Steady as the Beating Drum

alices-husband​:

A Multipurpose Party​

“Well, lucky for the two of you, you get my mother and Alice in small doses!” Frank laughed, spinning on his heel to the song that blared from the record player. He reached for the knife, but Frank was probably the one least qualified doing the slicing based on the state of his arm. Frank tried to steady a lemon to cut it, only to have it roll once he touched the blade to its midsection. Instead he sighed and turned to Dedalus.

“Perhaps you should start monetizing this talent for being perfectly right about romances, Dig! You’ve been one hundred percent correct all the time—but tell me—” And Frank threw his hand arm around Gideon, letting his weight be supported by his friend standing; he had been privy to a little bit of what was going on, but not enough to draw any conclusions. Not soon enough anyway. “—I’m assigning you a new job: how’s this one doing in the dating department? Is he in love yet? Have you looked at him with someone else for too long lately?”

@dedalusdigg​ 

As the lemon Frank tried to cut rolled around, speedily headed towards the edge of the countertop, Dedalus thought it would be a very impressive show of both agility and quick reflexes if he managed to catch it before it rolled onto the floor. Unfortunately, everything was still delightfully fuzzy and as he reached out to grab it, he ended up swiping at nothing but air. He blinked, confused, before glancing down at the lemon now lying on the floor. “Oh. Well, we almost had that one!” He reached down to pick it up and now that it wasn’t moving, that was a much easier task. “On a completely unrelated note, can any of you juggle?”

He then let out a laugh at Frank’s question. “He falls in love every time someone as much as smiles at him, of course he’s in love!” Completely ignoring the fact Gideon himself said he wasn’t, naturally. “Dating, though, that’s an entirely different question. Well, Giddy? Are you dating? And if that’s your idea of a proposal, by the way, I feel no guilt in turning you down. Saying you don’t love me, insulting my cooking skills… Unbelievable. And I’m about to prove you wrong! Pass me that knife, I’m taking over lemon duty.”

@gideonprewxtt​

Gideon poured himself another shot as he made his way to the kitchen shaking his head as he watched their antics with the lemon. It was definitely not going to end well with their baking expedition but he was thrilled at the thought of baking with them again. “I think I’ve seen Frank juggle before. I am hopeless at anything like that.” He moved to measure out a few more ingredients getting the flour and sugar mixed together as he tried to remember the exact recipe. He should have brought all of his recipes with him but he hadn’t thought they would be making anything that night. 

“I do not fall in love with everyone you guys are absurd.” He couldn’t stop himself from turning red though as they asked him about his love life. There was only one person who he had his sights on and it was complicated. He certainly had no interest in telling his best friends about it before he knew what was going on himself. “I love you so much Dedalus it breaks my heart that you won’t marry me. Do you not think redheads are pretty? I knew you thought we were all soul less.” He feigned the dramatics sighing as if Dedalus were destroying his heart. “Speaking of singles though what about you sir? What is going on with your love life?”

alices-husband:

A Multipurpose Party

“Why would I fear my wife?” Frank laughed; it was always funny that Alice was someone that everyone else was intimidated by. “Honestly, I’ve done my fair share of being afraid of her–remember the way I’d talk about her when we first met? She was an awful coworker and I had just started Auror training.” 

Frank scrunched his face at the memory, then tilted his head with a little confusion at his friends. His face broke into a skeptical smile, but he wasn’t suspicious; maybe tonight was the night to stay out of trouble, and there seemed to be no convincing his friends they should go to the pub. That is, if there were pubs left to go to. But Frank didn’t need much goading for lemon cakes. 

“I’m sure Dedalus can protect me from a lemon if he really wanted to—” But he couldn’t stop laughing at Gideon’s outburst about adding salt to their baked goods. “–but if we were making sea salt chocolate chips, it’d be different, right? We can add salt to it, I’m sure, salt is in the name! But fine, yes, lemon cakes it is–Dig, go pick out something for us to listen to and I’ll try not to fear the lemons before they go into the cake!”

Dedalus had always been a sucker for love stories and Frank and Alice’s was no different; even now, the mention of those early days of theirs had him turning to mush. “I do remember! And look at you two now!” In the same breath, he turned to Gideon, still entirely caught-up in memories. “Do you remember when they started dating? I absolutely called it, that they’d get married one day. Yes, sure, I call it with most relationships but it just means I’m right, doesn’t it. Oh, and the wedding!” And while he’d moved to stand up sometime during his reminiscing, now he let himself just flop back onto the couch like a starfish. “It was so beautiful! So emotional! Giddy, get married soon so we can go to another one.”

Making a cake would have to do for now, though. And that was wonderful in its own right – Dedalus could barely even remember the last time they’d gathered together like this. They could’ve been doing anything and he still would’ve been happy.

