Freaks: Year Two

It Isn't Like The Dark Lord Knows Tamil

"Edgar?" Jasper whispered.

His youngest brother could be heard crying in his room.

Jasper chewed on his lower lip and slowly opened the door, making it creak open. "Edgar? It's okay. It's only me." He slowly entered the room and saw his little brother sitting in the open closet, knees brought up to his chest, his head buried into his knees. "Edgar, I'm sorry," Jasper whispered.

Jasper slowly approached him and took a seat in front of his sobbing little brother. Jasper tentatively placed a hand on his little brother's shoulder and Edgar slowly looked up, his eyes red. "Wh-Why...why were you f-fighting?"

Jasper let out a small sigh. "It's nothing to worry about."

Edgar shook his head, letting out another sob. "You-You're ly-lying."

"Edgar, I promise everything is okay," Jasper said, but he felt like he was lying through his teeth. "You know...I – Toby and I...well..." His voice trailed off and he looked over to his brother who was staring, tears falling, waiting for an answer.

"Okay," Jasper said again thinking maybe it wouldn't be too horrible to tell him the truth. Not the whole truth, but just little bits to calm him down and reassure him. "Sometimes people argue. You know that. You yelled at the neighbour a few days ago, remember?" Edgar nodded letting out a loud snuffle and Jasper took a tissue out of his pocket and handed it to him.

Edgar blew his nose and choked out, "I-I-I kn-know."

"And sometimes brothers will get into arguments too," Jasper told him softly. "It is nothing to worry about. Toby and I are just...a little stressed out–"

"Because of Dad?" and Jasper knew he was staring at the left side of his face where the bruises lay. Jasper wished there was a way he could have hidden it from him, but it was too late now. He didn't even think any foundation would hide the damage and he remembered what Christopher had said: Little kids aren't as stupid as you may think. He knew that Edgar would have known about the injuries even if he had tried to hide them. "Dad ruins everything!"

"I know," Jasper said quietly. "But sometimes being around him stresses Toby and I out. There has been a lot of changes this year. There were a lot of changes last year too with me going to Hogwarts and Toby is just super stressed with everything. Dad has been nasty to him...to all of you and we are both just really stressed out because we want to make sure we are all okay. You, Francis, Ethan, and each other too. We just got a little frustrated with each other is all."

"You need to talk..."

Jasper sighed. "I know." He really knew they had to, but when Jasper had attempted to he had evidently screwed it up. In the worst way possible. He really didn't know how he was going to fix this with Toby. Could talking really fix this? The toll of living in this house was starting to show and Jasper needed to solve it.

Butterbeer. The Butterbeer.

"I just didn't like it when you f-f-fought," Edgar stuttered out, a new bout of tears appearing in his eyes and Jasper felt horrible that he had been the cause of his little brother's upset. "You were yelling at each other and - and saying these awful things..."

"And we shouldn't have," Jasper said, pulling out another tissue to help wipe away Edgar's tears. "And once we are both ready to talk, we will. You don't have to be upset about this, and I am so sorry if we made you scared. Brothers fight sometimes. It is very normal, I promise nothing bad will happen. You think Ethan and Francis' fights are funny! They get into so many arguments all the time–"

"But their fights are funny!" Edgar exclaimed. "Their fights make me laugh, and they are so stupid! They fight over what plate they want for dinner or - or what a stick should be called for a game...they fight over stupid things. They are both funny when they argue – you and Toby...you weren't funny! You were mad at each other...like really mad. Like mad, mad...I don't...I don't like it when you guys fight..."