Closed Don't Tell

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo was having a much better time after his conversation with James. He was still retreating a little inwards, but he wasn't actively avoiding home, or James and the family. He was still working a lot, his intention to move out remained pretty strong, even if he felt more at home here than he had ever felt anywhere else. But the house was due to be busy, with Sapphire's twins and Leo had retreated to his bedroom. He still didn't want to interrupt the time that some people had together. It also helped that he needed to tidy his room up, even if James told him not to. He was dusting and cleaning it down with his door ajar, humming softly to himself as he worked.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire was fit to burst soon with her latest pregnancy, carrying Onyx's twins for him. She'd brought the twins over to see her uncles- James loved time with the twins. While they were circling around James legs, Sapph set her bag down. "So who alls home?" She asked. WIth her family, there was no telling who'd be running around the house. When James mentioned Leo, Sapphire raised her brow. Oh, cool. He was hardly ever around when she was. Deciding to be a pest, she wandered down the hall, knocking on his door even as she leant on the doorframe. "Hey, kid. What's up?" She asked conversationally.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo jumped at the voice, glancing round and making a poor attempt at hiding what he was doing. He looked at Sapphire, someone he hadn't really spent that much time around. "I'm seventeen," he replied, before pulling over a chair for her, in case she intended to stay. "Please don't tell James you saw me cleaning," he said, knowing he hadn't hidden it well, and keen to just not get caught.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire moved in and fell into the chair he'd pulled out, one hand on her stomach. "Why would I tell the old man?" She asked, brow raised. "You cleaned your room, big whoop." She stretched her legs out.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo paused a little. "Well, he doesn't like me doing that," he replied. Not realizing really that James wasn't telling the other kids..his adoptive siblings about the quirks of him. "I usually go overboard," he then added. "And my grandfather used to have me clean my room every day," he further explained, the words tumbling out of him.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire blinked. "Oh. Well, he was a ****," She shrugged. "The twins are keeping James busy. Want to keep me company?" She asked. "I'm dying for some adult time." She rolled her eyes. "Though I can't drink- shame."

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo blinked a little at what she said before nodding a little. "Okay..," he said, though he didn't know what do, if he should sit down or if he should stand. He knew there were things he wanted to ask Sapphire, to figure out. He almost wanted to apologise, for entirely nothing. "I'm not the best company though, Jordie might be here soon,"

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire snorted. "If I wanted to hang with Jordie, I'd have summoned him." She countered. "You're never around when I am. Do I have to sit on you?" She gave him a playful smile. "Come on, I'm going to catch you eventually." She waved dismissively. "You're ours now, kid, get used to it."

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo knew that the rest of the family were much closer to each other than he was to them, but he gave a slightly embarrassed nod. "I've been working," he said, perhaps a little lamely. Leo shook his head but didn't move yet. "Yeah, it's been hard getting used to that," he replied, not mentioning that it had been hard to believe too. Though recent actions did help him.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire rolled her eyes. "Boo." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Take some time off then. I'm tired of chasing you around," She stated like it was obvious. "Why don't you come over like, tomorrow or something. I've got some stuff I gotta get done, I could pawn off the kids on someone or the other, we could hang out and actually get to know each other?" She offered. "You play quidditch?" She asked, deciding that was a good place to start.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo shook his head a little. "I'm not very good at being idle...," he said with a little shrug before nodding. "I can watch the kids, let you get stuff done," he offered more than willing to help out in that regard. Before nodding at the question. "I do, chaser. You did too right?" he was sure he'd seen her name on a list somewhere or someone would've told him.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire snorted. "Oh, no, we're leaving the twins elsewhere. You are going to help me get stuff done- this," She motioned to her pregnant belly, "Makes it a bit hard to move, and it's got my magic acting a bit funky. I was going to steal Jordie, but I've caught you and the opportunity is just there," She shrugged. When he asked she smiled. "Oh, yes, I was beater for a few years. Co-captained with Blake Irons for a moment, but I doubt anyone even remembers me." She countered with a bit of a shrug. She'd struggled with her school years for a long while before deciding to just write them all off and pretending they didn't exist.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo gave a little nod, "Oh, okay," he said, still unsure why she wanted to spend time with him, but he would just agree to it. "I can help," he said quickly as if he needed to be useful. Leo hadn't known that she'd been a beater, but he wondered why she would care if people didn't remembered her. "I'm sure a professor or two might," Leo replied. "You came to live with James while you were at school right?"

