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Max darted out of the Ministry of Magic elevator, but his father was a little faster and caught his arm, stepping out with him as the doors closed.
“I’m serious, Max,” Cole said. “Bring her. We’d love to meet her.”
“Becca thinks it’s too early to meet each other’s parents.”
“Nonsense!”
“Look, Dad, I’ll invite her again, but it’s not like I’m going to cast Imperius on her. If she doesn’t want to come, she’s not coming.”
“At least invite her. Your mother is desperate to meet her.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I think she’s desperate for grandkids.”
“Then tell her to talk to Lex. He’s the one who’s married!”
Max should have known better than to mention Lex. A shadow flitted across his father’s face. “All right, I’ll let you get to work. Invite her!”
Max retreated to his desk in Accounting as his father waited for the next elevator. “Parents,” he sighed, plunking down beside his coworker Tony. “Am I right?”
“You got to get your own place, man.”
“Why spend the money?”
“Why? ‘Parents. Am I right?’” Tony pulled a thick folder out of his inbox and dropped it on Max’s desk. “Here, work this.”
“What? Why me?”
Tony shrugged. “New guy gets the grunt work.”
With a groan, Max opened the folder and dug in. He was deep in battle with the numbers—literally, thanks to an arithmancy spell some joker had cast—when someone walked up to Marvin’s desk at the front of the office and said, “You guys cheated me.” Max glanced over out of habit and did a double take. Lex? No, this man was a few inches shorter and a few stone lighter than Lex, but a stranger could have mistaken them for each other.
Max nudged Tony and pointed. “Who is that?” Tony squinted, as though he couldn’t see the young man well.
“I’m supposed to get paid a quarter of the retail value of anything I recover.” The man put a photograph on Marvin’s desk and tapped it. “You paid me 40 for this necklace, and I told you then it should have been at least twice that. This is what Borgin and Burkes is charging for it now.”
“Oh, it’s one of Magical Item Recovery’s mutts,” Tony whispered.
“Woof, woof, arsehole,” the man said loudly, looking at him.
Tony blushed and turned back to his work, muttering, “Shoot, werewolf hearing.”
“No, you’re just a loudmouth.”
“No one meant to cheat you,” Marvin said.
“So what, you’re crap at your job? Because you’ve done this to Jenny five times in five months, and now you’re starting on me. I’ll tell you right now, that will not go the way you think it will.”
Marvin put up his hands. “We’ll get it fixed. What’s your name?”
“Chris Corbin. That’s Christavious, not Christopher.”
“Whoa, that is an aggressively Corbin name,” Tony said. “You related to this guy, Max?”
“I don’t know. We might be. It’s a big family.” Max faced the visitor. “You definitely look like a Corbin.”
If annoyance were a physical force, Max would have been knocked out of his chair by the look on Chris’s face. “Man, the full moon is tonight, so you do not want to mess with me right now.”
“I’m not messing with you! I’m sorry I don’t remember all the cousins. Who are your parents?”
Chris rolled his eyes. “Nina and Cole. I’m your brother, Maciah.”
Does Dad really have to keep every photo he’s ever taken in his life? Max wiped off the label of yet another shoebox on the attic shelves. “1996 pt 3/3.” Way too late. He moved a few feet down and wiped off another one. “1989 pt 1/2.” Getting closer. A few down, he found a box marked 1981-1987, but 1980 was a full box and so was each year in the 1970s.
He pulled the multi-year box off the shelf, and after a moment’s thought, also took 1980. Sitting on the floor, he opened 1981-1987 and flipped through. Most of the pictures showed vacation spots that were not nearly as interesting in photos as they were in person, and a few that were too blurry to bother displaying. Eight envelopes of negatives sat at the bottom, far more than the number of photos, even if Max counted the ones in albums downstairs. He held a negative strip up to the attic light, but wasn’t used to looking at them and couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Max looked through the 1980 box next, and there was what he was looking for, or close enough: slightly blurred pictures of his mother, visibly pregnant, growing larger by the photo and rubbing her belly in each one. He returned to the multi-year box and found the negative envelope labeled ‘1981’. Looking through them, he managed to make out images of someone holding a baby. Or possibly a bag of potatoes, but probably a baby. Was that his mother or someone else? He had a cousin that age; maybe the baby was Sally.
