"He's a strapping boy isn't he?" James grinned at his sister as he looked up from the newborn nephew in his arms. A protruding belly full of milk and limp chubby arms, Jude Alexander Barlowe was unquestioningly gone and lost to a food coma as his mother's family cooed over him.
With Maddox still required at Hogwarts for the remainder of the week, Julia had returned to Arundel with their baby to wait him out until they could settle into their new home. James had been away on business - securing new deals with a few Irish politicians - and had only just arrived home, eager to see the new baby. A boy, the first amongst the three siblings to be born from one of them. Edward had had a girl, James a girl and likely another on the way if Amelia was right. Figure Julia would be the one to bring a new Laurence boy into the world.
And he was a Barlowe. Second in line after Benji, if the elder nephew continued the new tradition of only girls.
It was late for a Monday, and most of the family ought to have been retiring for the evening. Still, Edith, Amelia, Gretchen, Julia, Benji, Uncle Robert, and Aunt Elizabeth had remained in the family room after dinner, passing the time in conversation while they waited for his return. Benji, his OWLs now finished, had been granted a day away from school to visit with his mother, though he was due back in the morning.
"He never stops eating, so I imagine he will be," his sister said, her voice tired but amused as Benji added, "He gets that from me." A chorus of quiet laughs and then various conversations continued as James's light brown eyes washed over his nephew, pride and happiness for his sister and brother-in-law inching its way through him in that quiet way it always did. James wasn't one for big displays of emotion, but there was something about a child joining the family - one of their own - that stirred something within him.
A baby was a promise of continuity. A promise that their family would live on. A new life to protect and have the honor of watching grow into his place in the world. "You'll be a brave one, won't you?" he asked the baby who remained completely oblivious to the goings on around him. "Thoughtful like your mother, purposeful like your father." He smiled, patting Jude's back gently.
Benji wandered over, the boy nearly as tall as James now, looking more like a man every time he saw him. Was it only a few years ago that he'd met him as a short, chubby little twelve year old menace? "He'd be the real heir, you know," Benji said casually, his hands shoved into his pockets as he smirked at his uncle. "If you wanted him to be. He's a blood Laurence."
James's expression didn't reveal the way he was taken aback by the statement, but before he could open his mouth to respond, another voice - one he didn't immediately recognize - bellowed out in the foyer below.
"LAURENCE! COME OUT HERE!"
The room went silent, every member of the family springing to their feet at the same time. Confusion washed over them, eyes flitting back and forth between one another trying to decipher if any of them knew who it was that had somehow entered their home and was now commanding their appearance. James immediately handed off the baby to his sister, his wand sliding from his sleeve into his hand as Benji drew his as well.
He didn't know who it was that shouted for him, but with a room full of women and an elderly man, he didn't have time to try and decipher before he was heading for the door. "Stay here," he commanded them all, but Benji was already out the door, rushing into the hallway towards the stairs. "Goddammit," he muttered. That boy would be his own undoing.
Following close behind, James moved quickly, grabbing Benji by the shoulder and shoving his nephew behind him. As he arrived at the top of the stairs, his eyes fell on a familiar face. Julian McCormick. Wand ready and looking angry enough to drop the entirety of the castle on all their heads.
What did he want? It had been nearly a year. Rosalie and the man's son hadn't returned.
"Put your wand away," he hissed at Benji who reluctantly did as he was told, but followed his uncle down the stairs. James tucked his own back up his sleeve and sighed as he stepped into the foyer, his eyes locked onto McCormick's. Fidele was a frantic mess, clutching at his ears and screeching.
"Fidele apoligizes, Master James! Fidele did not let the man in. Wanted to fetch Fidele's master himself, he did!"
"Enough," James said quietly, giving a quick dismissal of his hand as the house elf vanished, likely in relief of not having a sterner scolding. His eyes never left Julian's, as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Benji, obviously not recognizing the man clenched his jaw and glanced back up at the landing to ensure his mother hadn't come out.
"Quite a time to stop in for a visit, McCormick," James said lightly, only the slightest hint of annoyance at having the man drop in unannounced or invited. It wasn't as though they were old family friends.
Benji's eyes dropped from the landing above them back to the man, widening in recognition at deep brown eyes that matched those of his missing (dead?) friend. Cass's dad? "What...is..." he wanted to ask, but his uncle's silent reprimand - a quick raise of his hand to wait - had him quieting instantly.
"What can I do for you?"
the winter sun rise
red on white like
blood
upon the snow
