Peverell

Chapter 27

"How are you holding up?" Rodolphus asked Julia after they cut the cake. "Would you like a tour of our manor?"

"Sure." Julia said and joined Rodolphus as Rabastan looked at them leave curiously. 

"Your father is very protective of you, Julia." Rodolphus said and Julia smiled at him.

"He is feeling guilty for the way he has treated me all these years. He feels bad that he was mean to me. I don't blame him anymore, though. He loves me now and I love him too. Both my parents." Julia said happily and Rodolphus nodded. 

"Basti has told me a lot about you even if he spent only two days." Rodolphus said to her. Julia looked at him a bit surprised.

"He did?" Julia asked.

"Yes, he won't shut up." Rodolphus chuckled. "This is his room." 

"Oh." Her eyes looked around the room curiously. The room was bigger than the whole Dursley's house. "It's a single room?" She asked stunned. 

The rooms in Slytherin manor were big, but not this big. But, those were guest rooms though. Family rooms must've been bigger than theirs. Rabastan really has a very big room. She gulped slightly pushing away the unknown feeling in her gut and looked at the photo frames hanging on the wall. They were of Rabastan with his family members. She stopped at a photo where he was holding a baby, Corvus, Julia thought to herself as she stroked the picture lightly. 

"He was a little baby and he was taken away from us." Rodolphus sighed. "Bella couldn't get over it even now."

"He said." Julia said as she looked at the picture. 

"He was my second son. Our second son." Rodolphus said to her and she looked confused. "Basti will always be our first son. If it wasn't for Basti, I don't know how Bella would've survived at all. He was always her son, but after little Corvus was taken from us, he became her only son and yet he never complained when she went hysterical. He was there for Bella more than I could ever. He took care of Bella more than I could." 

"You lost your son too." Julia said squeezing his hand and Rodolphus gave her a small smile. "That must've been hard for you too." 

"It still is." Rodolphus shook his head. "I blame myself for letting Bella go alone that day. I shouldn't have let her go alone. She was with a child and couldn't protect herself and the baby. She was harmed too, it took weeks, maybe months that she was back to her normal health." 

"You couldn't have known." Julia said to him. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry for telling all this to you." Rodolphus said to her. "I don't know why I said all this to you. I won't lie, but my brother was a womanizer before. He never told us about any girls though, you are the first one he ever mentioned. As I told you, he is like a son to me and his happiness is my happiness too. I-"

"Dolph, here you are. Percy wanted to have a look around too." Rabastan entered the room and grinned at Julia. "Did you like my room, Belle?" 

"Yes, it's so big." She said as she glanced at Rodolphus and back to Rabastan. Percy was there behind him whose eyes went to the picture frame behind Julia. 

"That's-" Percy whispered as he pointed at the baby in the picture. 

"My nephew." Rabastan said to him. "He was killed during the war." 

"Oh." Percy nodded and looked to be deep in thought as he looked at Rodolphus who had a sad look in his eyes. 

"What were you guys talking about?" Rabastan asked them. 

"Nothing much. I was just talking about little Corvus and how you take care of us." Rodolphus said to him before Julia can say anything and she just nodded.