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The Vargas family had a long history.
It began with Romeo Vargas, who brought the family fame and power in their homeland of Italy as he rose as a great duelist. As Grindelwald’s reign of terror spread across the world, he fought his way through crowds of enemies, saving numerous lives in the process. He was handsomely rewarded for his bravery once the battles were over, and that was the start of the family fortunes.
Romeo would go on to start a family who continued adding to the family’s legacy. Various estates across Italy, Austria, and Spain were purchased, positions in the Italian Ministry of Magic were held, vaults were filled to overflowing with gold—the family rose to nobility and soon became a prominent fixture in the wizarding world with footholds in many places.
Romeo’s claim to having fought against the Alliance in the Global Wizarding War did not serve him nor his family well during the First Wizarding War, however, and it was only by mere luck that he was able to escape from his current abode to one of the family’s estates in Austria. It was there that he and the remaining members of his line would remain, hidden away for years. They celebrated when the First Wizarding War ended, despaired when the Second arrived, and breathed sighs of relief when that too finally passed.
And then, the twins came along.
By then, it was only Romeo and his grandsons, misfortune and bad timing having hit all the rest. In fact, the twins were barely born at all, arriving just before their mother could succumb to illness.
They were very different in personality, and it became apparent from an early age that there would be none of that “identical twin mixup”.
Lovino was a screaming ball of energy who had all of the ambition of his grandfather and none of the self-control. Feliciano, by contrast, had all of the artistic talents and took after his grandfather’s appearance much more than his brother did. He was also more sociable, and on ventures outside the house, Feliciano took the lead, though once alone in the playroom Lovino would be heard complaining that Feliciano wouldn’t leave him alone. In time, Lovino figured out that all he needed to do to distract Feliciano was hand his twin some art supplies, and then he could make his escape.
Not that Feliciano didn’t immediately run calling for him the moment he noticed his fratello was gone, usually upon turning to show off his latest masterpiece.
Lovino could usually be found outside, watching the man who tended to the grounds. The manor had a large field in the back, and Lovino became familiar with the plants and the sweet taste of a freshly-picked tomato. Feliciano occasionally joined Lovino and the gardener, but he preferred sitting under a tree and sketching the scene.
Romeo found the entire thing rather endearing. It reminded him of days spent with old comrades, sitting upon hills on warm summer evenings. The gardens, filled with all number of colorful fruits and vegetables, were proof that even after his children were long gone, their simple way of life would continue.
He was content that both his and his childrens’ legacies had been preserved in the twins.
.
Some years after they were born, family friends Lord Bonnefoy and Herr Edelstein both visited to check on the aging war hero.
On the walls were many beautiful paintings, which, though rather elementary in nature, had clearly been painted by a decisive hand. Romeo claimed they were the work of Feliciano, and showed them to the boys’ playroom, where Feliciano sat in a corner happily mixing colors in a bowl. An easel taller than him stood with canvas attached, a blank slate awaiting the first strokes of the brush.
When asked where Lovino was, Romeo simply shrugged, and the conversation drifted back to Feliciano. Lovino did not appear at all during that time, and it was only when the men were leaving two entire days later that they saw the other twin, out in the garden among tomato plants that reached high over his head.
It was Feliciano who somehow befriended the sickly Lud, who visited the estate with his guardian Herr Edelstein a few months later. This time, Lovino had the manners to greet the visitors, but made no moves to involve himself with Feliciano and Lud’s chattering. He made his excuses, and disappeared from sight once more.
He was not missed much, however. Romeo and his friend watched in amusement as the other two danced around each other, a smile that normally wasn’t seen plastered across the German boy’s face. When the visit ended, Lud’s complexion didn’t seem quite as pale, and Feliciano was delighted to have found a new friend. There were tears and a keychain, to “remember him by” when the visit was over.
Lovino took one look, and fled outside. When the gardener asked, Lovino mumbled something about too much tension in the air, though what he meant by that no one quite knew.
.
