The atmosphere of the room tensed the moment Harry left the room, with Maedhros ushering him out. Caranthir eyed the twins out of the corner of his eyes. They had been planning something to do with that boy who had apparently summoned them, and he was loathe to interfere with it. In fact, he would like nothing better than to leave and head to some remote island somewhere and enjoy this second chance at life. Alas, life didn't like him too much, and he couldn't leave Maglor alone again.

"Maglor?" Celegorm, or Lucian, or whatever his name was, "Maglor, would you turn and look at us, at least?"

And his voice was ever so gentle, the way he spoke to Huan or any of those other animals of his. Caranthir wondered when he'd gotten used to listening to Celegorm snarl and jeer and yell at people, rather than speak to them kindly and brightly like he had once done.

"You're not real," Maglor replied, head buried in his arms. His shoulders were shaking, but he did not sound like he was crying. "You're all dead. Doomed to Everlasting Darkness, we said, and doomed we are. Namo wouldn't have released you, not with that prophecy of his."

And he was right.

Caranthir knew, as he had paid the most attention, that Namo had no intentions of letting them out until the Dagor Dagorath, and even then, only to fight against the horrors of the world that would be released. And even after that, Caranthir suspected that the Valar would deem Feanor the marred child. And with all the crimes they had committed, none of them would be woven into the Song in Arda Remade. They would be wiped from existence, with not a soul who would remember their deeds - be they good or bad.

"Well it's hardly as though we waited for Namo to do something," Curufin said awkwardly. He had never been the best with words, and he certainly hadn't gotten better. "We got summoned here by that child, likely to help him. And you."

Maglor shook his head, long black hair falling around his arms. "You're all not real," he insisted, and then in a whisper, added, "My brothers would not look at me with guilt. They would yell and rage."

And Caranthir felt his heart tug. He could still feel the Oath tugging at him, and he knew it would get worse with every trip to the seaside or every time he looked at the stars far above them. And they would have yelled, millennia ago, before they had seen the horrors Maglor had to endure by himself. They had all died reaping the consequences of their own actions, and Caranthir would not allow himself to forget that, but it had been wrong of them all to be so careless as to leave him alone.

"We would have yelled in the Second Age," he admitted into the silence, watching Maglor's eyes peer out from behind the curtain of hair. "And perhaps even in the Third. But you lived long, and we watched from the Halls as you did, and we learned, I suppose. We finally grew up, not that it has made a difference so far."

The twins shook, barely restraining themselves.

"Do you mind if we come closer?" Celegorm asked, but before Maglor could reply, the Ambarussa shot forward and latched their arms around Maglor.

"We're sorry, we really are," Amrod said, holding tight. "We shouldn't have been so careless. I know you tried your best for us, but we should have been there more often."

Maglor shook in their hold, but not a single tear fell from his eyes, even as his arms wound around their backs and he held them tightly. Carefully, Celegorm and Curufin moved forward as well, pulling Caranthir along with them.

It was as if something in Maglor had cracked, or opened up, and suddenly, he was removing his arms from around the Ambarussa to face the three of them with rage on his face.

"How could you have the nerve to go and die in Doriath?" He yelled, knocking the back of Celegorm's head and pulling the the three of them into a hug. His arms barely made it around them, but it was the principle of the matter. "That was such a horrible decision, and your stupid servants abandoned those elflings in the forest because you died. Do you know what that did to Nelyo?"

Then he turned to Curufin. "Do you know how devastated Tyelpe was when he heard? He assumed you had gotten yourself killed because of what he said, and every time I visited him in the second age, he always seemed like he was regretting ever speaking out against you. It was foolish to fight without care of your own life!"

"And you," he whirled to Caranthir, who was staring wide-eyed at his vehement brother. He had rarely done much to incur Maglor's irritation, but he had seen the results of it on Celegorm and Curufin, who even now were looking a little dazed at his words. Behind Maglor, the twins were laughing, despite the tears on their faces.

"You had the singular responsibility of guarding the perimeter. How does one die on that job, toronya?" Maglor asked, jabbing a finger into Caranthir's chest. He had forgotten how Maglor was taller than him, taller than the twins even. "Regardless," he said, whirling to face all of them together, even as his hands fisted into Caranthir's shirt. "If I ever see any of you make a singular thoughtless decision, you will be regretting it for the rest of your existence. Do you understand me?"

