Parts (47-51)

VII

Chapter 11

Family is Forever

Part 1: Brothers in Blood

Orous lounged on the couch, flicking through channels on the television idly to try distract himself from his annoyance and kill time. He wanted to kill James, he wanted to avenge his best friend but he'd had to accept he'd have to wait until his seventeenth birthday in July for when his Trace broke. In the meantime, he just felt frustrated. He hated Hogwarts. He had no friends in his year so classes were awful, he had to lie to Scorpius about poor Molly so being around his friends was awful, he'd managed to distract himself with Quidditch for a while but his team whining sucked the fun out of that in addition to reminding him that Vern used to be there and finally he had his girlfriend who reminded him of what James had done, both because it was her brother and because she had a burn on her arm that bastard had caused when he tried to murder her too. Unless they were snogging, that took his mind of things. There were also the werewolf killings to worry about.

While in one way he was glad to get away from all that at Easter, he found his mood still foul. Varanian had gotten his hopes up that he could go on a mission to Canada which was under invasion, the perfect opportunity to go after James who may very well be part of said invasion. But no, he just had to get the memory out for them. He doubted they were focused on getting revenge on James, they wouldn't even torture Prosper. Orous was out of sympathy for PAW, not only had they gone after his friends but the two they had killed had been children. Apart from that he was still annoyed, even without those things he just wanted to be off hunting James not wasting time, he just wasn't in the mood. He supposed it was nice to see Roman though, he was his biological dad after all and he hadn't seen him for a while nor could he just owl him the way he could with Cade.

"We're taking the dogs for a walk," Cade commented, tearing Orous' eyes away from some Simpsons reruns to see his dad smiling at him with the three dogs on leashes wagging their tails excitedly and winging at him. The scarred toddler he was fostering was holding his Healer girlfriend Tabitha's hand, she also had the pushchair out in case Caradoc got tired walking he supposed. Caradoc was babbling away incoherently, trying to pet the excited dogs, "Want to come with?"

"Nah, I'm good," Orous brushed it off lazily, not really in the mood to play happy families, "I'm watching this."

"You sure? We're getting ice cream on the way back."

"I'm sure."

"Well okay," Cade said, losing his smile a little and looked as if he tried to hide the disappointment in his eyes, "We'll be back in an hour or so, alright? You and Maurice take care."

"Ok- Wait, Maurice is staying too?" Orous changed his sentence midway through as the adults made to leave.

"Yeah, he's studying," Cade pointed out as if it was obvious, nodding over at the table behind him which he then waved goodbye too.

Orous glanced in time to see Maurice wave back from over at the table where he did have some work laid out, he looked back to Cade to say he'd changed his mind but his dad was already out the door. Orous sighed, he'd rather make happy families then be stuck with Maurice. He was still mad at him for stopping him leaving, Maurice wasn't even bound by the Trace so if anything he should have asked to help him. Obviously he just didn't care about Vern, just like he couldn't be bothered to help Hugo either. He still couldn't believe Maurice had done that. With any luck, his brother would just focus on his work and not try to talk to him as he went back to watching TV.

CRACK!

"Finally!" a voice burst out and Orous spun in shock, "I thought the baby would never leave."

"Oathan?" Orous queried in confusion.

Standing on the kitchen counter was the small child he'd met almost a year prior, he was the same and yet he also barely recognized his half-brother. He'd grown taller but thinner, he swore he was wearing the exact same clothes as they seemed too short for him but also hang off his emaciated frame. They were filthy, torn up to barely more than rags and stained by blood and dirt. His crimson hair was equally filthy and hung over his gaunt face, his violently violet eyes sunken into his skull with black bags beneath them. He had a scar running vertically down the right side of his right eye and cheek, two running horizontally across that and he now had a diagonal one that cut through that and the eye. In general he looked rough, his skin already scarred by words from the blood quill had fresh scars strewn across from what he could see along with half-healed wounds. He had a wand in one hand and a house-elf in the other, he tossed the thing off the counter and aimed his wand at its skull. The poor creature's head exploded before he could react, its corpse hit the ground.

Clearly, Oathan wasn't here for anything good. Orous went on the offensive, going to grab his wand but Maurice was one step ahead of him already drawing his and launching a stunning spell at their youngest half-brother. With lightning fast reflexes, Oathan cast a Shield Charm and brought his free hand across. The windows on Maurice's dining side of the room shattered deafeningly and the shards hurtled towards them like a thousand daggers, Orous threw himself down so the couch would take the brunt of the glass and the rest soared over his head. He heard Maurice cry out though and realized being deaf already, his brother hadn't heard to notice the glass in time. To the casual observer Oathan had just been moving his arm out of the way.

"Son of a bitch!" he heard Maurice curse as he got back to his feet, running forwards and seeing Maurice was still standing but sporting several wounds and bleeding.

"Aren't we just?" Oathan commented seemingly in agreement while he and Maurice both sent stunners his way.

The boy did a back flip to avoid the jets of red light and landed as if with practicing precision but was already moving his arm again. The shards of glass launched back up, Orous hastily used a spell to reduce them back to sand. Sand that launched itself towards his eyes before he could react, Orous cried out as the granules got into his eyes and tried to hastily get it out with his fingers so his now raw eyes would be able to see again.

He could only presume Oathan was distracted by Maurice for a minute as he had time to this, he heard sounds of destruction and the sand stopped. He managed to get it out enough to blink with pained eyes, his vision cleared in time to see Oathan holding some kind of ominous glowing orange-yellow spear-like thing that he was throwing at him.

"NO!" Maurice screamed.

Orous cast a Shield Charm but the spear went right through, continuing on to skewer him through his stomach. He cried out in pain and his legs buckled instantly beneath him, he dropped his wand accidentally too distracted by the glowing spear of… energy? It was still protruding from his stomach. It was strange though, he could feel the wound bleeding but it didn't hurt now. He tried to grab the thing and hissed in pain through gritted it, it was red hot.

He instead looked back to his twin, seeing Maurice had frozen. He was standing with his wand still in hand, tear-filled eyes staring through him and his whole body shaking. Orous couldn't believe what he was seeing, was this what Maurice had meant when he claimed to freeze up when Hugo was attacked? Orous went to sign at him to keep fighting but gasped in shock as an identical spear-like weapon shot through Maurice as well, ripping through him and pinning him to the wall. Orous tried to grab his wand but he couldn't reach and his legs didn't move to help him forwards, they didn't move.

His wand flew off the ground in the next instant, Orous turned his head to follow it as it flew into Oathan's waiting free hand along with Maurice's. The child's expression was stoic, he looked unfazed and it was hard to tell if he'd been injured in the fight as Orous wasn't entirely sure what injuries he'd had before. He was bleeding from his ears though, that was definitely new. For the first time though, Orous started to feel real fear for the youngest son of Alzay.

"What did you do to me?" Orous asked, trying to keep the fear from his voice as he tried to move his legs but nothing continued to happen.

"Paralyzed you," Oathan answered calmly, ignorant to Orous' panic with his focus on Maurice as he flicked his wand. Maurice screamed in agony as his remaining hand was ripped clean off, Orous cringed and Oathan hit the deaf boy with a stunner, "It seems I have to beat you into the ground just to talk."

"Most people don't start talking with murdering someone."

Oathan didn't reply as he dropped their wands and clambered down from the counter, he viciously stamped on the ruined head of the dead house-elf before continuing walking through the destruction he'd caused. The room was a mess now, riddled with sand and glass, holes and scorch marks. Orous wasn't sure if it was just because his eyes were sore from the sand but he thought he glimpsed an adult Oathan walking through even worse destruction, he blinked and just the child remained. Still, if Oathan was capable of this as a child… it could only get worse when he grew up. In a moment of horror, Orous realized Oathan could very well be a budding Shadow Master with the way he could use magic. He was a monster and he was dangerous, too dangerous to be allowed to survive.

"It's funny how you think I'm a bad person," Oathan commented as he reached Maurice, Orous' heart caught in his chest in terror for his defenseless unconscious brother.

"You killed our friend, you killed innocent people, you just killed a house-elf, you killed a little girl," Orous pointed out defensively and Oathan threw him an angry glance, "That's not okay."

"I didn't kill the girl, they did," Oathan protested and jerked his head towards the dead house-elf, "The parents were bad people, they hurt their children. I was protecting them, the house-elves don't care about that though. I didn't want to kill the Aurors but they would lock me up, I didn't want to kill your friend either but he got in the way."

"You still can't go around killing people, that's why they want to lock you up."

"Says the one who killed our mother," Oathan told him, looking angry but tears filled his eyes, "You killed her and he-" he pointed to Maurice "-killed my dad but no one tries to lock you two up, Mother was bad but Daddy was a good person. Daddy loved me, he was good to me, he saved me, he tried to save all of the world but no one cares about that."

"He did other bad things, Oathan," Orous pointed out as Oathan wiped his eyes, raising his wand to Maurice and Orous felt his heart crumpled up in terror once more, "Oathan-"

"Do you know how easy it would be for me to avenge Daddy right now?" Oathan commented, his grip tightening on his trembling wand and more tears filling his eyes as he stared intently at Maurice, "Two little words I've said before, one flash of light and Daddy gets revenge."

"Oathan, please," Orous begged, feeling his eyes tearing up himself as he desperately tried to make his legs work but they didn't, "He's your brother."

"Do you know what it's like to watch someone you love die? Right in front of your eyes and you can't do anything, you just see them die? Would you like to know? You see it over and over again after, you don't forget a single second of how horrible it is, how much it hurts. Do you want to know what that feels like, brother?"

"Please, Oathan, please don't do this."

"Do you know how badly I want to?" Oathan continued, tears running down his cheeks as blood ran down his ears, "Daddy deserved better then to die like that with no one caring, Daddy deserves justice. The world is so unfair, so full of bad and pain and hurting me that I would love for some good to finally happen, some kind of justice. What better way than to kill the man who took my dad away from me? Wouldn't you want revenge if someone killed someone you loved?"

"Don't do this, Oathan."

"Avada Kedavra."

"NO!" Orous screamed as tears left his eyes, the green light filling the room, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

It took Orous a second to notice as the light cleared that there was smoke, there was a hole in the wall beside Maurice's head and his brother was still breathing. Oathan lowered his wand and Orous let out a shaky breath of relief.

"But I won't, I could and I want to but I won't," Oathan whispered, "Revenge just makes more pain and hurt, someone has to stop or it goes forever."

"Thank you," Orous breathed and wiped at his eyes.

"I didn't do it for you," Oathan snapped, throwing him a glare, "Or because he's my brother. I don't care about either of you, you two are monsters like our mother and I hate you. I still might kill you both yet but it won't be for revenge, that's not what I want."

"What do you want?" Orous questioned cluelessly and Oathan's expression switched to one more pleading.

"Your help."

"Our help?" Orous repeated in disbelief, "You come in here spells blazing and you expect us to help you?"

"We're brothers, that's what family's supposed to do for each other," Oathan stated in rather a mocking tone, "You murdered my parents, it's your fault my life is like this, you owe me and I have no one else to turn to. I'm not asking for much, I just need help to get out of the country because I don't know how it works. Do that and you'll never see me again, if I can just get away from this place with the house-elves, Aurors and Shadows all after me then I can just keep running but I need help to get there. If you agree to help me then I'll heal you both, when I leave I'll never come back."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll leave, I don't have time to waste. They're still after me," Oathan said before his face screwed up in pain, he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at his head, "Not now, not now, not now please."

"You know if you just surrendered to the Aurors they could get you all healed up, I don't know what would happen to you but you'd be treated well," Orous offered but the boy threw him a dark look.

"I don't believe you, they just want to make me a prisoner and hurt me. Everyone just wants to hurt me, all I want is to be left alone," Oathan told him as he turned back to him, seeming to push through whatever pain he was in and with a gesture flames wrapped themselves around the room, "So will you help me or not?"

Orous blinked, seeing Oathan's potential again as the next Dark Lord. He didn't want to help him get away, he was dangerous and should be dealt with by Aurors. But if he disagreed, Oathan was just presumably going to leave them there to die. He didn't have his wand and his legs weren't working, Maurice was unconscious and bleeding heavily from where the stump where Oathan had severed his remaining hand. Maurice needed healing now, he couldn't let his brother die… Agreeing didn't necessarily mean keeping his word.

"Okay, Oathan, I'll help you," Orous lied, feeling slightly bad but was it really lying if he never had any intention of doing so in the first place? Oathan was just too much of a threat.

"I'm glad to hear that," Oathan said, a smile tugging the corners of his lips as a look of relief washed over him. Orous kept his expression neutral as Oathan turned his focus on Maurice, taking the severed hand and starting to magically reattach it with his wand much to Orous' relief. Orous wondered if he should feel worse for planning to betray him, Oathan was a child but… he didn't seem like one somehow in the way he moved, acted and spoke, "They taught me to do this, you know? It's easier when you're not doing it on yourself because you don't hurt and you're fighting the urge to pass out. It's horrible."

"I bet it is," Orous conceded as Oathan finished, standing back and seemingly deciding the other wounds were minor enough to leave. It wasn't like he couldn't have sympathy, he didn't think Oathan should be treated cruelly despite what he'd done to Corin but he did need to be dealt with, punished accordingly. But he couldn't, he had no way of alerting anyway or doing anything and Oathan had no interest in surrendering. Yet he couldn't help him, he couldn't let him get away. Oathan was too dangerous, he had slivers of humanity now maybe but he was too far gone, too dangerous.

"He's stable, I'll heal you and you help me then I leave," Oathan told him as he started heading back over to him, "So the faster you help me, the faster you can get the other wounds fixed."

Orous nodded but said nothing, still keeping his expression neutral while his heart twisted up inside. Killing him was the only way to ensure Oathan didn't get away, didn't become an even more powerful mix of his screwed up parents. Oathan was still his brother despite everything and still a child, Orous didn't want to kill him but… what choice did he have? Oathan could kill through adults like normal kids went through candy, he couldn't be allowed to grow up.

As Oathan's battered body approached, Orous thought it might be for the best. Maybe it was a kindness really, not just for the world. Oathan's options literally were to run forever or to be a prisoner, whether it be Shadows, Aurors or… house-elves? At least he'd have peace with death. Or maybe Orous was just trying to make himself feel better for the monstrous act he was going to commit, to murder a child, his own half-brother. Oathan's guard was clearly down and Orous almost wished he didn't have a plan but he did, he actually did.

He did still have a glowing spear thing protruding from his stomach, it didn't hurt even slightly which he guessed was because of the paralysis. Oathan hadn't magically paralyzed him, he must have hit the spine and couldn't feel or move his lower body. He could move his hands though and the spear thing was sharp on the end he could see, it was a weapon.

He waited until Oathan was close enough, getting ready to probably remove it anyway to heal him. Orous quickly grabbed the weapon, pain seared through his hands as it burned them but he ignored it best he could as he yanked the weapon out and drove it through Oathan's chest. The boy gasped in pain and Orous blinked away tears.

"I'm sorry, Oathan," Orous whispered tearfully, meeting his brother's violet eyes, "You're just too dangerous to be let live."

Oathan's face was twisted up in pain as he waved his hand fiercely, the glowing spear thing was dispelled. He staggered back, holding his hand over the bleeding hold in his chest with his fingers acting as a cage with slivers of pastel blue light dancing between the fingers.

"You… missed my… heart," Oathan told him, his face still pained but his eyes glinting darkly. Orous felt a stab of fear before a second glowing spear thing shot punched through his chest from the back, Oathan doubled over.

"I didn't," Maurice commented darkly and Orous shifted his gaze, seeing his brother back on his feet with his reattached hand outstretched. Oathan's stunner mustn't have been very powerful.