“What are you doing, Max?” his mother, Nina, asked, climbing the attic stairs. She saw the boxes and clucked her tongue. “Why do you have all these old photos out? You know the good ones are downstairs.”
“Do I have two brothers?” he asked.
The question struck her silent, then she set her jaw and pursed her lips that way that struck terror into his heart as a kid. “What in the world would make you ask a thing like that?”
“One of the Magical Item Recovery Agents came down to Accounting today. He said his name was Christavious Corbin, and he’s my brother who was kidnapped when I was three.”
“I don’t want to hear another word about this.”
“But Mum—”
She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Do I have to cast a Silencing Charm on you?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Go take out the rubbish or something,” she said, casting a clean-up spell. He stood as the photos and negatives flew back into the boxes and the boxes flew back to their spots on the shelves.
With a grumble, Max tied up the trash bag and tossed it into the yard. It broke open and spilled its contents across the grass, but he needed that excuse anyway. He could use the time vanishing each spilled bit to think. He had expected his mother to deny it, maybe to wonder who that nutter was. But ‘I don’t want to hear another word’?
“Why doesn’t anything in this family make sense anymore?” Max asked aloud—but not too loud, so his mother wouldn’t hear. When was the last time things made sense?
Fourth Year, at the end-of-year feast. The war had been over for a year, the staff at Hogwarts was as normal as they would ever be, and Lex was laughing with his friends at the Gryffindor table, celebrating their House Cup win. Everything was normal.
Then the next day, Max got off the Hogwarts Express, and Lex didn’t. Their parents met Max with sour expressions, gathered his things, and hustled him off without explanation. His father said, “Lex is safe, and that’s all I want to hear about it.” His mother wouldn’t even say that. And that was it.
The following Christmas, they didn’t go to Grandma Corbin’s like they always had. They didn’t even go for Sunday dinners anymore. Somehow, half the family had slipped away while he was at school, never to be spoken of again. And now this?
Max turned to go inside and stopped short. Grandma Corbin. If his parents wouldn’t talk to him, maybe someone else would. He took a deep breath and apparated. The world crushed in on him; just when he thought it would smother him, it expanded again, and he looked up at the old family home. It had been painted since he’d seen it last, now white with pink trim, but he’d recognize its shape anywhere. He went around to the kitchen door—hardly anyone used the front—and through the windows saw the warm light and the woman moving inside.
He knocked on the door and stepped back so it could be opened. His grandmother only took a second to answer it, and a smile bloomed on her face at seeing him. “Max!”
“Hi, Grandma. I’m sorry I didn’t send an owl ahead, but—”
“Nonsense!” She wrapped him in a tight hug. “It is so good to see you! Look how much you’ve grown! Come in, come in. Are your parents with you?”
“No, it’s just me,” he said as she hustled him to the kitchen table. Racks of shortbread cookies covered both it and the counters.
“Have a biscuit if you like,” she said, grabbing a towel to wipe flour off her hands.
Max bit into one and nearly melted into his chair. He’d forgotten how good his grandmother’s shortbread was; his mother’s just wasn’t the same. “Why are you baking so much on a Monday? Do you have a party tomorrow?”
“No, they’re for… er, well.”
“Is it because of the full moon?” Max didn’t know why he’d asked that, but she breathed out in relief. “Are they for Chris?”
She smiled and nodded. “He’s so skinny to start with, and I swear he loses a stone every full moon. He says it’s normal, but I can’t help but worry. And there’s nothing wrong with a little pick-me-up the next morning, right?” She patted Max’s arm. “When did your parents finally tell you about him?”
“They didn’t. He came down to the Accounting Office today, and… well…”
“Oh. Oh no, today’s a terrible day to meet Chris, too. I mean, he’s always standoffish at first, but the full moon makes him grouchy on top of that. You should come to dinner on Sunday. He’ll be much friendlier then. Well, probably.”
“I am so confused,” Max said. “How do I have a whole-ass brother no one told me about?—Sorry for my language, Grandma.”
