Chapter Forty Three

Good/ Bad Brother

Hugo juggled his son, Ron, from one arm to the other as the little guy wiggled with all his might trying, Hugo was sure, to get free from his father. It didn't help that Ron loved trains and there was a big red train in front of them. Ron finally got his little feet against his father's chest and pushed off, leaving Hugo reaching out for his son (having a mild heart attack) while Ruby daftly snatched him up and tucked him securely on her hip, with a firm look the little guy settled down. Hugo glared at his son, but was quickly smiling. He loved that Ruby could keep him in line because if it was left to Hugo he was sure his son would be quite a bit of trouble.

Eleven year old Henry looked up at his brother in law, Hugo could see the nerves the poor guy was trying so hard to hide. Ruby's parents had insisted that Hugo and Ruby come with them to see their youngest son off to Hogwarts for the first time and they had gladly agreed. Hugo remembered his first time boarding the Hogwarts Express and the abject terror that had seized him at the thought of whatever test they did to determine what House you would be in. A hat that could read your mind didn't seem all that bad compared to the horrors he was envisioning (horrors his sister and cousins did nothing to alleviate, he might add). But of course Hugo wouldn't be telling Henry that.

It is by far better find out on your own, Hugo thought.

His in laws all huddled around him, looking for support from the one person who knew what to expect. It had been hard enough on all of them walking through a wall, but now they were surrounded by witches and wizards, and owls and flying broomsticks. Hugo understood how it could be a bit overwhelming.

On the other hand, Ruby didn't look all that overwhelmed. Just a bit wistful. Hugo wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close. He really would have given anything to have made her a witch. Not that he really wanted Ruby to be any different. He loved her just the way she was but it would have made her happy to be a witch. He knew that she felt as though she didn't fit in with his family or his life and that she thought if she was magical like him that things would be different. For his part Hugo thought she was right, but he knew that different didn't necessarily mean better.

As far as he was concerned their life was pretty brilliant. She was in a Master's program at King's College for psychotherapy and he was working his ruddy bum off in the Auror Department (Albus' 'Duke duties' (as James called them) were taking up more and more of his time, meaning that all he really did anymore was paperwork and the odd assignment. All the rest of the work was falling on Hugo and Scorpius (who had finally returned from his honeymoon.)) Sure they were both so busy they'd had to hire a nanny to help with Ron, but they both made sure to set aside time to spend with their son.

Like now. Their witch nanny had the day off, Hugo dumped his paper work on Scorpius' desk and Ruby had faked a cold to get out of class because this moment was important for her brother which made it important to them both. Henry wanted his wizard brother in law there when he finally embarked on his life as a wizard. The years since he first exhibited signs of magic had been difficult for Henry.

Since Hugo's parents had explained what was happening to their son, they were expected to help him control his magical outbursts or at least make sure he understood he couldn't show his power in public. This was something Henry found very frustrating.

Hugo's mother had had to Obliviate countless neighbors because Henry had been seen twirling around midair and laughing gleefully all the while. And then the next week he'd inadvertently Apparated to Hugo and Ruby's London home right out of his mother's arms while they visited a friend of the family. That had been a nightmare because Hugo had had to return the giggling fiend and modify the memories of the Muggles who'd witnessed it.

After that Hugo'd had a long talk with his little brother and things had gotten a bit better. Henry still had bursts of power he couldn't seem to control but they were rarer and spread further apart.

(Of course there was that time Henry had been so angry at a boy living near him that he had turned the slightly older boy into rabbit. A fancy bit of transfiguration that many NEWTs level students had a hard time with. The senior Ron Weasley had managed to turn the boy back and modify the memories of all the Muggles who had seen. Really Hugo was sure that Henry had a bright future ahead of him and he wouldn't be surprised if the bloke made Prefect and then Head Boy and perhaps Minister of Magic some day. With the control he had over his magic Hugo expected great things from him.)

Hugo knelt down to bring his face level with Henry's. "Now, Henry," he said. "You are to be taught how to control your magic, which means that when you come back home for the holidays and the summer you mustn't use your magic at all or you will be in all kinds of trouble, do you understand?"

"Yes, Hugo, but I can use magic on the train and at school, can't I?" he asked, eagerly.

Hugo smiled. "Yes, of course, but not in the halls and keep out of the Forbidden Forest unless you want to get into wallops of trouble."