“I can certainly protect you from lemons,” he agreed solemnly. “Do we have to squeeze them? Cut them? Whatever it is, I’ve got it.” He didn’t really have it, but music, that much he could certainly provide. With newfound enthusiasm, he jumped to his feet once again and headed towards his record collection – with only minimal wobbling and swaying. “All I heard is you requesting some ABBA. And ask and you shall receive!” Within seconds, the first notes of Voulez-Vous rolled around; it felt oddly fitting after his little trip. “There, my part is done. Now off you two go, make me a cake.“

@gideonprewxtt​

“Frank if you do not fear Alice even a little bit still then there is no hope for you. As your best friends we know that your wife can be scarier than even your mum and she scares the hell out of me. I try to find things to bake her that she likes sometimes and even with all that effort she has only smiled at me like five times in my whole life. Alice has smiled at me even less I am sure of it. Or maybe she has smiled at me more but her smile is also scary.” He looked to Dedalus for confirmation about what he said knowing it had to be the truth for both of them. 

The look of outrage that came to his face as Frank tried to find an excuse for either of them to just go around adding salt to his baked goods was enough of a response to such slander. A roll of his eyes had him looking back at Dedalus with a sigh. “I can’t just get married Dedalus. I have to fall in love first unless you’re offering to marry me of course. Then I suppose I could just take the leap without the love. I could learn to be okay with your horrible ways in the kitchen I suppose. You calling them getting married means nothing. You see two people look at each other for a second too long and you say they’re going to end up married.” 

“You can’t protect him from lemons in the state you’re in. If anything dangerous comes along we’re all done for.” He was happy to be shoved into the kitchen though and he reached out to tug Dedalus along with them. “Oh no sir. Your job isn’t done yet. We have to have you help too. We need the lemons cut in half and the juice squeezed out of them.” He was already getting the bowls and the ingredients out for them to make the cake. He loved ordering them around in the kitchen like this. It was cute watching them struggle. “Now which one of you is capable of handling the knife? I don’t want to see any cuts because of carelessness.”

alices-husband​:

A Multipurpose Party

Frank didn’t like the concerned look on Dedalus’s face. It didn’t suit him, and it wasn’t like Frank was really suggesting anything that dangerous. Well—maybe going out to Diagon Alley nowadays was a greater danger than he was anticipating, especially since his ability to defend himself was, at this point, minimal.

But Gideon being worried was par for the course, especially since he had seen Frank the day after Diagon Alley had been attacked. Sure, Frank was recovering, but that meant little if the wound itself refused to close normally. “I’m perfectly fine to go out! I just—it looks like both of you are more scared of my wife than I am!”

Dedalus and Gideon were both right, but Frank didn’t like it. It wasn’t that the evening was going to be less eventful, but he didn’t expect a quiet night at home.

“Look, the last time I was in the kitchen—I made tea, and it blew up and made a mess—just ask Isla Selwyn.” But he didn’t make an attempt to dissuade them from this course of action. “I guess I can measure flour without hurting myself too much, can I? Dig, pour me some of that firewhiskey and we can get started.”

@dedalusdigg​

“Looks like you’re not scared enough of your wife,” Dedalus corrected with a laugh. His eyes were still on Frank, still not entirely trusting he was fine, but he didn’t push more. “Not that we’re not perfectly capable of protecting you, by the way. Well, not from Alice, you’re on your own there, but from just about anything else.” Blatantly untrue, but he was willing to pretend he believed it. “And I absolutely don’t get into trouble! I’m… troubleless.”

It was probably a good thing they weren’t going to test that, though. A not-so-quiet night in sounded perfect and he happily passed Frank the firewhiskey. “It’s alright, I’m not much of a cook either. But we’re going to have so much fun, you’ll see! Who needs Gobstones when we have eggs and flour! We can even play a version of Gobstones with the eggs!” The last bit was purely to mess with Gideon, but it also did genuinely sound fun. Then again, he probably had to be extra nice to Gideon if they wanted the end result to actually be edible; with that in mind, Dedalus quickly turned to him, the very picture of sweetness, and added, “I’m only joking, you know I would never. And I even promise to stop adding salt when you’re not looking.”

He then waved his wand and watched as a couple of pots and pans immediately flew over to the kitchen counter. Still, he didn’t move to actually get up from the couch just yet. “Can we make one of those lemon drizzle cakes? Pretty please?” It was only then that it hit him it would probably be fair to let one of them choose instead; Frank because he was injured and Gideon because, well, he’d be the one doing most of the actual work. But he also wanted his lemon cake. “Frank, Frankie, Franchester. Did you know, I hear lemons are good for you, if you’re injured or ill or even just tired. Trust me on that.”

@gideonprewxtt​​

“I agree with you completely Dedalus. Frank does not have a healthy fear of his wife. We do though so we will save him from himself and his own bad ideas. Protecting him from things though is not something we’re actually all that capable of doing. Name one thing that you can protect him from right now? Just one I dare you.” He took another sip of his firewhiskey while he looked to Dedalus for an answer. “We are too pretty to go around protecting people from things. It’s why Fabian is the better dueler because I’m the pretty twin.” He had had too much firewhiskey if this was where the conversation was going but it wasn’t unusual for one of their get togethers. 

“You will do no such thing sir. You and Frank are not supposed to do too much in the kitchen. You guys are mainly there to look pretty and get in the way. You do that!? You really do that??? You add salt to things? While we are BAKING? Salt and not sugar? Franklin did you hear what this man just said? Do you help him? Do you also add salt to my baked goods sir? Do you do these things to me? I thought we had a friendship.” Somehow he had turned his tirade about salt on Frank even though the poor man had said nothing about adding salt to the things he was baking. It just happened and Gideon saw no problem with it. They were probably both guilty. 

