WHO: John, Jill, Caradoc, & Juliet Dearborn, & Maddockson Selwyn
WHAT: It's their monthly family dinner tonight
WHERE: Wales, Dearborn Manor :]
WHEN: August '78
Looking at his cuticles, Caradoc stood hunched outside the front door of parent’s house (the Dearborn manor, how could he be so stupid to call it anything but that?), not particularly feeling the urge to open the door. Or knock---- or even walk in for that matter. These monthly dinners were completely pointless, and why his mother insisted on having them was beyond him. Because, really, what would getting together once a month do, besides make him and Juliet hate their parents more? John and Jill really had done enough damage to their children’s lives (or lack there of), so why aggravate them by insisting on something so stupid? Curse the day their parents had noticed that he and Juliet had moved out, hence bringing about this whole ‘dinner’ thing. He was staring at the door, thinking about how easy it was to just leave before anyone knew he was here when it swung open, nearly taking out his arm in the process. Clutching onto it, because of course it was the one Potter decided to attack in his insanity fit, Caradoc glared down at the thing that had opened it.
Filkes. Such a miserable being. Caradoc’s lip curled up slightly at the sight of the house-elf (such wonderful memories) leering up at him with his fatless fingers curled around the doorknob and his back arched over. Without a second glance and restraining himself from giving a swing at it, Caradoc pushed by the house-elf and into the house. Oh, how thrilled he was to be bored and aggravated out of his mind all night.
“Caradoc, darling.” Oh--- joy. Putting on the fakest smile he was possibly capable of, Caradoc lamely hugged his mother back as she wrapped her bony arms around him. Once Jill Dearborn finally pulled back, and he noticed the faintest hint of a strained smile on her face as well. Good, at least they were on the same page and not totally delusional as they had been in their younger years.
“You are late, your father and Juliet are already sitting down,” Jill cooed to him with a pat to her son’s arm. Holding back twitching his eyes in annoyance, Caradoc followed her through the rooms until they entered the dinning room. Oh, woe, how would his life ever go on at the thought of being late for his own family’s meals? Shooting Filkes a glare as the house-elf pulled out his seat, Caradoc finally sat down at the table right across from Juliet, who looked just as thrilled as he was to be in their formal wear.
The look that Juliet gave Caradoc from across the table could only be labeled as miserable. She hated this dress her mother picked out for her (whose mother bloody picked out dresses for them? She swore sometimes Jill thought she was eight, although that honestly might have been the case), she would have much rather been hanging out with her boyfriend than her parents, and she was being forced into conversation with her father. Which, by and by, wasn't working very well--she was, for the most part ignoring him, only giving a couple nods and uninterested 'hmm's as response to his (what he thought were) witty jokes.
“Yes, Caradoc, you're late,” she echoed her mother in a tight, agitated voice. “That wouldn't happen if you just lived at home with your parents--like I do, wonder why.”
Of course her father laughed and patted her on the shoulder, thinking that she was saying that she would love nothing more than to be around her parents. But the tone of her voice told otherwise. Not that her father had ever paid her enough attention to pick up even the most blatant of her mannerisms.
He really shouldn’t laugh at her; it was technically his fault that she lived her with these two monsters of beings and the malnourished house-elf. And, at any moment, Caradoc technically could just have her come back to his apartment and make all this go away. Well, not as easily as it seemed, and there were strings attached to that, and whatnot; either way it was a whole another story. But the look on her face and the way Juliet was talking, mixed in with the total and complete oblivious attitude of their parents made it nearly impossible for Caradoc to hold back his lips forming into a wild smile. He did manage to pull his lips in though, and hold his tongue. There were so many things he could reply with.
“That is such a stunning dress, Juliet, I can’t understand why you don’t wear it more,” he finally replied through his smile and tilting his head slightly at her. Oh, he knew that their mother had picked that out for her, and most likely jammed or charmed her into it. He was not new to being forced into clothing, though his sister did have it harder, being a girl.
“See, darling, even Caradoc thinks you look lovely in that beautiful dress. There really was no reason to put up such a fuss like a child about wearing it,” Jill said coolly as she unraveled the napkin cloth and placed it gently on her lap. “We’re having liver and onions tonight,” she finished promptly, on cue as Filkes placed a full plate in front of her.
