𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲

fourteen.

"Oh, enough! You two were so obviously each others' beards!" Remus rolled his eyes and Valencia's jaw dropped. "I saw the way you looked at Marlene."

Tears filled her eyes as Valencia's breath hitched, looking down at the ground and shrugging. "It's a little late in life for me to come out, isn't it?"

"I did." Remus shrugged.

"Okay, but everyone knew." Valencia smirked and Remus smiled. "I did love Sirius, just not in the way everyone thought. We had sex to distract each other from the fact that we couldn't be with the people we really wanted."

"What? Who was Sirius interested in?" Remus questioned and Valencia looked up at him, opening her mouth slightly.

"Aunt Val!" Tobi shouted from downstairs and Valencia ran out of the room.

~

Tobi and Tommy rolled their eyes from the couch as they watched Teo run around with Alex and Lily, laughs leaving their mouths.

"Penny for your thoughts, boys?" Monroe questioned, sitting down next to them.

"Nothing special, just what a two-faced jerk Teo is." Tobi didn't hesitant and Tommy gave his brother a look.

"Knew something was wrong," Monroe sighed, glancing at them. "You weren't saying a word to him, just sending him death glares. Did you really think we wouldn't notice? What happened?"

"He got sorted into Slytherin and then just completely ditched us." Tommy whispered.

"More than just ditched us, practically pretending we didn't exist. He's been hanging out with these Slytherin boys that wanted him around just to pick on for his blood status." Tobi explained. "After the trash he said to Thea, I can't believe she forgave him."

"Your sister is like your mom in a lot of ways," Monroe shrugged, smiling slightly at the thought of her old friend. "When it comes to family, there's nothing she won't do. You guys need to forgive Teo."

"Why? Just so he can abandon us all over again when we get back to Hogwarts?" Tobi shook his head, growing angry. "He's my brother, he was supposed to stick by our sides!"

Teo stopped running around the room and began to listen in. He bit his lip, everything hurting when he realized how upset his brother was. Turning to look at Tobi and Tommy, "Can I talk to you two?"

The three boys walked into Teo's room, and the oldest boy looked at his two younger brothers. "I'm sorry. I'm so unbelievably sorry and you shouldn't forgive me, but I am asking you two. I was terrible, I was ashamed of us. Of you two and Thea but I don't have to be. You guys are the best parts of me, you guys are the good parts of me."

Tommy sighed, hugging his brother for a moment. "If you get more sappy, I won't forgive you."

Teo smiled, hugging Tommy back. "Thanks Tommy."

Tommy walked out of the room and Teo looked at Tobi. Shaking his head, Tobi spoke, "It's always been the four of us, always, but it's also always been you and me. We used to  chase each other around the living room with paper towel rolls, pretending they were swords. Teo, with you, anything was possible to me. Thea and Tommy were always together and then it was always us. We were creating our own worlds, our adventures- And then you just dropped me— Us, for them."