Time felt like it stopped in a standstill, but the more Allen walked, the more he realized it didn't. His friends were a few meters behind him, with their own family, and just in front of him, his aunt, uncle and his cousin.
They greeted him in a warm manner, and Allen responded the greeting in kind, after that, an uncomfortable silence passed by, no one saying anything. That is, until Amelia, his cousin spoke again. "So… Are you gonna live with us now?" In the most innocent tone.
"I… I am not sure. I still need to think about it." He looked back at his aunt, and she, in turn, avoided his eyes, his green eyes who shone at intervals.
"So… Umm… Have you read the explanation we left at the orpha-" Stephen, his uncle, started talking but he interrupted him.
"I have. Not really the most pleasant thing to read." A bit of hostility shone in his eyes, directed at the couple.
"Ahh! Bad! Don't bully mom and dad!" Amelia came to him, covering his eyes.
"What the-?! Hey, stop, stop it!" He struggled to get the girl off of him, and as they were bickering, he fell down with Amelia following behind, falling on top of him.
Allen clicked his tongue and used his magic to cushion the fall, softening the ground.
Her parents reacted just as fast and grabbed her, standing her up. Her mom consoled her, saying that it was okay, while her father turned to Allen.
"Look. I understand the hostility you might have with us, but can't you understand? The war was a different time, I'm sure some of your classmates have talked about it with you." Stephen sighed, massaging his brow with one hand.
Allen closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, the mere fact that the only two last family members he has, no, three, are so nonchalant about his life, and how they affected him. He thought that since he didn't really knew them he could form a respectful relationship between them.
'But they are not even sorry about what they did. No, at least not him, he isn't one bit sorry.'
Rage built up inside of him, he wanted to punch, kick, pull, everything! Yet he did nothing.
When his aunt looked back at him, after calming down his cousin. She joined the conversation "Look, Allen, I know-"
"No, you don't get to be familiar with me, you don't know me, and I don't know you, Mrs Walker.
So let's not get too familiar, okay?" The words left his mouth as if they were venom, and it surprised not only his aunt and uncle, but also himself.
He spoke like this previously to other kids, but that was way easier than with an adult.
Her aunt sighed, a frown formed on her face, but it banished just as quickly as it formed. "Okay Mr Lionheart. Look, I'm- No, we are sorry. Me and Stephen, we didn't want to leave you, nor your parents, but they left us no choice, they wouldn't budge, no matter what we said.
They kept saying how they needed to fight on this war, for the sake of his child. Yet, they left you behind, alone, what kind of parent does that? Not only you… but us as well, do you think I don't miss them? There hasn't been a day that I haven't missed them." Tears formed on the corner of her eyes, and Amelia wiped them away with her small hands, tears also forming on her eyes.
"Are you… Are you insane?" Allen couldn't help but blurt out those words. Even with his friends, and his friends' parents present.
"Are you actually trying to make it seem like it was my parents' fault that you didn't took me in?
So it was my parents' fault too that you weren't 'ready to take on such a big responsibility'?" His eyes shone brighter and brighter the more he thought about their excuse.
The green light of his eyes that scared so many students in the first part of the school year, now was scaring his friend's parents, even if the look wasn't directed at them, they could still feel it.
And the light on Allen's eyes was now more akin to two green flames dancing in his eyes.
Before his barrage of insults continued, Sophia came from behind him, covering his eyes, Elsie followed right behind. "I think we should take our leave." Sophia said to Allen, and also to his family members.
From behind, an adult man cleared his throat, patting Sophia's head. "Dear, please take your friend back to our house.
Call Mimmy to help us out."
"Yes daddy, c'mon Allen, Mimmy will take us back to my house." She lowered her arms and Elsie did the same.
Allen's chest was going up and down, breathing in a violent manner. He had already closed his eyes the moment his friends went rushing to him, thought the adrenaline he was feeling was still there. "Right… Let's go."
He turned around, being led by Sophia and Elsie, each of them grabbing one of his arms to guide him back.
When the kids went back to the other parents, and in a good enough distance for them so they couldn't hear the conversation. Sophia's father spoke up in a calm tone. "I don't know the reason as to why you would want to contact your nephew after leaving him alone, but you don't get to act like it was the Lionheart's fault you couldn't adopt him.
I'll get the full story from him. Then, I'll listen to your side. But for now, I think it would better for you if you take your leave."
Both, Aria Walker and Stephen Walker looked saddened, but accepted the decision since things escalated too quickly for just a small reunion.
"Here, you can contact us via floo on this chimney." Stephen passed Sophia's dad a small piece of paper with the direction the were currently living and he accepted in gracefully.
He waved goodbye to Allen's cousin, and even giving her a small bag full of candies which quickly turned her sadness back to a happy face.
---------------------------------------------
The rest of the day felt like a dream, Allen couldn't really understand what happened afterwards. After Mimmy apparated them inside of the Bailey's manor, everything felt like a blur of events.
