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Chapter Text

A Muggle at Hogwarts. A Muggle at Hogwarts.

The headline was technically incorrect, but there was no doubt in any of their minds as to whom it referred to.

And besides, to certain members of the wizarding community, it made no difference whether Mabel was a Muggle or a Squib. These members were small in number, thankfully, but increasingly vocal.

Virgil already knew they were having a field day with this. A part of him gained a fierce satisfaction at the thought of their fury at a 'Muggle' preteen or teenager managing to get one over on them. Someone they thought was lesser outsmarting them.

Perhaps if he did not know the identity of the person involved, he would continue to think that way. But he knew Mabel, and he knew they were going to try to find Mabel. Who knew what they would do if they found her? Who knew what would happen to the triplets if they were discovered helping her? Professor Picani?

Strangely, Virgil was less concerned about where he factored into this. He knew that he, Patton, Logan, Roman, and Dee were in danger - This could be traced back to them too, as they not only knew what was happening but offered assistance. That said, Virgil was willing to face the consequences. He knew what they were doing was right.

But Mabel was an eleven year old who only wanted to experience the same wonderful things her older siblings did, and who could blame her for that? Who could blame her brothers and sister for doing everything in their power to give that to her?

This wasn't even a matter of the Statute of Secrecy. Even if Mabel was a Muggle, the fact that she knew enough about Hogwarts to get there implied that it wasn't a matter of secrecy. It was a matter of Mabel not being 'worthy' enough.

Was magic entirely off limits to Squibs? Should it be? There were certain subjects that required little in the way of actual wandwork, such as Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. Even things like Astronomy, History of Magic, Arithmancy...

Honestly, there were fewer subjects at Hogwarts that required wandwork than there were that did not.

So why weren't Squibs allowed to attend under a modified schedule? Perhaps then, Squibs would feel less trapped on the cusp of two worlds that did not seem to want them. Perhaps then, Conor O'Farrell could have shared the world that should have been his daughter's as well, and wouldn't have felt as though he had to keep it secret for the rest of his life to spare her feelings.

The wizarding world really needed to get its shit together.

--------------------------

"I suppose we ought to be glad that neither of us attended Hogwarts," Delilah remarked as she stared at the cover to the latest issue of The Daily Prophet.

"Speak for yourself, I would have loved to step foot in Hogwarts...if only to see how long it would take for them to kick me out," Remus snickered.

"There is a Muggle there. A literal Muggle," Delilah scoffed.

Remus stopped snickering at once. "Wait, really?"

"Yes! Just when I thought Hogwarts could sink no lower..." Delilah made a face of disgust.

Remus, on the other hand, began to laugh. "That's hilarious!"

Delilah stared at Remus in surprise. "A Muggle at Hogwarts is hilarious? Might as well open Hogwarts to all of the UK at this rate. Bad enough they allow Mudbloods; I would have thought the next step would be Squibs at least. Pretty soon wizard blood will be so diluted that wizards will die out completely," she scoffed.

Remus let a snort. "Oh believe me, I'm not on the side of any Mudbloods or Muggles or Squibs here. I just think it's hilarious! You'd really think the largest wizarding school in the UK would have better security."

"Clearly not," Delilah scrunched up her nose and set the paper down.

Remus grinned. "I bet they're running around Hogwarts like chickens with their heads cut off trying to find the little bugger that snuck in! Did you know that there was a chicken that survived for eighteen months after his head was cut off? His name was Mike! I wonder if a human could live for that long without a head? It would probably take a little magic, but I think we could-"

"We're not cutting off anyone's head so you can experiment on them," Delilah huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

Remus deflated. "Awww, you're no fun. I mean, wouldn't a head make a great horcrux?"

Delilah let out a snort. They'd learned a lot during their lessons with Dalibor, but they had yet to even touch on horcruxes. Delilah suspected it was coming, though; they put a lot of focus on blood magic as of late.

Dalibor continued to promise them that his best lessons yet were coming, and that they would be positively breathtaking.

Delilah could only hope that he did not mean that literally.

"I wonder if I could cut off my own head and turn it into a horcrux?" Remus blurted out.

Delilah let out a long, exasperated sigh. Only Remus...

Chapter Text

The latest Daily Prophet headline put a damper on a number of their plans.

"We can't send them your letter. It's too risky," Virgil insisted. As eager as they were to share what they discovered about Patton's family history, it was much too dangerous. Virgil wouldn't be surprised if they were intercepting and reading any mail that came to Hogwarts.

"I can't stop sending them mail entirely!" Patton frowned.

"You don't have to stop sending mail entirely," Logan responded. "You just have to be careful what you say. Perhaps you could have one of us read over your letters before you send them just to make certain that you do not include anything potentially incriminating?"

"Maybe," Patton sighed. "I'm just so scared for them, and...and I want them to know that I'm there for them."

"And doing that requires mentioning why you're there for them?" Dee asked.

Patton's eyes went wide. "You're right! I can still show them my support, even if I don't say what it's for."

"Indeed, I believe your siblings are smart enough to work that out on their own," Roman agreed. "They know we're out here rooting for them and doing everything we can to help."

"We just don't want the wrong people to make that same realization," Virgil noted.

"There actually may be a way that we can communicate to them everything we wish to communicate," Logan mused.

"...you were the one that suggested we double check Patton's letters to make sure that he doesn't include anything incriminating in them," Roman frowned.

"He won't include anything incriminating," Logan retorted.

Dee's eyes went wide, and an amused grin crossed his features. "You're going to give them a letter with absolutely nothing of import inside of it."

Logan nodded. "Precisely."

-----------------------

August, Seth, Toby, and Mabel were understandably on edge.

They had Professor Picani helping them, but that only went so far. They could not risk spending too much time with Professor Picani outside of class, at least not all at once, or people might get suspicious. But Mabel still needed Polyjuice to maintain her disguise, which meant that they still had to meet with Professor Picani occasionally.

"What do you think they'll do? You know they're going to try to find the mystery Muggle," August frowned. He and Seth were alone in their dorm, and August already enchanted the door to ensure that no one could overhear what that were saying. It was one of the few times that they could actually talk freely without a risk of being overheard.

"Maybe they'll test us? See if we can cast a spell?" Seth suggested.

"Mabel's as good as doomed if they try that. You know she can't cast a spell," August sighed.

"Maybe not in the traditional way, but I'm sure we can figure out something," Seth stroked his chin. "Is there any way that one of us could cast a spell and make it look as though the spell is coming from Mabel's wand?"

August gasped. "That's a brilliant idea!"

"...it is?" Seth arched an eyebrow skeptically. "Cause I was just toasing out ideas."

"Even more brilliant, then!" August grinned. "You're definitely on to something. We can cast the spell for Mabel!"

"...yeah, but I only got so far as suggesting that. I'm not sure how we'd actually go about doing it," Seth sighed.

"It's a good thing I'm here then, isn't it?" August smirked.

"...you have an idea?" Seth blinked in surprise.

"Yup. Mabel takes the Polyjuice to impersonate Junie, right?" August asked.

Seth nodded in response. Then his eyes slowly began to widen as he realized where August was going with this. "You're saying that we should pose as Junie if it comes to that."

"Exactly!" August grinned.

"You know...that might actually work. It's probably the best option we got," Seth admitted.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," August sighed.

If only they could talk to Patton and his friends about this without worrying that that would land all of them in trouble. They could certainly use the support right about now.

Chapter Text

It used to be only Logan and Dee who would read the Daily Prophet on a regular basis. But now, Patton was frequently the first to fetch the paper when it arrived. He'd then set to work poring over the contents, not wanting to miss anything. He was worried about his siblings and Virgil and the others knew it. Even during the rare occasions where one of the others picked up the paper from the owl first, they would immediately turn the paper over to Patton so that he could flip through it.

None of them asked questions. They didn't need to.

One day, however, Virgil was listening to music when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced to his left just in time to see Patton throw down the latest issue of the Daily Prophet and let out a great sigh.

Virgil slipped his headphones off of his ears. He chewed on his lip, contemplating if he ought to say something. He didn't want to make the situation worse, after all.

"The fact that the Daily Prophet hasn't said anything about Hogwarts is a good thing, right?" Patton asked.

Virgil shrugged, unsure of what to say to that. 

"If something bad happened, they would have reported on it. It probably would have been front page news. But they haven't reported anything, and surely that must mean that nothing else has happened...right?" Patton continued, worry evident throughout his tone.

Virgil could think of a few reasons why they wouldn't have reported on it. The first article likely didn't reflect well on Hogwarts. That meant that even if something did happen at Hogwarts, Hogwarts might have tried to cover it up so that it didn't hit the media.

Patton let out a shaky sigh. "I haven't heard anything back from the kiddos either. I...I sent that letter a couple of days ago. Did they not get the letter? Did someone read it and figure everything out?"

"Has it been a couple of days already?" Virgil asked in surprise.

Patton nodded. "I'm just...I'm scared. It's all so much, and I just want my brothers and sisters to be safe! But I haven't heard anything, so that has to mean that they're safe, right? I would have heard something if they weren't!"

Again, Virgil could think of several scenarios in which they would not be safe, but he was also well aware of the fact that divulging his own theories to Patton would not help Patton feel better in the least. So he kept silent, knowing that it was better to do so for Patton's sake, even if his own mind continued to race. He suspected that Patton, too, had lingering doubts, but it wouldn't do any good to feed into those. Instead, he put his arms around his best friend, trying his best to offer comfort.

And for what it was worth, he did feel some of Patton's tension melt away at the close content. 

-------------------------

Toby came running up to August and Seth after class, waving an envelope in his hands. 

"What's that?" Seth asked.

"A letter from Patton!" Toby announced, a huge grin on his face.

"About time he wrote to us," August huffed, sounding a bit bitter.

Seth, on the other hand, was eyeing the envelope. "You couldn't have waited until you got to us before opening it?"

"Oh, this?" Toby asked, pointing to the rips at the top of the envelope that clearly displayed that the envelope was already opened. "I didn't do that. I haven't even looked at the letter yet."

