CRIMSON CURSES , the wizarding world

▹ (iii) | mumma's okay [c. walker]

▹(iii) | mumma's okay [c. walker]

castor's age in the chapter: 6

bonus - azure's age in the chapter: 5

warnings : like one mention of sex? and a few mentions of death. it's not dark i swear.

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IT WASN'T OFTEN that Castor experienced sleepless nights. When he did, however, it was if he shared the thoughts with his sister. Neither of them could find themselves to be sleepy most Friday nights.

This particular Friday night, however, they found themselves to be hungry.

Little feet pattered in the unsettling quiet of the night, the children holding each others hands as they stumbled in the dim lights the were flickered on for the dark.

"Are you sure, Castor?" Azure spoke with a slight lisp. "Won't daddy be mad?"

"It's okay, Zura, it's not like we're hurting someone."

Lo and behold, their father stood in the kitchen, back leaning against the large counter as he stared out the window. The siblings shared a look before starting to back away, eyes squeezing shut and breath caught in their throats when Castor bumped into a cupboard and it made noise.

Malcolm Walker turned towards the source of the sound, frowning when he saw nothing. Assuming that it was one of the cats that roamed the castle — animals were free to come and go as they pleased — he walked around the island and towards the cabinet, besides which his darling children crouched in hopes of being invisible.

He let out a laugh, warm and comforting in the cold of the night. He too, crouched down, meeting his daughter's eye who looked at him sheepishly, Castor barely hiding a grin at the fact that their father wasn't going to ask them to go back to bed — right?

Right.

Malcolm picked both of them in his arms, setting his son on the island and balancing his daughter in one arm as he reached for the milk in the fridge.

"Guess none of us can sleep, tonight." Malcolm nudged Azure's temple with his nose, making her giggle, while kicking the fridge door shut. "Except for your mum — she's sleeping like the dead."

Castor gasped, eyes widening, and Malcolm immediately regretted his words, "Mummy's dead?"

"Nononononono—" Malcolm was quick to place the milk on the counter beside the stove, pulling Castor closer to his chest when he noticed the boy's lower lip wobble, "Mummy's completely fine, darling. It's—It's just a metaphor, yeah? Just a way to say something."

Azure, completely tuning their father-son out right after she knew that 'mummy's fine', starting munching on a banana from the fruit basket.

"What's that mean?"

"It means. . . it's just a way to say things, to make them sound more. . . interesting."

"Interesting?" Castor looked up at his father, the tears that had welled up in his eyes dried on the apples of his cheeks. "Papa, I got scared."

"I'm sorry." Malcolm kissed Castor's forehead. "I should've thought before speaking."

Castor sniffled, "It's okay."

Malcolm held Castor close to him for a little longer, rubbing his back and kissing his hair every now and then. Then, when Castor mumbled, "I'm hungry", he grinned and started making pasta, putting the milk back in the fridge for later.

Fifteen minutes later, with help from Castor and Azure ("Cas, pass me that spoon, please?" and "Zura, give me that oregano, baby? No no no, the bottle next to the yellow one. Yeah, that's it, thank you!" and so on) three of them ate the pasta right from the pan, after it had cooled of course.