“Those cakes are so much work when you’re running around the kitchen throwing things though. You get all worked up thinking about the cake and then all of a sudden candy and flour and sugar start flying everywhere.” He sighed taking another sip of his drink. “Alright though if that’s what you guys want to make we can. I can’t say no to you two. What do you think Frank? Lemon drizzle cake? Does that sound good?”

Perfectly Ordinary

–

“What do you mean? I can mostly trust Sirius.” But could he really? Sirius had let Emlen go. This was different though; this was an injury. Except Sirius had never been a healer. Come to think of it, Frank wasn’t sure why he did trust Sirius. He was kind of a dumbass. A hot dumbass, but still.

Frank couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of Gideon being intimidating, but if it somehow got Dedalus to do his bidding, then—Frank wasn’t even sure how it would work out. “Just make sure that those orders sound like orders—knowing you and him, they’re very easily mixed up.”

Frank’s eyes widened when Gideon’s laid his head on his shoulder—but it didn’t hurt as much as he thought that it would. Maybe it was the fact that he was still providing some comfort to his friend had helped with the pain a little. He could hardly feel it at this point.

“You sound like Ainsley.” Frank’s voice still had that lilt of amusement; he still hated her—but he didn’t have the energy to be bitter about it. Alice had a weightier burden than he did when it came to Ainsley. “But if you could avoid killing—then fine. But I don’t think you can really make that judgement call… especially if it’s to our advantage. How is Fabian anyway?”

Severus Snape had made a relatively peaceful transition into the Order, so would it have been impossible for Julian Selwyn to do the same? Frank doubted it; he didn’t think Julian Selwyn could see past the gilded shroud that his golden family provided.

“Well yes you can trust him but with your health Frank? Your health? I don’t know about that. I don’t even trust me with your health and you know I love you so much that I can’t even tell you how much so.” He was always gushing his love at Frank and Dedalus it was just natural for him now so his declaration of undying love would be normal to his friend. 

“My orders are always clear. Do you think they aren’t? Dedalus is terrified of me you know that. I am like this scary intimidating boss like person to him so no worries he will understand all of my orders.” He was the least scary person in his friends mind most likely but still he liked to think that he could order people around with no problem. 

The mention of Ainsley always stung but he didn’t want to talk about her at the moment. He hadn’t seen her in all this time but it didn’t stop him from wanting to catch a glimpse of her again. “Fabian is okay. You heard about his job at Hogwarts right? He’s been doing good with it he likes it there. I wonder if I can get him to pull pranks on his students now that he works there.”

alices-husband​:

A Multipurpose Party

Frank needed an excuse to leave the house. His ability to Apparate had gotten better; he no longer needed to use the McKinnon Farm as an intermediate stop. However, though his ability to get permission to leave left a lot to be desired. Oh well; it was easier to ask for forgiveness then from whoever wanted to lecture him that evening. At this point it almost didn’t make a difference if it were coming from Alice or Augusta.

“No, no, no—” Frank cut in, when Gideon started talking again about when Dedalus was supposed to get the gobstones set. “I promised him we’d start a league or something, you know? Like, a month ago?”

Had it really been that long since he had seen Dedalus? How did time pass so slowly and quickly at the same time? Was there so much wrong with the world that their sense of time had just been completely fucked?

“Huh. I guess it really was ages ago.”

Frank clenched his teeth at little at how he was in no condition to go anywhere. A part of the reason he had come was because he had so much FOMO from trying to recover, without much success. “Besides, it’s not that late—and even if it were, I’m sure we can find someone with a set we can borrow, right?”

@dedalusdigg​ 

The sheer audacity, to blame this on him! Dedalus reached out to poke Gideon in the ribs, once again very nearly spilling his drink and really, at this point he had to take this as the sign it really was. He finally reached out to put it down on the table. “You take that back right now,” he pointed a finger at Gideon as he did. “I’m better than ever, wonderful, magnificent, and brilliant, and this is absolutely not on me!”

He nodded vigorously as Frank stood up for him. Frank was great. Frank was the best. So was Gideon, of course, but Dedalus was still appalled and so it didn’t count. “Exactly, exactly,” he nodded some more. “Time flies when you’re busy. But I still haven’t given up on that idea and neither should you.”

It wasn’t giving up, though, was it, if Frank was just held back by his injury. Dedalus turned to look at him, eyes big and concerned. He’d never asked about the details, he realised; he’d been so relieved to find they were both alive, so guilty that it’d taken him this long to check, and more than a little worried that alive didn’t mean alright. He hadn’t wanted details. “Is it that bad? We don’t actually need a set, we can just stay here and put a pin in it! There’s plenty of other things we can do! Like…” It wasn’t often that he found himself at a loss for ideas, but his brain was feeling a little mushy right about now. He turned to Gideon, “Like what?”