The triplets fell silent. It didn't take long for the three to work out the reason why it looked as though someone had already read the envelope.

"They're reading our mail," August scowled. "What gives them the right to-"

"They want to make sure there's nothing incriminating in our letters," Toby realized. "They're reading our letters to make sure that we're not the ones who snuck in the Muggle!"

Of course, the three did sneak in the 'Muggle', but none of them were about to admit that out loud, not when anyone could be in earshot. 

"Is it only our letters that they're reading through, or everybody's?" Seth frowned.

"What difference does it make? They're still invading our privacy!" Toby huffed.

"It makes a difference because if they're reading everyone's mail, they're just being overly paranoid. If they're only reading ours, they're likely doing it because we're Muggleborn," Seth explained.

"...they're singling Muggleborns out again, you mean," August narrowed his eyes, his hands clutching his crutches extra tightly. "Like they always do."

It meant that August, Seth, and Toby would have to be even more careful than they already were.

"Should we read the letter?" Seth asked feebly.

Toby shook his head. "Not yet. This letter is addressed to all of us. That includes Junie."

Which of course meant Mabel, but they couldn't say that out loud. The trio went to fetch 'Junie' from her Potions class, which was just letting out, quickly letting her in on the fact that they received a letter from Patton.

They decided to leave out the bit about the letter being opened and read by school administrators beforehand, however. That was enough for them to deal with, let alone their preteen sister.

Then and only then did they finally open the letter.

Hey guys!

I'm sorry I didn't write to you for so long. Roman and I are still getting used to our new home with Virgil, Logan, and Adam! There's a lot more to owning a home than you'd think - but don't worry, I can help you guys out with it once you're old enough to move out on your own! 

I hope Hogwarts is treating you guys well. You guys are coming home for Christmas, right? Hope to see you then! And August, good luck at your next Quidditch match! 

Love, Patton.

Oh, P.S. August, I have that list of old Irish Quidditch players that you asked me about! Keep at it, and you could be joining their ranks some time in the future!

The four siblings smiled fondly after reading the letter. It was good to hear from Patton, and Patton mentioned absolutely nothing incriminating. They didn't expect him to - their older brother could be a bit silly sometimes, but he wasn't stupid - but they could not help but worry that something in the letter might be taken the wrong way.

Then again, if it could have been taken the wrong way, the letter wouldn't have gotten to them in the first place, would it? If there was anything incriminating, they would have been brought into the Headmistress' office and questioned.

There was one thing odd about the letter though, aside from the fact that it was opened prior to their receipt of the letter. There was no mistaking the brief flash of confusion that crossed August's features when he read about the list of Irish Quidditch players.

It was enough for Seth and Toby, at least, to recognize that August did not ask about Irish Quidditch players.

So why did Patton include them?

A quick glance through the list provided a start to an answer to that question, at least.

There, halfway down the list, was a name that the four recognized, albeit distantly.

Conor O'Farrell - Kenmare Kestrals (1967-1971); Irish National Quidditch Team (1971-1974)

Chapter Text

"Do you think it was enough?" Patton asked after dinner the day after his conversation with Virgil. "Sending them that list of Irish Quidditch players, I mean?"

"It was quite clever on your part, Patton," Logan assured him.

"But was it enough?" Patton persisted.

"Its the best that we could offer them without risking everything," Roman reasoned.

'Without risking everything'. That was the most important part, and Virgil knew that Patton's worries were not solely focused on whether or not the triplets and Mabel comprehended the hidden message that they were trying to send.

No, he worried that someone else might decipher it, and Virgil honestly couldn't blame him.

There was plenty of room for plausible deniability, of course. They sent August a list of Irish Quidditch players. August, a boy of Irish descent who also happened to play for his house's Quidditch team. It was entirely reasonable to believe that August might make such a request.

It wasn't as if they circled Conor O'Farrell's name with red ink and drew a bunch of arrows pointing to it.

Virgil honestly doubted that anyone at Hogwarts would recognize that Conor O'Farrell was in any way related to the triplets or Mabel. O'Farrell was their mother's maiden name, and as Patton and vis siblings were presumed to be Muggleborns, there would be no reason to look deeper into Patton's family's history aside from the initial introduction to Patton's parents when Patton received his Hogwarts letter.

Virgil, like Patton, had to keep reminding himself of this, because the 'what ifs' continued to buzz around their heads like an irksome fly.

"Everything is going to be fine," Dee told him. "You'll see."

Roman frowned. "You're lying. There's no way you could know that."

Dee shrugged in response to Roman's assessment, turning to Patton. "But that's what you want to hear, isn't it?"

It was, of course. Patton let out a shaky sigh. "It is what I want to hear, but I don't want it to be a lie."

"Who said it was a lie?" Dee asked.

"Roman did," Logan replied.

Dee arched an eyebrow at Logan.

"...oh, you meant it in a rhetorical fashion," Logan realized. "Carry on."

Dee did just that. "How can it be a lie when we don't know what the truth is?"

Patton frowned as he considered what Dee was saying. "I don't know if that makes me feel better," he admitted slowly. "But it does give me some hope, so...thanks, Dee."

Dee waved his hand. "It was nothing," he assured Patton. But he had the slightest of fond smiles on his face as he did so.

------------------------

August, Seth, Toby, and Mabel were reeling.

That being said, as much as they wanted to discuss the matter, they did not feel safe doing so out in the open.

Fortunately, they had a solution.

Toby waited for Astrit after class one day. Astrit was surprised to find Toby there, though pleased. Out of all of the triplets, Astrit was closest to Toby. After all, they, along with Virgil, kept vigil in Professor Picani's office during the Fiendfyre Attack in Hogsmeade the year before.

"Where did you say that classroom was that you guys used to hang out in with my brother?" Toby asked him once the halls cleared out some, and it was less likely that they would be overheard.

"Fourth floor, near the staircase. Why?" Astrit wondered.

"Oh, just need to discuss holiday plans with the rest of the family," Toby responded. He then lowered his voice. "You're welcome to come too if you want."

Astrit knew then that the 'holiday plan' bit was a cover story. Astrit did not need to sit in on Patton's sibling's holiday plans, nor did he, as a Muslim, celebrate Christmas.

Which meant that it was something else of import, something that they did not mind informing Astrit of, and Astrit resolved at that very moment to carve out a spot in his schedule to head to the old room on the fourth floor.

It was almost like old times.

------------------------

By the time Astrit arrived, Toby and Mabel were already there.

Toby glanced up, giving a slight wave. Junie smiled shyly. Odd - he recalled Junie being quite outgoing during the prior year at Hogwarts and at Patton and Roman's wedding.

"Glad you could make it," Toby told him.

"Me too," Astrit admitted.

"We're just waiting for August and Seth," Toby told him, folding his arms in front of him on the desk and resting his head on them. "Shouldn't be too much longer now. Seth is doing homework and August is finishing up Quidditch practice."

True to Toby's word, Seth and August joined them not much later. The two took their seats, August balancing his crutches against the wall next to where he sat. Toby rose to his feet and pointed at the door. "Muffliato," he murmured. He did this with not only the door, but each of the four walls of the room, the ceiling, and the floor.

He then turned his attention back to Astrit.

"How much do you know of the Muggle situation?" Toby asked.

Astrit blinked in surprise. Of all of the questions he was expecting, that was probably one of the last on the list.

Toby nodded. "I expected as much."

"It's us," August blurted out. "We did it."

"Damn, and I was going to have him try to guess," Seth snorted.

"You...you lot did this?" Astrit's eyes went wide.

"Yup!" August replied cheerily.

"And you're not going to tell anyone, right?" Toby held his wand up threateningly. "I know the memory erasing charm and though I've never cast it, I'm willing to give it a try."

Astrit held his hands up at once. "I'm not going to tell anyone!" That would be super hypocritical after everything with Dee last year, Astrit thought to himself.

Toby nodded, satisfied, and set his wand back down.

"So who did you sneak in, and how?" Astrit inquired.

"Polyjuice Potion," Seth responded. Astrit sensed a barely concealed duh in his voice, and had to resist the urge to chuckle.

"And they snuck me in," Junie spoke up in a quiet tone. Again, not what he would expect from...

"You're not Junie," Astrit realized.

"No, that's Mabel," Seth confirmed.

"....holy crap, and I thought it was impressive when we pulled it off last year," Astrit murmured.

"...when you what now?" Toby arched an eyebrow.

"Last year?" August joined his brother.

"Looks like we all have some news to share," Seth smirked.

Chapter Text

Virgil noticed that Logan seemed rather preoccupied as of late with what he described as a 'pet project', and Virgil could not help but wonder what it was.

"Maybe he's making new pet beds for all of our animals!" Patton suggested cheerfully.

"Pat, honey, I don't think that's what he means by 'pet project'," Roman chuckled.

The mischievous smile that Patton returned to his husband told Virgil that Patton knew this all along, he just wanted to have a little fun with the phrasing.

And he suspected that Roman knew as well.

He still wondered what Logan's project was really all about, though.

He happened upon the answer quite accidentally.

He headed into the room he shared with Logan to grab his phone when he saw a package sitting atop the dresser. It was wrapped up tightly, and Virgil could not help but chuckle as he typed a teasing remark into his phone. "Logan, you should know better than to leave my Christmas gift lying around."

"Hmmm?" Logan poked his head into the room just in time to see Virgil reaching for the package.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" Logan screamed, his voice cracking slightly from the force.

Virgil jumped back so violently that he nearly fell over backward. He shot a bewildered glance at Logan. He did not need to type 'what the hell?!', as his expression conveyed it well enough on its own.

"Apologies, I did not mean to startle you," Thankfully, Logan at least had the decency to apologize for scaring Virgil half to death. "That being said, if you were to know what was in that package, I assure you that you would be immensely grateful."

"The hell, Logan? You making a horcrux or something?" Virgil asked through his phone. The tone was as even as always, but Virgil had an incredulous expression on his face.

Incredulousness that turned to horror when Logan blanched. "No..." Virgil blurted out, forgetting that Logan would not be able to understand him. He gazed from Logan to the package, then to Logan once more.

