{.50. Boxing Day}
The next morning ally skipped down the stairs excitedly to see everyone, she felt happy to spend Boxing Day morning with her family, but it was soon met with disappointment when she had realise that she was the first one up. She frowned and made herself a cup of tea before heading into the living room where she saw that her dad was still asleep.
"Dad you've not been down here all night, it'll play havoc with your back. Come on wake up,"
She chuckled and went to shake him when he didn't respond — she thought he must have been in such a deep sleep. However, she noticed that his skin was extremely cold and that in turn caused her to notice that her dad wasn't breathing.
"Daddy?" She whispered as she shook him realising that if he wasn't breathing it meant there was nothing keeping him alive, she tried to start resuscitating him as best as she could.
After a few moments of her not having any luck she ran up to Perseus' room with tears flowing down her cheeks shaking him with as much vigour as possible so that he would wake.
"Bloody hell alcyone wha— are you crying?" He asked
"It's dad, he's downstairs on the sofa and— Perse," she choked on a sob, "Perse hes not breathing," she sobbed
Perseus immediately got out from under the sheets and followed ally with urgency when he realised the seriousness of the situation. When he saw his father he placed his hand on his neck to find a pulse and he stayed silent for a few moments before he frowned in frustration.
"Sweetheart, go wake our brothers for me," Perseus ordered
"No! Tell me that my dad is going to be okay!" She growled
"Alcyone!" Perseus scolded "go and wake our brothers now!" He growled back which made ally realise that he was serious
She ran up the stairs and rammed on Caspian's bedroom door before she ran to Atlas, Oberon and Wolf's room to do the same. She kept running back to bang the doors when there was no answer so they'd wake.
"Bloody hell Cece what on— are you crying?" Wolf asked noticing her appearance as he threw on his dressing gown
"It's dad," she sobbed, wolf wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead
Wolf was always the most attentive brother and he loved being a brother to Cece but he knew that family was everything to her. He ran his hands over her hair and brought them to cup her cheeks.
"You wake our brothers up and come downstairs, it'll be ok Cece, we'll be okay love," Wolf reassured pressing a kiss to her forehead
She rammed in Atlas' door next because she knew atlas was a light sleeper in comparison to her other two brothers. She walked into his room and shook him awake to which he jumped up in a fright.
"AllyCat? What's happened?" He asked rubbing his eyes
"You need to go downstairs 'tlas. I—it's daddy," she cried
Atlas wrapped his arms around his sister and rocked her back and forth using one hand to support the back of her head because he knew she loved this and he definitely thought that she had needed the comfort.
"I will come with you and wake our brothers up before I leave you ok? Come on sweetie," he cooed before he barged into Caspian's room waking him and doing the same to Oberon explaining that they needed to come downstairs with utmost urgency as something had happened to their dad
If Cece was being honest with herself she felt like she was drowning, she knew that her dad had been sick but the sinking feeling in her chest when she realised things were just starting to get better for them and now something was wrong and stopping that was causing her to feel so incredibly anxious.
When they arrived downstairs Jasmine was there using some Muggle equipment to check Arcturus over. There was sniffles from all around. Wolf was holding Graham in his arms crying silently while Perseus had an arm around him, Oberon and Caspian were hugging each other tightly and Atlas had wrapped his arms around Ally's shoulders from behind.
"Cece, what was he like when you came down?" Jasmine asked "was he breathing?" She questioned with a slither of hope that if he had been breathing she could try a spell to restart his heart
Cece shook her head while letting out a sob and Jasmine sighed before she pressed a kiss to Arcturus' head and turning to stand up and face the family.
"Guys, there's no easy way to say this," Jasmine spoke with her voice cracking "but your dad confided in me a little while ago and his heart condition was worse than you guys had thought and I'm so sorry..." she whispered
"No!" Ally sneered "he was getting better! He was actually trying with us and now he's gone?" She snarled in disbelief
"Little flower—"
"No! How am I meant to believe that he's finally put things right with me and now I'm never going to have the chance to make it better," she sobbed "it hurts, atlas it hurts, I can't." She sobbed collapsing to the floor
The brothers watched on as their sister broke down over the death of their father and they knew it would hit her the most. As she had said, they had only recently got back on track and everyone was pleased with the progress that Ally and Arcturus were making but now it had been cut short.
Even though they had been exchanging letters while she was at Hogwarts they didn't have experiences together like Arcturus did with the rest of his children and she was now robbed of that because he was taken too soon.