"Now, how do they figure out which House I go into?"

Hugo snorted. "Nice try, little man. Trust me, it's nothing painful or anything, perhaps a bit embarrassing but nothing to be terribly worried about."

The whistle blew. Henry's face lost all color. "Come now, Henry," his father said.

"Time to get on the train," his mother said choking on her sob.

"Be brave now, Henry," Ruby said, guiding Henry toward the train.

"Write often, sweetheart."

"Mum!" Henry screeched, affronted.

Hugo and Ruby laughed as Henry's pale, mortified face disappeared around the bend. His hand rubbed up and down her back as she curled into his chest. He kissed her head and said, "Just think, love, before you know it we'll be sending little Ron off for his first year."

Hugo heard her give a rather odd croak, he tipped her head back and saw her eyes were filled with tears. Feeling that she was not crying about her brother, he tucked her into his chest and led the way back to the parking lot. Ruby strapped Ron, now fast asleep, into the back seat of their fancy Muggle car while Hugo got into the passenger's side. He didn't know how to drive and hadn't much of an inclination to learn how, but seeing Ruby's puffy red eyes and the wetness on her cheeks he wished he did know. Ruby looked like the very last thing she wanted to do was drive them home.

"Tell me, Ruby," he said.

She wiped her eyes. "You know, Hugo."

"Darling-"

"There's nothing you can say. I don't know that I'll ever feel better about it. My brother is a wizard, my son will be a wizard, my husband is a wizard all of my in laws can do magic- I'm the only-"

"What about Calla?"

Ruby sighed deeply. "I hardly ever see her anymore. She knows how busy I am with my studies and little Ronnie."

"Then how about we go see her and Albus? I'll take Ronnie and drag Al out to the park so you two can talk, yeah?" She jammed the keys into the ignition, unhappily. "We can go home if you prefer?"

"I just don't know if there's anything that'll make me feel better about this," she whispered.

"I don't know what to say," Hugo sighed.

"Just don't say anything."

So Hugo didn't say anything until they got to Albus and Calla's penthouse. With Ron in his arms he followed Albus through the living room towards the kitchen. He saw Calla and Ruby standing side by side before the mirror over the fireplace looking at the giant diamond necklace around Calla's throat.

"What the hell is your wife wearing?" Hugo asked.

Albus looked confused for a second. "Oh, you mean the necklace I got her?"

"So you got that for her? I was worried she'd left you for one of them royals."

"Yes, well it did cost me a fortune, but considering…" Albus transfigured a basket of fruit into small cradle for Ron.

"Considering what?"

"Well… I got into a bit of trouble with my lovely wife today…" Hugo listened in horror as Albus recounted what happened to him that day. "… So I figured I should tell someone other than James because Merlin knows what he'll say happened."

"Good Lord, he's a genius."

"Who, James?" Albus asked, his mouth hanging open.

"Yes. All I have to say is that I'm sorry. Sure she'll probably cry a bit but, for the love of Merlin what else can I say?"

"Say about what?"

"Oh Ruby hates that she's not a witch."

"Well then I reckon there is nothing you can say other than 'I'm sorry.'" Albus said, tickling Ron's belly. "I want one of these."

"What's stopping you? You've been married a while now, I think you've passed the dangerous 'they got married because she got pregnant' gossip."

Albus sighed. "It's Calla's father."

"I'd have thought he'd want a baby. A male baby," Hugo snorted.

"He does and that's the problem. If Calla and I have a son before he dies, he'll leave everything to his grandson. Which is probably the worst thing he could do to a child, according to Calla. She said it was bad enough being his heir while he was still alive, the fact that she'll have to take on most of his duke duties when he passes just makes it worse."

"I thought he wanted you to take on all the duke stuff."

"Well yeah, but I'm not the one actually related to the Rutlands. That's Calla, by all rights she's the one who should be doing the duke stuff. Or duchess stuff, as it were. Of course she's thinking about our son when she thinks about not having kids until her father passes, but I also think she's lived her whole life believing Rutland was her destiny, I think she thinks she deserves it." Hugo scrunched up his forehead in thought, catching his look, Albus added, "I also think she'll never admit it, not even to herself."

