MAGI

July 14, 1944

It was nearly noon when Rosemary finally forced herself out of bed. Tom had left early in the morning to attend the final duel of the tournament, between Zhou and Bartel. The actual duel didn't take place until much later in the day, but Zhou had invited him along to observe his morning training session and Tom wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to learn the training secrets of other contestants.

Everyone at the tournament– especially the others that Beaumont sponsored– had clearly developed such a fondness of him. It was rather sweet, really, and it was also quite nice to see him surrounded by people he actually respected (whether or not he would admit such a thing). She was sad for him at the same time, knowing that he would lose such comradery when the tournament came to an end. The spark that had been in his eyes over the last couple of weeks would surely dim.

So, seeing that it was the last day of the actual tournament, she had decided to skip the championship duel and visit with her grandfather instead. It wasn't as though they could have spent the day there together anyway; even though he was out of the competition, he was still treated as a celebrity. She knew that Tom would enjoy the duel significantly more if he didn't have to worry about her accidentally getting captured in a photograph.

She had just gotten dressed and was nearly ready to leave for Emerson's when she heard a knock at the front door of their flat.

"Good afternoon, Miss Horton."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Beaumont," she greeted him in return.

"Is Tom around? I was wondering if he would be interested in going to lunch before seeing the match today…there are a few things I have to discuss with him."

"He left early this morning to attend Zhou's training session," she explained. She would have been surprised that Beaumont himself wasn't already there, given the fact that he was Zhou's sponsor and it was something any of the other sponsors would have done, but she had realized over the course of the tournament that Beaumont really wasn't like the rest of them. Instead of wringing his hands nervously and getting in the way at trainings and the duels, he actually allowed the trainers to do their jobs.

It was rather funny that she had failed to notice these things before Tom was sent to the hospital. But ever since, she began to see Beaumont in a new light; he certainly wasn't as bad as she had thought and it made her feel guilty to recall how strongly she initially disliked him.

"I see." He smiled at her. "Well, sorry to bother you."

She wasn't sure what came over her, but she found herself saying, "Would you like to come in for a bit? I just brewed a bit of tea."

Perhaps it had been her subconscious speaking. She hadn't exactly thanked him for handling the press in the aftermath of Tom's last duel. As promised, he had kept all the pictures of Tom's injury from surfacing. There had been the unfortunate article describing his defeat, of course– which Tom had furiously discovered the day after– but she was still extremely thankful for Beaumont's help.

She owed him for other things, too: for bringing Tom to his senses and defending her to a large degree. But it was unlikely that they would ever speak of it again; she certainly didn't think she could, in fear of making things excruciatingly uncomfortable.

"Sure," he said, looking rather surprised at her offer.

Rosemary stood to the side and let him into the flat, gesturing for him to have a seat on the couch. After retreating to their kitchenette for a couple of minutes to prepare their tea, she settled into the chair across from him.

"Planning to attend the duel later?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I don't believe so. I enjoy seeing Tom duel, of course, but now that he's out of the competition, I admittedly don't have much of an interest. To be honest, I've grown a bit tired of sitting in the stands by myself."

"Well, he certainly appreciates the fact that you've been here to support him."

There was a long, awkward pause during which Rosemary considered the validity of his statement. Even though Tom had apologized for his behavior and they had smoothed things over with her considerably, there was a small, obstinate part of her that couldn't help but wonder if he actually did regret bringing her along to Paris.

She pushed the thoughts from her mind, as she knew they would only continue to upset her the more she dwelled on them. "I've been meaning to thank you for handling the press," she told him. "Tom hasn't the faintest clue…which is probably for the best."

"It was nothing," he waved his hand nonchalantly. "I'm happy to help."

They sipped their tea in painful silence and she began to regret inviting him in. Clearly, they had essentially nothing to say to each other.

"I hope you know he does recognize how lucky he is to have you," Raoul said, apparently from nowhere. Less than a week ago, she might have thought he was simply attempting to flirt with her, but things were so very different now. In a way, his acknowledgment of the exchange between Rose and Tom was almost more violating than flirting would have been. She wasn't comfortable with the fact that someone had witnessed a less than perfect moment in her relationship with Tom. Somehow, it made the situation feel more real; she couldn't simply ignore it or block it from her own mind if she knew that someone else had seen (or heard) it too. She wanted him to drop it, but he continued on: "He cares about you a great deal…even if he's rather terrible at showing it."

