Fortune Favors the Brave
A collection of stories by mew-tsubaki
Note for all chapters: The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. This collection is in response to the Family Bootcamp Challenge in the HPFC on FFN; I just finally get to exercise some headcanons for the Prewett family (and a few for the Weasleys and a few for Prewett-adjacent OTPs ;3). Read, review, and enjoy!
- ^-^3
"me first, then you"
Summary: Three times Fabian dwells on being the older Prewett twin.
Selected prompt: #44 (duplicate)
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Fabian believed most everything came in pairs.
So far he had no evidence to the contrary. Socks came in pairs. So did Molly's and Mum's knitting needles, no matter how well he and Gideon tried to hide them around or even outside the house. Biscuits and a cold glass of milk or pumpkin juice—that was a pair, too, wasn't it? And Mum and Dad themselves, they were another pair.
There was balance, equality in all such pairs. A harmony, young Fabian liked to think. Even better—the best—when the pair was identical, to the very last detail, such as him and Gideon.
That was why it struck him as odd a few days before they were due to leave for King's Cross Station, to board the Hogwarts Express for the very first time and to experience the school for themselves and not just beg Molly for stories…it was odd that Dad, after breakfast, tugged him back, letting Gideon go on ahead to help Mum wash up.
Immediately, Fabian pursed his lips, but he felt his reddening cheeks giving him away. He didn't know what he'd done, but he wasn't copping to anything until Dad dragged it out of him. Ten-year-old Fabian might've still fallen for that on occasion, but he was eleven now. He knew better.
Likely thinking the same, Dad cracked a smile and softly snorted. "You're not in trouble, Fabian."
"I'm not?" Fabian heaved a giant sigh of relief.
Dad quirked one eyebrow. "Or should you be?"
Fabian tensed back up but slapped on a smile. "No. No, I'm good. I swear."
Dad snorted a second time. But then he knelt down in front of his son, his eyes lingering on him for a moment before moving to the kitchen. He gestured with a jerk of his head to the scene of Mum and Gideon washing and putting dishes away. "You won't have to worry about chores at Hogwarts, you know."
"I'm kind of looking forward to that," Fabian admitted.
"I bet. The tradeoff being schoolwork, of course."
"…not looking forward to that."
Dad patted his left shoulder. "There's something else I want you to do while at school, though, Fabian."
He frowned. Molly had warned them about first years having mandatory flying lessons, and their brother-in-law, Arthur, hadn't had any stellar memories of those to share…
"It's not more schoolwork." Dad tipped his head again towards the kitchen, darting his eyes at his other son. "It's Gideon."
"What about Gid?"
"School can be…a fun place as well as hard work. But you're also going to meet a lot more people and a lot more children your age and older, of all backgrounds."
"We've met some of Arthur's extended family, and they're a fairly rowdy bunch. Rowdy but nice."
Dad smiled, but it was tight; more wrinkles than usual appeared at the corners of his eyes. "Not everyone can be the Weasleys, sadly. Especially amongst the…old families."
"Oh." Dad phrased it like that a lot, "old families," especially when Uncle Ig and Aunt Lucretia came 'round. Only Mum ever said it outright, more so the past two years, trying to help Fabian and Gideon understand the Wizarding world and that not everyone played along nicely.
Purebloods.
Fabian thought it, and Dad's sharp brown eyes cut back to him, as though he knew to where Fabian's mind had flown. Dad cleared his throat. "I just want you to look out for your brother," he finished, getting back on track.
That had Fabian furrowing his brow. "'Course. Why wouldn't I? I've got his back, and he's got mine."
But now Dad's tight smile faded into a proper frown. "…Fabian, Gideon isn't—" He stopped and winced.
"Isn't what?" He didn't like any implication that he and Gideon weren't the same. They had the same blue eyes (Mum's), the same freckles (Prewett genes), the same red hair with the tiniest cowlick in the back that combing never quite tamed (Prewett genes again…and perhaps just a little something the twins shared just between themselves). They had the same favorite foods and the same hated foods, the same penchant for pranks, and the same hay fever every spring (Molly said she used to have it, too, but she grew out of it—so Fabian considered it just his and Gideon's now).
They were twins, duplicates, one and the same.
And they came in a pair, so, the longer they stood here, in the dining room, outside of Mum's and (more importantly) Gideon's hearing, the worse Fabian felt, having Dad address only him.
Dad's tight smile returned. "It's because you're the older twin," he tried instead. "You're his big brother, you know. You've got to look out for him, protect him, if need be."
Fabian blinked.
…ah. Right. A two-minute difference, introducing Fabian to the world ahead of Gideon—technically, Dad was right. Fabian was the older twin.
It was the only way he and Gideon weren't the same.
But it didn't mean they weren't a pair…right?
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By fifth year, Fabian wasn't as hung up on being a pair with his brother.
He understood what their father meant better now. Not necessarily during first year, more so by second year when Slytherins whispered behind their backs and Gideon tried facing them on his own, sticking up for their sister and her family. Gideon could have a sharp tongue if he chose to use it, but the right words didn't always find him in time or perhaps they came out sounding too soft.
