Nathaira was as tactful as the best of them - and for the most part, took her coffee as if though the two wizards were not entirely wrapped up in one another. They were both forward and social minglers at Christmas so it was easy to forgive their nauseating moments. And she would never expect them to be anything but relaxed in the manor.

Always in her mind was the day that her brother would come to stay for good.

At present, however, Seanair had abandoned her. Scoundrel. She crossed her legs as the boys finally snapped out of their bubble. Porridge! Food! Oh thank Merlin, something useful she can do.

"I did!" she exclaimed happily, impervious the awkwardness prior. "Did you both want it in the Study?" Grizelda left the bread to cool and disappeared - she suspected to ensure her brother's old Study was in good condition. It had once been their playroom but was converted for him during their time at school, being the last of them to need a place for toys and games.

He glanced at her distractedly while handing Johann the magazine. "Might be wise, yes."

"I'll have one of the elves send a couple of trays along, then." Knox rose gracefully, steady hand on the swell of her belly, and attended to the bread at the counter. "I'll let papa and mum know you're spending the weekend here," she said this with an air of collusion. "And something hearty for lunch, I believe."

Their parents had fortunately retired to their rooms when the pair arrived last night. Vagueness would be their friend. Too much (or little) detail, the lie was spotted. She and Balfour had many years experience in this case.

"We can talk more later."

The magazine crinkled in his fingers as he seized it from Balfour, confirmation of porridge and the study carried on while he began to tear into the brightly coloured printed paper with both hands. Greater satisfaction to rip it without magic. Johann turned his back and tossed bit by bit into the fire as siblings discussed.

"I'll let papa and mum know you're spending the weekend here," Knox explained, tending to bread. Johann threw the last chunk of the magazine in with some force, the kitchen fire popping and fizzing as the ink blackened, and turned white as it turned to charcoal, the pages curling. Johann gestured rudely with both hands as it burned, pulling a face and muttering under his breath unmentionable things at Lil Snigger.

"We can talk more later."
"Hm, right, yes." Johann turned back, straightening his face, but wincing as he moved too quickly. He hastily paid proper attention to them both, "thank you, Nathaira." He would have to give her a genuine, proper hug and a kiss before he left the kitchen. Her hug had caught him on the hop.

He stepped back to be side by side with Balfour and peered at one sibling and then the other.
"Who was about when we got here last night? Before I put my foot more firmly in my mouth… " he gestured with both hands as if forcing a shoe into it. His nerves were rapidly dissipating - burning magazine, Knox's calm, the promise of food and his stomach easing contributors. But the overriding reason as ever was the wizard who had risked his neck the night before to fight his attacker. That was a story he wanted to hear, not from Snigger, but from Balfour directly.

"We'll have to agree what we say about that ruddy article." He thumbed over his shoulder and looked to Balfour, shoulders sinking, "but we can figure that out. And everything else…"

Johann let out a deep sigh, gaze slipping back to the kitchen table top. He rubbed his face gingerly, dragging his fingers through his curls and shook his head, feeling the enormity of what lay ahead. Everything from how to explain things to their close friends and family, to whether they still had a home, and how to approach explaining exactly how Ira featured in their individual lives. "Just the weekend?" He asked meekly, feeling he would rather stay hidden in Scotland for a lot longer, Balthair's disapproval or not.

It somehow felt perfectly natural to be stood in the kitchen at this hour, conspiring to consolidate their stories for the rest of the family who might open Witch Weekly to discover a Spectre in its pages. Maybe he would remember this with more fondness some day.

Having been awake far longer than either gentleman, Knox was quicker on the uptake. "Seanair and Carr and myself received you both," she explained while charming a bread knife to begin its task, dough still hot. "The others were away, asleep. You know how it is."

Their parents had their own quarters in the manor and rarely strayed except to dine or sit in the kitchen. In winter months, he knew, his father preferred his own company. They were not cut from the same cloth. Balfour could never restrict himself to one corner of the childhood home - like his partner, never one to sit still for too long.

"We'll make something up about a disagreement with Ira and leaving London to let her cool off," he said more for his sister's benefit than for Johann - though he did add, ruefully, "I wouldn't worry about the clan reputation."

Nobody would have a hard time believing (or wanting to believe) that Lil Snigger's facts weren't straight. Surely, they would say, some essential fact was missed. Russians, Aunt Prudence might exclaim while Balthair cheerfully muttered Even worse than Germans. A soft murmur about urban temperaments. Someone will draw exaggerated moustaches on the hated photo. Family.

"Just the weekend?"

Balfour laughed lightly, trying hard not to blush as Nathaira turned away from the counter to shoot him a pointed glance. She had asked them to stay on for longer after New Year's... and better than anyone else, she knew how much pleasure he took in seeing Johann on the estate. Even under these circumstances - he couldn't hide the way he looked at the other man.

The witch retrieved a bottle of milk that had been sitting on the kitchen window sill and returned to sit at the table. "As long as the Ministry will spare you," she asserted breezily. Balfour took his mug, smiled to himself.

"Longer than they'll spare us," he quipped before pecking Johann on the cheek and turning to leave. "I'd better get into some warmer clothes. In the Study, dear." A sense of calm pervaded through him now, that tranquil notion of being able to take one's time and settle into place now that they were somewhere safe. Home.

The pair exchanged a long gaze, Johann wearing a crooked, but contented smile. The sleeves of the jumper were tugged over his hands again, and he wasn't stand as straight as he usually did, but that was no worry. He was where he needed to be to put events behind him and figure out what was next.

"As long as the Ministry will spare you," Knox remarked.
"Hrmph." Johann replied quietly between the exchange between siblings. He was in a way glad it had all kicked off on a Friday night. He'd promised Gabrielle he'd sort out his work attendance given it was a new year. Relying on the fact he turned over enough work in the hours he did spend in the office wasn't always going to rub. Especially if he wanted to negotiate the extra money and responsibility.
"Longer than they'll spare us," Balfour returned, and Johann blinked and smile at the peck on the cheek, eyes following the retreat with worry he failed to conceal. "I'd better get into some warmer clothes. In the Study, dear." Johann nodded at the explanation, but his gaze followed the other wizard until he was genuinely out of sight.

The borrowed slippers very nearly had him as he attempted to nimbly round the kitchen table to Knox. He looked to all extents as if he might lower his voice and say something out of earshot of Balfour to her alone. At the last moment, from the right side behind her he wrapped both arms around her shoulders in a hug. Too cautious to lower them - he'd put enough Spectres in danger and he'd never known quite where it was appropriate to embrace an expecting witch.

"Thank you, no really, I mean it," Johann uttered quietly but firmly, giving a gentle squeeze, "If I had a sister half as good as you are to Balfour I'd be bloody lucky. You're worth your," he paused, but shrugged, ".. combined weight in gold, Nathaira Spectre."

He pressed his head gently against hers before he released her, not wanting to fluster the witch. "If there's ever anything, anything I can do…" Johann nodded to Nathaira, the rest of the sentence understood without a further word. He dipped his head respectfully, collected the coffee cup and retreated. There were secrets to be told within safe study walls.

End