She laughed and patted his arm. “Don’t worry. Your brothers curse like fishwives.” She gestured for him to follow her into the living room. The photos on the mantle and hanging on the walls were different. He couldn’t put his finger on how at first, then realized there was a third boy in them. Chris?
“There was all sorts of mess when Chris disappeared,” Grandma Corbin said, “with Aurors, and the Werewolf Capture Unit, and Family Services, and who knows what else. When it all shook out, Cole and Nina didn’t want to hear another thing about it. They told us to take down all the pictures of Chris, or they wouldn’t let us see you and Lex anymore, so I put them all away. I guess your parents got rid of everything that reminded them of Chris. That was really hard on Lex. He and Chris were thick as thieves. Suddenly his best friend was gone, and he wasn’t even allowed to talk about it.”
Max’s forehead wrinkled. “Is that why Lex didn’t come home after he turned 17?”
She nodded. “He went to your Aunt Jan’s and sent Chris an owl. He was just hoping to get a letter back, but Chris showed up on Jan’s doorstep the next morning. Chris was really skittish when they started reintroducing him to the family. Given how some people reacted, I don’t blame him.”
“Wait, is that why we don’t come to Christmas anymore? Because Chris is there?”
Grandma Corbin nodded again. “Your parents told me to choose either you or Chris and Lex. I’m sorry, sweetie, but your brothers had you outnumbered, and Chris didn’t have many people in his corner. He needed me more than you did.”
“This is so crazy,” Max said, touching one of the photo frames. It showed him as a toddler with Chris and Lex, or so he assumed. Lex he recognized from other photos, and he’d seen pictures of his baby self many times. Chris held Max on his lap, helping him wave to the camera. Max had always wondered why there were so few baby pictures of him. Was it because Chris had been in them? “Why did Mum and Dad do this?”
“I don’t know, dear.” She patted his arm. “You’ll have to ask them.”
The sun had long since set by the time Max came home. Nina jumped up as he stepped into the living room. “There you are! Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick! I know you’re an adult, but it wouldn’t kill you to let us know before you take off like that!”
“I was at Grandma’s,” Max said.
“There’s no reason to lie,” Cole said. “We sent an owl to your grandparents; they said you weren’t there.”
“Not Grandma Williams. Grandma Corbin.”
“Oh.” The ‘oh’ hung in the air for a disturbingly long time. “I hope Mum’s doing well.”
“Yes, she is. And so’s Chris.”
“Did you eat there, or are you hungry?” Nina asked, turning towards the kitchen. “I could throw something together.”
“Did you hear me? I said ‘so’s Chris’.” She didn’t answer, so Max cast a Locking Charm on the kitchen door before she could open it.
“You don’t need to take that tone with me. Open this door.”
“Not until you answer me.”
“We’re not going to talk about that,” Nina said.
“The bloody hell we aren’t!”
“Don’t talk to your mother that way,” Cole said.
“Apparently, none of us talk to each other at all!” Max shouted. “Were you ever planning to tell me I have two older brothers?”
“You don’t,” Nina said.
“No, I do. I’ve met him. Chris is a skinny version of Lex.” Nina started trying different unlocking charms on the door. “Talk to me, dammit!”
“There’s nothing to talk about!”
“Nothing. Is that what Chris was to you? Nothing?”
Nina burst into tears, and Cole said, “Nina, he doesn’t understand. How could he?”
“He doesn’t have to understand! He just has to stay away from it!”
Cole raised an eyebrow and simply said, “Nina. He’s 18.”
“Sit down,” Nina said to Max, going to the sofa. He sat on the far end as she lowered herself down. “You don’t remember your oldest brother, but he was such a good kid. He was the perfect kid. So smart.”
“Do you remember those puzzles Sally’s Muggle uncle used to bring her?” Cole asked.
“You mean, like, the nails bent around each other and stuff?” Max asked. He’d spent hours as a kid trying to figure them out.
Cole nodded, a smile playing on his lips. “We’d watch Sally and Lex try for days to work them out before getting sick of them and handing them to Chris. And 10 minutes later, ‘hey, I got it! Do you want me to show you how, or do you want to keep trying?’”
“He was never a brat about it, though,” Nina added. “He was always nice about it. Chris was nice to everyone.”