A couple of years passed after that visit, life growing busy for many as new incidents came and went. Romeo took Feliciano to visit some old friends in various places, though Feliciano was disappointed to find they would not be visiting Germany. But the boy’s paintings had improved greatly in quality, and after the tour would be found hung in several homes of noteworthy Wizarding families, even a few select museums. The duo journeyed across Austria, to Hungary, to Italy, to Switzerland and Liechtenstein and France and Spain and back to Italy before a return to Austria. However it was only when visiting the home of one of Romeo’s fellow Global Wizarding War veterans that Lovino was brought up.
“Ah, he has no wish to come,” Romeo replied with a short laugh as Feliciano gazed at the moving paintings on the walls with interest. The fairy in the picture was waving at him and showing off, to the boy’s amusement.
“Oh? But is he not the same age? Who is caring for him while you are away?” The man asked in surprise.
“No need to worry—all is taken care of. He is not very sociable, unlike dear Feliciano. Our house-elves feed him well, and he spends nearly all of his time out in the gardens among the tomatoes,” Romeo said airily, brushing off his friend’s concerns. “The gardener has taken a liking to him, I believe.”
“If you say so,” was the reply, and once more the conversation turned away, this time to the topic of roses.
When grandfather and grandson returned, Romeo saw that everything was just as he had left it, and felt no need to worry. How could he, when Lovino was so independent and Feliciano filled with talent?
His legacy would be in good hands, he was sure of it.
.
Romeo died when the twins were nine, a few months after touring Europe with Feliciano.
Feliciano cried for days and could barely stomach any food. Lovino only shrugged when asked how he felt, and turned back to the tomato plants in the garden
Their grandfather, a man of Dumbledore to the end, had arranged that they would go to Hogwarts (Romeo had only remembered his other grandson had indeed inherited magic after Lovino’s temper flared and caused several lights to go out). But until then, alternate housing was arranged. They went home with a distant uncle they’d never met, leaving behind their childhood home via Portkey to the outskirts of Eisenstadt.
The new manor was large, but there was little that resembled the twins’ childhood home filled with paintings and gardens, though there was a piano in one of the rooms and a few portraits on the walls. Their uncle claimed that he’d purchased the home from another Wizarding family, and a few things had been left with Permanent Sticking Charms. Including a portrait of the family’s young son, which really, why was such a charm allowed to be used as one pleased, neither boy had ever understood. It seemed like quite a hassle, in their personal opinion, though it meant
But they dared not say this to their rather stern uncle’s face, and certainly they had no time to even think about doing so when the moment they walked through the doors, their trunks were put aside and they were handed aprons and mops.
“The hell?!” Lovino griped as he lazily swept the mop over the floors of one of the halls. “We’re no servants! Whose idea was this? Who the hell vetted this guy?”
“Shhh! Don’t let him hear you complaining, fratello. Oh, I hope he at least gives us pasta for dinner…” Feliciano sighed dreamily. Lovino smacked him on the back of the head and they returned to their chore.
There was no pasta at dinner, and when Feliciano tried to ask, he was immediately shot down. The master of the house seemed very intent on full control, and in the week that followed, Lovino found the younger twin locked in the basement on more than one occasion for running his mouth and trying to make requests.
He always unlocked the door, using a Knut he kept in his shoe. Their uncle never seemed to notice if there were one or two nephews cleaning floors anyways, only if the tiles were shiny and the windows clean of any marks.
How this man was their blood relative, neither could quite understand.
.
Every day was the same. Wake up, eat breakfast in the kitchen, then it was off to do chores. Lovino grumbled about being treated like a house-elf as he prodded at a pan on the kitchen stove, while Feliciano hummed under his breath as he ran a dust cloth over the library shelves. Lunch was whatever leftovers there were from Lovino cooking lunch for their uncle, before a long afternoon of more work.
On a few occasions, Lovino was able to produce pasta, though the recipe in the manor’s rather old cookbook didn’t exactly have many good recipes for the dish, and there were no fresh tomatoes for sauce. Feliciano tried, but was largely unsuccessful in obtaining much of anything besides the weekly deliveries of groceries that came from who-knows-where. Lovino didn’t particularly want to know.
