𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓
touch of evil

✦

EVEN THOUGH HIS house on Harrowing Street, his childhood home where he placed all his good memories, wasn't 12 Grimmauld Place with a screaming portrait and cobwebs, dark mysteries lying in the shadows and dangerous magic just around the corner, it didn't mean that Leo liked to stay at home. Since last year, when he started going out and adventuring with Thea and leaving Grimmauld Place for the aforementioned reasons, he hasn't gone back to the hermit crab he used to be.

          Harrowing Street was where he found comfort; the kitchen where his mother cooked breakfast, the living room where he watched cartoons, the hallways he chased Maia around – this was his childhood; his safety blanket. But somehow, since the departure last year and the revelation to so many things, and the family radically changing with losing one member and gaining two more, Harrowing Street seemed to lose the charm it once had on Leo because he no longer wanted to stay but itched to leave.

          He wanted to go out and be with Thea and Jasper, he wanted to stay out until it was too dark and Nadia was concerned for his safety because that meant less time staying there for the night. Maybe it was because he had seen the world outside of Harrowing Street, had seen death for the first time in the ghost of his birth mother and murder of Remelda, but he no longer believed that Harrowing Street was as safe as it used to be.

          Because Harrowing Street did not prepare him for being confronted with these truths.

          Harrowing Street drew him into a false sense of comfort where nothing evil could ever touch him. Harrowing Street still made him feel safe even when Calypso and Maia came home with reports of the monsters that lurked at Hogwarts during the year. Harrowing Street still felt safe even when they came home to tell them about the rise of Voldemort again and the deaths that occurred at Hogwarts. He felt safe because he was not there, he was in his room, and nothing could touch him there.

          Now, he knew that the evil could touch him anywhere he stood.

          He wrapped his jacket around him, knowing the air would be too cold, and messed with his hair while looking in the mirror to make sure it was perfectly imperfect. Through the mirror, he saw the ghost of Nancy appear and float up to him, reaching out to touch his hair before going through the strands, causing a disappointed look to mold onto her face.

          "You're leaving again," she stated, "I hardly ever see you anymore."

          Guilt settled inside of him. He didn't mean to ignore Nancy, he was beginning to love his birth mother after knowing her for a year and all the advice she had given to him. She was the one who didn't leave him at night, staying until he eventually dreamt and she faded away to wherever she wanted to go.

          "Sorry," he told her, though they both knew he wasn't going to change his habits, "I'm meeting up with Thea and Jasper."

          "Don't you see them enough at school?" Nancy asked, floating around to the other side of him, reaching out to grab his face. Nothing. She pulled back.

          Leo shook his head, "Jasper's already graduated, and I don't have many classes with Thea. And it's nice to hang out with them, they're nice."

          Nancy sighed, "I don't disagree with that, but, well, even Nadia is sad that you're barely here anymore."

          He gave her a pointed look. "Mum has Sirius," he pretended not to see the flinch as he called Nadia his mum. Even though it had been a year, it still hurt Nancy to hear him say this despite appreciating her efforts for raising the twins. "She's fine. And don't you have ghost friends you can hang out with?"

          Nancy huffed, a laugh almost at her lips. "Not everyone becomes a ghost, you know. I did because part of my soul latched onto that ring you have now," she motioned to where he kept it on a chain around his neck, the metal resting against his chest pushed there by his shirt. "And it's not like I can travel to where everyone else is in the afterlife. I'm stuck here."

          "Yeah, but aren't ghosts just here because they have unfinished business?" Leo asked her.

          "I don't know," Nancy shrugged, "If I had to guess, mine would be leaving you and Amara – I mean, Maia – but I already know that you're in good hands now, so that should be finished enough."

          She looked down sadly, reminded again that because of her sacrifice, she never got to see them grow up. She had never even seen Maia properly, only heard about how she's grown from Leo. He looked away from her. It was hard to feel guilty when he knew that he wouldn't have wished for another childhood or a life with her. He had a good childhood with a mother who loved him and still loved him and he would never want to give Nadia up.

          "Anyway," Nancy shook off the sadness, changing the subject, "I guess I should say to have a good time."

          "Thanks," Leo said before going to the door, "I'll see you later."

          "Of course," Nancy promised, watching him leave and close the door behind him, locking her to where she always stayed in the house.

          Leo didn't waste time bustling down the stairs. Nadia and Sirius were in the kitchen making dinner. "Bye, mum! Bye, Sirius!"

          "Wait!" Nadia called and he stilled, looking at her to see her with a pout, "You aren't staying for dinner?"

          "No," he shook his head, "I'm hanging out with Thea and Jasper."

          "Alright. Have fun," Nadia said and he went out the door. With it shut behind him, he didn't hear her complain, "He's never here anymore..."

          But Leo was already on his way, walking out of Harrowing Street to the nearby coffee shop he always met up with his friends. The crisp air gave him comfort as he entered the café, taking a seat at their usual table near the front because they liked to people watch as everyone passed to waste more time. He looked at his watch to check the time and then just waited around.

