Freaks: Year Two

All A Lie

PTSD, referenced torture, and emetophobia.

"How did it go?" Jasper asked once Toby had waved goodbye to the Ravenclaw girl and had spotted his brother and Harry by the quidditch stands.

"Good," Toby answered, slowly climbing to reach where his brother was seated. "We didn't actually fly, but we chatted. She told me about what classes she is taking and how the Hogwarts classes work...and I told her what I knew from Meg...her name is Adalina."

"That's pretty," Jasper commented. "So...it wasn't actually a date?"

Toby shook his head. "No, she just said that because it was the title of the event. I told you..."

Jasper gave a tiny smile. "Good, because you can't date yet, you're my little brother."

"And one day we will grow up, and what will you do then?"

"Cry."

Toby cracked a smile at that, and Jasper was filled with a sense of warmth and joy. "Well, whichever one of us goes on their first date first, I will make sure you have loads and loads of tissues."

Jasper stood up from the stands and followed his brother down back to the grass. He looked back to Harry who was still seated. "Are you coming?"

"I will soon. You two go up ahead."

Jasper looked nervous as the sun was now setting and he didn't want Harry out alone in the dark. "Okay...don't stay out too long?"

"I won't."

"You know I'll come back if you do."

Harry gave a tiny smile, but Jasper noticed how tired his eyes looked. "I know."

Jasper and Toby didn't go far. They started to do walking laps around the pitch to give Harry some time alone to think. Jasper was telling his brother about the rules of quidditch as he pointed to the rings.

"Do you think I'll ever see you play?"

Jasper looked over, going over his quidditch schedule in his mind. "Well...I think you actually can." Toby looked over, eyes widening slightly. "I have a game against Ravenclaw in a couple of days. If you stay long enough..."

Toby's eyes lit up at the idea of watching an actual quidditch game, a magical sport, and watching his brother after over a year of hoping! But his happiness drained out of him slowly as he thought about their younger brothers, still at home.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked, seeing the shift in his brother's expression. "Talk to me."

Toby hesitated, scratching at his arm with worry before saying, "Do...do you think I'm selfish?"

"What? No. Why do you think that?"

"Because...because I am here, and our brothers are...there."

"That's not your fault," Jasper started, but Toby continued.

"I should go home. I shouldn't be allowed to have all this fun and - and to be s-safe, when they are there...Ethan needs me, they all do, I can't just leave them all alone when-"

"Hey, listen to me," Jasper said, placing his hands on Toby's shoulders. "Come on, look at me." Toby slowly looked up at his brother's brown eyes. "You do deserve to have fun. You aren't leaving them alone for good, in fact, I am the one doing that with leaving for months straight, you have been here for a few days, and today was the first day you had fun in a while. You deserve it. I have been writing to Ethan, he says everything has been okay. Of course he wants us home, but..." Jasper sighed. "You do deserve to have a bit of fun too. If I could give all our brothers that, I would...but you're here, and it would be unfair and selfish of me to take something you need and deserve away. Alright?"