WHO: Bianca, Bertram, and a surprise visitor from Bertram's past
WHAT: Moving-In Day gets interrupted
WHERE: Their new home!
WHEN: Today!



Playing hide-and-seek with your two year old son was quite advantageous to unpacking the numerous boxes that came along with moving into a house. Bianca loudly feigned her worry at not being able to find Aaron as she carefully unloaded
the dishes, watching him out of the corner of her eye as he squirmed behind a flower-pot that was too small to conceal him. He couldn’t see her, however, and that was enough for the boy to believe he was in the perfect hiding spot.

“Oh where, oh where, could my Aaron be?” she sang, waving her wand in calm circles as the plates danced their way onto the shelves. Their new home was brightly lit with natural light and simply standing in the sun made Bianca feel refreshed and invigorated. The slight throbbing in her shoulder from a run-in with a mugger yesterday was barely bothering her. She heard footsteps on the steps and looked over her shoulder, sending a wide grin at her husband.

“Have you seen our little boy? He must have found an invisibility cloak!”

“You know, for all that you play at being a better finder as a Hitwizard, I think I’m better at locating our son,” Bertram said matter-of-factly, dropping the last of the boxes down at the front door and returning her grin with one of his own. It was so nice not to have to worry about things any more -- his mother had calmed down about his moving out, and had taken Amissa for the weekend so that the two of them could get settled into their very own new place … it was wonderful. He was starting to finally get the hang of being a responsible adult, he was sure of it.

Bertram cast a casual glance in the direction he knew their son was hiding in, deliberately avoiding looking directly at the boy. Who knew his talents learned when trying not to look at a girl’s tits would come in handy in this sort of situation.

“Hmm. If I were Aaron, I would hide behind …” he took a few steps toward his wife, reaching out to tickle her sides, “behind mummy!”

Bianca clenched her mouth in a silent laugh as she tried to squirm away from Bertram without dropping the parade of floating dishes. Her expert wand-work managed to get the dishes down and out of harms way, and she twisted around in her husband’s arms.

“I already checked there,” she said, arms lacing around Bertram’s neck. The idea that she was a homeowner, with a husband and son (and stepdaughter! Whose room was perfectly pink, she might add) still threw her for a loop. Happiness was hard for Bianca to accept, and now that she was surrounded by it, actually making other people happy...she let out a sigh and kissed him, ready to let Aaron hide behind that flower pot for just a bit longer.

The doorbell ringing broke them apart and Bianca’s eyes widened in a great display of surprise. She patted Bertram’s back excitedly, “Our first visitor!”

Bertram couldn’t help the chuckle as Bianca turned to lace her arms around him, furrowing his brows when she pulled away until it registered with him that the door was ringing. It was a bit odd to have a house guest so soon after moving all their boxes in, but he supposed if his mother had another attack of worry that she might drop by with some food so they wouldn’t ‘starve to death’ or some such nonsense. It was with that sort of amusing thought that carried him to the door with his smile still on his face, right up until he opened the latch up and spotted who it was.

The grizzled, blonde man at the door was undeniably his father. It looked a little like the man had been put through the washer on ‘asshole’ cycle, but given the number of years it had been since he’d seen him, Bertam wasn’t 100% sure that wasn’t what had happened. He cleared his throat and tried to stop from peeing his pants. Instead, he made a mostly unsuccessful attempt to block the door with his body.

“No, no, we didn’t order any pizza! You must have the wrong house.”

Howard Aubrey wasn’t amused at his son’s antics. Here he was, showing up at the door after years of separation, and the boy couldn’t even invite him in? He was still as much of a coward as he’d been when he was younger, so unwilling to take the plunge into serving the Dark Lord. With little more notice than a grunt in the boy’s direction, he pushed into the house with a commanding sweep of his arm and glanced with distaste at the boxes. Couldn’t they have gotten house elves to do this dirty work?

Despicable.

Bianca had crept toward the flower pot and surprised Aaron from behind. The toddler squealed happily as she swept him up in her arms. She had been expecting Mira’s shrieks of excitement at the paint color they’d chosen, but instead all she heard was the slamming of the front door. Aaron was in his playpen and her wand was out in a split second; it could have been the wind, but with her training and experience, she would rather be over prepared than surprised.

She didn’t recognize the man standing in her foyer, and by the look on Bertram’s face he was not someone they wanted in their home. Bianca flicked her wand in the stranger’s direction, not taking her eyes off of him as she addressed her husband.

“Who’s this?”

Bertram gritted his teeth as his father pushed past him, refusing to get angry outright. It would just startle Bianca, and that was the last thing he wanted to do with someone who was trained to literally kill people like Howard on sight. He placed his hand firmly over Bianca’s wrist to encourage her to lower her wand. No need to get into a messy duel with his father, because despite how skilled he knew his wife was … he wasn’t sure who would win.

