Who: Arcturus MacMillan and ISOBEL MACMILLAN OMFG!!!!!!!!!
What: Trauma of
the worst possible kind
Where: Scotland
When: Two weeks after the wedding!
Archie loved married life. Even though he had only been in it for two weeks, and that was their honeymoon, which was nothing like real married life, and his wife was pregnant by about four months, that didn't matter! Everything was perfect, from their beautiful sweet on the equally lovely Greek island, to spending two silly weeks doing whatever they wanted. Except, naturally, Archie refused to let Isobel do some of the more strenuous activities, on account of the fact that she was carrying his child, but she always ended up speaking to him in the evening! So, in the end, there wasn't much harm done.
Of course, they had to say good-bye to the lovely inn eventually, and now they were making a beeline for Scotland, where they were to spend the night in their new manor (the deeds to which, Archie would like to add, he had been owled not two days ago), have their furniture and personal effects shipped to them the next day, and thus would begin their perfect wedded bliss.
As they were walking over one of the hills of the moors (the MacMillans having been famous for wanting their privacy--something even the modern-day expansion had not been able to change), close to approaching the house, Archie rambled on with a mixture of history about the Scottish area, the lineage of his family, and how excited he was for Isobel and he to have taken this step, and to now be the owners of their own place of residence.
"I think it's just around that forest-like clump," Archie said brightly, keeping an eye on his wife (
wife!, he wishes to interject excitedly), though he did not think the walk was too exerting. "I haven't ever been up to the property myself, but I've heard about it--it used to be the ancestral home before they found England to be more profitable."
Izzie could honestly not be happier. Honestly! There was nothing in the
world that could make her happier than she was at this very, very moment. Just the
idea of being married and happy and having a
baby was just so! It was so! Izzie had never found herself day dreaming about being someone's wife, or being someone's mother, or just being with
someone for the rest of her life, but now that it was a done deal? She couldn't be happier. The eloping had been wonderful, the wedding and reception had been beautiful, and Greece! Greece, she could
live in Greece.
But she wouldn't, because she was going to live in a lovely
ancestral home with her husband! And their baby, come the summer! It was all so perfect and wonderful, Izzie was
sure her chakra had never been this crystal clear.
It was even letting her be
okay with people ask if she was pregnant! They hadn't publicly announced it, and hadn't planned on
when they were going to, but it was rather hard to hide a week 20 baby bump (halfway there!) in a bathing suit! Izzie had even allowed herself to purchase a few sundresses that would show off her belly, and she was quite happy with the one she was wearing now; it would be forever a wonderful reminder of crossing the threshold of their first home.
"We have a forest-like clump!" Izzie chirped, wanting to bounce on her toes, but unable to. She gripped onto Archie's hand, however, and smiled broadly.
He grinned at her, the radiant happiness on his face incredibly evident. They weren't
so secluded out here that there would be no one around them, ever, but it was just spacious enough that they felt like things were private--really, really private. Which was how Archie liked them. Even though he was a sociable man, he had his family now, and that was good enough for him. They walked around the forest-like clump, which his heart swelled to hear Isobel praise, and couldn't stop his inner-monologue or his mouth from rambling on about how happy he was, and how this was the perfect place to raise their child, and how they were so fortunate to be able to call a place like
this home.
Except as they drew closer, the hedges stopped looking like the perfectly-manicured ones he had come to expect on the MacMillan London property... no matter! They'd simply need to invest in a few House-Elves to take care of house-cleaning, Archie couldn't have expected the house to be perfectly cared for and ready to move in! After all, they had only just--well, that was funny, the peaks of the chimneys and towers seemed to be crumbling. If the foundation wasn't so hearty, he would have been alarmed, but nobody built things like they did back then! Hearty Scots craftmanship, that was something magic couldn't reproduce these days.
Only, the foyer appeared to be more of a porch than an--interior place for receiving guests. But a panicked look to the left told him that one of the southern-facing walls was now laying east-bound on the front lawn... Just like the sitting room seemed to be partially out--outside.
Oh, no. Oh,
no. Oh, his various and bloody deities, what in
Merlin's name was he staring at?
Isobel put everything together much faster than her husband. While Archie's seemingly natural optimistic view on the world let him observe every positive aspect of an object before he decided to see its faults,
her eyes were wide with horror as they came around the hedges.
Their
house was not a house, it was a bunch of
ruins! There was no
house, there was a bunch of cement and wood and
dirt where a house once stood! This wasn't what Archie had described to her, this wasn't what her mind had exaggerated into beautiful images! This was---an absolute nightmare!
How could his parents give them this manor? How could they let them come here, expecting a house, maybe in need of some care, and leave them
this? This was a disaster! It looked like a tornado had swept through here and decided to leave all its pieces scattered around to give them the idea of what it
used to look like.
She began sobbing immediately. Izzie's hands went to cover her mouth, feeling completely
devastated at the sight. How could this have happened!