          He sat up when he saw Jasper walking, the unmistakable platinum blond hair not allowing him to hide. Leo smiled as Jasper took a seat. "Hey," he greeted.

          "Hey," Jasper said back to him and there was silence for a moment as they stared into each other's eyes before Jasper cleared his throat, "You order a drink already?"

          Leo shook his head, "I was waiting for you and Thea."

          "Come on," Jasper stood up, "Thea's not feeling well so she's not coming."

          "Oh," Leo frowned, "How do you know this?"

          "We live in the same neighborhood," Jasper explained, "And so I went by her house but she didn't look well at all. I mean, you're still cool to hang out with just me, right?"

          "Of course," Leo stammered out quickly, not wanting Jasper to feel as though Leo didn't like him because he did. A lot. It's not like anyone can blame him for seeing how attractive Jasper was, even if nothing would come of it.

          They got in line, ordered, and then went back to their seat. "How's school going?" Jasper asked as they waited for their drinks.

          Leo shrugged. "I mean, fine I guess. Just the same old, you know?" The other boy nodded and then Leo asked him, "What about you? I mean, I just realized I don't even know if you're in university or not."

          Jasper's eyebrows furrowed before he realized again. "University...ah, no, not me. I'm working already."

          "Oh, really. Where do you work?" Leo asked, surprised.

          "I'm, uh, working under my father right now. Just learning everything I can from him so I can't his position when he retires. He's hoping to do that soon," Jasper explained and Leo nodded.

          "Huh. Interesting. I mean, I don't really know what I want to do, if I'm being honest, but I think I'd like to do something with kids. I don't know, you might think it's stupid, but well, I'm adopted and I could've been put in an orphanage and that's a shit system so I wanna help it," Leo admitted, feeling himself go red as he had never told anyone else that.

          He bowed his head down, not wanting to see Jasper's face if the boy thought his reasoning was stupid, but was shocked to hear him say, "That's fantastic. I wish I could what I really want, but it's my family legacy to take over once the old man retires, so I'm stuck with it. But I think that's really cool."

          "You do?" Leo asked, staring into Jasper's eyes vulnerably.

          Jasper smiled, nodding his head. "Yeah, I do," and he felt his insides go warm at the confirmation. At least one person believed in him.

          (Because, even though he wouldn't admit it aloud or allow it to stream into his true conscience, part of him was scared to tell Maia what he wanted for his future. He was scared she would laugh at him or that his reasoning was rubbish because he didn't owe the system anything.)

          (And yeah, while she might be right, it still didn't change his feelings.)

          "So, you're adopted?" Jasper asked, moving the conversation to another topic as their drinks were brought out to them.

          Leo nodded his head. "Yeah, my birth mum gave Maia and I up," he said, not going into more detail.

          "Why?"

          "What?'

          "Why did she give you up?" Jasper asked, unfazed and unchanging even when he saw Leo squirm in discomfort.

          "Um, well, my birth family wasn't the best, I guess? I don't really know, she died and no one's told me who my birth dad is," Leo lied, sipping at his drink.

          Jasper tilted his head. "If you had the chance, would you meet your birth dad?"

          Leo sucked in a breath. Would he ever willingly meet Demetri Carrow, the man who wanted his dead as an infant because of his lack of magic, the murder of his Aunt Mel, the abuser of his mother? No; it wasn't very had to come up with that answer. There was no internal debate over it. Demetri had already shown his true character and it was evil.

          "No," Leo looked at him dead in the eye, "No. Nadia's been a great mum to me, I don't need anyone else."

          Jasper nodded, though he looked away for a second, as if considering his answer and finding himself not liking it. "You got a big family?" he asked next.

          "Yeah, I do," Leo nodded in confirmation, "And they're great. I have everyone I'd ever want in my family. What about you? You have a huge family?"

          Jasper shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I guess I do, but I'm not close with many of my cousins or anything."

          Leo hummed, "That's too bad. I have an older cousin, Calypso, and she's the bee's knees. Really. We hang out all the time when she's home during the summer."

          "Yeah, she goes to that boarding school with Maia, right?" Jasper asked, "You know, I've been wondering why you didn't join them at boarding school."

          He sucked in another breath. "It's an all-female boarding school my mum and aunt went to," he lied, "So they wanted Maia and Cal to go, too. And, well, obviously I couldn't..."

          "Obviously," Jasper repeated with a small smile on his face, "You ever get jealous that you're not able to go with them."

          Yes, all the time. Well, he used to be jealous all the time. When he was younger and Calypso would come back with pig tails and tell him everything after her first year. When Maia got a letter to Hogwarts and he didn't, when she came back and her eyes lit up as she told him everything about Hogwarts while not even asking about his own schooling.

