WHO: Maggie Brand, Braith Selwyn, and Geoffrey Brand
WHAT: Braith comes to take what is "rightfully" his
WHERE: Maggie's flat
WHEN: Tonight!



On the day Maggie had been told she could take Josef home, she had forced herself not to beg one of the nurses to come with her. It was a terrifying idea, having to keep this tiny baby alive and well all by herself, but she wasn’t having as hard of a time as she thought she would! Actually, she kind of liked it! Throughout her entire pregnancy she had been ridiculously negative about having to be a mother and not getting to live the life she had been, but...this was settling. She’d heard that having children mellows you out, and, well. Maggie definitely did not feel like being the center of attention at some illustrious party, or stomping around for not getting a specific endorsement.

Hmm. She liked this. A lot less stress.

Of course, that was ignoring the fact that Josef’s death eater of a father was now released from jail and Maggie had no idea if he even recalled having a son, or--anything. Maggie had decided that if Braith wanted to be in her son’s life, he would have to approach her first and...even then she didn’t know what she would allow. Just because any memory or sense of being a death eater had been cleared from his mind, didn’t mean they couldn’t come back...who knew what Braith was capable of, as hard as it was to believe...

The doorbell rang, and Maggie didn’t hesitate in leaving Josef’s nursery to answer the door. Geoffrey was supposed to be dropping by, as he had been almost daily since she’d brought her son home.

“I hope you brought food,” she let out happily as she opened the door. Maggie let out a gasp at the sight of--”Braith!”

To say that Braith had been having a terrible couple of days was -- well, it was a gross understatement. For some reason they’d dragged him to Azkaban, and after a few curt, demanding comments to his lawyer, he’d gotten that mess straightened out. He’d gone home more or less as happy as he’d been since he could ... remember.

When he’d gotten home, though ... the terrible headaches had started, and then he’d started to have the strange dreams. He’d finally figured out what they meant, though, and that was why he was here. Why he’d impregnated this strange, filthy woman was beyond his thoughts ... but perhaps it had been something stupid he’d done during some of the days he couldn’t quite remember.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Hello, Magnolia.” Yes, he knew her first name. He was here for one reason, and one reason only... to get that heir of his.

She blanched at the sound of her full name---only her father called her Magnolia. Maggie grinned nervously, keeping her hand on the door to help keep her from shaking. Okay. Okay! This was Braith. She had spent many nights with him, listening to the wireless, having dinner, just...okay, she had considered him her boyfriend, even though they hadn’t had sex since they conceived Josef, but! They’d kissed, and such! Relationships weren’t all about sex and---what the hell was she doing?

“Hi---” Maggie let out squeakily. She should not let him into the flat. She shouldn’t! He was a convicted death eater, or---well----he was. Now he was just....what was he? Maggie squirmed under his hard gaze, wondering if Braith’s memories of her had been scrambled when the rest of the thoughts were, “I---yes?”

The problem was that the memories of Maggie hadn’t been completely scrambled, which meant that he had to deal with trying to be a good pureblood while also struggling against how he felt about her. He frowned to himself and then straightened. Time to get back to the task at hand.

“I’m sure that you must know by now that the proper place for our son is with my family.” Yes, that would do. It was logical, wasn’t it? The boy should live with the family who could give him the best upbringing, and that was clearly the Selwyns. From the little bit of research he’d done, Maggie and her ... brother were not the ideal people to bring up a child. He’d probably end up as some sort of brutish Quidditch clod, and that just wouldn’t do.

“So I am here to bring him to his proper family.” Surely she wouldn’t want the responsibility anyway.

Maggie blanched, pulling the door almost closed behind her as she stepped out into the hallway. She had been expecting Braith to want some sort of part in Josef’s life, but the way he was going about it was not particularly nice or friendly. Maggie wanted her son to have a father! A boy needed a father-figure, and Geoff would be there, of course, but there was something different about actually having your dad around. Rudolph Brand was tough on his children, but he always spared the time to read bedtime stories and trudge through toy stores with giant unicorn plushies under his arm.

“My solicitor says that joint custody is something we’ll have to sit down and discuss,” she said, keeping one hand on the doorknob and the other pressed tightly to her hip. Maggie kept her eye locked with his. She was finding that she wasn’t afraid of Braith like she thought she would be, but it could be the flare of protectiveness that had come up inside her at the mention of Josef living with the Selwyns. “We can figure something out, Braith, you know the situation is...sensitive.”

“I don’t see why this is a sensitive situation,” he pressed, moving forward to push the door open and make sure that he was able to be in the hallway. He wouldn’t be allowing her to force him out that quickly. He scowled faintly. “The boy needs to be raised by a proper mother, not some sort of ... Quidditch slut.” He couldn’t possibly be a hipocrite in this situation since he couldn’t properly remember how he’d ended up impregnating Maggie, right?

Right.

“So if you’ll just hand over my son, we won’t have any problems.” He tried to put as much sincerity into that statement as possible, but found it strangely difficult to do so. What sort of a Death Eater was he before this, anyway? It made him feel as if he needed to prove himself in this situation even more.

“Hey!” she let out, scandalized. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Maggie’s grip on the doorknob tightened as she tried to pull the door closed, again. No way was he going in there without her permission, no way was Braith taking Josef and---he’d called her a slut! Maggie could not focus on any one of the ridiculous things going on and coming out of Braith’s mouth and---

Maggie jabbed an angry finger at his chest, “So I’m just some quidditch slut, huh, Selwyn?” she snapped, fire boring out of her eyes. How could he say such things! They had gone out on dates before she got pregnant, they had been with each other for---okay, for like a month, but--- He wanted to get full custody? He wanted to take her son away because she wasn’t fit? And his family was--- “And you’re a bloody death eater! Get the fuck out of here! I don’t want you near my son!”