@gideonprewxtt​

Gideon frowned at Frank as he let out a sigh but took another sip of his drink before replying. He had promised that he wouldn’t let Frank go out and get too crazy but if he really felt okay then what was the harm? The sharp poke brought his attention back to Dedalus with a scowl. “You watch it you. If you aren’t nice to me then I’m going to tell you that you’re less pretty than you used to be just to be mean.” He gave Dedalus a strict look before turning back to Frank. 

“Are you sure that you feel okay to go out? We can if you really want to but I don’t want you to end up hurting yourself more because your mom and Alice will have our heads if we aren’t responsible with you. Honestly though we probably have to watch Dedalus more than we have to watch you at this point you know he can’t keep himself out of trouble.” He turned to give Dedalus a grin clearly trying to tease him in retaliation for the poking. 

When he was asked what else they could do he frowned and looked around for a few moments trying to think of something before his eyes landed on the kitchen. “We could bake something. You two are scary in the kitchen but it might be fun. If you don’t go around throwing tons of random things in the dough like you did last time.”

Dedalus’ flat | Dedalus Diggle, Frank Longbottom & Gideon Prewett 30th of March, 1982 Closed starter for @gideonprewxtt & @alices-husband

It was a multipurpose party, really, when one thought of it. On one hand, it was a ‘get well soon’ party for Frank; Dedalus had been truly very saddened to hear about his injury and so he’d jumped at the opportunity to do something to cheer him up. On the other hand, it was also an 'I’m sorry for leaving without a note’ party, which was entirely self-explanatory too; Dedalus was, in fact, sorry. And then Gideon… well, he didn’t really have an injury or a reason to be sorry, but Dedalus was certain he was having fun nonetheless.

“I should’ve bought a Gobstones set,” he lamented, swirling his wine around its glass. His third one, though it really only felt like the first, and for a brief moment, he found himself distracted by the mini whirlpool he was currently creating inside of it. However, when after a particularly enthusiastic swirl the wine nearly spilled all over both Dedalus himself and his couch – his favourite couch too – he snapped out of his little distraction and glanced up, eyes darting between Gideon and Frank. “We were going to start a club! And neither of you reminded me! You forgot! And, yes, I admit, I forgot too, but that’s what I do, I forget.” He paused suddenly, eyes narrowing in thought. “Do you think any shops are open right now? Shops that would have Gobstones sets, that is.”

@gideonprewxtt

Gideon wasn’t sure why they were meeting up to have a party. Actually he wasn’t sure that it really was a party. Dedalus had been confusing in his invitation. He of course had accepted it though because he couldn’t pass up the chance to see both of his best friends at the same time. They were his favorite people and he thought the chance to not think about anything for awhile would be nice. He had been in a foul mood lately and more and more antisocial. He didn’t enjoy seeing many people. Preferring to spend his time working on the dark objects the Order had given him along with the various things he had gotten from work. 

His attention was brought back the present by Dedalus going on about the Gobstones set he didn’t get. “I thought you were going to get one of those ages ago Dedalus. You are truly slacking my friend.” He shook his head in mock disappointment as he took a sip of his drink. “Well don’t look at me about reminding you. You know that would have fallen on Frank to do. My memory is just as forgetful as yours.” He took a bite of his sweet as he relaxed more into his seat. “I highly doubt any shops are open right now. It’s rather late Dedalus and besides Frank is in no condition to go out to all the shops trying to track down a game and we can’t just abandon him here. He would die from a broken heart if we left him.”

.

Ryland shook his head. “I don’t think so. Here, I’ll finish this up. You get plates and such on the table. Sound good?” Gideon was already moving before he’d finished saying it, so Ryland focused on the food. Ryland did as he’d said and brought it toward the table. “Nothing special,” he admitted, ducking his head. “Just a garlic sauce I make at home sometimes. I figured what worked well for one would work well for two.”

He cleared his throat, trying not to feel awkward as he sat down at the table. This wasn’t any different than any other meal he and Gideon had shared as friends. It couldn’t be. What had happened last time… Well, Ryland didn’t want that to change moments like this. Their friendship was long enough to handle whatever feelings had come up. It had to be.

“I think Pippin missed you,” he said, figuring the cat was a good conversation focus. It was safe. It was something that Gideon cared about, and this dinner would be much easier if Ryland could focus on those feelings instead of any other pesky ones that had come up. He’d almost talked through his realizations about men with Isla, but he hadn’t been able to handle the idea of it. She’d want to know the how and the why, and she’d never let him live it down. Now Ryland just had to figure out how much of his current mess of emotions was Gideon and how much of it was kissing-a-man-who-just-happened-to-be-Gideon.

It didn’t take long for them to be seated at the table with their food. It smelled good and he was excited to dig in. It felt a little more awkward than it normally did between them if he was honest with himself but it had been awhile since they had seen each other. Nervous energy wasn’t uncommon when it came to getting used to someone again. He moved his food around his plate a bit in between taking bites. He was happy to be spending a relaxing evening with Ryland but he did want to push just a bit to see where his thoughts were from the last time they had seen each other. He wouldn’t though unless Ryland opened that conversation first. 