But they continued on. Lovino got very good at catching expensive plates aimed for his head. Feliciano became well acquainted with “I don’t know”, the words that caused the least amount of explosive rage. Both became experts at making floors shine even when they really shouldn’t need to. No one really visited anyways. Where did all the dirt come from?
Lovino hated work. It was bothersome and tiring, and he would much rather be forced to stare at an anthill. Aside from the time he spent in the kitchen, he was hard-pressed to actually lift a finger. Feliciano disliked work just as much, but as with anything he did, he attempted to put some effort into the results, even having to be told to put down his mop before he collapsed a few times.
And yet for some reason, it was Feliciano that ended up with more blame. Feliciano, Lovino had decided long ago, was just not someone who understood that some people just couldn’t be trusted. Or followed through on their word.
That was probably the worst part of it all, in Lovino’s opinion. Their master—not uncle, he was not an uncle, he refused to believe it—was a man whose emotions changed on a dime. One moment he would be yelling at them for not watering the plants, the next he would be apologizing via letting them sit in as he fiddled with the dial on the house’s radio. Then the next day he would ignore them entirely, and perhaps in the evening Lovino would have to fish the Knut out of his sock and unlock the basement door. Feliciano would spend the night whimpering about being hungry, Lovino would dodge some flying plates in the morning, and the cycle would repeat a week or two later.
Feliciano looked at life with hope. Lovino looked at it with disgust. Feliciano couldn’t understand how Lovino couldn’t see the good in people, and Lovino was insistent that some people just were not good at heart, starting with “Master Uncle” over there.
It might have had to do with the fact that Feliciano was allowed a day off after a baby bird he’d taken in died, due to his face “being so miserable you’ll make all of us depressed”, or perhaps it was an attempt by their uncle to pawn Lovino off to an acquaintance who held no interest.
Or perhaps, it was simply the fact that they were two sides of the same coin, and it was simply their nature to contrast each other.
.
Their Hogwarts letters’ arriving together marked the end of the worst year of their lives thus far. The man they lived with could not afford to lose face, not when his career was already rather shaky, and so the boys spent the few weeks of summer they had before school sorting through their supplies and practicing their English.
They both took delight in their release “from that fucking hellhole”, as Lovino put it. Feliciano left a mustache on the mystery boy’s portrait, and Lovino made a mess of his bed, and both went off, knowing quite well that were it not for their grandfather’s arrangements and the risk to his career their guardian would undertake if he sent a Howler admitting he couldn’t keep two children under control for five minutes, they would be in more trouble than either could ever imagine.
But did it feel good to rebel.
They boarded the train and the ensuing boat ride together, but were Sorted into different houses—Lovino to Slytherin and Feliciano to Hufflepuff. And that was the last of it, Feliciano soon finding friends in Feliks Lukasiewcz, Francis Bonnefoy and Elizabeta Hedervary. Meanwhile, Lovino kept to himself and could often be heard screaming at a third-year named Antonio Fernandez Carriedo to stop stalking him, the older boy having decided the first-year was the most interesting person he could bother.
(They also discovered that Feliciano had drawn the mustache on a portrait of Roderich Edelstein, the son of an old friend of their grandfather. Lovino thought this was the best joke he’d heard in years. Feliciano flamed bright red and probably felt embarrassment for what Lovino claimed was the first time in the boy’s life. Feliciano vehemently denied this.)
Horace Slughorn, upon hearing of who the Vargas family were, immediately invited the heir to the family’s fortunes to his Slug Club. Feliciano found himself with a personal invite from the Potions professor at that Club’s first party later that year, and soon had the man quite engaged. And somehow proctored a free Butterbeer from him by the end of the meeting, never mind that his potion-making skills left something to be desired when compared to Lovino’s perfect results.
Feliciano excelled at History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts, having learned many skills from his grandfather. Lovino took instantly to Herbology, and was decent enough with Charms to afford a few nap breaks while his classmates struggled to get a feather off the table. Neither did very well with Transfiguration, but both were equally horrifically amazing on brooms. Madame Hooch quietly alerted their Heads of Houses, and told Madame Pomfrey to start stocking up on healing creams, in preparation for the day they decided to join their House Quidditch teams.
