Age Of Worry

[Izaak Finch]

Considering the lifestyle that he led, Izaak Finch had always attempted to reserve apparition for when it was absolutely necessary. Even in international cases; if he wasn’t inconvenienced by the elongated hours it took to arrive at his destination, Izaak preferred to take a plane. So in a suburb like Bondi, the surfer always utilised his vintage Ford for means of transportation, or even his own two feet. His sister and brother-in-law’s abode was only a couple of blocks away from his and Aly’s, but as Izaak hung up his end of the line following a conversation with Fletcher, he decided that this was one of those rare cases where apparition was the favourable option. Fletcher had sounded particularly concerned that he’d lost the upper hand on Jay, who Izaak had heard throwing a tantrum in the background. He didn’t blame the older man; the magic that coursed through his nephew’s blood made volatile appearances whenever he lost his temper and with baby Alexis around, that was a risk no one was willing to take.

As Izaak snatched up his keys from the marble countertop and stuffed them into the pocket of his jeans, he took a moment to be overwhelmed by exactly how much his little niece meant to him. Perhaps it was her namesake and that surprising whirl of ginger-hued hair; after all he had been through since he had graduated from school, Izaak wasn’t ignorant enough to slim it all down to a sheer coincidence. He often entertained the thought that she was somehow attached to his late fiancée, to her mother’s best friend. But what haunted him even more was that if he felt this way about his niece, how strongly was he going to feel about his own baby? The baby conversation had come up between he and Alianne a couple of times this past month. Being that their wedding was in a few weeks time it seemed only natural that there’d would be a time in their near future when they’d stop trying not to have a baby. But Izaak was still apprehensive given the fate of both Cassie and Ella. He harboured this gut-wrenching fear that there was something seriously wrong with his share of genes that had resulted in the passing of his daughters. If, god forbid, it happened again, Izaak would honestly not be able to live with himself. And not only that, but knowing he’d let down Aly? Izaak gave a slow, solemn shake of his head at the thought and suppressed it in the back of his mind as he stepped outside his home, steadying himself for that sickening tug.

In a not so pleasant moment, but one that flew by in a flash, Izaak was upon the doorstep of the Bennet’s. He didn’t bother to knock, he and his sister’s family had never exactly been on formal terms. “Fletcher?” He called out into the empty hallway and followed the sound of the commotion out into the living room.

 

[Fletcher Bennet]

Fletcher held Alexis in his arms rocking her to try to get her to stop crying as he pleaded with Jay. The man was not new with uncontrolled magic, he had it when he was little and so had his sister, Avery, but neither of them got very angry and were never dangers to any of the family members, except maybe the dog when it didn't get out of the way. With his daughter so young and breakable he had to calm Jay down before something happened so with Leah away for the day he had called the only other person he knew would be able to help him: Izaak. Jay and Izaak had a connection that only they completely understood and Fletcher would be a fool to not use it for his personal gain. Especially when his baby girl was in the equation. He knew that if he got hurt it would be fine but he would never forgive himself if Alexis did and neither would Jay. In his anger he would see no wrong but once that moment was over and if she was hurt it would be awful for him because despite this moment they were good to each other. As the man hung up the phone he returned to Jay and the mess he was making of the living room as the furniture shook and books fell down to the ground off the book shelf. "Jay!" Fletcher called, trying to sound authoritative when he knew that he would never be that way, it wasn't in his nature. He was quiet and shy, being a leader was not a role he naturally adopted.

The quidditch coach looked at the clock and groaned, wishing that Leah would be home to help him tackle their children together. He did love Jay as his own but there was just something stronger between the father and daughter team than there was with he and Jay. He was just about to take out his wand when he heard Izaak call his name and he continued to hold the ginger-hued babe in his arms, naive to the fact that she was a large part in why Jay was acting this way. She had broken one of his toys by hitting it on the ground repeatedly and at first neither had noticed but now, at the worst possible moment, Jay had discovered the wrecked toy.

Fletcher cradled Alexis in one arm and ruffled his shaggy hair as he looked at Izaak as he entered the room, completely lost at what to do but trying to fix it anyway. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to get hurt, Jay included, so he just looked down into the bundle in his arms and hoped that it would all be okay with the help of Izaak.​

 

[Izaak Finch]

As Izaak entered the room and surveyed the situation with his azure blues, he realised immediately that this had all been hurtled out of proportion. Propped up upon the coffee table was a toy, undoubtedly broken, that he was certain was not his niece’s. But as wrecked as it may be, like all material goods, it was replaceable. Judging by the havoc he had wreaked upon the living room, Jay hadn’t been able to comprehend that. Ten year olds tended to possess a quick temper but the tantrums Jay threw were far from normal. The closer it drew to his first semester at Hogwarts, the more out of control his magic seemed to spiral; each tantrum more explosive than the last. This was no fault of Jay’s but without an adult, or two, there to calm him, the boy would do some severe damage. Thankful that it had been the books and not the baby, Izaak greeted his brother-in-law with a knowledgeable nod of his head before heading towards his sulking nephew.

“Hey, hey. What’s up, kiddo?” Izaak asked as he placed a steadying hand on his nephew’s shoulder and knelt down to the boy’s height. Normally, a few words were all it took to set Jay straight but he was growing nervous that such simplicity wasn’t applicable anymore. “She just wrecks everything!” Jay exclaimed in hysterics and proceeded to stomp his foot against the ground without so much as realising that the lights above them were flickering dangerously now, much less that he was the one that was causing them to do so. But Izaak did his best to ignore their surroundings and simply nodded at his nephew. “That’s what sisters do Jay, even when they’re thirty years old. Trust me.” There was a twinkle in his azure eyes as he assured his nephew of this, one that Jay caught but tried his absolute hardest not to smile at. “I’ll tell you what. If you can tidy up this mess, I’ll take you down to the shops this afternoon to get a new one.” The boy huffed and drew his arms across his chest, considerably calmer than what he had been, but nodded nonetheless as he began to trudge around the mess he had made.

A smile brushed Izaak’s lips as he stretched up to his full stature and momentarily surveyed Jay’s effort to tidy up; mission accomplished. Of course Fletcher could have easily had the room looking picture perfect again with a wave of his wand but Jay had been brought up on certain principles and taking responsibility for your actions was one of them. Satisfied that his nephew was not going to fire up again, Izaak turned towards Fletcher with an exhausted smile. “That should do it until the next time.” And a next time there would be; plenty of them in fact. Perhaps one day it might be a baby of his own doing the wrecking, who knew? The surfer chewed down anxiously on his lip at the thought and purposefully diverted his attention towards the baby in Fletcher’s arms. “She’s alright, isn’t she?” His hand extended out towards little Alexis and gently touched upon her head. She wasn't even his child and yet Izaak wouldn't know what he'd do if any harm had come to her. It was difficult to imagine how Fletcher would be feeling.