Oathan fell to his knees, tears spilling from his eyes as he clutched at his chest. Orous had never felt such a twisted mixture of relief and guilt, he didn't want it to be like this but he felt like it had to be. If they weren't monsters now then Oathan would grow to be an even greater monster, one that'd be much harder to stop then.

Oathan screamed and the world exploded.

Oathan remained kneeling in the center of scorched earth, the house that had been standing blown into smithereens around him, he could smell the burning. He shouldn't have done that, he'd lost control there for a second and now he was surrounded by destruction even weaker than before. He was only aware of all of that on the peripheral of his senses after all, he couldn't look around or really move and no idea whether his brothers survived. He didn't care. His focus was on his wounded heart, using magic to fill the holes left and keep it together. Every beat hurt but every beat did let him know he was still alive.

He was dying. He couldn't just heal it, he didn't know if it was an oversight or he was just too weak but he couldn't. He was holding his heart together for now but the second he stopped he'd have precious little time, he was going to stop any second. His brain felt like it was clawed apart from the inside again, he knew he was bleeding from his ears and knew a seizure was imminent. That was if his body didn't succumb to the ever-present exhaustion first. He was going to die, the world won.

A part of him didn't even know why he was fighting so hard against it, life was nothing but pain and yet he clawed to stay in it for whatever precious extra seconds he could. Maybe it was because his dad had wanted him to live, maybe it was instinct, maybe it was just curiosity to see how long he could last, maybe it was hope he could somehow make it if he held on long enough just like he'd hoped if he'd tried hard enough maybe he could finally be free. That hadn't worked.

"Well, what have you gotten yourself into now?" a familiar voice commented as Oathan's body collapsed in spasms, his mind registering it was the house-elf as darkness consumed him… Leader…

Part 2: Reunion

Oathan stirred and groaned weakly, feeling a pain in his chest. Not as bad as before, more like a dull ache and he didn't think he was in immediate risk of death anymore. He was lying on his back now and he didn't feel as cold as he usually did or as uncomfortable, he tried to open his eyes. It was surprisingly difficult, he felt so weak and his eyelids were so heavy and gritty, he was so tired. He wasn't sure if it was an age or a second but he did finally succeed and found himself looking up, he sighed in recognition. He was back with the house-elves, it had all been for nothing. He tried to sit up but a spindly hand pushed him back down, surprisingly gently.

"Don't try to sit up," Leader commanded and Oathan lay back down obediently, sitting up was difficult anyway.

"My heart hurts," Oathan commented weakly.

"That's what happened when you get stabbed once through the heart and once right next to your heart, you'll be a little sore and the master will not waste pain potions on you," Leader said and Oathan turned his gaze to the house elf, surprised to see there was a fire behind him casting a little warmth into the shack, "He feels you do not deserve that, especially after killing one of our number."

"Am I going to be punished?" Oathan asked, too weak to be afraid right now.

"In time, when you have recovered. For now you must rest, healing you is not a simple task due to the nature of the occurrence and it will take time for your heart to recover."

"It must be pretty bad for you to hold off on punishing me."

"You would be dead right now if I had not shown up when I did," Leader told him seriously, "You are lucky, I do not know what you expected. Blood means nothing."

"I thought I'd need a wizard to get away," Oathan explained tiredly, deciding to specifically avoid mentioning it was to get abroad so they wouldn't know what he was trying to do if he ever did succeed in escaping but he couldn't think of a full lie anyway, "And I didn't know to find any wizards except that blood finding spell, I thought that I could get them to help but they didn't. They attacked me as soon as they saw me, before I even said anything."

"Of course they didn't," Leader said as it was obvious, Oathan supposed it was. His daddy had been right, people were bad and those who pretended to agree or be nice just betrayed you eventually like Antonius and his brothers who definitely took after their mother. And yet…

"He said I was too dangerous," Oathan repeated as he recalled Sathan/Orous' strange words when he'd stabbed him, "Too dangerous to be allowed to live, like I was some kind of threat. Why would he think that, Leader?"

"What did you just call me?" Leader demanded and Oathan also recalled asking questions was bad, for the first time the house-elf's expression flashing in surprise rather than the usual stoic expression.

"Leader. I know you say you don't have names and we're just servants of the master but I have to call you all something, you kind of lead the others so… Leader."

"Well don't ever call me that again," Leader growled, snapping Oathan awake when he hadn't even realized he'd been slipping, "I am merely a servant of our master, I am not the leader nor is it my name."

"Then what is your name?" Oathan pressed, not for the first time even if it got him into trouble. Even the Shadows let them have names, he thought it would be good for them to use their names again and remember who they were before they ended up serving this evil leader guy, "What should I call you? You need a name, you're people too."

"You don't need to call me anything, I've told you before I have no name now and neither do you. We all just exist to serve the master," Leader insisted once more and continued before Oathan could press the issue as if to change the subject, "And they probably consider you dangerous for the same reason the master sees you as useful: your power."

"I don't feel very powerful," Oathan tried to laugh but he was so weak it came out as a pathetic cough, even that made his heart hurt and sleep started to suck him back in again anyway.

"You are," Leader reassured him and caused him to fight to keep his eyes open again to stay in the conversation, "And while killing one of our number is unfortunate, the master feels the whole experience is a show of your skill. He feels you're ready for the task he requires of you so when you've recovered in a couple of months, we will set about making preparations to restore our master."

As Oathan finally slipped back into unconsciousness, a part of him suddenly hoped he wouldn't recover for a very, very long time.

"Do you want some help with that?" Michael offered his mother as she was cleaning up the dishes after breakfast, since their talk a few days ago he had been making more of an effort with her as well as siblings. Except Agnes, she seemed quite focused on training and had no interest in listening to him try convince her that it was a bad idea. He didn't know when she'd gotten so stubborn.

"No, we got it," Crystal brushed it off, John was already helping her but Michael wanted to help too or instead. He still didn't like John or want the man around his family.

"My son always used to offer to help with the dishes," Ron sighed wistfully as he brought his empty plate over although his eyes darkened slightly on John, the former Death Eater wasn't too popular and in fact half of them did refer to him as 'the Death Eater' with Ron being one of them, "Varanian-"

"No," Varanian cut him off immediately as he also brought his plate over, seeming to already know what he was going to say, "I've told you before it's too risky."

"But my kids are on your side and Hermione is probably at work right now, they're old enough to be home alone and it's my only chance to see them for months."

"Probably isn't safe enough," Varanian insisted with a note of finality, already moving over to Heather and seemingly thinking the subject was over, "Can you we go over the Canadian attack logistics again? I want to make sure we know where things should stand before we leave off."

"Sure," Heather agreed, leaving off with their scarred leader while Ron just sighed heavily, looking unhappy still.

Michael felt bad for the guy, a dad that actually wanted to see his kids was a rarity in his family… including himself he supposed. He knew Rose would love to see her dad as well, she worried about him. He understood Varanian's desire for caution but still, if they just made sure Rose and Hugo were alone and kept an eye on time then it should be okay. It wasn't like it was a hard thing to check, heck he could do it. He could actually.

"Going for a walk, I'll be back in a bit," Michael offered with a slight wave as he left them to it.

He headed out and felt a slight pang of fear at how easy it would be to apparate to a bar now or somewhere that sold alcohol instead, he shook himself of the temptation though. He was going to stay sober, it shouldn't be hard. He apparated instead to outside Rose's house, he'd never actually been before but he did know the address. It was in some quaint muggle street with nothing to mark it as the home of wizards, there was a car in a driveway and a neat little garden beside it like the rest of the street. He went over to the door and knocked politely, Rose opened it.

"Michael?" Rose wondered in surprise, she was dressed quite casually in a skirt and sleeveless top seemingly to take advantage of the pleasant weather and had her hair down as she tended to on Hogsmeade trips rather than a more practical ponytail. It was nice to see her out of her Hogwarts robes, he still thought she was beautiful. He really was starting to consider asking her out again, he knew he really shouldn't but… he was just tired of it all, "What are you doing here?"

"I…" Michael began, momentarily forgetting why he was there after letting his mind wander, "I wanted to ask you if your mother was in."

"My mother?" Rose repeated, only looking more confused, "No, she's at work. Why?""

"Are you home alone?"

"Hugo's here too," Rose pointed out, starting to look a little concerned, "Why?"

"Will you and Hugo be alone for the next few hours?"

"Michael, answer my question first!"

"Because your dad might be able to see you but it's only safe if you and he are going to be alone here for the next few hours," Michael explained and Rose's expression switched to one of hope that actually was rather alike the wistful expression her father had worn a few minutes ago.

"Really?"

"Really," Michael confirmed with a nod, "If you-"

"Yes, Mum won't be back until late afternoon and we're not expecting anyone," Rose told him quickly.

"Okay then, tell Hugo and put up some charms to alert you if anyone's coming just to be on the safe side. I'll get him," Michael said and turned to leave, only to find himself pulled back by Rose as she threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Thank you," Rose offered gratefully as he hugged her gently back, she was only the height of his shoulder now. He was taller than all his friends now, only Corin had still surpassed him, "Thank you so much for this, Michael, I didn't think he'd be allowed."

"It's nothing," Michael brushed it off in embarrassment as she pulled away, now beaming at him, "I'll get him now."

He left quickly and apparated back to the base, John was now back to training Agnes already but he tried not to let his hatred of the situation get to him as he went back inside. Sure enough, Ron was still moping around the kitchen and Crystal was drying her hands like she'd just finished the dishes, she looked incredibly relieved to see him. He wondered if she'd thought he was going drinking, it was Ron he went over to though.

"Come on," Michael commanded of the older man and he looked up in surprise, rather alike the look of surprise his daughter had worn a few minutes ago.

"Come on?" Ron repeated in confusion, rolling his hand as if gesturing for him to go on with more explanation.

"Do you want to see your kids or not? Because I just checked and she is at work for a while, your kids are alone and are going to really disappointed if you don't show now."

"Really?"

"Really," Michael reiterated again, "Now come the hell on."

Ron didn't need telling twice and hastily stood, lamely trying to smooth out his clothes and pat down his once red hair as he followed Michael out. He took Ron out of the bounds of the base before they apparated back to the quaint muggle street, going back over to the house quickly and didn't even have to knock. Rose and Hugo must have been watching from the window as the door was pulled open when he reached it, he let Ron go into the house out of sight safely and he immediately pulled his two kids – one with each arm - into a tight hug.

"I thought I'd never see you two again," Ron said, choking on the words and Michael saw tears in his eyes, as well as kids although all were all smiling, "I love you kids so much.

"We love you too," Hugo sobbed, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"And that you're not a traitor," Rose added tearfully, "I love you, Daddy."

Michael smiled warmly at the reunion, feeling glad to have helped even if he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable watching. He'd done his bit. He backed carefully out of the house, unnoticed by the Weasleys and closed the front door behind him. He felt like it was best to give them privacy, they'd have precious little time together as it was and he certainly wasn't a part of it.

He meant to apparate back to the base as he walked further away from the house but he just kept on walking, thinking about how happy they'd been to see each other. It was a rare thing in his family, Bob – he clenched his fists angrily thinking again of what he'd done to Crystal – was his stepdad and had beat the shit out of him. While he hadn't done that to his own children, he certainly never would win any father of the year awards. When he did inevitably see his actual dad Jack again their reunion wouldn't be so warm, he'd merged his soul with a force of darkness so that was fun.

And finally he thought of meeting his own child, whether it be holding a newborn baby in his arms or a child in tears because he'd never been there or an adult wanting nothing to do with him because it was too late. He didn't want to hurt the child, he just didn't want to have one at this stage in his life. He sighed heavily, wishing very much Dawn would put the baby up for adoption then it'd have a good life and it wouldn't matter that he didn't want anything to do with it.

He disapparated unthinkingly and found himself standing outside Dawn's door, he swallowed fearfully but he supposed it couldn't hurt to find out how things were going. He started to approach the door before backing off, he really didn't want to though. If Crystal could love children of rape then surely he could muster enough caring for his child to see how the pregnancy was going, maybe even care about it. He started to approach the door again, raising his hand to knock then lowering it. He really didn't want to, he just didn't. He ran his hands through his hair, he could just walk away. Seeing how it was going this one time didn't mean he was committing to anything, unless Dawn had changed her mind and wanted to force his involvement. The door opened abruptly before he could decide.

"Hi," Dawn greeted him and his eyes went immediately to her stomach, now sporting the start of a baby bump, "Didn't think I'd see you again."

"I erm…" Michael stammered, "How did you know I was here?"

"I heard the sound of tele- apparating," Dawn corrected herself with a snap of her fingers, looking quite proud of herself for remembering the name, "And recognized it from last time, figured it was probably you."

"Still learning about the magical world?"

"Since Easton is probably a wizard, I figure it's good to know about it for him," Dawn explained and he cringed at the name.

"I see you're still keeping it."

"Yep," Dawn confirmed and patted her swelling stomach brightly, "So… what did you want?"

"Um… I don't re- can we just talk inside," Michael changed his mind halfway through, if only because it would move the conversation to inside the apartment which he'd prefer.

Dawn let him back inside and he saw she'd been redecorating, her clothes had been moved to a shelf unit covered by the curtain nearer the door and the alcove was for the baby. That small area now had the worst wallpapering job he'd ever seen in his life, the strips were crooked and overlapping with tears and rips that had been glued back together as best as possible. The design itself was an ocean scape scene with little fish on a blue water background, he guessed it wasn't awful if it had been applied better. There was a crib nestled in the alcove, it had very obviously just been painted, the white was too fresh and there was a little nameplate in the center reading 'Easton' in brightly colored letters. Inside the crib she'd stuck with blue for the bedding, matching the curtains with had the same fish ocean pattern although a different one to the wallpaper and several stuffed toys of an octopus, fish and dragon. All of which looked second hand, ragged with washed out colors and the octopus was missing an eye. Under the crib she seemed to have been trying to stock up on diapers already, having several large packs crammed under with 'sale' stickers on them.

"What do you think?" Dawn asked curiously as she closed the door behind him, "Been working on Easton's room."

"Why fish?" Michael queried, trying to wonder how to phrase his thoughts politely and trying not to cringe as he almost stepped on a cockroach.

"Because the ocean is relaxing," Dawn shrugged it off as if it was obvious, "Least I think so anyway. Plus fish are gender neutral so it's okay if Easton is a girl but I still get to go blue, it's my favorite color.?"

"Well it certainly looks like you did it yourself and put a lot of effort into it," Michael offered finally which was the truth, effort didn't always equate to good results though but he still felt like she deserved credit for trying.

"Thanks, I did try although the wallpapering was really hard but I got it up in the end, couldn't afford extra to keep at it until it was perfect. And I wanted to try get it done early on because you get less mobile in the later stages of pregnancy when you're carrying the extra weight, least that's what I read."

"Mm-hmm," Michael mumbled, biting his tongue. He actually knew a lot about pregnancy thanks to Annie and his desire to be a Healer, not to mention seeing Crystal go through it four times but he didn't feel like sharing that knowledge with Dawn. He just wanted to leave, the whole baby room thing was making him feel uncomfortable and he was starting to feel like this was a mistake.

"So… what are you doing here?"

"I don't really know," Michael sighed, running a hand through his hair again and realizing he didn't have a solid answer still, he didn't know why he was there and he certainly didn't want to be, "I just… wanted to see how you were doing, I guess with the whole pregnancy thing."

"Okay I guess," Dawn shrugged, rubbing her stomach.

"You guess?" Michael wondered, glancing at her as it seemed strangely vague, "What does your doctor say?"

"Oh, I haven't been," Dawn brushed it off nonchalantly and Michael's jaw dropped.