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire nodded at Leo's question. "Yeah, I met Onyx when I was about thirteen. James came by when I was maybe fourteen or so." She offered easily. "Why?" She asked, summoning a sucker from her bag and popping it into her mouth.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo nodded slightly at what she said. Fourteen was a little younger than he had been, but not when he'd first met James. "I've just been struggling a bit with my place here," he said honestly. He had never been one to lie about these things, especially when he was trying to get some answers or understanding. "Wondered if it was maybe just that I was fifteen when I came here," he added with a shrug.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire blinked. "Oh, totally. It was a few years before I'd even finish unpacking." she replied easily. "I came on late to the James and Onyx show, and then of course Jordie came with me, so he took up the role of cute new tiny. James is stubborn though, he wouldn't let up until I gave in and let him love me." She rolled her eyes, though there was a fond smirk on her face. "My situation wasn't exactly easy, either," She added after a moment, studying Leo. "Did James ever tell you what happened to me and Onyx?"

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo decided to draw up a chair and sat down, so that he could pay attention to what was being said. He wondered if she'd worried about Jordie taking more attention than her when she was that age. Leo gave a bit of shake of his head. "he's mentioned bit and pieces, that your father passed, and you were split up," Leo said.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire snorted. "So the bare basics." She ran a hand through her hair. "He took Onyx, but I was given to Aunt Myra," Her lips sneered around the name. "She told the family I died and took off with me to New Zealand, this oprhanage she was working at in Arrowtown. She dumped me there, and never told me she was my aunt. She had legal custody of me, so no one could adopt me, but she never bothered with that information. She let me think I was so messed up that no one would ever want me, and encouraged animosity between everyone else and me."

She summoned a juice, taking a sip. "I got into a lot of fights. Never really got to make any valid connections with anyone. I was almost feral, honestly, by the time Onyx found me. He had been homeschooled with Uncle James for a bit, and had stopped in to grab some ice cream, one of my school mates thought he was me. He freaked, found his way to me. We fought a lot at first, but he transferred in and wouldn't leave me alone," She rolled her eyes, but still the fond smile remained.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo thought his life had been a little difficult but it was really nothing like what Sapphire's life had been like. He had never been in an orphanage, he had never gotten into any fights. Though he hadn't really been given the opportunity until he went to Hogwarts and then he knew that he would never. "That sounds terrible," he commented, not now wanting to talk about what he had gone through to get to this place, and be here at Uncle James'. "I'm glad you were able to come to uncle James',"

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire smiled at his words. "Yeah, me too. It took forever for me to trust it, though. Aunt Myra didn't take it well, either, having James sweeping in and taking me back. She was furious- she tried to take me out after graduation, showed up at the train station. Onyx saw her though- that was what caused his accident. He saw her raising her wand, shoved me out of the way. I hit my head, got knocked out. He got blasted back instead, busted his head open pretty badly. When he woke up, he'd lost all his memories. I don't think I've ever seen uncle James so mad. Or so scared." She shook her head, before eyeing Leo. "Well, except for once... I don't really know what happened, but a little while before you showed up, he had that same look on his face, storming around the kitchen and looking ready to murder someone."

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo did know a little more about this, about what had happened with Onyx, but he just listened to what she said about it, about how scared that James had been about it, and then about something else. He frowned, "Did something happen to Jordie before? Uncle James didn't mention anything," Leo asked, he wasn't sure if something had, if it had been mentioned by Jordie or James.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire raised a brow. "He wasn't scared, Leo, he was mad. And seeing as how it happened just before you popped up, I'm going to guess that whatever he was mad about had something to do with how we got you." She gave him an easy smile. "The last I heard, all the rest of us got was that your grandfather was absolutely worthless." She shrugged.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo realised as she spoke that the statement hadn't been about Jordie but had been about him. That he'd been mad about something it had been because of him. Leo gave a weak expression and shrugged. "My grandfather was a lot of things. He cursed me, used Imperio on me when I was growing up, and I didn't realise until fourth year," Leo said with a little shrug. "If I hadn't volunteered for it, I would've never known..I'd still be living with him," he spoke softly. "My grandfather wasn't like your aunt, he was just...erratic. His mood would shift from one day to the next, unpredictably. He wanted me to do well, in everything, so breaks were usually about being better at quidditch, duelling, managing to sleep outside, being independent, writing and re-writing essays. He was just harsh, and had an impossible standard for me to reach because it was always changing." leo chose his words carefully, trying to just express what his life had been like and not compare himself to Sapphire and her experiences.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire blinked. "Merlin," She laughed. "No wonder he was mad. I'm surprised he didn't do anything more." She shook her head. "Well," She summoned Leo a drink and offered it out so she could toast with him. "Here's to that weird old man that keeps taking in us strays," She sipped her drink after she said it, chuckling and shaking her head. "Anyway, how are you settling in then? Still in that period where you don't trust it?"

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leo knew it had been bad, but he wouldn't have wanted Uncle James to do anything about it. "It's good he didn't, the aurors had my grandfather, I was safe," Leo said. "He got what he deserved." Leonardo told her, it hadn't really helped how his father felt about him. Leo shrugged a little. "It's difficult, it's so different from what I'm used to, and uncle James is so kind to me. Even when I'm wrong about things, or being difficult,"