…
The twins stayed at the castle for Christmas. Neither wanted to go anywhere near their “home”, and their friends also stayed over the holidays.
Lovino helped Hagrid with the decorations, complaining all the way, but looking rather pleased when complimented for the beautiful centerpieces he put together. On most days, he could be spotted helping Professor Sprout in her greenhouses. Feliciano spent the entire break alternating between the library, Ludwig, and some stray cats that someone had brought back from Hogsmeade a few weeks prior.
Feliciano gifted Lovino a wallet with snapping teeth. Lovino gifted him a mechanical pen with six different colors.
Neither commented on the other receiving packages of scarves and gloves via the owls, nor did Lovino say anything about the mug wrapped in a small box that mysteriously appeared in his trunk.
.
Feliciano joined the art club and continued attending Slub Club meetings. Lovino refused to do anything more than he had to do, though he continued to help Professor Sprout in her greenhouse.
It wasn’t hard to figure out which brother was the social butterfly.
“Such beautiful work—!”
“Grazie—”
“—and for someone so young! But nothing less expected of the heir to Romeo’s fortune, of course, the man did love his art. How sophisticated!”
Feliciano would beam at the guests attending Slughorn’s parties, and Lovino would roll his eyes and point anyone who inquired to just ask his brother directly if they had questions.
(He was definitely not behind the portable swamp that appeared after some students went into a bathroom talking rudely about Feliciano’s paintings within earshot. Feliciano, for his part, paid no mind, but if someone asked, he answered with his well-rehearsed, “I don’t know”.)
.
It took most people by surprise when Feliciano barely passed most of his exams, only excelling in Art and History.
What surprised people even more was when Feliciano flew into the Great Hall and threw himself at Lovino, shouting his congratulations. A quick inquiry was all it took to realize Lovino Vargas has the third-highest grades in his year, and was first overall in Herbology.
It puzzled the other students to no end.
“I thought Feliciano for sure would be first in Charms…” Ethan Wang mused.
“Or in Flying,” Tolys Lauranitis added.
Luca Vissar, whose sister was in the Vargas twins’ year, thought there were definitely some underhand motives at play, but when he tried to question them they denied any compliance vehemently, with Feliciano even bursting into tears. Luca then got chewed out by Yao Wang for intimidating the younger students.
.
Lovino wasn’t entirely sure how, but at the end of the school year, he and Feliciano ended up at Roderich Edelstein’s house.
They had to share a room. Lovino was never more thankful that he’d agreed to stay at Antonio’s during August. Dealing with Feliciano was one thing, having to sleep five feet away from him was another. And Roderich trading insults with his cousins over dinner was something else entirely that Lovino just knew he did not want any part of. The twins’ room was on top of the house’s designated music room too, and Lovino swore Roderich played scales at the crack of dawn specifically to mess with him, because Feliciano could sleep through anything.
Feliciano didn’t seem to mind. He even seemed to enjoy it, and of course he would, the Edelsteins were a very artistic family. It was almost alarming.
At least Roderich apologized for stuffing the two together in a confined space for extended periods of time.
“It’s fine,” Feliciano had said, waving Roderich’s concerns off. “It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, he’s not all bad! He’s great with Herbology, and cooking, and sometimes he’s even nice to me!”
“And how often is that?” Roderich had asked in his I-will-decide-for-myself voice.
Feliciano paused. “...I think the last time was eight months ago…?”
Lovino elbowed Feliciano as he squeezed past, having just returned from the bathroom. “Stupid bastard.”
“Oh! So you did send those choco-mrph!”
Roddrich decided to leave the brothers be and go call Elizabeta instead.
.
Both twins agreed that life at the Edelsteins’, while not the comfy life of their childhood home, was leagues better then anything at their uncle’s estate. Though they had to help with chores, they had more than enough time to pursue other interests, and soon the twins’ room was filled with Feliciano’s paintings.
Lovino stayed out in the garden, and stared at tomato plants until he was thoroughly sunburned.
.
