[mp] [norbotten] everything changes. [anders]

June 2003

Well they had graduated, it was finally time to head back home for good, and honestly Konrad found it harder than he thought it was going to be. He'd been checking in on the house over the holidays, and his puppers, of course, but being here full time was weird. Especially since now that they were truly back and living here it was so obvious that two people were very much missing. Their mother and father hadn't been around for some time but the pain never ever went away. He still missed them, every day, and especially on days like this. "Oh quit being such a baby." Konrad said with all the love he could muster between yawns. Ander had been sick for days and Konrad had been doing his best to take care of him but he was almost had his limits. He hadn't slept more than a few hours in two days and it was starting to show. His hair was messy, his face was pale, dark circles under his eyes, and he was wearing the same red flannel pajama bottoms and gray thermal he had been for days.

"You have to eat something Anders, you have to."

He told his younger brother as he pulled on the newspaper he'd been glued to anytime he wasn't passed out sleeping. Things were changing, not just at their home but all over Sweden. The Minister for Magic had been ousted, a plot discovered, Durmstrang moved, and they'd just learned that once more Koldovstoretz students were being sent to the other magical school. Only thing time it was only those who were "Selected" which in Konrad's mind some how made it that much worse. He was so happy both of them had gotten out when they did, but that didn't make the stuff at the ministry any less concerning. "How many times are you going to read that article?" He asked, sighing and sitting on the edge of Ander's bed with the bowl of hot soup steaming in his hands.

@Anders Lidström

“Mmp.” Was his only reply to his older brother’s plea. He was grumpy, and he knew it. Anders was desperately trying to follow one of his parents’ golden rule that if he couldn’t say something nice, he shouldn’t say anything at all. He knew his mood wasn’t his brother’s fault, and it was probably his own but at the moment Anders didn’t care.

His head ached, his nose was stuffy, and he was starting to think that he would never be comfortable in his bed again. His brother’s words had him frowning. It was the same petulant scowl he’d been perfecting since the age of three. His eyes did not leave the page in front of him though – even though the boy had read the article more times than was necessary. That was until he felt Konrad trying to remove it from his grasp, that is.

“Hey!” he protested as he tightened his grip on the paper “I’ll read it as ma-“ Anders’ protest was cut off by a yawn “many times as I like…” he finished a moment later, still unwilling to let the newspaper go. However he did finally look up at his brother, blinking slowly as his body betrayed him, giving away just how tired he was. As he looked at Konrad, the boy felt a small smile pull at his lips “Y’know” he said just as another yawn interrupted his train of thought “You’re not looking too hot yourself there, Konnie.” He used the old childhood nickname out of a bit of nostalgia but also just to push his brother’s buttons, as he was obligated to do.

One part of him knew that Konrad had to be exhausted. Anders in his sickly stupor was aware enough to notice that neither of them had changed in the last few days. But the other part of him was feeling selfish, sick, and was more interested in doing his best to keep Konrad at a distance. While he waited for his brother’s reply the redhead eyed the bowl of soup and wondered if he could convince his taste buds that it didn’t matter if they could taste anything or not.

Resigned to the fact that Anders was still Anders and he would do everything on his own schedule Konrad settled in at the bottom of his brother's bed. He wouldn't force him to put down the magazine and eat something but damn if he wouldn't sit there and give him a look until he was either a) feeling guilty about it or b) so annoyed he gave in. Anders was uniquely qualified to get on his older brothers nerves but he often forgot that that door swung both ways.

He grimaced at the Connie jab and shook his head, loose strands of blonde hair falling into his face. He needed a hair cut, had for a week now, but they had more important things to worry about. Like this cold that would just not let up. He couldn't remember a time he'd seen his brother so sick and he wasn't sure how much energy he had left to take care of him. "Thanks baby bro." He said, shaking his head again and looking out the window.

It was June but it could of been the middle of January the way the had the heat cranked up. He half wondered if his brother had a fever but he knew better than to attempt to get close enough to feel the other wizard's forehead. "Maybe if you read it again it'll change?" He jabbed, coming close to the end of his patience.

Letting out an irritated huff the redhead tossed the article in Konrad’s direction with a little more force than necessary as he looked up to meet his brother’s disapproving gaze “Stop looking at me like that, reading that article one more time won’t kill me” he groused. “And besides, it might not change, but it doesn’t mean that it makes any more sense the 10th time around” he continued, not ready to concede defeat just yet. He might have been hard pressed to admit it aloud, but Anders did not feel good. Every small movement made him feel as though he was on the wrong end of a beater’s bat and he was hot, but also cold all at once. It was hard to decide exactly how he felt other than miserable.

