do you need me?

-

“You’re my knight in shining armor, what can I say?” Ewan shrugged with a smug smirk on his face. The memories they had together were irreplaceable, and even though most of them had been horrid in the moment– Ewan wouldn’t have wanted to forget a single one. Donny was everything to him for as long as he could remember, and they still had so much of life ahead of them. “Should anything go wrong, we split up.” Ewan was always worried about the children, and he was always nervous whenever he and Donny were in the same place where there was an inkling of danger. As long as one of them could escape, the children would be alright.

///

“I’d be willing to be your knight any day,” Donny replied. Everything that had happened during the war had been scarring, but the only bright light in all of it had been that it had brought him and Ewan irrevocably close. They were so deeply in love by the time everything was said and done that there was no way that their bond would ever be broken. “I know,” he replied, leaning in closer and wrapping his arm around Ewan’s waist, not caring who was looking. Everyone knew they were together, and if any of them had a problem with it, they’d be meeting the business end of Donny’s wand. “It’s going to be fine.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “It has to be, right?

//

Inwardly, Callidora cursed herself at the slip up. She had fallen too easily back into old habits of familiarity. “I am more comfortable with Mr. Prewett. You are right - I forgot myself for a moment. It won’t happen again. You’ve chosen another path, as we all know.”  It was irritating to find herself the one more off-guard for once - it was rare that happened to Callidora. But someone leaving their world behind  … that she couldn’t understand. “And I suppose you support the goals of this rally? You think we’re all equal with the Muggles, the Muggle-born? A fine idea in principle, though I recall that your Mr. Prewett is himself a pureblood. And your children? Are they not purebloods also? You haven’t entirely betrayed us, after all.”  

///

What Adonis noticed with many of his pureblood counterparts was that it was easy for them to slip back into the same old habits that they used to follow together. He used to be familiar with people like Callidora and Caspar, people who he had cared about once upon a time, and still cared about, in his own way. Of course, he couldn’t show it anymore, and perhaps that was what was most distressing about all of it. “Yes, they are. There is a long distance, however, between being a Muggleborn and hating them,” he replied. “I believe, truly, that blood equality is the way to fix many things that are broken with our society. I’m assuming you don’t?” 

.

With Donny’s response, Caspar had to catch himself. They often fell back into times like the ones when they were younger. Before the world became so much more complicated. It would be a lie to say that Caspar didn’t miss it; however, after his trip before Hogwarts, he had pushed everyone away - the world, if he could. And Donny’s choice to leave didn’t help either. “Let’s just hope it’s a good one. Worth our time.” Even if they had different views; different reasons for being there; they were still standing in the same line, weren’t they?

///

They were just two people, standing here and talking, right? Hopefully, this wouldn’t get back to Caspar’s parents, who he doubted would be as forgiving of this interaction. Caspar had been like a little brother to Adonis, someone he had cared about deeply, and to feel so estranged from him was like missing a limb. He hated that he had to leave Caspar behind when he left pureblood society. It was his one regret. “What’s life without a little mystery, right?”

Her eyes narrowed, disliking the familiar way he spoke to her, as if nothing had ever happened, nothing changed. “It’s Unspeakable Black, to you. Or at the very least, Madam Callidora. We are no longer friends.” Clipped tones aside, Callidora was unwilling to end the conversation immediately, in case he, belonging to the other side, had some insight. She listened carefully, attempting not to repel him too quickly. “You know nothing. I see,” Callidora said, her disappointment evident.  She raised an eyebrow, false pity lying in a mocking smile, “Do they not trust you?” 

///

“If you feel familiar enough to address me by my first name alone, then I’ll do the same to you. You may call me Mr. Prewett, if you like, and I’ll call you Unspeakable Black.” Adonis shrugged a shoulder. “No one at the Prophet knows what is going on,” he replied simply, deciding not to engage at all at her level. If she wanted to behave like a child, that was fine. Adonis would not be stooping to such lengths. “I am actually waiting for one of the other reporters to meet me. She and I will be writing about the rally together.” 