Logan's eyes went wide as he worked out the conclusion that Virgil jumped to in his moment's pause. "No, Virgil, its not a horcrux...I don't believe."

Virgil let out a sigh of relief, only to fret once more at the words 'I don't believe'. "What do you mean you don't believe?"

"I've been researching the bracelet that Roman gave to Patton," Logan admitted.

Virgil's attention turned from Logan to the package. He ground his teeth together, narrowing his eyes. "How do we destroy it?"

"That is one of the things that I am looking into," Logan noted. "That said, in order to work out how to destroy it, I have to work out what it is first, lest we set off its defenses."

"Can't you do that with it in the drawer? Where someone can't accidentally touch it?" Virgil's heart was still pounding. He didn't even like standing within proximity of the bracelet. Even worse, he kept having thoughts of reaching out to grab the bracelet, and he couldn't even tell if they were his usual intrusive thoughts or whether they were influenced by the bracelet.

He kept his hands balled into fists either way, with the exception of the times that he had to use his fingers to type his responses. He couldn't very well grab anything if his fingers weren't free to grasp it.

"Admittedly, the bracelet does possess some qualities consistent with a horcrux," Logan remarked, drawing Virgil from his thoughts. "Its profound impact on those who wear it being the most prominent, though the powerful magic that it is clearly imbued with certainly fits the bill as well."

...but Logan said that he wasn't sure that it was a horcrux, which had to mean that it wasn't a perfect match. Virgil tried to focus on that, rather than the similarities they did possess.

"That being said, if it were a horcrux, I would have expected it to exert a much greater influence over Patton," Logan noted.

Virgil let out a derisive snort at that. The bracelet's effects convinced Patton that he was dangerous enough that he ought not to be around others. Yet Logan dared to claim that the bracelet did not exert a great influence over Patton.

Logan seemed to recognize his error upon observing Virgil's reaction. "I do not mean to suggest that the bracelet did not have a profound effect on Patton. That being said, the effects this bracelet had on Patton are undoubtedly different than the effect that Dalibor's horcrux had on yourself, or on Astrit. Patton showed no evidence of possession at any point."

A fair point, but Virgil still did not trust the bracelet any farther than he could throw it. And as he refused to touch the thing, he couldn't throw it at all.

"The bracelet seems to operate through illusory magic. Unfortunately, I still have yet to determine what spells and/or potions were used, which means that we are still unable to destroy it. And as I certainly do not want this item to fall into the wrong hands..." Logan trailed off, gazing at the bracelet once mote.

"We have to keep it until we can figure out how to destroy it, don't we?" Virgil typed, letting out a heavy sigh as he pressed play.

Logan nodded.

Chapter Text

Virgil decided against telling the others what Logan was working on.

He felt bad for doing so, but Patton and Roman suffered so much because of this bracelet, and he shuddered to think of how they might react if they discovered that the offending object was being kept in their very home.

He considered telling Dee, but decided against it. Dee might not have suffered as greatly because of the bracelet, but it didn't feel right telling Dee while keeping Roman and Patton in the dark. Dee was his brother, but Roman and Patton were two of his best friends.

None of this felt right, if Virgil had to be honest. He knew why Logan was doing what he was doing, and he respected that.

Back in their Hogwarts days, Logan shared with Virgil the works of a Muggle author and poet by the name of Edgar Allen Poe. Virgil immediately found that he enjoyed many of these works, some of them even reminding him of The Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

There was one story by Poe that involved a man killing another man and dismembering him, hiding him under the floorboards. The man was haunted by a vague thumping noise, implied within the narrative to be the beating heart of the man that he killed.

Virgil was as haunted by the bracelet within Logan's drawer as the man in the story was about the telltale heart, though Virgil at least recognized that the thumping sound he heard was his own racing heart.

Not that this helped much.

------------------------

"Holy crapbaskets, you snuck a wanted fugitive into Hogwarts? And they're giving us grief about our Muggle sister?" Toby gaped after Astrit explained everything that happened with Dee/Adam the year before.

"To be fair, no one ever figured out the deal with Dee," Astrit admitted. "I'm still not sure how word got out about Mabel but someone has information that they shouldn't be privy to, and if it's none of us...we should probably figure out who it is."

"We?" August blinked in surprise.

"Unless you'd rather I not get involved," Astrit quickly amended.

"No, I mean...we don't mind you getting involved! The more the merrier!" August blurted out. "It's just...it's mainly us working on this now, since we can't really communicate with anyone outside of Hogwarts in great detail."

"They're opening our mail and reading it," Seth explained.

"If it helps any, they might be wrong about Mabel's blood status?" Toby pointed out.

And there it was - they were back to the reason they were meeting in this room in the first place.

August and Seth nodded in agreement.

"Wrong about my blood status?" Mabel piped up, her eyes going wide. "What does that mean? Am I a witch after all?"

"Not exactly?" Seth replied.

"Then what do you mean?" Mabel seemed to deflate in response.

The triplets exchanged glances. "Mabel, do you recognize the name Conor O'Farrell?"

Mabel nodded. "He's from the Irish Quidditch Team list. What's he got to do with anything?"

Of course Mabel wouldn't remember much about Grampy. She was a baby when he passed. Even the triplets were young, but they were at least old enough to have a few scattered memories of the man.

"I know you don't really remember Grampy, but do you remember what his name was?" Seth pressed her.

"Of course, he's Grampy Co...oh," Mabel gasped. "Is Conor O'Farrell Grampy?"

August nodded.

Mabel frowned. "So Grampy was a wizard. Does that mean that mum was a witch and never told us?"

Toby shook his head. "I don't think so. I think we have to ask them over the holidays to make sure, but I don't think mum would have kept being a witch from us when she found out we had magic. The only explanation is that mum didn't have magic."

"Mum was like me," Mabel realized.

"...yes," August admitted.

"We're both Squibs," Mabel deduced.

"...you know what a Squib is?" Seth blinked in surprise.

"Course I do. I looked for any sort of explanation I could find for...for not being like you," Mabel confessed.

"Did being a Squib ever cross your mind?" Toby asked.

Mabel shook her head. "Nope, cause I thought everyone in our family other than you guys were Muggles."

Toby frowned. Had they made a mistake telling Mabel? Was this just going to make her feel worse about the arrangement?

The corners of Mabel's mouth twitched upward. "Well that means the rumors aren't about me then, doesn't it?"

August's eyes went wide. "Mabel, I'm not...who else would they be about?"

"Oh, I know they were supposed to be about me," Mabel giggled. "But they were wrong about me being a Muggle! And if they're wrong about that, what's to say they aren't wrong about everything else?"

It took Toby a minute to realize what Mabel was saying, at which point his eyes went wide. They could work with this, and Mabel realized it before any of the rest of them did. They could be interrogated. Hell, they could be given Veritaserum, and if they were asked if they knew anything about the Muggle snuck into Hogwarts, they could truthfully tell whoever was asking that they hadn't.

Because they didn't. Mabel was not a Muggle. Mabel was a Squib.

When the triplets wrote back to Patton, August was certain to pen a thank you to Patton, for going through all of his hard work to give August what he asked for.

He might not have asked for a list of Quidditch players, but he did want answers. And he certainly got them.

Chapter Text

What was he going to do, tell his boyfriend that his 'pet project' was screwing with his brain?

...Logan would probably listen, but Logan also had a point in that they needed to work out what was going on with this bracelet in order to properly destroy it. They couldn't allow it to fall into someone else's hands. 

But Virgil was having so many nightmares as of late, and he could not help but suspect that his close proximity to the bracelet was to blame.

That was a trait indicative of a horcrux though, and they already established that the bracelet was not a horcrux.

...hadn't they?

Virgil's stomach lurched at the thought of Logan messing around with a horcrux. He glanced over at Logan's side of the bed. Logan was gone, as he had an early shift at the planetarium, and the fact that Virgil was alone in a room with a cursed bracelet was not doing wonders for his mental state. He sighed and rose to his feet. He wrapped a sheet around himself and made his way to the living room.

Thankfully, the living room was still dark, and everyone else was still asleep as he curled up on the couch, screwing his eyes closed and tossing the sheet over his head.

It wasn't easy for him to fall asleep in a place that was not his bed, but the lack of light helped, as did the lack of noise, and he eventually drifted off.

"Time to get up, Virgil! Oh wait, you can't!" a voice taunted him.

Virgil's eyes shot open, only to find Logan standing over him with an uncharacteristically leering expression.

"Lo?" he murmured before stopping himself, realizing that Logan wouldn't be able to understand him anyway.

"Oh good, you're awake! I was hoping you wouldn't miss the show!" Logan called out.

The show? Virgil tried to sit up, only to realize that he was restrained. He was tied down to the couch. Virgil gasped as panic immediately began to well up within him, and he fought against his restraints.

Why was he restrained? Why was Logan acting so weird? What was happening?

Logan seemed to have read his mind, as he turned to Virgil with a beaming grin. "You must be wondering why I brought you here today. I needed a captive audience for what I'm about to do! Emphasis on captive," he chuckled darkly.

Even if Virgil could speak in a matter that would be readily understood, he would be at a loss for words.

"I mean for one, you're probably wondering why your lover boy is acting so strange, right?" Logan asked.

Virgil managed a nod, though he wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer.

"SURPRISE! Your dear Logie was wrong!" Logan gestured to the bracelet around his wrist, and Virgil realized with horror that the bracelet was the same bracelet that Logan was working with. It didn't take him long to jump to another conclusion, aided by the fact that the way Logan was behaving was disturbing familiar, and the fact that Logan was referring to himself in the third person, as if this wasn't Logan at all, as if...

"Figured it out, did ya?" "Logan" snickered. "But wait, there's more!" he announced in a singsong voice. That all but confirmed it. Remus. It had to be Remus.

How could there possibly be more?

"Surely you must have figured it out by now?" Remus tilted his head slightly. He retrieved an item from his pocket, a hauntingly familiar item. Virgil's entire body tensed up at once.

