●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
Milo laid awake in his bed, the sounds of Cedric snoring in the bed next to his echoing through his bedroom. It had been a nice day spent in Diagon Alley with Elspeth as the woman allowed the boys to roam around freely and anything they wanted was on her as she encouraged them several times during the day. Cedric only wanted to buy something small and cheap as he didn't feel very comfortable with the woman buy him anything. Milo, on the other hand, felt like he was reading far too into the situation and believing that Elspeth was attempting to spoil the boys, probably wishing that either one of them was Silas in those moments. But that wasn't what was keeping Milo up that evening as he remained awake.
His mother had been working late and by the time that she arrived home, she looked awfully tired. Of course, she wanted to sit down and talk to Milo about what concerns he had that he had mentioned in his letter, but Milo knew she needed sleep. So he directed his mother to her bedroom and tucked the woman in before making his way back to his room. He had promised that they would talk in the morning.
However, Milo was wide awake because as soon as the clock had hit midnight, his little brother had turned thirteen years old and Milo wasn't there in person to wish Harry a happy birthday. He, of course, had already planned on sending a birthday card along with a package full of all sorts of goodies that he had picked for Harry and to his surprise, Hedwig showed up the McGonagall household. Apparently, the young owl wanted to make sure that Harry wouldn't go without something for his birthday. While Milo sent the owl off, he wasn't sure if his brother was going to receive it, mainly because Harry had once again been confined to the Dursley household and had to live under their rules. As much as Milo didn't like it and as much as Minerva wanted to step in and help, they simply couldn't. Dumbledore had made it clear that Harry under all circumstances had to call Privet Drive his home.
He didn't understand the reasoning behind Dumbledore's orders, nor was he given an explanation either. Milo was just expected to accept that it was his brother's fate to live with such miserable beings during the summers. It made no sense to him and apparently, Dumbledore wanted to keep it that way because even his mother was quite clueless as to why Harry had to remain there, or at least, that was the face she put on. Milo didn't care who knew what and when they learned it, all he wanted was for his brother to be happy and obviously, Harry couldn't be happy about bringing in his thirteenth birthday in the company the Dursleys.
It shouldn't have been that way, not at all. The brothers should have been celebrating their birthdays together, spending their time together through the summers, and being way closer than what they were. But then again, Milo had to wonder how things would have been different if things didn't work out the way they way they did. Would he be as close to Minerva? Would he and Cedric be where they were? Would he have been sorted into Hufflepuff? Milo wasn't sure and as his mind continued to wander he found himself more and more awake.
Rubbing his hands over his face, he had been so distracted that he didn't even realise that Cedric's snoring had come to an end. But he nearly let out a startled cry as Cedric's hand touched the side of his face, however, to keep from waking up Minerva, Milo's mouth was covered as the lamp at the boy's bedside was lit up again.
"Milo, what are you still doing awake?" Cedric asked, glancing around the room in confusion. "What time is it?"
Milo looked over at him as Cedric removed his hand and let it rest back down on his bed. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep, it's around midnight now."
Paden let out several chirps as his sleep had been disrupted, grabbing a small washcloth and covering himself to block out the light.
"Is it about the Sirius Black thing, Milo?" Cedric questioned as he rubbed his eyes. "Look, I'm sure-"
"No, it's not about that actually," Milo said, " I was just thinking about Harry. It's his birthday after all and I'm sure he's pretty miserable being stuck with the Dursleys right now. Sometimes I just think about how he turned out to be the boy-who-lived but it doesn't mean that he was left with the better life after it all went down."
"You can't blame yourself for that, Milo, it's not your fault," Cedric told him. "Whatever was the reasoning that you two had to be separated and still have to live separately, it's out of your control. And it's out of Harry's control, there's no sense in beating yourself up about it."
"Easier said than done, Cedric," Milo muttered, " it's a bad habit of mine that I haven't figured out how to break yet."
"Well, for starters, " Cedric began as he laid back on his own bed, " you should get some sleep."
"I know but-"
Cedric wasn't going to take any excuses and before Milo could wrap his thoughts around what was happening, the boy had grabbed him by the hand and pulled him over to lie down with him. At first, Milo was uncomfortable, only because the action had caught him completely off guard. But as he felt the warmth of Cedric's body against his, he suddenly felt himself growing tired rapidly.
Remaining as still as possible, Cedric watched as Milo could no longer bring himself to fight against the sleep that was overtaking him in that moment. Only a few minutes later, he was sound asleep resting in Cedric's arms, the two of them falling asleep, chest to chest.
●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
The next morning, Milo woke, his hair all in his face but he felt more than well-rested. He lifted his head up to see that he had not returned to his bed that evening but remained asleep in Cedric's arms. The other boy remained asleep as Milo pushed himself up, careful not to wake him. He made his way to the kitchen, leaving Paden and Cedric in his room, but he had barely managed to walk towards the kitchen when he heard the familiar voices of his mother and Elspeth in the kitchen.
"I don't know what to do, Professor," Elspeth's voice was rattled as it no longer carried the steady and cheery tone.
"You can start off by not calling me Professor, Elspeth, you haven't been a student of mine for over a decade. And with this Sirius Black nonsense, you are an Auror and you've been an exceptional one for many years, enough so that you reached the rankings of a Hit Witch, do not let all of this drag you down."
