Chapter 7 of Older, or Two Brothers and a Train Station up now :)
Summary: In which the Scamander parents get a bit too busy for caretaking; the extended family proves themselves rather useless at babysitting without inflicting borderline-trauma; and Theseus finds himself handling the unwieldy consequences (e.g., Newt). (yes, this is the lull before the storm...)
In retrospect, Theseus maybe should have noticed earlier than he did that he had been very seriously tasked with watching his little brother on and off for the majority of the summer, far more than his usual elder brother duties. And it wasn't like he was tasked with it because he did not have anything else better to do himself , but because, by July, their parentsâalmost overnightâbecame truly and impressively and inordinately busy.Â
With Muggle Londonâs recent fascination and consequent reliance on the electric tram [4], Helios was dealing with an influx of opportunistic magical troublemakers that pulled him out on investigations and into raids at every hour of the day and night; while Rowan had become rather single-mindedly preoccupied with several of her hippogriff mares (who were having a difficult laying season), all on top of her other preexisting business and family commitments [5].Â
At first, Rowan had roped her younger sister Willowâa mediwitch at the St. Mungo Childrenâs Wardâinto helping Theseus with Newt a few afternoons and evenings a week, but after several attempts at having him stay over at hers entirely on his own (particularly on the nights before his appointments), that method quickly proved disastrous. Newt apparently did not like that he was unfamiliar with Aunt Willowâs flat and customs; and Aunt Willow was disturbed by waking up every morning to a childless cot, which forced her to search Newt out in a state of panic until she stumbled upon wherever he had tucked himself away the night before [6, 6a]
(Theseus never really thought heâd have to listen to anyone receive a lecture on why sleeping in the broom closet or the bathtub or on the floor behind the wood-stove instead of a perfectly suitable mattress was inappropriate, but Newt did a lot of things that made him question his previous understanding of the world.)
Before Helios and Rowan consented to explicitly using Theseus as a full-time third parent, however, they had tried Heliosâ siblings. Both sets of grandparents were out of the question because Grandfather Ptolemy was about as warm with Newt as their fatherâs brother Hesiod was; and Rowanâs mother was frailer even than their Longbottom great great grandparentsâeven Newt seemed to tiptoe about her house (even if he did so exceedingly unsuccessfully) whenever they visitedâŚ
And that left only Heliosâ older sister Hippolyta, down at the border of Devon and Cornwall at Rame Head [7].
Theseus knew the very moment his parents decided to ask her that sending Newt there would absolutely not work (which was unfortunate, for Newt could have been very entertained on the Sound under different circumstances)... But, because Aunty Hippa had always adored her youngest brother, she immediately said yes anyway, despite the fact her formerly aristocratic husband Arundel Helston Mount-Edgecombe wasâaccording to Heliosâa âpiece of workâ [8]; and even though Theseus and Newtâs only real cousin Eloise (a very pretty, very poised, and very disturbingly intelligent nineteen-year-old witch) was almost always in as much trouble as Newt was, if for remarkably different reasonsâŚÂ
Not the ideal location for an inquisitive six-year-old with very little regard for hierarchical respect or social niceties, Theseus personally thought.
But, because Theseus was just fourteen-almost-fifteen, he could only watch as Helios and Rowan approached Newt where he sat on a small boulder near the treeline, gently tugging the illustrated copy of Black Beauty out of his handsâ(a book which Aunt Willow had bartered for him at a Muggle Curiosities shop while he stayed with her, in an attempt to bribe him into compliance)âand nudging him until the heâd made room for them to flank him on either side [9, 9a]. They explained in clear and calm language that Aunty Hippa had asked for his company for a few weeks, after which Newt asked if they still lived near the sea, and, upon hearing the answerâwhile still looking minorly concernedânevertheless leapt off the rock to tear past Theseus and disappear into the house, where he proceeded to scour every shelf and trunk for "the book about oceans!" and Theseus' now-too-small bathing costume, from when they'd still lived in Dorset [10].
It was very clear his little brother was under the impression he might get to meet a sea serpent, and Theseus wasnât cruel enough to disavow him of that belief if it made him happy enough to venture off the farm without complaint. Neither of their parents did anything to dampen his spirits either. In Newtâs wake, in fact, Rowan simply caught Theseusâ eye with a wink and a shrug, and then turned back to Helios brieflyâletting him tuck an errant curl behind her earâbefore rushing off after Newt to supervise his attempts at packing.
Newt was gone the next morning. Beaten-up binoculars hanging off his neckâa crab net woven through the front straps of his pink linen dungarees [11, 11a]âhe had tolerated Theseusâ affectionate attention for a full half minute, even promising to write (with Eloiseâs help, of course).
Not that the child even had time to fulfil that promise, though, for the owl Theseus received from Eloise six days after his little brotherâs departure only proved his initial instincts unfortunately correctâŚÂ
areudirty
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
titsay
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
