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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle.
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(A re-telling of 'The Elf of the Rose'; by Hans Christian Andersen.)

Based sometime around 1,200 - 1,300 A.D.

It is on the lush, flourishing grounds of Blackthorn Estate in which this rather twisted and fanatical tale begin; one that was well hidden from prying eyes and religiously guarded by the most exotic of magical creatures that money could buy. For it was within the grounds of this particular estate that did exist a great and bountiful garden. One that was full of the most beautifully haunting - and secretly cultivated - magical black roses; each of whose shadowy blooms did sway in the afternoon breeze, petals spreading and stretching into full-blossom with the hopes to soak up some of the last rays of the life-giving sun before it was replaced by its lunar counterpart within the darkening firmament.

These roses, some that were said to be as dark as even the blackest of black, were tended to daily; the caretaker in task with their maintenance treating each and every one as if they were her very own children. And because of her dedication and hard work, the roses did thrive unlike any and all others and did gift their caretaker and the grounds of which they did grow within a garden that was the envy of all who were fortunate enough to learn of its existence.

And it was for this reason alone did the current owner of Blackthorn Estate employ such fundamental security measures, ensuring that none would ever get the chance to see a glimpse of his highly cultivated and prized roses.

But not all could be stopped from entering the estate's grounds, no matter how deep one's pockets went. And a soft knock upon his door on the eve of a rather severe snowstorm had Korvin Calydon Rosier II almost sighing with agitated resignation as his usually peaceful evening was interrupted.

"Enter!" the curly-haired wizard did bark, barely managing to hold back the snarl that threatened to invade his already low tones. And he distracted himself - and his irritation - by moving the flawless blue-black ravens' quill away from the parchment he'd been looking over and returning the barb back to the inkpot sitting open on his desk as his eyes rose to his office door.

Though when said door swung open and revealed who it was that had dared to impede on his afternoon, a slow smile begun to appear upon Korvin's lips and his annoyance and irritation of an afternoon interrupted was easily won over by an emotion that could have almost been mistaken for pleasure.

"Sorry about the late arrival," his guest apologised as they closed the office door behind them, pausing as they turned back to the wizard so they could take a moment to look around the room curiously, allowing their gaze to linger upon the things that Korvin himself thought to be nothing more than unimportant features and objects he'd inherited from his parents but just never bothered to throw away, before finally settling their gaze upon said wizard in question.

"There's no need for apologies," Korvin dismissed with a wave of his hand, rising from his chair and rounding his desk before crossing the room in order to pull his guest into a brief, if abet awkward hug; his work all but forgotten for the time being. "I was actually growing worried that this storm may have made such a journey nigh impossible," he continued as he let the newcomer go and took a step back in order to take them in.

"Hardly," Pierce snorted, fighting back a shiver at the loss of his brother's warmth by shoving his hands back into the pockets of his travelling coat. He blinked however, confused as to why a frown had begun to replace the welcoming grin that had been on his brother's face and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

"You look freezing," Korvin replied, his frown only deepening as he observed that Pierce was physically shivering despite the layers the wizard was wearing. And he hadn't missed the way his brother had all but shoved his hands into the pockets of said coat the moment their embrace had ended, an emotion he wasn't quite willing to name beginning to churn within his gut.

"It's winter, Kors. What did you expect, sunshine and daisies?" Pierce retorted sarcastically with a half-shrug, earning himself a glaring eyeroll from his older brother at the choice of nicknames - one that Pierce hadn't been able to drop since he'd begun talking, much to Korvin's horror.

However, and otherwise ignoring the remark, Korvin turned on his heel and headed to the door that was just to the right of his desk. "Come," he practically ordered, adding, "I already have a fire going," when he didn't hear his brother move to follow. And blue eyes that were once more skirting about the small office, taking in all the things their pale-haired host hadn't had the chance to see since before the siblings had lost their parents, did jolt to Korvin in surprise; Pierce blinking at the elder wizard's back while wondering if the man was feeling okay.

How long had it been since they had actually sat down and spoken, Pierce Diyan Rosier couldn't actually remember.