He smiled over at Pippin when Ryland brought the little kitten up. He loved him so much even if he didn’t have as much time for him lately. “I think you’ve been doing great with him. He looks so happy and healthy. I really appreciate you helping me with him. I feel bad that I can’t have him home all the time but he would get into things that aren’t good for him when I’m working.” He tilted his head as he took a sip of his wine. “How has work been going for you? Have you been enjoying it?” He thought Ryland had an interesting job and it sounded like something he would like himself if he hadn’t gotten into the business of dark objects. 

Fabian did let a small laugh escape at the image of Moody lecturing Gideon for something he’d done. “Like you could get a word in edgeways when he gets started.” He was sure he’d received the same telling off probably a few days later.

“No worries, anytime,” He waved away, though his heart lifted a little, to hear he was still the first person Gideon thought of when he was in trouble. It was much the same for him. Whether he acted on that thought anymore was a different matter though.

The pinch of happiness was soon snatched right back. His brow crumpled in confusion when he heard about Edgar. “Cold-hearted? No, no perhaps I said cold, but only towards me…” He trailed off, realising the implications probably weren’t much better. “You have the warmest heart I know.” He settled on.

When it seemed the conversation would stick to this serious turn it had taken, Fabian took a seat. He mulled on Gideon’s words, hands clasped in his lap, a subconscious action to keep them from shaking, or fiddling, or showing any sign of weakness.

“Gideon, I don’t blame you at all, for how you’ve acted towards me, for how you might feel about me now. I earned it all. If this is how we are from now on, then it’s my doing.” He swallowed, looking at the cat for distraction now rather than meeting Gideon’s eyes. “But I’m really trying, to make things better, I’ll never stop trying to get us back to where we were. And we go at your pace, no faster, if you’re not ready to trust me yet, then that’s fine.” These were words he’d said a million times in his head to himself, in various different orders with a hundred different imaginary tones and scenarios. To actually be saying them out loud was a little bizarre.

“I don’t really fully understand it either. I don’t think I could give you a definite starting date, a definite cause or trigger. Maybe it was lots of things all building up until something broke. But none of it was because I didn’t love you Gid. I never stopped caring about you. I think I just locked it away somewhere, numbed it. That’s not much consolation, I know. But aren’t you ever afraid of how much you love a person, and how easily this war could take them away?” He did look at Gid now, openly, honestly, looking for guidance, anything.

Gideon didn’t know that now was the best time for them to have this conversation. He didn’t know that now was when he wanted to pour his heart out to his twin and receive the same in turn. He loved his twin. He had always loved him. They were two parts of the same whole and he knew that he would never be complete with things this way between them. He let his eyes stay on Pippin for most of the time that Fabian spoke. 

Fabian had always been this way. Loving and kind towards him. Well he at least had always been this way when he was himself. He didn’t count the various yelling matches they had while he was drunk as him. If he could tell himself that then why was it so hard to forgive him? If it hadn’t been Fabian in his mind during all of those hard times then why did he even have to forgive him? Fabian was better now. He was going to be okay and Gid should be able to accept that. The unforgiveness was still settled in him though like a stubborn stone unwilling to move. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me Fab. I look at you and I know in my heart that you’re you again and that I should be happy but I’m afraid. I want to be us again but what if we can’t be?” He remembered Edgar telling him to fix what he had broken and the weight of it suddenly seemed too much. “I want honesty between us always. Edgar told me to fix us. To fix what I had broken or that I might not be in the Order anymore. I don’t know that he can actually do that but I don’t want to fix us because of what he said.”

He paused for another moment as he looked up at his twin. His other half. “It’s me and you. It was always me and you. I don’t know how to fix us. I have this resentment that I can’t let go of but I’m trying. Someday we’re going to be okay again. I just can’t lose you again. I’m so scared that we’re going move past this and I’ll lose you all over again.”

Perfectly Ordinary

–

“Emmeline did teach me something—but it didn’t work.” Frank exhaled. Maybe it would have if he had remembered the incantation properly, he would have saved Florean—or bought him more time. Frank’s wound isn’t enough to kill him yet, but he was lucky he hadn’t been slashed in the torso—Frank didn’t need immediate care. Not yet, anyway. 

He gave a forced smile, remembering that he had at least told her he would do his best to stay out of the infirmary… except there wasn’t an infirmary anymore.

“I’d probably have to go and see Emmeline anyway.” He narrowed his eyes at Gideon. Frank wasn’t a healer, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t prepared to take care of himself; then again, he was wildly underestimating the extent of the curse.  “But Sirius helped me with it yesterday. I’ll be fine—Skimble’s around and you know how my mum is.”

Frank had his doubts about whether the shop was still standing, but he didn’t say anything about it. Gideon was probably right that they would have heard about Dedalus by now, and that no news was good news, but what if the Death Eaters decided to do something awful to the body? He was supposed to have gone to see him in a few days to ask about a new part of his shop, but Frank wasn’t concerned about work now. “Tell him I’d like to see him too—if he can stop by, he should. I owe him a bottle of Ogden’s for his trouble.”

As Gideon asked the question, Frank bit his lip, though less because of the pain this time. He had an answer ready, but he wasn’t sure Gideon was ready for that answer. 

“Yeah. That’s fine. People die when they’re defenseless all the time.”