“Our favorite,” John responded almost happily, and made way to gently punch both Caradoc and Juliet’s arms. Luckily for Caradoc, he had moved away just in time before, pretending to look down at his pockets when in reality trying not to gag. He sadly, had missed that father-son bonding moment.
“You know, I absolutely agree with you, Caradoc. Especially after looking at you in that suit of yours--you know, if only you lived at home, mother would keep you from dressing in such tatters.” Juliet tilted her head towards their mother and gave her the fakest, most sugary-sweet smile that had ever crossed her lips. “I sure don't know what I would do without her exquisite fashion sense.”
Stupid bloody brother, he should be reminded of every second how much she hated living in this place, with these people. Just being here with them all made her think again on how she should really still be determined to hate him for this. Those couple months in which she'd decided to be completely cruel and cold to him had been far too short a punishment for a crime such as this.
Either way, it didn't seem to matter much as the food finally came out. Juliet was overwhelmed by the urge to gag at the disgusting meal--she didn't even feel or care about her father's punching her in the arm. Bloody hell, if John and Jill's stupidity was all a great disguise for the sadistic, torture-mongers that they really were underneath, then they were doing a damn good job of it. Both of them immediately began tucking in to the meal, which only made their daughter gag all the more.
“You know, Mum” --not ‘Mother’, like usual... Jill always got so excited when Juliet referred to her so endearingly-- “you were telling me just this afternoon that I should be watching my figure more. Filkes wouldn't mind making me a salad instead, I'm sure. I don't want to eat anything too heavy.”
Oh no, she was not getting out of this disgusting meal. Caradoc’s head snapped up from watching the liver and onions stew in its own repulsive oil, ready with a quick way to retort before either of their parents did. “Why would you want to put that poor house-elf through more trouble? This meal obviously took much more labor than it should have, seeing as it looks so… appealing. Just eat it in small bites, Juliet.” He looked at Juliet expectantly, with an endearing smile. John, to their left, nodded dumbly as he kept his mouth shut and full of food. Jill, however, didn’t seem as pleased.
“Yes, well--- I did say that,” she started, looking at her daughter for a few moments with near scrutinizing eyes. Though, only after a few moments, Jill snapped her fingers once and ordered a salad made at once. Glowering, Caradoc sat back in his chair and watched as his sister’s plate of disgustingness disappeared while his stayed unpleasantly visible and solid. This was not over, oh it was never over, he was not eating this, there was no way in--- was that glass breaking? Feeling as though he had just woken up, Caradoc turned in his seat very much alert to this new noise. That had come from behind him, where the kitchen was most definitely not located.
“Where’s Filkes?”
Juliet had the triumphant smirk on her face for only a second before it was wiped away by the sound of glass shattering somewhere outside the dining room. She glanced to where she heard the noise, then to Caradoc, then back to the noise's origin. It seemed to be coming from the living room, but if Filkes was there--he had popped in at Caradoc's words--and they were there, and then what else could have been in the living room to break things?
“Master, I'll go check the disturbance, you stays here and eat your--“
Juliet stood up and put her napkin on the table. “--no, it's alright, Filkes. You finish my salad and I'll--”
She was cut off by John just as she had cut off the house elf. “No, children, you both stay here--you especially, Julie--” --she cringed at the offending nickname, and the fact that he seemed to think they were a couple of 12-year-olds-- “--your mother and I can go check, can't we, Jill?” John wiggled his eyebrows in good humor at them. “It could be an intruder!”
As Juliet got up from her seat, Caradoc rose to his feet as well. And not just because everyone else seemed to be on their feet, and it was slightly awkward that he had quickly become the only one still sitting. Something breaking within the house was a good enough excuse to step away from the rotten mess on his plate, if at least. Because when did anything ever good come from---
“Oh, yes,” Jill replied almost happily as she held her hand out for her husband to take, loving the looks on both her children’s faces. They actually looked worried, or better yet, even anxious about this ‘supposed’ noise. She, personally, hadn’t even heard a thing. It was most likely just a fallen object in the house; they were the only ones there after all, and things did break once and a while. Plus, Filkes did have a such a comedic side to him. “We must be sure that no one is in our home!”