“He wanted to explore the whole world, and he wanted to take his friends with him.”
“And then that thing took him away.”
“You mean the man who kidnapped him?” Max asked.
“No, before that,” Nina said.
“We had Chris in a special clinic for a month, trying to keep the lycanthropy from taking hold,” Cole said. Nina reached over and squeezed his hand. “He just kept getting weaker and weaker. When he transformed… He never came back. He was a different person, a different thing. Dull, and clumsy, and just… Something else was in the shell that had been our son. When it disappeared, we thought it was for the best. Like a fae reclaiming a changeling. It would be better off with its own kind.”
“Then Jan had to get involved,” Nina said, disgust dripping off her voice. “We lost you and Lex for two months because of her. I was afraid we’d never get you back.”
“Then we lost Lex again when he turned 17.”
“I don’t know what that thing has done to turn half the family against us,” Nina said. “But it’s not your brother, and I don’t want to lose you to it, too.” Sobs washed over her.
Max conjured a handkerchief and handed it to her. “Don’t cry, Mum.”
“You need to stay away from it.” She blew her nose loudly. “Promise me you won’t bring this up again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Max meant to push the whole situation out of his mind, but it wouldn’t go away. On Wednesday, the Magical Item Recovery Unit Head, Mrs. Cooper, came to complain about underpaid bonuses for her three werewolf employees. On Thursday, the head of the Aurors came and dropped Chris’s name as he dressed down both the head of Accounting and Marvin for “threatening our ability to retain the only Latromancer who’s been willing to work for the Ministry in the last 200 years.” What was a Latromancer? Something important, apparently.
The situation kept needling Max, so after work, he caught his father and said he’d be having dinner with friends instead of going home. He let Cole go into the Floo first, then ordered it to take him to Tudeley.
Max had only seen the address once, but he’d memorized it, knowing his mother would burn the letter and the owl would never get another one through. He walked down the street until he felt the ripple in reality caused by a Muggle-Repelling Charm, then turned down the cobblestone lane and followed it to the house at the end. With a deep breath, he climbed the steps and knocked on the door.
A man and a woman called to each other inside, and then footsteps sounded. The door swung open, and Max looked into a face he hadn’t seen in three years. The man stared as though expecting him to dissolve into the air. “Max?”
“Hey, Lex. Sorry I didn’t send an owl, but—” He didn’t know what should follow the ‘but’, but it didn’t matter. Lex scooped him into a bone-crushing hug, lifting him off the ground.
“Merlin’s Beard, Max, it is so good to see you!” Lex hustled him in as though fearing he would run away if left outside.
“Who is it, dear?” a woman asked, leaning into the room with a towel in her hands.
“It’s my little brother, Max! Max, this is Peg, my wife.”
“Glad to meet you,” Max said, extending his hand. She shuffled the towel to her other hand and shook. “I’m real sorry I didn’t come to the wedding.”
“Would have loved to have you, but I didn’t think Mum and Dad would let you,” Lex said.
“Can you stay for dinner?” Peg asked. “We’ll have plenty.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
Lex put his arm around Max and herded him into the kitchen. They passed the usual small talk over dinner: Lex’s job as a ferromancer at an ironworks, Peg’s as an Obliviator, what Max had done in school and since. Finally, they came to the destination Max had expected.
“It is so great to see you,” Lex said for the fifth time. “What brought you out?”
“Well, I met Chris.”
“Oh,” both Lex and Peg said.
“Yeah, he came down to Accounting on Monday and, well…”
“Oh no. Monday was a terrible day to meet Chris,” Peg said. “That was the full moon.”
Max laughed. “Grandma said the same thing.”
“You should have come by yesterday,” Lex said. “Chris always comes to dinner on Wednesdays if he’s not furry, and so do Aunt Jan and her family.”
“She’s the one you went to when you didn’t come home from Hogwarts, right? The one we weren’t supposed to talk to growing up? Mum and Dad said they lost us for two months because of her.”
“They lost us because Chris was kidnapped and they didn’t report it. Some people thought they’d murdered him—including me!”
“For real?” Max asked.
