Diagon alley isn’t ready for Magic and his foster kids.
“No, the term ‘Foster children’ makes sense for us.” Pythias explained to Amalthaea, running a hand through their dark hair and messing with the miniscule, near invisible, strands of white at the roots. Damn, they needed to remember to call them Victorine. Personally, they didn’t understand why she thought her name was too complicated, what did that make theirs?
He, something whispered in their brain. Thaea went by both she and he most of the time. At the same time, they seemed content for now being feminine. Pythias would ask later and make sure she was comfortable, if not? They were sure magic could do something. Either by Merlin’s will, or their own.
“Anyways,” Pythias continued when Thaea looked concerned at their pause as they walked down the streets of London, lagging behind Dalia and Azrael who were listening raptly to Merlin’s tour of London and his random pauses at things that appeared in the past few years. “We were taken from our “parents”, and put into the care of a more suitable guardian until they regain “custody”, or until we’re of age.” They finished with a flourish after quoting when it came to the deities who they had found themselves with when they appeared in this world. The deities weren’t prepared, they were.
The Triple goddess had forewarned them a week before their “sudden” arrival of their upcoming future. They were all extremely confused, but went along with it nonetheless.
Pythias remembered being curled up in their kitchen, wearing a warm hoodie and drinking hot cocoa watching Harry Potter while the triplets all flew around their shared apartment settling things with their stupidly large family and putting wills in place all on relatively short notice. Pythias didn’t have any living family, so they left their assets to some long-time friends of all of them who they could almost certainly assure were well-meaning. They only truly put their trust in people after years of cautious friendship and watching how the triplets interacted with them as well. They always had better moral compasses than Pythias, and better morals in general if they were completely honest.
Tha-Victorine held their hand and carefully guided them while they were lost in thought, it wouldn’t be the first, nor the second, and definitely past the tenth time that Pythias got lost in thought.
After a short walk they made it to the Leaky Cauldron and were now going over information about exactly which point in time they were in and how to proceed seeing as they were literally not from this world. Pythias blinked in surprise but settled easily after recognizing their setting.
Soft conversations drifted into their ears in silence. Light whispers conveying unrest in the ministry, which made Merlin and the now aware Pythias both perk up but deflate once not much more was said. Victorine murmured about Quirrell with Azrael, both giving him careful looks. Dalia simply closed her eyes and listened to the whispers, trying to gauge the tone of the conversations.
“Are you sure you four can handle yourselves in Diagon Alley?” Merlin said after a few tense minutes. Dalia nodded, still focused on her surroundings. Azrael looked a little worried and looked to Victorine for confirmation. Pythias looked like he would respond but waited for Victorine’s answer.
“It would be best if you were with us for the entrance of Diagon Alley, and whatever we need to do in Gringotts, but after that we will probably be alright.” Victorine said with a simple quirk of lips that didn’t carry much emotion, but it was better than the warm smile with cold eyes she gave when Quirrell looked at her and Azrael.
“We will avoid any areas we consider dangerous unless we see it as a necessary evil and even then we will approach with caution.” Victorine continued, nudging and startling Dalia even though she was the least likely to do anything dangerous unless someone else started it.
“We will use a buddy system to ensure safety and we are well aware of how to handle ourselves if we feel threatened or even if someone we mutually dislike,” Victorine elbowed Pythias who simply shrugged, “-upsets any of us, we know what to do.” A sharp smirk that reminded Merlin of what he believed would become his new mantra.
Children are terrifying.
“Alright.” Merlin muttered. The deities had mentioned the children had an abundance of information about their world that the children had called “irrelevant”.
…He also oddly had the sense they could handle themselves even if they got into trouble.
Wait- What did they say they would do?!