Truce

2

Jacob-

Jacob didn't know what he had excepted when he walked into Gene's orphanage. Maybe he should have lowered his expectations. He had been there countless times before but this time was different. He was staying there indefinitely. Well, not indefinitely but until he was able to get in contact with the others to plan their trip to France. Summer had been terrible. When James came home with his bruised face, their mother blamed Jacob, and James, who was still butthurt about Gene getting a good hit on him, allowed Jacob to be locked in his room for three weeks. Nothing but laying mindlessly for hours wondering whether or not James would remember he was there. Then Jacob was set free and he was already in the fireplace flooing to the orphanage. To amplify Jacob's emotions, Sirius had been spending more and more time at his house causing his worry for Regulus to expand. Additionally, Pandora was just disowned by her parents for being in Ravenclaw and accepting Xenophilius' hand in a dance. So yeah, France was very much needed. Jacob followed Gene to Gene's room, already knowing where to go, and set down his owl. Gene sighed, grabbing the bird's cage and putting it in the closet. The owl squawked but did little to change the situation.

"You said France, why?" Jacob scoffed.

"Haven't you received any of my letters?" Gene was already out of the room causing Jacob to follow.

"What letters?" Jacob looked around to notice that the walls were decomposing. 

"The letters, we were all sending them." 

"I told you, don't send letters to my room. The old ones will steal 'em." They turned into an empty hallway where Maxxie lay sobbing. Gene sighed, kneeling down to the boy who scampered away. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help you get the ink off. Okay?" Jacob stared at the interaction, absolutely shocked. Maxxie seemed hesitant but followed Gene into the bathroom. "Lock the door, would you?" Gene instructed Jacob, quickly rinsing off the hand towel that was covered in god knows what before placing Maxxie in the bathtub.

"Look, Pandora's been disowned-,"

"Since when?" Gene muttered, not wanting to attract any unwelcome visitors.

"Since three days ago. She's been staying with the Lovegoods for the time being. Or at least that's what she confirmed with me." Gene squinted, his mind still hazy from the blunt.

"That's the... Xenophilius guy, right?" Jacob nodded.

"They danced together during one of those big ball things. Her parents got so furious that they disowned her. She said that she's planning to go by Lovegood if all goes well,"

"Well, lucky her. This is going to hurt, Maxxie, but try not to yell." With that, the faucet was turned on and the water leaked all over Maxxie's face. The needle pricks were burning and Maxxie tried to scream but Gene blocked the noise with his hand. Jacob looked away, disturbed, and after a minute of soaking the pain went away and Gene was able to scrub. Gene made sure the water wasn't too hot before beginning to wipe. "What about Reg?"

"Sirius has been spending more time at my house. Reggie is all alone and his parents are doing god knows what. Our last correspondence was a week ago and he just wrote 'France'." Gene nodded, turning off the faucet while continuing the rubbing motion.

"You do this every day for two hours. Dry skin, wet skin, doesn't matter. It feels better with wet skin but dry skin can be more effective." Gene helped Maxxie up, Jacob assisted in the task. "Next time they come after you, run into the woods or into the pond. They'll never come for you if you have quick feet." Maxxie nodded and scampered out of the bathroom, not wanting to be seen by the older boys. Gene wiped his hands on his shirt before signaling Jacob to follow him. "When would we go?" Jacob's head quirked at the question.

"What do you mean?"

"To France? What's our time frame." 

"Well, we either go at the beginning of August or Christmas break. It's cheapest during Christmas and we can bargain with some wizards to use a portkey." Gene nodded, making sure to lock the door to their room.

"So why are you here with me? I thought I told you to never come here," Jacob gave a soft smile, quirking his head up to see the flickering lights.

"It's not that bad," Jacob sat down on the bed across from Gene and cockroaches quickly scurried out of the mattress. Jacob gulped, resisting the urge to vomit, and Gene chuckled.

"You'll get used to it. The more you use the bed the faster they relocate." The two sat in silence before hearing a stampede run past their door. 

"What is that?" Jacob asked, watching as Gene quickly shoved the heavy dresser over the door. "Also isn't that a fire hazard?" Gene let out an amused huff.

"Trust me, you'd want to go up in flames," There were numerous loud bangs against Gene's door before there was quiet. "It's the older boys. They're doing rounds. Looking to see if anybody is dumb enough to leave their belongings unprotected. There's a pawnshop a little way down," Gene pointed to the direction opposite the woods. "Takes about thirty minutes walking. If you leave anything out they'll sell it for as much as they can." Jacob nodded, shocked at how different Gene acted here in comparison to Hogwarts. It scared him slightly and he flinched back when Gene took off his shirt to swat the lightbulb. The lightbulb stopped flickering and the room lit up immediately. "What if your mum comes here?"

"She doesn't care, Gene." Gene scoffed, falling on his bed.

"Then what about James?"

"He's still pissed about the bruise," Gene gasped.

"Shit, it's still there?"

"It's a beautiful shiner. Honestly makes me tear up a bit." Gene tossed an old sock to get Jacob to shut up. Jacob chuckled and walked to Gene's bed, lying down next to him. He sighed, looking around Gene's room. "Were you always this lonely?" Gene bit back a sob, sniffing before nodding. 

"Well, I always had you guys. During second year I always used to wait on the rooftop to see if I could see your owl. It made me feel like I had someone waiting for me, you know?" Jacob's eyes softened and he turned to face Gene who immediately faced the opposite direction. "You should get some sleep, you'll have to outrun the boys all day. You'll need energy."