He knew that necklace.

"But...but Dalibor is back, there's no way that he could...the necklace should be..." Virgil stared at the necklace in abject terror.

"Oh come on, just because Dalibor's back does not mean that his horcrux ceases its effects! Horcruxes still work even when their owners are still alive! How else do you think they make them?" Remus snickered. "Now hold still..."

Remus went to lower the necklace around Virgil's neck as Virgil frantically fought against his restraints, which seemed to tighten the harder he fought. Logan's features blurred until they were something of a halfway mark between Logan and Remus. Remus' laughter became increasingly discordant as even the light in the room surrounding them seemed to warp. The necklace grew closer and closer...

Virgil's eyes flew open, his heart racing. He let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he'd been within the throes of a nightmare.

He gasped once more when he spotted someone staring at him. His mind immediately went to the weird amalgamation of Remus and Logan in his nightmare and he immediately tried to back as far away from the person as possible.

"You look like you had a restful night," a sardonic voice observed. There was no mistaking who that voice belonged to. Virgil managed to steel himself enough to nod in response to his brother.

Dee let out a snort. "So you would tell me if anything was bothering you, correct?"

Once again, Virgil nodded.

Dee nodded in return, seeming to consider Virgil's response. "So you wouldn't hide anything from me, would you?"

Virgil shook his head, though there was no way that he could hide his increasing discomfort, not entirely at least.

Dee let out a scoff. "You know, some might say that it takes a liar to know a liar..." the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a smirk. "Though surely such a saying does not apply to my baby brother?"

Chapter Text

There was no mistaking it - Dee was trying to call Virgil out. He felt as if he were under a spotlight, and the way that Dee continued to stare at him expectantly didn't help.

Especially since Dee wasn't wrong, and of course Dee would be the first to notice that Virgil was hiding something.

It takes a liar to know a liar.

Virgil let out a shaky sigh. Dee made a motion with his hands as if to tell Virgil to go on and say what he needed to say. "Well?"

Virgil retrieved his phone from the table next to him and, with some hesitance, managed to type out his response. "I had a nightmare."

"Never would have guessed. The thrashing about in your sleep didn't give that away at all," Dee noted.

Virgil arched an eyebrow at his brother. If Dee knew that he was having a nightmare, why did he insist on making Virgil say as much?

...he hadn't. Dee never told Virgil specifically what he wanted to hear, he merely called Virgil out on keeping a secret. It was Virgil who jumped to the next conclusion, that Dee wanted to hear exactly what was going on.

Dee wasn't calling Virgil out on keeping a secret. Dee was calling Virgil out on the fact that he actually wanted to divulge the secret that was eating him alive. The fact that he'd had this nightmare out in the living room, which wasn't even on the same floor as the bracelet, proved this. It wasn't the bracelet that was generating these feelings in Virgil, at least not directly. It was his own fears about the bracelet.

Virgil wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse, but it did at least provide some answers.

"What were you dreaming about?" Dee prompted him.

"I dreamt that Logan was possessed by Remus," Virgil admitted.

"And why would you dream about something like that?" Dee pressed. Virgil searched Dee's face, to see if Dee might already know...but Dee looked curious, as if he actually wanted to know the answer.

Virgil frowned as he stared down at his phone. Though this would be easier to type than to say out loud, it was still difficult to bring himself to admit to it. Was he betraying Logan's trust?

...did Logan actually tell him not to tell anyone else, or had Virgil simply jumped to the conclusion that he was not to tell anyone else about the bracelet? 

Was he putting too much thought into this?

"Logan has the bracelet," Virgil typed. He stared down at what he put into his phone, half tempted to erase it and throw his phone down. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thrusting the phone out toward Dee.

Dee grabbed it, and there was no turning back. Dee stared down at the words on the phone for a moment or so. Virgil bounced his leg up and down and eyed his brother warily, unsure of how he would respond to such an admission.

Dee let out a snort. "Is that all?"

Virgil blinked in surprise. He wasn't expecting that sort of reaction.

"I presume you mean the bracelet that Remus gifted Patton with as he was posing as Roman?" Dee wondered.

Virgil nodded.

"Why does that bother you so much?" Dee arched an eyebrow, handing Virgil's phone back to him.

Virgil was taken aback by Dee's question. Of all the questions he expected his brother to ask, that was decidedly not one of them. "Who are you, Professor Picani?"

Dee let out a snort. "Are you going to humor me, or...?"

Was he going to humor Dee? Dee was no Professor Picani, but...Virgil did want to get to the bottom of this. "You know what the bracelet did to Patton. Why wouldn't it bother me that that is in the same house?" Virgil typed.

Dee shrugged. "Would it bother you to the point of having nightmares about Logan, though? If that was truly the only thing bothering you, wouldn't you have nightmares about Patton?"

Virgil bristled at that. "Are you trying to say that I don't care about what happened to Patton?"

Dee held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. "Rawr, touchy touchy," he teased. "Did it sound like I was accusing you of that, or are you immediately jumping into defense mode because it's easier to do that than acknowledge how you really feel about this whole thing?"

...damn, Dee was good at this. 

Virgil blew air out of the side of his mouth, making his bangs flutter as he did so. "The longer we keep it in our house, the more I feel like we're inviting trouble. I just want to it destroyed, so we can wash our hands of it for good."

Too bad that was much easier said than done, or Logan would have done it already...

Chapter Text

"I apologize for this, I know that it makes you uncomfortable," Logan told Virgil that night.

Virgil's stomach lurched. How did Logan know? Did Dee tell him?

Yes, this project made Virgil uncomfortable, but he also recognized that it needed to be done. He never wanted Logan to learn how much it bothered him, because he didn't want Logan to feel guilty for doing something that was necessary.

"It's fine," Virgil said through his phone, adding a shrug to further drive his point home.

"Forgive me for my skepticism," Logan replied.

"Dee told you, didn't he?" Virgil guessed.

Logan frowned at that. "Your brother did not tell me anything. The fact that you have discussed this with Dee does lend credence to my suspicions, however."

Did...did Virgil just dig himself even deeper into a hole in his attempts to dig himself out of it?

What luck.

"I have noticed a marked increase in your anxiety since you came upon the bracelet," Logan continued.

"That obvious, huh?" Virgil replied.

Logan flashed him a sad smile.

"Would you like to assist me in my endeavors?" Logan asked.

Virgil's eyes went wide.

"I recognize that this question may sound strange, in light of how you feel about this bracelet, but..." Logan trailed off as he notices that Virgil was typing something into his phone.

"The sooner we figure out what we need to do to get rid of this bracelet the better," Virgil responded, a determined expression upon his face.

Logan nodded. "Precisely."

------------------------

Seth hated that he was so nervous about this.

It wasn't like Astrit was a complete stranger. Astrit was a wonderful source of help when it came to everything happening with Mabel. The extra years of schooling Astrit had under his belt, as well as the knowledge about how Seth's brother and his friends got away with something similar the previous year? Now that the triplets and Mabel could no longer speak freely with Patton and his friends out of fear that their letters would be read (which might not only land Seth and his siblings at Hogwarts in hot water, but Patton and his friends as well), Astrit's knowledge of what happened the year before provided them with invaluable information.

Now, Seth sought the older student's knowledge on an entirely different matter, and it was the very nature of this matter that had Seth so uneasy.

He suggested that Astrit meet him at the usual room on the fourth floor. It would be easier to talk there, with fewer interruptions.

When Astrit arrived, he blinked in surprise as he presumably realized that this wasn't a meeting concerning the situation with Mabel. Not when August, Toby, and Mabel weren't present.

Seth let out a shaky sigh. It was now or never. "You're the only one I can talk to at Hogwarts about this, and I thought you might..." Seth trailed off. This was even harder than he thought.

"You're looking for a magical solution to hormones, aren't you?" Astrit guessed.

Seth nodded. "It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to pack everything from home, and I figured that magic can do so much, surely there must be a potion or something..."

"So far, the only potion I've come across that offers those sorts of effects is Polyjuice Potion," Astrit admitted sadly.

Seth's stomach lurched. "But I don't want to...surely there must be another way!"

"I'm not saying there isn't," Astrit told him. "I'm just saying I haven't found it yet. Honestly...we might have to do this ourselves."

Chapter Text

Virgil honestly didn't expect Logan's suggestion to work as well as it did.

He did feel grateful that Logan wasn't upset with him over his discomfort, but he didn't realize how much comfort helping Logan with his endeavors to learn more about the bracelet so that they might destroy it would be.

It gave Virgil control over the situation that he did not have previously, and this helped him to feel less uneasy overall.

It didn't solve everything, of course. Virgil still hated the bracelet and everything that it stood for. He still felt uncomfortable with the fact that they had to keep it in their home out of fear that it might fall into the wrong hands otherwise. He wanted to destroy it, to rip apart the cursed object that nearly tore two of his best friends apart.

But at least he felt like he was doing something now, as opposed to feeling completely helpless.

Seth blinked in confusion. "What do you mean we have to do it ourselves?"

"I mean that we have to do it ourselves. Figure out a solution that uses magic, I mean. I agree, it isn't fair that we have to pack our own supplies from the Muggle world," Astrit replied.

"There's so much magic can do, though. You'd think they would have come up with their own solution to hormones!" Seth frowned.

"You would think, but I haven't found any potions or spells or anything on record that would resemble the effects of T,"Astrit admittedly sadly.

"That's bullshit," Seth scoffed.

"I wish it was, but unfortunately it's true," Astrit insisted.

"No, I definitely believe you. I was saying the situation as a whole is bullshit," Seth clarified

"Ah. That, I agree with," Astrit sighed.

"So...where do we even start?" Seth wondered.

"You're in luck in that regard, at least," Astrit told him. "As it so happens, you don't have to worry about where we start, since I've already started." 

"Any luck?" Seth's eyes widened slightly.

Astrit shook his head. "Not yet, but I've only looked in a couple of books. The research will definitely be a lot easier with four eyes instead of two. If you're willing to help, that is."