          He was jealous that they got adventures and serpents in the walls (what fun, even if extremely dangerous) until they had that Tri-Wizard Tournament thing that where all hell broke loose...yeah, after that, he kinda said thank God to not being a wizard.

          So while his life wasn't interesting as a squib compared to everything he heard went on at Hogwarts, at least he wasn't fighting evil all day that wanted to kill people like him. Leo knew he should probably be more concerned about Death Eaters, the people did want people like him dead and his dad was willing to kill him because he had no magic, but it wasn't like he was going to be the one fighting Voldemort when the day came.

          "Not really," Leo told him, "Not anymore. I like my school. I mean, I wouldn't have met Thea if I went to a fancy shmancy boarding school, now would I?"

          "Yeah, guess so," Jasper laughed with him, "But I mean, they get that fancy schmancy boarding school and you just get public school. You aren't just a little bit jealous?"

          Leo shook his head. "Nah, boarding school's made Maia into a little bit of a bitch sometimes. I think I'm good."

          "Yeah, alright. I guess you have a point then," Jasper conceded, raising his cup up in a cheers motion at Leo before taking a sip.

✦

          "I take it everything's still going according to plan?"

          "Yes, uncle. We're friendly now, he's trusted me with some information about his family and I'm sure with more time I'll gain even more information."

          "And the girl has not been a problem?"

          "No, uncle. She knows she has to be compliant, and she is, otherwise she would have already faced the consequences for her insubordination."

          "I want to know everything I can about him and that family of his by the end of the school year. After that, you know what to do to him and I expect no hesitance toward that scum when the day comes."

          "Yes, uncle. I would never hesitate eliminating someone of his kind."

✦

          Maia shut the book she was reading from loudly, gaining a shush from the librarian. "Sorry," she muttered, mostly to herself in response to the scolding. She didn't really mean to be so loud about it, but Transfiguation could be such a drag sometimes and she's been doing the homework for it for what felt like days and she had finally finished. Thank Merlin.

          She gathered the rest of her things, taking the books and parchment into her arms and got up, pushing the chair back into the table before leaving the library, finally able to retire back to her dorm and take a long, scalding shower before bed. Because of how procrastinating she had been with her work, it had piled up to today where she had to miss out on a Hogsmeade trip to do all her schoolwork. It was awful and Emilia had pouted but she had to do this; she brought it on her herself and now she was paying the price.

          But she was finally done now and she could realize a little. She went through the corridors, only a few people still out since curfew was about to be enacted and everyone not in at least the common room of their houses would get detention. Well, if they got caught...

          Thankfully, she didn't have to risk it today like she'd had to do other times, and moved through the corridors with no resistance from anyone else.

          She got to the steps towards Ravenclaw tower and started her climb, stopping only when she saw the ghost Lucie on the stairwell. "Lucie!" she called, not missing her chance to talk to the ghost now after not seeing her for a month since she was with Emilia.

          The ghost blinked before turning towards her slowly. "I know you..." she said, "How...who...?"

          "I'm Maia," she told the ghost again, "We've talked a few times."

          Lucie nodded. "Maia..."

          "Yes, and you're Lucie," Maia told her, not knowing if the ghost could even remember that. It was strange because every other ghost she's met know who they are, can remember everything, but Lucie had trouble as if she was actively tried to forget or had her memories wiped before her death.

          "I am?" Lucie frowned, "No, that doesn't sound right. Lucie...it's wrong. Almost right. Nothing feels right."

          "Well, maybe I can help you," Maia said to her and the ghost turned to look her in the eyes, "I mean, I'm not sure if I can help, but maybe? What do you remember about your life?"

          "My life," Lucie blinked and looked away, "I remember...I remember this place. I remember laughter. I remember blue eyes – piercing me. Her name...oh, her name was...it was...Nadine? Nadine, maybe. And I remember being scared. I remember my necklace – where's my necklace?"

          The ghost continued to ramble to herself, not sparing Maia a look, before floating off of the steps of the tower and disappearing into thin air, going somewhere else which Maia didn't know. She wanted to go out and grab the air, hoping to pull Lucie back here, but she knew it was just be foolish.

          Instead, she groaned to herself. That wasn't much to work on, but at least she had gotten a name that was probably wrong now that Lucie had admitted that she wasn't even really Lucie. Something like that, but not quite.

          Nadine.

          That was a pretty close, close to Nadia, which she also liked even if she would never admit that to her mum. She admired the name, it was simply beautiful, and Nadine was close enough and just as nice. But it wasn't like she could go far with just Nadine and no last name and the hesitance to even believe that Nadine was even the true name to the woman Lucie used to know.

          Not wanting to waste any more time just standing in the middle of the stairwell, Maia continued her climb to the portrait standing in between the common room and her. And when the portrait asked her a riddle, all she could was huff, too tired to use her brain more to come up with something even remotely correct.

hi the last few chapters had been so maia focused and i missed my boy leo so i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter