Chapter Four

Liniște smiled as Anastase and Irinel disappeared with a sharp crack. He turned to look at Kronid who smirked in response. Step 1: get Mămică out of the way, done. Now, onto Step 2: find Decebal and Simu and get them on their own.

'Okay boys hold on tight remember', Lăcrămioara's accent was far more British than Irinel's Liniște noted, she also used the English boys rather than baieți. Obviously, the Grecueanu's had tried to integrate themselves into British society and culture more than the Atarescu's. Maybe Decebal and Simu hadn't noticed anything unusual at all. No, that wasn't right of cause they hadn't noticed anything yet or Decebal would have gone to a Hogwarts professor, what they wanted to see was if they didn't notice anything strange after they'd thought about it for a while. Having mentally assured himself that they weren't on a fool's errand, Liniște tightened his grip on Mircea's hand and braced himself for the Side-Along.

The squeezing sensation almost made him vomit and upon hitting solid ground once more he promptly doubled over moaning and hugging his stomach. Beside him, Kronid was also gagging, though he too seemed to have avoided actually throwing up.

A hand patted Liniște on the back gently, 'You'll be okay. The first time is always a shock. My first I really did throw up, right over a woman doing her shopping too! It was even worse when I went to Hogwarts a month later and realised that she was Professor McGonagall, my Transfiguration teacher and Head of House!'

Liniște looked up at his cousin, 'That does sound embarrassing. So, I presume that McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor then, seeing as that's your House.'

Decebal blinked, 'Uh, yeah she is. Umm, do you normally go from almost puking your guts out to sounding like you just swallowed a dictionary?'

'That's nothing', Kronid said briskly, 'He didn't so much as bat an eyelash at our brother trying to poison us. Anyway, why don't we go to your room and then you can answer all our questions. We have many of them', he glanced at Mircea and Lăcrămioara, who were watching the cousins with bemused expressions, 'Anastase has just gotten his Hogwarts letter, that is why Mamă has taken him to Diagon Ally.'

Decebal stared at Kronid in shock at his matter of fact statement that Anastase had almost poisoned them before shooting his parents a questioning look.

'Go right up boys, just don't forget to include Simu in your group, he's been looking forward to seeing you two', Mircea requested. Lăcrămioara waved them away with a smile. Evidently, neither of them had heard Kronid's words.

Once they were alone Kronid and Liniște looked at each other again. Liniște went over to the door and slid the latch across while Kronid turned to the now confused Simu and Decebal and directed them onto Decebal's bed.

'What are you doing? Why have you locked the door?', Simu sounded worried.

Kronid sprawled out on the bed and blinked lazily at them, 'Patience cousins, we'll explain all', he promised them.

Liniște sat down next to his twin and pursed his lips thoughtfully before speaking, 'So, yesterday, after Anastase got his letter, we all noticed something a bit strange, shall we say.'

'Yes, strange fits it well', Kronid agreed, sitting up, 'What we noticed', he continued, 'Was that none of us ever left the house, we never saw anyone we weren't related to, we don't even know anyone to go to if something happened to Mamă – except for people we're related to.'

Liniște added to the list, 'We don't know our neighbours and we have plenty, we don't have any friends apart from you two and each other, and we just asked ourselves, why?'

'Needless to say, we couldn't answer that, but we did think it was odd', Kronid met Decebal's eyes, 'Anastase also said that Mamă got a letter from Unchiule Camil that seemed to scare her, and she wants to go and see Luminița despite having never done so for seven years.'

'So, what did you tell us for?', Decebal demanded, 'Did you want to scare us too? Well, in that case, congratulate yourselves! You've scared me! Now if that was all you wanted to do, get out! I won't say anything to Mum and Dad-'

'Oh, don't be so stupid!' Liniște snapped, why did people have to be so emotional? 'If we wanted to scare you we wouldn't be so obvious you fool! Now, are you angry because you think we're lying or because you think we're telling the truth? Have we made you see things you ignored before? Because I will tell you this, we had never thought about it before either and you should be scared! Being isolated, being kept alone, away from others, it's not normal! How many people did you know before Hogwarts? How many do you know now?'

'I bet it was nobody aside from us, brother. I don't suppose that's changed either, despite the fact he's been at Hogwarts for two years. After all, he's never had any friends over, never even mentioned any in letters. We never thought that was strange, did we?', Kronid mused.