"And how long has it been since your brother has actually wanted to speak with you? a familiar, feminine voice cut through the young wizard's mind and brought a small smile to his lips; the words and voice belonging to his fiancé and love, and of whom had managed to actually get him to return to his family's estate to visit his brother - snowstorm be damned.

Though, and as he stepped through the doorway after his brother, Pierce came to a stop once more, surprised to find himself now in a private sitting room that was lined to the ceiling with shelves that were overflowing with books; so much to say that not a single surface within the room wasn't covered by one kind of rare tome or another.

"I would have thought the wards would have recognised me the moment I had stepped onto the grounds," the young wizard found himself muttering distractedly even as he wondered when it was Korvin had expanded his office to install the sitting room, never having known the place had existed before that very moment. But the moment his eyes landed upon the promised fire already crackling away in its fireplace, Pierce was quick to offer the questioning look that marred his brother's face another shrug before skirting around Korvin in order to get closer to the flames that were just calling out his name.

"Nothing to worry about now, though. And besides, probably just stayed away for too long," he threw over his shoulder with a grin, shedding his layers and setting them up before the fire in order to dry. Pierce's voice was sounding far more chipper as he plopped himself down into one of the tow chairs facing the fire, relieved to finally have some sense of feeling return to his frostbitten limbs as the flames did their job.

But with his focus laying solely upon the only thing he truly felt mattered the most at that moment in time, the younger wizard did miss the flash of panic that had skittered across his older brother's face in response to his off-handed remark about the wards.

It was gone by the time that Korvin took the empty chair beside Pierce however, the wizard just offering his younger sibling a simple, "I'm sure they just need some adjusting, what with this storm approaching," as way of explanation and hiding the frown that once more appeared upon his lips by quickly ordering a pot of tea and nibbles from one of the many Estate's House Elves. And when he was done, Korvin settled himself into the armchair, giving Pierce a moment as he mulled over his own thoughts and watched from the corner of his eye as his brother looked to accept his reasoning with just a single nod of his head; Pierce's concentration and attention still drawn like a moth to the flames within the fireplace.

Allowing himself a small smile at his success, Korvin summoned a box from his office, glancing at Pierce as he removed one of two pipes that were nestled inside and offered his brother the second.

"A smoke for old times' sake?" he enquired casually, lips quirking upwards once more when Pierce just shook his head in silent refusal. And giving a half-shrug as he returned the lid to the box before sending it back to his office, Korvus added, "Your loss," with a low chuckle.

"I'd rather die on my own terms, thank you," Pierce mumbled half-under his breath, watching as Korvin packed his pipe with a substance that wasn't tobacco of any nature - be that the Muggle or Magical variety. And the wizard couldn't help but add, "You do know that they found smoking that is just as bad as the Muggle stuff, right?" with a little bit more bite than intended. Though Pierce had never been able to quell the worry he felt for his only brother and Korvin's overly reckless behaviour.

Korvin may have been the elder of the two, but Pierce knew that out of the pair of them it was he who tended to act with a far more level-headed and unimpulsive attitude. Sure his brother may have been the one who had inherited their Family's estate and business, managing to drag both back from the literal ruins that their father had so lovingly left them after he'd lost his mind and decided he'd had enough of seeing nothing but black roses and almost burnt the entire estate down in his breakdown. But the young wizard also knew that his brother Korvin held a rather nasty tendency to act irrational and spontaneous at the best of times.

"As you said, brother," Korvin replied with a lazy smile, lighting the pipe now held between his lips with a but a finger and a thought. "I'd rather die on my own terms," he finished after taking a deep inhale, savouring the flavour even as wisps of blue-purple smoke escaped both the pipe and his lips with each word spoken, the swirls of smoke dancing around his head before promptly disappearing into the aether.

His comment only had Pierce frowning however. Though the wizard made no other comment against his brother's habits, instead turning his gaze back to the flickering flames. And as he took another smoke of his pipe, filling the silence that had befallen the small room with nothing but the crackling fire and dry, iridescent 'leaves' as they were slowly burned to ash, Korvin smiled as he continued to watch his brother, idly wondering what was currently going through the younger man's head at what they both knew to be a rather strange and absolutely unusual meeting.

