Grady 'not just a Da' Bell (buachailloeirne) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-02-24 02:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-02] february, ! npc, grady bell |
Who: Grady & npc!Bells, npc!Aedan
When: Monday afternoon, 23 February
Where: Newry, Northern Ireland
What: arguments are fought, plans are made
Rating: PG
"You can't be leaving!! They need you!"
"'They' need me? The people--"
"Are no' your family."
"Says the gobdaw who wants to leave th' children to play soldier."
Grady whirled on his brother, glaring down into Murphy's eyes. This was not where the conversation was supposed to be. When he had taken Ryan and Katie with him to Northern Ireland it was meant to be for a carefree day, one they could spend with family and remember the good times, back before a war was brewing and Grady had managed to get his wife killed before she could celebrate her twenty-third birthday. It was not supposed to take a wrong turn at the first mention of Murphy's profession. "I am not leaving my kids!" he growled.
Murphy drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his nose. Both of them knew they had never held a row like this when the others were alive. Their Da and Allen were the decision makers. They were the middle sons, the ones who were often paired together to argue a point. Now both were the co-caretakers of the family documents, including who took would raise Ryan and oversee the lands, the very ones their relatives were slain on.
"Who is going to take care of the ranch?" Grady finally asked, his tone less angry.
"Finn," answered Murphy, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Their Da's younger brother had run the farm on the other side of the woods since they were boys. "We're going to sell it back t' him."
That merely prompted another heated discussion. Grady knew high and well that if they sold the lands then their uncle would tear down the buildings and till the ground. Murphy, however, insisted that he had already spoken with the man and that the three main structures would remain standing. They might have continued had a presence not intervened from the kitchen door. Frannie might have been their quiet, baby sister, but when she chose to speak up her voice was able to carry loud and clear. All she wanted was for them to keep their voices low and civil so as not to wake the wee ones from their afternoon nap. Within minutes, though, her own opinion on letting go of their home was also thrown into the mix. She thought it best to move on, not only for herself but Ryan as well. Murphy, having completed his seminary work, was going to be assigned to a parish somewhere other than their hometown of Kildare. Unless Grady felt it safe to move back into the farmhouse - which, and they eventually got him to admit to it, he did not - then the logical thing to do was sell the place and use the money to make a fresh start.
"I wouldn' mind tha'."
All three Bells stared at the intruder. Aedan O'Kinnely had never been a very noticeable figure even within his own family. Grady had only known the bloke was in the room the first time he met his brother-in-law because they were sitting across from one another at the dinner table. Since that meeting, he had come to know and trust Meagan's younger brother like his own blood relative. The two were similar in a handful of ways, from enjoying the works of Tolkien to only wanting the best for their families. Neither man had ever wanted another comparison to be that they were single fathers.
Aedan moved further into the room, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he did so. "There's a war here too, between our own people." The 'war' he spoke of was the on-going spats between the unionists and nationalists which plagued the very city they were in. At the surprised expressions on their faces, he added, "This flat isn' very large. You hear pretty much everything what comes out the gob."
Grady slumped into a chair and ran a hand up and down his face. He knew Meg had mentioned something about a struggle to her brother, Aedan had said so at the funerals, but as far as he knew his in-laws still knew nothing of the magical world. If Aedan did then he would have been Obliviated, unless the new Ministry was too busy reconstructing itself to wipe the memory of a quiet eighteen-year-old.
Murphy began to move toward Aedan before the younger boy spoke up, "I want t' help. You're me family now an'... Meg would have reefed me if I didn' offer what I could."
It was time for Grady to begin arguing again, "You're no' getting involved in this. You've go' Connor t' worry about." Connor was his nephew, a babe barely two months older than Katie.
"An' you've got Katie an' Ryan," came the reply, quick as a lick and twice as level-headed.
"We all do," Frannie chimed in, sparing a glance at Aedan. Their eyes met a moment before she nodded toward the bedroom. "Those three are th' only reasons we should need t' decide what is best for this family. The ranch will still be there if we let it go," Grady's posture suffered more at this comment. "Bu' we should stay together." It was Murphy who's brow seemed to furrow at that one. His duty may have been to his family, but as a priest he had other sheep to flock as well. "And trust each other."
The room went silent while the boys let her words sink in. Grady understood what she had meant about trust. He needed to trust that Murphy was making the right decision to follow the path God was laying out before him, as well as put faith in Aedan when he said he wanted to continue helping. He had already housed Frannie when she could not go with Grady, Ryan, and Katie to Hogwarts, and offered up aid of his own accord, without being asked of it. Grady could not penalize Aedan for that. After all, wasn't he also trying to find some way to do the same thing?
"I'll talk to me landlord abou' selling the flat in Dublin," he finally said, voice tinted with a mixture of certainty and defeat at the same time. It became stronger as Grady rose from the chair to look his siblings directly in the eye, "But 'm not backing down on finding a way to help other Muggleborns." He ignored Aedan's curious stare at the strange term. "No one should have to go through what we did." Many families already had gone through the similar loss of a loved one if they had not experienced death themselves, but that did not need to be said.
Murphy sighed and put a hand on Grady's shoulder. "We'll stop by Uncle Finn's in the morrow. Maybe... wherever we go we can set up a sanctuary. Something."
A sanctuary besides Hogwarts. Grady merely nodded at the notion. It wasn't a bad idea, so long as he could continue to hold his tongue against the werewolves.