'He's right', Simu whispered, 'Kronid, he's right. We've never thought about it either, but everything they're saying is true. I probably noticed first because when you're at Hogwarts…I'm alone. I don't see anyone except Mum and Dad, ever.'

Decebal stared, 'Why didn't you tell me? I could have told you that was wrong – oh Merlin! How come I never saw it. I…', he trailed off.

Liniște nodded, 'You never saw it because you had no one you tell you otherwise. For you, life at home was normal, just like it was for us. Though, how come you never made any friends? I mean no one could stop you at Hogwarts.'

'Except myself', Decebal stated, his voice was flat, eyes distant in thought, 'I didn't want to make friends. I didn't know how to! Everyone else was chatting to each other about homework, classes, things they got up to at weekends and I just didn't. I don't know why. But I kept myself alone for some reason. And so, I never realised that anything was wrong.'

'So, it isn't just us then', Kronid said, 'Now, we need to find out why. Why are they keeping us alone? What's the reason? Decebal you were six when Luminița was sent to St Mungo's, can you remember why?'

'What, remember? Of course not! I was six, that was years ago!', Decebal spluttered, 'And what does that have to do with any of this?'

Liniște tutted, 'Anastase remembers her and he was only four. Your memory must be really bad, especially as I already said that Mamă randomly decided to go and see Luminița after seven years. Between that and the mysterious letter, we think that whatever is making our parents isolate us, is part of something bigger. Something that might be to do with Luminița.'

'Something that's just been changed too', Kronid added, 'Us working out that something was wrong, was a result of the Hogwarts letter but Mamă going to see Luminița was caused by the letter from Unchiule Camil. Whatever was in there must have been important.'

'When did your Mum get that letter from Uncle Camil exactly?' Simu asked suddenly.

'Yesterday, why?'

'Because our Mum also got a letter yesterday', Simu explained, 'She went really pale, but she wouldn't tell any of us what was in it or who it was from, not even Dad. She burnt it with a spell after she read it.'

'It might have been the same as your Mum's', Decebal gasped, 'So it must be to do with your family, the Atarescu's I mean, not Dad's family, otherwise he would have gotten a letter too.'

'That doesn't make any sense though', Kronid frowned, 'Because we're related anyway. The Atarescu's and Grecueanu's are all descended from the same family: the Astarákos. Even without Mătușa Lăcrămioara marrying Unchiule Mircea they were cousins and our father Radoslav was Mamă's cousin from another branch of the family.'

'And that's odd too', Liniște said, 'I mean some Pureblood families marry cousins to keep the blood pure, but we've never been blood purists. So why did we keep marriage in the family?'

'To keep a secret, perhaps' Kronid suggested, 'Possibly one that the Grecueanu's didn't fully agree with. After all the families are related but the Atarescu's have married cousin to cousin for centuries but Mătușa Lăcrămioara was the first to marry a Grecueanu for decades. Could they have fallen out over something? Something that Mircea doesn't agree with to this day?'

'This is really terrifying actually', Decebal said, 'I'd never have thought of any of this, but things just keep piling up. What else are we going to find out? Are there dead bodies buried in the garden?'

Liniște went wide-eyed, 'I hope not! I mean this is all very disturbing but…murder? Surely someone would have noticed that. I mean keeping us isolated is one thing, but no one could have known except us, and marrying between cousins isn't illegal but killing someone…other people would have to know. So, no, I don't think there any bodies in the garden. And didn't you just hear us say that we didn't think your Tata has anything to do with this?'

'Well that's good, about the bodies and Dad', Simu tried to smile, 'But what about Luminița, someone would have noticed murder, but what about driving someone mad?'

The twins froze, they hadn't thought about that. Anastase was the only one of the brothers who remembered Luminița and the only thing he'd ever said about her was that she was mad. Could she have been sane once? Could she have been driven mad? It seemed too horrible to contemplate but Liniște wouldn't have been shocked if it were true.

'If that did happen then she must have been four or younger when they did it', Kronid murmured, his face scrunched up with concentration.

'Why four?', Decebal asked.

'Because Anastase can remember her from when he was three and she was already mad then', Liniște explained, 'Luminița's two years older than him.'