Upon getting back his magic, Donny was relieved, more than anything. He was sure a lot of people were feeling that way, and Donny even forgot about the reason they had all shown up in the first place. It had been so easy for their judgment to get clouded, for them to just drop into something without looking at what it actually was or the full ramifications. Donny had a lot of notes to unpack once everything was said and done, but for the time being, what he needed more than anything was a drink. 

“Well, that went about as well as expected,” he said, turning to Kenzie and Ewan. “The kids are still with their Gran for the rest of the day, and I don’t know about you two, but I could go for some firewhiskey. In fact, a lot of firewhiskey.” Donny patted down his jacket, checking for his wand even though he knew exactly where it was. It was just comforting to know that it was still there, that his magic was still there. 

-

“We’ve got each other, Don. And I say that has worked out pretty well for us in the past.” Their history began in the midst of a global war, and it was enough for Ewan to feel like they could get through anything as long as they were together. Ewan put his hands on Donny’s shoulder to reassure him. “If anything happens in there, we do exactly what we did during the infiltration of the French Ministry. Chase down whoever the hell this turns out to be and hope we can bring ‘em in for confession.” Ewan had been persistent to bring Grindelwald and his acolytes down for the crimes they committed. He participated in the bounty hunts to bring them back so they could pay for all they’d done. This was beginning to look no different. 

///

Donny felt a light smirk quirk up at the corner of his lips at the memory of that day. “The only thing I remember is you planting a big, wet kiss on me when you thought we were going to die,” he replied with a cheeky grin. Donny had a habit of covering up his true feelings with humor, especially when he got nervous, and Ewan knew that. Usually, Ewan just let it slide—something that Donny was infinitely grateful for. His anxieties were going to do nothing but make him feel even more nervous about going inside, and he was going to have to steel his nerves. “Hey, by the way, I told Kenzie to find us once she gets in. I don’t want her to be here all on her own.” 

Dorothy shook her head slightly to affirm his question. She wished she’d brought her Quidditch glasses - clever, those, enchanted to get a good look at things far away. She hadn’t thought they would be necessary, but now, she was kicking herself. She had half a mind to leave her seat altogether, move towards the front. If anyone tried to stop her, well, at the very least she’d get an up-close look at someone associated with the event or its organizers. Adonis started to speak again, answering her question about his partner and children, and Dorothy tore her eyes away from the stage to focus in on her friend.

“That’s good,” she replied, a faint smile flickering over her mouth as she thought of Adonis’s and Ewan’s precocious and precious brood. She glanced out into the crowd, searching for a sight of either of their friends. “I’m relieved to hear there are more of us. After this, maybe, we can grab a drink? Debrief and hopefully laugh all of this off?” It was optimistic of her, of course, but. So rarely did she get to spend time with Donny outside of the office – and no matter what happened, after the events of the rally, she was sure they could all use a stiff drink.

///

“That’s bizarre,” he said thoughtfully, more to himself than to Dorothy. His brow furrowed into an even tighter knot, a clear sign that his mind was working over time—his general thinking face. He pressed his lips into a thoughtful line for a moment before he spoke again. “I wonder if it’s all just one person. We’ve been operating under the assumption that it’s a group. What if it’s just one person playing us all like a puppeteer?” He shook his head in revulsion, involuntarily. It was enough to make his skin crawl. One person playing all of them like a fiddle was not a person to be trifled with. 

Donny nodded. “Count on it. We’ll meet you outside after everything is done, yeah?” he asked, a reassuring smile on his features. “I’m sure that everything is going to be fine. Even if there are some fights, I saw Auror Lupin and Auror Potter down there doing crowd control. I’m sure that there are more of them around to make sure nothing gets too out of hand.”