"You're pregnant and you're not seeing a doctor?" Michael repeated incredulously, thinking it was rather insane with his background on medical knowledge especially considering she lived in a shitty rundown apartment with cockroaches.

"I ran away from home when I was fourteen and lived on the street as a drug addict, okay?" Dawn snapped defensively, "When you're in that kind of situation, doctors are kind of the enemy. I've been rushed to A and E in an ambulance before – not my choice - and I go to clinics to get myself checked – like when people like you don't use a condom – but not a real doctor, obviously my situation is different now but old habits die hard."

"You can't not see a doctor! What do you plan to do for the baby's birth?"

"Hire a midwife when the labor starts and have one of those homebirth things, simple."

"It's not…" Michael started to say and sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation at her ignorance. Granted he didn't know that much about the process especially for muggles but he was quite sure it wasn't like ringing up an ambulance, these things tended to be planned in advance and considering the risks and complications that could occur they saw real doctors in addition to a midwife to make sure things were going okay… He couldn't do this, the budding Healer in him refused to accept she was not getting some kind of medical attention for his child, he didn't know why this was the one thing that mattered to him but it was, "Alright, we're going to go to a hospital right now."

"No," Dawn protested immediately stubbornly, "I'm not going to a hospital, I'm not sick and I feel pretty fine honestly. Unless that changes I'm sticking with-"

"How about a magical hospital then since you're so interested in that?" Michael countered and her expression immediately turned to one of interest, "They're nothing to do with muggle hospitals and-"

"Okay," Dawn agreed quite quickly although still looked a little nervous.

"Alright, come on then," Michael urged her and held out his hands for her to take, she looked between him and his hands like he'd gone mad, "You need physical contact for apparation."

Dawn cautiously reached out to take his hand and he apparated them to outside St Mungo's, he thought it was a good precaution and he wanted to show her it from the outside so she'd be able to see it herself to hopefully continue getting actual medical attention in his absence. She pulled her hand away before doubling over to spew over the pavement, he cleaned it up with a wave of his wand.

"Don't feel bad, a lot of people throw up after their first apparation," Michael offered, feeling quite weird as he remembered all too well when he knew next to nothing about magic and was still learning yet here he was on the other side, "Sorry, forgot to warn you."

"S'okay," Dawn muttered and took the hand he offered to help her up, again feeling the weird shift in power as she looked at him expectantly and a little bit nervous. He led her inside and saw her expression switch to one of fascination, "Huh, I guess even wizards can't escape the whiteness all hospitals must be."

"Guess not," Michael brushed it off as he approached the front desk, wondering how to go about this as procedural rules were not his strong point but he did know Hogan who probably knew and was here, "Excuse me, is Hogan Leebin in today?"

"Yes," the woman behind the counter said testily, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No but I know him, I need to speak to him really badly please."

"You're lucky it's a slow day," the woman growled at him as she stood, "Who should I tell him knows him?"

"Michael Sanford."

"Wait right here," the woman told him as she stalked off, seeming annoyed he was making her do her job.

"You know for a 'Welcome Witch' she didn't seem very welcoming," Dawn commented thoughtfully as they sat down in the waiting room.

"Yeah," Michael agreed and fidgeted nervously, suddenly very aware he was sitting alone with her.

"So your last name is Sanford, huh?"

"Yeah. What's yours?"

"Hanson," Dawn told him and Michael nodded in acknowledgement, she fidgeted nervously, "So… tell me about yourself, probably good to know stuff since you're Easton's father."

"I know this is going to seem really confusing since I turned up and just took you to a hospital but I still don't want anything to do with this fetus," Michael decided to make clear, "You said that was okay."

"And I stand by it… Although I must ask why you showed up and dragged me to a magical hospital if you didn't change your mind."

"I wonder that too," Michael sighed and ran a hand though his hair nervously again, "I don't want to be involved but I know it's the morally right thing to do as my friends keep insisting, I also want to be a Healer when I leave Hogwarts so I know a lot about medical stuff and think it's important so… yeah."

"Well that's cool," Dawn offered kindly, "I'm just a waitress, it was the only job I could get. So what's Hogwarts li-"

"Hogan!" Michael burst out eagerly, jumping to his feet as he saw the aging Healer stride in and glad for the excuse to stop talking to Dawn.

"What do you want?" Hogan demanded of him sharply, clearly his usual friendly self.

"I erm…" Michael started to say and blushed in embarrassment at having to explain the situation, he gestured lamely to Dawn, "This is my… um… This is Dawn Hanson, she's a muggle but is kind of… pregnant with err… my urm…"

"The one night stand you knocked up?"

"Err… yeah," Michael said, scratching at the back of his head as he felt his face burning in humiliation while Hogan crossed his arms with a look of casual disinterest, "How did you know?"

"We share a pretty small social circle if you hadn't noticed," Hogan pointed out, "So what do you want?"

"I want you to treat her or have her treated, I don't really know how admissions work. You can treat her can't you because of it being my child?"

"Duh," Hogan complained of him with a roll of his eyes before snapping his fingers at Dawn, "Alright Dawn Hanson, come on."

"Really?" Dawn wondered.

"No I like saying random things," Hogan quipped sarcastically and she stood, "Come on then Dawn Hanson the muggle, I'll see to you and help you fill out the parchment if I must."

"Do I have to come?" Michael queried, not really wanting to be there.

"No," Dawn and Hogan told him in unison, changing the Healer's expression to one of a pleasant surprise.

"You know I changed my mind, you're alright," Hogan commented to her as the pair started walking away, "So how far along are you?"

"I'll just… wait here," Michael called after him, neither seeming to notice him as he sat back down and the grumpy welcome witch returned to her spot. He sighed as he slumped back into his seat, wondering if maybe he should have gone. He just didn't really want to be closer to this then he had to be, especially when he still didn't know what he wanted to do.

"Michael?" a familiar voice questioned and he jumped as he saw Orous' stepdad Cade had just come in the entrance, holding his foster son who was babbling away incoherently, "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Oh yeah I um… had to take someone here," Michael concluded lamely and recalled vaguely Orous or Maurice mentioning Cade was dating a Healer, "You here to visit your girlfriend?"

"Oh, you haven't heard," Cade said with a worried expression that had him feel suddenly ominous.

"Heard what?"

"A couple of days ago Oathan Loren attacked the house when just Maurice and Orous were home, the house was completely destroyed and Orous and Maurice barely survived," Cade explained and Michael felt a sickening cold feeling creep through him and grip at his heart, no. He didn't know if he could handle another death right now after Flynn, Vern and Corin, "They're okay, you can relax a little. Orous is conscious but they're still working on fixing the paralysis but he'll live for sure, Maurice lost a lot of blood and was touch and go for a while but he's been responding well to the Blood Replenishing Potion, they're pretty sure he'll pull through."

"Well that's good to know," Michael breathed a sigh of relief for his friends.

"Do you want to come with me to see them?" Cade offered and Michael nodded gratefully, politely asked the Welcome Witch – who grumbled unhappily at being asked to do something else - to let the others know where he was if they got back before him before following Cade to go see his friends.

Part 3: Commitments

Cade filled Michael in on the attack as he led him to the ward where his sons were, Michael thought the important thing was that his friends survived although bizarrely Oathan was missing despite receiving a fatal stab wound. They'd recovered the house-elf's corpse from the rubble but not the child, they weren't sure whether he had somehow managed to escape or if he had just been vaporized in the blast. As mean as it sounded, Michael hoped Oathan was dead. The kid was dangerous and already had killed one of his friends, besides if he was alive he'd probably been saved by whatever demented house-elves had him before who seemed to be treating him pretty terribly. They already had PAW and the Shadows to deal with, he could do without demented house-elves.

The two were in a near empty ward, they were close to the door in adjacent beds. Orous was sitting up awake while Maurice had his eyes closed and seemed to be asleep as Cade had said, his wrist was bandaged and in a brace used to help ensure reattached limbs secured properly. Orous had bandages around his hands as well, they'd scarred from where he'd grabbed Oathan's weapon to stab his brother and been burned. He didn't know if Maurice had as well or just used magic and the bandages were just for the reattachment sake.

"Hey Orous, how you feeling?" Cade greeted his son as he sat at the chair already at his bedside – in between Orous and Maurice so he was close to both – and gave the albino a one armed hug since he was holding Caradoc still.

"About the same as I was before you went to get Caradoc some breakfast," Orous commented and glanced beyond him to Michael with a look of surprise, "Michael? What are you doing here?"

"I'll tell you later, it's not important," Michael offered, trying and ultimately failing to not blush but it could definitely wait and he was very relieved to see Orous was awake and responsive, "How are you doing?"

"I can't move my legs and I can only barely feel them."

"When you first woke up, you couldn't feel them at all," Cade said optimistically, "It's a good sign, its progress. Not much but it's better than nothing."

"Yeah," Orous agreed although still looked kind of down as his crimson eyes drifted to his legs then to his brother, softening in worry, "Maurice still hasn't woken up at all."

Michael sat and talked with them for a while, wishing very much that Orous or Cade knew more about healing because he'd like to know more details to know how they were really doing. From what he gathered, Orous being on the ground meant less of him took the blast while Maurice standing took more hence why he was worst injured combined with blood loss already. They'd both been skewered by spheres made of raw magical energy but Maurice's had missed his spine, raw magical energy was very resistant to healing hence why their hands remained burned from where they touched and why it was hard to fix Orous' spine. Unless he was missing something or there were complications, Maurice should wake up soon and Orous… well it was a good sign he had some feeling.

"Oi, Michael!" a voice complained at him abruptly and Michael turned to see Hogan approaching him with Dawn, whose head was swiveling rapidly as if she was trying to take in everything. Not that there was much to see, it definitely seemed like a slow day, "I leave you for five seconds."

"Sorry," Michael muttered an apology, standing hastily while Orous looked beyond at Dawn with interest, "Had to see my friends, you never told me they were here."

"I'm a Healer not a messenger," Hogan insisted stubbornly, folding his arms, "Now come on, its common courtesy to return muggles you apparated halfway across the country since they cannot do so themselves."

"I'll see you later," Michael offered to Orous who gave him a wave which Caradoc also copied enthusiastically, resisting the urge to blush as he headed back to the entrance with Dawn as Hogan stayed to check on Maurice seemingly leaving him alone with her. The silence grated on him so he opted to break it, "So um… how'd it go?"

"Good," Dawn answered, tearing her eyes away from everywhere else to look at him brightly, "He says it'd be good if I ate a bit more but basically Easton and I are perfectly healthy, the pregnancy is progressing well and the official due date is September 23rd."

"Good," Michael mumbled unhappily, the secret hope he'd harbored that Dawn had just somehow been mistaken about being pregnant now crushed or that there'd be something horribly wrong with the fetus and she had to get an abortion. And thinking that made him feel like a horrible person but he just didn't want this.

"I know you really hate this but thanks," Dawn offered, surprising him so much he glanced back to her seeing her looking nervous, "Didn't realize how much I needed this until I got here so thank you for that, Hogan's really great."

"Did you have a different Hogan?" Michael wondered as 'great' wasn't really a word he'd use to describe the cranky Healer who was mean to everyone, Dawn looked at him like he'd lost his mind suddenly, "He's just kind of a jerk is all, not very nice."

"Well he was good at answering my questions and he said he'd make sure they pay travel expenses to come here for checkups and stuff so I can get treatment, I wouldn't be able to afford to come all the way to London otherwise," Dawn explained, brightening up, "He said I have to wait for an owl, how cool is that?"

"It's not that great, do you get excited by the mailman?" Michael scoffed as they reached outside, he held out his hand to her and she took it so he could apparate her back to her apartment. She looked a little green but didn't throw up this time, "I'll… be in touch… maybe."

"Michael, I really do mean it when I say if you don't want to be involved then don't," Dawn said tiredly, "I've done fine by own so far and I'd rather Easton have no dad then one who treats him cruelly because he resents he's alive."

"What? You really think I'd be capable of hurting my own child?" Michael wondered in shock as Dawn went into her apartment before glancing back to him.

"No offense but I barely know you, this is only the third time I've met you and every time you act like a different person. I have no idea what you're capable of."

"I'm a good person," Michael tried to insist but didn't sound as confident as he meant to, the words sticking in his throat and tumbling out awkwardly.

"Who are you trying to convince?" Dawn asked, her tone not mean more confused and curious.

"I'll see you."

On that note, Michael apparated distractedly as he felt like he'd said all he could say to her right then. He wasn't sure if he even was a good person anymore, not the way he'd been acting recently. Drinking, hurting Scorpius, one night stands, not being there for his family – which had cost Flynn his life – or his friends really and he was already a terrible father… who even was he anymore? What was he doing with his life? How did he keep managing to become everything he hated?

He sighed heavily and looked around to see where he'd apparated to, he was shocked to realize he was standing outside of the Hog's Head. What was wrong with him?! And the worst part was he itched to go inside, a part of him was very much in the camp of drowning his misery right now. Nothing was stopping him, no friends to drag him away if he didn't pummel them first and leave with a hag. Despite how that thought made him want to gag, he knew it wouldn't matter when he was drunk. His foot instinctively took a step forward and another part of his mind screamed in panic, he couldn't do this. He couldn't.

It took a surprising amount of mental effort but he succeeded in turning on his heel and just walking away, putting as much distance between himself and the bar as possible. He smiled to himself weakly, feeling proud to have resisted temptation. It was quickly wiped of his face however, walking away from a bar was hardly something to be proud of. He was pathetic. And he didn't even need to walk, he could've just apparated and now he was wandering around for no reason. He supposed he could visit Olivia, he felt like she was overdue an apology and he'd like to see Lydia. As bizarre at it sounded, he felt much more connection to and cared much more about Lydia then 'Easton.' He got his bearings and headed back to where they'd visited before, Olivia opened the door holding baby Lydia with one arm and looked like she was still in her pajamas.

"Michael?" Olivia greeted him in surprise, "I didn't expect to see you here, Albus won't be here until later."

"Well um… I am," Michael mumbled unsurely, "I wanted to say hi, see how the baby's doing."

"Sure," Olivia agreed after a slightly moment of hesitation before letting him back in, the apartment looked much the same as before except messier with clothes, baby toys scattered around along with some bottles, "Sorry it's kind of a mess, like I said I wasn't expecting anyone until later. You're lucky you missed Kyle actually, he'd probably want to interview you."

"Why?" Michael wondered in confusion, not knowing why somebody would want to interview him as Olivia closed the door behind him.

"Kyle works at the Prophet, he wants to do an article on the Headmaster's incompetence especially the werewolf attacks he's been failing to prevent so he'd quite like to talk to effected werewolves."

"Well I'm not interested."

"Al said you wouldn't be," Olivia shrugged disinterested and shifted her position holding Lydia who kept trying to peer at him curiously, reminding him why he was there. She was dressed in a knitted pink onesie that looked rather like Mrs Weasley's handiwork with a matching cap, the onesie had a badger and snake cuddled up to each other likely representing her parents' houses.

"So how is she?" Michael asked more cheerfully, trying to smile at the baby, "She looks adorable."

"Aw she is, aren't you?" Olivia offered, smiling at her child and giving her a kiss on the forehead eliciting an assortment of incomprehensive gurgling babbling sounds from the baby while glancing back to him herself, "She's great, despite not being able to talk its surprisingly hard to get her to shut up but she seems just babbling like that- oh and she started smiling recently too! So she's pretty smiley these days… she has her daddy's smile."

"I'm sure she does," Michael offered, smiling sadly as he thought of Vern as Olivia's expression became more solemn and she held her daughter a little closer. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but he did think Lydia looked more like Vern then Olivia, she was still babbling away cheerfully, "Can I hold her?"