It had been far more than just a few years since the pair had met in such a manner and Korvin could admit that he had been surprised to hear back from Pierce - and that Pierce himself had never once questioned his rather out-of-the-blue missive.

But what had surprised the curly-haired wizard even more was the fact that even before he had received his brother's reply, Pierce had already left, uncaring of the snowstorm approaching in order to discuss the matter as soon as possible, a matter that Korvin had never actually disclosed within his missive to begin with.

It made the wizard wonder as to what it was his brother had thought he wanted to speak about. Though if there was one thing that Korvin did know of his younger brother, it was that Pierce Diyan Rosier could never turn down someone who required his aide. And even less so if that someone just happened to be family.

"I see that you finally got rid of Father's old desk," Pierce commented unexpectedly, the younger wizard taking notice of the fact he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the object in question since entering the manor. And his words had his brother blinking, Korvin not having expected the remark in the slightest.

"Yes," Korvin agreed slowly, eyes drifting to the recently-installed bookcase wherein he could still vividly recall finding the oversized monstrosity that had once taken its place. "The House Elves were... overjoyed to have been able to turn that decrepit eyesore into nothing but tinder last autumn," he recalled, gaze returning to his brother as a smirk lifted his lips; words once again accompanied by the wisps of swirling smoke.

Pierce snorted, unable to stop himself from envisioning exactly what that scene wouldn't been like to see. "Bet that they were dancing in the ashes," he commented, sinking further into his chair as earlier worries and doubts slowly faded, replaced by the familiar comradery he'd once shared with his brother and found to miss terribly. "That thing was far more than a bloody eyesore," Pierce added, nose wrinkling as memories dredged up the ugly bit of furniture. "I'm not even sure as to how Mother ever put up with it; given how much Father had loved the damned thing."

"I'm fairly certain that our dear Mother was dancing within the ashes of all that Father had destroyed when he 'went around the bend' and set the estate alight. How in the hell those Healers had even allowed him to gain access to another wand after he'd threatened the Minister's Aide thinking he'd been someone else entirely, I haven't the slightest ideas," Korvin stated with a shake of his head. Though before either he or Pierce could continue, they were interrupted by the return of the House Elf as it popped into the room.

"Is Master Black bes wanting anythings more?" the creature enquired hesitantly after it had placed the tray of tea and snacks onto the coffee table, large eyes daring a glance towards Pierce as if wanting to ask the same but stopping itself before the words could even be formed upon its tongue.

"No," Korvin denied, waving the House Elf off as he pushed himself forwards in his seat and reaching with his free hand for the teapot. "That will be all Hopps," he added, his blue eyes flickering to the Elf who was still in the room waiting ever so patiently for its dismissal.

Pierce blinked at the interaction, casting his brother a side-glance the moment the creature's name had left Korvin's mouth as he wondered when that had started. Though, and as he looked back to the House Elf - Hopps - when the blank expression on his brother's face gave none of the wizard's inner thoughts away, Pierce barely caught sight of Hopps' entire form (all two foot five of it) looking as though it was radiating with nothing but absolute joy and happiness at the remembrance of its name by its Master.

And as he continued to observe the happenings in utter disbelief, watching as the House Elf then bowed deeply at the waist with ears twitching frantically before it finally departed, hearing what could only be described as the most overly-cheerful, "Of course, Master Rosier! Hopps Rosier is always happy to serves!" leaving the creature's mouth before it disapparated from the room with an almost silent crack.

"House Elves," Korvin snorted the moment Hopps had gone, never looking away from what he was doing as he set about preparing two cups of tea. In doing so however, he missed the perplexed expression that had appeared on his brother's face at seeing his interaction with said creature.

The curly-haired wizard did eventually turn his attention to his brother however, a sly grin having worked its way upon his lips as he added, "You offered them clothes and they break down as if their very lives were over. But, say... oh, I don't know... remember to call them by their name, perhaps? And it is as though you've brought Yule to a child eleven months early," by way of explaining his uncharacteristic behaviour towards Hopps.