He greeted Elsie's parents, which were grateful to him for helping her out in her studies. Then Sophia's parents, which were also grateful. They talked for a bit, though Allen kept his eyes closed since he could still feel his magic running rampant even after calming down. He didn't know how long it would last, but he felt it calming down.
He tried to circulate his magic to his three dantians, but since he wasn't in an optimal position, it became harder for him, though it did help with calming down his magic.
What didn't help were Sophia and Elsie, both of them felt responsible for him, so they stayed by his side, if he wanted to eat something, Sophia would help him, and if he wanted to drink something, Elsie would help him.
It became a bit burdensome to him, but he couldn't reject their kindness, so he decided to suck it up until his magic went back to normal.
They were talking about one of their charm's homework when Sophia's father came into the room again, he couldn't really see him, but he felt his magic.
After what happened his senses felt a bit sharper than before and if he was familiar with the person's magic, even without looking he would be able to tell who they were.
In the case of Sophia's father, his magic was too similar to Sophia's that he pretty much knew it was him.
When he came inside the room, he stopped right in his tracks and chuckled a bit before speaking. "Mr Lionheart, I didn't expect you to be someone like that."
"What? Ah! No, this isn't-! Sophia and Elsie told me they would help me so!"
Currently, Sophia was sitting on his left side, hugging his arm, and Elsie on his right side, hugging his other arm.
Allen couldn't really stop them since they said they would keep him in check to make sure he didn't do anything rash. So they were basically holding him like a suspect who would run away at any moment.
"Daddy, this is serious, we are holding him in case he tries to do anything dumb." Sophia hugged Allen's arm a bit tighter as she spoke. Making sure he wouldn't move an inch.
"That's right uncle This is serious. This is our first time seeing Allen act like that, so we need to take it as serious as we can." Elsie added, also hugging Allen's arm tighter so he wouldn't be able to escape, not that the thought even crossed his mind.
Mr Bailey cleared his throat before speaking to Allen. "Sophy has told me about you, and I wanted to talk about what happened, but, seeing how you still feel out of sorts, I think we can do that in another occasion.
For now, do you kids want to do something else?"
Since Allen still didn't want to open his eyes, they couldn't do much, but that didn't stop Mr Bailey. He told them stories about his year at Hogwarts, he talked about his professors, while Sophia and Elsie interjected here and there, talking about their own professors.
There were some that still were there, for example, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and so on and so forth, only Professor Snape was a new addition to the teaching body, and while Mr Bailey didn't personally knew him, he still heard rumors about a Slytherin a few years younger than him who was extremely talented at the art of potion making.
"Sadly, my own skills in potions are not that good. You would have to ask Sophy's mother for that, since she helped me out a lot when we were younger." Mr Bailey reminiscent about his school years.
"So what were you good at, Mr Bailey?" Asked Allen, curious, even if he still didn't open his eyes, that didn't stop him from feeling the magic around him, and Mr Bailey's were greater than some of the professors, making him curious.
"Hmm, now, that is a good question." Mr Bailey put a hand on his face, as if he also wondered his specialty.
"If I had to say, I'd choose between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. I was really good at both of them.
I even thought about joining the unspeakables at one point in my career, but it demanded too much time from me. I couldn't do that to my wife, or my little girl."
"Daddy! Stop it!" Sophia complained, tightening her grip on Allen's arm, he flinched a bit, not expecting such strength from an eleven year old.
Mr Bailey let out a hearty laugh as he stood up from the sofa in front of them. "I think I've spent enough time with you kids, I'll let you to it, if you need anything just call Mimmy or any of the other house elves, they'll be happy to assist you.
Allen, Elsie, my dear baby, rest, because your mother will want to talk with you at dinner."
He patted her daughter's head before leaving, and just before he exited the room, he spoke again. "I think your other two friends will be coming tomorrow, so make sure to rest up, alright?"
"Yes, sir" Allen answered.
"Yes daddy."
"Yes, uncle. Thank you."
And with that, Mr Bailey left, leaving the three of them to their devices.
…
Or so he wanted them to think.
In the hallway, he called for one of his house elves, which after a second, appeared with a pop in front of him, doing a small reverence. "What can Selly do for you my Lord?"
"Make sure Mr Allen doesn't do anything to Sophy or Elsie, but don't let them find you. They are too touchy-feely with him and I won't tolerate more than that!" Mr Bailey cried. It actually worried him a lot that his daughter and his niece whom he thinks of as his daughter as well were so close to a boy. And a Slytherin on top of that.
"No, not one, but three Slytherins." He let out a sigh, massaging his face.
'No, it's okay, she made friends, they made friends, and that's all that matters. But… would it have been too much to ask for them to be girls?'
Mr Bailey lamented in his mind as the three friends continued to chat, while the girls still held him like a hostage.