What happened after 'After' “Why are you attacking my son?” she demanded. Jean-Loup stood up hastily, allowing Matthieu to scramble to his feet. Jean-Loup did what he should have done in the first place and turned to reach towards Dorian, but he flinched back and, conscious of the presence of Dorian’s mother, Jean-Loup didn’t push it, although he wanted desperately to see if Dorian was alright. It was the only thing he’d wanted-
This gesture drew Madame Montoir into the room. From her initial vantage point, Dorian had been blocked by the bed, but now she saw him - wide-eyed, nose bloodied, shrinking back against the far wall. She gave a gasp and rushed over. It was shocking enough to see Jean-Loup fighting with Matthieu, but she was at least used to him coming home a little bruised or bloody. She had never liked it, but it was part of his nature to engage in rough and tumble. Dorian however – who in their right mind would attack a boy like Dorian? She threw a deeply accusing and betrayed look at Jean-Loup.
“I did not do that to Dorian!” Jean-Loup defended himself, his head flicking sharply between them, a look of startled horror on his face at the idea. “He did,” he gestured to Matthieu. “He’s always hurting Dorian!” he almost yelled. He refrained from pointing out that that was why he had resorted to punching in return. It seemed both self-evident and somewhat less defensible now that the adrenaline was fading and he was being forced to articulate events in words instead of actions.
“Is that true?” Madame Montoir was asking Matthieu her voice shocked. She was still sitting by Dorian, her hand reaching out gently as she examined his bloodied face. He let her in, let her put a gentle arm around him as she turned an accusatory stare against his older brother.
“They were-” he began gesturing at Dorian and Jean-Loup.
“I did not ask you for excuses! I asked you if you did this!” she demanded angrily, gesturing at Dorian’s bloodied nose. The silence that followed that remark answered her question. It didn’t really need to. She had seen the shock on Jean-Loup’s face, the fact that it had utterly appalled him that she thought he might do this. She had heard his voice as he accused Matthieu of doing this more than once. It had hurt him to talk about Dorian getting hurt in a way that left no doubt that he was telling the truth. “There is nothing, nothing that Dorian could have done that would ever, ever justify you doing this. Go and wait in the study. I will patch you up after I’ve seen to your brother.”
“But they-”
“Go!” she ordered Matthieu. “And you,” she added to Jean-Loup. And she had seen how badly it hurt him that Dorian was hurt. She knew that he had acted how he had because he cared so much about Dorian. She could understand that. But he had still attacked one of her children. “Clean yourself up, and then I suggest you leave, as discreetly as possible via the Floo. And I don’t want to see you near my family again.”
Jean-Loup mouthed a wordless protest, looking to Dorian for help. But Dorian’s head was down, leaning on his mother’s shoulder. His eyes flicked to Jean-Loup, and they were full of sadness. But he didn’t do anything to save him. He wasn’t sure he could.