Feliciano spent the entire summer at the Edelsteins’, quite happy to spend his days with other artistically-minded people. Things were only made better when he was introduced to incoming first-year and his old friend Ludwig Beilschmidt. Soon Roderich and Ludwig’s brother Gilbert were passing a camera back and forth as they trailed after the two.
Lovino got the hell out the moment he saw Feliciano do a flying leap hug at Ludwig, and spent most of August venting to Antonio, who strummed his guitar and offered his guest as many tomatoes as his heart desired.
.
Lovino joined the Quidditch team as their Keeper. Feliciano decided to stay with art.
He kept practicing his flying, however, and occasionally joined in Quidditch friendlies. Madame Hooch, who normally didn’t attend to these sort of matches, would often be seen with a pair of knitting needles in the stands, a close eye kept on Feliciano Vargas lest he endanger himself of anyone else.
On one exciting afternoon in October, Lovino Vargas joined the opposing team during one of these friendlies.
Sometime during the match, Feliciano got too close to Lovino, and the latter snapped at the former to back off, sending the two into a quarrel over who had accidentally touched whose personal space. Then Madame Hooch had to break them up, and Ludwig Beilschmidt found himself summoned to the Hospital Wing not long after, looking with great confusion at the very sheepish twins, as Madame Pomfrey despaired over the predicament.
As it turned out, in Lovino’s latest endeavor to not look like his brother (“We’re not even identical, fratello!” “Shut up, bastard!”), he’d slicked his curls to the other side of his head. Somehow, the twins’ curls had tangled while they’d been arguing, and now…
“How,” Ludwig asked with a heavy sigh. “Just—how?”
“Uh…hehe…” Feliciano chuckled nervously.
Lovino muttered some colorful words, and Madame Pomfrey grumbled to herself as she motioned for Ludwig to come help her with the knots.
The twins were only slightly more careful after that. Slughorn, of course, found the entire situation hilarious, and even Professor Sprout chuckled with Headmistress McGonagall over some tea about it later that evening.
Madame Hooch forbade both twins from taking part in friendlies at the same time, for her own sanity’s sake. It was bad enough Lovino Vargas was a reckless Keeper, she didn’t need two of them on her hands.
.
The year passed just as before. Feliciano kept getting personal invites to Slug Club parties, Lovino spent ludicrous amounts of time in the greenhouses, both stayed at Hogwarts through Christmas, and at every exam, no matter how well Feliciano had done in class, Lovino got the higher grade.
“You’d think it was almost intentional!” Natalya Braginsky whispered to Laura Vissar while in the library. “Dropping your grade is a sure way to draw attention to yourself! And not the good kind!”
“It is rather odd…” Laura agreed. “But it’s also Feliciano—he panics over anything, perhaps he just freaks out during the test and stops thinking?”
“Have you met Lovino?” Natalya asked. “Because that boy is just as bad, you should hear him scream. It’s almost as loud as Big Brother when I sneak up on him.”
“Shhh!” Madam Pince hissed at them, and the two girls quickly went back to work, because even Natalya Braginsky knew that making Madam Pince mad was not a good thing if one wished to have a peaceful life.
.
Feliciano stayed with the Beilschmidts for the summer holidays. Lovino went back to Antonio’s house. Neither had requested to visit their friends the summer before, and their uncle had never mentioned their return. So by logic, it only made sense to spend the holidays with their school friends. It wasn’t like they would be missing much anyways.
.
~~~~
They missed oh so much.
“Vargas, Lorenzo—Hufflepuff!”
Lovino choked on his gum. Feliciano couldn’t stop staring, and the southeast Asian boy next to him had to elbow him to close his mouth.
Feliciano tracked down Lovino the next day, whilst the latter was on his way to lunch. And then, for the first time in at least a year, the twins had a proper conversation.
At least, after Feliciano convinced Lovino that lunch was less important than the matter at hand.
“But—”
“Fratello, it’s about Lorenzo.”
That shut Lovino up long enough for Feliciano to drag him to one of the castle’s many secret corridors, where hopefully no one would overhear. Once the painting was shut, Feliciano turned to face his twin.