"He shows it in many ways," she told him curtly, cursing the sudden defensiveness that had appeared in her voice.

"That's good to hear," he replied, though the overly gentle tone he said it in made her think that he didn't believe her. "I apologize for bringing it up; I know it's none of my business. It's just rather painful to watch someone begin to make the same mistakes that I did. If I could do it all over again –" his voice trailed off into a sigh and he set down his tea.

She had never seen such a disturbing look of despair and hopelessness on a man's face before. It was brief, but significant. Rosemary had no idea about the situation between him and his wife or what he had done, but the nearly tangible remorse that he held around him in that moment compelled her to say something in an attempt at reassurance: "Perhaps you can do it all over again...if you show her you're persistent and can fix whatever the issue was –"

Raoul smiled sadly. "I dream of that possibility every day, but it will never be…She's…well, she's gone. Forever."

Rosemary's eyes widened when she realized what exactly he meant. "I'm so sorry to hear that…"

"She was such a spectacular woman, truly. Very supportive, loving…anything a man could really ask for. I hate that I was never there for her like she was for me; I always worked too much. I knew it, too, but it didn't stop me. There isn't a moment that goes by that I don't think about how I took them for granted all those years."

"Them?"

"We had a son, too. Mathias."

Had. Hearing the word gave her an awful feeling, but she was unable to stop herself from asking, "What happened?" Rose cursed herself immediately for her curiosity; not only was it rude to pry, it was also obviously a sensitive subject.

Somewhat miraculously, though, Beaumont didn't seem to be put off. "Have you ever heard of MagicAll?"

"Magical?" A look of confusion spread across her face.

"MagicAll Goods, Incorporated…Or MAGI, as it's more commonly referred to," he clarified.

She shook her head.

"Well, you should have. First off, they're based in Britain. Second, they manufacture hundreds of magical items. Some commonly used, others not so much: cauldrons, Spellotape, Remembralls, regulation Quidditch balls…you name it: they probably make it. Two of the very few items they are not currently sanctioned to manufacture are, in fact, wands and broomsticks. As you probably know, there has always been concern about producing magical items as powerful as those in large quantities. A good thing, too, as they probably would have bought out your father's company already if they were able to."

She really didn't know about any of this, actually; all she really knew about Comet were the details of its day-to-day operations.

Beaumont continued: "I worked at MagicAll years ago as the Head of Regulatory Affairs and Product Safety. It was my job to ensure that each product was free of violations in both manufacturing and distribution. Then there was the safety piece, which required quite a bit of quality control. It was quite a demanding job, as you can probably imagine."

She nodded. "Sounds like it."

"I worked incredibly long hours in hopes of moving higher in the company, which created a considerable amount of strain at home, of course. I even commuted every morning from Paris for a while, until Marcy finally gave in and agreed to move to London. Things did begin to get better for us; I had a lot more time to spend with them since I was no longer flying home every evening. But she missed her family, of course. So one Friday, after picking up Mathias from nursery school, they left for Paris to visit them. I can't even remember the excuse I gave her to stay behind…something about being too busy at work, I'm sure. In reality, I just didn't want to spend the weekend with my in-laws. At any rate, they arrived without a problem. Marcy was in the sitting room visiting with her parents while Mathias was in the play room. As my mother-in-law told it, Marcy went up to check on him and was scolding him for stealing some sort of toy from the nursery school. She demanded that he give it to her so she could return it when they came back to London and he stubbornly refused. Apparently, she was attempting to grab it from his hands when…" He paused and took a deep breath.

Dread washed over her, which was amplified when she realized he was shaking slightly. Rose was about to tell him that he didn't have to continue when he seemed to compose himself once more and said, "Well, a few seconds later they were being rushed to the hospital…the same one Tom was treated in, actually."

She nodded slowly, remembering the ward that was named for his wife.