"Course I'm willing to help!" Seth confirmed. "This will help me as much as it will help you! It's just...it's absurd that we have to do this ourselves! You'd think magic would be more advanced than this!"

Astrit gave a wry smile. "Sadly, the wizarding world isn't always as welcoming as it appears. We shouldn't be the ones to have to carve our own way, but we have a duty to do so."

"A duty?" Seth furrowed his brow in puzzlement. "A duty to who?"

"To those that follow us. If we succeed, this could not only change our lives but the lives of every trans person in the wizarding world," Astrit noted.

"You really think we could make that sort of impact?" Seth's eyes widened.

Astrit nodded. "Think about how many transgender purebloods aren't even aware that hormones are available in the Muggle world, who feel as if they have nor recourse for their dysphoria aside from taking Polyjuice Potion to transform into an entirely different person so that they might feel more like themselves. Don't get me wrong, it shouldn't have to fall on us, but at this rate...if we don't do something, who will?"

"What sort of books have you looked through?" Seth wondered.

"I've looked through a couple of spell and potion books," Astrit replied.

"Have you tried looking at Herbology books?" Seth suggested.

The corners of Astrit's mouth twitched upward. "No, but I believe we just found something you can look for."

Chapter Text

Virgil could not recall looking through this many Dark Arts books since...

Since a time he'd rather forget. Ironic, his behavior during the time in question was heavily influenced by alterations in his memory at the hands of Linus.

"It's sort of like Cruciatus, isn't it?" Virgil asked Logan at one point.

"In what way?" Logan inquired.

"In the torture sort of way," Virgil explained.

"The Cruciatus Curse operates by inducing physical pain, though," Logan pointed out. "That said, you may be on to something."

"I might?" Virgil blurted out, blinking in surprise. When Logan stared at him blankly, Virgil quickly typed those six letters into his phone and pressed play. He also opted to add an additional statement to his prior question. "I was just making an observation."

"Certainly, though I would almost argue that the curse placed on this locket is more powerful than the Cruciatus Curse," Logan noted.

"More powerful than one of the Unforgiveable Curses?" Virgil's eyes went wide.

"You say that as if the Unforgivable Curses embody the darkest reaches of magic, when we know that not to be the case. For example, horcruxes," Logan continued.

"I thought you said it wasn't a horcrux?" Virgil frowned.

"I did, and I still stand by that assertion," Logan replied. "As you did when you mentioned the Cruciatus Curse earlier, I was using horcruxes as an example. The Unforgivable Curses possess such notoriety within the wizarding world because they are amongst the most common of the dangerous curses. Nearly every wizarding adult is aware of them. They are undoubtedly powerful curses, but they are by no means the pinnacle of what the Dark Arts has to offer."

Virgil felt an involuntary shudder rip through him at that.

"I have considered an additional possibility, though I am uncertain as to whether you wish to hear it," Logan revealed.

"Why wouldn't I? Virgil typed, casting Logan a look of puzzlement.

"Because it belies just how much of a threat Remus may truly pose, if he truly is capable of such a thing," Logan admitted.

"What do you mean?" Not for the first time, Virgil was glad that text to speech always ensured that his 'voice' remained even, as he was certain that his voice would either shake or even crack were he to use his actual voice.

"He may have uncovered a spell or potion from a source that we have yet to observe, but if my next theory is correct? We may never uncover said spell or potion within our research," Logan confessed.

"You think he made the spell himself," Virgil realized in horror.

Logan nodded. "I cannot believe that I did not consider the possibility sooner. Why would Remus rely on established magic? He never received a formal magical education. He may be entirely self taught for all that we know."

Which presented a whole new set of problems.

"How are we supposed to defend ourselves against something we might not even understand?" Virgil asked.

"I was wondering the same thing myself," Logan admitted with a sigh.

------------------------

Seth never expressed a profound interest in Herbology. He never hated the class, but it was never one of his favorites either. It felt strange combing through so many Herobology books; he was fairly certain he'd read more books on the subject within the past few days than he had during his entire time at Hogwarts.

But he had yet to make any breakthroughs. He wondered how Astrit was doing with his research, but it wasn't always easy to coordinate their schedules. Astrit was fairly busy with his NEWT class load and Quidditch, after all.

Seth set his latest book aside and retrieved another from his bag. He was sure that he would come across something...but how long would it take him to do so?

Chapter Text

There had to be a way to destroy the bracelet. Virgil and Logan could not think of (or find) a single example of a completely indestructible magic object.

"Even horcruxes can be destroyed," Logan noted.

"Great, why don't we use one of those methods on this bracelet?" Virgil suggested.

"There are a number of reasons. Firstly, we do not know what magic was used to curse this bracelet. There is a remote possibility that our attempt to destroy the bracelet may not only fail, but that we risk activating the bracelet once more," Logan admitted in a grave tone.

Virgil paled at that. Logan wasn't done, however.

"In addition? Despite our experience with horcruxes, we have yet to determine what objects, potions, and/or spells may actually be used to destroy them. I do not doubt that these methods may conceivably be utilized against Remus' bracelet with success - horcruxes are designed to encompass a portion of the maker's soul, so the inherent goal with a horcrux is to make them as near to indestructible as possible - we still need to determine what those methods are before we can act," Logan confessed.

The end result either way? More reading.

"Virgil? Whatcha reading?" Patton asked Virgil during one instance of his research, who jolted so hard at the sudden voice that he very nearly fell out of his seat.

Virgil eyed the non-descript book in his hands, grateful that there was no title written on the book. He didn't particularly want his best friend knowing that he was reading books on the Dark Arts, not when he'd...he'd used the Dark Arts against Patton.

"You okay, kiddo?" Patton frowned.

Virgil nodded.

"You sure? Cause you seem really tense lately. You know you can tell me about anything, right?" Patton smiled.

Virgil nodded once more, somehow managing to force a smile onto his own face. He wasn't sure how convincing it looked - likely not very, given that Patton continued to look concerned.

Of course, this was the one thing Virgil did not feel right telling Patton about, not while Patton's nightmares still persisted and the very source of all of his pain rested just a few rooms away from where he slept.

But if he didn't tell Patton, and Patton found out...how devastated would Patton be?

But if he didn't tell Patton and Patton never learned of it, he could spare Patton the additional pain of knowing that they had yet to destroy the bracelet.

Both paths carried risks, and Virgil honestly wasn't sure what option was the correct option. Was there even a correct option? Or should he just select the one that was most correct, all things considered?

"Let's watch something together," Patton blurted out suddenly. Virgil glanced to him in surprise.

"Look, you can deny it all you want, but I can tell when something's bothering you. Virge. And...I can't force you to tell me what that is, but...but maybe you'll feel a little bit better after a show or a movie?" Patton said with a hopeful smile.

Virgil returned a half smile, still hesitant but willing to at least humor Patton. He wasn't sure if it would help, but at least Patton was trying, and Virgil couldn't find it in himself to turn the former Hufflepuff down.

"What are we watching?" Virgil asked.

Patton let out a cheer and set to work looking through their collection.

------------------------

Patton glanced over at Virgil once the movie was over to see how his friend liked it.

He chuckled upon seeing that Virgil was asleep. "That bad, huh?" he whispered teasingly. He went to fetch a blanket to throw over Virgil. When he returned, he saw the book that Virgil was reading earlier on the ground. Patton bent down to pick it up.

Patton hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip before opening the front cover.

Secrets Of The Darkest Art

A chill went through Patton as he eyed the sleeping form of his friend. Why was Virgil looking through a book on the Dark Arts?

Patton closed the book and set it back down beside Virgil before throwing the blanket over his form and heading toward the room he shared with his husband.

He had some thinking of his own to do.

Chapter Text

When Virgil did not immediately recognize his surroundings, he sat up at once, eyes wide open.

Upon realizing that he was in the living room, he let out a shaky sigh of relief.

Memories from earlier came flooding back as Virgil became more alert. He must have fallen asleep watching movies with Patton. He chuckled when he saw the blanket haphazardly thrown over him, and realized that Patton must have placed it over him.

How long did he sleep for? A quick glance at the clock on the wall told him that he'd been out for two hours.

Virgil yawned, throwing the blanket off of him as he stretched his arms.

The blanket wasn't the only thing that he threw.

Virgil's stomach lurched as the book he'd been reading earlier fell to the ground with a thud.

Though he knew he'd been reading the book earlier, he was fairly certain that he left it on the table, not on the couch.

Someone had to have moved it to the couch.

------------------------

Patton was troubled.

It wasn't so much the fact that Virgil was reading a book dedicated to the Dark Arts that bothered him (though it did bother him).

No, what bothered him was the fact that he looked in the first place.

On one hand, it leant an explanation as to why Virgil was so preoccupied as of late. Not a complete explanation, but it was a start.

But...was he even entitled to that information? Virgil made it very clear that he did not want to discuss what was on his mind. It was only natural for Patton to be concerned, and thus that concern justified his looking at Virgil's book! Now that he knew, he could do something about it!

...but should he?

Why was Virgil looking at the book in the first place? He trusted Virgil well enough to know that he had no plans to utilize the Dark Arts against them! He had no history of...

A shudder went through Patton as he recalled that yes, Virgil did have a history of using the Dark Arts against them. That was under special circumstances, however!


No, what was more likely was that Virgil was aware of some sort of threat to their wellbeing, and was doing his due diligence to protect them from it. Patton felt a brief rush of pride, but it was soon followed by shame.

Why did Virgil feel as though he had to keep that from him? Virgil didn't have to do it all himself! He could always come to his friends and family for help!

...had Patton done something to give Virgil the idea that he didn't want to be approached about this?

"Patton, darling, are you alright?" Roman's voice pulled Patton from his musings, and he glanced up in surprise.

"Roman! When did you get here?" Patton blinked in surprise.

"I've been here for a moment or so," Roman frowned. "Is something on your mind? Did you have another nightmare?"

Patton felt even worse upon seeing the concerned expression on his husband's face. Roman was worried that it was something concerning Patton's experiences with the bracelet, when Patton was actually fretting over something stupid that he'd done.