“Grandpa never mentioned about us having cousins, no?”
“You think Grandpa talked to me?”
Feliciano paused. “You have a point. Still—”
“Obviously not, idiot,” Lovino spat back. “And I guess you don’t have any idea either.”
“Nope!”
“Then please tell me it’s just a coincidence. I have no desire to deal with you and another mini you.”
“Vargas is a popular name…”
“So it’s probably a coincidence!”
“Then why did he have the family crest on his bookbag?”
“I don’t look at other peoples’ stuff!” Lovino exclaimed. “How would I fucking know? I’ve seen him exactly once today—at breakfast! You’re the one sharing a fucking common room with him!”
“And that’s why I saw it,” Feliciano said. “It looks really old, too. I wonder where he got it from?”
Lovino scoffed. “Obviously not me, dumbass.”
“Me neither. And if Grandpa Romeo never mentioned him…” Feliciano mused. “Could he be like Uncle? A relative we don’t really know?”
“Uncle was from our mother’s side,” Lovino reminded him. “Even you should remember that.”
“And our father—actually,” Feliciano frowned, a thought suddenly coming to mind. “Grandpa Romeo barely talked about him. He said he left a long long time ago.”
“I thought that meant he died.”
“So did I.”
“Then—”
“Only one way to find out!” Feliciano declared. “Let’s go ask him!”
Feliciano took off, Lovino taking a moment to process before running after him. “Huh—? Hey, wait—!”
.
They both chickened out.
A prefect found them slumped against the wall near the kitchens, looking exhausted. Feliciano was drooling slightly and Lovino was turned away, like he had no desire to be there.
Lorenzo Vargas heard about the sleeping twins later that evening, and joked with his new friend Leon Wang about Italians and siestas.
.
Direct confrontation wasn’t an option. So genealogical research it was.
Neither Ludwig nor his elder brother Gilbert had any idea about a third Vargas. And neither did Roderich, or Elizabeta. Arthur Kirkland offered to have his house-elf check his family’s library, but the only thing he came back with was an old photo of Romeo Vargas from his war days. Feliciano tucked away the photo for safekeeping, and offered sweet treats in return.
Yao Wang successfully conned both twins into “information” in exchange for cheap labor, until Arthur threatened to expose him.
“It’s almost entertaining,” Leon commented to Lorenzo and Kyle Kirkland as they walked to Transfiguration.
“What is?” Lorenzo asked.
“Feliciano and Lovino, obviously, duh,” Kyle laughed. “Bro, you got the family crest and everything, like seriously please tell me you’re not related to them—that would be amazing.”
Lorenzo’s eyebrows pulled together in thought. “I thought I was?”
“I don’t think they know that,” Leon snickered as they trooped into the classroom.
Finally, Ludwig got impatient and, dragging both twins behind him, confronted the target himself in the Clocktower Courtyard.
“Is your grandfather Romeo Constantino Vargas, yes or no?” Ludwig demanded, a firm grip on both Vargas twins, who were shaking behind Ludwig’s taller frame.
Lorenzo looked up from his sketch of Slughorn—a somewhat unappealing image. He nearly dropped his quill at the sight of a pissed-off Ludwig Beilschmidt.
“Yes?”
Ludwig shoved the twins in Lorenzo’s direction, the two falling over each other from the sudden push. “Talk. Before I make you do it myself. I don’t get paid to deal with this nonsense.”
“Yes, yes, we’re talking! We’re talking! Don’t hex us!” Lovino yelped. Feliciano nodded frantically, and Lorenzo shook in his shoes and wondered how Feliciano was best friends with this guy.
By the end of the break hour, they’d managed to figure out that Grandpa Rome had passed on more than just his skills, and Lovino couldn’t wait until he could go to Hogsmeade and drown his aggravations in butterbeer.
Seriously, what was up with all these random relatives popping up out of nowhere? Scratch that, who fucked up the job of not telling the twins that they had siblings?
