; he was merely a curious boy. He knew how to see reason and use it wisely; it helped him when he wanted to explore something new or different. His latest conquest was the forest beyond the town known as the Forbidden Forest. There were myths about the forest, talks of there being ghosts and dark creatures roaming it. None of the locals dared enter something as wicked as that forest; it didn't help their worries when someone would be brave enough to attempt it but never returned.
Lysander was taught to follow his heart and chase his dreams, no matter how far-fetched they appeared to everyone else. He was taught that there were things beyond the picture shown in front of him if he looked hard enough. When he looked at the Forbidden Forest, Lysander knew there was something beyond it than what scared the locals, and he would discover it.
After finishing his studies, Lysander gathered the supplies he'd need for his journey. He left a note for his mother stating that he was off for another discovery before he officially set off. Since she was always gone searching for new creatures around the world, it gave Lysander more leeway (and disapproving looks from their neighbors) to do different things. With one final look over everything he was taking with him, Lysander trekked to the borderline of the Forbidden Forest.
Inside the forest, it was darker than Lysander had imagined; but it was a typical forest. There was no strange fog nor whispers from dark creatures.
With a snort, Lysander moved deeper into the forest. He saw nothing but countless trees and the occasional bird sound. It wasn't until he snapped a twig when a low growl sounded through some shrubbery.
Lysander was not a guy to back down, so he readied his stick he procured along the way and held it ready on the defense, but when something leaped out of the shrubs, an arm yanked him away.
Lysander nearly stumbled into the ground trying to keep up with the person. "What was that for?" he shouted. He could have handled the situation before he was taken away from the action. He was ripped away from a discovery! What he didn't know was that he was going to come across another discovery that would change everything.
"I'm saving your life!" came the guy's voice, as Lysander assessed it to be a guy from the skinny frame to his voice.
Lysander must have been in the forest longer than he thought, because the voice sounded oddly familiar to his own. The boy's hair was caked with dirt, but Lysander picked up the shade of blond that was similar to his own.
The running stopped at the edge of the forest; Lysander had been too busy looking at the boy to realize they were back near the town.
Lysander placed his hands on his knees and knelt to catch his breath, and when his eyes looked up to speak to the boy, his breath was gone again in the instant.
He was staring at the same blue eyes he possessed, the same facial structure as his own…they had the same nose.
"Who…who are you?" Lysander asked. It was like looking in a scary mirror.
"I'm…" the boy swallowed hard, staring Lysander in the eyes. "I'm your brother, Lorcan."
When Lysander first had a real conversation with his brother, it was at the farmer's market.
"So you're telling me that our parents split up, you have literally lived on the other side of the forest, and Father told you about me," Lysander said. He was wrapping his head around the idea of having a twin, and Mother wasn't there to answer questions that desperately needed answers. At least Lorcan could provide filling in some of the holes. That included the hole Lysander had felt until he met Lorcan. He couldn't deny Lorcan as his brother; they looked identical.
Lorcan nodded. "Yup. He wouldn't go into details about why, but since they both travel a lot, I guess it was the best. Must have thought it fair to only have one of us each."
"How did you end up in there?" Lysander asked, referring to the Forbidden Forest.
He watched as his brother swallowed hard again, much like when he told him about his identity.
"There were reports about creatures there, and Father wanted to discover them first," Lorcan explained.
"Mother wanted to find the ones out of the country instead," Lysander interjected.
Lorcan gave a sad smile. "I wish Father had thought the same way." Lorcan looked away, and Lysander's stomach dropped with a bad feeling.
"What happened?" Lysander asked gently. He placed a hand on Lorcan's shoulder for comfort.
"There was a growl…Father hadn't realized I had followed him when it came out and took him.
I…" Lorcan's voice was thick with emotion. "I didn't care what it looked like, but it had long, sharp claws. I ran for as fast as I could, but I didn't have a home anymore with Father. I stayed inside the 'safe' side of the forest til I heard someone else inside the forest. When I saw that it was you…I couldn't let what happened to Father happen to you."
Lysander wanted to take his brother's pain away, but he would settle with being his comfort for now. When he opened his mouth to reply, the words of the townspeople reached his ears.
"Oh no, there's another one!"
"Think he's just as off as the Spitfire?"
"Someone needs to do something about both of them and their mother."
"If you ever see her around."
"What kind of woman—"
The statements caused both boys to snap their heads in the townsfolk direction. "Hey!" they said simultaneously.