Gideon moved to drop his head on Frank’s shoulder for just a moment trying to find comfort there. He always looked to Frank to be the rational one. The one who could give him the reasonable answers without being clouded by too much emotion. He looked to him for so many things it just felt natural to look to him now. Even with him injured as he was he was still the rock that Gideon clung to.

“I don’t trust Sirius with your wellbeing but as long as you’re going to see Emmeline soon I’ll stop harping on you so much. Besides your mum will murder you if you don’t get better so I’ll let her harp on you instead.” He knew Frank’s mum could get her son to see Emmeline at least without too much trouble. He sighed moving to run both hands through his hair as he listened to Frank continue to speak. 

“I’ll tell him that he has to come see you. I prefer to order him around then to request things of him. I’m hoping it will make him feel intimidated by me someday. Even if you are the dad of our little trio I’m at least the older brother.” He tried for some lighthearted teasing as he spoke about their friend. He missed seeing them both at the same time and he wondered what he would have to do to get them both to show up to a dinner. 

 “Are you sure? We’re supposed to be better than the Death Eaters and killing in cold blood seems like more a them thing. I don’t know Frank maybe it’s just because of his connection to Isla that it strikes me as being so wrong. Thinking back though I haven’t really killed much in this war. I always lean on Fabian to do the heavier fighting.” He wondered if that weighed on his twin. Perhaps he needed to reevaluate all the times they went into battle together. Fabian was always having his back because his skills weren’t up to par with his but was it also because when push came to shove Gideon couldn’t quite pull the trigger. “I hate this war sometimes. I always hate it but sometimes I hate it more.”

Perfectly Ordinary

–

There’s nothing to be done for it. It almost reminded him of the conversation he had with Dedalus—that casualties were just cold hard facts of war. And Frank had told him that maybe there would be something worth drinking to soon, but even that felt falsely optimistic. 

“I think this just means that we need to learn some more healing spells,” Frank said bitterly. He closed his eyes momentarily, as if just thinking about healing would actually, well, heal the slice into his arm. He was clearly still underestimating his injury and how it would not only cut into his flesh, but into his health in general. “I promise I’ll be fine.” 

He narrowed his eyes—then he laughed at the idea that Dedalus could somehow be prettier than he was. He couldn’t pick favorites between his friends, especially since he already knew that he did them all a favor by getting married first and taking himself off the market.

“Have you seen him? Dig, that is? I was supposed to give his shop a visit—er, today.” The realization made his eyes go wide. Florean had been having issues with vandalism but if Dedalus had been found to be an Order member, perhaps he would have been targeted too. “Wait—is there a shop there still?”

“We should ask Emme to teach us some basic things that might be able to help us in the field. She tried to show me something pretty basic before but I was rubbish. It might be worth looking into again though especially with everything that’s been happening lately.” It seemed like the death eaters had gotten bolder but maybe it was just that Gideon was starting to notice it more now. 

“I don’t want to grump at you about you letting yourself get hurt but I don’t trust your skills enough to take care of yourself so at least tell me someone is looking at it besides you.” He wouldn’t be of any use to look at it either but he still didn’t want Frank to just go around with an injury and not have it looked at. Especially when he looked so bad. 

“I haven’t seen him lately no. The last time was last week I think. I stopped at his shop to get some sweets because he had been accusing me of not giving him enough attention lately. Really between you and him I don’t know which of you is needier.” He tried to make a joke of it since they all knew Gideon himself was always crying for attention from them. 

“I’m going to write him tomorrow and see if he is alright and see if his shop is alright. I think he would have told us though if it wasn’t still standing. I hope he’s alright.” He moved on for a moment taking a look around the room. “Can I ask you how you feel about something without you mentioning it to anyone? When Regulus killed Julian, which I know he was a death eater him dying isn’t bad for our cause, but when he did Julian couldn’t defend himself. It was disturbing in a way to see. Do you think it’s okay that he did it that way? We could have called Caradoc to erase Regulus from his memories of him being alive.”

Perfectly Ordinary

Having Gideon over was comforting. For a moment he felt fine enough to believe that things were normal—clearly so deep in his own fantasy of having a friend over that he didn’t really notice that Gideon was actually rather shaken. 

“I mean—it’s not your fault, but…” It wasn’t the first time Frank had to watch someone die, but he exhaled before recanting what had happened. “I couldn’t save him—I’m not a healer, and I tried whatever I could think of.”

Frank swallowed, looking at one of the plants off in the distance. He was there, but it didn’t feel real at all; he saw the body, but to think that Florean wasn’t getting up off the ground of his own accord was a strange thought. He had thought about Emmeline and how she had closed up his wound, her instructions clear up until the point that his arm had healed.   

He looked over at his friend, not expecting that he’d give news that would break Frank’s illusion. Frank bit his lip, thinking over what had happened the day before—how he couldn’t manage to hold his own, how Sirius somehow couldn’t manage to make himself useful. 

“I mean, that’s one less Death Eater we have do deal with, so—wait,” Frank stopped himself, as if realizing something all of a sudden. “Is seeing me not making things better?”