Lovino was going to need a word with whoever was in charge of this nonsense, and Feliciano wholeheartedly agreed, though he was significantly less vocal about his grievances and instead cheerfully and easily fixed Lorenzo’s bag with a simple Reparo despite having done it so poorly he’d cracked the broken vase even more during Charms just a few hours before.
.
Lorenzo’s existence opened a can of worms for the twins. A can of worms they spent the Christmas holidays dealing with, because guess why their Uncle hadn’t called them home in over two years. As it turned out, he’d been run out of town for tax fraud. Uncovered, ironically, by a Muggle aunt of Lorenzo’s. Oh right, he was a half-blood. Hadn’t even known he was a wizard until the letter came, because of course their father had dropped off the face of the Earth yet again.
He, and by proxy, the twins, had a younger half-brother. Not magical, as far as they knew. That might be a good thing. McGonagall might truly go gray if any more members of the Vargas family turned up at her school, because just like his brother, Lorenzo attracted trouble like a magnet and had been found one morning dangling from a windowsill—having sleepwalked himself up the wall. He’d grown up in Italy, but ended up in Hogwarts because of Romeo Vargas’ will. Which had ordered for anyone in his lineage with magic in their blood to be accepted directly to Hogwarts, unless requested otherwise.
“Grandpa Rome…” Feliciano laughed when he saw the copy of the will Lorenzo’s mother handed to him, the twins having come back with Lorenzo over the holidays.
“Of course he did,” Lovino muttered.
Lorenzo’s mother had a Muggle invention, a printer, and she used it to make the twins a copy while the duo watched in amazement, having never seen something like it before. They then spent the rest of the day in the shared guest room, reading over the entire thing out of curiosity.
For once, they didn’t bicker, and Lovino didn’t swear. Feliciano turned serious, and let his usual happy-go-lucky personality drop in favor of full concentration.
They were looking for something. Neither mentioned it, but they needed the confirmation they’d long felt they deserved.
They perused the document with such an intensity that even the normally oblivious Lorenzo thought it best not to go near. But then, Feliciano saw it.
The writings of how Romeo wanted his funeral rites to be done had passed, but then there was the list of assets. And at the top, a note: that their childhood home was to be shared by both of them when they came of age, and until then maintained by their maternal uncle. After their seventeenth birthday, they would officially both inherit the legacy of Romeo Vargas, with full control over all of his assets and estates.
“We have a house in Egypt? What was Grandpa doing in Egypt?!” Lovino exclaimed.
“Never mind that,” Feliciano pointed at a specific spot on the paper. “We’re both the heirs, Lovino.”
“You’re lying!” Lovino sniffed.
Feliciano tapped his finger. “Look! Right here! He must have forgotten about it, the date it was amended was a week after our birth! You’re just as much the heir as I am.”
Lovino peered at the print. “...Huh.”
“And look,” Feliciano said, moving his finger down the list, “you seem to have quite a few things marked specifically for you. I’ve got a bunch of the art collection, but you’ve got all sorts of cool things—an apartment in the center of Rome, wow, that’s really nice! I think you’ve got most of the places in Italy, and I got the ones outside…”
“Have fun in Egypt,” Lovino snarked. Feliciano pouted, and Lovino ignored his brother’s complaints as he flipped the page. “Hm? Hey, wait a moment, we have a trust fund?”
Feliciano paused. “You don’t know about it? Grandpa Romeo set it up years ago.”
“No?! I wasn’t the one traveling all over the world, you know!”
“Oh, right. I’ll show you the next time we’re in London. It’s pretty cool—well, not as fancy as Arthur’s, but still pretty cool!” Feliciano said cheerfully.
“When did you see Arthur Kirkland’s vault?”
“He was boasting about it to Francis,” Feliciano explained.
Lovino sighed. “Rich people…”
“Says yourself.”
“Then why the hell am I so broke I had to sell tomatoes to buy a bloody scarf?!” Lovino asked pointedly.
“Well, uh…”
“Well?”
“I dunno! Don’t look at me!”
Dinner that night was quite the affair, with the twins spending half the evening learning about their extended family and the other half being questioned by Lorenzo about stereotypical things rich kids at Hogwarts tended to do, despite the fact that neither twin would have any idea how many Firebolts someone with a lot of money should own.