Lex nodded. “Before Chris was bitten, Mum and Dad acted like the sun rose and set out of his butt. Then after they brought him home from hospital, they yelled at him all the time. They acted like he was a completely different person. He wasn’t; he was just sick. He didn’t feel good, and Mum and Dad were yelling at him all the time. Then, late one night, I heard Chris’s door creak. I always slept with my door open and I thought he was coming to my room, so I rolled over to look, and I saw a man carry him down the hall. It was too dark to see who it was, but the way they were carrying him, I thought it was Dad. The next morning, Chris was gone, and Mum and Dad told me not to say anything when they took us to Grandma and Grandpa Corbin’s.”
“You mean Grandma and Grandpa Williams’,” Max said.
“No, Grandma and Grandpa Corbin watched us during the day back then, along with Sally and Zuzu. Of course, Sally pestered me about where Chris was. Her, me, and Chris were best friends. So I told her, and she told her mum, and the next day some people from the Ministry came to Grandma Corbin’s. One was this tall black guy who said he was an Auror. I remember him because he had this gold hoop earring, and I thought that was so cool. Like a pirate. And this very nice lady who asked me a lot of questions and asked me to draw the person I’d seen take Chris. I heard them talking afterwards, saying maybe it was Fenrir Greyback, maybe it was a Far Dorcha. Then the lady said I thought it was my dad and the look the man got on his face absolutely terrified me.”
“But it was Fenrir Greyback, wasn’t it?” Max asked.
“No one knew that for sure until we found him again,” Lex said. “The people from the Ministry took you and me back with them, and Aunt Jan came to get us and we lived with her for a couple months. When we finally went home, it was like Chris never existed. Mum and Dad got rid of everything, and Mum told me I better keep my mouth shut about him this time or I’d be in real trouble. I remember thinking, ‘they got rid of Chris, and they could get rid of me, too.’ I thought that every single day growing up.”
“Is that why you were always such a prig?”
Lex laughed in surprise. “Thanks, Max.”
“I’m sorry. But you kind of were.”
“Yeah, I was,” Lex admitted. “Adults always said I was such a good kid. I wasn’t a good kid; I was a terrified kid. That’s why I didn’t go home after Sixth Year. I was 17, they couldn’t make me, and I didn’t want to be scared anymore.”
Max sat, taking the story in. “I guess that’s how Chris has turned half the family against them.”
“What?” Peg asked.
“That’s what Mum and Dad said: he’s turned half the family against them.”
“That’s dragon shit,” Lex said. “No one’s turned anyone against Mum and Dad.”
“I don’t think Chris could if he wanted to,” Peg said.
“I don’t think he could be bothered.”
“But what about holidays and Sunday dinners?” Max asked.
“That’s Mum and Dad’s call,” Lex said. “They could show up Sunday, and Grandma Corbin would show them right in. The only rule is that everyone has to be civil. You don’t have to like everyone—Merlin knows Uncle Mot can barely stand Chris—but you have to say please and thank you and not smart off.”
Max started to argue, but stopped himself. Grandma Corbin had asked if his parents were with him Monday, and she’d asked it warmly. She wouldn’t have asked like that if they’d been kicked out.
“I know Chris can be prickly at first,” Peg said, “but werewolves have reason to be. If you get to know him, he’s a good guy.”
“Mum and Dad don’t even want me talking about him,” Max said.
“I bet Mum and Dad didn’t want you coming to dinner at my place, either,” Lex said.
“They don’t actually want me talking about you, either.”
Lex let his head drop back. “Merlin’s Beard. Did they completely erase me like they did Chris?”
“Not completely.” But mostly. The albums still had pictures of Lex, but their parents had changed all the frames and turned his bedroom into a guest room even before the next school term had started. And of course, they never talked about him.
“You see how awful someone needs to be to get cut out of Mum and Dad’s life: not very.” Lex leaned forwards. “Seriously, Max. Come to Grandma Corbin’s this Sunday. Or, heck, you work at the Ministry; just go talk to Chris. I think you two would like each other if you gave each other a chance.”
The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was, well, a catastrophe, and finding the Office of Magical Item Recovery took ages. Finally, Max walked into it and found Chris with his feet up on his desk, reading a 1950s-looking book titled The Boy’s Guide to Electricity. He took a deep breath. “Chris?”