Gideon knew in theory that it was better for them if a Death Eater was gone but it didn’t make him feel any better. He knew Isla would be upset over the death and he knew that he wouldn’t be the one to tell her. He couldn’t be that person and that would make her upset even more. He didn’t want to think about it though and decided instead to focus on his friend. 

“It’s hard in those situations. Sometimes as much as you want to do something, anything to change what’s going on you can’t. You aren’t trained as a healer of course you didn’t know how to save him. Emmeline maybe could have but who knows if even she could have. Sometimes it’s just time for them to go and it’s hard but there’s nothing to be done for it.” 

He didn’t find his own words comforting so he doubted that Frank did but he tried anyway. Tilting his head he couldn’t help but smile at the outrage that Frank showed. “I don’t know. You aren’t as pretty as you normally are and you know I only love you for your looks so it’s hard to say. Dig is going to give you a run for your money in the looks department if you don’t get yourself feeling better soon.” 

He was joking of course but Frank did look less pretty than he normally did. It was to be expected but still his friend was normally his source of eye candy. “Promise that you’re going to be okay. I don’t know what I would do without you. You know Dig can’t keep me in line he always encourages the chaos. I need you to keep me in check.” 

Ryland smiled, glad he could do something, even if he didn’t really know how being around helped. Maybe Gideon just wasn’t getting much people time right now. Ryland could understand it. This was perhaps his chance to help repay Gideon for all the times he’d stopped and helped Ryland get out of his own head. If he could help Gideon out of his, he’d do that. “That’s all right,” he said. “I’m here regardless.”

As Gideon moved closer, Ryland stood still but tried to be casual about it as he remembered the last time they’d actually been this close. Had it really been a month? Time had moved too quickly, and the unfortunate part was that he still didn’t have a satisfactory answer for what Gideon wanted. The timing wasn’t right, Ryland’s fears were too strong, and their lives were just too chaotic. Right? Well, if Gideon wasn’t going to bring it up, Ryland wasn’t going to either. He wasn’t a Gryffindor.

“Do you want to check on the chicken?” Ryland asked, nodding toward the oven. I’ve mostly just let it do what it wanted while I was focused on the sauce.” Feeling like it was mostly done, Ryland moved it over to a cool burner to avoid letting it overcook. He moved around Gideon, not quite as comfortable in the kitchen as his friend but still trying his best to keep this smooth. They did often work well together, and this moment wasn’t dissimilar.

Gideon wanted to ask Ryland about the last time they had seen each other. If he still needed time and space or if maybe he had come up with an answer. He was afraid to though. Afraid to bring it up and get an answer that he wouldn’t want to hear. He thought it best to let Ryland bring it up in his own time or if he didn’t bring it up at all to just move on and pretend it hadn’t happened. It had been a month after all and Ryland had made no move to discuss it. 

He moved to check on the chicken noting that it was done and took it out bringing it over to Ryland so that he could finish it since most of the food seemed to be done. “It’s done. Is there anything else that had to be done before we eat?” He didn’t want to sound pushy but he couldn’t help the hunger that had been growing in him ever since he had stepped in the door and been greeted by the wonderful smell. 

He moved to take two plates out and some silverware so he could set the table. It felt good to be back in a familiar flow with Ryland. No matter how much time they spent apart they always seemed to be able to pick back up in a natural rhythm. “What kind of sauce did you make? 

Fabian scanned the rooves and quickly found Pippin, as Gideon had said, trotting around being a daredevil. Fabian nodded and then quickly levitated the little creature back to their balcony and into Gideon’s arms, with only a phew little meow’s in protest. “Safe and sound,” He sighed, not knowing if he was glad to be of service, or annoyed that he had gotten so panicked for something so… domestic? He knew of course, that Pippin meant a lot of Gideon, he’d be upset himself if something happened to the little kitten, but when the worst of the worst had flashed before his eyes, this was nothing in comparison. 

“No, we were worse.” He replied dryly to Gideon’s comment, a hint of a smile, but still not ready for joking yet. Let his heart rate come back down before he started in with the laughs. 

He stalked back into the apartment and out of the cold, going to look for Gideon’s wand. He found it as Gideon had said, on the floor in the kitchen. He returned to Gideon and tossed it in his direction. “Perhaps you need to sit through a few more of Moody’s lectures, ‘constant vigilance’” He imitated. But it was rich coming from him, and he knew it. Not even a few months ago, that piece of magic, levitating Pippin off the roof would have been impossible for Fabian in his ever inebriated state. Who was he to give advice? 

He sighed, and then stuffed his hands into his pockets, not sure now whether he should stay or go. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” He paused and shot a look a Pippin. “That’s you’re both safe.”

Gideon almost snatched Pippin out of the air as Fabian floated the kitten closer to him. He was anxious about having the little guy back in the safety of his home. A sigh of relief left him as he carefully moved to step back inside making sure to keep a tight hold on Pippin. The kitten didn’t seem to squirm too much as he was taken back inside so Gideon was thankful for that. He was worried just a bit that he would end up dropping him before they were fully back to safety. “Well maybe you were worse. I was an angel.” Gideon tried for a shaky joke though he was starting to feel some tension in his twins presence. 