He almost fainted. Archie really almost fainted--he felt his knees buckle, and had it not been for the fact that his pregnant wife could probably not support his weight, he surely would have. This was nothing, this was not what he had planned at all--this was a nightmare! A certifiable nightmare, and he was dumbstruck. For several moments, he could do nothing but open and close his mouth soundlessly, like a fish. This was not what he was supposed to bring his bride to, this was not how they were supposed to spend their life, this was not--there was no
roof! There were no walls! Arcturus MacMillan was looking at something that may as well have belonged to the anicent Roman ruins, for all the bloody good it was doing him right now!
"I'm so sorry, Isobel," he gasped, when he could finally find the words to say. "I'm so sorry! I never--it never occurred to me that there wasn't an actual
house here! I just--well, I naturally assumed that there would be one!"
How could his parents do this to him, how could his siblings have
allowed it to happen! A wedding present. This was--what, their idea of a joke?
What were they supposed to do?
"We're going back," he blinked, words spilling out of his mouth. "Greece. We're going back to the island. That's it. Back on the honeymoon."
She turned to look up at him, eyes ridiculously wide over the tips of her fingers. This wasn't happening, this
couldn't be happening, because everything had been perfect since Christmas! They hadn't fought, they hadn't really disagreed since then, it had been such a lovely, wonderful experience and
now! Their first day back in the country as a married couple, they had to look at---
this!
"We
can't!" she cried out, dropping her hands to her stomach; it had become something of a comfort, and she wondered if the baby would be able to sense what a
mess their home was. Izzie was quite sure that the horrid sight in front of them was able to transcend into her stomach.
Oy, if she got sick today, she was sure it would be because the baby was just as deeply upset about all of this as she was.
"I'm
tired, Archie! I can't do all those portkeys again, and---and you have to go to work and
I have to---hire new---people, and----and-----" Izzie let out a gasp, hands going up to her face again. "Oh---oh no, oh---Archie! Archie---our flats! We--I---the furniture---it---" Oh, oh. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe! They had stupidly, they had
thought that they could just, it had been
planned--
"MY BABY'S GOING TO LIVE IN A
FOREST!" Izzie shrieked, dissolving into tears once again, rushing forward to bury herself into her husband.
"Izzie!" Archie cried, holding his sobbing wife, still not over the shock of seeing his house--
his house--in ruins. "No, no, my darling, our child will not live in a forest! I won't allow it!"
Regardless of whether or not he was going to allow it, though, it certainly looked as though it were going to happen. Which he could not allow! Archie cast a morose glance at Isobel, burrowed into his chest, and still crying, feeling
terrible. He turned his head to look at the small pile of trunks floating behind them, his owl perched sleepily in his cage. There was one solution he could think of, if Isobel was insistent that they return to the UK for good tonight. He wasn't entirely sure she'd approve of it, but he certainly wasn't going to allow her to sleep out here, in this wilderness!
Clearing his throat, Archie began, quite timidly, "Isobel, my dear wife... how would you feel about... spending the night at--say... your... parents' home?"
That was the absolute last resort. Izzie pulled her face out of his shirt, looking horrified at the suggestion. Her parents'? All they would do is snicker and reprimand them for not checking the area
before giving up their flats. Isobel could
hear the lectures, she could
see the smirks and---oh for fuck's sake,
Eloise would be there and she would comment on how dreadful it all was! And she would attempt to comfort Izzie, but the little sister would know that it was all an act and Eloise would be laughing with her friends and---
But where else would they go! They couldn't possibly go to
his parents', as Izzie was sure she would murder them on
sight. The friends of theirs who had room for all their belongings had children, and the others' lived in flats barely big enough for one person. It seemed like the only way they could avoid camping out in this forest was to arrive on her parents' doorstop.
"I guess we have to," she sniffled, feeling a fresh wave of tears chatter her teeth. Oh, this was miserable, absolutely miserable.
And they'd probably notice her stomach, too. Her mother was going to have a fit, her father would---oh, see. She should've expected this to happen.
Archie wrapped his arms around her tighter, involuntarily flashing back to the most traumatizing tea experience he'd had in his life, namely due to one Catherine and Eloise Egg. The thought that he'd have to subject his wife to that was terrifying and sad, but really, what other choice did they have! And if one couldn't live in their home with their spouse, shouldn't the second-best place be with their other family? It was a good theory, but didn't hold much water for the MacMillans (here, he would like to interject, albeit somewhat dejectedly, that they are finally
the MacMillans). And of course, they would have to tell her parents they were expecting--which looked very, very poor for Archie, being that no one knew yet, and he was confident that no woman two-weeks into pregnancy would look like this.
This was a horrible idea.
Archie certainly didn't want to put them up at another inn in the country--who knew how long the reconstruction could take! No, no she should deserve to be in the security of her childhood home for the duration of that, not some awful hotel. He took hold of her elbow, ushering her along gently. "Come on, then. I'll send word to them that they can expect us tonight, and we can use one of the Floo fires in town, perhaps after a bit of dinner. You must be starving."
He looked over his shoulder at the desecrated manor with a sigh.
Ancestral home, his bloody foot.