Dorothy visibly relaxed when Donny dropped into the seat next to her, smiling as he kissed her cheek in greeting. There was power in numbers, that was to be sure, and with the mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces alike, Dorothy was glad to have her friend by her side. “Don’t be,” she replied, shaking her head. “I’m just a little on edge.” She settled back into her seat, staring at the stage a handful of yards ahead of them. “Nothing yet. I got here early, hoping to at least see a few stagehands moving set pieces, but…” She shrugged. “So far, I haven’t seen anyone associated with the event. A few Aurors, but I think the Ministry sent them out of precaution.” She glanced around, making a mental note of the uniformed wizards and witches – and the exits. Not many. It seemed to her like it was just the one, but that couldn’t possibly be true. Perhaps behind the stage…

“Feels kind of weird, doesn’t it?” Dorothy mused, glancing over at her friend. “I’m sure I’m just being pessimistic, but…” her voice trailed off, and she clasped her hands over her notebook, reassured by the close presence of her wand. Inhaling sharply, she shook her head, forcing herself to smile. “How are the kids? And Ewan? Are they together?”

///

Donny could see the way the tension melted from Dorothy’s shoulders as he settled in, and he was glad that he could offer some measure of comfort and support. He wasn’t exactly the most reassuring person—much more of a pessimist and a realist than an optimist—so it was good to know at least safety in numbers was comforting. He felt safer, too, knowing that there were people here he knew would be on the right side of the issue. “No one?” Donny’s brow furrowed and he looked at the stage. It was a simple enough set up, so he supposed that one wizard could have been able to put it all together without too much difficulty, but it was still bizarre. usually rallies like this at least had some podium or chairs up on stage, but the stage was absolutely bare. 

“The kids are with their Gran today—I actually have to go find where Ewan and Kenzie are sitting in a minute,” he said. “The kids are more than happy to spend time with Ewan’s mum and that’s one less thing to worry about while they’re off in the countryside.”

“I’ve been standing here same as you, Don.” Ewan let out a sigh as he leaned against the dirty brick of the alley’s walls. He decided to tag along with his husband that morning after promptly cancelling his classes once news of the rally broke out. The children happily obliged to going to their grandmother’s house while their fathers attended to personal business. He hadn’t given much thought to what would happen if something went wrong inside. Ewan was an optimist and he hoped it wouldn’t cause their family any harm this time. “What if its just some bloke looking for attention? We could be helping some sad sack kick start a singing career or something.” 

///

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just restless,” he said, glancing up and down the line as he looked for any sign that something was going on inside. “That would honestly be the best scenario,” he replied, dropping his voice to nearly a whisper, so as to keep their conversation private. “Anything that happens here today is sure to be a clusterfuck. There’s no way that this is going to remain peaceful.” Donny was worried and had been worried about this rally ever since it was announced. Because his beat was blood equality, he knew that it was bound to get heated quickly, even if the rally turned out to be a bust. 

。·:✧:· STANDING IN LINE, Kenzie couldn’t help her curiosity. She knew it wouldn’t necessarily go over well, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t intrigued by the entire situation. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to peek over the crowd to see if anything happened yet. Kenzie grumbled, realizing that somehow, she was too short. She hoped someone knew something. Turning around, almost hitting them in the face, she noticed who it was. “I was hoping you’d be here!” she stated, bouncing up and down with a grin. “I’m gonna admit. I’m a little scared this will end south. Have you heard anything?”

@xprewetts​

///

“Ah, hello love,” he said with a cheerful grin, stuffing his notebook down into his shoulder bag—which currently held Molly’s blanky, which he was on strict instructions to return unscathed. “”Fraid not. It seems likt he whole point of this event is to just keep us all guessing. I almost think that it’s not anything at all, and we’re all going to be sitting in an empty arena for nothing.” Frankly, that would be the best outcome of this little event, and somehow, Adonis was certain that it was going to be much worse. He pressed his lips together, thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again. “Why don’t you stick with Ewan and me? I don’t want you here all on your own.” 

Callidora had been waiting patiently to get inside, her curiosity admittedly provoked to an irritating extent, when somene spoke from behind her. “Adonis,” she said, more in cool surprise than greeting. Selwyn. She’d known him in school, of course, but then for the last years of her education, he’d been a cautionary tale. Ran off with a blood traitor. Is a blood traitor. “No, I’m afraid … I don’t know.” The lines of her face made a palpable wince at the confession - if there was anything Callidora hated, it was being without information. She had tried all her usual sources to find out who was behind the event and had come up with nothing. She then smoothed her face over into careful lines. “I would have thought you’d know more about it than I. Is this not where your sympathies lie, Prewett? Your articles make your position quite clear.” 