They all nodded in sync, all too happy to agree to those conditions if it meant Maglor would forgive them even slightly. Caranthir knew, from the distant, hurting look in his eyes that Maglor still didn't believe they were real, but he didn't concern himself with that. Maglor would believe them eventually, he would make sure of it. And they wouldn't leave him for a long time.

"Are these even elven bodies?" Amras asked, looking down at his hands.

Caranthir winced. For all that the twins were better at emotional things than he was, they had not learned tact from anyone with tact. Why would they even try to remind Maglor that they wouldn't be able to stay with him forever, even if they wanted to?

Maglor didn't seem to take it too badly, but Caranthir's shirt trembled in his grip.

Curufin noticed as well, for he moved closer to Maglor and wrapped his arms around Maglor. "We're not leaving any time soon."

"I would swear an Oath," Celegorm added lightly, "but I feel that wouldn't be well appreciated."

Maglor choked on a laugh, but didn't say anything much, pulling the rest of them closer.

They were still standing in that position, just holding their brother, when Maedhros returned, and the content expression on Maglor's face immediately shattered into hurt, and wonder, and anger, and love, and so much of pain.

"Nelyo?" His voice broke even as he said the word, breath hitching slightly. "I - I'm sorry. I tried, I did, but I couldn't - and then you left - and you promised - so why - "

His words were a jumbled mess, and the panic and guilt and utter horror that had always been ghosting Maedhros seemed to come over him once more. He had always considered himself their protector, ever since the Years of the Trees, and Caranthir knew that Maedhros felt like Maglor was his biggest failure.

Maglor had been his first brother, his first little sibling, his first best friend. Maglor had also been the last of all of those, sticking by him even when everyone else had died. And Caranthir knew, from Maedhros' mumblings during the Second Age, that he had promised Maglor he would stay. That he would live with him, and die with him.

Maedhros hurried into the room, ignoring the rest of them, which none of them took offense to, moving to the side. The way Maedhros curled himself around Maglor, the only one in their family with enough height to do so comfortably, was so infinitely gentle in a way Maedhros would never be with anyone else. They had seen each other through the worst days of the First Age, and it showed.

"I'm sorry," Maedhros was whispering. "It's not your fault. I promise, it's not your fault. I'm not going to leave this time, not even if the Valar would beg me. Not until you ask me to leave."

Caranthir looked at the rest of his brothers, and then grabbed Celegorm's arm and pulled him towards the door. Maglor and Maedhros needed the time to themselves, and they weren't going to interfere.

"Ow, let go," Celegorm said, pulling his arm from Caranthir's tight grip. "There's no need to be so violent."

"Can you shut up? We're in a school, after essentially breaking in," Amras hissed. "We don't need to get caught."

Curufin sighed, slumping against the wall. "He was right back there though. All of us, excluding Maedhros were pretty careless, weren't we?"

"Don't go guilting yourself as though you were the only one at fault," Caranthir interrupted. "Just because you feel guilty about Tyelpe's thing with Sauron, doesn't mean you were completely in the wrong for dying. You killed Nimloth and she killed Celegorm while he was fighting Dior. Both of them and both you ended up dead because you forgot how to fight."

"I didn't," Celegorm said, leaning against the wall as well. "I just thought Dior looked a lot like her, so I held back. It was guilt, I suppose, though at the time I wondered if he would've looked the same had he been my child."

"Are we all revealing what we felt too guilty and too proud to talk about in the Halls?" Amrod asked, taking a seat in the middle of the hallway. Amras glanced at him for a second, and Caranthir knew that deep down he was questioning his twin's mental faculties. But the moment passed, and Amras too shrugged and took a seat on the floor beside Amrod. "Cause there were a lot of things that we haven't actually spoken about."

Curufin shuddered. "Speaking of what we did in front of atar seemed like a bad idea. He didn't need to know the horrors we endured and the atrocities we committed on his behalf."

"I still think we should have told him," Caranthir said, leaning against the opposite wall just to be contrary. "He is responsible for our decisions in part, mainly for the Oath that he swore."

"All of us followed him willingly and knowingly, without question and none of us forswore the Oath, not even Maglor," Curufin argued back, voice not raising even slightly. Caranthir sent him an unimpressed look.

"And he still died before he could commit a single sin beyond Alqualonde and the burning. We committed those and more besides," Caranthir said, and then turned to the twins. "And they have committed more than we have, considering we died before the third kinslaying."

"Personally, I believe I contributed a lot to the unstable political conditions," Celegorm interrupted before Curufin could continue. "I don't regret most of what I did, but Luthien's capture was… not a very sane decision."