Roman didn't deserve someone like...

Patton stopped himself, recalling what Professor Picani told him.

"Would you say that to Roman, or to Virgil, Logan, or Dee? Would you say it to your siblings?" he'd asked during one of their most recent sessions.

Patton shook his head at once. "No, of course not! I would never tell any of my friends or family that they deserve...that they're..."

"Then why is it so easy to tell yourself that?" Professor Picani replied with a sad smile.

"I...I don't know," Patton admitted.

And that conversation stuck with Patton.

"Pat?" Roman took a few steps forward. Now he looked even more worried, and Patton felt another surge of guilt.

"No, I didn't have a nightmare. I just...do you think we could cuddle for a little while? I could really use it," Patton wondered, casting Roman a small smile.

Roman chuckled, pulling Patton into his arms. "Of course we can, my love."

Patton could already feel some of the tension melting away. He felt better already.

But he still needed to figure out what to do about this...

He needed to help, but he wasn't sure how!

Chapter Text

Virgil couldn't believe that he was going to do what he was about to do, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

This was not in Virgil's original plan. His original plan was to go back to the room that he shared with Logan and...panic?

Not that he wasn't doing plenty of that as it was.

Virgil's legs carried him past the door to the bedroom he shared with Logan. He also passed the door to the bedroom that Patton and Roman shared. He reached the third bedroom, unsure whether to be annoyed or relieved that the door was closed.

A closed door meant that he could run away and no one would be any the wiser. But...a closed door also meant that if he wanted to go through with this, he had to physically knock on the door and wait for the occupant to answer.

Virgil took in a deep breath and gave the door in question several taps before retrieving his hand and eyeing the door warily.

He almost wished that there would be no answer.

After a moment, the door opened, and Virgil had no hope of backing out.

"Oh, Virgil. To what do I owe the pleasure? Come to me seeking the sage advice of an older sibling?" Dee questioned.

"I don't know that I'd call it 'sage' advice," Virgil admitted via text to speech app.

"You doubt my wisdom? I'm wounded," Dee gasped, an expression of mock offense on his face.

Virgil let out a snort of his own. "I'm not sure that what I need is wisdom at all."

"Oh? What is it that you do need?" Dee wondered.

Virgil typed out what he wanted to say, then went to press play. His finger hovered over the button on his phone. He chewed on his lip. Was this the right decision?

"'I need help coming up with a believable lie.' There, was that so hard?" Dee asked.

Virgil nearly dropped his phone in surprise. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice Dee leaning over and reading the words on Virgil's phone himself. Virgil cast a glare in his brother's direction.

"What?" Dee smiled, trying to act innocent.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "That wasn't yours to read."

"And you weren't planning on letting me hear those words eventually?" Dee arched an eyebrow.

"No. Yes. I don't actually know. I was trying to decide, and you took that decision away from me," Virgil pressed play with a huff.

There was a pause. "...fair enough," Dee conceded. "Do you want my assistance or not?"

Virgil sighed and nodded. He wasn't happy with what Dee did, but he came to talk to Dee for a reason, and now that that reason was out in the open? He might as well go for broke.

"What sort of lie do you need? A lie of omission? Restructuring? Minimization? Exaggeration? An outright fabrication?" Dee wondered.

Virgil blinked in surprise.

"What? Where do you think I got my nickname from?" Dee smirked.

"You already told us you came up with it when you met Remus," Virgil noted.

"But what sort of Deceit would I be if I did not live up to that name?" Dee retorted.

"Roman already said you don't have to live up to that name, though. You don't have to lie all the time," Virgil reminded him.

Dee let out a snort. "Perhaps, but I have a reputation to uphold." Dee could deny it all he wanted - he did, indeed, have a reputation for it - but Virgil didn't miss the way that Dee flinched the slightest bit at Virgil's words.

Chapter Text

Virgil had to ask Dee to repeat himself to make sure that he heard his brother's first statement correctly.

"You need to tell the truth," Dee repeated.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Virgil replied. He wanted to mean it as a joke, but he honestly wasn't sure that it was. He did not expect Dee of all people to tell him to tell the truth to Patton.

"What? You asked for my advice, did you not?" Dee arched an eyebrow.

"I don't know that telling the truth to Patton at this point in time is such a good idea," Virgil admitted.

"So Patton is the one that you're lying to?" Dee inquired.

Virgil winced. "Don't say it like that," he said through his phone.

"So Patton is the one you are obfuscating the truth from?" Dee continued, the slightest of grins on his face.


"Now you're just being an ass," Virgil rolled his eyes as he pressed play.

Dee shrugged. "Matter of opinion. Besides, who said I was referring to Patton?"

Virgil blinked. What kind of question was that?

"It's as I've always said - Sometimes, to craft a proper untruth, one needs to understand what lurks beneath it," Dee explained.

"You've never said that," Virgil typed, pressing play with a huff. But as he heard his phone say it out loud, what Dee was actually trying to say hit Virgil. "You want me to tell you what the lie is covering up in the first place."

Dee merely chuckled.

"You already know about the bracelet," Virgil typed.

"Has Patton discovered the bracelet?" Dee inquired.

Virgil shook his head.

"Then what is it that you wish to disguise from him that you have not already?" Dee pressed.

Virgil chewed on his bottom lip as his thumb hovered over the screen of his mobile phone. Then, he typed his response. "I think he might have seen one of the books I've been reading. We've been doing research, and I was looking through a Dark Arts book."

"You think he might have seen it?" Dee repeated.

Virgil nodded. "The book was on the table before I fell asleep, and it was sitting next to me when I woke up. Someone had to have moved it."

"And you know for certain that this person was Patton," Dee deduced.

...or so Virgil thought. Upon closer inspection, Dee's statement was not a deduction at all, as it drew attention to the fact that Virgil did not actually observe Patton, as he was asleep at the time the book moved.

What if he made everything worse by lying to Patton? What if Patton wasn't the one who moved the book at all?

"Moving on from that-" Dee began, but Virgil held up a hand to stop him.

"I don't know that this is such a good idea after all," Virgil confessed.

"Oh?" Dee wondered.

"I don't know how much Patton saw, or if he's even the one who moved the book," Virgil typed, letting out a sigh as he pressed send.

"So where does that leave you?" Dee inquired.

"I don't know," Virgil realized. "I think I should find out more information before I jump into something as huge as outright lying to my best friend."

A rush of guilt surged through him as it hit him - He'd been about to outright lie to his best friend about something massive, and he wasn't even sure that such drastic measures were necessary.

He even went so far as attempting to solicit assistance from his brother for the whole thing.

Merlin, how did it get this far?

"I think I need to talk to Patton," he admitted at last.

Dee smirked. "Glad I could be of assistance to you."

Chapter Text

It was easy to feel certain about what he needed to do when he was discussing it with his brother.

It was another entirely when he actually had to consider how to put his plan into motion.

He knew that he needed to be more open with Patton, but how open?

He supposed he could start with the Dark Arts book and go from there. There was no reason to bring up certain subjects if they didn't come up otherwise during the course of the conversation.

What Patton didn't know couldn't hurt him...right?

-------------------------

Something was up, and the fact that Patton didn't know what was killing him.

He did not believe that Virgil was looking through a Dark Arts book for any nefarious purposes. Virgil wasn't like that, and the only time he was, he was under the influence of heavy enchantments courtesy of his father.

And Linus Thompson was dead, so it couldn't be that.

Instead, Patton presumed that they were facing some sort of threat. But why not tell him about it? Did they not think that he could help? That he would be too weak to help?

He wasn't weak. He'd proven himself time and time again.

But...he felt weak. He hated that he still had nightmares, that he still jumped at loud noises. Most of all, he hated that every once in a while, when he looked at his husband, he would see something that reminded him just a bit too much of Remus and he'd freeze.

That wasn't fair to Roman, and Patton didn't want to do that to him.

So why couldn't he stop himself?

The bracelet was gone, yet everything that happened still hung over him like an omniscient presence...

------------------------

Patton wasn't the only one haunted by ghosts of the past. Roman saw it every time he looked in the mirror. Roman usually maintained a clean-shaven look, but he took to shaving his face a lot more often as of late.

Anything to separate himself from Remus.

He had no right to complain though, he felt. What he was going through was nothing compared to what Patton was going through.

He could handle the occasional nightmare. He had to be Patton's rock. Pattom deserved that and more after everything he'd been through.

He sighed and stood in front of the mirror, razor in hand as he shaved between his nose and upper lip. He could not bear even the slightest whisker, the slightest hint of a moustache...

------------------------

Logan wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He didn't expect this work to be so encompassing.

His friends depended on him. The sooner he learned more about the bracelet and disposed of it, the better.

But he had little to show for his work, despite long nights and hours upon hours spent trying.

To top it all off, he was making foolish mistakes. He tried to do as much of his work as he could at night, but a consequence of working late into the night was obtaining less sleep. And he certainly did not want to draw attention to this, as he would be seen as a hypocrit. How many times did he get on their cases about maintaining proper sleeping habits?

Yet at one point he was so tired that he nearly picked up the bracelet without the necessary precautions to protect himself from its influence. He stopped himself just before he grabbed it, but...what if he hadn't?

------------------------

Each member of the household received a personalized note, notifying them of a meeting in the living room around 8pm.

Each member other than the one who wrote the note in the first place.

As Dee placed Logan's and Virgil's notes into their shared room, he let out a scoff.

And to think, they called him a liar.

Chapter Text

Virgil and Logan were the first to arrive to the living room that night. Patton and Roman made their way in soon afterward.

Roman plopped down beside Patton on the couch and leaned forward. "Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get this show on the road!"

"Not everyone is here, silly," Patton chuckled.

Roman frowned, scanning the group. "Who are we...oh, yes. Deceit."

"Wonder where he might be?" Patton glanced toward the door, then to the hallway.

"He's home," Virgil told them. "He's been in his room all day."

"And here I thought you were more that type, Virgil," Roman teased.

Virgil rolled his eyes, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly.

