14th July 1977- Clint: 14, Barney: 18
Alastor limped his way up the drive. Will's car was there, repaired and dropped off by the Muggle garage. Barney had been up at Underhill for two days, no doubt a draining time. He'd sent the goblin-made items back to the goblins. It would have made the Old Man turn in his grave but Barney didn't seem to care. Alastor pushed the door open and stopped in his tracks. Aaron was stood on the stairs, glaring down at a dog. A thin, heavily-stitched up dog that definitely hadn't been there when Alastor left the house two days ago.
"Get it away!"
"He's not doing any harm!" retorted Clint.
The dog was attempting to bark. It was also wagging its entire body. Barney was sat in his wheelchair, crying with laughter. Gadreel was leaning against the wall, desperately trying not to laugh. Natasha and Castiel were stood to the side, looking almost as confused as Alastor felt. Gabriel was nowhere to be seen, probably still sleeping off a hangover.
"Hey Pops!" said Clint cheerfully.
"What is going on?" asked Alastor.
The dog turned at the sound of Alastor's voice. He came limping over to Alastor and licked his hand. One of its eyes was stitched up.
"Clint got a dog yesterday." said Aaron in a tone of voice that said exactly what he thought of that.
"Yes, I can see that."
"We can keep him, can't we?" asked Clint.
Alastor opened his mouth to say no, absolutely not. But Barney was still sobbing with laughter, and it had been so long since Barney had laughed. Clint was beaming like a madman and even Aaron had a hint of a smile on his face.
"Yes, we can keep the damn dog."
"His name's Lucky." said Barney.
1st August 1977
"And they definitely won't suddenly cancel the lease?" asked Castiel.
"No, they won't." replied Gabriel. "They're Muggle."
Barney watched the two of them bickering and glanced over at Gadreel. Gadreel looked very tempted to throw something at both his brothers. Gabriel had managed to secure a flat in Cardiff for the three of them and they were moving today. They were Apparating over so Barney was driving down to see them the day after. Aaron was Apparating with them to help with the unpacking.
"Barney!" called Clint. "Barney, is this any good?"
Barney said his goodbyes to the Novak brothers and rolled through to the back garden. Clint was practising his swing.
"Is this any good? I thought I could do a tennis serve sort of thing. Watch, watch."
"Did you say bye to the Novaks?"
"Huh? Yeah, Cas didn't mind. He's a Keeper, he gets I have to practice. Anyway, watch this."
Lucky was lying by the back door, tail thumping whenever someone went anywhere near him. He even liked Trick. Clint hefted the Bludger (really a football filled with sand) and smacked it into the air and then towards the target pinned to the back fence. It went right through the fence and into the neighbour's garden.
"It'll definitely do some damage." said Barney. "And hey, headshot."
"I won't aim at their heads in a match, it's easier to move your head out of the way than your chest."
"You're terrifying. Quick, get the ball."
Clint dropped the bat and wriggled his way through the hole. It came sailing back over and thumped into the grass in front of Barney's feet. He reappeared a few moments later.
"It would have been so much easier to bring the ball through. You could've hit me."
"Only if I wanted to hit you." replied Clint. "Can I fix the fence?"
"You can try but if the Ministry yells at us, I had no idea you did it."
Clint pulled his wand out. He still missed his old dogwood and unicorn hair one but the new blackthorn one did just as well.
"Reparo!"
It mostly fixed itself but there were still a few chunks missing. Barney bit back his smile at Clint's disappointed look and finished it up.
"Come on, before you trash the fence again."
"But I'm working on my swing!"
"I'll buy you a bacon sandwich from the café."
"Deal."
"Go get Natasha."
"What do you think?" asked Castiel.
"Is it supposed to be lopsided?" replied Gadreel.
"Piss off, you're lopsided." retorted Aaron.
It was definitely the bookshelf. Aaron had volunteered to build it with Castiel. Gadreel didn't point out that it was still lopsided. They were three hours into unpacking at the new flat. There had been a fraught few minutes over who got which bedroom. Since Gabriel was paying the rent, he got the master bedroom, and Gadreel had used older brother rights to get the double room. Aaron helped Castiel drag the bookcase into his new room.
"Remind me why you didn't use magic?" asked Gabriel.
He'd used magic to organise everything in his room exactly where he wanted it. Gadreel had been given kitchen duties, as the only one that liked cooking, Castiel the balcony, since he wanted to try and start a small garden on there. And Gabriel got the bathroom since he spent the most time in there.
"Clint says it's much more entertaining to build things the Muggle way." replied Castiel. "We built a boat together the Muggle way."
"What?" said Gadreel. "Where?"
"Don't tell us." said Aaron. "I don't want to be an accessory."