"Sure," Olivia agreed again with a slight moment of hesitation, handing off the baby to him carefully who went quiet and looked at him curiously again, "This is Daddy's friend, Michael. Do you remember, Michael?"

"Hey Lydia," Michael greeted the child with a kind smile, she let out a slight gasp but her eyes were on his dog tags and necklace, a second later her hands were batting at them interestedly as she started gurgling interestedly again. Olivia looked apologetic.

"She likes necklaces, anything dangling she likes just… batting at like that."

"Its fine," Michael brushed it off, gazing down at little Lydia although she had grown since he'd first seen her. He had experience with babies so he was quite comfortable holding her, he couldn't help but think of his own child again. Babies weren't all bad, yes they cried a lot and needed attention but there were good moments too. Maybe Easton wouldn't be that awful, maybe he'd even be a she because he'd really rather have a daughter then a son, "I erm… I wanted to apologize by the way."

"For what?"

"What I said… before. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I get why you might have issues with it and it's not like you were completely wrong. I'm sorry I got so upset, I was just feeling pretty fragile then with everything."

"I don't blame you," Michael brushed it aside and shifted his position to make it easier for Lydia to reach his necklaces, batting at them innocently, "How are you doing now?"

"Better, I mean I'm a mother now so I have to be strong for her and I do feel stronger, my priorities changed."

"Do you know if you're allowed to come back to Hogwarts yet?"

"No but even if I am allowed it doesn't matter, I'm not going back," Olivia said, surprising him so much he looked back to her and it must of shown on his face as she elaborated, "I told you, my priorities changed. I know NEWTs are important but I feel like raising my daughter is even more important, besides the way the war is going who even knows if it'll matter?"

"You shouldn't give up on life just because of the war-"

"I'm not, believe me I'm not," Olivia cut him firmly before pushing her hair behind her ears nervously, "Next month I come age and I don't want to work for NEWTs, I want to work for Gray."

"Gray?" Michael repeated, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible.

"You know the vigilante group you and your friends are part of, least according to Vern," Olivia told him knowingly but he said nothing, not sure what to say here, "I want to be a part of it too."

"What happened to raising you daughter?"

"We live in the town razed to the ground twice by Shadows within three years and if the only fully magical town was obliterated twice within three years the non-magical rest of the country is going to go down like a house of cards," Olivia pointed out seriously, "I feel like a sitting duck and Lydia can't even sit, her life is in jeopardy – all lives are in jeopardy – and I don't want for her to grow up in a world of shadow either. The war won't end until we make it end, we includes me."

"Maybe you should think about this."

"I've been doing nothing but thinking about it lately! I thought about it for years but Vern said Scorpius didn't trust me enough," Olivia insisted determinedly and Michael did vaguely recall Vern bringing up wanting his girlfriend to be included too, he hadn't realized how serious he'd been or that he'd already told her.

"Did he tell you a lot about Gray?"

"No, he said he couldn't. Just that his friends were Gray, didn't trust me enough to join and to not trust Aurors."

"Well… okay," Michael said, not sure what else to say and suddenly feeling the need to leave as he handed Lydia back to her mother, "Erm… I have to go now but good luck with that."

"Just because I'm a teenage mother, it doesn't mean I'm useless," Olivia called after him as he left and disapparated back to the base. He felt like he was doing that a lot today.

He trudged back inside feeling like his head was spinning, reuniting Rose with Ron, Orous and Maurice attacked, Olivia wanting to be Gray and Dawn's pregnancy… and it was still morning! He didn't know what to think or make of it as he reached the kitchen, finding Ivy and Bertie sitting at the table seemingly doing some kind of homeschool work. A bunch of people were also around, including Crystal, John, Roman, Dom, Aurelius and baby Cres.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Crystal greeted him with concern and he gave her a hug before starting to tell her about his morning.

"Hold on!" Aurelius yelled suddenly, leaping up mid-explanation of Orous and Maurice's attack holing out his hands while poor Roman looked like he was about to be sick, "Did you just say house-elves were keeping the boy?"

"Yes he did, pay attention," Roman complained at the older man throw gritted teeth, "Some of us want to know what happened to our children."

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," Aurelius rambled until it didn't sound like a word anymore, staring off and clenching and unclenching his fingers a bit, Michael wasn't sure whether to go on or not, "This might sound insane but first at home then here, okay I think the house-elves are my father's."

"Your father's dead, dear," Dom pointed out gently.

"But he claimed he had a Horcrux!"

"He could have been lying," John offered.

"Yes, evil maniacs lie. Listen to the Death Eater," Roman brushed it off hastily, "Go on, Michael."

"But the house-elves…" Aurelius pleaded desperately.

"Died when the mansion exploded," Dom offered still gently and put a hand on his arm, he only scowled unhappily, "Think about it, they're house-elves they hardly could move somewhere and start a new life. And this was almost three years ago, why are they only resurfacing now? What could they possibly want from Oathan?"

"I don't know," Aurelius whined making Roman look even more frustrated, "But how many evil house-elves are there? You have to admit it's suspicious. Did they even find bodies of house-elves?"

"We know from spying that Brutus killed Corvinus by incinerating him and his house-elves in that fire, there wouldn't be any bodies."

"Do we know it was definitely all of the house-elves? He had like half a dozen. I think. It was hard to tell."

"WHY ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT THIS?!" Roman shrieked, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "Who cares about house-elves?! My sons are in the hospital."

"I already said they were alive," Michael pointed out before being distracted by Bertie jumping up and running to the door, for a second he thought they'd frightened his brother but they hadn't, Hogan Leebin walked into the kitchen still in his Healer robes and Bertie had ran over to give the man a hug. Was Michael missing something?

"Hogan, why didn't you tell me my sons were in the hospital?!"

"I'm a Healer not a messenger," Hogan pointed out testily, giving Bertie a pat on the back as the boy pulled away and went back over to his seat.

"How are they d-"

"Can't stay, shouldn't even be here I'm on shift," Hogan brushed him off incredibly dismissively and turned strangely enough to Michael himself, "Did you still want to be a Healer?"

"Err… yeah," Michael confirmed in confusion and Hogan tossed some robes at him.

"Great. You can come work at St Mungo's then."

"What?!" Michael burst out in shock, "But I haven't even taken my NEWTs yet and-"

"Forget that crap," Hogan brushed it with a roll of his eyes, "I'm not hiring you as a Healer, geez. Just for a these last few days of Easter you can work as an intern volunteer something or other so we can test out your skills, if you do well you got a job regardless how shit your grades are and you can get a taste of what you want to go into."

"Um…"

"Or don't do it and get denied a job regardless how great your grades are, Healers can't just go sod off whenever they please because that kind of stunt costs lives. If you can't be bothered to put in a few days then you're not the kind of person who should be a Healer."

"I'll do it!" Michael agreed quickly lest he miss his chance to get a word in edgeways, still in shock, "You just sprung this on me-"

"Great because the first rule of being a Healer is to be prepared for anything, whether that be the weirdest times you get called in or the weirdest health issues you'll have to fix for the bloody morons that wander into the hospital. Now hurry up and get changed, we don't have all day! Merlin's fucking ass crack you are slow."

Abby Longbottom walked through the gardens with her boyfriend Sequoia hand in hand, enjoying the warm weather and pleasant aroma from the colorful array of plants and flowers. Although she wasn't enjoying it as much as she would normally, she found herself instead trying to name every one and its properties for practice in case it would come up in for the NEWT Herbology exams. She hoped she wasn't sounding boring or like a know it all but she felt compelled to practice, Sequoia wasn't complaining. He wasn't saying much of anything really, not even the times she was quiet. Actually it was kind of strange, he seemed almost distracted when she thought about it. She wondered if he was bothered by the change in plan to go for a picnic in these gardens instead of a restaurant but that made no sense, it had been his idea to change it.

"You okay?" she prompted of him slightly concerned.

"Yeah," Sequoia confirmed with a smile that didn't quite hide his nervousness, "Go on, I like listening to you talk about plants."

Abby went on, she didn't feel like calling him a liar and demanding to know what was on his mind but she couldn't think of a better way right then. Maybe it was nothing and he was just bored out of his mind, too polite to complain though and was being supportive of her interests. That seemed like something he'd do, it didn't mean anything was seriously wrong. She thought they were doing okay despite the distance, it was just a few more months. She was actually kind of dreading it, Scorpius would find out about Molly then after all and she didn't think he'd take it well. She felt bad lying to him as it was but it didn't help she couldn't help think the longer they kept it from him the worse he'd take it.

"Look!" Sequoia blurted out excitedly, snapping her back from her thoughts and she saw him indicate an orchid that hadn't bloomed yet, "Orchid, right? Your favorite."

"Yeah," Abby confirmed disinterestedly, he already knew this and it wasn't the buds she liked but he was leading her over to it anyway, "You know that I like it for the flower not the budding on the stem, right?"

"Well maybe it has a nice smell?"

She thought his suggestion was quite bizarre as she leaned in to look at it, he let go of her hand strangely and she tried to glance. However, she barely registered a wand in the other hand before her attention was drawn back to the orchid as she saw the bud open to reveal a beautiful engagement ring. It had a lone diamond in the center of some golden petals, the entire band was made entirely up of golden leaves. She couldn't help but gasp, putting her hands over her mouth as her heart started to pound. She went to look back to him but he was now on one knee.

"I love you, Abby, with all my heart. You're amazing and kind and beautiful and you make me smile every day, you mean the world to me and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Sequoia told her seriously and she felt tears prick her eyes, it was like she was dreaming. This was almost exactly like she'd envisioned it as a child, she couldn't believe how similar. She thought Sequoia must really know her well to do this so alike that as he plucked the ring from the flower, holding it up to her, "Abigaia Longbottom, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Abby agreed, too blown away to say anything else despite the slightest flutter of nervousness it caused in her heart that she hoped was more to do with her young age – with the war if she waited she'd probably die before getting the chance to marry him so she was fine with it - then Albus. Sequoia jumped up beaming and pushed the ring onto her finger, it fit snugly and she threw her arms around him, "I love you so much, Sequoia."

"I love you too."

"You already said that."

"I can say it again!"

Sequoia pulled away to kiss her hard on the mouth and she kissed him back equally passionately, running her hands – including her now ringed finger which she hoped wasn't stabbing him – through his neatly trimmed hair and feeling his own comforting touch on her. They only drew apart to draw breath, gasping for breath. He was still smiling, beaming and lighting his whole scarred face up. She almost leaned in to kiss him again before being distracted by relatively nearby conversation, they were public gardens so they didn't have privacy. Instead she intertwined her fingers back with his own, it could wait until they had some proper privacy.

"Yeah, we should keep walking," Sequoia said, clearing his throat and looking in the direction the voices were coming from and they kept on moving but he still looked happy despite that while she still felt her heart pounding. She wasn't sure how you were supposed to feel or act just after becoming engaged, she couldn't believe it. She was engaged. She wasn't even finished with Hogwarts yet, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah just in shock," Abby offered, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "I can't believe it."

"I did it right? The proposal I mean," Sequoia asked, his smile dampening a bit nervously.

"Yes, it was perfect," Abby confirmed with a nod, "It's just like how I envisioned as a child! You wouldn't believe."

"Actually I would, Albus told me," Sequoia shrugged it off dismissively while she brought them to a halt, looking at him in confusion.

"Albus told you? Like my friend Albus?"

"Yes."

"You went to Albus to ask how to propose to me?"

"No! Of course not," Sequoia protested, "I went to try building bridges with him, you want us to get along and I thought if he knew I was going to propose because I really loved you he'd be more willing. And he was, he told me about your dream proposal and wished me luck."

"Are you sure it wasn't Rose?" Abby queried, finding it hard to believe Albus would do that when he clearly still had feelings for her. Heck, she was shocked he even remembered that because she was pretty sure she'd told him when she was like five and he'd teased her for it, "I didn't think he'd remember that."

"I'm sure, I went to his house and everything. I was a bit skeptical too but he sounded serious and if it could mean a lot to you I wanted to do it, I wanted it to be perfect for you," Sequoia told her, looking serious again as he kissed her gently, "You deserve your perfect proposal."

"It was, thank you," Abby offered, not sure what else she should say but suddenly almost wished he'd done something else. Anything else. Albus had really done that? Her Albus? Had he moved on or just grown up? Even on the way to the train he'd been complaining about Sequoia.

She tried to put it out of her mind, why should it matter? She was over Albus, it had been a silly crush and she'd moved on which he had probably done like he had for all those weird ridiculous crushes. She knew he cared about her and she cared about him too, just as a friend. It'd never have worked out with them anyway, not that she'd ever been able to give it a chance as she was with Sequoia which was probably why it made her wonder. She was with Sequoia, she was happy with him and now she was engaged to him. And he wasn't boring, there was more to a relationship then humor. She felt safe with him, she liked feeling safe, he was nice and kind and thoughtful… Not that Albus wasn't, just in his own way like with Olivia. Dammit, why did Sequoia have to go and mention that?

She continued trying to put it on her mind and focus on Sequoia, thankfully he still seemed pretty happy and oblivious. She should feel lucky, not everyone had what she had and she was hardly a catch, Sequoia and Albus could both do better. So she smiled as she walked with Sequoia through the gardens, he wanted to talk about their future, their wedding, where they'd live, the kids they'd have hopefully a few years down the line. It was a bit much for her, she was still in Hogwarts and she wasn't really thinking about those things yet, heck she had planned to ask Scorpius to join Gray full time after leaving because she didn't see the point charting the future until they were actually guaranteed a future. Her brother had died to the Shadows – although Florian had later defected – and she wanted to fight them, she could hardly tell Sequoia that though. Not yet, she felt the need to ask for Scorpius' permission and while Sequoia was pro Gray she still wasn't sure how he'd take it.

She convinced him she wanted to wait until summer to start thinking about that because her NEWT results were a factor in her future, it wasn't a really a lie as they were just not until after the war. She convinced him not to make it public knowledge either that they were engaged, she'd rather wait until she finished Hogwarts because while of age she didn't feel like fully an adult yet as she was still in school and felt like the adults thought the same, she'd rather not her dad be potentially upset by it when she needed his help studying for NEWTs. That's what she told Sequoia anyway, in truth she wasn't sure why she just didn't feel comfortable letting people know yet.

They had their picnic at any rate and planned for her to spend the night with him, she'd already told her mother she probably would. She was quickly grabbing her overnight bag when she spotted Albus' letter, the one he'd gotten her for Valentine's Day that she'd never opened but seemed rude to just throw out. She had taken it out when sorting her trunk, she wasn't sure what to do with it but felt oddly compelled to open it now. Biting her lip she picked it up, the red envelope was slightly misshapen and squashed. It couldn't hurt to see what he'd put, right? Maybe he'd decided from then he was over her. She sat down on her bed and opened it to see the card was quite simple, a generic flower pattern in front of a red heart shape. Inside he had written one of his stupid cheesy poems, so stupid but so Albus. Sequoia would never do that.

Carnations are red

Hydrangeas are blue

I hope that's right

Researched it just for you!

May not be sure of colors

But my love for you is true

Happy Valentine's Day, Abby

Whatever happens, I'll always love you

Forever and always

(I mean it too)

Albus xx

Chapter 4: Ashes of Words

Scorpius had actually been spending a lot of the Easter break working on his schoolwork, Savas' journal only seemed to get more nonsensical as it went on and quite frankly his work was a better distraction. He was so nervous about the meeting with Brutus, requiring him to break Molly's promise. He wasn't even sure if he should even go at all, regardless of all the precautions they'd be taking. It tormented him so he just did the best he could to distract himself.