'But why? What could they have done? What did they think you happen instead? I mean even if our parents are up to something, surely they wouldn't mean to drive a toddler insane?!', Simu sounded appalled.

'We don't know that though', Liniște pointed out, 'They are our parents -our mothers if Mircea is innocent- but technically some of the things they've done to us, all of them that is, Mircea included, could be classed as emotional abuse, especially as it's already left Decebal at least with an inability to form relationships with his peers, and if they did drive Luminița insane, even if it was unintentional, that's definitely illegal. If we told anyone about any of this, the Ministry could arrest them at the very least, probably imprison them if our theories are correct.'

'So, what do we do?', Decebal asked, 'Do we tell someone? I don't think we could at the moment but once Anastase and I are at Hogwarts we can tell a professor.'

Kronid shook his head, 'If we were anyone else I would say of cause tell somebody, but…I think something has happened, something big, something that could be important outside of what's happened to us. If we go to the Ministry, there is the possibility that our parents get caught and imprisoned and that's fine-'

'Fine!', Decebal burst out, 'I don't know what it's like in your head Kronid and frankly, I don't want to! In what world is our parents, Dad or no Dad, getting locked up for abusing us and driving your sister crazy fine?'

Kronid glared, 'You know what I mean, it's all very well them getting dealt with but you're forgetting Camil.'

'Dealt with!', Decebal muttered angrily.

'What do you mean Camil?', Darren inquired ignoring his brother.

'He was the one who sent the letter that led to the whole somethings wrong, weird things are happening, maybe our family is up to something illegal investigation wasn't he?' Liniște rolled his eyes, 'That means that he is probably behind anything that happened or is happening, so if anyone needs to be caught by the Ministry it's him. Not our parents and a big problem is that even if we don't think your Tata has much, or any, involvement in all this...'

'He still looks very guilty from an outsiders point of view', Kronid finished, 'The chances of the MOM taking our word for it is so slim it's non-existent, after all, we are children, and the facts that we're basing his innocence on are our family history, things that we know very well but for the British Ministry it would involve lots of time-consuming research and maybe even background checks with the Romanian Ministry.'

'But then what are we going to do?', Decebal snapped, 'Because I'm not sure about you two but I'm just a Hogwarts student, not a private investigator or an Auror. If you want to start interfering that's up to you but…this isn't like a game, it will be dangerous if what you think is true. I'm no coward, I was put in Gryffindor for a reason, but this is on a whole new level. We could seriously die.'

'I… we all know that Decebal, but does it matter what we want?', Simu turned to him, 'What we do isn't going to change the fact that our parents may be involved in something illegal. We're still going to get caught up in it, it's inevitable, we live in the same house, we will see something. At least this way we can talk to each other and if something happens to one of us, the rest will know it's time to end it and tell someone.'

Decebal sighed, 'And if we go to someone now it still leaves Camil free to do whatever he wants and as he would be our only adult relative who wasn't implicated in some way, he'd become all of our's guardian, which could put us in even more danger.'

'Exactly', Liniște said, 'So are we all in agreement?'

'Obviously brother.'

'Yes, I'm in we have no choice.'

'It's not in my hands, whether we do this or not we're still probably going to die, at least this way I'll go fighting.'

Liniște ran his gaze over the group, two rather above average nine-year-olds, a strong-willed ten-year-old, and a thirteen-year-old with trust and impulse issues. Not the most conventional set of people for trying to prevent an "evil plot" but then unlike standard storybook heroes, they were in this for themselves, not to save anyone else from a maybe non-existent "dastardly plan".

Decebal shook his head and then let out a slightly hysterical laugh, 'Not meaning to bring up bad memories, but on the topic of mad family members, I could have sworn that Kronid said that Anastase tried to poison you when we were downstairs.'

'Oh, he did', Kronid expanded, 'But it was a mistake, he likes doing potions experiments and feed us a modified sleeping potion. Mamă was furious and we were sick for days after. As you can see we fully recovered.'

Simu coughed interrupting the conversation, licking his lips nervously as he looked at the clock hanging on Decebal's wall, 'We've been up here for almost two hours. Mum'll be calling us down for lunch soon.'

Decebal shot upwards, 'What? I swear we only started talking a few minutes ago!'

'Time flies when you're…planning how not to die', Kronid giggled. He turned serious, 'Remember, we can't let them know that anything has changed. Just act normal.'