The brothers weren't sure how to approach Ally, each fighting back their own tears except for Caspian who was sobbing into Oberon's shoulder clutching onto his dressing gown tightly.
Grief was a weird thing, if Perseus was being honest he had accepted that his fathers death was inevitable a small while ago when Arcturus began discussing his will with Perseus. He knew then that something wasn't right and he wasn't entirely sure what but it had brought Perseus peace knowing that on his own way Arcturus had told Perseus that he didn't have long left.
Oberon was extremely emotional but he knew when to keep his emotions in tact and seeing his younger siblings struggling to cope meant he needed to be strong for now and when the situation was under control then he could grieve for his father properly. Oberon and Arcturus had arguably been the most close recently because Oberon was helping him out with a lot regarding the AA meetings because Atlas now struggled doing some things that he had used to due to the lycanthropy. But Oberon needed to be strong because Caspian was sobbing into his side and that was enough to break his heart.
Wolf was silently crying with Graham in his arms as he looked over at his father on the sofa, who looked like he was sleeping peacefully. His heart broke for Graham who would never know how much his grandfather had loved him and his heart ached for the other brothers who would never get the opportunity to introduce children to their father.
Atlas also knew that he was slightly more emotional out of the four older brothers but out of the three younger ones he was the one that could keep his emotions in check the most. He had learnt to master it so that his magic didn't go out of control and he had wanted to teach Ally because he knew that her magic was similar to his. Now that their father had passed away he didn't think Ally's magic would ever be the same again and he hated that because he always wanted his sister to prosper.
Caspian couldn't breathe, he felt like his heart had sunk to his toes and the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. He couldn't catch his breathe, Caspian and their father had been on such a good path and their relationship was more or less mended but he didn't like the fact the time they had together was cut short and it's why he was like this.
The older brothers remembered their mother passing away, Caspian had been too young and Ally had just been born but they remembered the day as clear as could be. Caspian and Ally were crying and the older brothers were being strong for each other, there hadn't been much that changed except this time Ally was seventeen and she was sobbing on the floor unable to catch her breath sending sparks of magic out of her hands.
"Cece... AllyCat you have to calm down sweetheart," atlas said
"I can't, I can't, please make this stop," she sobbed clutching her knees moving her hand which sent a spark of magic onto the mantelpiece making it crumble
"Wolf get Graham out of here!" Jasmine shouted but Wolf didn't want to leave his sister but he was a father now and he had to protect Graham just as much as he did Ally.
"Cece, you need to calm down, you can cry all you want but your magic is causing things to explode so take some deep breaths and cool down," atlas spoke, he was firm but kind and gentle and he thought it was incredibly lucky that Caspian didn't have wandless magic too because the two of these sobbing together sending sparks of magic could probably have caused mass destruction.
"Atlas please make it stop," she sobbed "I—he didn't even use my mug I bought him," she sobbed noticing that the mug was still on the coffee table where he had left it
"He did Alcyone my dear, he had a cup of hot chocolate in it, he knew that he was a number one dad and he was happy that you gave it to him." Perseus reassured walking closer now to try and help the situation in any way that he could
Perseus noticed that she had managed to put her shield around her as if to protect herself from harm, the brothers and Jasmine weren't sure how she had done it or if she realised but she still would do it.
"Jasmine I think you should get Wolf and go swap with him," Oberon demanded — he liked Jasmine, he did but he didn't like how she'd try and dictate to Wolf what he should and shouldn't do, Wolf should be here to help his sister.
Jasmine nodded and ran out of the room while they tried to work out what best to do with Ally. Caspian turned around from Oberon's arms and saw that his sister was sobbing on the floor, he removed himself and slowly moved forward.
"Hey Cece," he sniffed "remember that time when we were younger? You were probably eight and I was around nine? About those ages anyway and we hid in dad's bedroom?" Caspian asked sitting outside the shield that Ally had put up
"Yeah," she choked
"Remember dad finding us and we were both terrified he would shout at us because we'd been jumping on his bed to pass the time?" He asked shuffling closer to which she nodded "do you remember what he said?" Caspian asked softly
"That we should have been twins because we're both trouble," she chuckled
"Yeah, yeah he did. Then he got on the bed and jumped on it with us and you said that was the nicest day you'd had with dad in a while? You always need to remember that day because that's our earliest and happiest memory of us together and I think you need to hold onto the good things. Like when we were dancing in hogsmeade and he thought he could show us up," Caspian smiled with a laugh through his tears
The brothers noticed that Ally's shield was spreading to protect Caspian too, as if she trusted him enough now to be willing to let him in. Caspian shuffled forward and Perseus nodded to confirm he was in the shield.