He didn't even have his friends, except the Ashain kids who were spending more time with their dad. Antonius put some effort into spending time with him and Sebastian at least one meal a day, Scorpius wondered if he knew how much he went on about Andreas. He weirdly himself spending a lot of time with Martha, with so many kids gone home for Easter the seating plan was pretty abandoned – and alas, Andreas wasn't there to enjoy it – and she seemed quite determined to make sure he was alright. He wasn't sure if she wanted to be his girlfriend or his mother with that attitude, still she was nice enough and offered help with his work. Much like Maurice, the Training Tower had her rather ahead of others in her year. It was too bad he couldn't talk to her about the choice weighing on his mind, he'd really just like anyone's input other than his own at this point.

Professor Ashain told him Brutus had agreed to the meeting near the end of the Easter break so he plenty of time to kill and think it over, the days dragged by. He remained torn, he was running out of time after all since he was on a time limit before he'd lose his mind which was basically killing him and Calderon both. Once he graduated Hogwarts for real in a few months he'd able to meet without breaking his promise to Molly but he wouldn't be able to ask Professor Ashain to arrange it then since he'd no longer be in Hogwarts where the professor was, not only that but after going through this trouble to arrange it now he didn't think either of the Ashain brothers would be willing to try again if Scorpius reneged this late. It had to be now but still the possibility leaving would damn the school remained very real, people could die. And the Divination professor, Elina Olga-Vasille, seemed rather inclined to believe that as well which didn't help.

"I'm telling you! The school is in danger," Scorpius heard her yelling as he rounded a corridor and saw the blind woman arguing with Weedy Larry.

"We know the school is in danger, that's why Aurors are handling the werewolf killer," the Headmaster brushed it off dismissively.

"Not that," Elina insisted, sounding exasperated but the Headmaster looked like he didn't care even slightly, "I'm talking about something else, something from the Shadows. I see it. You need to do something more to protect the students or just close this place down, once it happens there will be no stopping it and the blood of those who die will be on your hands."

"Uh-huh," Weedy Larry said dismissively, looking completely disinterested as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, "Well I'll take that under advisement but really I have more pressing concerns then wishy words Divination concerns from a blind Seer, no less."

"Asshole," Elina spat as she stalked off.

"And now you're on probation," Weedy Larry called after her, "Foul language when talking to your superiors is being disruptive and setting a bad example on the impressionable minds of students."

Scorpius didn't like that guy but at any rate, he considered her concerns valid and worried that if she was fearing it then maybe it was closer and more likely then he realized. The days dragged by extra slowly after that, finally though the day came and Scorpius decided he would go. As much as it pained him, he felt like he'd regret not going even more as he could lose this chance forever.

After dinner he didn't head back to Gryffindor Tower nor to the Library he said he would go to but instead into an empty classroom near the entrance and waited, Professor Ashain had said he'd need to put his children to bed first. It was all about timing anyway, the professor knew the rotation of the Aurors after all so knew where to go to avoid them when. Scorpius had left his leather jacket there pre-emptively so he could wear it – it was chilly at night – without attracting suspicion for wearing it at dinner, at dinner it would be a beacon broadcasting his plans. It felt like hours he waited, his rapidly beating heart probably aiding in seconds seeming to go be more plentiful but in reality it was more like just half of one hour. Finally Professor Ashain poked his head in.

"Ready?" the professor queried of him nervously and Scorpius nodded solemnly as he approached, Professor Ashain wrapped a cloak around him and yanked the hood over his head, "White-blond hair is going to stick out more in the dark."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed without question.

The professor cast a Disillusionment Charm over him regardless – even though Scorpius was capable of doing one himself – along with a Silencing Charm for his shoes and they headed out, the professor keeping a close eye on the time with his pocket watch. It was golden with a strange stained glass pattern in the middle on the front, inside he caught a glimpse of an inscription beneath the stained glass before the professor closed it. It made him think of his own, that had some kind of inscription in it in Latin that he didn't understand. Could it be significant? He shoved that thought aside though briefly as he focused on just hurrying across the grass after the professor, feeling his heart pounding dangerously and the words 'I changed my mind, let's go back' caught several times in his throat clogging up but he managed to not utter them as they reached the gateway out of Hogwarts for the path they took into Hogsmeade.

"Alright, go through and then hide on the other side of the wall," Professor Ashain whispered to him, taking his shoulder and starting to walk forwards with him before turning back.

Scorpius did as told, going further along than going still and pressing himself against a particularly dark bend area when he heard footsteps back where the professor had been a minute later. Apparently the Aurors had a charm set up to detect people leaving the grounds, if they crossed at the same time it only activated once so as long as the Aurors weren't close enough to see the two Professor Ashain should be able to pretend it was just him pacing through the entrance several times as he did. He heard the conversation briefly, Professor Ashain just giving his name and letting them know he'd be gone for a bit. Staff could and did leave in their free time, they just had to let the Aurors know to make sure they knew it wasn't a student tripping the charm as they didn't have that freedom obviously.

Professor Ashain walked on a bit as a slow pace before stopping to look at the flowers, commenting to himself his daughter might like them which was Scorpius' cue to join him as the Auror had moved along enough to not be able to see him. One they were together, any sound or glimmer of movement through the Disillusionment Charm could be attributed to the professor so they continued on. Once in Hogsmeade, Professor Ashain put a hand on his shoulder and apparated before canceling out the charms now they were in the new location since he wanted to speak to Brutus not hide from him. Scorpius let out a nervous sigh as he tossed back the hood of the cloak, it had seemed to go well anyway with nothing to indicate anyone had noticed he'd left. He'd just have to find out when he got back whether Hogwarts whether he had made a huge mistake or not.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings in the silvery glow of the moonlight which was giving them plenty of light. He had been here before but it had completely changed, mostly because the Ashain Mansion was no in chunks of ruin all around him. No one had even tried to clean it up, it was just a chaotic mess of rubble across scorched earth. Dirt and rocks crumbled underfoot, twists of metal, shards of glass all just there. Professor Ashain seemed unfazed, pacing idly over the grave of his childhood home as if he'd been there before or rather been there before while it was still rubble. Scorpius wondered if maybe this wasn't his first time meeting Brutus secretly in this same spot, he didn't really want to ask though. He swallowed, wondering how long it would take or if Brutus would even.

"Hey," a familiar gruff voice commented and they both spun to see Brutus Ashain sitting casually on one of the larger pieces of rubble although jumped off when they turned to him.

Brutus actually was of average height but his bulky muscular frame made him seem taller, he hadn't changed much since Scorpius had last or first seen him. He had a unique face that gave him a kind of ageless quality due to the deformity, he also had distinctive six-fingered hands which also were at the wrong heights and angles. His eyes while the same dark chestnut gracing most Ashains were too big, slightly angled differently and at different heights, his nose was large and bulbously contrasting with long thin lips that curled slightly up the side of his face then his large ears jutted out at slightly differing heights. He was always clean-shaven unlike his brother but had extremely dark auburn 'Ashain' hair though, it was thick and scruffy looking today. He was dressed in black robes with an azure skeletal snake 'Shadow Mark' symbol embroidered in, they looked of high quality.

"Hey Brutus, how goes the conquest of the free world?" Professor Ashain quipped testily, folding his arms.

"Pretty good," Brutus answered conversationally as if it had been a genuine question, "We've literally tripled the number of countries under our control since the US fell – or we will when we finish converting them – all willing, much less casualties that way."

"I was being sarcastic!"

"I know, I just ignored it," Brutus shrugged, "How's it going teaching teenagers when you could be ruling entire nations and having everything you want if you just joined us?"

"Great. Would be better if your girlfriend would stop destroying the world."

"We're bringing peace to the world," Brutus insisted, folding his arms determinedly, "You should see it in places we've been established in for a while, it's actually quite nice."

"You should see it in the places you're not done conquering, you know with all the dead people and suffering and loss and pain."

"We can't bring peace until we're in control," Brutus said stiffly.

"Peace without freedom isn't worth it," Professor Ashain countered, dropping all hints of sarcasm.

"There is freed-"

"Hey!" Scorpius protested and the Ashains looked at him, it came out harsher then he meant it but… well he needed to talk to Brutus, this whole meeting was for him to save Calderon not for them to talk as selfish as that sounded he needed to this and preferably quickly because the longer he was gone the more at risk Hogwarts, "I mean… I um… I really want to get this over with."

"Fine with me," Professor Ashain agreed, gesturing for Scorpius to go on, "Go ahead."

"Yeah go on," Brutus confirmed, his expression contorting into what might've been a grimmer look? "I have a feeling I know what you want to talk about but you'll probably be disappointed."

"Well… um… I kind of err…" Scorpius babbled trying to put his confusion out of mind for a second as he wondered what in the world Brutus could be talking about as he was quite sure he wouldn't guess the truth, instead he glanced at Professor Ashain guiltily, "Could you give us some privacy by any chance please?"

"Sure, I'm so glad I risked my job and my freedom and my life to help you have a private conversation I know nothing about!" Professor Ashain snapped, throwing up his arms in exasperation and looking very offended.

"Geez, Atty, you really high strung today," Brutus commented more casually, "You need to relax. Do you want to go for a drink after this?"

"No, I do not want to go for a drink after this!" Professor Ashain shrieked, only looking more exasperated, "Do you not get how we're on opposite sides of this war?! We can't just hang out for drinks! We're enemies."

"So?"

"So… it's fucking obvious!" Professor Ashain insisted, throwing his arms out again and kicking at a stone in frustration before he started walking away, "I'm walking away! Cast whatever spells you want and have your talk! Come get me when you're done."

"Yeah you walk it off and then we can get that drink?" Brutus queried – Scorpius wasn't sure if he was serious or just trying to wind up his brother - and the professor's only answer was a strangled groan of frustration, Scorpius started putting up wards against eavesdroppers before Brutus had looked back to him and blinked before joining him, "Let's get this over with I guess."

"Okay," Scorpius said, taking a deep breath when he was satisfied with the wards, planning his words carefully as he'd never actually told anyone about the situation with Calderon before, "So do you remember last year…"

Atticus Ashain stalked away irritably, sucking in deep breaths and desperately trying to calm himself. He didn't know why he was so on edge, he didn't know whether because of what had happened with Syn or because he was doing this for Scorpius with no idea why or because the Shadows were only getting stronger or because Antonius had been missing for so long last year or even because the unstoppable force that was his friend Calderon had died. He didn't but he did know he was on edge. He kept expecting a swarm of Aurors to jump out at any second and lunge at him like a pack of wild hyenas, he'd go to New Azkaban prison and his kids… they were what he was really worried about.

What would happen to them if something happened to him? They'd go back to Skye whose track record included breaking Antonius' soul and handing him off to a psychotic criminal who had planned to ultimately kill him, not to mention walking out of their lives for years with no contact. Cassia already despised her – they hadn't had a good relationship to begin with and Skye had only worsened it – and even Antonius was burning letters from her now, he never even encouraged them to be mad at her but they just were. He didn't think they'd do well suddenly thrust back living with her, she'd destroy whatever hope they still had for their already pretty screwed up lives.

Even if by some miracle Skye didn't get custody, the only other options were his estranged brother taking over the world with his Voldemort's psychotic daughter or his estranged father who was insane and married to a girl forty years younger than him with an infant son. His kids had an uncle who was a baby, he was turning fifty in August and he had a brother who was one. That was a fact, his family were nuts. And he was scared, he was just scared for his kids. He didn't even like being apart from them now or lying to them about where he was, he scared they wouldn't be there when he got back. He was so scared he'd even started teaching Cassia to use magic for self-defense, even if he hoped she never had to use it. He just wanted his family to be safe but he didn't feel like anywhere was safe anymore, he wanted them to get to grow and to grow up happy. He just felt scared.

"Atty?" another family voice questioned and Atticus practically jumped out of his skin, feeling his heart lurch as he turned to see his father - his father, whacky clashing color robes and all – perched nearby with a worm sticking out of his mouth that he hastily spat out. Atticus suspected he had just transformed from his animagus form, would explain the worm and silence.

"Are you trying to give me a bloody heart attack?!" Atticus blurted out irritably, still feeling his heart pounding and his father looked apologetic.

"Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Why are you even here?!"

"Looking for bodies of Corvinus' house-elves," Aurelius answered readily and Atticus could only nod, letting his tired head fall against his hand in exasperation at the insanity of it.

"Of course you are," Atticus said with words dreaming in sarcasm as he felt a headache coming on, "That's a perfectly normal reason why you'd be in the ruins of your former home in the middle of the night."

"Glad you understand," Aurelius breathed a sigh of relief and unlike Brutus, seemed to have thought he was genuine for real and his next words were cheerful, "How are you, Atty? You look well."

"I'm a nervous wreck, how do I look well?!" Atticus shot out irritably and his father looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry," Aurelius apologized again, looking guilty, "It seemed rude to point you look stressed. I'm so happy you're actually speaking to me again, I didn't want to upset you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you so go away," Atticus pointed out and literally pointed away, glad his father had reminded him of that although he would've realized it in a second when his heart stopped trying to escape because he really didn't need Aurelius to see Brutus and Scorpius conversing with him also there.

"I own this land…" Aurelius tried to say defensively but trailed off lamely, just gazing at him sadly, "I miss you, Atty."

"Dad, go away!" Atticus barked, frantically pointing back behind Aurelius as the man took a step forward with a pleading expression.

"Do you at least read any of my letters?"

"No, I throw them in the fire," Atticus admitted - and had nothing to do with why his kids did that to Skye's letters - which sounded kind of mean to say it out loud and his father's face fell a little but he didn't seem surprised. He also didn't leave. What was he supposed to do if Brutus or Scorpius moved into Aurelius' line of sight?! "Dad-"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Aurelius insisted desperately, averting his eyes ashamedly which at least made it less likely he'd spot the others, "Really and truly, you know? I just… I'm not like you or Brutus, I'm not… I'm not strong, I don't cope with things well, you know? I don't, I can't. It's really, really hard and I feel like my mind just implodes and I didn't cope well with you killing Brutus. At all. I went insane, like completely and utterly out of my mind incapable of functioning insane. I got better – obviously - but it was hard and it took a long time, even then it hard to try work up the courage to face it again, to face anything again really. I was afraid, you know? I was afraid that I'd just slip again and that next time I wouldn't be able to climb out of that hole-"

"Dad-"

"And this is a metaphorical hole! Metaphorical of my insanity so I couldn't just turn into an eagle and fly out but… but well that's besides the point. My point isn't to say that makes it okay, I should never have disowned and you severed contact even if you killed Brutus by accident, you were but I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from. And even though I said that, I never stopped thinking you were my son for real and I still love you, Atty," his dad continued, swallowing and tearing his identical dark chestnut eyes back to him, "But I'm doing better now, I have a wife who is super great and you have a baby brother who's awesome and people around me that are good and we look out for each other."

"What people?" Atticus wondered, puzzled. He knew Aurelius was married to a Weasley but he hadn't thought they were living with other Weasleys or something.

"Not important," Aurelius said quickly, brushing it aside like he didn't want to talk about it which was weird but Aurelius usually liked to talk about every random thing and continuing with his line of conversation with the emotion creeping back into his voice, "What is important is that I have a life again and I'd really like for you to be a part of it again, to get to know my grandkids, for you to meet your brother… for us to be a family again. The world could be ending with the war that we're all a part of, we might not all survive this so we should hold each other close while we still can. Please, Atticus, I know you're mad for disowning you but-"

"I'm not mad at you for that," Atticus insisted in exasperation and Aurelius blinked, looking at him with a bemused expression.

"Then why are you so mad at me?"