'Normal. Okay. That's going to be so easy.', Decebal's voice positively dripped with sarcasm, 'This is where I must point out that I'm not terribly good at hiding my emotions, in fact, I'm really more plain terrible.'

'I think we got that, when you started shouting at us', Liniște quipped, 'Teasing aside, let us do the talking. If you can't lie convincingly just go very quiet, that will make them worry that something is wrong with you and ask if you feel sick, not make them suspicious that you think they might be total maniacs who lock up their children and drive nieces insane, the way really bad acting will.'

'Okay, well let's just wait until Mum does call because I'm all for delaying the lying as long as I can', Simu said. He looked very nervous now unlike Decebal who, now that they'd decided what to do, was nodding confidently.

Decebal was obviously one of those brave people who only were brave once something was happening, while they were talking and planning he'd been as jumpy as a rabbit, now that they were about to start the actual hiding thing part, he was totally calm and focused.

Liniște cocked his head to one side as he considered what he and Kronid were like, they tended to simply be as utterly detached as much as they could. For as long as either of them could remember emotion had been something distant that could, and would, be pushed aside easily. No bravery for them but no panic either, after all, it wasn't as if either of those would help you.

A knock sounded on the door before Lăcrămioara attempted to open it. Finding it shut she shouted through to them, 'It's lunchtime boys. Come down to have something to eat.'

Simu leapt to his feet and lifted the latch letting her in.

She looked around the room, 'Honestly, teenagers are like mushrooms! Couldn't you have opened the curtails, Decebal?' She bustled about the room, opening curtains and windows and straightened the duvet cover.

A wide-eyed Simu fairly shot out of the room, with Liniște frowning after him. If he was going to be that obvious they might as well tell the adults outright that they thought they were up to something. Decebal and the twins followed more sedately as Lăcrămioara tidied the bedroom.

Kronid grabbed hold of Liniște's arm and pulled him aside, 'We're going to have to do something about Simu, at first I thought it would Decebal we would have problems with, but he seems to be fine.'

'Simu, on the other hand, is going to give up the game', Liniște agreed, 'We can't do anything too drastic though or Decebal will tell on us.'

Kronid shrugged, 'Anastase can brew a Calming Draft in less than a day. All Decebal has to do is keep him quite until it arrives, and make sure Mătușa and Unchiule don't get hold of it.'

'Hmm', Liniște nodded, 'It might be a bit hard to explain why we're drugging one of our cousins, especially since Anastase's not exactly known for making potions that are very safe for people to drink, is he?'

'I, personally, was stunned that Mamă even let him back in the lab after he fed us that modified Draft of Living Death, I mean, we were lucky we didn't die!' Kronid exclaimed, 'Though I don't suppose we're much better, are we?'

'No, brother dearest, experimenting on the neighbour's cat is totally safe isn't it?', Liniște snarked back. He rolled his eyes, 'Now get moving idiot, or you'll give us away!'

Decebal stared at them suspiciously as they re-joined the cousins, before turning back to his father smiling happily, 'Yes, it would be nice to see more of them over the summer Dad. So, can we really go and stay with Aunt Irinel for a couple of weeks?'

What's this about staying with Mamă?', Liniște asked as he sat down.

'Oh, just something Lăcrămioara and I were thinking about. The lot of you have barely seen hide nor hair of each other this year so we thought that you might like Decebal and Simu coming over to stay with you for a bit', Mircea explained, 'If Irinel is alright with it of course.'

'We'd love it', Kronid said blandly, 'But Mamă can be a bit…strange these days, so she might say no.'

'Never mind that!', Mircea laughed, 'I'm sure we can convince her! And even if we can't you'll still end up seeing each other.'

'How?', Simu's question was so softly spoken that Liniște's ears strained to pick it up.

'You're being very quiet Simu, are you alright?', Mircea sounded concerned.

'I'm fine', Simu brushed him off, 'How are we going to see more of each other?'

Mircea looked unconvinced but carried on, 'Your mother wants to talk to Irinel about something their brother sent her. Some news or other that upset her a bit.'

'Was that the letter she burned?', Decebal asked.

His eyes had widened to sharp amber pools, Liniște noticed, as he leaned forward.