Though Korvin's explanation only had his brother's own expression morphing from confused to troubled. And Pierce was unable to hold his tongue against what they both knew to be an outright and basic manipulation of someone's emotions in possibly one of the cruellest of ways; the young wizard proclaiming gruffly as he turned his narrowed eyes on his older brother. "A House Elf would die if you were gift them clothes and cut them off from the Familiar Magicks that help sustain them, Korvin. We both know that to do such a thing would be akin to a slow, maddening, and utterly painful demise for anyone; whether they possess magic or not."

"Oh, peace brother," Korvin huffed before taking another draw from his pipe, once again ignoring Pierce's concerns. And as another cloud of purply-blue smoke was released in a heavy exhale, almost having been done in a way that could have been perceived as a put upon sigh, he continued. "You and I both know full well that I'd rather give up my prized Nundus before I'd even think of getting rid of even one of Mother's Elves. I swear that woman had trained them all personally herself. And even with all the galleons in our family vaults,, I wouldn't waste a single knut on going through the process of having this lot replaces with another that I know wouldn't have the slightest clue in how to run the estate. As I heard a Muggle once say, 'If it's not broken, then why in the hell would ya want to fix it?'"

Finished up with making the two cups of tea, Korvin placed his pipe down, resting it upside-down upon an oddly-shaped, stone-like bowl that vanished away the ash before he turned to hand one of the cups to Pierce. And after grabbing his own when Pierce had accepted his, the wizard retrieved the pipe from its resting place and repacked it, sinking back into his seat with a sigh when the pipe had been relit and peered over the rim of his cup and towards his brother as if he were waiting for an answer to a question he'd never even asked to begin with.

However, Pierce found himself growing exceptionally content as he sipped the heated beverage, cup cradled between both hands while he enjoyed for but a silent moment the warmth that both the tea and fire were providing; conversations and odd meetings far from his mind.

And with his thoughts far from his brother and the reasoning for his presence at the estate to begin with, the youngest Rosier completely missed the satisfied smirk that resided upon the eldest's lips before Korvin too turned his gaze to the crackling fire; plans willing enough to be placed on hold for but the shortest of whiles as he too enjoyed the silent company his brother provided.

Oh, how I'm going to miss this...

Oh, how clean and beautiful the dark rose-leaves are that make up the walls!

A sigh did leave a small Feyling as he rolled over on the leaf he had taken a quick nap upon; dreams of his home and the flowers that made such a place possible filling his mind like they did every day.

So velvet and soft, as he knew them to be.

However to describe them, to say exactly how they truly felt when he did brush the tips of his fingers oh so carefully across the shadowy petals of his favourite rose was something that this child of Fey found he could not do; soft velvet being the closest he could get to defining the sensations he felt whenever he succumbed to such a desire.

And the colour!

Oh, how could he have forgotten the colour?!

It would, or could almost be considered like that of a rose-shaped cut-out of a starless night sky; so iridescently black-blue they did shine that he could almost picture what such a sight would look like as the sun did reach its peak within the firmament and he lay on his back; watching as the petals opened and closed and provided the Feyling with an ambiguous experience of both day and night.

And what sweet fragrance there is within my chambers!

He was a well-formed being, this child of Fey. Though despite being so small that no human eye could see, this Feyling was said to have been as beautiful as any babe could be; and of whom did have a pair of wings that reached well above his shoulders and all the way down to his feet. And it was usually within the petals of his most favourite of black roses, in a chamber of his very own creation did Lux normally sleep, surrounded by the fragrance of the flowers while cocooned safely within their magical blooms.

But it had been a rather long and eventful day for this tiny creature, having enjoyed himself under the warming sunshine as he flew freely and unseen from one rose to another and helped to spread their pollen before he was off to dance upon the delicate wings of the butterflies that came to drink from the nectar of the roses and helped to spread their pollen even further.

