August 2019, (III: Chapter 1)
Wyatt Grant stirred sleepily, feeling his dead droop as the thing he'd been resting on moved. He blinked blearily, trying to squint in the gloom to make out the shape of his dark-haired boyfriend getting dressed. Wyatt raised his head slightly, slipping his eyes to the window at the darkness outside then to the clock face on the bedside table that he could only make out because of moonlight. It was four o'clock in the morning, Wyatt groaned and let his head drop back down onto the pillow.
"Rudy," Wyatt hissed, not sure why he was whispering when it was just them but it seemed too early to be too loud, "What are you doing?"
"Getting dressed," Rudy whispered back, Wyatt rolled his eyes.
"I noticed that much, I meant why are you getting dressed. The sun isn't even up yet, unless you turned into a vampire since we went to bed there's no reason to be getting up now."
"I told you I had to be in work early today," Rudy pointed out before pausing briefly in tying his belt to scowl at him, "Why are we whispering?!"
"The real question is why are you going to work so early?" Wyatt countered somewhat irritably, Rudy practically lived at the Ministry these days without going in before the crack of dawn. Literally, he was working six or even seven day weeks, often not coming back until late and the shadows beneath his eyes were testament to the toll it was taking. Rudy didn't seem to be paying attention as he started pulling on his boots, "Did you not notice how the sun isn't even up yet?"
"I noticed, Wy, I have to go in this early"
"What is the point in going into so early no one's even awake yet?"
"There's a war going on now, I'm doing the work of two other people because they died as well as my own," Rudy told him sitting down on the bed beside him and starting to tie up his bootlaces.
"Just blow it off, you shouldn't be expected to do the work of three people," Wyatt complained, sitting up and hugging Rudy from behind. He kissed his cheek which was all bristly, Rudy needed a shave, "Come on, just come back to bed and relax for once."
"I can't do that, they need me," Rudy insisted, prying his arms off him, Wyatt fell back onto the bed and Rudy continued tying his shoelaces, "I want to get in early to talk to my boss about something anyway before everyone else shows up."
"And it can't wait until tomorrow? I'm sure they can survive without you for a day or a few more hours, it's not like your job is important anyway," Wyatt sighed and immediately saw the error in his words as Rudy stopped to look back at him incredulously, Wyatt held up his hands, "I mean of course your job is important… it's just… not like… the Ministry will collapse if you don't go in for work for a day. You know what I mean."
"Nice save," Rudy quipped and went back to tying his shoelaces, Wyatt let his hand drop back onto the bed pouting unhappily.
"You still going to work?"
"Yep," Rudy confirmed as he got up, leaning back down to give him a kiss goodbye and Wyatt took his hands as he made to pull away.
"Please stay," Wyatt pleaded and Rudy did look slightly guilty, "You really do need a break… and I really miss you."
"Look, I'll try get home early- well not early but on time, okay? We can go for a meal or something," Rudy sighed as he kissed him one last time before pulling away, this time Wyatt let him go not feeling slightly better. The number of times Rudy had said something like that and the number of times he'd actually done it were very different, "And try get the place cleaned up a bit, that way I don't have to do it when I go in and we can just go."
"Sure," Wyatt agreed disinterestedly, "Good," Rudy smiled and kissed him a last time, "I love you."
"Love you too," Wyatt said suppressing a yawn as Rudy headed over to the door, "Bye."
Wyatt rolled back over and had to pull the covers back over himself, the bed seeming empty and cold without Rudy but be succeeded in falling back into an uneasy sleep regardless. He didn't wake up again until well after midday, dragging himself out of bed finally to eat some cereal. Unlike Rudy, he didn't have a job or a career or any reason to get up early. He treated himself to a nice long bath listening to some of his favorite records and nibbling on gummy worms, he knew he'd said he'd clean up but that could wait for later. Or never, it's not like Rudy would actually hold up his end of the deal and would probably not be back until so late it didn't matter.
After that he returned to his room, not to sleep he just found it more comfortable for his animagi training since the blinds blocked out the light better than in the front room. He didn't really want to be in the dark but with the glare of the sun in his eyes, it was kind of distracting. He was close, he was so close to finally becoming an animagus and he didn't want anything to screw it up. He cast the few spells necessary to retain his sanity and focused as he closed his eyes, willing his body to change. He always lost track of time when he did this, it could've minutes or hours but at some point it was different. It happened, he felt his body compress painfully.