'Yes, it was and before you ask I don't know what it said. Give your Mum some privacy', Mircea tutted.

'Yes, please do give me privacy or Merlin knows nothing would ever be secret from you', Lăcrămioara commented as she walked down the stairs. 'What were you talking about?'

'I was telling them about our plan to have them stay over at your sister's for a while, and somehow', Mircea paused and mocked glared at Simu, 'They managed to winkle that you were concerned about that letter you got and that you wanted to talk to Irinel, out of me! I'm sorry dear.'

'Oh, Mircea', Lăcrămioara smiled fondly, 'You always were hopeless at keeping a secret, but I don't suppose it matters much, you', she looked at the twins, 'And your brother are the most curious and clever children I've ever come across. You'd have worked it out straight away and then gone and told these two.'

Kronid bared his teeth in a sharp grin, 'Probably.'

'And then gone on to pester you mercilessly about it', Decebal broke in, 'It's like being interrogated Mum, you have no idea!'

'Don't be so dramatic', Liniște snorted, 'We're not that bad, we merely questioned you slightly.'

Conversation halted as Mircea and Lăcrămioara stared making sandwiches.

'Boys lay out the table please.'

'Could you get some knives out, Kronid?'

'Oi, no stealing Decebal, wait until we've all sat down.'

'Greedy pig!'

'Oh, shut up Simu!'

Liniște and Kronid were somewhat bemused by the hustle and bustle that filled the Grecueanu's kitchen. At home Mamă kept them all firmly out of the kitchen except when they were eating, and, in their minds, it was very much her domain. It was Liniște reflected very strange to be in a kitchen that was obviously a family room, for that matter it was strange that everyone in the family actually sat in rooms together quite aside from meals. In the Atarescu household, the members avoided each other most of the time with the singular exception of the twins who might as well have been connected to each other.

As they finally sat down to eat the twins realised that, again unlike at home, conversation continued right through meals.

'So, what were you lot up to, huddled away in Decebal's room?', Mircea asked, 'Talk about anything interesting? Girls, Decebal?'

'What? No!', Decebal sounded alarmed, 'Dad, you do realise that Kronid and Liniște are only nine? Very mature nine yes, but still nine. I don't think they have any interest in girls yet.'

'Have they even met any girls?', Simu asked sounding genuinely interested, 'Besides Mum and Aunt Irinel.'

'We have met girls, yes', Kronid said, 'Really spoken to them, no.'

Being kept isolated didn't exactly lend itself to a hectic social life, Liniște thought with a snicker. Shaking his head, he added his own commentary, 'Anastase probably isn't interested in girls either. The way he describes Luminița as being would put anyone of girls for life!'

'Luminița', Mircea suddenly sounded very serious, 'Is a special case. She couldn't help being the way she was. It's just unfortunate that Anastase was too young to understand at the time and once he did understand, she'd already been committed for five years.'

'He didn't understand?' Liniște cried indignantly, 'Mamă didn't even tell us that we had a sister until last year! Neither did Anastase for that matter.'

'That is Irinel's business, not mine', Mircea said defensively, 'Now, let's move back to my original question. Were you having fun together?'

'Yes, Dad. We were', Decebal replied, 'I was telling them about Hogwarts, you know? All the different classes, the houses, the professors – like Snape!'

'Who's Snape? You didn't mention any of them by name!' Kronid demanded.

'Professor Snape's the Head of Slytherin House and he loathes Gryffindor. I swear you could get into Gryffindor just by standing up to him, no Sorting required!' Decebal grinned, 'He's that scary.'

'What House do you think Anastase will go into?' Lăcrămioara asked, 'I, myself, was a Slytherin, though that was long before Severus Snape was Head of House. I remember him, he was a year below me, a very quiet boy, though of course, he fell in with a bad crowd. Most of them were arrested as Death Eaters after the war.'

Decebal sniggered, 'That might explain a few things about him, Mum. And really Severus? What a name! I mean, sure, Decebal and Simu aren't common but Severus? It's like his parents wanted him to be terrifying.'

He shook his head in disbelief before continuing, 'I thought that Anastase would be a total Ravenclaw and the twins too. All they do is read, they're crazy smart, and love learning. Basically, the exact description of a Ravenclaw. Professor Flitwick, the House Head, is also really nice, nothing like Snape.'