“We’re not---” Caradoc tried to butt in, but stopped once John and Jill had left the room completely. Without their wands, he had noticed. Idiots, they were. What if they were walking into a potentially dangerous situation with nothing more than their stupid ‘wit’ and ‘funny’ laughs? His jaw set itself tight for a few moments, but then relaxed. It was probably nothing. Actually, now that he thought about it, this was probably some ploy of their father’s. He would think that something like this would just be the greatest laugh of all. Breaking your own things in your own house and then making it a family adventure of it; how fucking hilarious. He shook his head at Juliet and waved his hand at her in almost an aggravated way to let her know what he was thinking. They weren’t that stupid, there would be wards put up to protect this old place.
“You have to be kidding me,” Caradoc drawled out as green light filled his eyes.
The way that Juliet sat there as the green light of the curse flashed off the walls of dining room was nothing but eerie. Her eyes didn't blink, her hands stayed quite still and folded in her lap, and her mouth was as thin and unaffected a line as it had ever been. Like Caradoc, she had been almost certain that it was some stupid game their parents were playing with them for laughs, but... well, she'd always thought her father had a strange sense of humor, but somehow she didn't suspect that he'd go get himself killed just for shits and giggles.
“Well,” she finally spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen over the siblings after the curse had subsided. “I suppose dinner is over, then.”
Juliet sighed and stood up, pushing her chair in as if nothing was wrong, and curled her fingers around her wand, which she kept laying next to her fork and knife. Her parents had always hated it when she brought it down to dinner, but then again, they were the ones that were dead.
“Oh--- yeah, I think that’s safe to assume,” Caradoc responded dryly with a skeptic look playing on his face as he produced his wand from his jacket pocket as it was nothing new. Well actually, it really wasn’t anything new. He had gotten over that whole ‘oh no, it’s the killing curse’ thing a long, long time ago. It was thrown around so much these days that in all honesty, it was just another curse that needed to be dodged, but maybe take a little care in looking out for them.
“Filkes, go hide in the kitchen,” he sighed, visibly torn over missing such a great opportunity to end the miserable being’s life. It would be wrong to put the house-elf in such a dangerous situation and ask him to risk his life after serving the Dearborn family after all these years and blah blah blah, he was growing too soft. Nodding to Juliet, he put up a quick shield for the both of them and took the lead.
Who could possibly want to kill them? Well… Caradoc could think of a lot of people, off the top of his head, actually. But that was just him--- their family as a whole was quite harmless in the greater scheme of things, being more socially than politically active. Well, of course, unless someone in the Death Eater ranks had smartly figured out that he was in the Order, working as a fully functional spy against the Dark Lord. Then, there might be a problem. And the reason for attack. Shit, they were going to walk into a room of Death Eaters, weren’t they? Frowning fully and wishing that things hadn’t happened so quickly, he braced himself for an on slot of spells and curses. They might just leave Juliet, she had bloody Nott protecting her.
So he was thoroughly surprised when they finally did enter the living room to see not a horde of masked men, but just one man with his wand raised and what looked like a book held wildly in the other. Caradoc didn’t look down at the bodies at his feet; he knew who they were.
An evil cackle escaped from the man’s lips as he swung wildly in place, and Caradoc couldn’t help but respond with simply an over-exaggerated skeptic look.
Juliet gave her brother a mildly surprised look as he allowed the house elf to go and protect himself rather than running out there to die, but... if she told the truth, a lot of things were different about Caradoc these days. Like this strange emotion that was rolling off him in waves as they got closer and closer to the living room where the light had come from. She couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but it felt like he knew what they were getting into--but that could have been just as indifferent a feeling as she had about her as well.
Either way, it didn't matter. They had bigger problems to take care of, like whoever had gone around and killed their parents. There were so many thanks that needed to be said to the intruder, and why, goodness, she wondered if they liked liver and onions. They could all sit down for a fabulous little celebration meal, and Caradoc could even have a salad if he wanted.
All thoughts of snark were lost, however, as the siblings finally made it to the living room. A broken window, a couple of bodies, yes yes--and then her brow furrowed, because what the bloody hell was that freak doing in their house? With her--holy fuck, with her journal, so that’s where it had run off to. And yet, Juliet was an absolute pro in the unimpressed look she gave Maddockson.
