June 10: It Was A Wonderful Life: Fabian, at the Prewetts'

[Edgar Bones]

"Hear that, Sadie?" Ed called sharply, despondently, after Phoebe left. "She'll call. In the morning." He checked his watch as he heard the pup flop from their bed and jingle over to him. "That gives us...as many as twelve hours to wait. I hate waiting. You know that." Edgar, not knowing if he'd just been dumped, seeing as the girl had kissed him before she went to meet her father, kicked the wall, scaring the dog, and spent the the next hour consoling her and trying to strategize. But this - this was uncharted. Unthought of. This never was supposed to happen. He hadn't thought it possible. So brainstorming solutions was futile, at least while he was this worked up.

"I'll be back soon. I will. Need someone who can talk back. And drink. Nothing personal." He gently plopped Sadie onto their bed - would never just be his, he'd fix this, he would - and Apparated to the alley behind the Prewetts' apartment building. If there was anyone who could talk him out of this current insanity, it was his best mates. The climb up to their apartment didn't much calm him, and with all of the agitation he felt, Ed pounded on the door, hoping at least one of the twins was in.

[Fabian Prewett]

"Gid, I'm telling you, this is our -" Fabian stopped at the sound of pounding on the door to their flat. He exchanged a confused look with his brother, because who would be visiting at this hour? Surely someone from this Order of the Phoenix would have a much better way of communicating with them. And most of their friends and family were at home, probably asleep. He got up off the couch, smacking Gideon in the head as he walked past.

Wand ready, he looked through the peep hole to see Ed - "What the f*ck?" - before ripping the door open. Edgar didn't look good, but he didn't looked injured. Maybe you should make sure it's really him. Gideon was behind him, and the two exchanged looks before his twin went into the kitchen, bottles clanking as Fabian closed the door behind Edgar.

Fabian waited until drinks were passed out, and made himself comfortable on the couch. "Want to talk about it, or would you like to go the Leaky?"

[Edgar Bones]

The door swung open as he went to bang on it again, and Ed met Fabian's eye quickly and gave him a sullen hello before he let himself in, running a hand through his hair as he went on automatic to the twins' living room. He settled into an armchair across from the couch, gratefully accepting the drink Gideon gave him. "Thanks," he got out, opening the bottle and taking a long drink as Fabs spoke. He shook his head, not wanting to leave again.

"Phoebe left."

He couldn't look at his mates, couldn't see the pity in their eyes. Just drank, ripping the label from the bottle with agitated fingers as he did. "Told her about magic," he told the bottle. "And she left." Edgar shrugged, shredding the label in his hands. He cleared his throat, hating admitting this, but he needed help - he couldn't spend the whole night in the apartment without her. He'd have to go back before too long to not worry Sadie, poor thing, but he needed to process this. "So - that's my night. What's up with you lot?"

[Fabian Prewett]

Whatever was happening wasn't good. But he wouldn't know how bad it was until Edgar told him, and until then he didn't want to make any guesses. They had just seen each other, had a great night and had come to some decisions about their future. They were like brothers, the three of them, and seeing Edgar like this was making him fidgety and nervous. Because had Edgar this upset for him to just show up wasn't going to be easy to hear.

But he hadn't expected to hear that.

Because Phoebe and Edgar were Phoebe and Edgar. Sure, they'd given him hell when he had come back to school and was talking about this muggle girl, gave him little jabs with every letter he wrote home. They had been 15, going into their fifth year. It wasn't like she wasn't pretty, they'd all been impressed by the pictures Edgar had shown them. But at fifteen you didn't meet your soul mate. But Edgar and Phoebe had proved them wrong, and the summers turned into visiting the Bones so that they could get to know Phoebe more. They'd gone along with Edgar's stories, being careful not to let anything slip. Edgar and Phoebe were like a perfect love story.

He took a sip of his drink, as Gideon quietly got up and started rummaging around in their kitchen. He could almost hear Phoebe's voice giving them crap for the state of their bachelor pad like she always did. He listened intently as Edgar spoke, murmuring curses under his breath as the reality of the situation sunk in. He'd been telling Edgar it was too risky to keep a secret much longer, she deserved to know. Hell, Edgar probably should of told her ages ago.