'Well, that's good isn't it?' Mircea smiled, 'At least you'll be able to talk to each other while you're there. He's been having trouble settling in and making friends', he confided to the twins.

'Yes, yes, alright Dad', Decebal grumbled, 'He can help me with my homework!' he suddenly exclaimed.

'Oh, no, you don't', Lăcrămioara whipped around to face him, 'You won't get your poor cousin to do all your work, besides you'd fail your exams and have to repeat the year.'

She laughed at Decebal's disgruntled expression, 'Wouldn't like that, would you?'

'Maybe not', Decebal said sheepishly, 'I didn't really think that though, but he can help me. He's two years younger but way smarter. He'll end up teaching the teachers if he learns anymore!'

'There's more to teaching than knowing, Decebal', Lăcrămioara pointed out, 'Anastase could know everything in the world but never be able to tell others how to use it.'

Liniște nodded, 'The professors also have experience that Anastase doesn't. After all he can perform every spell on the Hogwarts syllabus, in theory, we don't know about real life.'

'I see', Decebal nodded.

Liniște watched the Grecueanu's as they finished lunch. It was nice to chat about day to day things rather than sit in silence just waiting to leave, he thought. Kronid threaded his fingers though Liniște's own and squeezed them slightly. He felt it too, the utter difference between families.

Simu, having scarfed down the last crumbs, leapt up from the table and turned to his parents, 'Can we go now? I want to hear more about Hogwarts and what Decebal and Anastase are going to do!'

For someone who was scared stiff that Mircea or Lăcrămioara would notice that something was wrong, the ten-year-old did a truly brilliant job of acting as he bounded towards the door.

'So eager to get rid of the parents', Mircea said in mock sorrow, 'Go on then. I gather you're disappearing too?' He looked at Decebal and the twins.

'Yep', Decebal followed his brother out the door the twins at his heels.

Flopping back onto Decebal bed, Liniște turned to Simu, 'If you're really as scared as you said you were, then you would make a wonderful actor. I couldn't see so much as a hint of fear.'

Simu's eyebrows shot upwards, 'Really? I was terrified. I am not a good liar.'

'But you don't need to be', Kronid said, 'The truth makes the best cover story, you said you wanted to hear more about Hogwarts and what Decebal and Anastase will do. So, Decebal tell us about Hogwarts and what you and Anastase are going to do there.'

Decebal blinked and then started to talk.

It was late afternoon by the time they stopped chattering about the school and they were all beginning to flag. As it turned out they had perfect timing as no sooner had they fallen silent than a loud snap filled the air.

Kronid sat up, pulling Liniște with him, 'That was Apparition, Mamă and Anastase must be back from Diagon.'

'Hmm', Liniște hummed between his teeth, 'I wonder how their visit with Luminița went? Hope it was good.'

'So, do I-', Decebal began to reply when the door opened and Mircea walked in.

'Still talking I see. Anyway, Kronid, Liniște, Irinel's back and I think something happened while she and Anastase were out. She looks like she's about to cry and he looks as if he wants to pull out her brain in search of information!'

Liniște hissed out some unpleasant words in Romanian under his breath and Mircea looked at him sharply.

'I'm not nearly as fluent in Romanian as you are Liniște, but I can still recognise a swear word', he snapped, 'I understand that your upset but clean language please!'

Kronid sighed, 'Please not another secret that's just blown up in her face. It's her own fault! Let's go.'

Liniște didn't resist as Kronid pulled him downstairs with a backwards yell of goodbye to their cousins.

As Mircea had said Irinel did look rather teary, and Anastase, he was staring at the twins with a look of urgency on his face. Liniște tilted his head slightly to tell him that he understood: Anastase needed to talk to them, alone and soon.

Lăcrămioara was speaking to Irinel in a soft voice, one arm wrapped around her shoulder as she comfited her.

As the twins approached Irinel looked up, 'Did you have a good time, baieți? I hope so.'

'Hope it was better than ours', Anastase broke in harshly, 'Going to see Luminița was a total waste, she's just as insane as ever.'

Irinel drew in a deep breath before grabbing Anastase by the arm, 'Kronid, Liniște come on, we're leaving, now.'

She practically hauled Anastase out of the door, barely paused to seize the twins by the hands before she Disapparated, pulling them all into the suffocating tunnel.