Lorcan and Lysander turned to look at each other and burst into laughter. It was as if the boys knew each other all their lives. They were in sync with one another, and Lysander couldn't be happier.
The townspeople had scurried off to their own spaces, which Lysander thought they should have done in the first place. He turned Lorcan again, who simply shrugged in return. Lysander saw the tightness around Lorcan's eyes, and he guessed he was trying to mask how he felt. Lysander couldn't blame him.
"You shouldn't care what they have to say," Lysander said. "I know you don't know any of them, but I do. They're all judgmental, the lot of them."
"Even if it's true that I'm a little off?" Lorcan asked, the tightness on his face fading.
Lysander nodded. "Even then. You hear what they say about me and Mother." Lysander tried to smile and encourage his twin to perk up. "I couldn't get enough of the life I have with Mother, and now that you're in it, I'll never want to let this life go."
His statement seemed to make Lorcan's smile grow, and the tightness in Lorcan's face was completely gone. Lysander gathered their food basket and wrapped his arm around his twin's shoulders.
"Come on," Lysander said. "Let's get back to the cottage. Mother should be home in a couple days, so that'll give us time to have everything in order before her return."
"We?" Lorcan asked.
Lysander looked at Lorcan. "Where else would you sleep, brother? Come on!"
He guided his brother down the path to their home. None of the stares from the other people bothered him. He was used to them by now, and he would protect his brother from them too.
"It's all right, Lorcan," Lysander said. "They don't see beyond what's in front of them."
When Lysander first hugged his brother, it was raining.
The rain poured chaotically as the wind urged it in every direction that it could. Lysander was securing the cottage, so rain wouldn't come through when he was on the last window. He saw his brother standing in the middle of the rain's onslaught, and he raced to him without thinking.
Lysander watched as Lorcan was staring at the sky, arms open wide. He raced to him with a frantic look on his face.
"What are you doing?" Lysander demanded.
Lorcan didn't flinch or move from his position. "Father is speaking to me," he said simply.
Lysander looked closer at his brother, and the redness in his brother's eyes was evident.
Despite the rain hitting against Lorcan's face, Lysander could tell his brother had been crying. Crying for their father.
It was weird to say 'their' father, but Lysander felt the pain that Lorcan felt in that very moment.
"It was raining the day I lost him," Lorcan continued. "Every time it's rained since then, I feel as if he's talking to me through it." Lorcan turned his head to meet Lysander's eyes. The raw pain his brother showed him caused a lump to form in Lysander's throat.
Without hesitation, Lysander took quick strides to Lorcan and wrapped his arms around his brother, engulfing him in a hug. Lysander wanted to give him his warmth, his strength. He wanted his brother to know that he wasn't alone.
"Can you hear him, Lysander?" Lorcan asked, his voice cracking.
Lysander listened beyond the taps the rain made when it hit against the cottage and ground. He listened beyond the wind hitting their bodies and the cottage shutters slamming. There was a whisper that tickled his ear, and Lysander choked out a sob he didn't realize he was holding.
Tears blended with rain as he poured out his own along with Lorcan. The brother's held each other tightly, crying and screaming for the loss of their father. The rain drenched them from head to toe, but it didn't matter. Lysander had his brother and father with him.
Then there were shouts from other people insulting them, and it took all of Lysander's willpower not to say anything back. Instead, he took his brother back into their cottage.
When Lysander first met his brother, he knew he was the reason he now felt complete.
When his bedroom door opened, Lysander met his brother's eyes. Lorcan was drier than Lysander was, and the puffiness from his crying had gone down. Lysander gave him a small smile, and Lorcan returned it, sitting next to Lysander.
Lysander wrapped an arm around Lorcan's shoulders, and Lorcan leaned into him.
"You're going to ruin your bed," Lorcan pointed out.
"Wouldn't be the first time," Lysander responded. "And it's our bed to share."
There was silence, but it was a comfortable silence. Lysander would enjoy this silence until it was gone. Even then, Lysander would enjoy every moment he had with the recently found twin.
A/N: Written for The Houses Competition and HSWW (Challenges and Assignments)
(THC) House: Hufflepuff; Category: Bonus; Theme: First experience or first time doing something.; Prompt: Meeting a Long Lost Relative
(HSWW) Assignment #11 Arts and Crafts Task 2: Write about someone putting the pieces of something back together (figuratively or literally)
Word Count: 1,972