"Well I don't know about you, but I think that's a good thing. If Calla can do all the duke stuff you can keep on in the Auror department. Because really Al, the thought of continuing without you and doing all that work on a regular basis is making it hard to sleep at night."

"Really? I'm interrupting your sleep not your son, your not even twelve month old son? Somehow I didn't see that coming."

Hugo snorted. After a moment Albus began laughing and before long the two Auror's were laughing their arses off. The pair of them tapered off eventually only to stop abruptly when they heard the sound of someone Flooing in the living room.

A second later- "Whaa!"

And then, "Rose!"

"Oh my! What's the matter?"

Hugo rushed out to see his sister in Calla's arms sobbing her eyes out. The fireplace blazed green again and out stepped the bane of Hugo's existence. Stephen Wood was promptly punched in the face.

"No!" Rose screeched throwing her arms around Stephen. "Don't hurt my fiancé!"

"Your fia-what?" Hugo yelled. From the kitchen Ron began to cry. Ruby rushed off to see to her son but not before giving her husband a dirty look.

"My fiancé," Rose repeated, face streaked with tears she thrust her hand into her brother's face. On her forth finger was a giant yellow diamond and on her face a giant smile. "Stephen asked me to marry him and I said yes. It was so romantic. He told me Al and Calla helped him pick out the ring and everything."

"You knew about this?" Hugo demanded. "But I thought you were going to talk her into dropping his sorry bum!"

"Hugo!" both Calla and Ruby yelled.

"Well I'm sorry but he should have asked her to marry him when she got pregnant. How do we know he's not just doing this because he feels obligated? How do we know he's doing this because he loves her?"

"This is none of your business, Hugo! I love Stephen and he loves me! You have no right to tell me how to live my life or tell me who I should or shouldn't be with! You're my brother not my keeper, you tosser!"

"We really should settle down, I think-" Ruby began.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rose," Hugo snapped. "I don't think I'm your keeper, but I do think this is a really bad idea. I mean have you even thought about how many times he's hurt you?"

"The first time we broke up it wasn't his fault, but mine! I let Lily get to me and then didn't talk to him about it until after everything had gone to hell." The tears running down Rose's face weren't happy anymore. Stephen wrapped his arms around her and only winced a little when her head fell against his bruised cheek. "It was all my fault."

"Darling, it's all right. We both should have done things differently-"

"Like you should have asked her to marry you eight and half bloody month ago!"

"Hugo! You- Ahh!" Rose wrapped her arm around her stomach and grimaced. "Oh Merlin, Stephen!"

"Now, Rosie?"

"Bloody well, yes now!"

Stephen gripped Rose and Disapparated with a loud POP! Hugo felt a bubbling hot rage in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't believe that Stephen had picked now of all times to propose to Rose. Right before she gave birth. It was unbelievable. It was intolerable. He turned on Albus.

"You helped him with this?" he seethed.

"He got your Dad's permission, Calla and I just helped him pick a ring. And I thought you liked Stephen," Albus snapped.

"I liked him plenty before he knocked up my sister!"

"Your sister is an adult, Hugo," Ruby said. "It's her choice who she spends her life with, you can't make that choice for her."

Hugo clenched his jaw and banged his head against the wall. "I just can't stand the thought of her getting hurt by him again. I don't know why but I just think she's getting her hopes up. Just because he asked her to marry him doesn't mean he actually will and she'll have gotten her hopes up for nothing."

"That's a risk Rose is willing to take and one you have to support," Ruby said. "Come on we have to get to the hospital."

Hugo rubbed his forehead. "I can't support this, I can't sit back and watch him hurt her knowing all the while that it'll be us who has to clean it up. You guys go."

"Don't be ridiculous, Hugo," Ruby snapped.

"I'm not being ridiculous."

"Yes you are, Hugo. She's your sister and it's your job to support her whether you like her choices or not and I am not going to sit idly by while you destroy your relationship with your sister. You and I are going to be with your sister while she has her baby, you idiot!"

"Ruby!"

"No! You will set a good precedent for your son. If we have a daughter would you really want Ron to abandon her just because he doesn't like who she's with or would you want him to stand by her side in her time of need and be there for her should she need him?"

Sometimes Hugo really hated Ruby's studies. This was one of those times. He knew she was right, she knew she was right, he hated it and refused to admit it. Instead he took her into his arms and Apparated to St. Mungo's so he could be there for his sister.