Just about the time Anders had almost thought himself out of being irritated with Konrad, he reminding him that he was, in fact, the younger of the two of them. As Anders considered whether or not it was worth retaliating beyond a belligerent “Don’t mention it,” he realized that while they had had some true knock down drag out fights with each other over the years, there was one retort that neither of them had ever dared to use – the forever classic insult between siblings you’re not mom/dad!. the sudden and unwelcome revelation had Anders losing all heart for an argument at that moment.

Suppressing another yawn, Anders reached for the bowl of soup between them that was beginning to look mildly appealing for the first time in days. As he spooned the first bites into his mouth, the wizard was disappointed to find that it still didn’t taste like much. Sighing as he took a break so that he could breath Anders looked at his at his brother, really looked “I can manage to clean up this and whatever’s in the kitchen, you know. I meant it when I said you were looking a little peaky yourself. You can nap – I can’t get too far without you knowing.” He joked lightly and shuddered at the thought of physically exerting himself at that moment.

Just when Anders was feeling like being able to eat something and sit upright the whole time was an accomplishment he felt a tickle at the back of his throat and nose. Before he could do much of anything other than feebly turn himself away from Konrad, Anders sneezed mightily. Just as his eyes opened, and he was going to celebrate that he could breath through one nostril instead of neither, the young wizard found himself all but launching himself from bed while flailing for his wand on his side table and croaking “Shit! Fire!” The well-read magazine on his bed was now on fire and threatening to spread to his bed. After an eternity Anders felt his hand close around his wand and he blindly flung a fire extinguishing spell in the magazine’s direction, not sure if Konrad had beaten him to it or not. The adrenaline rush had him laughing as he asked Konrad “Are you alright?” meekly before turning to take stock of the mess he’d made behind him.

Honestly he wished he could just leave Anders alone and go take a nice long nap. He really hoped he wasn't getting sick too but he assumed it was just exhaustion between working a new job, taking care of the dogs, and now Anders. "There is no sense to be made of it. It's politics!" He said back, feeling less sassy about it than his voice displayed. If Anders wanted to keep reading it then fine, but Konrad was done thinking about it. The entire Swedish ministry was in an upheaval and he had too much on his plate to think about what that was going to mean for them too. He huffed and shook his head at the other wizard.

Konrad might have been annoyed by Anders but he'd never let him suffer alone. They were in this together, they were the only family they had left, so they had to be whether they wanted or not. It was nice to hear Anders offer to take care of himself though. Even if Konrad wouldn't let him. "Yeah that's true, you are pretty slow." He teased, trying to lighten up, trying to smile but it was so much work.

He ran his hands against his face and up into his blond hair, trying to jar himself awake but soon enough he didn't need any help.

"What the~!?"

He shouted as he leapt from the bed and tore his wand from his pocket. Almost as soon as Anders was putting out the fire he was doubling down with his own suppression spell. Soon enough the fire was out, the magazine was in smolders, the soup had been flung across the room, and Konrad was wide eyed.

"Well I'm awake now." He started before moving in closer to Anders and taking a good look at him. "I'm fine how are you?" He asked, concern falling over his shocked features. He held up his hand, "Let me check your fever Anders." He said, reaching out but pausing just before. It wasn't really a request, but also he wasn't trying to have Anders bite his head off either, so he waited for permission. "What the heck was that?" He asked in between.

At his brother’s remark Anders’ felt another nervous giggle escape his lips “Yeah, me too.” The redhead shifted from foot to foot as he watched the smoke curl up and away from the now blackened magazine. Oops, he thought as his attention turned to the soup now running down the far wall. How was he? Anders shrugged and replied “I still feel as awful as before, and I still can’t breathe” before pausing to step up and press his forehead against Konrad’s outstretched palm “But I did sneeze fire, so that’s kind awesome, I guess? Besides the starting things on fire, of course.” Konrad’s palm felt cool against his skin, and Anders hoped that it didn’t mean he had a fever. That was the last thing he’d needed.

Anders was more than a little glad that the only thing that had caught fire was the magazine, and not somehow Konrad himself. That would have been an absolute disaster, and would have probably meant a trip into St. Mugos for the both of them. Avoiding the hospital was one of Anders constant goals as just thinking of the place made his skin crawl.

The young wizard frowned as he tried to wrack his brain for anything they might have learned about in school or that he might’ve seen recently in the papers. It was one of many of the times since graduation that Anders thought he could have kicked himself for not paying better attention, or simply not taking a few more practical classes that might’ve told them what was going on. Moving away from his brother and back towards the charred remains of the magazine Anders poked at it as he thought, as though it would speak up and tell him what the problem was. “I’m not sure – I thought it was just a cold, you know? But it’s obviously not. And I haven’t read anything recently I don’t think or heard of anything” He trailed off as he thought again and after a moment longer the ex-Tigrova gave a casual flick of his wand and sent the pile of ash to the garbage can in the other corner of his room. As an afterthought the man also cleaned up the now congealing soup and sent the dishes zipping down the hallway.

He sat on the edge of the bed as his adrenaline rush began to die down “You haven’t heard of anything, have you?” Anders was not the best student by any means, and had often done the least possible amount of work to get by with some respectability, but he still hated not knowing why he felt the way he had, or why he’d sneezed fire. As a last-ditch effort Anders’ opened the draw of his beside table and pulled out the latest letter from @Justýna Tesaříková. He could have sworn she mentioned something was going around, but he couldn’t be sure. He hoped either Konrad or the letter might shed some light on the situation. Then as he felt a familiar tickle building once more Anders all but thrust the letter into Konrad’s hands before diving for the center of the room with an arm over his face. Once recovered, but not wanting to take any chances he asked “Did she mention anything? I don’t want to incinerate that too. “ He still owed her a reply. 

"Yeah, sure awesome." Konrad said slowly as he checked his brothers temperature and rolled his eyes at the same time. If it hadn't been their house, and he wasn't exhausted, and Anders' forehead wasn't a million degrees he might have found it pretty funny but alas he did not. "Pretty sure sneezing fire is not a good sign..." He resigned, a defeated tone in his voice as he knew that Anders was definitely sick and quick possibly sicker than they could treat at home. As much as he'd love for this heaping mess of snot and fire to be someone else's problem Konrad would never let that happen unless it absolutely had to. And not just because of his self-appointed brotherly responsibilities but because he knew Anders probably hated hospitals as much as he did. They'd spent way too much time visiting their father at St. Mungos, and when it got really bad, when their dad didn't even recognize them anymore, it had broke his heart. He'd never go back to that place if he had his way.

He shrugged his shoulders at Anders' question. To have "heard something" he would have had to spoken to anyone else besides Anders, Valda, and his dogs in the last couple of weeks. And Merlin knew Konrad wasn't the type to follow current events or read the paper, no that was all his younger brother. "Haven't heard anything." He answered anyway as Anders started getting something out of his night stand. He took a step forward to reach for the letter before the red head could set him and it on fire too and then stepped back a few more paces.

In the center of the room he held the letter up to one of the oil lanterns that were burning and scanned the lines. He didn't care about most of what they two teenagers were writing about, but later, when all of this was over, he was definitely going to ask who this Justýna was and make Anders spill the details of their friendship. "Dragon Pox." He said softly... mulling over the words and then spinning around to look back at Anders. "Dragon Pox really?!" He asked, his face more expressive and loud than he could muster with his voice. He set the letter down on the dresser before telling Anders he would be right back. After a moment of trouncing through the living area and running his hand along the dusty bookshelf Konrad pulled out a large tome and returned to his brothers room. The book was Magical Maladies & Remedies by Sir Renway Cottersly and he'd seen his mother use it a hundred times while they were growing up. She'd basically treated it like some sort of religious text the way she heralded it, he was sure Anders would remember too.

"Says your skin is going to turn green... so that's uh... awesome."

His brother’s words had Anders’ backpedaling on his earlier decision “I’m sorry, I think I either heard you wrong, or you mis-read it” he declared as he continued to blink at Konrad in confusion “Green?...seriously?” Anders knew that the likelihood of Konrad being wrong about what Magical Maladies & Remedies had to say was slim to none. It was the book when it came to diagnosing an injury or illness in their family.

 Sighing loudly the young wizard flopped back onto his bed, hoping that his sneezing fit had passed for the time being “What else does it say? I mean, it should go away on its own, right?” If the book didn’t say so, Anders’ was determined to will it away. Whatever it took not to go to St. Mungo’s. He didn’t want to make it any harder on Konrad, but he decided then and there that if he had to go to the hospital, his brother was going to have to drag him there himself. He wasn’t going though, and that was that.

After another beat Ander’s looked over at his brother as another thought occurred to him “How contagious is it supposed to be?” The last thing Anders wanted was to pass this misery onto his brother, it was bad enough that he had to take care of Anders as it was. “Maybe you should stay away from my room? I dunno” He finished with a shrug.