But he'd never thought she would leave. Phoebe was stronger than the three of them at times, with her funny muggle sayings and ways of dealing with things. This was something he'd thought she was just bounce back from, the way she had other things. And he knew Edgar had been thinking about proposing to her. "Ed..."

Gideon was back, setting down a bottle of firewhiskey and three shot glasses, pouring them each one before Fabian spoke. "She just...left? Not Phoebe man, she's not like that. I reckon it was a bit of a shock. What exactly did you tell her?"

[Edgar Bones]

Gideon - as always, the host - headed promptly back into the kitchen upon beginning to hear of his woes, while Fabian - using curses his Phoebe would be proud of - listened. Ed made sure to speak just loudly enough for Gid to hear him even from the kitchen, so that they both understood. He shot Fabian a sharp look as he doubted what he was saying, because yeah it was unbelievable, but obviously it was the truth. Why would he ever make something like this up? He took the shot Gid poured him, chasing with the Wizard's Brew, before he spoke.

"Yeah, mate," he said with just a touch of sarcasm coloring his despair, "she did." He reached for the Firewhiskey, sending back another shot, grimacing after. It wasn't the greatest combination, but helped alleviate a bit of his numbness, which wasn't an all bad thing. "Went on all about how she didn't know if she could do 'this' - was talking about how to take care of Sadie like I didn't know - she's at her parents', had her dad come pick her up and everything."

Ed sighed in frustration, downing most of his beer, and went back to fiddling with the wrapper. "I couldn't sign on to the Order without her knowing everything, right? So - I tried to ease into it, do some light magic, show her it wasn't all bad. Got her attention, that. But then I just - I went on too much. I figured - if I was going to tell her, I should tell her. So then she'd understand why I'd kept it secret. So she knows about my family and friends, Hogwarts, Voldemort and the Order and the war...I thought she'd see that this has all been for her. If Voldemort wins - if he's even around - she's in danger. I want to fight so she can have the life she should - so we can get married and have kids and the kids won't have to worry about being picked on or worse because their mum's a muggle." He finished his drink, setting it hollowly down at his feet. "She's calling in the morning," he went on morosely, "but what if it's to tell me she's done? I can't...what do I do?" He finally looked them both in the eye, at such a loss.

[Fabian Prewett]

Fabian and Gideon exchanged a look, both knowing they would need to tread carefully here. Because Phoebe had been around forever and it was clear that Edgar was not handling this situation well. They watched as he quickly took two shots, and Gideon gave a shrug as he poured another for Edgar, before passing one to Fabian. The twins took the shots, Fabian grimacing at the taste. There were much better things to drink, but this was cheap and they weren't exactly rolling in money at this point in time. While their parents offered to help, the twins were insistent that they were going to do this on their own. Besides, Molly needed more help than they did, she was the one with kids.

So interested of trying to ask questions, Fabian just listened, sipping on his drink as Edgar talked. Because this wasn't a situation where she just went to Kyra's for the night, or just needed to take a walk. Fabain knew where Phoebe and Edgar grew up, and it wasn't a quick drive. But he wasn't prepared for this because she wasn't supposed to leave. Phoebe may have been a muggle, but she was one of the coolest muggle's he'd ever met. And growing up with Kyra and her conspiracy theories, he'd have thought this conversation would have been a walk in the park for Edgar to have with her. Admittedly, he thought it should have happened sooner, but it wasn't supposed to be like this.

Fabian let a silence fall between them as Edgar finished telling them about his night, giving a sigh as he rubbed his eyes. "We're going to need more alcohol, for starters. Second, it's about time you told her. But you already know that." What else was he supposed to say? He didn't know if Phoebe was going to come back - but he sure as hell hoped she did. Because Edgar needed her, even if she didn't realize that. "Perhaps telling her about the war and Voldemort was a bit much but has a right now to know. Maybe we should have gone home with you to help out, show her it's not all bad..." But would that have really helped? He had no idea.

Thankfully, Gideon scooted forward to speak up. "She'll come back. Just give her time, it's not exactly the easiest thing to take it. Think about all the muggle families that Dumbledore goes to see every year, it's not always sunshine and daisies." Fabian gave a nod, remembering some of the stories the muggleborn students told in school. It took time, but the families generally came around. And Phoebe had her head on better than a lot of those families.