“He just stepped out,” Chris said without looking up. “Can I take a message for you?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Chris looked at him. “Where do you get off seeing through the Anonymity Charm, Max? You were three when I left. You don’t know me.”
“I’d like to.”
A woman dressed in witch wear she’d turned into a Muggle goth look snorted. “Good answer.”
“Stay out of it, Jen,” Chris said.
“If you wanted me to stay out of it, you shouldn’t have been bitching about it all week. Stop being an ass, Chris.”
Chris rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Sisters.” Max’s eyes widened, and Chris laughed. “Not your sister; just mine. Foster sister.”
“I had to wonder, the way this week has gone,” Max said.
“What do you want?”
“I just want to talk to you for a while.”
“I’m busy.” Jen snorted again. “You got something to say to me, Jennifer?”
“I’d walk over there and smack some sense into you if I thought it’d be worth the steps. He’s not busy.”
“Don’t you have a good luck charm to go after?”
Jen shrugged. “My target doesn’t hit the bars until five o’clock.”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
“You want privacy, go grab a cuppa or something.”
“You wanna grab a cuppa?” Chris asked Max, or at least asked in Max’s direction. He took a mug from his desk and cast a Scouring Charm on it. “I’m gonna grab one.”
He left the office without waiting to see if Max followed, and Max trotted to keep up on the way to the cafeteria. The food service was closed, but an assortment of tea-bags and a kettle was set out, and Max recognized Harry Potter talking to a woman with bubblegum pink hair and a wooden arm.
“Hey Tonks, Harry,” Chris said with a wave.
Tonks waved back. “Wotcher, Chris. You seem to have a tail.”
“Nah, pretty sure I lost that when I transformed back.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s cool. We’re just gonna talk some Quidditch.”
“Any luck with that case Williamson asked for help on?” Harry asked as Chris selected a sachet of tea and poured boiling water over it.
“I finally found a book that explains electricity in a way that makes sense to me,” Chris said, “but honestly, I might just show up on the guy’s doorstep with a safety vest and a clipboard and say I gotta inspect the place.”
“You really think that’d work?”
Chris laughed. “You’d be horrified how often it does.”
“We better get back,” Tonks said. “Cheers, Chris!” With a wave, she and Harry made their way out of the cafeteria.
“That was Harry Potter,” Max said, pointing after them. “Like, the Harry Potter.”
“Sure was. I help law enforcement out now and then.”
“That is so cool.” Max conjured a mug and got some tea, and he and Chris sat down.
“Hold up,” Chris said as Max opened his mouth. He tapped the underside of the table with his wand three times and muttered something. “There. Anyone walks in, they’ll think we’re talking Quidditch. Who do you cheer for?”
“Oh, um, I’m an Appleby Arrows fan.”
“Good taste. I’m an Arrows man myself. If you were a Wimbourne Wasps guy, I’d have to just walk out,” Chris said. “By the way, I’m real sorry about Monday. Cole tried that ‘I’ve never seen this guy before in my life’ stunt on me like a month ago; I thought for sure you were doing the same thing. It honestly didn’t occur to me you didn’t know.”
“No worries. I’m just… trying to figure some things out.”
“Like how did you have a whole-ass brother you didn’t know about?”
“Yeah, something like that. Do you remember much about us?”
“Just bits and pieces. You know, I was only six.” Chris chuckled. “I remember this one time, me, Lex, and Sally were trying to build a catapult, and we accidentally smacked Lex in the face so hard his nose bled. It cost my best Chocolate Frog Card and Sally’s favorite marble to keep him from running inside crying. I wonder if he and Sally remember that.”
“What about Mum and Dad? What do you remember about them?”
“Mostly, I remember them yelling a lot. At Lex all the time before I got bit, and at me after. Well, you know, I was little. Maybe it happened twice and it just seemed like it was all the time.”
“I’m pretty sure it was more than twice,” Max said. Lex never caused trouble as a kid, but somehow he was always in it. “Do you remember anything about me?”