“I mean, I’ll be fine, so hopefully I don’t get too green, or start anything on fire and it’ll just end.” Anders’ hoped he sounded more convinced than he felt. This was all inconvenient, his getting sick, and not just cold sick, but Dragon Pox sick when they couldn’t afford to be a man down. It wouldn’t have really bothered Anders much except that he wanted to pull his weight and not have Konrad looking after him all the time. He deserved his own freedom.

Pulling himself from his worries for a moment the redhead let out a small laugh “Remember that time you accidentally upset the bowtruckle in the tree in the front yard?” Konrad had been determined to build a treehouse in the tree, but the resident bowtruckle took offense, and after much excitement their mother had consulted the book, and found that beyond a few scrapes, Konrad would be fine. “Didn’t you make friends with it, too?” When he didn’t feel absolutely awful, Anders thought he might have to go and see if the same creature was still in the tree, and maybe bring a peace offering. It was definitely something he could put in his reply to Justyna, too.

The taller wizard kept reading in the book, skimming really, looking for quick answers even though he should have been reading slower to digest things fully. He was a patient person, but he wasn't the brightest. "Yeah, green skin..." he replied, nose still in the book as his brother flopped down on the bed, and Konrad saw the motions out of his peripheral vision. "It uh... it doesn't really specifiy." Konrad said as he finished the last section and looked back up at Anders. "Say's it's like the flu, you could get better on your own, but if not, then you have to go in." He knew that was going to be a fight and a half if it came to it, and honestly, Konrad didn't blame him. He didn't want ever to go back to the hospital. Never ever.

"For now, we just need to make sure you get lots of fluids and rest... and also that you don't set yourself on fire in your sleep." He sighed, setting the book down to yawn and rub at his tired eyes. "So I guess you won't get rid of me that easily." He told Anders as he moved to sit in the wooden chair at the desk.

Konrad laughed when Anders brought up the bowtruckle. Even desperate for sleep, the Swedish wizard was easy to smile, quick to chuckle, and the smile reached to the dark circles under his eyes. "Oh yeah, Trucky, good guy that bowtruckle." Konrad said with another throaty laugh. He had always had a way with the creatures around their magical home town. He got along with them quickly, even the less pleasant ones, and especially with his team of dogs. Many of whom were patiently sitting at the open doorway, watching the two of them. One of the youngest ones, only a year or two old, had been scared off when Anders sneezed fire, but now she was slowly making her way across the door frame to inspect.

Looking from the door to Anders, he spoke again, a yawn interrupting his words. "Do you want me to make you some more soup or something? Says you have to eat, and drink, and sleep a lot. And if you don't, you could get really dehydrated."

As Anders listened to this brother finish reading what the book had to say about the Dragon Pox and what it might take to heal, he let out a shaky breath and felt his Adams apple bob in his throat as he swallowed “Okay, so that’s less awesome..” Just the thought of having to spend any extended amounts of time at St. Mungo’s made his skin crawl. After all the time he’d spent there after the accident, and with their father there was nothing that the wizard liked about the place.

After another moment, Anders busied himself with pulling a thread at the edge of one of his blankets and declared “I’ll just get better on my own then.” He didn’t have anything more to say, and knew better than to say more so as to not get Konrad going. Anders didn’t want to be difficult, not really, but there was no way he was going back to St. Mungo’s without putting up a fight.

It would have been funny, thinking of Konrad or most likely Sasha trying to make him go, but causing undue stress for his brother, when he was aware of it, mostly just made Anders uncomfortable. Discomfort aside though, Anders still stood by his decision even though the more he thought about it, it would probably take Sasha all of a few minutes to make Anders go, one way or another

The wizard nodded at his brother’s words, food and drink were easy enough to come by, even sleep would be at this point, he was on the verge of exhaustion. After another beat Anders spoke “Well, if you’re staying, we might as well conjure you a real bed or something. It’ll barely fit in the corner over there” He pointed to the far-right corner of the room before shrugging at his brother’s next question “I can accio some more soup, same with water. You need a break too.”
Anders felt a smile work its way onto his face over the bowtruckle “I was going to bring him something to see if he was still out there protecting the tree.” It was silly he knew, but he was curious to see if the creature was still there after all these years. It seemed fitting that he might be, another piece of the landscape that made up their life.

Anders’ reached over the edge of the bed to offer the curious pup a scratch as he watched the rest of the dogs who lived inside with them make their way into the room to see what all the fuss was about. 