"Well, that's fine. We can still get the meeting started and he can join us afterward!" Roman declared. He turned to Logan. "What is it that you wished to discuss?"

Logan looked positively taken aback at this. "Nothing in particular, though I believe we ought to wait for the person who invited us in the first place?"

It was Roman's turn to look confused. "It wasn't you?"

"It wasn't me that what?" Logan wondered.

"That left Roman and I that note! I don't think I've ever seen writing that neat and pretty before! We figured it had to be yours!" Patton elaborated.

Virgil let out a snort. He would recognize that writing anywhere, and it was not Logan's handwriting.

"I believe Dee was the one who wrote those notes. Virgil and I received a note as well," Logan clarified.

"Dee wrote the note?" Roman gaped. "I thought for certain it had to be you! My word, his penmanship is impeccable!"

"Oh dear, I thought I felt my ears burning," Dee remarked as he entered the room.

"You may need to see a doctor about that," Logan noted. Virgil went to reach for his phone to inform his boyfriend that it was a figure of speech, but then he glimpsed the wry grin on Logan's face.

Logan knew damn well what Dee meant, and Virgil had to bite down on his lip to keep from grinning himself.

"Aw Logan, I'm so flattered that you are so concerned about my health!" Dee retorted, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward as well.

"You wrote the note asking for a house meeting?" Patton frowned. He looked almost nervous, which Virgil found strange. "Why? Did something bad happen?"

"Sheesh, you sound like Virgil," Roman chuckled. "Nah, I'm sure it's nothing big. We probably just need to iron out the laundry schedule or something. Right, Dee?"

Roman was nervous too, Virgil realized. He was just trying to play it off.

"Yes, Roman, that's all that it is," Dee responded.

"Really?" There was no denying the relief on Roman's face at Dee's words.

"Really. I promise you this has nothing to do with the fact that someone in this room is hiding something," Dee replied in a nonchalant tone.

Virgil tensed at that, though he tried his best not to show it and observed the other three, who were glancing between themselves as if trying to discern who Dee was talking about.

Virgil tried not to look at Logan for too long, and Logan tried not to look at him for too long.

Why was Dee doing this? What purpose did it serve?

How was it going to help anyone?

"Well? Would you like to speak up or shall I do the honors first?" Dee inquired.

Virgil could not help but note that Dee was looking right at him. 

But if his eyes hadn't shifted downward immediately afterward, he might have noticed that Dee sent the same look to everyone else...

Chapter Text

Virgil kept as still as he possibly could, not wanting to give away anything. Even then, if his friends were paying close enough, they would probably notice how hard he was breathing.

At least Virgil was the only one who could hear his heart racing?

"...fine, I'll admit it," Patton said at last, breaking the silence. Everyone turned to him in surprise.

Everyone except Dee.

"Go on," Dee urged him.

"I...I've been lying to you, Roman. I've been lying to everyone. I keep trying to pretend that it's all over, but it's not, and it seems like no matter how hard I try I can't get any of this to go away! I just...I just want to be better," Patton admitted. "I should be better."

"Why on Earth should you be better?" Roman blurted out. When Patton gazed up at him a wide-eyed, stricken look, Roman cleared his throat. "Let me rephrase that. Of course I want you to be better, as do Virgil, Logan, and Dee. We want what is best for you...but...but that doesn't mean that we expect you to heal from this right away just because we're here. What you went through was incredibly traumatic, and...and..."

"If you are at a loss for what to say, perhaps you could try a different approach?" Dee suggested. "Allow him to recognize that he is far from the only one so drastically affected by this? I mean, its just an example, but..."

Roman's eyes searched Dee's face in apparent confusion, though once he turned to Patton he seemed to have a realization. He sat down beside Patton and took one of his husband's hands into his own. "I haven't been completely honest with you either, my love."

"You haven't?" Patton frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You are the light of my life, Patton. I want nothing more than to ensure your happiness. I...I thought you had more than enough on your plate. You didn't need to..." Roman faltered, clearly struggling with something.

"Didn't need to what, Ro?" Patton asked quietly, gently.

Roman managed the slightest of smiles at that. "I did not want you to have to worry about someone else. I...I, too, still struggle with everything that happened with Remus. I did not suffer at his hand in the way that you did..."

"Bullshit," Virgil scoffed before he could stop himself.

Of course, the other four turned to him expectantly, and he remembered that he would have to translate everything he said.

...which he'd probably have to do regardless of his speech impediment, as his friends would likely want to know what he was calling bullshit on.

"You did suffer at Remus' hand. You were kidnapped and held captive so that he could impersonate you," Virgil pointed out.

Roman frowned. "But all of that pales in comparison to what happened to Pat-"

"Like hell it does!" Patton blurted out, stopping Roman in his tracks.

"What?" Roman turned to his husband in surprise.

"Just because I'm suffering as well doesn't make your suffering any lesser, Roman," Patton asserted. "You still deserve someone to talk to. You still deserve support."

Roman sighed. "I just want to be there for you..."

"And you still can. We can be here for each other," Patton assured him.

Virgil could not help but smile at the exchange. Virgil was happy to see Patton and Roman open up to one another, and intended to support them both to the best of his ability now that he knew just how deeply their experiences were still affecting them.

"Do you really think I forgot about you two?" Dee turned to Virgil and Logan, and Virgil's smile slipped from his face at once.

"What do you mean?" Patton frowned, and the wave of guilt that crashed over Virgil was so strong that he had to grip onto the arms of his chair to steady himself.

"Virgil and Logan are hiding something to?" Roman blinked in surprise.

"You don't have to hide anything from us!" Patton assured them. "We can support you too!" he smiled warmly.

Virgil felt as if he'd swallowed something heavy. Patton was so sweet, so kind...but if he knew what Virgil and Logan were hiding...

Logan cleared his throat. "I suppose this was ultimately inevitable, though I hoped we would destroy it before this point."

"Destroy it? Destroy what?" Roman pressed him.

"The bracelet," Logan admitted. "We still have it in our possession."

Chapter Text

Virgil eyed both Patton and Roman warily.

"Oh," Patton said after a moment. He frowned and furrowed his brow, as if deep in though. Virgil's anxiety grew at that, as it only prolonged what he considered to be the inevitable.

He and Logan betrayed Roman and Patton's trust. Would their friendship ever be the same after this? Would they even have a friendship?

He wanted to tear into his brother, to ask him why he was doing this...but he could not bring himself to do so. Ultimately, Dee only alerted Roman and Patton to the fact that Virgil and Logan were hiding something from them. This wasn't Dee's fault.

"You..." Roman gaped. "You...still have the bracelet."

Logan nodded.

"You still have the bracelet and you didn't tell us?" Roman folded his arms across his chest.

Virgil and Logan both shook their heads.

"Why?" Patton asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper. Virgil glanced his way and immediately wished he hadn't; Patton's eyes were shimmering with tears.

"Why would you keep something like that from us?" Roman inquired, arching an eyebrow.

"We thought you would be mad," Virgil admitted, grateful for the opportunity to type his response and thus distract himself from the betrayed expressions on his friends' faces.

"Mad?" Patton sounded almost confused.

"Mad? Mad?! Of course I'm mad!" Roman snapped.

"Roman..." Patton frowned.

"What? We have every right to be upset with them!" Roman protested.

"You do," Logan admitted. Virgil was already making plans for what to say in his letter to his mother. It would be best to let her know that he, Logan, and possibly Dee would be coming back to live with her, as opposed to just turning up out of the blue.

"Why would you keep this to yourself? We could have been helping you for all this time!" Roman huffed.

Wait...what?

"You should have told us sooner," Patton agreed. "But now that we know, we can all work together to get rid of this thing!"

"You're not mad that we have it in the first place?" Virgil was stunned.

"Why would we be mad that you have it?" Patton frowned.

"After what that bracelet did to you? If I were you, I wouldn't want that thing anywhere near me," Virgil explained.

"I don't want it anywhere near me," Patton asserted. "But we don't always get everything we want."

"We plan to dispose of it as soon as we can," Logan assured them.

"No shit, Specs," Roman rolled his eyes. "Which means the more of us working toward getting rid of it the better!"

"You want to help us?" Virgil blurted out. When the other three looked at him in confusion, he quickly typed out the same phrase and pressed play.

Patton nodded.

Roman looked troubled. "Are you certain? I'm sure we would all understand if you do not want to be around that bracelet after all that it has done..."

"I don't want to be around the bracelet," Patton repeated. "But the sooner we figure it out, the sooner we can destroy it. And by destroying it, we're making sure that what happened to me - to us - doesn't happen to anyone else." Patton's face was set into a determined glare.

Well. Virgil certainly couldn't argue with that.

"Are you lot done?" Dee asked with a yawn. Virgil jumped; Dee had been so quiet that he nearly forgot that his brother was in the room.

"You're welcome to join us in our quest to destroy the accursed bracelet as well, Dee," Roman told him.

Dee let out a snort and rolled his eyes. "I suppose we'll see if I can make time for it." Which Virgil knew was just about as good as a yes.

Chapter Text

Virgil could hardly believe it. Neither Patton nor Roman were angry with Virgil and Logan. They even wanted to help with the bracelet.

"I am angry," Roman corrected Virgil when he expressed this sentiment to the former Gryffindor a bit later.

Virgil's stomach lurched at that. Then why were he and Patton...?

"I'm angry that you didn't tell us what was happening, not at what you're doing," Roman clarified. "We could have helped you sooner."

"We thought we were protecting you," Virgil admitted.

Roman sighed. "I know. That's why I forgive you. Your hearts were in the right place. But...as Patton and I said, we want to be part of this. I hate what that scoundrel did to Patton. And frankly, if I can't punch him in his smug mug for what he did to my husband, I'll destroy the vile object he used to torment Patton instead."

"We haven't figured out how destroy it yet," Virgil reminded Roman.

"We will," Roman assured him, and he sounded so confident in his assertion that Virgil almost believed him.

------------------------

Seth and Astrit were making some progress on developing a potion that altered one's own physiology, as opposed to transforming into someone else entirely, but it was one hell of an undertaking, and Seth was fairly certain that this was going to take them at least most of the school year to accomplish, if not longer.