"Gid's right mate. She's going to come around. I mean, look at Kyra. She's been hearing about this for years, it's not like it's this super crazy idea."

[Edgar Bones]

The pain of the drink was nothing compared to the pain in his heart, and so he took the offered shot without a word. As he spoke, trying to give a fair representation of what had happened, Edgar could hardly bear hearing himself speak of it. Being here with the twins, telling them everything - it made Phoebe's leaving real. As ashamed as he was of it, something had compelled him to come here, to seek advice or company...as Fabian took a stab at advice, it was clear to Ed that that was not what he'd come for. "No, no, I hadn't figured that part out," he said, sarcasm lacing each syllable as Fabs imparted the wisdom of telling Phoebe sooner. It's not his fault. It's yours. Don't get mad at him. Now even more frustrated with himself, Edgar took back his brew, shrugging to the too-late suggestion of the Prewetts joining him in the telling. He looked up to hear Gid, again giving a noncommittal shrug. It wasn't as if he'd expected Phoebe to be over the moon about magic, he thought there'd be an argument of sorts - and in his gut, he'd worried that it would come to this. That he'd waited too long, gone too far. But his frustration wasn't something he could hide, and unfortunately his mates were getting the brunt of it.

"But this isn't the shite that Kyra spews," Ed said bitterly. "This is more than even her ideas about the government hiding things from us - Phoebe's got to accept that there's a whole other world mixed in with her own, and in that world is someone who wants her dead. She's got to accept that I've been keeping her in the dark. She's got to accept that being with me is worth more than any risk...and I don't know if she will. And I shouldn't expect her to."

Unable to look at his mates, Ed turned back to his drink, its wrapper in shredded pieces in his fingers. With the drinking, with this upheaval, came honesty. And while it killed him to admit - what more did he have to lose tonight? He quietly continued, "Why I kept it from her so long, really. Couldn't lose her if she didn't know." With the abruptness of a man a few drinks in, Ed stood and gathered the empty bottles, his journey to the kitchen speedy. He set the next round down on the low table in the living room, making a mental note - not that he was sure he'd remember - to pick up a case for the boys to replace these. Cracking another open, he drank and started looking about for the phone. "I should just call her, shouldn't I? Save her the trouble. She shouldn't be with me, worst choice she could make." It would be better to be the one who'd called it quits, right? It would be better for her to be with someone who didn't cause her pain, who didn't put her in danger. He would...you've been selfish enough. Don't worry about yourself.

[Fabian Prewett]

Well mate, if you had just listened to us…

Getting frustrated wasn’t going to help either of them. Talking wasn’t exactly helping Edgar, or Fabian was just right sh*te at it still. He didn’t do this, relationship confrontation thing. He’d avoided it quite easily for a long time, always giving Edgar a hard time for writing to the muggle girl. They hadn’t expected it to last, not at 15. But he hadn’t been surprised when it did, and he should have expected that one day he’d get dragged into this kind of conversation. Granted, back then it hadn’t been war stories that would have been the leading element of the conversation. We’ve got to get out of this house.

Edgar's words didn’t surprise him, it made sense. She couldn’t fear what she didn’t know, but this was better for her to know. He wanted to reassure Edgar that she would come around, that just because Kyra was all about conspiracy theories that weren’t as extreme as the current situation, she had some pretty wild ideas. And Phoebe had been friends with the girl since they were kids. He sat in silence, fiddling with his empty bottle as Edgar went on a small cleaning spree, exchanging looks with Gideon. A silent conversation between the two of them.

When Edgar returned, he exchanged his empty bottle for a new one, waiting for Bones to break the silence. With the worst idea possible. Fabian grabbed the phone, standing up and walking away with it. “Absolutely not calling her, sorry mate. Not when you’re gonna say something you regret.” He tossed the phone in his room, closing the bedroom door before looking back at the other two. “Finish your drink, we’re going out. Muggle place, yeah? Forget about all of this for a night.”