"They tried to save her…The Healers put in an excellent effort, really excellent. But by the time I even got word of what had happened, it was too late."

Rosemary was choking back tears by the time he finished speaking. She had no idea what to do or say to comfort him, though she wished she did. 'I'm sorry for your losses' seemed like such an inadequate response. She stood and fetched the tea kettle from the kitchenette in attempt to buy herself some time to think about a better reply. When she was about to refill his tea, he waved away the kettle with his hand.

"Perhaps something stronger, then?" she asked him.

He looked at her for a few long moments before looking down at the floor with a silent nod.

Rosemary retrieved the bottle of scotch from Tom's trunk along with two glasses from the kitchen and joined Raoul once more in the living room. He downed the liquor in one swift motion while she took a small sip.

"That isn't even the worst of it," he said suddenly, pouring himself another glass. "This 'toy' that my son had gotten from nursery school…it was a MagicAll product. It was a wand with certain spell limitations made specifically for children to give them a sort of head start with magic before attending a wizarding school such as Hogwarts. You see, although the company was not sanctioned to produce the wands themselves, they were in the process of gaining permission to alter a wand's capabilities. There were plenty of concerns with the idea, of course. First off, as you know, children aren't supposed to practice magic outside of a wizarding school at all. The other, much more important issue was safety…the prototype that was created was rather unpredictable if the child using it was experiencing particular emotions. I refused to sign off on it, as a result. I carried on my day-to-day, thinking they had killed the project, considering the fact that they technically needed my approval to continue. Without my knowledge, they had even gone so far as to select a nursery school to test them in…Precisely the same nursery school that my son was enrolled in, believe it or not." He finished his second drink and looked down at the empty glass in his hands. "I've gone through the whole thing so many times in my head, wondering if it was planned…if they, in some sort of twisted, sick revenge because of my refusal to sign off on the project, meant to choose the same one he had begun attending not even a week earlier. To be honest, I still don't know..."

At this point, there was little Rose could do to keep herself from crying about such a tragic story. A few tears escaped, but thankfully, Raoul was still looking down at his hands so he didn't notice when she reached up to wipe them away.

"Anyway, after arriving in Paris to find that my wife and son had already passed and realizing what exactly had happened, I returned to MagicAll in a rage, threatening to expose everything they had done. Their response was simple, concise; an ultimatum. If I followed through with my attempt to ruin them, they would essentially frame me for it and ship me off to Azkaban faster than you could say 'Merlin's beard'. Or, I could accept their offer to pay me off. I chose the money, obviously, as it was clearly preferable to rotting away in prison. There was no doubt in my mind that they could successfully frame me for it; they are probably the most powerful company in the wizarding world, after all. But I couldn't simply allow them to get away with it, either. When I accepted the money, I vowed to put every knut toward destroying MagicAll," he said bitterly. "Before I could even come up with a plan, I admittedly became a bit of an alcoholic…"

Rosemary eyed his empty glass and the bottle of scotch sitting next to it warily.

"I'm past it now," he said with a trace of amusement due to the look on her face, though she wasn't entirely convinced of the veracity of this statement given the sheer number of times she had seen him drunk over the course of the competition. "But what it did allow me to realize was, when you're drunk, people tend to become much more…trusting. I realized that I was exceptionally gifted in getting people, even very important people, to tell me things.

"That was ten years ago, but I'm getting closer every single day. I came back to France to give them the impression I was distancing myself and taking their ultimatum seriously. But all this time, I've been making connections: connections that will provide me with useful information. I donated heavily into hospitals in France and Britain so I can keep close tabs on patients admitted because of mishaps with MagicAll products; I've bought pubs frequented by important businessmen; I've become a sponsor in the Continental Wizarding Dueling Tournament, an event that is exceptionally prestigious just to attend. I've gotten to know all sorts of people and have learned all sorts of secrets, but I won't be finished until I accumulate enough information to take down every single top executive at MagicAll. This person you see on an everyday basis, the drunken fool you can stand –," Rosemary looked away from his face guiltily, "- is merely a likeable character. Do you understand?"