Gideon had let Pippin jump from his arms as he made his way further into his home. The kitten gave a disgruntled look his way before wandering off to his bed. With his wand safely returned to him he started to feel a little better. “Don’t you dare tell Moody about this Fab. I will not live it down with him and I do not want another lecture. Besides I got one on your behalf before so you owe me. The man literally just saw my red hair and started telling me off for something. At the end I told him it was me and he said it was my own fault for not speaking up sooner.”

Perfectly Ordinary

“Yeah, maybe I should be… you know, at the hospital.” Frank repeated what Gideon was saying, not really having enough energy to (1) take himself to St. Mungo’s for treatment and (2) explain why that would be a bad idea. He had asked about Ryland more as a distraction but was disappointed in not really hearing much detail from Gideon. 

He bit the inside of his lip when Gideon expressed his worries, the insistence on going to a Healer more pressing by the passing minute–but Frank wasn’t having it. He shifted in his seat a little more, though the pain didn’t really subside. He did feel like he was feeling more nauseated and he didn’t dare look at how much blood seeped through his bandages. 

“Why don’t you sit down? You look like someone just died.” What a morbid joke to make after watching Florean die, especially with his failed attempt to heal–but maybe someone did die; who knows nowadays? 

“It’s just that… Florean Fortescue was–murdered. I don’t know if anyone else was–you know.” That was the only piece of news that Frank had; he had been with Sirius, but he wasn’t so sure if it was important to reveal how much Sirius had been… what’s the phrase? Losing his gobstones. He hadn’t known yet about what happened at the Potter Estate.

Gideon was a bit restless just from seeing Frank in such bad shape. He was shaken by what he had seen. It wasn’t even that Regulus had killed the death eater in front of him it was the way that it happened. It was different than the normal way that people died in war. He had urged Regulus to just call for Caradoc. To ask him to alter the memories of Julian. Julian’s face was familiar to him. Not because he was around him at all but because whenever he went to see Isla that same face smiled at him from different pictures in her home. 

He should have gone to her and told her about what happened right away. He should have been the one to break the news but he couldn’t do it. There was this dark part inside him that wasn’t sorry for what happened. He was on the wrong side of the way and eventually he would have had to be dealt with anyway. He hated those thoughts though. He did his best to stay away from them. Still they came up more and more in his mind lately. 

Gideon moved to sit down near Frank staring at him for a few moments before speaking. “Florean is dead? That’s terrible. I heard about the attack on Diagon Alley but I hadn’t heard who had died. I’m sorry you had to be there to witness it. Are you alright though? Really? Are you going to be okay?” He didn’t want to think about Frank not being okay. It was something he couldn’t accept. 

“Julian Selwyn is dead. Regulus killed him. We were researching and he just burst in. Regulus knocked him out before I could even think and I wanted to get Caradoc to alter his memories and just let him go but Regulus just kept insisting that he had to die because he saw him. He just....he killed him,. I don’t know how to feel about it. I just. I don’t know anymore Frank. I thought seeing you would make things better.”

“You don’t have to send me more things,” Ryland said, brows furrowing in his frustration to explain what he meant. “I was just worried about you is all. It’s not like you to stop doing the things you love. Is it work or something?” In the aftermath of the Diagon Alley attack, Ryland shivered. “I just hate the idea of something weighing on you and not being able to help. If dinner every once in a while helps, I’ll do what I can.” 

He cleared his throat, unable to help the feeling he’d overstepped. Despite all the times Gideon had spend in his kitchen, Ryland wasn’t sure he’d spent many here. He’d had to open three drawers to find a proper spoon to stir the sauce. As he turned back to it before it had a chance to burn, Ryland shrugged. “Oh, I don’t think much. I’ve been doing those bloody dueling classes Bran Yaxley’s holding. They’re brutal, and I’m not sure I like them.” He’d tried to quit them actually, and she’d dragged him back. “But they must be doing something. Apparently I have a decent shield charm now.” Ryland almost wanted to demonstrate, but once again, he’d broken James Potter’s cardinal rule about leaving his wand lying out of reach. Ryland shivered again. For all the good keeping his wand on his person had done James.

Gideon didn’t want to talk about why he had stopped baking. He just couldn’t bring himself to spend that time in the kitchen when he could be spending the time researching and trying to solve the problems that were the dark objects that the Order had found. He hated having them in his life. He knew it was necessary that he work on them but still it left him feeling drained. Or rather the necklace left him feeling this way. The orb was dark enough but he had never felt so much darkness as he did when he was around the horcrux. He was desperate to find a way to destroy it and rid himself of it’s presence. “Your presence helps. I’ve had a lot on my mind. I don’t really want to talk about it if that’s alright?” 

“I’m glad you’ve been in those classes. I’ve been having Sirius teach me a bit outside of the classes that Caradoc has set up but I think the idea of them is good. I’m happy that you’re improving. I get nervous when things get dangerous and you might be involved. I would like to see your shield charm in action someday.” He moved closer to look at the sauce that Ryland was making. Dinner smelled good and it made him think of how often he forgot to eat lately. “Is there anything I can do to help with the cooking? I don’t want to just stand here and watch you do all the work.” He hated having idle hands and thought that some cooking would take his mind off of things.