That would be Fabian's cue to step in and bolster him. Riffing off his brother or perhaps dropping in some tidbit overheard from Sirius' lot in the dorms—it was always enough to rile nearly any Slytherin and trip them up, letting the Prewett twins escape, Fabian laughing as they ran, even Gideon not hiding his amusement.
But second year, third year, fourth… "Aren't you getting a little tired of bristling every time someone spits out the Weasley surname in the corridors?" Fabian asked his twin as he placed a book back on a nearby shelf in the library.
Gideon frowned at his back (Fabian didn't have to look to recognize the feeling of those blue eyes boring holes in him). "I don't every time—"
Fabian nodded with a silent sigh. "You do, Gid. We were barely second years when you stood up to seventh years and told them it's 'not nice' to talk about Molly behind her back. As if Narcissa Black and Rabastan Lestrange cared what we had to say."
Parchment crinkled behind him. Well, there went Gideon's Charms revision. "…it's different when we have to hear it almost constantly, like an echo."
Fabian shared in his twin's frown. He knew. He didn't disagree. But they were stuck with Mulciber, Rosier, and Avery for another two years; Snape, too, but he usually only goaded them about Molly's marriage to "someone below" as an afterthought, less as someone who cared. Besides— "What have I said before, Gideon?"
His twin went quiet.
Fabian turned and walked back to the small table he shared with his brother that evening. He didn't sit in his seat across from Gideon but crossed his arms atop the chair's back and locked eyes with his twin.
Gideon twisted his lips around. "…the same as Mum says."
"And what does Mum say?"
"There are more important things than blood politics. We just have to know about them to avoid them."
Fabian nodded. Then he grinned. "And to think you have so much free time to worry about something else during an exam year? Reckon I'll take all the top marks instead of us coming within a few points of each other, at this rate."
Gideon reddened. "I'm not so distracted that I'll blow my O.W.L.s…!"
"Convince me of that after the exam period, Gid."
Gideon glared at him, but finally he noticed his wrinkled Charms work. He blanched and rushed to smooth his parchment, and at last his focus was back where it should be.
Fabian exhaled, a small smile toying with his lips, and he ran a hand through his hair. A giggle behind him pricked up his ears, however, and he glanced around the bookshelf.
Dorcas sat at another nearby study table with Marlene, the latter hidden behind her mass of blond curls and their fifth-year Charms text. But dark-haired Dorcas was stifling a fresh round of giggles when she caught Fabian's eye. She gave him a tiny, apologetic shrug and a polite little wave before turning back to her own studies.
R-Right. Mum was absolutely right. There were more important things. They had O.W.L.s to earn…and perhaps witches to get to know better…hmm.
He'd spent so much time focused on the Fabian-and-Gideon pair that he'd rather forgotten about other pairs, hadn't he?
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…but, really, it wasn't about being a pair with his twin or not.
Dad's words all those years ago felt like a heavy weight throughout seventh year, knowing what their chosen classes meant. Fabian was rather surprised Mum and Dad signed off on them, truth be told, and he waited a long time for Gideon to confront him about taking the same classes, in all honesty.
(Actually, he thought he and Gideon would still do a lot of things together, would talk as usual throughout seventh year, but Gideon finally figured out, too, that he and Fabian didn't have to be a pair, and he found someone he wanted to get to know better, no matter how much Fabian disliked him.)
The thing was, Hogwarts was only a stepping stone, Fabian knew now. It was a microcosm of what awaited them beyond the relative safety of the castle walls…which wasn't saying much.
(After all, they read the papers. And deeds were whispered about despite teachers' best efforts to keep Dark topics hushed. And it was Sirius' private business when he ran away to James' last year—so, naturally, the whole castle knew this year, but it didn't mean Gideon needed to befriend Sirius' younger, tradition-embracing brother "to check in with him.")
Classes would get them the N.E.W.T.s. And N.E.W.T.s would warrant them any of a number of respectable paths as grown wizards after graduation.
In the end, though, Fabian looked Gideon in the eye and gave him a reassuring nod before leading the way into the Ministry of Magic, to the Auror Office.
(And he'd lead the way, too, when Dumbledore approached them barely a month into training and the Prewett twins agreed to join this Order of the Phoenix thing the headmaster had going.
After all, he was the older brother. They were a pair, perhaps, but Fabian understood what his role meant now…to look out for Gideon, to protect him—
—to fall, if need be, so Gideon wouldn't have to.)
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Also done for the If You Dare Challenge (for prompt #2: vague misery) in the HPFC forum on FFN. Rather grim, but this collection of Prewett-centric stories has been sitting, stewing in my brain for a long while now… I have many a headcanon for Fab, Gid, Molly, etc, and Fortune Favors the Brave feels like a nice way to explore them; here in "me first, then you," we see a bit of Fabian's pigheadedness explained more as overprotectiveness. It's not pretty in other scenes, for sure, but it hurts to see it thru Fab's eyes. :') I also like this idea that we don't know who's idea it was to become Aurors first—Fabian's or Gideon's—but Fab is there every step of the way, taking the first step. A glimpse of my OTPs for the boys and more to come on the rest of the family, so please look forward to more! If you're reading this on FFN, just follow this collection; if you're reading on AO3 or tumblr, then follow along with the series. -w-
Thanks for reading, and please review! Available to reblog on my tumblr (camelliacats), too~
-mew-tsubaki :')