"I… I don't know!" Atticus admitted irritably and sighed heavily, lowering his arm finally and feeling his frustration ebbing away, "I get why you were upset about Brutus – hell, I was upset too! - I understood, I didn't question it. But then we found out Brutus was alive and… and just like that it doesn't matter anymore, you just take it back and… I don't know it makes me mad because you can't, Dad, you can't just take it back. It doesn't change anything and nothing you say can."

"Well… how do I… what am I supposed to do… what do you want me to do?" Aurelius asked of him at a loss and Atticus shrugged lamely, making an effort not to look at his dad. Abruptly Aurelius gasped, "Atty, don't freak out but I see Brutus over there behind you."

Fuck.

"You did what?!" Brutus blurted out in shock, his face contorting into… disgust? Horror? Scorpius found it hard to tell.

"I said I-"

"I heard you!" Brutus shrieked and started pacing, shaking his head and Scorpius was suddenly very glad they had charms up to make sure Professor Ashain couldn't hear, "What the hell is wrong with you?! How could you mutilate Tommy's soul like that?! You practically damned his soul! Tommy deserved bloody better than that!"

"I know, okay? It was an accident but I have a plan," Scorpius pointed out through gritted teeth, thinking Brutus didn't have the right to lecture him on his mistake when he was destroying the world. The Soul Eater stopped, folding his arms and gazing at him darkly.

"What plan? You can cut him loose or wait until you're both destroyed," Brutus countered, his words unmistakably bitter, "Sal's going to tear you apart when she finds out."

"I want to save him."

"Have you gone insane already?"

"It's not insane and it's where you come in," Scorpius insisted determinedly and Brutus cocked his head to one side curiously, "I want to find his body and transfer his soul back into it, save him. Only problem is that she took his body so I need you to help me get to it or to get it, you want him to be saved to… don't you?"

"You can't save the dead, Scorpius," Brutus commented quietly.

"You can't just come back from the dead either but she managed that," Scorpius countered, folding his own arms and meeting Brutus' eyes.

"Maybe Tommy would've too if you hadn't stolen his soul," Brutus shot back and Scorpius flinched inwardly, he hadn't thought of that and swallowed quietly.

"So will you help me?"

"I don't think it's even possible to help you."

"You do know where his body is, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Brutus scoffed in a tone that suggested it was obvious and Scorpius let out a relieved breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, after all there's always been a chance they'd cremated Calderon or something, "What I mean is that I think your plan will fail, it's not easy to just put a soul back in. In fact it's easier to latch a soul to another then to a body, the mind is the link between the body and the soul and that bridge burns with death and is not easy to recreate. That's why Horcrux users have to create a new body from scratch or someone already alive, not just use a pre-existing empty one."

"You seem… surprisingly knowledgeable."

"Because I've been researching it," Brutus growled, "Trying to figure out how Sal came back, she wants to know. She has no Horcrux."

"Any luck?" Scorpius wondered curiously.

"Do I sound like I've had any luck?" Brutus demanded testily, sounding rather like his brother there for a moment and Scorpius sighed.

"So will you help me?"

"I don't know."

"What is there to lose at this point?" Scorpius protested desperately, "It couldn't hurt to try."

"Of course it could hurt to try," Brutus countered irritably, surprising him, "If this goes bad then who knows what you could end up doing to Tommy's soul, you'll probably only have the one chance. Didn't you think about that?"

"Well… no," Scorpius admitted glumly and swallowed, "But… well he's doomed either way, whether I release it now or wait until we burn ourselves out. If this works he gets to live and if it doesn't then it doesn't matter, there was just no way to save him… right? So I still think it's worth trying it."

"Maybe," Brutus grunted, "I'll think about it."

"We're kind of on a time limit here."

"His body's preserved."

"My sanity only has so long though," Scorpius pointed out, not only would it mean he was incapable of doing anything but it meant the souls were starting to deteriorate and he somehow didn't think it would be good to restore Calderon with a damaged soul.

"I know, still I need to think about this," Brutus told him, much to Scorpius' disappointment, "Unless you fancy joining us, Sal would probably be into this idea. She knows a fair amount about soul and has power to back it up."

"No one way in hell," Scorpius snapped fiercely, Brutus seemed to have expected this and nodded neutrally.

"Then we should get you back to school, you shouldn't be out too long," Brutus commented as he took down the charms, apparently with his mind made up and determined the conversation be over. As much as Scorpius hoped for more, he did want to get back before something happened and he wasn't sure what else to say.

"Yeah or you'll attack the school," Scorpius pointed out bitterly and saw Brutus tense as he joined them in taking down the charms.

"You know about that?" Brutus wondered and Scorpius nodded stoically, "Well then you know not to leave."

"You almost sound like you don't want me to," Scorpius pointed out, thinking it was rather odd and Brutus didn't look at him.

"I don't really," Brutus admitted quietly after a minute as they headed off in the direction Professor Ashain had gone, "Not with my brother there and a bunch of innocent kids. It's not something Sal will budge on though, she's wanted to go to Hogwarts all her li- Dad?!"

"Brutus!" Aurelius' voice cried happily and Scorpius' head snapped away from Brutus to see him standing with the professor, Brutus' face contorted into what was probably a smile as he flashed his misshapen misplaced teeth and greeted his dad with a hug. Scorpius didn't think he'd ever seen the three Ashains in the same place at the same time. He felt suddenly very left out with his white-blond hair and gray eyes.

"You can't hug him, he's the enemy," Professor Ashain spluttered out incredulously, jaw gaping slightly as they broke apart looking at his family as if they were quite mad.

"Oh Atticus, don't get hung up on silly things like tha- Scorpius! What are you doing here?!" Aurelius changed his sentence midway as he spotted him, his tone turning to terrified panic, "You can't be here! You can't leave the school, how did no one tell you?!"

"Its fine, they don't know," Brutus brushed it off and Aurelius breathed a sigh of relief, "I'd have been told."

"Oh, that's okay then."

"What are you talking about?" Professor Ashain wondered in confusion, he alone wasn't aware of the imminent attack and looked between them all quite lost.

"Nothing," Aurelius and Brutus answered as if in practiced union, just making the professor scowl.

"So how are you?" Brutus asked conversationally of his brother, making Professor Ashain look like his head was going to explode, "Oh and I heard about the baby, congratulations."

"Thanks," Aurelius grinned, "Cres is great, do you want to see a picture?"

"Sure."

"Hey! Are you two mad?! You can't just stand around swapping pleasantries!" Professor Ashain insisted in exasperation while Aurelius pulled a photograph out of his robes to show off baby Cres.

"He looks happy," Brutus commented on the picture, ignoring his brother as he seemingly smiled again, "Want to see, Atty?"

"No, I do not want to see," Professor Ashain insisted, folding his arms stubbornly while his father pocketed the picture, "I want you two to stop ignoring me and acting like nothing's wrong."

"Can't you not worry about the war for a second, Atty? The world won't end if we relax for a minute," Aurelius asked of his son pleadingly before turning back to Brutus, "How about you? You are your kids?"

"They're great, here I have a picture," Brutus offered, taking one from his robes to show his father.

Scorpius peered over in curiosity – catching a whiff of perfume off Brutus which eerily he realized must be what the Shadow Master wore - of what the Shadow Master's children looked like, Professor Ashain also seemed to share this curiosity as he too peeked over. Scorpius was shocked to see her in the picture, she had a twin toddler on each knee and was hugging them from behind as they giggled happily waving at the camera like they were just a normal mother and children. They clearly had her looks although one twin had the Ashain extremely dark auburn hair while the other had her black hair, another slightly older boy sat off to the edge too who reminded him slightly of Maurice but that might've been the blood quill scars on his hands.

"That's Lazarus-" Brutus pointed to the auburn haired boy "-and that's Omega, Vathan off to the side. Vathan's not ours, he was Rabastan's son but he's in our care now so I like him to feel included."

"Aw they're adorable," Aurelius cooed while Professor Ashain's expression was grim.

"Yeah, apart from the source of all evil sitting there casually like a normal person," Professor Ashain snapped irritably, earning a scowl from Brutus as he pocketed the photo.

"I tried to ignore that part."

"Sal is a normal person," Brutus protested defensively which Scorpius couldn't help thinking made him sound insane, "I mean yes she's the Shadow Master but she's still a human being, she has thoughts and feelings and interests outside of the war. She's a wife and a mother, she loves me and she dotes on our children. She's a good person."

"She's destroying the world," Professor Ashain insisted stubbornly.

"She's just putting in a new world order, one that's more peaceful. It's really not that bad."

"Brutus, you're banging the world leader. Of course it seems good to you."

"You can see it in countries we've had in control for a while where its settled down that it's good," Brutus continued determinedly, "Things are rebuilt now, people are reunited with their families and have jobs again now. Wizards are no longer forced to be in hiding, we can use magic perfectly freely. Crime rates are extremely low and there's no homelessness or poverty, anyone in need is helped free of charge. Children are all cared for fairly and bullying is not tolerated, orphans are starting to find families and feel safe. The breeding program is going well, we have lots of magical children being born and slaves getting their improved rights from it which is all being enforced properly now to ensure they're treated well too. Animals get great treatment too, I kind of miss meat but Sal is big on protecting animals. It's really nice when it's established, you should come and see."

"How can you have 'slavery' and 'good thing' in the same sentence?" Professor Ashain continued to press.

"He didn't," Aurelius pointed out but it was ignored.

"It doesn't matter how 'good' they're being treated, they're not 'free' and probably still living in terror after the millions – millions, Brutus – of their friends, families and neighbors slaughtered and the pain they've had to go through."

"All countries have laws," Brutus said seriously, "So what if our countries have laws a bit different? Did you not hear the good points? And well… isn't all the pain and death worth it in the end for a better world? The countries willingly joining are having minimal casualties."

"Have you actually asked a random regular person how they feel?"

"Well no but…"

"But nothing, good on paper doesn't mean good in practice. This is wrong and no matter how hard you try to convince yourself – because I know you probably need to feel like you're doing the right thing here or you'd go crazy – otherwise, deep down you know this is wrong," Professor Ashain reeled off readily, making Brutus look uncomfortable, "And it's insane because you're the one person on this entire planet who could end it, put a stop to all this suffering and death. The Shadow Master trusts you, you lay beside her at night while she's sleeping nestled in your arms and it would be so easy for you to end her because yes Brutus, she may be a person and a wife and other but she is also a monster. And you have to have seen that by now too. This can't last forever, one side has to lose eventually and you won't be able to save everyone you love. Sooner or later you'll have to choose."

"Atty…" Brutus said but trailed off, seeming at a loss of what to say and Aurelius gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder while Professor Ashain swallowed sadly.

"And I hope you choose the right one because I don't want to lose you again," Professor Ashain whispered and took a breath, "Come on, Scorpius."

"Please stay, Atty, just a bit longer," Aurelius pleaded desperately as Professor Ashain put a hand on his shoulder, Scorpius felt a nervous pang in his stomach. Aurelius could tell the rest of Gray, including Molly and Varanian but he couldn't beg for his silence without alerting the other two Ashains he was in Gray which seemed even worse.

"Bye Dad, Brutus."

Crack!

Part 5: Ghosts and Prisoners

"Bye Atty, it was nice talking with you," his dad sighed sadly, waving at the spot Atticus had been standing, "Even though it was short. And you hate me. And you can't hear what I'm saying right now."

"If it makes you feel any better he hates me too," Brutus offered gently, clapping his dad on the back comfortingly and the dark chestnut eyes glanced back to him, "He was in a mood anyway."

"I almost forgot what he was like when he was in a mood," his dad admitted and smiled quietly to himself, "It was good to see him though, to see you both. Despite everything."

"Yeah, it's good you were here," Brutus pointed out before realizing he still had no idea why his dad was there, Atticus certainly hadn't invited him and even if he thought his dad would betray him to Gray the fact they hadn't done anything implied they had no idea he was there, "Why are you here?"

"Oh yes!" his dad burst out in surprise, snapping his fingers, "I almost forgot! I'm looking for the bodies of Corvinus' house-elves. Would you like to help me look?"

"Erm… Why?" Brutus wondered, finding it strange even by Aurelius standards.

"Because Oathan claimed to have been in the care of house-elves and they sound of psychotic so I naturally thought how many psychotic house-elves are then? And I thought of Corvinus, he had a bunch of creevil house-elves so I think it might be him but none of the others agree and so I thought I'd come look for their bodies because if I find them I know it's not him so I can relax and sleep at night instead of lying there fearing Corvinus coming to hurt my family for revenge because he's a murderous psychopath."

"Wait- What?!" Brutus spluttered out in shock as his dead blurted it out all in one breath, "When did Oathan crop up again? Where is he now? Why didn't I hear of this?!"

"Um… few days ago he attacked his brothers, his whereabouts are unknown and I don't know why you didn't know. We didn't know either if that makes you feel any better."

"Not really."

"Oh well, sorry," his dad offered apologetically and Brutus sighed, gritting his teeth in irritation as somehow he felt Cel was responsible for this. He was loyal to Sal but finding Oathan was more his personal quest and Cel did not like him, he didn't like Cel either, "So what do you think? Or do you know they're dead because you killed them? I wouldn't mind really."

"I only killed one of them," Brutus admitted as his dad's words drew him back into reality, "I used it to trigger the trap to kill Corvinus, I left the others alone. I don't know what happened to them, I don't remember seeing them there when the place blew so… it could be them. What they'd want with Oathan is beyond me, I imagined they'd just be enjoying their freedom or working for someone else."

"They could just be working for Corvinus, he had a Horcrux."

"What?!"

"Oh, didn't you know that?" his dad wondered in surprise and Brutus could only shake his head, "Well he had a Horcrux, he told me so. He could be using the house-elves to return."

"He can't," Brutus said with certainty, still shocked but shaking his head because in his futile research into Horcruxes trying to figure out Sal's immortality he knew a fair amount on them, "House-elf magic isn't quite the same as human magic, he'd need a witch or wizard to return."

"Oathan's a wizard."

"Oathan's a child."

"A powerful child," his dad insisted and Brutus bit back the urge to argue it still wouldn't be him, in truth he didn't know and he of all people shouldn't doubt the power children could have. It was something he could look into at any rate, he'd add it to his list of worrying things he'd learned today.

"I'll look into it," Brutus assured him and his dad's face lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes, I want to find Oathan to reunite him with his brother and Corvinus returning would not be good for anyone."

"You're a good boy, Brutus," his dad offered proudly, patting his shoulder gently.

"Does that mean you see the good in Sal's rule?" Brutus wondered hopefully but his dad merely shook his head, "It-"

"I know you think it's good but it's not, there may be good in there somewhere - I'm sure, really - but open your eyes. The bad outweighs the good, it's not worth the cost," his dad explained, sounding unusually certain of that, "Atticus was right even if he was being harsh, I know it can't be easy for you and if you don't see it yet its okay. You have a good heart, Brutus, you always have and I have faith in you even if no one else can see it. You'll do the right thing in the end."

"What if the right thing is what Sal is doing?" Brutus protested defensively.

"Well it's not but if somehow morality is wrong then I guess you'll win but Atticus and I will be dead still because we're not going to stop fighting, the only way we'll exist in your world is as prisoners or as ghosts. That's just how it goes and you're delusional to think different," his dad answered, in anyone else it would sound kind of mean but the sincerity in his tone made the words innocent. He really believed that, not that it meant it was right.

"You get that if I do what you and Atticus want then I'm damning myself, my wife and my children to death? A prisoner or a ghost is the only way we can exist in our world and if you think different then you're the one who's delusional."

"They'll forgive you if you turn good, you and your children don't have to die," his dad insisted, again utterly sincere but this time Brutus knew he was being naïvely optimistic. Brutus sighed.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to give up Gray?" Brutus asked and his dad simply shook his head, "You know it's better for them if you tell me, I can make sure your family survive and do my best to give your friends their lives. Someone else is running the country and they don't care as much about your safety or wishes as I do."

"We'll take our chances. I don't suppose you'd be willing to free Molly? She is my wife's person and a nice person, the poor girl doesn't deserve whatever your people are doing to her."

"Sorry, Dad, stopping Gray is too important unless you change your mind about giving up them instead."

"Then I suppose we're at an impasse," his dad sighed sadly and Brutus did think unfortunately it probably was best.

"Then you best get going, your wife being spotted during that prison break kind of outed you as a person of interest. It's safer if you're in hiding until you decide to join us, there's always a place for you when you're ready," Brutus offered truthfully, wishing his family members weren't so impossibly stubborn but they had to see the light at some point. They had to.

"I won't take it but thanks," his dad told him and pulled him into another hug, "I love you, Brutus, you know that right? No matter what happens, win, lose or die horribly, you'll always be my son and I love you so much."

"I love you too, Dad," Brutus assured him, hugging him a little tighter feeling both touched and scared by his words, "You're the best, I'm just sorry this war has to be a factor. Someday it'll be peaceful again and things won't have to be awkward."

"I look forward to that day," his dad said optimistically, finally pulling apart with a sad smile and tears in his eyes before reluctantly disapparating.

Brutus sighed as he was left standing alone, he hated war. He summoned a Specter and had it take him back to the Shadows' compound, he tended to use that rather than apparating as Sal preferred it mostly because it had the advantage of being silent and not so easy to protect against but also since she was jealous due to her inability to apparate herself.

He was greeted by the sound of screaming, echoes of Molly Weasley being tortured in the basement. As necessary as it was and how Molly had brought this on herself joining Gray, Brutus had never liked torture and certainly did not like hearing her scream. He'd thought Scorpius' call for a meeting had been for her but he didn't seem to know, he hadn't really seen the point in mentioning it. He had been tempted to though, just to hurt him for what he'd done to Tommy. His plan was delusional, it wasn't as simple as just putting souls back into bodies and he should know because he'd been trying to figure out how Sal had done it. If he didn't help Tommy was screwed but if he did and it failed – as it almost certainly would - he might be even more screwed, he'd also probably need Sal's help and she'd be as on board about it as Scorpius was in delusional desperation. He sighed. He didn't want to be in this position, it wasn't like he didn't have enough to worry about.

"You alright?" Cel asked in a tone devoid of concern and Brutus blinked, having almost not noticed he was there despite it being the whole point in coming. He was looking over some sheets on supplies, ignoring the screaming. Brutus wondered how he could be so cold, Cel actually knew Molly after all and had done for a lot of her life.

"Why didn't you tell me Oathan showed up again?" Brutus demanded, folding his arms crossly and changing the subject to his reason for coming there.

"It's hardly a priority, he was long gone before Aurors got wind of it. There was nothing I - or you - could do."

"You're still supposed to keep me informed," Brutus complained irritably, "The house-elf involvement could be a major lead on where he is."

"Well I heard about it months ago but it didn't help me," Cel shrugged dismissively and Brutus scowled in confusion.

"I heard this attack was only a few days ago?"

"Yes but after he killed the Aurors months ago a house-elf showed up and killed one of the children before taking Oathan with it, heard it from one of the kids who survived so I've known since then but it hasn't helped me."

"You've known all that time but you didn't tell me?" Brutus growled angrily, Cel merely shrugged again.

"We've both been busy with different things, it's not a priority," Cel insisted stiffly, "Quite frankly I don't see why you bother, Vathan is much better off without his lunatic brother."

"It's his brother!"

"Sharing blood with someone doesn't make them good."

"Of course you would think that, you killed your own parents," Brutus scoffed and Cel bristled immediately, his eyes turning angry.

"Says the guy who killed his own mother."

"I didn't kill her, I changed my mind," Brutus pointed out testily and Cel raised an interested eyebrow, he hadn't thought it was possible but his mother actually wasn't that bad when you got to know her and hear her side. They got along and after getting to know her better, he'd even introduced her to his kids and she served as a nanny for them now. It was none of Cel's business though, "Just make more of an effort to keep me informed or I'll tell Sal, she approves of finding Oathan or I wouldn't be dedicating Soul Eater resources to it."

"There really is no point when we haven't made progress," Cel insisted defensively, leaning back and sounding a bit more serious, "Both times I heard too late to do much and there's been nothing on house-elves, they're covering their tracks well. They're supposed to stay under the radar to get along with their work so it's easy for them to go undetected."

"Still, tell me things. My grandfather Corvinus had a bunch of weird house-elves following him."

"You mean the one you murdered Mr Family-is-so-great?"

"Yes that one," Brutus confirmed testily and realized he couldn't exactly be honest with the new information, "He could have had a Horcrux or maybe they're still loyal or what but just keep looking, it could be something and if it is a Horcrux and they want to revive him they'll need to pillage the Ashain crypt for his father's bones so get a Specter on that."

"Fine."

"Good," Brutus decided and stalked off without another word, he'd said all he had to say to Cel.

Now he just had to go home and torture himself over what to do about Tommy… Molly's scream cut through his thoughts and he paused guiltily, trying to tell himself it wasn't anything to do with him. His dad's words bounced around his brain though and he sighed, he could at least try to help her. Maybe she'd been tortured enough she'd listen to reason now, he hadn't lied to his dad. He did fear Cel would kill his dad – and maybe the baby too – despite the fact he wasn't supposed to, it'd be easy to claim it was an accident or act of desperation since stopping Gray was pretty important. If Brutus led the attack though, he could make sure his family was okay. He headed down into the basement, Molly's screams becoming louder as he drew closer finally finding Selwyn lazily Cruciating her.

"I'm here to talk to the prisoner," Brutus announced loudly and Selwyn dropped the spell quickly, spinning in surprise, "Alone, please."

"As you command, Master Brutus," Selwyn said overly respectfully, eying him almost fearfully as he scuttled off as Brutus had come down on him before.

That left him alone with Molly, Brutus approached her cautiously taking in the injured and starved state she was in. She was half-cowering awkwardly against the wall but with her feet angled outwards, probably because the soles were a brutalized mess looking devoid of skin so touching the ground with them would hurt although the ankles were broken and bound anyway with several toes now missing. She was naked, not that you could really tell since the assortment of wounds, blood and dirt made her look less then human. She still curiously used one clearly broken arm to cover her chest while the other was stretched upwards, chained to the wall to keep her in place. He felt kind of guilty his people were responsible for inflicting this pain but at the same time it wasn't like she was innocent and she was a fully grown woman perfectly capable of making her own decisions, she had chosen to join the enemy and chosen to keep her mouth shut prolonging her agony. The tired blue eyes embedded in her battered face drifted to him as he crouched beside her still trembling body, looking through the filthy strands of matted red curls.

"I won't talk," Molly croaked in a voice hoarse from screaming, managing to sound terrified but determined at the same and he noticed her lips were cracked. She was thirsty, it was policy to keep torture victims in discomfort like that. He withdrew his wand to conjure her a drink rather than give up immediately, she flinched fearfully against the wall clearly expecting torture. He ignored her though, conjuring a flask and filling it with water under her watchful gaze.

"Thirsty?" Brutus queried, holding it out to her, "It's free."

Molly stared at it suspiciously as if expecting the flask to suddenly bite her, he took a gulp himself.

"And not poisoned," Brutus added and finally earned a shaky nod, he reached forwards – making her flinch again - to hold it to her lips and allowed her to drink, "You know if you tell me now where Gray is then I can lead the attack, if you want your friends to survive I'm your best bet. I hear you're a Seer, you should know I'm telling the truth."

"I never said you weren't," Molly breathed as she finished off the flask and he moved it away, she swallowed, "But I won't talk. Alive and prisoners isn't that much better then death, I could even argue its worse in a way. So much worse."

"You're making things worse for yourself," Brutus insisted as she shuddered, "I can help you, we can end your torture right now if you just talk to me. You know who I am."

"I know you could end the war right now."

"Not this again," Brutus groaned and rubbed his face, feeling like people were just a broken record with it today.

"Why do you ask me to talk if you're not going to listen?" Molly wondered and he glanced back to her with forced patience, "You could end the war right now, you could be a hero-"

"I'm not a hero," Brutus interrupted immediately, he'd never for a single second considered himself a hero. He wasn't delusional, even if he was doing the right thing siding with Sal there was too much bad for him to consider them heroes. There were no heroes.

"It's still your window… but its closing, you don't have that long before your chance ends and another window opens then if that window closes its twenty years before the next one," Molly told him as her eyes drifted shut and Brutus was starting to regret speaking to her at all, "You should do it, the future you want isn't even an option. If you don't want to lose everyone you love you should do it, you can save lives."

"Well if you're just going to ramble vague Seer mumbo jumbo threats at me then I have better things to do," Brutus decided, standing irritably and Molly whimpered fearfully but he didn't hurt her nor did he even have any intention of hurting her, he'd just tried to help, "Don't say I didn't try to spare you."

"Don't say I didn't try to warn you… no one wins in the future I keep seeing."

Brutus just left her to it and Selwyn went back in to resume his torture, maybe he was a little hasty but in his experience Seers spouting vague doom were just trying to scam you or in Trelawney's case were just nuts. Molly hadn't been saying anything useful anyway and it sounded more like she was just saying things to manipulate him into making her side win, he wondered if she was aware her boyfriend had damned Tommy to death and was currently dying from it. He still had to figure out what in the hell to do about that but at any rate, he'd had enough of England for now. He'd done what Sal wanted, he'd done a bunch of stuff Sal hadn't wanted or known about and now he was done.

He returned home to their penthouse in Greece, feeling more at ease just being there. Vathan had been studying at the table in his pajamas and ran over to hug him happily in greeting, he gave the boy a cuddle and smiled as he started to launch into explanation of what he'd been doing while Brutus had been gone. He asked him to wait a second until he'd said goodnight to the twins, finding them nestled in their beds listening intently – or maybe just captivated by the pretty lights - to Sal tell them a bedtime story complete with magical illusions illustrating what she was talking about. He gave them a peck on the cheek each and left them to their story, going back out to listen to Vathan as promised.

He then got him ready for bed and tucked him in before kissing him goodnight, hoping this lead on the house-elves and possibly Corvinus paid off. He'd like to give him his brother back, at least some brothers should get to be together and stopping Corvinus was definitely something to put onto their to do list. Crafty bastard, somehow the Horcrux didn't surprise him though. He filled Sal in on this when she finished with the kids as they sat on the deck drinking some lemonade overlooking the peaceful city, talking progress in the war and about how the kids had been while he'd been gone. Sal seemed to be in a good mood, she tended to be since the US fell and countries lined up to join.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself but I am feeling more confident in our victory," Sal admitted to him as they headed to bed, he let her hold his hand as she guided him, "We've changed the world, it'll be hard to change it back even if we lose and we've accomplished more than pretty much any wizard in history who sought power. And I think I know why."

"Why?" Brutus wondered curiously as they reached their bed, Sal turned to face him as she answered.

"Because pretty much all of them were bad – probably black souls - and the good guys always triumphed but here, now, we are the good guys so we are the ones triumphing," Sal told him, reaching up to caress his cheek lovingly. She had a delicate touch despite using the same hands to fell cities, her Scepter was deposited lazily in the corner like a random curio, "We have each other, our children were conceived in love and we raise them with kindness, we fight to make the world a better place. Who are we up against? Corrupted self-centered government assholes that only care about themselves and preserving the poor cesspool of their society just because that's how it's always been. We're the ones in the right, that's why we're winning."

"You really believe that?" Brutus asked, putting his arms around her as images of the death, pain and suffering they had caused flashed before his eyes. Sal shrugged.

"I don't know but it makes sense, right?" Sal shrugged as she put her arms around his head, preparing to kiss him.

"Right," Brutus confirmed although he still wasn't sure, she pressed her soft lips against his anyway.

The world just didn't see her like he did, they only saw the bad not the good. He wondered if they'd still consider her evil knowing everything he did, if they saw her cuddling a sheep saved from slaughter, if they saw her cry for her dead - he still thought Scorpius was delusional – brother, if they saw her telling her kids a bedtime story and kissing them goodnight, if they knew she'd taken a break from crushing Canada to do so for the sake of the kids having one parent around, if they saw the loving way she looked at him… what made a person good or evil? Their actions right or wrong? Sal was still a gray soul, not pure but not evil either. Where did that leave her? Or himself for that matter? They had changed the world, was it really better if the war just ended with it unfinished? What kind of person even was he to betray the woman he loved, the mother of their children who loved him in turn? What kind of person was he to damn his own - very young - children to death for the sake of preserving an imperfect world that had already changed and would be hard to change back? Did they even think about that?! But then what kind of person was he to watch cities razed to the ground for the greater good? To see armies of their victims raised to join them? To risk his brothers and father's life? He didn't fucking know!

"You okay?" Sal asked as they finally drew apart to draw breath, "You seem a little tense."

"Just been a long day," Brutus offered, trying to push the moral dilemmas from his mind and focus on the beautiful woman in front of him. He let the intoxicating scent of her perfume drown the other thoughts as he kissed her again more passionately, she kissed him back and pulled him down onto the bed with her.

"You got it?" Cade asked him gently.

He was helping to prop him up as Orous gripped onto the railings either side of him, grasping them so tightly it hurt. With his hands burned, friction tended to aggravate it through the normal pain range the potion he was on protected him from even through the bandages. He just gritted his teeth through it though, he couldn't let the pain stop him or he'd never get better. He nodded when he was sure and Cade cautiously let him go, Orous was painfully aware of the loss of support as his legs were forced to take the full weight of his body. He felt them tremble slightly and glanced down, seeing they were actually shaking violently like the last leaf off a branch the wind was trying to tear off. He wasn't going to let them break though, he wasn't going to let them buckle beneath him again.

"You're doing great, Orous," Cade offered encouragingly, remaining hovering by his side.

"Now take it slowly, remember?" Tabitha – Cade's girlfriend – told him, standing on the other side of the rail in front of him all dressed up in Healer robes.

Orous gritted his teeth again as he tried to lift his left leg, the limb felt more like a slab of concrete someone had transfigured his leg into from the weight of it. It took so much effort to lift it and only managed to set it down a few inches in front of where it had been. He was breathing heavily just from that, beads of sweat forming on his brow much to his frustration. It shouldn't be this hard! He hauled himself up, sending searing pain through his hands and tried to move his body and right leg into place with his left leg. He came down too hard though and his legs buckled, Cade grabbed him and Tabitha cast a nonverbal charm to slow his momentum so Cade could help him into a sitting position without Orous hitting himself as he went down already gasping for breath.

"FUCK!" Orous screamed angrily in frustration, whacking the rail accusingly as if it was the rail's fault.

"Are you alright?" Cade asked him with concern.

"No, I'm not alright!" Orous snapped at him irritably, knowing he shouldn't because it was hardly Cade's fault but he hated it, he hated it so much, "Hogwarts starts tomorrow and I can't even take a step without falling on my ass!"

"I know, son," Cade said gently, squeezing his arm comfortingly and Orous took a deep breath to try quell the burning rage spawning from the ache where his spine was damaged.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Come on, let's get you back up."

"Back into the chair," Tabitha told them, "I think that's enough for today."

"No! I want to keep trying!" Orous protested desperately, determined to walk.

"When you push yourself too hard you just fall, okay? You have to patient and I want to check on your hands, it's time to reapply the salve and I want to see how badly it's aggravating the burns."