"How can I not?" Elspeth whispered to Minerva as Milo stood in the living room listening quietly. "I arrested him the first time and the Ministry expects me to do the same this time around. But I can't..the first time nearly killed me, how am I supposed to do it again? Fudge has been breathing down my neck heavier than a bitch in heat!"
"Elspeth, you did your first time around, if you continue to do your job to the best of your abilities then that should be more than enough for Fudge. He has plenty of other Aurors-"
"It doesn't matter," Elspeth groaned, "they've got loads going through training right now, even Moody is preoccupied. I'm the one who's stuck currently."
"Auror or not, you are still a person capable of your own emotions, if you feel the need to step down from your-"
"No!" Elspeth's voice raised, not in anger, but what seemed like fear that Minerva would suggest such a thing. "No, I can't...I can't do that."
"You don't see the mental toll that it is taking on you. You have been holding onto this pain for so long and this isn't helping you at all."
Milo poked his head into the kitchen and watched as Elspeth was staring down the newspaper that was set out on the table. "No, seeing BLACK STILL AT LARGE as the headline isn't helping me at all along with seeing his picture-"
Suddenly, Minerva removed her wand and the paper was lit on fire, in seconds only a tiny pile of ashes remained, leaving the kitchen quiet. Elspeth stood by the table, looking at the burn marks on the table, her hands gripping the back of one of the pushed-in chairs. Moments later, a sob escaped from her and she nearly fell to the floor. Minerva wasted no time to reach the other woman's side to help her to her feet and at least, allow her to sit down.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing, mainly because catching a glimpse of Elspeth in such a state was rare but now it didn't look like the woman could just force a smile on her face for the sake of everyone around her. Milo certainly wasn't going to fall for it and neither was his mother. He didn't want to intrude as his mother tended to her, awkwardly waiting in the living room until everything quieted down in the kitchen.
He didn't want to make it seem like he had been listening in on the conversation as he strolled out, rubbing his eyes to make it look like he had just woken up.
"Morning," he greeted the two women in a sleepy voice.
Once again, Milo witnessed the champion speed of Elspeth forcing a smile on her face as if nothing was wrong. Even he couldn't bring himself to smile that rapidly after being upset about something, leaving him stunned for a few moments. However, he made no remark as he settled at the table, leaving the woman to the cup of peppermint tea that Minerva had made for her. Suddenly, her brow furrowed in confusion as she dug into her pocket and pulled out her Auror badge.
"I have to go," she said suddenly, pushing herself up from her chair, nearly spilling the tea all over the table. "I guess we're all being summoned. Thank you so much, Minerva!"
In a matter of seconds, the woman was gone, leaving Milo and Minerva alone while Cedric and Paden continued to sleep. It left the son and mother alone, the appropriate time for Milo to approach his mother about what he had been bottling up. He didn't want to out Cedric but his mother would never do such a thing and if Milo was going to confess to his mother, he had to be a hundred percent honest with her from the start.
Minerva seemed to pick up on his need to talk to her as she welcomed him to sit down at the table next to her. She already had her suspicions but the woman wanted to hear it come directly from Milo so that she didn't make any wrong assumptions.
"Mum..." Milo began, his hands fidgeted upon the table as he began, avoiding any second of looking at her and meeting her eyes. "In your opinion, do you think it's wrong for a person to like someone of the same sex as more than friends?"
It was silent for a little bit as Milo anticipated, he wasn't sure what his mother's reaction was going to be, but he could see her trying to compose her response in her head.
"I don't think it's wrong on the person's behalf. I don't think anyone is in the wrong except those who judge. You cannot help who you are attracted to, even magic cannot alter the true sense of love," Minerva told him. "I've learned over my many years of living, Milo that every relationship faces its hardships, some more than others, but if two people are willing and they fight for what they feel is right, then the opinions of others will never matter to them as long as they can turn to that other person."
Milo glanced up at her with a small smirk. " I have a feeling that you knew I was going to come to you with this," he said to her.
"Milo, I'm your mother, sometimes I know things about you before you even know things about yourself. I assume that your time with the Diggorys was cut short because of differing opinions on the subject matter. Mainly Amos, I would assume."
He only nodded his head. "He was making us both uncomfortable because he definitely does not support the idea of people just being allowed to like each other regardless of sex."
"You will find that there are many people like Amos, Milo. Not everyone will come from supportive households, especially in the time we are living in. There have been times where homosexuality has been compared to Dark Magic and people still hold onto that far that it means that something is wrong with the individual. But I assure you that nothing is wrong because I know nothing is wrong with you."
He smiled at his mother before picking himself up from his chair and launching the woman into a hug.
"I love you, Mum. I'm not sure what I would do without you."
"I ask myself the same about you every day," Minerva told him. Suddenly, the cute mother and son moment was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. Neither one of them were anticipating any company, leaving both of them confused as they made their way to the front of the home.
Minerva opened the door and the two were confused when they saw Elspeth again. "Back so soon?" she questioned as she looked at Elspeth.
"Ah, well, I've become a Ministry delivery owl it seems, I have a special package to deliver, " Elspeth smiled before stepping aside and revealing a very confused Harry standing behind her. Milo nearly knocked his mother aside with a bright smile appearing on his face.
"'Arry!"
Harry suddenly looked relieved as he saw his brother standing in the doorway.
"Milo!"