shifting shades; dust clouds gather color { lovecrafts }

Kai sighed a long, smoky sigh, then went back to impatiently puffing on his cigarette as he walked. It was almost a stub now; there wasn’t much to get out of it, but at this rate he’d burn it right down to the last breath.

Hogsmeade looked pretty much like he’d imagined it would. It was quintessentially British; the little houses and storefronts couldn’t have been from anywhere else. It was strange to imagine people he knew, or had known, all coming here on weekends as teenagers. He sidestepped a group of teenage girls, chattering about classes, wondering if his friends and exes had been so carefree in their younger years. Well, at least before the war.

Kai’s dark eyes scanned the street for a bin and, finding none, dropped his cigarette butt to the ground. He crunched it into the thin layer of fresh snow that must have appeared in the early hours of the morning with the tip of his boot before continuing on. He spotted her there by herself, and headed her way, internally debating about whether or not he needed another cigarette right away. Naturally he’d taken something before heading out, but this whole thing was rather stressful for Kai; it had become much more difficult to delay processing their existence after she’d showed up at his house.

“Hey, Ellie,” He said, nodding a hello as he approached. He still wasn't sure if he was doing it right; surely it was the adults and not the kids he should be meeting first? Really, though, he hadn't done anything at all. Ellie had been charging through everything – showing up at his work, sending him a letter, coming to his house. She'd organised this too, of course. There weren’t any (other) teenagers in the immediate surrounds, so Kai assumed her brother wasn’t here yet. He wet his lower lip with the tip of his tongue. “This is it, huh?” he asked, “Hogwarts’ nearest village?”

While their last meeting had put plenty into perspective, it hardly dissuaded her from arranging another opportunity to meet with Kai, this time the polite way in that she organized an outing to one of her favorite coffee and teahouses in Hogsmeade with the intention of introducing one brother to the other. When it came to matters regarding her younger brother, the witch was particularly diligent in ensuring that he would be kept safe from the tragedies of the real world. In reality, Andy had done a much better job at keeping her afloat than she had at keeping him guarded but she did not want to focus on her many past failures. Rather, she wanted to do this right the second time around, unsure of how he might handle knowing that he had an older half-brother who represented almost everything the Lovecraft family against.

Morgana had been excluded from the invitation on purpose, the fifth year was rather callous and extremely intolerant to the differences of others, a girl in her mother’s image. Eleanora was not looking for a discussion on how the family name ought to be upheld and what each of them was doing that detracted from the lofty goal. She had left Bibury to say away from their mum, she certainly did not need to hear Morgana talk about right now. Even though the thought of Morgana sounding much more ignorant than she had weeks earlier when she had wandered to Brighton after a rather unpleasant experience elsewhere was extremely appealing. But in the end, it wasn’t worth it, no matter how dark her thoughts became she at least still had some class.

When she caught sight of Kai she waved enthusiastically which proved difficult within the thick winter coat she was wearing. It was decidedly not that cold outside but Eleanora had always been rather sensitive to changes in weather, and it certainly did not help that there was a spontaneous event going on in his life at the same time as well. The condition of her body was very dependent on her mental health and lately, she had not been doing too well. Seeing both Kai and Andy, therefore, was in a large part mostly for herself. Was it selfish? She didn’t want to ponder on the thought too long lest she begin to feel guilty.

“Hello,” she said, walking to meet him a part of the way, “I hope coming to Hogsmeade was not too much trouble, but yes, this is it,” she opened her arms in the direction of the street as if to make her point, “isn’t it marvelous? It was always my favorite part of being a student,” she added, though she was not going to talk about her life as a student, it would only bring back memories she was still struggling to forget. “Andy ought to arrive shortly,” she explained, “I assume Quidditch practice is keeping him,” she added as a guess though Eleanora was not really sure about Quidditch, she had not cared for it during school either.

“I thought we might go for some coffee or a meal, whichever you prefer, but first things first, how have you been?” it felt like a personal question no matter how innocently she phrased it but maybe only because she assumed that they were friends now, at the least much more than simply strangers with a shared parent.