.
The next semester, when Feliciano inevitably was handed a Slug Club invite, he decided to hang out with Ludwig instead. Lovino took his place and somehow left the party with a summer internship in America at MACUSA.
Antonio thought that was rather impressive. Feliciano cheered when he found out. Lovino just wanted some spaghetti after being social all evening.
.
The years passed.
.
Summer was spent with friends-Feliciano with Ludwig, Lovino with Antonio. On one particularly eventful summer, Feliciano spent a couple of months in Japan with exchange student Kiku Honda while Lovino took up a summer job helping out Hogwarts’ chaos-makers, Alfred Jones and Matthew Williams, as they tried to clean up the house lent to them by the Kirklands. While Alfred’s friend Tolys busied himself in the seemingly-endless storage room, Lovino quickly.appointed himself resident cook after watching the three devour cup ramen three nights in a row. And racked up a lengthy phone bill as he ranted to Antonio about his woes.By the time they all returned to Hogwarts, Kiku had somehow become “Italianized” (to Ludwig’s horror) and Alfred was so in love with Italian food that it was a full week before he could eat Hogwarts-style metaballs.
The Christmas holidays were spent with Lorenzo and his family, although Feliciano spent half of that time on calls to Ludwig, Kiku, or any one of his many friends. Lovino spent the time in the middle of a pile of Herbology books while his twin babbled on in the background. Loreznso always took the opportunity to mess a bit with his brothers, with everything from taping their shoes to the ceiling to moving everything in their room two inches to the left. Occasionally he swiped a quill or some gum, which neither brother seemed to notice.
Easter was always done at the castle as it was only a week and both brothers still put in the effort to pass their tests, despite what their appearances might have suggested.
And the cycle kept on, year after year. Until finally….
.
They turned seventeen.
The manor’s exterior should have been a giveaway to the state of the interior.
“Wow. Things really rust away fast in just a few years,” Feliciano commented.
“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when certain people get ahold of the fucking assets,” Lovino muttered. “You really think Dipshit was paying for the upkeep?”
“That’s pretty—eek! Mouse!” Feliciano suddenly yelped as a small creature zipped across the porch, followed closely by two others.
“Nope. Not doing this—”
“Hey, wait! It’s fine! I’m kilometers ahead of you—see, there’s a cat! She’ll catch it! Go, Mouser!” Feliciano protested against a Lovino who had been hard-pressed to even come out here in the first place. The cat blinked sleepily from its spot on the windowsill and yawned before putting its head back down to nap.
Lovino stared, then breathed in and out.
“Feliciano, that cat is sunbathing, I swear, you of all people should know looking cute does nothing to thwart—”
Somehow, they got into the house.
Little had changed beyond a new layer of dust over everything. At least it seemed like there was a charm keeping vandals at bay. It didn’t do much for grime, though. Both twins shivered as they looked at the mess.
“I don’t like all this dust,” Feliciano commented.
“Me neither. Scourgify!” The ensuing dust clouds made Lovino cough violently, and Feliciano quickly took over, his attempts being a bit more successful than Lovino’s. Though, after doing the entrance and realizing there were still several dozen rooms left to clean, Feliciano too decided it wasn’t worth the effort and joined Lovino out on the porch.
From there, they called the Beilschmidt brothers, Feliciano pleading with Ludwig and Gilbert to come over and lend a hand. Despite the fact that they had once been used as maids, there were just some things that were better left to professionals.
But when all was said and done, the house stood clean and Doxy-free, and then it was time to test one final thing.
Ludwig observed as Lovino went to one side of the kitchen and Feliciano to the other. And then, at the same time, they called the names of the two Vargas family house-elves, names that hadn’t been uttered since they’d been sent to work for a friend of Romeo Vargas many years before.
Two cracks sounded in unison, and two house elves appeared, bowing in different directions.
“Welcome home, Master,” they said in unison.
Lovino and Felicano looked at each other and grinned.
.
Romeo’s legacy would live on, just as he’d intended. In both of his grandsons.