It was worth it, though. For not just himself and Astrit, but for every other transgender member of the wizarding community.

He could hardly wait, but he knew that they had to do this right. People's lives depended on it.

His project with Astrit wasn't from Seth's only concern, however, especially when he found himself approached by August shortly after one such meeting with Astrit.

"We need to talk, pronto," August told him. He looked to Astrit, who looked unsure of what to say or do. "You can come too. Just...hurry."

Seth and Astrit followed August to the old meeting room on the fourth floor.

Toby and Mabel were already there. Toby held Mabel in a close embrace. Mabel was crying.

"Bout time you lot showed up," Toby chided.

"What happened?" Seth gaped.

"What's going on?" Astrit frowned.

"They're...they're going to test us," Mabel sniffed.

"Test you?" August frowned. "I thought...you're this upset over a test?"

"Not that sort of test you idiot," Toby hissed with such vitriol that August actually recoiled in surprise.

Seth realized with growing horror what Mabel and Toby likely meant. "Magical ability?" he asked in a faint voice.

Mabel wept, burying her face in her older brother's chest. Toby wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"They can't do this," August whispered. "They can't do this to her."

"What am I going to do?" Mabel cried. "They're going to find me out, and then...and then..." 

"They're not going to find you out," Toby narrowed his eyes in fierce determination.

"They're not?" Mabel glanced up at her brother and blinked in surprise, wiping her eyes.

"Absolutely not," August agreed.

"Cause we're going to do everything in our power to make sure they don't," Seth added.

"You can count me in, too," Astrit chimed in. 

"If they try to take you down, Mabes, they're gonna have to take down all of us," August declared. "And I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't plan on going down that easily."

Mabel offered them all a wet smile in return. She was still nervous, but she felt a lot better knowing that she had her big brothers (as well as Astrit) to help her. She just hoped that she wouldn't get them in trouble too...

Chapter Text

(I'm going to be posting this on all three of my stories that I'm currently updating, so bear with me. I realize some of you read all of my stories, but I know that some probably only read one, and I wanted to make sure this message got to all of my readers.)

TW - COVID-19/coronavirus

SO...I'm not going to stop working on this fics. That's not what this is about.

I may be a bit slower to update, especially within the next week or two - although even that is tentative.

See, two things are happening right now.

As you may have heard, there's currently a pandemic going on. I work in the healthcare field. As such...there's a lot going on right now, and we keep getting new information at work that we have to adjust to on the daily. Also, as some of you might know, I have anxiety/OCD, and though not all OCD involves fear of germs..mine does. So yeah, that adds to everything. That being said, I'm usually super anxious around flu season anyway, so in some ways this is just a step above my normal for this time of year.

In addition to that, though, I'm in the process of moving locations at work. 

Needless to say...I've got a bit more on my plate than usual.

As I said, though, I don't plan to stop writing. It's just that I often do a lot of my writing on my lunch break at work, and I'm not always getting as much of an opportunity to do that as of late. I know I've already cut down my postings to about one chapter to each story per week (so three total chapters per week)...I hope not to stray too far from that even with everything else going on, but I wanted to keep you guys updated. <3 Thank you for your interest in my work, and I hope you still stick around! It's much appreciated!

Chapter Text

TW - COVID-19/Coronavirus (fair warning to anyone who doesn't want to read anything, because it's not going to be just a footnote in this update. So if you don't want to read, don't look past the dashed line.)

--------------------------------------------------

I was hoping that my last warning would just be a 'just in case' warning. Unfortunately, I actually underestimated just how things were going to get. I expected that I would be able to keep up with my writing and perhaps update a bit slower than usual while I was adjusting to anything. I only wound up getting one chapter up over the past few weeks, and that was only because I had half of it already written when I posted up my last update.

I started my new job. I was supposed to spend most of my day with my supervisor going through orientation, but she wound up having to attend a COVID-19 training exercise, so we had to postpone it. Which...really sets the tone for how things have been over the past few weeks.

I'm technically not done with my training for my 'new clinic'. That was supposed to take a couple of weeks, but halfway through that training, the majority of the clinics in our health system shut down and merged into a few larger clinics (including the one I just transferred to...lucky me) on account of everything. Funny enough, because I already had experience with it, I wound up working with the same doctors I worked with at my old clinic. 

I don't know if you'd call this emergency mode just yet, or pre-emergency mode...but it's definitely something.

I had a really hard time getting through my last week or so of work. I cried three or four times on Wednesday, one time in front of my boss, but at least she was cool about it - and I already knew she was going to be cool, because another person started crying in front of her last week and she handled that really well too.

A couple of nurses/providers I work with are already preparing to head to the hospital to help out soon, so that's pretty harrowing too. I know it may be hard to read about, but...I also feel that it needs to be said, so that people KNOW that this needs to be taken seriously.

I could probably ramble on all day about my experiences, but there's supposed to be an update SOMEWHERE in here, so I'm going to try to cut myself off and get to the point.

Long story short, those in my position at the clinics are working on an alternating schedule, since they merged a bunch of clinics. As such, I worked last week, and have the next couple of weeks off of work (and to give you an idea of just how much going to work was hitting me the past couple of weeks, I caught myself referring to being pretty much shut up in my house other than going for perhaps an occasional walk around the neighborhood as 'freedom', so XD).

The couple of weeks off work mean that I HOPE to work on some writing during that time. 

That being said...I don't think it's going to be work on my chapter stories. I don't think I have it in me to continue working on those at this point in time. That does not mean that I will not return back to them, but I also don't want to leave people with false hope, and I definitely think I need to take a break from those particular stories.

HOWEVER...I do plan to work on some short stories, several of which I anticipate to be within the universes that I already write in (the ideas I've had thus far have mainly been for Hogwarts Havoc, though I'm not counting out stories from the Beauty Is In The Eyes of The Beholder universe). Those I think I can pull off.

I'll probably put those together as a grouping of short stories with each story as a chapter, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

That said...thank you all for sticking with me, and I hope that you all stay safe and well. <3 

- Mandee

Chapter Text

There was one other thing bothering Virgil.

...no, there were a good number of things bothering Virgil, but that was the usual as far as he was concerned. This something was more pressing than the others, which meant that he needed to act on it.

Virgil lifted his hand, knocking on the door in front of him. He didn't want to allow himself the chance to chicken out and run back to his room without doing what he came here to do.

The door opened. A wary looking Dee stood in the doorway, eyeing his younger brother. "Yes?"

"Can I come in?" Virgil said through his phone.

"Can you? I wasn't aware that said question was up for debate. Whether you have permission to do so, on the other hand..." Dee arched an eyebrow, then smirked and stepped aside, motioning for Virgil to step inside.

"Can't you just say 'yes' like a normal person?" Virgil huffed as he pressed play.

"Where's the fun in that?" Dee simpered. "Besides, normal is relative, is it not?"

"Fair point," Virgil conceded.

"So what brings you to my humble abode?" Dee wondered.

"You haven't joined us yet," Virgil pointed out, trying to keep his sentences short but sweet so that they would be easier to type out before pressing play.

"Joined you?" Dee raised an eyebrow.

"You said you would help us," Virgil explained.

"Did I? I wasn't aware that 'I'll see if I can make time for it' translated to 'I'll help you'," Dee shrugged.

...technically, it didn't, and technically Virgil was the one to jump to the conclusion that it did. Still, something didn't sit quite right with Virgil. "You didn't seem like you were just blowing us off."

"Oh? When did you take Legilimancy? I thought your focus was on Occlumency!" Dee shot back.

This wasn't right. Virgil's first instinct was to retreat, to turn around and say 'nevermind, guess I was mistaken'. He fought back against this urge, because something still didn't feel quite right. If it were as simple as Dee not wanting to help out Virgil and his friends, Dee wouldn't be so...defensive.

It was at that point that it hit Virgil.

Virgil and his friends. Not Virgil, Dee, and their friends. Virgil and his friends.

...why was it just Virgil and his friends? Dee was one of them...wasn't he? 

Clearly some adjustments needed to made.

"Dee, do you feel left out?" Virgil asked.

Dee let out a derisive snort. "Of course not. I have better things to do with my time than try to solve potentially unsolvable mysteries."

Virgil eyed one of the philosophy books sitting on Dee's nightstand. "Sure looks like you have time for unsolvable mysteries to me."

Dee scoffed. "Oh hardee har har, poking fun at my interests are we? How mature."

This wasn't working. Fighting fire with fire was only generating more fire. Time for a different approach. "I'm sorry," Virgil admitted.

That one caught Dee off guard, judging from the brief flash of surprise on Dee's face, though he quickly regained his composure. "It's alright, it takes a lot more than just a petty insult to-"

"Not about my last comment," Virgil amended, pressing play in the middle of Dee's commentary. "About not doing more to include you."

"That is the least of my concerns," Dee snorted. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have-"

"I mean it," Virgil persisted. "We've taken you for granted."

"Not much to take for granted, is there?" Dee scoffed. Judging from the way that his eyes widened ever so slightly at this statement, that was a comment that was meant to stay in Dee's head and not come out of his mouth.

That was self-deprecation, and Virgil knew it all too well. He hastily began to type, not wanting to give Dee the chance to recover from this 'mistake' and shoo Virgil out of his room before he said his piece. "You made us admit the truth, now it's time for you to admit the truth."

Dee blinked, clearly taken off guard once more. That meant that it was time for Virgil to deliver the final blow. "What can we do to make you feel more included?"

"I don't...I don't see why that should be your responsibility," Dee huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "You were friends long before I got involved with you lot. You've clearly done just fine without my interference in the past."

"We'd still be afraid to talk to each other if you didn't get involved. Now we're the closest we've ever been to solving this mystery, and it's all thanks to you," Virgil argued.

Dee stared back for a moment or so, clearly at a loss for what to think. But slowly, the corners of Dee's mouth began to twitch upward.

"Come on, the others are waiting," Virgil typed with a smile, then motioned for Dee to follow him.