[Edgar Bones]

His friends' reassurances and attempts at belated advice were falling flat, but it wasn't really their fault. The situation was shite, and he'd made it that way. And knew it. Was there any way to do this at this point where she wouldn't have left? The question needled at him as he cleaned up their empties, as he wondered whether or not Phoebe was home yet. What she was telling her family...Over the years they'd become so close to him, how the hell were they going to let him back into the family now?

Because she'd come back.

She would.

She might not.

Throughout any physical separation they'd had, Edgar had always had trust in their relationship. They worked, always had - when they were in school, he had no doubts about her staying loyal, because there was no way he'd mess around with anyone at Hogwarts. He had had no doubts about them rekindling once they were back together, falling into their established normal. And while they'd argued before, this was on a whole other plane...

They had no precedent for one getting upset enough to walk out.

Mind turning over the various possibilities of what she was telling her folks, Edgar gloomily returned, not as ready to make a move as he sounded. Calling her would be relationship suicide at this moment, and he'd have to thank Fabian later for removing the temptation so quickly. He stood and drank, as he was told, the cool of the brew doing little to simmer his emotions. They were all men of action - he couldn't just lament his decisions here tonight, he needed to do something! Thankfully Fabian knew what he needed even faster than he did.

"Forgetting sounds good," Edgar assented once he'd swallowed the last of his drink, wanting this night out of his memory as quickly as possible. He already felt well on the way for it, not as steady on his long legs as he'd been upon arrival. "Just make sure I get home before too long, all right? Sadie's still there, you guys can crash if you want."

[Fabian Prewett]

Edgar was quickly on board with this plan, and Fabian was glad. They weren’t good at advice, but they were good at drinking. It was the one thing they could do right now to ease the pain of Phoebe leaving. He gave a nod as he looked around for a cleaner shirt in a pile of clean laundry on their table. ”What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like we are going to end up with tattoos or something, it’s just drinking,” he answered, throwing the shirt across the room at Edgar. ”Put that on and wash your face, you look like hell.”

The next step was finding the keys, but being able to use magic inside his home certainly helped. He pocketed his wand - he wasn’t about to leave home without it, even if they were going to a muggle pub - and began searching around for the muggle wallet he kept near the front door.

”Want to owl Roderick? He’s good at early morning potion-making, although he’s probably with Charity if he’s not at the hospital...here we go.” Fabian said as he stood up, turning to look at Edgar as he double-checked his pockets. ”Your choice mate, you lead the way.”

[Edgar Bones]

Shirt whacking him in the chest, Ed fumbled to grab hold of it before it fell to the floor. A muffled "You're such an arse" left him as he did as told, regardless, switching the shirt with a bit of difficulty. Did he really look that bad? He sighed and went to their loo to splash some water on his face, slapping some color into his cheeks after. For once, the good looking bloke didn't like what he saw in the mirror, and was back in the living room within moments. He gave a nod of assent, although his line of thought was a bit different than Fab's. Finding pen and paper, he quickly scrawled two notes and sent them away with the Prewetts' owl. But the question of where to go...can't afford to run into Kyra tonight...

"Let's find somewhere new." 

---

A few hours later, Ed had snuck back to the jukebox at the dive they'd settled in. The more difficult thing than finding the right songs was handling the muggle money, but after a few tries he'd done it. As Ed sauntered back to their table - air drumming on the way - he was feeling particularly grateful for the twins' friendship. They let him have his sad songs, even had put some on for him, but every so often interjected a wildcard so the whole place didn't hate them for supporting the bloke obviously going through a rough night. "You know what?" Ed took his stool back, interrupting himself with singing along to the oooohs of the chorus, and taking another swig of the dark muggle beer. How many's that, now? He fixed his eyes on the pair of them, nodding definitively at his own words. "So long as we've got each other, it's gonna be okay."

[Fabian Prewett]

Somewhere new was the perfect idea for a good night. They had their places, but there was always a chance of seeing a familiar face. And right now, Edgar just needed to forget about everything for a bit. Downing the last of his drink, he turned to look at Edgar as he returned from another successful run to the jukebox. The muggle contraption was fun and absolutely worth the amount of muggle money they had wasted on it. Sure, maybe everyone was slowly going insane around them, but they were having a good time and they hadn’t gotten kicked out yet. That was really all that mattered. Once Edgar was good and gone they would get him home, and tomorrow hopefully he could sort things out with his girl. Simple as pie.