"He was a really terrible dancer," she sniffed wiping her eyes
"Yeah, we really showed him up didnt we?" Caspian chuckled "but he loved us and I know you haven't always felt it but you've been so loved by him since the moment you were born Ce. It's why he tried so hard to put things right with you," Caspian whispered softly moving her hair out of her face
"I tucked him under the blanket last night because I thought he was asleep but he was probably dying and then I found him this morning Casp," she cried
The brothers all frowned, bone of them had realised that's how Arcturus ended up under a blanket. They had always known Arcturus would go up to bed and not jut sleep on the sofa because he didn't like it on his back. However, ally didn't know that and that's why it was probably more heartbreaking for her.
"I know sweetie, but that just means he went to sleep knowing he was loved because his only daughter took the opportunity to ensure he was comfortable," Caspian reassured
Ally reached forward and wrapped her arms around Caspian tightly crying into his shoulder. Caspian rubbed circles on her back but the boys all let out a breath of relief when they saw the shield minimising because they couldn't believe that it was Caspian who managed to help her despite how relieved they were.
But when Atlas thought of it, it had made sense because they'd never been through grief properly before. The boys had with their mother but Caspian was way too young to even remember that so this was their first experience and they'd need to lean on each other more than ever.
"How about we have one of those Irish hot chocolates he used to make us when we were little kids yeah? They were nice werent they?" Caspian spoke softly
"Casp mate, those were laced with fire whisky," Oberon chuckled through watery eyes
"That's why they were so nice," Caspian retorted to which the brothers chuckled
The brothers helped the youngest siblings up from the floor and ushered them into the kitchen while Jasmine dealt with the body. Oberon made them hot chocolates and poured as much fire-whisky in as the cup would allow before he gave them to each of the brothers.
"To our father, without whom we would not be who we are today. May he be in heaven for a full thirty minutes before the devil knows he's dead," Wolf cheered
That saying was something they'd say any time someone they knew had passed away, it was something that Arcturus said was in their family for centuries because quite often pureblood werent very nice people and in the catholic religion in the Muggle world — which Arcturus sometimes practiced — if you were bad you'd go to hell, if you were good you'd go to heaven otherwise you'd be stuck in purgatory until your sins were fully repented. It was something like that Ally wasn't one hundred percent on the details but she didn't want her father to be stuck in purgatory she wanted him to rest now like he had deserved.
They heard a thud out the fireplace and Ally gasped as she realised what day it was — she said she'd meet hope and lyall lupin!
"Oh fuck," she cursed to which the brothers each choked on their drink "I said I'd meet Remus' parents!" She panicked
"I'll go talk to—"
"Cece? Jasmine just said what happened are you ok?" Remus asked stalking into the kitchen with a present which he set down on the table and immediately wrapped his arms around her tightly
"I'll be ok," she said with her voice cracking
"I'll send an owl to my parents and we can go a different day, whatever you need today I'm here ok?" He reassured rubbing his fingers through her hair
"Tell you what mate if you give us your address we will go talk to mr and Mrs Lupin ourselves," atlas said with a small smile
Remus gave Atlas the address and Atlas nodded taking Caspian with him as they headed to the fireplace. Ally made Remus a hot chocolate with the fire whisky and gave a weak smile at him. She kissed Wolf, Oberon and Perseus' cheeks before she told Remus to follow her upstairs. Remus followed her up the stairs and was amazed by the size of the house, he always was when he came, not that it was often though.
Remus watched as she sat herself down on the bed with a sigh before running her hand over her face and wiping her eyes, he bent down in front of her and moved the hair out of her face. She smiled at him softly as he left his hand rest in her cheek. He used his thumb to stroke the stray tear that fell away and he frowned.
"Tell me what you need Cece," he whispered "I'll do anything you need me to,"
"Can you cuddle me?" She asked
Remus nodded and climbed onto the bed next to her he laid into his back and she cuddled into his side wrapping one arm around his waist as he brought his to run through her hair. He placed a kiss on her forehead and scratched her head, hoping that some how he could help her through the darkest day of her life.
But Remus Lupin wasn't a seer like Jackson Clarke was, he had already foretold this day and he'd foretell many days to come. Its why he convinced his dad months ago to keep the church in Godric's Hollow free from bookings so that the Montague's could bury their dad.
But neither of them could see too far into the future, and neither could ever know that there were much worse days to come.
***
Unedited
Happy September 1st xx
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