"Yeah, I don't know if you should be doing magic though?" Konrad said after a moment of thought. It was nice of his little brother to offer to do some summoning so it didn't all fall on him but it'd be for nothing if he managed to set half the house on fire. He sighed but not because he was frustrated and then rubbed his hands over his face again. Anders was right though, if Konrad planned to stay on overwatch all night he'd need to really set up shop here. He was so tired at this point, he could have curled up in a ball on the floor with all of the fluffy dogs that had just come to visit them and pass out. Honestly, he could probably sleep like that any time really. He loved them all, and he loved Anders, so that kept him going.

He got to work setting things up, pushing some furniture out of the way, (which took way more effort than it would have normally, despite his clear upper body strength) and then accio'd a rolled-up cot from the barn. With magic, it unfolded, plopped into the corner, and the little mattress plumped up. It was probably the perkiest thing in the room right now, well except for the puppy that yelped when the cot opened, scared from the new motions.

"Alright, so there is that. Now the food." He took a deep breath, steadying himself as he thought about conjuring some more food from the pot that he knew was still bubbling on the stove downstairs. Soon enough he thought better of it, he was exhausted, and he couldn't be bothered to clean up the mess when his magic undoubtedly knocked things over down there. "I'll be right back, try not to set anything on fire." He said with a little smirk as he got to the door frame and paused. "Snö you're in charge here." He told the pure-white sled dog who had been the leader of the team for years now, her ears perking up and tail wagging, before heading down the stairs, making a bit of noise, and then returning with another steaming bowl of soup for Anders and a smile on his face.

"Do you want some now?"

Konrad probably had a point about him not using magic, but that didn’t stop Anders from frowning impatiently. He was never a fan of having to depend on his brother, but he also knew he didn’t have much choice at the moment, so Ander’s nodded and sighed “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” He watched as Konrad went about rearranging his room, feeling bad for not helping, but also not wanting to risk setting anything on fire.  He hated how quickly the whole ‘fire breathing’ thing had gotten old. Now instead of being cool, it was becoming annoying.

Anders reached out a hand to pat the startled puppy reassuringly, and gave a few scratches to Sno who had come over to sniff at him delicately, clearly trying to decide if her second human was in need of dog medicine (cuddles.) He sighed then, and it occurred to him that it had been more than a few minutes since he had sneezed, and Anders wondered nervously, when he would sneeze next. He made sure his wand was within reach and watched as his brother left, silently counting the seconds.

Then, just as he heard Konrad coming up the stairs, Anders felt a sneeze coming on and dove for the opposite side of the bed away from the dogs who were watching him with tilted heads and perked ears. Once the sneeze was over, Anders popped one eye open, and was glad to see that nothing was on fire or even smoking. He shot his brother a tired grin as he reappeared in the doorway with another bowl of soup “I do.” He paused to laugh a little “And, I obviously just sneezed, so I think it’s safe to say I might be able to eat without spilling the bowl all over.” Or at least he hoped.

“Aren’t you eating? Or did you have plans to pass out instead?” He teased as he reached to take the bowl of soup from his brother.

Konrad eyed his brother warily before cracking an exhausted, but ever so dimpled grin and bringing the bowl of soup to him. Once he'd passed it over he gave Sno and some of the others pats on his way back to the chair he'd been watching from earlier. "Nah, I'm good for now," He lied. His stomach rumbled but he felt so tired it was hard to think about possibly eating. Maybe he'd get the energy later, but for now, he was good with just being able to sit still for a little while. It was the only thing he was concerned with. His pajamas brushed against the floor as he walked, making little whooshing noises, but they were barely audible over the pitter patter of puppy after puppy joining the circus that was Anders' room. Konrad watched them all move around like a whirlwind, each one wanting to inspect and check up on his younger brother, each of them caring like that. The brothers may have lost both of their parents but they were far from without family. They had an entire team of family underfoot at any given moment.

"Nice to be back in Norbotten," he mused quietly and looked out the window where even in the middle of June it was still snowing. It was the warmish kind of snow, where it was raining but sort of slushy and made everything turn into a muddy mess, but Konrad had missed that too. He'd missed everything about their family home while they were away and now that they had both graduated it was nice to finally return. And to be in charge of themselves for the first time. Sasha was nice, but having a guardian was not something Konrad had quite enjoyed. Especially when it meant they couldn't return to the dogs during the holidays. He had been so scared that they wouldn't remember them by the time they finally returned home, but thankfully that hadn't been the case. At least not for the older ones and the pups became attached quickly enough it was like they had never missed a beat.

"So long as you don't burn the house down," Konrad teased with another wide grin, leaning back into the chair and yawning loudly.