WHEN WE WERE YOUNG : marauders era

54. sweet lucian

Shards of glass scattered across the marble floor as a brisk hand swept the antique vase off the table, tearing apart the tranquil atmosphere of the mid-summer evening.

The living room echoed with the ominous silence of something terrible happening. The air was thick with tension and the heavy breathing of a man on the verge of an outrage filled the room.

"Ethan, you need to calm down," came another man's gruff voice, warning evident in his tone as he watched his friend cautiously. "I know this came as a shock but- "

"But what, Alastor?!" Mr. Vasilios snapped, the clock on the mantlepiece crashing to the floor. "Do you expect me to just accept the fact and move on?! This is my wife we're talking about, Alastor. This-" he paused, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "This could've been prevented. I- I could've stopped it before it was too late! Why didn't I notice?!"

Another vase went flying across the room, shattering into a million pieces as Mr. Vasilios' eyes glowed maniacally, his head unable to think straight.

"That's enough, Ethan!" Alastor Moody cried out, taking his friend's shoulders and shaking them to bring him back to his right mind. "Get a hold of yourself, for Merlin's sake!"

"NO!" Ethan shouted back, pushing him away and unintentionally making the glass on the photo frames crack and cascade down as his magic went out of control. This, thankfully, seemed to bring him back to consciousness.

"Sorry," he muttered apologetically, rubbing his tired face. "I'm so sorry. I should be thanking you instead and I- "

"You can thank me later. For now, let's focus on the matter at hand. What do you intend to do next?"

Ethan paused to take a deep breath and noticed a couple pairs of eyes peeping at him from up the stairs. Mareena, Juliana, and the boys let out tiny gasps as they realized they'd been caught eavesdropping.

Well, it was so loud, it wasn't exactly called 'eavesdropping', was it?

Ethan pretended like he didn't notice and continued, "I'm putting you in charge of catching those bastards, Alastor. I know you won't disappoint me."

"Yes sir. Leave everything to me," Alastor Moody replied in his usual gruff voice, quickly acknowledging the Head of Auror Office. "I'll take your leave now."

"One more thing," Ethan added quickly, before his friend left. The latter looked at his friend and waited.

"Do you happen to have personal connections with anyone at St. Mungo's? I- I need to know if- "

Moody nodded, understanding what his friend couldn't say out loud. "Of course. I'll tell her to pay you a visit as soon as possible."

. . .

'Perhaps, what they say about our home is true. Maybe it really is cursed..'

That was the thought that repeated in Mareena's head in the days following the healer's visit and no matter how much she tried to push the thought away, she couldn't do it. Her mind played like a broken record, repeating the healer's words in her head over and over again.

"I'm sorry. It's too late now," the healer had told them after giving their mother a thorough check-up. "The poison used here involves extreme dark magic to which we have no cure yet. If we had found out sooner, perhaps we could've had more chances of saving her. But now-" her voice broke off, looking apologetic.

Mareena and Juliana grabbed each other's hands tightly as they felt their hopes shatter like the vase their father had broken earlier. Except, the vase could be fixed but no amount of magic could fix hearts as broken as theirs. The boys patted them reassuringly, although they didn't really know if it helped.