"You could have fooled us," Amras muttered sarcastically, but raised his hands up innocently when Celegorm turned to glare at him.

"Whatever," Amrod said impatiently. "We can discuss this when we manage to get back to that infernal island with Maglor, and then break atar out. Until then, what do we have to do to get rid of the summons and all that?"

Caranthir turned to him. "What makes you think any of us know anything about summoning or whatever weird power this is?"

"You knew the word for it."

"I looked at the tapestries more often than you did," Caranthir shot back heatedly. "And I wasn't as impatient or as obsessed with clawing the walls. So yeah, I know what Maglor's been doing and how the world is evolving, even if it's only a little."

Celegorm whistled, and Caranthir turned his glare on him.

"Someone has lost his temper again," Curufin said, smirking like the smug, infuriating brat that he was. "I think this is the longest I've seen you go without scowling."

Caranthir scowled deeper at those words. It wan't his fault things annoyed him easily, and it certainly wasn't his fault that the things that did annoy him the most were his brothers. And he had so many of them that it was impossible to be free of them for too long.

"You know you've be at least a little personable over the next few months, right?" Amrod asked, peering down at him. Sometimes Caranthir wondered why they got the height gene from their mother.

"And you certainly can't be seen scowling like that," Amras added, "not with whatever weird thing a Death Eater is."

Caranthir just made a disgusted face at that. "They're all murderers for sport, killing the Edain for no other reason than their own superiority complex."

Celegorm made a face, and looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

"Do you have a weirdly questionable family in this life too?" Curufin asked, grimacing even as he said the words. "I don't think the rumors of how bad atar was to us are even half as bad as my parents in this life. My mother certainly didn't sound nice."

"There are rumors of atar being bad to us?" Amrod asked, sounding incensed. "If they want an example of a bad parent, they're looking in the wrong place. Amme would have never had so many kids with someone who wasn't the best parent."

Caranthir closed his eyes. Amrod and Amras were the youngest of them, and as such had the least memories of Feanor when he was mostly sane and happy. But even they knew that Feanor had done his best to be there for them and had been a genuinely good father. There was a reason the seven of them had sworn the Oath with him, and it wasn't because they were scared of him.

It seemed like a contrast in the family his body was born into. He was the youngest of three - two older brothers. One of them left the house at 14 and never returned, and he had never figured out why. Caranthir guessed that he was killed, but no one had ever told the newly turned 8 year old that. The middle brother - Rodolphus - was in Azkaban currently, with his crazed wife, Bellatrix. He wasn't sure why the two were so unbalanced, but some of the acts they had committed made him want to kill them himself. It didn't help that the person whose body he was inhabiting had gone along with them without any hesitation, with glee even. Torture, murder, mind manipulation, any sort of violence, anything went for this family.

It was something none of them would have ever thought of doing, not even in their worst moments.

"Moryo?" Celegorm said, snapping his fingers in front of Caranthir's face. "You there? You spaced out for a while."

"And I bet none of you discussed anything majorly important anyways," Caranthir replied automatically.

Curufin sent him a deadpan look, but didn't argue that statement.

"So what was your plan when you said we didn't know our real names?" Amrod asked, nudging the conversation back onto whatever track it had been on while he mentally reviewed his family. "I assume you want us to play happy family with that child."

"What do you even mean by that?" Celegorm looked utterly puzzled, and Amras just patted his shoulder.

None of them answered, and Caranthir wondered why Celegorm even tried. The blond was always walking around with his head in the clouds and had never once in his life thought about consequences before they had all been confined to Mandos and he had thought about his actions with boredom fueling him. Which was neither here nor there. Celegorm likely regretted some aspects of his life, but he hadn't changed all that much.

"This is why everyone thinks you're childish, you know?" Celegorm continued, pointing at the twins. "It's this kind of behavior."

"Does anybody want to know my plan?" Curufin interrupted loudly.

"You want to test him?"

"You want to play with his mind so he ends up questioning his reality?"

"You just wanna mess with someone that will fall for your petty, annoying and usually useless tricks?"

"You have nothing better to do and you're bored?"

Caranthir sighed, as the twins continued, giving Curufin increasingly aggravating suggestions, based on the way Curufin clenched his fists. They were not getting anything done until Maedhros arrived, and Maglor with him. Resigning himself to his fate, Caranthir sat down leaning against the wall and closed his eyes.

Perhaps a nap would make all of this go away.

Or make it more bearable.