///

“Morning, Callidora,” Adonis replied cheerfully. He had learned long ago that trying to fight with these kinds of people—the people he grew up with, that is—was often a useless effort. Instead, his response was to just be as kind as possible, which usually had the intended effect of both pissing off the other party as well as giving them no choice but to be at least courteous. Adonis had learned, after years of practice, to control his anger and continue with the niceties. “Perhaps it is,” he replied. “But it seems like this whole event is meant to be shrouded in mystery. I certainly have not gotten any tips. It would be great for my work if I did.” 

Blood Equality for All! Caspar read on the flyers, nearly scoffing. Surely, these fools didn’t believe there was such a thing. There had to be order in the world; structure. And if that meant putting purer blood above the rest, well, Caspar wasn’t about to get in the way of that. He’d only made his way to the event as a means of retrieving information to his new leader. One, Caspar had hope and faith that it would turn a cause even greater than Grindelwald’s.

Standing in line, he felt a familiar presence near him, turning around towards a voice he knew all too well growing up. Adonis. Arching a brow, Caspar merely looked his old friend over, “Nothing more than the flyers so far. Perhaps they’re amplifying the mystery of it all?”

///

"Who knows?" Donny and Caspar had been close for so long that it was sometimes easy to forget that they weren't close anymore. They fell back into old patterns time and time again, the friendship that had kept Donny afloat for many years when he was under his parents' thumb. The Selwyn family was not known for their kindness, and on top of that, Donny's contrary nature made his parents even angrier. He'd had no choice but to leave, but leaving Caspar was one of his regrets. "It feels like the point of this whole thing is just the mystery."

Dorothy had set her alarm as early as she could bear Monday morning. She’d already taken the day off work – no Quidditch news is going to come in, Weston, you know as well as I – and had packed her bag the night before. The last thing she wanted was to be bogged down by unnecessaries. A notebook, a quill, her wand, a bag of floo powder, a granola bar, her press badge. When she dressed, she did so without any of her usual prints or patterns, opting instead for a sleek, all-black look. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself. No more than necessary, at least.

She’d arrived at Diagon Alley about an hour before the event was set to start. She wasn’t the only one with the idea - there had been a few people milling about. Dorothy had tried to commit each face to memory, wondering if this witch or that wizard was the one responsible for organizing the event. The line had moved slowly, but eventually, Dorothy had been allowed inside. She’d placed her jacket and bag on the seat next to her, hoping to reserve it for a friendly face. She slid her wand out of her bag, resting it in her lap. She covered it with her notebook and her transfigured quill-turned-ballpoint. She took in a deep breath, trying to sooth her frayed nerves – but whatever peace she’d managed to create for herself quickly dissipated when a shadow loomed over her. She jumped, slightly, glancing up.

“Sorry. You startled me.”

.

Adonis, as usual, was running late—with three children, he was always bound to be running late because of at least one of them. More often than not, it was all three of them causing problems, and that had been the case that morning. Once he had finally gotten Gideon and Fabian to get dressed for the day and calmed down a crying Molly who had lost a stuffed rabbit under her bed, he was already way later than he had told Dorothy he would be there. When he arrived, he was flustered, his bag packed not only with what he would need for reporting that day, but a couple of the kids’ toys, some of their snacks, and a blanky he would have to return to Molly unscathed, lest he face her tiny-yet-formidable form of wrath. He was sure she had learned that from Augusta. 

He dropped into the seat next to Dorothy with a huff of breath and he shot her a grin. “Sorry, love,” he said, leaning over and giving her a breezy kiss on the cheek hello before turning his attention back to the stage below them. “Has anything happened yet?” he asked, taking out a notepad and pen to jot down a few beginning notes about how the crowd looked and the set up of the arena. “I can’t believe they set this up in such a short amount of time,” he said, looking around. “I mean, it’s easy enough with magic, but it’s curious how quickly it came up without any of us really paying attention to it.” Adonis made a mental note to start paying more attention to his surroundings. 