“I mean, you were little little, so you were kinda like a doll.” A look of realization came over Chris’s face. He put his hand over his mouth, then pulled it down his chin. “Shit, I do know why you can see through the Anonymity Charm. Do you remember when you were 10, and Mum trusted you to spend the afternoon alone at the house, and you immediately broke into the broom shed and crashed Dad’s broom into the ravine?”
“And broke my leg. Merlin’s Beard, are you the kid who fixed it and helped me out?”
Chris nodded. “I gotta ask. Who did you think I was?”
“I thought you were a fae!”
“A fae? Serious?”
“I asked if you were human after you healed my leg,” Max reminded him. “You said ‘no’!”
“I’m not human. I’m a werewolf.”
“You were healing broken bones at what, age 12?”
“Thirteen.” Chris shrugged. “I did some stupid shit as a kid. If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.”
“You must have done some seriously stupid shit if you were healing bones at age 13. What were you even doing there?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you. It was kind of weird.”
“That sounds bad,” Max said.
“No, it wasn’t like that. I just used to come by sometimes, just to make sure I knew what you and Lex looked like as you grew up. You know, in case I walked into an accounting office some day and one of you was sitting there.”
“Really?”
“I told you, it was kind of weird. I was kind of a weird kid. Kind of a weird adult, too, actually.”
“That doesn’t sound that weird,” Max said. “It’s actually kind of sweet.”
“Ooh, don’t let that get out. I got a reputation to uphold.”
Max was about to say something else when he heard his father’s voice. Cole walked in with one of his coworkers and stopped short. “Oh, shoot.”
Chris glanced over, then asked, “You wanna continue this conversation another time? Maybe tonight at the Three Broomsticks? Keep in mind Cole’s just hearing us talk Quidditch right now.”
“Yeah, that’d be great. 6:30 OK?”
“I’ll be there.” Chris turned in his chair. “Hey, Cole, you wanna weigh in on this? Appleby Arrows or Wimbourne Wasps: which do you think is going all the way this year?”
“Oh,” Cole said. “I… um…”
“I gotta go with Appleby, myself,” his coworker said.
“That new beater, right?” Chris asked.
“Seriously, that man is a monster. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s half troll, but Merlin’s beard, he is good. The Wasps don’t stand a chance.”
“Well said.” Chris stood. “Well, I gotta get back to figuring out that electricity stuff.”
“Have you talked to Arthur Weasley in Counterfeit Defensive Spells?” the coworker asked.
“Oh, he knows electricity?”
“I’m not sure he knows it, but he’s fascinated by it. If anyone will, it’s Arthur.”
“I’ll see if I can find him. Thanks for the tip.” Chris patted Max’s shoulder. “Good talk.”
Cole’s coworker waved his finger after Chris as he left. “I feel like I ought to know that guy’s name, and it’s not coming to me.”
“Chris,” Max said as his father chewed on an excuse. “His name’s Chris.”
Max glanced at his alarm clock. Ten minutes until 11 A.M. He needed to decide. He returned his attention to the deck of cards in his hand and tried again to make them spring from one hand to the other, like Chris had shown him in the Three Broomsticks after a few beers. Chris made it look so easy and swore up and down it was just a Muggle trick, no magic needed, but Max kept spraying them across his bed.
Another look at the clock. Five minutes. Max took a deep breath and gave himself a firm nod. He stood and went downstairs.
“I’ll get lunch together in a minute,” Nina said, looking up from her knitting. “Anything in particular you’d like?”
“Actually, I’m going out,” Max said, taking his jacket off its hook.
Nina smiled. “Seeing Becca again? That’s what, the third time this week?”
“If it’s getting serious, you need to bring her by,” Cole said with a grin.
“I’m not meeting Becca. I’m going to Grandma Corbin’s.”
His parents’ smiles vanished. “Max,” his mother said sternly, “we talked—”
“We don’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to,” Max interrupted. “But if you’re about to tell me not to come back if I go, I’ll find a friend to crash with. Just because you want to pretend I don’t have brothers doesn’t mean I have to.”
“Max,” Nina said. Max looked at her, and whatever she was about to say died on her lips.
“We’ll talk when you get home, all right?” Cole said.
“I bet we will.”
legend (Guest) Mon 04 Aug 2025 05:20PM UTC
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