And it had been after his gallivanting around the garden that Lux had then taken off to do his work and recounted the many, many steps he needed to take to go through all the roads and crossroads that each leaf of the linden-tree did possess; of what humans and other creatures and beasts of higher 'intelligence' would refer to as the veins of the leaves, Lux did take for roads - and what very long roads they were for such a miniscule being.

Though, and with only half his task having been completed on that storm-proceeding evening, Lux had found himself utterly exhausted after having fought against hurricane-like gales; the need to sleep hitting the Feyling long before the sun had begun to descend in the afternoon sky.

And so it was there, hidden within the curled leaf of the linden-tree did Lux find himself so rudely awoken.

"Rosalyn! Get that bloody door shut!" a voice did order from somewhere below - one that was quickly followed by a loud crash! that had the limbs of Lux's chosen tree shaking so savagely that the Feyling found himself displaced; the warmth of the leaf he'd been enjoying replaced with the freezing, cutting winds of the coming storm as he free-fell towards the ground below.

"Sorry!" a younger voice from the first followed not soon after the thunderous collision of what could only have been the barn door slamming against its own wall. And Lux was quick to right himself, needing a brief moment to figure out which way was up and which was down before he was off fluttering his wings like that of a hummingbird in order to keep himself both airborne, as well as make his way back to the branch he'd just fallen from.

"You will be, Scamander! If any of those beasts get out during this storm, it's not me but Master Rosier that you'll be apologising to!"

The gustily winds of the approaching storm made it almost impossible for the tiny Feyling. However, somehow Lux managed to make it back to the safety of his chosen tree; peering over the edge of his borrowed leaf before freezing at the sight presented to him.

"Oh, no, no, no!" did Lux suddenly cry, cringing as a drop of dew almost knocked him once more from his feet as it splattered against the branch just a centimetre from where it was he was hiding. And now soaked, cold, and finding himself outside after dark, panic begun to course its way through the Feyling's tiny form as he realised that the once-warming sun had been replaced by that of the crescent moon within a star-speckled, blue-black sky.

He had clearly overslept, the warmth that the sun had provided having fled and leaving the estate to the mercy of not only the darkness of night, but as well as the storm that was approaching. And with nothing but a chilly, billowing breeze to meet him upon the wing, Lux knew that if there ever was a good time as any to return home and to his roses, it would be now.

So return he did, and as fast as his wings could take him, flying headlong into the wind and fighting against it with each and every beat of his wings as he made his way back to his beloved roses.

But the moment his garden came into sight, Lux once again found himself coming to a stop; eyes widening with an ever-growing fear at seeing each and every one of his beloved flowers were closed. His gaze drifted, turning up towards the night sky above even as a stone did sink in his stomach at the knowledge that without the warmth of the sun that helped the petals of his roses open; the very star that produced what he so desperately needed, there would be no escaping the storm; no hiding within the warmth and safety of his home while the world outside prepares to freeze with winter's approach.

The Feyling was feeling very much frightened. For in all the years that he had spent living in his garden of black roses on the grounds of Blackthorn estate, Lux had never once spent a night in the open, preferring to always slumber secretly behind the dark leaves of his most beloved flower.

"Oh, this will certainly be my death!" he did wail to the firmament above, barely managing to stay aloft as his tiny form was battered and beaten continuously by the winds of the oncoming storm. But continue onwards he did, fighting against what felt like hurricane-force winds as he searched through his garden; checking each and every bloom in the hopes that one may have been awaiting his return.

But with every one he did search found to be closed, terror did claw at his heart; the thought of spending a night outside in the open far more terrifying than that of the storm he was currently fighting to stay airborne against.

But alas!

It was during his search of the fourth rosebush when the very winds themselves provided the Feyling with an answer to his dilemma, of where it was he could take refuge for the night, as the horn-like flower of a honeysuckle almost succeeded in knocking Lux from the sky as it blustered past. However, the bloom reminded Lux of another arbour that did lay on the other side of the manor. A garden he knew to be overgrown with those very same horned blossoms.

And although Lux knew that they would be nowhere near as comfortable and safe as his beloved roses, he also understood that he could always find shelter within one of the ever-blooming honeysuckles until the sun rose once again in the morning.