She nodded. If she hadn't known what to say before, now she certainly hadn't the first clue what to say. "Why did you tell me all of this?" she asked him finally, as she was fairly confident that this wasn't the sort of thing he told people on a daily basis.

"No one has really asked before…well, at least in regard to my late family. Maybe someone would have asked if they knew, but I can't describe the majority of the people I surround myself with as genuine, close friends. Most people haven't the first clue that I was ever married. As for MagicAll…I don't know. I don't know why I told you all of that. I've never actually told anyone." He was quiet for a long time before saying thoughtfully, "It could be that there's something about you that reminds me of her…Marcy. I think it's your compassion; I've seen it in the way you act with Tom. That's why I find it quite painful to see him act so selfishly at times." Beaumont suddenly looked at his watch. "I should be going…I do have a championship duel to attend, after all."

Rosemary stood to show him out. As they walked to the front door he said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention anything I've told you to Tom…or anyone else for that matter."

"Of course." She offered him a small smile.

He returned it with one of his own, but it lacked its usual energy. She realized she wasn't used to seeing his face without a seemingly effortless grin plastered to it. "Thank you." He stepped past her into the hall and bowed his head slightly toward her before departing down the corridor.

After Beaumont left, she didn't really know what to do with herself. She had planned to see her grandfather, but all she wanted was to sit in bed drinking gin and processing everything she had learned in that single encounter. Seeing her grandfather could wait until the next day, she decided.

Nobody had ever told her something as heavy as Beaumont just had. In a way, she was glad he did. It felt good to know that someone would trust her with something so incredibly important. Then again, learning all this about him made her feel even guiltier than she already did for the way she had genuinely looked down on him and essentially hated him up until very recently. She couldn't help but wonder who else she had judged over the course of her life that she had actually been entirely wrong about.

Rosemary was still half drunk and lying in bed when Tom returned home that evening.

"Are you feeling ill?" he asked as he climbed in to bed next to her. His touch felt more gentle than usual, as it had since he had apologized to her for his behavior at the hospital. It was clear that he was still treading lightly around her.

"I'm fine," she told him, forcing herself to sit up. "How was the match? Who won?"

"Zhou. It was an excellent match."

His eyes seemed to have suddenly regained some of the brightness they had lost after his elimination from the tournament. Was the duel really that excellent, or was there something else?

Her question was answered shortly after the thought. "I have good news," he told her.

"Oh?"

"Raoul renewed my contract for next year. He's saying I'll have a decent shot at the title next year if I begin training this fall like competitors normally do."

"That's wonderful, Tom!" she kissed his cheek. It was certainly good news, but not altogether surprising. If Raoul hadn't sponsored him again, someone else surely would have.

"That's not all," he told her as he stood to undress. She stood to help him take his shirt off seeing that his arm was still in a sling, but sat back down when she remembered how annoyed he had gotten when she tried to do the same thing the night before. "He wants my help in determining the others that he's renewing a sponsorship with or newly sponsoring. Apparently I have quite an eye for it."

Later that night, as he drifted off to sleep at her side, her mind began to wander once more. It was clear, now, that Beaumont was doing his best to keep Tom around. Perhaps Tom reminded him of his son…or maybe a younger version of himself. Maybe both.

"You can love someone so much, but you can never love people as much as you can miss them." – John Green

Ahh I wanted to post earlier, but we were super busy this weekend. Sorry for the wait!

But, yay! I finally got to give some insight into Beaumont's backstory! :D Once again, I had planned to make this chapter half-Rose, half-Tom's POV, but it sort of got away from me while going into detail with Raoul's story. Next chapter will be all Tom and for quite a few chapters, it will continue to switch back and forth like this (probably until around Chapter 40)

Thanks a ton to A regrettable decision, CharlotteBlackwood, RosiePosie15, Lucy Greenhill, Tam, and Mrs. WaylandOdinsonBlack for your reviews. This chapter may have taken even longer to complete without them!(:

I'm also super thankful to all of you that have followed/favorited my story! We're very quickly approaching 200 follows, which I would be THRILLED to see.

Signing off for now! Let me know what you think of Mr. Beaumont's confessions and any other thoughts about how the rest of the story is going.(: