Four years was a short time if you spent them apparating across the world, doing all sorts of jobs, soaking in experiences and meeting exciting new people. Time just flew that way.

Four years was a long time, however, to be absent from one´s home country, and rather long too, if you spent them apart from your oldest friends and your family.

Granted, Gwydion had not expected to get to see Leo for another, what, year or two. Hadn´t his nephew been sentenced to a much longer jail time? Yet, word had reached him that Leo was out, had been for a while already, even set up a new business. Gwydion could only guess how Leo had managed to get out on probation, with his record... in any case, it was a good idea to go check up on him. Even though Angela insisted that it was “really not necessary”, the hard lines around her mouth spoke another language. Gwydion wasn´t visiting Leo for his sister´s sake alone, though; he was genuinely looking forward to reconnecting with his nephew. They had always gotten along well, more like brothers then uncle and nephew, due to the not so huge age gap between them - and, to be honest, Gwydion was a little concerned about him.

Getting into Leoman´s flat hadn´t been much of a challenge. Sure, there were security locks, but apparently they recognized Gwydion as family and let him through. Shortly, Gwydion wondered whether Leo had purposefully set the security to allow relatives in or whether he had simply forgotten to uncheck that particular box... in any case, he was in, which was preferable to lurking about the stairwell attracting unwanted attention from the neighbours.

Leo´s flat was small, almost as small as Gwydion´s own, but that was all they had in common. Gwydion´s place was bursting at the seams, every surface covered with pieces he had abandoned in various stages of completion, notebooks, letters, vases with flowers charmed to stay permanently fresh (some for as long as four years, others... not), unfinished sketches, spheres, records and a multitude of other Very Important Things that he needed within hand´s reach.

Leo´s place contained a few pieces of furniture, the most notable of which was a slightly oversized wardrobe. There was nothing much at all on the surfaces, nor any of the knickknack Gwydion was so fond of. He looked through Leo´s books, but there was nothing he wanted to read, and so he stole a piece of parchment from the desk and pulled out a pen from the breast pocket of his caramel-coloured suit jacket to shape out his latest project while waiting for his nephew.

After a while, there were several pieces of parchment covering the floor to Gwydion´s feet. He was sitting on the sofa, drawing the cross section of a doll house, adding notes here and there, completely lost in his task. When the door finally went, Gwydion looked up, a blissful smile on his lips that was as much due to his new project as it was to his long-lost nephew´s appearance. Turning the piece of parchment around so that Leo could see it properly, he said, beaming, “I just had this brilliant idea - toy house with a magical fireplace - fireproof of course - working tap water and lights that go on when a doll calls out Lumos. Neat, isn´t it?”

Christmas had passed in a blissful blur, as it always should in his opinion. Leoman was not entirely sure whose parties he’d been to, though he knew he’d made the most of the hospitality of a number of gracious hosts. He had also found himself most mornings hunkered over the lavatory, occasionally with Lucy’s hands smoothing his hair sympathetically. Not a particularly dignified state to be found in but a couple of fingers soon smoothed his nerves and made everything soft and bearable once again. He had found since his release that maintaining a steady level of drunkenness throughout traditional holiday periods was quite the most sensible way to handle those times. This evening was no exception. Leoman planned to spend the period between Christmas and New Year in ignorance of everything that was going on around him. He had spent the day at a favourite haunt, reading until he could no longer focus on the words and then playing a few hands of cards with an acquaintance of his. Said aquaintance had not been particularly happy at losing all his money and, as accusations of cheating began to issue from the man‘s mouth, Leoman had made a quick exit before things got nasty.

It was no oversight that had allowed Gwydion to enter the flat so easily. Though he was unlikely to admit it even to himself, Leoman had left the wards in such a state deliberately, perhaps hoping that one day a family member might see their way to forgiving him and come to pay him an unexpected visit. It seemed that his unspoken wish would come true this evening.

Certainly Gwydion was not in any way an unwelcome visitor, but it was still quite a shock to stumble into ones own flat and find that someone had invited themselves inside. Leo paused in the doorway, cigarette dangling from his lips and started at the apparition for a long moment. When the figure did not prove to be some strange hallucination he took a few steps inside, swinging the door shut behind him.

“You’re making a mess…” Deadpan, he controlled his expression for as long as he could, trying to maintain a dour disapproving appearance that his Mother would have envied but a grin slipped past despite all his efforts.

“I jest” he said with a laugh “Gwydion you’re a genius, I think it’s a fantastic idea! Come lets have a drink to celebrate.”

He moved to a cabinet and took out a bottle of amber liquid and two quite delightful crystal whiskey glasses. Placing them down upon the table that sat before the couch he poured a generous measure into each glass, handing one to his uncle. Still standing, his balance wavering only a little he took a sip, the cigarette now resting artfully between the fingers of the hand that held his glass, and made a satisfied appreciative noise.

“It’s certainly a night for celebration. I…” he extracted a pouch from the inside of his jacket and held it up triumphantly “just won 400 galleons from that mangy little scrote Tony Blackwater. The fool said he knew how to play poker, I taught him a lesson in humility, that’s for sure”

He wavered, considering various spots about the room where he might sit before settling for the bed. As he sat a few cards slipped from his sleeve onto the floor and Leoman regarded them thoughtfully picking one up and touching a finger to the single diamond in the centre of the card. The surface seemed to peel away and suddenly he was holding two identical aces.

“My own invention, what do you think? Perhaps we should go into business… hmm? Think of the money we could make”

In his family, even counting the extended family including distant relatives, Gwydion had always been the black sheep - never holding a permanent job, disappearing for months on end, going wherever the wind blew him like a hobo... his parents´ nagging complaints never seemed to stop.

However, eventually they did stop, because at some point Leo had taken over the baton. Compared to Leo, Gwydion´s dubious lifestyle suddenly seemed almost acceptable. Even if he continued entertaining - and, even more scandalously, enjoying - his neverending and rather embarrassing feud with the Ministry, at least he´d never been in prison. It took Gwydion a whole while to realize that now, the family expected him to talk sense into his nephew who had strayed from the Path Of Righteousness, like Gwydion suddenly had become respectable or something. Or maybe it was just that they thought one misfit could reach out to another more easily - birds of a feather and all that.

In a way, they were, and yet, they weren´t very alike at all. Leo was clever, probably more clever than Gwydion - entirely too clever for his own good sometimes. He had been an observant child, quiet and sensitive, quite unlike the social, talkative jack-of-all-trades his uncle was... unfortunately, they had been one year too far apart to have spent at least one term together at school, or Gwydion would have taken him along, showed him the ropes, made sure Leo was socially accepted before Gwydion graduated and left his nephew behind at Hogwarts. But he hadn´t, and Leo wasn´t, and the other kids had taken advantage of the boy´s physical weakness and made his life miserable. One of the reasons, Gwydion thought, why Leo didn´t trust many people. He couldn´t blame him. Nonetheless, there was no doubt in Gwydion´s mind that Leo trusted him - more than that, that there was actually something like brotherly love between them. Angela of course scoffed at that notion, as if she had convinced herself that her son was incapable of any human feeling, but Gwydion did not care what she said. It wasn´t as if his elder sister, uptight and conservative as she was, were any sort of role model for him.

When his nephew entered and regarded the mess on the floor with a stony expression, Gwydion didn´t flinch. His glance wandered to the pieces of parchment to his feet - there were really a lot of them - and his hand tapped at his chest, then his side pockets, searching for his wand. But by then Leo was already grinning, and Gwydion found himself grinning back, not caring about the papers anymore.

"A drink sounds fabulous! I´m almost dried up from waiting for you."

Their glasses clanked together. Gwydion took a small sip, frowning slightly at the sharp taste. He was used to beer and wine, not so much to stronger drinks. But he did like the smoky aftertaste and the sensation of warmth it created inside him, it was almost like drinking liquid fire.
He registered that Leoman wasn´t too firm on his feet, and reluctantly wondered whether this was the point when he should start talking sense into him, as the family expected... but that was only a fleeting thought, pushed away as soon as it formed. Gwydion didn´t even know what exactly it was the family wanted Leo to do, or not to do, and he didn´t care to find out. If they wanted a message delivered, they should bloody well do so themselves.

"400 galleons, eh?" he replied to Leo´s bragging about how he had beaten that guy Tony at poker. "You should take me out to dinner then, I´m broke."

He was being serious of course. At the moment, Gwydion was rather short on cash; he could surely use a free dinner. Not to mention that he´d treated Leo to a lot of those whenever he´d had the money and his nephew did not.

"Nice piece of work, Leo", Gwydion commented as he took one of the manipulated cards in his hands and examined it. "Looks completely authentic." He gave it back to him. "Looks like trouble too. If your poker opponents ever find out, you´re busted, mate. People don´t tend to take losing 400 galleons lightly."

He sighed, shaking his head at Leo´s proposal.

"I don´t do such business, Leo, you know that... and I don´t need money, not much anyway." He frowned slightly. "Well, except right now of course. I seem to have misplaced that stupid key to my vault, and for some reason the goblins are more and more reluctant to give me credit... I´m afraid I might have to come back and ask you for a loan if I don´t make a bit of money soon."

He should have sold more of his toys at the Hogsmeade Winter Festival, but then it had seemed much more important to catch up with Gabrielle... well, even in retrospect, spending time with Gabrielle was still more important, but the fact remained that Gwydion was broke and would have to get some money quite soon if he did not want to lose his flat.