Orous groaned in frustration but Tabitha's voice had gone back into full on Healer tone, he didn't think she'd be convinced. He wasn't sure he could even convince himself, despite not managing a proper step despite the hours they'd been at it he felt more as if he'd been running for hours. When Tabitha levitated him back into the wheelchair, he actually could've quite easily closed his eyes and slept because he felt that drained. He sighed heavily while Cade went to retrieve Caradoc, they were in one of the rooms in St Mungo's with the walking rail but there was a table over in the corner which they'd sat Caradoc at when he grew bored of watching Orous fall. He'd been happily playing, keeping up a steady stream of incoherent babble commentary that Cade pretended to understand and acknowledge.

"We'll get there, Orous, some things just take time," Cade told him and Orous jolted slightly, having not noticed his dad return with the scarred toddler.

He started pushing the wheelchair, Caradoc loyally walking beside them as he tended to do. He didn't seem to like being too far from Cade or for too long, when he was he'd usually get upset and calling for 'Cada' which seemed to refer to Cade. Orous wondered if he was a terrible person for feeling a pang of jealously towards his foster brother's ability to walk, albeit with the unpracticed jerky gait of one still getting used to it.

Cade brought him back to their ward, where Maurice still was. To his immense relief his twin had finally woken up, however he wasn't doing that much better then Orous himself. He was still very weak and slept a lot, even when he was awake the potions he was on were making him really sluggish and he was kind of out it. His one remaining hand was still in a sling preventing him from using his necklace to translate or his wand to conjure his magical hand back - not that he'd have the strength to do that anyway – so they had to communicate to him with sign language only but he could only respond with words, he also wasn't allowed to eat solid foods. Orous had been stabbed through the spine but he'd missed Maurice's instead skewered his stomach, because the little bastard used raw magical spears he conjured not real spears neither responded to healing leaving him struggling to walk while Maurice struggled to eat which didn't help with him getting his strength back.

Orous noticed he was asleep as Cade helped him back into his bed beside Maurice's, Tabitha checked on him then moved on to Orous. Taking off his bandages, healing the damage the rails had done then reapplying them after putting more salve on and cleaning them. The burns didn't return to healing spells either but potions could help, they were more natural or something so worked a bit. He sighed as the setting sunlight shone in through the windows.

"I'm not going back to Hogwarts tomorrow, am I?" Orous asked of Tabitha who glanced at him before shaking her head.

"Nor is Maurice if that makes you feel any better," Tabitha offered, Orous said nothing as she continued bandaging his hands back up, "There's just no point to it, he's not in any condition to go and while he can't really use his arms right now and you can't really use your legs. You'll both need help and it's not something Hogwarts can really do, you'll recover faster staying behind and focusing properly on your health then rushing back to school. You should have a few weeks off at least."

"We have to live in hospital for a few weeks?"

"No," Cade interjected, he was sitting in between him and Maurice right now with Caradoc on his lap, "We're going to need a new house since… it's just nothing left, the dogs are all cooped up in Tabitha's apartment right now. We've been looking, hopefully we can find a place quickly then you and Maurice can get settled in while you're recovering before going back to school."

"Okay that's done," Tabitha offered as she finished bandaging his hands, "I'm going to go see about dinner, be back shortly."

"Okay," Cade nodded in acknowledgement and she gave both him and Caradoc a peck on the cheek before leaving… hadn't Cade just said 'we've' been looking? "So what do you think?"

"Its fine, I guess," Orous shrugged, in truth he was more concerned with his inability to walk then Hogwarts and that he only really worried about Quidditch and his friends – including his girlfriend, Lily - since he despised class so much now he was just alone, "Who did you mean by 'we' just now?"

"Um… Me and… Me and Tabitha," Cade admitted, looking nervous as he swallowed, "We've talked about it a lot, when you're in Hogwarts she practically lives with us anyway and we'd both like to take the next step. I know it's a weird change for you but it just makes sense, if we pool our money we can buy afford a better house and… well with the war you want to be as close to the people you love as possible."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Orous offered encouragingly, forcing himself to smile through his unhappiness over his inability to walk. He didn't think it was easy for Cade to date after Alzay and he deserved to be happy, Tabitha was alright, "Long as you're happy, Dad."

"I want us all to be happy," Cade pointed out, starting to talk about potential places and showing them photographs but Orous zoned out beyond nodding at the appropriate points to register his approval.

He had to resist the urge to say he didn't feel like that was possible when his best friend was dead, he had no chance of avenging him if he couldn't walk. He wasn't even sure if he should anymore, as much as he still desired James Potter's head on a silver platter. Oathan's attack haunted him, he could've so very easily killed Maurice but he hadn't, he could've killed both of them as revenge for his parents even but he hadn't. For dangerous as he was, a small rational part of his mind that had a voice suspiciously like Vern's registered he had a point and James' death accomplished nothing but… Orous still wanted to kill him and he wasn't entirely convinced it was just fear talking. The ordeal had been terrifying, he'd almost watched his brother die while he was just there literally paralyzed. He hadn't felt so vulnerable since he was handcuffed to a bed by muggles, equally incapable of being able to talk away. Not being able to walk scared him, he hadn't feeling so trapped.

"Orous?" Cade prompted and Orous glanced back, having completely lost track of what he was saying by now.

"I'm sorry," Orous muttered in embarrassment at being caught out of listening, "What were you saying?"

"I was saying usually I wouldn't want to ask you about this when we need to focus on you getting better but it links to choosing a home," Cade said and Orous gave him proper attention now, this seemed serious and his dad gestured to Caradoc who was nestled comfortably in his arms falling asleep, "I agreed to foster him under at least until he turns two in the summer at least, it's easier to place a toddler."

"Okay."

"But I also said I'd think about adopting him, making it permanent. He wouldn't be my foster child then, he'd be my son and your brother," Cade told him seriously and gave a Caradoc a cuddle, the half-asleep baby smiled and snuggled further against him, "And I… I'd really like to do that but you're my son and until- unless I adopt Caradoc, you're my top priority and I don't want to commit to this unless you're okay with it."

"Really?" Orous wondered in surprise and Cade nodded, shifting his position distractedly to be more accommodating to Caradoc who seemed to be asleep by now.

"Hey Dad," Maurice mumbled sleepily, his voice sounding slightly off as he stirred weakly. Cade turned to him with a smile and started signing to ask how he was feeling, "Like someone transfigured my brain into fluff and put a Heavyweight Charm on my head…"

Orous zoned out again, Maurice was so out of he didn't seem to remember when he'd said the same thing or they'd had the same conversation yesterday. Cade was good to be so patient with him, Orous looked forward to when they'd wean him off those potions and he'd be himself again. Cade was good with him, he'd taken in Maurice and it hadn't changed anything between them so he shouldn't fear that happening with Caradoc. It wasn't like he'd really treated him any differently since he'd taken him either, Orous was the one being different and that wasn't really to do with Caradoc either. He glanced at the sleeping child, the scarred side of his face closest to him and this time felt a pang of sympathy. Who was he to deny a baby a loving home? Not to mention how devastating it would probably be for Caradoc to be taken away after having grown attached to Cade, it'd be hard on Cade too.

"Dad?" Orous prompted as Maurice asked what had happened to Oathan yet again, Cade glanced back to him while quickly signing the answer to Maurice with his hands, "If… If you want to adopt Caradoc, you have my blessing."

"Really?" Cade wondered, beaming and Orous nodded, slipping a smile back onto his face to try show he was genuine, "I'm glad, he is a great kid. I can start getting that sorted now then, I'd like to foster his brother as well but that can wait."

"His brother?"

"Yeah, Caradoc is one of six but two died so it was the four of them. His aunt and uncle already had kids so they could only take two, I took Caradoc and the last one – Amadeus, his name is – is still in foster care. Apparently he has a lot of issues, he's difficult to care for and I wasn't sure I could handle both but now I know Caradoc I think I can."

"Why do you even want him then?" Orous questioned, earning a look of surprise from Cade, "Caradoc is baby, he's okay so I get that but why the brother?"

"Because he's his brother," Cade stated as if it was obvious, his eyes drifting to Maurice who tried to grab his necklace with his stump then scowled when that obviously didn't work. Orous supposed he had taken Maurice in because he was Orous' brother despite Maurice's issues, he felt kind of stupid for asking, "Besides, every child deserves a good home where they'll be loved and it's not the poor kid's fault his parents were abusive a-holes who then died. It'd give anyone issues."

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll fit right in."

"It can wait, like I said the priority right now is helping you and Maurice get better."

Michael found working at St Mungo's was… an experience, he felt like he was learning a lot. Despite it not being very busy, his feet didn't touch the ground the entire time. Most of his time was actually spent cleaning, Hogan seemed determined to make him clean up any body fluid excreted whether it be vomit, blood, urine or even slime from this one man who'd accidentally cursed himself. Apart from that he was sent as a gopher a lot, running around restocking potions, bringing food to patients or potions to Healers who needed them or simply passing along messages.

The actual healing he got to do was very little and usually more minor things that were heavily supervised, it was pretty strict protocol apparently he not use magic on patients without a real Healer present which was kind of annoying when another of his tasks was to check on patients and see if they needed anything yet had to get a Healer if he needed to do anything. For more serious things, he was allowed to help sometimes but usually he just watched while being quizzed on what he would do or if he knew why they were doing this. He got quizzed a lot, Hogan liked him to do his own Diagnostic Spells even though Hogan – or another Healer – would do them too and ask him about his findings or what they should do next. Michael actually wasn't so practiced on Diagnostic Spells if he knew them at all so he was glad to get to that, he did find it very interesting although he missed sitting.

He didn't know if it was always like that or just Hogan insisting he always be doing something, other Healers got breaks but he only got lunch and even then Hogan would either make him to paperwork or insist he walk around the hospital with him while he eat to make sure he was learning the layout. He'd also lecture him on protocol and quiz Michael on it, which was hard to answer if he had mouth full and Hogan got angry if he took more five seconds to answer. Hogan got angry a lot if not constantly, most things seemed to frustrate him – like the job, the hospital, the protocol, the patients, the people he was working with and Michael himself – and it turned to anger very quickly, why he was a Healer at all was a mystery to him since he seemed to hate it but then Hogan seemed to hate everything. He was very volatile and on edge all the time, he didn't seem to deal with his emotions well doing things like kicking at the wall in frustration or crossing his arms and sulking like a petulant child told off when he was reprimanded. He was pretty unpleasant to be around, he was generally better around patients but Michael wasn't a patient.

He was sure the attitude was why Hogan surprisingly wasn't in a position of power in the hospital, it wasn't until the second day that Michael actually realized he wasn't. Hogan frequently gave orders and took charge, the other Healers always followed his lead and asked him for advice or help with things regularly. It was pretty clear Hogan had no respect for him and the guy didn't seem to much like him either, he spoke to him in a very patronizing tone and liked to remind him of rules or the fact he was old enough to retire if he wished although it was pretty obvious he was encouraging him to retire. Despite his abysmal attitude, Hogan actually was a good Healer. He did know his stuff, that's why the others went to him and did as he told them, he had a sharp mind and was good at actual healing. If anything Hogan was a workaholic despite his hatred for the place, he didn't take breaks like the other Healers not even lunch and volunteered readily for any overtime. The Healers seemed nicer, unfortunately he was pretty tied to Hogan who he decided he really didn't like.

Michael could only hope if he was hired there after Hogwarts – which he still really would like – he wouldn't be stuck with Hogan so much, he was better in small doses. He was glad for some familiar faces, he made special care to try make time to see Orous and Maurice – who thankfully finally woke up – and was surprised to see Olivia's brother Maximus Nott – who was actually more pleasant to be around then Hogan - working there and had been a kind of intern in his free time for years. Maybe Michael should have been doing that, he hadn't even known you could. Maximus even got paid for it while Hogan was using his wage to pay Dawn, Michael supposed that was fair for the sake of a couple of days. He was sad he didn't get to see as much of his family though and had no idea if he was even doing well, it made him pretty anxious. This was the career he wanted to do, what if he was screwing up his chances and even if he got the grades they wouldn't hire him because they didn't think he was doing well? Hogan certainly didn't seem impressed although he couldn't really think of anything he drastically did wrong. Not in St Mungo's anyway, his life outside it was a mess of mistakes. At any rate, the Easter break ended and it was time to return to Hogwarts.

"You ready to get back?" Michael asked unenthusiastically of Wyatt as he entered the kitchen with his trunk ready to go quite early as he couldn't sleep after a nightmare about Flynn's death, the animagus gave a look perfectly matching Michael's tone.

"No," Wyatt admitted shortly, sipping at a mug of hot cocoa filled with marshmallows and gummy worms. It looked disgusting.

"I don't see why you're complaining, it's not like you have to do anything," Michael pointed out testily as he went to pour himself a drink as well, Wyatt looked at him like he'd just slapped him which just annoyed him more since Michael was the one suffering here, "I'm the one who gets to have my privacy invaded and deal with an adult as a lizard hovering around me all the time, you just get to laze about all day and do nothing."

"What the hell planet are you living on?!" Wyatt wondered of him in exasperation, looking actually angry as he straightened up, "For your information I don't do nothing all day, I have to constantly be alert to look around for threats, I have to make sure I'm always with you but always out of sight. Merlin forbid you see me because you try to hit me or throw a book at me, to a human it may be nothing but lizards are fragile and it freaking hurts and bruises if it makes contact. I can't sleep at night, I have to stay awake and watch over you because it would be really easy for someone to sneak in and slit your throat in your sleep. I have to try get short snatches of sleep in class when it seems like an attack is unlikely but I'm still exhausted all the time, why do you think the first thing I did here was sleep?! You never let me eat, the only food I get is if I sneak some or Albus kindly throws me some to catch for his amusement, I'm starving and a gulp of dirty tap water in the morning is all I get to drink if I can snap it up and then I have to see my estranged father in your class so that's awesome. You think its fun for me, Michael?! It's not! Its uncomfortable and unpleasant, I can't get a break, I can't talk to anyone, I'm just stuck drowning in my silent private hell!"

"Wow," Michael breathed in surprise as Wyatt slumped unhappily, going back to his gross looking drink while Michael fidgeted feeling bad. For some reason, he hadn't actually thought of it from Wyatt's perspective. He assumed he just lounged around all day, pigged out at night then fell asleep. He swallowed, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was like that for you."

"Well… it is," Wyatt muttered, staring into his drink as his anger seemed to drain away, "Sorry I snapped at you, I didn't mean to lose my temper."

"It's okay."

"Michael!" a familiar voice boomed and he heard the door open, Hogan strode in a second later and handed him a scroll, "There. Paperwork to fill out so you can apply to be a Healer at St Mungo's, your work was satisfactory enough. Fill that out and send it in."

"Erm… I'm back to Hogwarts today."

"I know that, you idiot!" Hogan barked at him irritably, "But it takes time to process and looks better for you if you get it in early plus you can start working as soon as you graduate, since you've already worked there you won't even need to interview. You'll do the same kind of work as you did these past few days mostly until your grades come in then your official training can start, even if your grades suck we can work around it if you work there already. So do that because there's always a flood of applicants when Hogwarts ends, fill out the paperwork and you're a Healer guaranteed."

"Wow, thanks Hogan," Michael offered, both surprised and grateful and felt a giddy surge at the thought of being guaranteed the job he wanted even if his grades were poor, "Really, it means a lot. I didn't think you even liked me."

"I don't. You suck and I hate you," Hogan blurted out instantly, folding his arms crossly and glaring at him making Michael feel somewhat disheartened, "But we're on the same side in the war so I figure you not sucking at healing could be useful."

"You're too kind," Michael muttered with sad sarcasm.

"I am," Hogan decided, turning on his heel probably to go to work based on the time and him already in his Healer robes although he paused to glance at Wyatt with a look of annoyance, "And eat more, lizard boy, you need your strength! Geez."