His Final Riddle

35. No more sacrifices

"Hello Theo" Alex steps forward half a step towards his brother "it's been a while."

Xavier scoffs and mutters under his breath "exaggeration of the bloody year."

Blaise elbows him gently before looking over to me, whatever expression is on my face is clear enough for Blaise to read as he slowly and subtly pulls out his wand. Xavier watches his boyfriend out of the corner of his eye and looks over towards Draco and I. He appears to register our defensive stances and our wands that are ready in our hands as he angles himself slightly in front of Blaise whilst taking his own wand out of his pocket.

"Hi Alex" Theo's voice is quiet in the small space.

The two boys look at each other silently before something appears to crack between them and they move together. They smile widely as they embrace each other tightly, Theo laughs as Alex ruffles his younger brother's hair.

"Oh mate, I have missed you so much" Alex pulls away and holds Theo an arms length away "you're fucking massive now!"

Theo laughs dismissively "hardly." He looks around the room "is this where you live?"

Alex nods and gestures towards the witch at the door "my girlfriend Allegra and I live here. These guys" he gestures to the males scattered around the room "are just visiting."

"Oh cool" Theo looks around the space and seems oblivious to our unease as he moves to sit down on the sofas. Alex follows him as well as Pansy who sits beside Theo her hands crossed in her lap.

Alex smiles over at Pansy "you're looking grown up as well kiddo."

Pansy smiles at Alex her cheeks growing pink "well it's been a long time since you've seen any of us."

At the mention of the others Alex turns and looks back towards Xavier and Blaise "alright lads?" Alex asks shooting them a smile.

Blaise merely wrinkles his nose in distaste and tuts whereas Xavier gives Alex a short nod.

"So what happened?" Xavier's voice is cold "you left the family mansion and suddenly started pretending to be working class?"

Theo shoots Xavier a harsh glare which our friend ignores as he stares down Alex.

Alex offers Xavier an easy smile which I'm beginning to realise is just the way his face seems to rest "well mate when you get cut off from Daddy's bank account you have to start scrimping where you can."

"No one is judging your poor housing Alexander" Blaise glares as he jumps to defend Xavier "what we are judging is your shit family loyalty and calling everyone mate every five seconds."

Pansy tuts at Blaise "be quiet Zabini" she snaps loudly before turning back to face Alex "ignore them Alex. Since they started dating they've become insufferable as a pair."

Alex raises his eyebrows and looks over at Blaise and Xavier, obviously just realising that the boys he grew up with are now gay and dating. He stays silent however and turns back to his brother.

"Listen Alex" Theo shifts as he looks at his brother on the sofa opposite him "I'm here about our father."

Alex sighs "right, what's he done now? Did he hurt you?"

Theo shakes his head "no, it's not that." He pauses and takes a deep breath "he's dead."

Alex lets out a shocked breath he appeared to be holding in and stares at Theo unblinking.

"How?" Alex shakes his head as though he is trying to focus "how did he die?"

Theo flicks his eyes to me for a margin of a second before looking back at his brother "in a duel of sorts. He came for me and my friends and tried to kill us. We had to fight back and we won, he's dead."