Gadreel laughed. Castiel rolled his eyes and shoved the bookcase into the corner under his window. The room was cramped with the three of them in there and a half-built bed. Gadreel retired to his own room and finished organising his things. With magic. His bookshelf was neat and even, his trunk for Hogwarts stashed under his bed. He glanced down at the photo he'd framed. It was during the summer at Underhill, during a water fight. Somebody, Jason probably, had got their camera and shouted for Kenny to smile. Kenny had dragged Gadreel into the photo, who'd protested the whole way. Anyone untrained in Moodys would have thought it was Aaron.
"Hey Gad, do you want me to build a spice rack?!"
"No!" replied Gadreel.
The smile was the only real difference between Kenny and Aaron, along with a small scar on Aaron's palm from slicing it open on barbed wire. Well, and Kenny was in a cold grave in Scotland.
"Cas, help me build a spice rack!"
Gadreel put the photo back down, leaving Kenny planting a slobbery kiss on Gadreel's cheek. He hurried back out to see Castiel holding a hammer while stood by the breakfast bar. It was a sight that struck horror into Gadreel.
"Accio hammer!"
The hammer flew into Gadreel's hand and he hurriedly put it in the toolbox. He could only assume the toolbox was Aaron's.
"We don't need a handmade spice rack. We can buy a spice rack."
"Well, that's your birthday present solved." said Aaron.
Gadreel shoved him out of the tiny kitchen and began organising the cutlery and plates and dishes the Moodys had been kind enough to provide them. None of them were matching. Castiel hovered in the living room which was only separated by the marble top breakfast bar. Once Gadreel had organised the kitchen to his heart's content, Gabriel appeared to inform the bathroom was done. Aaron was showing Castiel how to hammer a nail into a wall to hang photo frames up. Gadreel took that opportunity to go to buy food. Anything to avoid that noise.
In the weeks leading up to Gadreel and Castiel's return to Hogwarts, Gadreel received several letters from Aaron and Clint detailing the latest havoc Clint had wreaked on the neighbour's fence and the new and inventive swear word combinations Barney came up to describe the board members of the Moody holdings. He was having business meetings on top of business meetings apparently, stuck in London for days at a time.
"Children!" called Gabriel as he swept through the door. "We have a guest."
Gadreel padded out of his room. Castiel was sat on the big sofa, a horrendously tacky brown leather thing that creaked every time you breathed in or out, wrestling with one of his Charms papers.
"Hello Barney." said Castiel.
Gadreel wanted to strangle his brother. He was wearing an old T-shirt that had been Aaron's and as a result was slightly too tight, and baggy sweatpants. He'd switched over to mostly Muggle clothes, partly because they were comfier and it wound his mother up to see him wearing them in Diagon Alley. It was a petty spiteful reason but Gadreel felt entitled to be petty and spiteful.
"Hello." said Gadreel in what he deeply hoped was a normal voice.
"Hey." said Barney in reply.
He looked exhausted, deep dark bags forming under his eyes, and his mouth turned down at the corners. He wheeled himself in and transferred onto the smaller sofa.
"What's the essay?"
"The laws of Summoning Charms."
"I see. Enjoy."
Gabriel went to change, but not before requesting Gadreel start cooking dinner. Gadreel fought back the urge to flip him off and went to the kitchen.
"Barney, are you hungry?"
"I'm alright, I'll grab some food when I get back home."
"You can't fly back to Manchester tonight." said Castiel. "It's a four hour flight. You won't get back 'til midnight."
"And," added Gabriel in a muffled voice, "you have to see a board member in Portsmouth tomorrow. You might as well stay over."
Gadreel did not drop the pan full of boiling water. It was a near thing but he controlled himself and put the pan on the stove. He dumped the pasta in and set the sauce to simmer before coming to sit by Castiel. Gabriel got there first however and sprawled across it. Gadreel desperately wanted to glare at him but refrained. He perched on the edge of the small sofa, horribly aware of how close Barney was to him. Castiel finished up his essay and went to send an owl to Laura. Gadreel went back to check on the pasta while the two older boys talked about business meetings and the latest scrape Akihiro had got into.
"Is the food ready?"
"Leave him alone Gabe." said Barney, sounding amused. "Or cook for yourself."
"What a terrible idea."
The breakfast bar only had two stools. Castiel sat up there, too concerned about staining his clothes with the pasta sauce. Gadreel sat back down next to Barney before he gave himself time to doubt. He passed a bowl over and blew on his hands. Barney stuffed a spoonful into his mouth and groaned.
"Merlin's balls, you're a good cook."
Gadreel ducked his head under the praise. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. It could have felt painfully awkward but instead it felt a lot like home.
Hey, I'm still here! Hope you guys are all staying safe and staying home! Finals are a hellishly stressful thing which is why I've been even less productive on this than before. I live in hope that after May, I'll be able to write more cos I sure won't be able to find a job in this delightful atmosphere.