“Oh, clever,” she drawled. “I hope you weren't planning on any screams and tears out of me, because I’m afraid I’m going to be all but disappointing in that area. When you were poring over my innermost thoughts and emotions, did you miss the part about how I wished my parents would fall off the face of the earth? I’m afraid I’ll have to offer you only my utmost gratitude.”
Well, Caradoc had to admit, this was an interesting twist and turn of events. He would have never suspected it to be Stupidman from Knockturn to be the one to steal Juliet’s journal, apparently scavenge it for any and all information about them, and then attack their house. Actually, it was quiet impressive; he must have been plotting this for weeks and must have figured out that tonight would be the only night that all four of them would have been in the house. And then, making it perfect for an ultimate revenge? Yes, that sounded about right. Too bad his simple attempts were very useless to both him and Juliet.
“LIES!” Maddockson hissed, holding his arm up as if preparing to throw the journal to the ground. The older man held it up for a few moments, but then apparently decided against it and brought it close back to his chest. See, see, those brats would see what else he was capable of, he refused to believe that they would not be torn over the deaths of their parents, no no. Lies. He could see their dull faces from here, it was unavoidable. But he was not done here, no no.
“I’ll be taking that,” Caradoc stated briskly, raising his wand to retrieve the journal. “Really, it’s a shame you wasted energy on us. We could really care less about all this.” Reacting quicker than Caradoc expected, Maddockson leapt back into life with a snarl as they kept talking to him.
“REVENGE IS NEAR! YOU SHALL SEE!”
She knew it wasn't really something you should do in a situation in which there was a stalker madman breaking into your house and killing your parents, but Juliet had to put a hand to her mouth to hold back a laugh. Honestly, this guy was so insane that it was downright hilarious. He sounded like some kind of cheesy Muggle comic book villain or something.
Apparently Maddockson noticed her ill-hidden chuckle, because he snarled in Juliet's direction. “You can laugh now, girl, but you won't be when you see who I go after next! What’s your little boyfriend’s name, Rhys?”
Now Juliet didn't even try to hide her laughter, because... Merlin, Maddockson (‘Stupidman’ as Caradoc called him, and she was beginning to really agree) was delusional. Really, as if she would feel bothered by someone threatening Rhys, he could handle himself. “By all means, go ahead. I'm sure you'll have him shaking in his boots,” she replied with a nonchalant shrug. Although she supposed that she should go and warn Rhys before Stupidman broke into his house and killed his parents... at least his father. Maybe Maddockson could do some good and go around disposing of his parental problems as well.
His lips were pulled in together so tight that Caradoc found his teeth were starting to hurt from the pressure. Maddockson was just making this all too comical; their parents’ deaths were now comical. Not exactly how Caradoc pictured they would go, but this was definitely up there. He gave a lazy sigh and swished his wand back and forth. Fine, the bloody idiot could keep Juliet’s journal. And that threat about Nott. He could care less about the younger boy--- not that there was any worry to be there in the first place. Caradoc was fairly certain that if this man tried to break into his house, Nott would either kill him instantly or simply watch him for a few moments and then kill him.
“Yes, alright, you do that, and report back to us on how that goes, alright? Sound good? Now get out of my house,” his voice came out firmly and he stopped swishing his wand back and forth to direct it at the other man. But before he could hurl him out, Maddockson gave one last screech and jumped back out the window, disappearing into the night. Caradoc watched the window for a moment, and then gave a quick flick to repair the broken glass. Wards would have to be put on the house now, though--- he would rather not have to deal with such annoyances any time in the future.
Finally, Caradoc bent down to the ground, getting a good view of his father’s vacant face. For just a second, slight pity ran through his veins; their faces did seem rather surprised. Though, that passed quickly as it had come and he stood back up to look at Juliet with his arms crossed over his chest. “Well.”
"Well," Juliet replied in a like tone. She walked up beside her brother and knelt down beside him, looking over her parents' bodies with disinterest. Yes, it was sad that they were dead in the sense that they didn't really deserve it--something, not death, though, that was a bit harsh--but to say that she felt anything over it was stretching it. John and Jill had never shown that they cared enough about her, so why in the world would she act like she cared about them?
She wouldn't, simple as that.
Sighing, Juliet reached over and closed Jill's eyelids, not really wanting to look at it anymore. It wasn't necessary, she thought as she stood up and turned away, and headed out of the living room.