”That’s right, everything is gonna be fine,” Fabian replied with a pat to Edgar’s shoulder, turning around in his stool so he could rest his back against the bar. ”We’re brothers man, brothers. We’ve got your back for all things.” Blood wasn’t important, not like those purebloods made it out to be. Family was who had your back in the tough spots, was there through the good times and the bad. It didn’t matter what kind of family you came from, it mattered what side you were on when the dust settled and the battle was over. And they were all going to be on the right side of history, protecting muggles and the like from the evil brainwashed bull that people like to spout.

”We should get tattoos together to symbolize our brothership.”

[Edgar Bones]

Ed wanted to believe his best mate's words, and through the haze of alcohol, was finally able to allow himself to as he smiled back. Everything was going to be fine. Phoebe would forgive him, she'd come back home, and he could teach her more of the wonderful things about magic. They'd go to Diagon Alley, and they could get ice cream from Fortescue's - hell, he'd be happy watching her devour every single book in Flourish & Blott's, even though during his schooling that was the shop he'd always zoomed through. He'd commit to the Order, and commit to her. Phoebe had been so patient with him, but he knew she'd been wanting an engagement, some sort of proof that their last six-odd years hadn't been for nothing...

She'll still want that. She loves you.

As Fabs went on, Edgar exchanged a look with the bloke's twin, a grin stretching across his face. "We definitely passed a tattoo parlor on our way." He'd never really thought he'd be somebody with a tattoo, but in the moment this idea was solid gold. What better way to show their brotherhood than by getting ink? Should they all be the same? Different? What would make the most sense? Ed took another drink, looking excitedly between the twins before trying to talk out his ideas. "I'm in. They've gotta, y'know, mean something. One out of two Gryffindor graduate's got a lion, so that's out. A phoenix would be cool, but it should be our thing..." This would've been better figured out sober.

[Fabian Prewett]

If Phoebe left Edgar (not that he wanted to believe it would be the case), surely given time Edgar would be okay. Find a nice magic girl maybe, that might be easier. One thing was for sure, If Phoebe left then that meant there was no chance in hell anything would have ever worked between him and Kyra. But he couldn’t see Phoebe tossing her dreams of a life with Edgar out the window just because of some magic. Life was far easier with magic, especially when it came to doing chores. It was no surprise muggles complained about them, all that work for something a flick of a wand could do. She just needed time, and Edgar needed to relax. Then they could all accept Dumbledore’s offer, as a team.

There was a wicked grin plastered on his face as Edgar agreed to tattoos, and Fabian downed the last of his drink as Edgar shot out ideas. As amazing as a lion would be - it was a stereotypical Gryffindor thing to do. And as much school spirit, as he’d displayed back in the day, it was time to leave the cat behind them. A phoenix was a better idea, but that was assuming a muggle artist was capable of drawing a real one. Gideon was shaking his head, and Fabian had to agree, ”No Phoenix could ever replace Fawkes in my heart,” he said as seriously as possible, a snort from a contained laugh escaping his twin. “Better question - where are you going to get this tattoo? I’m thinking right arse cheek personally.”

[Edgar Bones]

"Your arse?" Ed laughed, finishing the rest of his drink to catch up to Fabian. "Merlin, mate - thought I'd stop seeing that once we graduated. Don't subject me to more torture tonight, have I not suffered enough?" The inebriated bloke waved the barman over for their tab, puzzling out the muggle papers and coins with some difficulty. Why did the muggles make money so complex? Wizards did just fine with three types of coins! And they were different in size and color! Sure, the muggles had some of the same, but there were so many more kinds, and how did they keep the paper ones from getting damaged in their coin purses or pockets? Baffling, he thought as he left what he hoped was the proper amount of funds on the counter.

"Let's just go and see what hits us, eh?" Ed said, starting out of the dark pub. The crisp summer night's air was refreshing, and he breathed it in slowly with the new goodness of feeling he had from being with his mates. "Strokes of genius aren't foreign to us - if you're so eager to take your shorts off, Gid and I can just, I dunno - " He exchanged a look with Gideon, laughing again as he continued, "Sign your arse. Then if you're ever lost, they'll know who to return you to."