WHO: John Dawlish & his family. WHAT: Little snippets of what they've been up to in the past few days. WHEN: From Saturday - today. WHERE:[redacted] WARNINGS: None.
“There’s this girl called Rose,” Sam was in the middle of explaining, as John had been fiddling with the wards around the tent. “Well she was supposed to be around, but I guess she was taken because she is a Muggle-born.”
It perked John’s interest as he looked at his brother with a quizzical expression. “What do you think about that?”
Sam looked shy, and instead of responding to John right away, he grabbed one of his textbooks -- one he wouldn’t need to be using for the remaining of the year, but one that his brother’s step-mother had insisted that he keep reading, anyway -- and flipped it open. “I think she should be at school. She should be learning with us. Well, before you decided I wasn’t going back, anyway.”
John frowned, but covered his emotion by going back to muttering spells quietly. “You realise the danger we are in, don’t you, Sam?” he asked after a moment.
“You’re running away, John. Mum would be disappointed in you.”
* * *
“So is she your girlfriend?” Frank questioned his eldest.
John looked mildly confused, but rolled his eyes after a moment. “You know, dad, sometimes my friends are just that. Friends.”
“Friends don’t look at friends the way you look at her,” Josephine was quick to add, coming to her husband’s aid, and taking the moment to tease her stepson. “Besides, it might be a good thing for you to --”
“Can we focus on things that actually matter?” John quickly cut her off. “We are hiding from dangerous people. We are hiding from people who want to murder us now.”
Josephine shook her head and patted John on the shoulder. “We know that, John. Your father and I just want you to be happy.”
John resented that statement far more than he could ever admit, but despite knowing his stepmother meant well, she was merely greeted with a cold stare. “My focus right now is on the four of you right now, Josie. I don’t want or need any other distractions in my life.”
“Your own family shouldn’t be considered a distraction, John. It’s healthy to want someone else. It’s healthy to be with someone else.”
“Dad, can you please drop this? I don’t want to talk about it.”
Frank sighed and looked at his wife, defeated. “Just think about it.”
John nearly rolled his eyes, but thankfully, a thought struck him immediately. “We need new wands.”
“Wands? What’s that have to do with -- but mine works fine,” Frank protested. “Why do I need a new one?”
“Better to be safe than sorry,” John replied. “And besides, I know exactly who to talk to.”
* * *
“You’re doing WHAT?” John shouted at his sister, as he grabbed the phone from her person, immediately setting it on fire and throwing it across the field.
Helene screamed in anguish to watch her phone being hurled like that, and without a proper reason at that. “Are you bloody mental? I saved my entire year’s allowance to buy that phone, you proper dick!”
“You’re taking PHOTOS to put on WIZTAGRAM while WE ARE HIDING!” John yelled again.
“The lighting here is GREAT and also I am not putting anything on Wiztagram.”
John took a long and deep breath, exhaling just as slowly, closing his eyes and convincing himself to calm down. There was no reason to get mad right now. This was perfectly fine. She wasn’t putting anything on the Winternet. It was fine. It was fine.
“Helene,” John started, trying to be as calm as possible (radiating all the energy a proper yogi would probably need). “We are currently on the run from the government. Any trace of our identities or whereabouts could prove to be dangerous. Once all of this is over, I will buy you a new phone. But for now, I need you to go be angry elsewhere.”
“We’re only on the run because of you. You told me to behave while at school and I did. I only got one detention this year, which is actually far less than years before,” Helene pointed out. “Maybe you should have behaved.”
But John didn’t get a chance to respond as he dumbfoundedly watch his sister walk away.
* * *
Maybe he should have been better.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been obvious.
He didn’t even care for the Order, but here he was, using their help via Savage.
What was he even doing?
* * *
“Dad,” John poked his father, even though he’d been sleeping. “Dad, listen. I need you to stay awake for a bit, yeah?” he raised his brows. “I need you to stay on watch. I have to go --”
“Where?”
“Just getting supplies,” he insisted, the baseball cap already on. “I’ll be back within an hour.”
He looked around to make sure Josephine, Helene, and Sam were all asleep -- and soundly at that. “Just make sure you stay alert and awake. And if something happens, then give ‘em hell.”
He forced a smile at Frank, even though Frank didn’t reciprocate. “Be back soon, yeah?”