“This is Howard Aubrey,” he started with a deep breath, “My father. Incommunicado until very recently, for what I can only imagine was very important company business.” Not at all illegal. Right.

Howard sniffed, raising his eyebrow as he was introduced. Very blue eyes flashed over to the girl who was standing in front of him, but if he recognized her it didn’t show on his face. He’d seen many little brunettes holding wands over the years who thought they knew better than him, after all. He held out a hand that was only vaguely grimy and offered her a sly half-smile.

“Charmed, I’m certain. Anyone who has been able to hold on to Bertram here for more than a few months must be truly remarkable....” he paused, “Or in possession of a very good knowledge of the Imperius curse.” Joking?

Probably.

Bianca couldn’t help her surprise. His father? Just as she had her demons that Bertram allowed her to lock away, this had been one thing in her husband’s life that Bianca had not forced him to talk about. She wasn’t even sure that she’d known his father’s name, and now to see him at their front door was startling and worrisome.

She eyed him cautiously, but took his hand so to not cause an immediate rift (though she had already pointed her wand at him.) Bianca bristled at the ease he joked about an Unforgivable Curse, but chose to ignore it. She had not always been the rough hitwizard that she was, she’d been raised to behave in the face of uncomfortable situations. “He was a hard one to wrangle.”

The awkward silence was nearly unbearable, but Bianca still winced at Aaron’s shout for her. Something about Howard Aubrey caused her to not want him to be introduced to their son, at least not under these forced circumstances. Bianca sent Bertram a quick glance, trying to get across that while Aaron was calling for her, that she should be the one creating the barrier between Aaron and their surprise guest. Her innate paranoia of strangers was not going to be quelled by the fact that this man was her son’s grandfather; no, no, Bertram looked more than alarmed by this new predicament.

“Are you in town for long, Howard?” she asked, lowering her arm but keeping a tight grip on her wand. The shivers his presence gave her would not allow her to loosen her grip.

Right, as if Bertram was going to be quick to leave Howard in his wife’s company alone knowing his father’s past. He couldn’t just ignore their son, though, and after a meaningful glance back to Bianca that he hoped would relay the idea that nobody should try to cast any spells right now, went to fetch Aaron. He wasn’t sure he wanted to bring his son into things either, but at the same time -- maybe if Howard saw their son, he would be appeased and make his way out a little faster. He picked the boy up and brought him cautiously into the room. Unfortunately for them both, Aaron caught on to his mother’s apprehension immediately and started to -- well, fuss for her.

“I’m on permanent reassignment, actually.” Right, that would do. He assumed that Bertram had the sense enough not to tell this woman (who, according to his research, had been a hitwizard for long enough to be dangerous) that his father was a Death Eater, especially with everything that had conspired in the last few years. Her last name had tickled in the back of his mind since he’d read it, but he hadn’t been able to put his finger on it past …

“I think I might know your brother, young lady. What is his name, again?”

Her demeanor changed immediately. No one asked about her brother because everyone knew that---Bianca went rigid as questions began to race through her mind. Where could he have possibly known Thomas? Her brother worked in their family’s antique shop, he had been a quiet soul, maybe he had done business with...

“He’s been dead for seven years,” Bianca said, face turning to stone. She kept her gaze with Howard for a few more seconds before turning to Bertram to take Aaron out of his arms. She held her son close, keeping his face away from Bertram’s father. “I’m going to go put him down.”

A hard glance at Bertram told him that his father needed to be out. Bianca ducked her head and started up the steps, not giving a second look toward the complete stranger still standing in their foyer.

Well, that explained a lot of things. His immediate distaste for this woman, for example -- because he suddenly knew exactly where he’d seen her before, and he’d sneered in her face for a reason. She’d been just as much of a coward then as her brother had been, not making any real attempt to try and defend him or save him. It wasn’t something he could bring up, however, so he put on his best sympathetic face ( Bertram had gotten his Very Good Sense of Lying from his father, unfortunately) and frowned.

“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that.”

This was turning out to be a right mess. He knew that pretty much everyone that had even been remotely acquainted with Bianca’s brother knew what happened to him, so that meant -- well. It didn’t bode well, that was for certain. He watched Bianca retreat and let out a great puff of air once she’d gone, frowning.

“Did you really have to say that? Now? What are you here for, anyway, your claim to the -- throne?” He might’ve loved his father’s money growing up, but he had not loved his father.

Howard immediately gritted his teeth. “You always were an insolent little prick, you know. What if I just came to bring over a present for the boy?” Not that he was holding anything in his arms, of course, but that was beside the point. He stepped over to his son and produced a small, stuffed skull out of his pocket.

...no, really.

“Something to remind him of where he comes from.” The way that things were going now, it seemed as good a time as any to leave. He’d made his point, and he’d figured out where the boy’s woman was familiar from. Now … well, he needed to think. Howard apparated with a loud, meaningful crack, and Bertram was left staring at the small toy in his hand.