He found himself laying on the bed now, the bed suddenly seeming massive as he'd shrunk. He took a tentative step forward, looking down at scaly awkward looking hands with claws, he thought he was some kind of lizard. He didn't have time to dwell on it though as he snapped back to a human, the feeling equally painful but he didn't even care. He was ecstatic, that was it, that had been a proper transformation! He'd done it, he was an animagus! He'd succeed at something! He was grinning from ear to ear, he couldn't stop smiling he was so happy. He couldn't wait to tell Rudy. Although he had been hoping he'd be a bird like Rudy so they could fly together but regardless, he was excited to have done it and had suspected he'd be something reptilian at least from the scales he'd been getting frequently during his training for it.
He quickly levitated the mirror in front of him and kept at it, focusing and transforming through the pain several times to get the hang of it. Wyatt also did confirm he was a lizard, he was some freaking awesome green and yellow lizard with all this cool pattern. It was so weird being a lizard, walking was quite different then as a human and the apartment suddenly seemed like a giant playground to explore now he was so much smaller. He also noticed these weird flaps like wings between his limbs and body, which he discovered actually were wings when he tried to get down of the bed. He could fly! He could fly! Well it was more like gliding but semantics, it was amazing.
Wyatt was having such a great time but forced himself to stop, he was getting hungry. He made himself some soup before actually getting dressed to go research lizards in the library, he wanted to find out everything possible about what he was. He devoured as much information on what he was as he could in the time he had, they were actually called 'flying dragons' or Draco something or other – depending on the specific species – as their scientific Latin name, they didn't have a lot of information on the individual species so he wasn't sure which exactly but he intended to find out. Unfortunately, it was later in the afternoon by now so he didn't have too long before the Library closed but he supposed he could just come back tomorrow. It was a start. He returned home still in a good mood to find his day just kept on getting better as Rudy was actually home, Wyatt grinned.
"You came home on time!" Wyatt burst out, rushing over to Rudy who was washing up his dishes. He wasn't sure whether to hug him or bounce up and down on his feet childishly but he couldn't help it, he was still so excited about succeeding, "You'll never believe what happened-"
"You didn't bother to clean up like you said you would?" Rudy cut him off bitterly.
"Well I didn't think you'd actually come home on time," Wyatt brushed him of distractedly, "So anyway, today-"
"So what? You thought you'd leave me even more work to do when I came home?!" Rudy cut him off looking somewhere between enraged and upset, "Is it really so much to ask that you do something?! I work all day then I have to come home and do all the housework and all the cooking since you only ever do cereal and soup for yourself, you don't do anything-"
"Hey, I don't do nothing," Wyatt tried to profess defensively, still wanting to share his news even if Rudy was just determined to ruin his mood, "I'm trying to became an animagus and I-"
"So what?!" Rudy burst out, abandoning the dishes to throw his hands up in exasperation as he rounded on him, "They don't pay you for being an animagus and you haven't even succeeded at that yet, you probably never will!"
"You- You don't think I can do it?" Wyatt wondered, feeling quite hurt his boyfriend didn't believe him. Especially as Rudy had been the one to mentor him in it, yet he'd never expected him to succeed?
"No, I don't!" Rudy snapped, "You're so lazy, Wyatt, and you never take anything seriously, if you don't do that you can't even try properly! You'll never amount to anything, never do anything worthwhile in your life like that! You're just wasting your time at home doing nothing, if you won't get a job because the career you had your heart set on was the same one as the father you fell out with then the least you could do is clean up after yourself instead of leaving it to me!"
"Well it's not like you're ever around to see it's not clean!"
"Forgive me for having to work a job to pay for our apartment, our food, our clothes and pretty much all of our stuff! You think gummy worms grow on fucking trees?! It's called being an adult, most of us would work to pay for our own way not show up on their boyfriend's doorstop asking to stay a few days because you ran away from your dad!"
"So what, all you care about is money?!"
"Yes, all I care about is money! That's why I broke my neck trying to get home on time to spend time on you instead of getting paid for overtime, that's why I let you stay even when a few days became a few years even when you contribute nothing financially- you know one time your dad actually offered me money to leave you so you could turn straight or something but I refused because money is clearly all I care about!" Rudy reeled off in a tone of heavy sarcasm but his voice was cracking as he tried not to cry, "How can you even say that?"
"Well you know what, if your life is so much better off without me then why don't I just go?!" Wyatt complained, feeling his anger start to be replaced by guilt but he didn't want to deal with that.