Knowing that he had a half brother somewhere in the world and actually meeting said wizard were entirely different experiences for Andronicus. When Eleanora had first told him, he had hated how easily it was to believe. To think that their father would do something like that and keep it from them all this time, and he had even felt a little sad for their mum. He had accepted it quickly, maybe faster than he should have because it hadn't really set in until this morning when he realized everything that it meant. All of the implications came flying at him like bludgers as he tried to focus on practice. His mind wandered, wondering what their brother was like, where he had grown up, and if he seemed as cursed like the rest of them. Andronicus was blessed with an overbearing mother and two sisters, but how he would have loved to grow up with a brother. 

And even though he told himself he didn't care about such things, Andronicus couldn't stop the darker little thoughts in the back of his mind like what did this mean for their inheritance. Andronicus had always been set for life; he was the firstborn son (until now), so he never worried about it, and even though it was wrong, the teenager selfishly worried about it now. He pushed the ridiculous fears out of his mind, forcing himself to finish practice, but his mind kept sorting through things as he showered and got ready to walk to Hogsmeade. By the time he finished applying plenty of Lovecraft products to his hair and dressing in his favorite pullover with the Slytherin Quidditch logo on the front, Andronicus felt calmer. He was nervous about meeting Kai, but knowing Eleanora would be there made all the difference, and he realized while he couldn't forget them, none of his worries really mattered right now. Today wasn't about that, it was about meeting his big half-brother, and that was exciting.

The seventh-year towered over most of the children heading into the village, but it took him a few minutes to find Eleanora when he arrived. He recognized her giant puffy jacket, a dimpled smile coming to his face because it barely wintered, and crossed the street to meet them. Andronicus' hands were in the front pouch of his sweater as he stepped onto the curb to join them. "Uh, Hi," He said, trying to seem equal parts mature and charming, and smiled. The teenager fumbled a little as he pulled his hand from his pocket and held it out toward Kai. "I'm Andy,"

I hope coming to Hogsmeade was not too much trouble – He shook his head in response, wondering if the excessive politeness would grate on him every time, or if he’d get used to it. “I haven’t been to Scotland before,” he commented. “I caught the train to Glasgow, portkeyed from there.” He could have come straight from London, of course, but Kai liked trains, and he hadn’t been this far north in his life.

“Yeah, good,” Kai said, nodding. “You pull up okay?” he asked, shooting her an easy half-smile. He’d woken up the morning she’d stayed at his house to the sound of her throwing up in the bathroom, but when they’d parted she’d seemed fine, just a little seedy. When she glanced away from him, recognition in her eyes, Kai followed her gaze, tense and ready. He wondered how much Andy knew. How much she'd told him, which parts.

He was outnumbered today, and he hadn’t forgotten that fact. They were just kids – especially the one he was meeting today, literally still in high school – but having two Lovecrafts and just one of him meant that the dynamic was going to be different to how it had been when it had just been him and Ellie. He was an outsider, distanced intentionally by their father from their shared history. He knew that already, of course, but today he anticipated feeling it.

He couldn’t help it; as Andy crossed the street, he looked for similarities. He’d done it with Ellie, too, but her features were softer and it had only taken a glance to see that they looked nothing alike. He and Andy didn’t look alike either, really, but now that he was closer, Kai noticed Andy’s eyes were dark brown like his, where Ellie’s were lighter with flecks of green. The kid had thick eyebrows, dark eyelashes. Thick hair, too. Kai’s mum had thinner hair, and it was darker than his – proper black – and he’d always assumed he’d inherited those features from his father. Maybe Andy had too.

“Hey, Andy” he said, glancing at the boy’s outstretched hand before reaching out to meet his handshake. Typical. He felt tense, but at least he’d been prepared for this meeting, so it wasn’t anything like the last time. He glanced at Ellie as he pulled back, wondering how much this guy was like his sister. It didn't feel good to be waiting for social cues from a teenager, though, so he turned his attention back to her little brother. "Pretty weird circumstances to meet in, huh?" he commented with an easy half smile. Might as well break the ice.