He straightened up immediately when she jabbed him, reaching out to grasp her wrist firmly. “All the more reason for you to cooperate so that something terrible doesn’t happen to you.” There, that sounded more like a proper threat, even though he wasn’t going to be carrying through with it unless she made it absolutely necessary.

“I don’t think either of us want to have to deal with that.” All this felt foreign and unnatural to Braith, but he had been trying to convince himself that was just because of the fact he couldn’t remember it completely. Something about being hit on the head, his brother had told him. It would clear up in a few days, surely.

She gasped loudly as she was jerked forward by his grasp. Okay, she was honestly scared, now. Braith had known her to have a bit of a temper, and she should have thought it was a better idea to stay calm when a death eater came to your door, but she couldn’t stand the idea of Josef being anywhere near this man! This was not the Braith Selwyn she’d grown to know! He was not the proper, shy gentleman that made her smile with his insecurities and simple ways. This was--someone who she should not be raising a child with.

How the hell was she going to get out of this, though? Maggie struggled against his hold. She knew how serious he was, he had threatened her with--something terrible! Would he---Maggie flushed, her eyes still locked on Braith. There was no way of getting out of this! Braith wanted his son, he wanted his son, he wanted his son---

“You can’t take my son,” Maggie said lowly, feeling her face grow hot, but she kept the stern, angry expression on her face. If this had been a year ago, she would have fainted and cried, but she was a mother now and would do anything to keep this man away from Josef, “He’s my son, but he’s not yours.”

Maggie’s lips pressed into a hard line. He thought she was a quidditch slut, right? This would be easy to leave, “I was just using you, and you were the gullible prat that believed me.”

“You say that as if I believe you.” Yes, he was sure that she was a slut ... but she’d told him that the kid was his, and now that meant that it was. “And as if it matters now. Do you honestly think that all of the heirs of all the pureblooded families have really been theirs?” For he was sure that some pureblood mother had paid off another woman to take her child. Not having an heir was a much more terrifying thing to have to deal with as a pureblood.

He was nearly growling, trying to ignore the way that Maggie was staring at him. He squeezed her wrist a little harder, glaring down at her. “So, are we going to have a problem or not?”

“HE’S NOT YOURS!”

They were definitely going to have a problem. Why did her complex have to be so empty and spacious, why were her neighbors never home, why had she just flung the door open and allowed this monster easy access to her son and home? Maggie pulled and tugged as hard against Braith’s grasp as she could. She was strong for a woman of her size, but she wasn’t anywhere near a physical match to Braith, to an angry death eater, “YOU CAN’T TAKE HIM!”

She would die! She would die before Braith took Josef. He wasn’t ever going to even look at her baby, she would kill him if he got anywhere near her son, he would suffer, she would---he would have to kill her and she was willing to put up that kind of fight, ”DON’T TOUCH HIM!”

This was extremely irritating. This stupid woman was honestly going to try and keep him from his child, he was going to do -- what every good Death Eater did in a situation that was suddenly out of his control. He used his firm grip on her arm to shove her foward and down hard, waiting for the sound of her arse hitting the ground before he swiftly drew his wand and aimed it at Maggie.

“CRUCI--”

Braith’s spell was interrupted before he could blink. His vision felt fuzzy and he fell forward onto his knees hard, spitting out blood and feeling too dizzy to move around and try to figure out what had just happened.

Geoffrey let out a hard, heavy breath and set down the awkward flower pot that he’d used to hit Braith in the side of the head. Oh, he was going to be in trouble.

He was going to be in so much trouble.

He managed to nudge the disoriented Braith out of the apartment door and slammed it shut, locking the Muggle locks and also muttering as many different charms and wards as he could manage to remember at that moment before he turned to his sister, eyes blazing.

“I brought Chinese.” He managed, trying not to panic himself (and therefore panic his sister).

“Ah--ah---I----”

Maggie couldn’t speak, not having moved from the place on the floor where she had landed. After Braith had shoved her to the ground and then proceeded to raise his wand at her, and then start to---He was going to use a--a--an Unforgiveable on---on her and---and--he was still out there! If--if he was willing to use that kind of magic against her in the middle of a hallway and---and---”He’s still out there!” she nearly screamed, scrambling to her feet and--she would thank her brother later, but she had to get Josef out of here!

“He wants the baby, he wants my baby!” she kept repeating, bursting into the nursery. The baby immediately began to whine and cry at the interruption of his sleep, but Maggie didn’t hesitate in sweeping him up in a blanket and holding him tightly to her. She couldn’t imagine how fast she was moving, it felt like she wasn’t even touching the floor, that everthing was a blur---

Maggie was sure that she would start screaming any minute, but right now, “The---floo! Where---go? Where should we---I have---to get! Out!”

Oh, this was even better than Geoffrey could ever have imagined. He gritted his teeth, glancing to the floo and then back to Maggie. He wanted to get her somewhere safe, and as far as he knew the Death Eater didn’t know where he lived, so --

“We can go to my place. That’ll be fine for tonight and --” well, he did have a few things for the baby, so they’d be fine. Whatever he didn’t have he was sure that he could pick up for his sister. “Okay, we can go. You’ll be fine.” He moved over to his sister, gently laying a hand on her arm.

“But you’re right, we should ... get going now.”