。·:✧:· ON HER WAY to pick up a few supplies to make one of her favorite lotions, Kenzie noticed quite a few whispers through Diagon Alley. She hadn’t paid enough attention to much, but she blamed that on the fact that she was stuck in a hospital during most of the exciting events in the world. There was something suspicious going on and something that she hoped wouldn’t make a mess of things. She stepped into the Apothecary, purchasing the potions she’d needed, and slipped into Flourish and Blotts for the newest book on creating items for the body. Her hands desperately needed it. 

With the weather surprisingly wonderful to her, she found herself sitting on a bench. She’d tried not to pay attention to the person sitting next to her, but she couldn’t help the curiosity inside her. It wasn’t the time to just sit and relax, but Kenzie wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what the fliers really said or what everyone thought the plan was. She could barely get through her book before she started stressing. Pulling her knees up to her chest, Kenzie took a deep breath and just watched everyone, hoping they’d make her feel a bit better or at least a little more calm.

.

Adonis didn’t notice the woman sitting next to him at first, but when he looked up to get another glance at the crowd, he realized with a start that there was someone else on the bench. He paused, brow furrowed, as if he wasn’t sure what she was doing there before he got his wits about him and he seemed to snap out of his trance. Whatever it was that was spooking her—most likely the fliers, though of course, he could never be certain of what was on someone else’s mind—seemed to have been stressing her badly. Thankfully, Donny had been in this situation enough times to know how to deal with it, and he leaned over to look at her a little more directly. 

“Hey. Are you all right?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “I mean, not that you have to tell me anything, but...I don’t know, maybe I can help.” Donny was always looking for ways to help others. After growing up in a house full of coldness and cruelty, the last thing he would want would be to give that same cruelty back to the world. He had grown up soft, and kind, and that had made him an easy target. For a long time, he hated that part of himself, but now, he saw it as an asset, especially in times like this.

Dorothy’s face bloomed into a smile when Donny took the coffee from her, a laugh escaping her as she watched him drink from the cup. The laugh quickly died down when he pointed out the auror down the street and mentioned the duel. “Good for Patil,” she muttered, her eyes focusedon the auror, wondering if she knew their name. She didn’t envy them - not ever, really, but especially not now, when the tensions were only going torise. She took a drink from her own coffee, her gaze moving along the street, taking in the fliers strewn all over the uneven cobblestones. Gripping her coffee tighter, she turned to her friend, watching as he flipped through his notes.

“No one’s figured out who posted it yet?” She couldn’t stop the surprise from coloring her voice. Worry twisted in her stomach, a sinking stone she was sure would only grow heavier. When Adonis pulled the flier out, she couldn’t help herself – she reached over, trying to pluck it out of his hands to get a better look. “Intention’s never really affected impact before,” she replied, staring at the lettering, the moving photo, even the paper it was printed on. Lifting her gaze, she gave her friend a small grin. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m sure Weston’s going to give the actual assignment to someone else, but I figure if I write a good enough mock-up, he’ll have to give me something new, soon.” She hoped her voice sounded more confident than she felt. The editor of the Daily Prophet wasn’t exactly her biggest fan. Still, she tried to hold on to her optimism. “You can tell Ewan you won’t be going alone. I’ll have my nastiest hex atthe ready for anyone who tries anything.”

He held his coffee cup in two hands, watching the goings on with a sort of mild curiosity. He had figured out what he wanted to write, and now all he had to do was write the damn column, which always ended up being the hardest part. He was nitpicky in the worst kind of way sometimes—it was good when he was giving critique on other people’s work, but he’d pore over his own work for hours and hours, unwilling to let it go until it was exactly how he wanted it. “From what I hear, he seems justified,” Donny replied. “But I don’t know all the details. And I doubt the aurors are going to give anything up. Might have to go straight to the source on this one.”