"Wyatt-" Rudy called after him but Wyatt had already made a beeline for the door, disapparating as soon as he was out of the protective bounds.
He returned to outside the Library, it was still closed – not that he felt like going in anyway – but it was just the first place he thought of since he'd been there earlier. He shoved his hands in his pockets and just started to walk through the streets, his previous excitement about becoming an animagus all but extinguished. He didn't care if he never told Rudy now, well he'd have to because he'd need to register it within a few days or it was illegal and he wasn't sure what to do but still.
He started to regret leaving as the guilt started to kick in even more, he should know better than to storm off in the middle of an argument. Especially since he felt like it was an argument he'd been losing, maybe he should be making more of an effort. Even if he didn't know what he planned to do with his life, the one thing he did plan to do was stay with Rudy. He didn't want to lose him, he really needed to go home and apologize.
Wyatt trudged back home, taking the long scenic route to clear his head before he was back at their apartment building. He headed upstairs and went to back inside, he was surprised to find the door locked since it obviously hadn't been since he'd left through it. He unlocked it quickly with his wand and opened the door, feeling a surge of cold rush through his veins as even while he was opening the door he heard Rudy screaming.
"I DIDN'T TELL ANYONE ELSE!" Rudy shrieked in agony as Wyatt walked through the door, he was sobbing, "I SWEAR!"
Wyatt was greeted by the sight of his boyfriend on the floor convulsing like he was being tortured, there were two cloaked men with the Shadow insignia he'd seen in the papers on their robes who turned to him as they heard the door. A man he thought he recognized vaguely as Rudy's boss – he'd never really met him, just had him pointed out across a room the odd time he'd seem Rudy at work – stood over him with his wand on Rudy although he was lowering it at Rudy's statement. Wyatt felt sick seeing Rudy suffering, it made him feel even worse for leaving.
"Run, Wyatt!" Rudy yelled the second he saw him but Wyatt couldn't, he couldn't just leave him.
He went to withdraw his wand but the other two Shadows – they had to be from their insignia - were faster, he had to stop to throw himself out of the way of a jet of green light from the first while the second hit the door which closed it and presumably resealed it. Wyatt's heart was thundering in his chest, had- had that man seriously just tried to kill him?!
"He's just the roommate, kill him," Rudy's boss said casually.
He heard Rudy scream 'no' while the Shadows both fired jets of green at him, he wouldn't be able to avoid both. Without thinking, Wyatt transformed into a lizard as he threw himself out of the way as best he could. Both spells missed him and he landed on a side table hidden behind an ugly vase his sister had gotten them while on vacation, the group looked baffled as they mustn't have realized what had happened just that he'd gotten away somehow.
Rudy was on his knees now, a look of absolute relief on his face presumably at the thought of Wyatt getting away. To Wyatt's horror though, Rudy's boss casually slashed his wand at Rudy's neck without batting an eyelid. Rudy's eyes widened in shock and Wyatt tried to scream, only a hissing lizard sound came out though as his boyfriend toppled over with a tide of crimson flooding from his neck. He went still, his eyes vacantly staring at the carpet. Rudy was dead. He couldn't believe Rudy was dead, not Rudy. What was even happening?! Why Rudy?
"Filthy mudblood, too smart for his own good," Rudy's boss spat over Rudy's body while Wyatt felt conflicting feelings of rage against the killers and anguish over Rudy, "The roommate's a witness though, I don't know what he did but search for him. Wyatt Grant I believe his name is, if he's not here he'll undoubtedly show up at the house of a friend or family member. I'll have Specters set on them, kill him and the family member when he shows up."
"Yes, master," the other two said and started looking around, the boss picked at his nails in boredom.
Anger was definitely winning now, how dare they?! They'd just taken a life, they'd just taken Rudy's life and they didn't even care. It was nothing to them, taking a person's life was nothing to them. Those people were monsters, he didn't think he'd hated anyone so much in his whole life. He wanted to turn back into a human, he wanted to kill them like they'd murdered his boyfriend.
But he didn't, he forced himself not to. From what he'd seen so far he just didn't think he could take them, he couldn't get revenge if he was dead. His eyes were blurring from tears making victory even less likely as he felt his heart wrenching, Rudy was really dead. So he did what Rudy had wanted, he glided over to the open window while their backs were turned and fled. It felt wrong to flee, to just leave him there but he did. He'd go – although where he had no idea considering what the man had said - but he wouldn't forget, he couldn't forget.