The Ledburys
Leo would prefer to steer away from Diagon for the foreseeable future. The alley was far too busy for his liking, and he wondered if spending the majority of his life piddling about with a few other children and disinterested nuns had made him more suited for the country life that Fig seemed to have cultivated. Once they had purchased everything Fig had deemed Leo “needed”, they returned to the peaceful village of Abbottsbury none too soon. Leo had audibly let out a rather large sigh upon stumbling out of the floor into the pub. Fig gave him an amused look, before bodily dragging him to the Ledbury’s shop.
“Last stop before home, Leo, this I swear by,” Fig said, as if attempting to soothe Leo’s obvious dislike of the current situation.
Neil Lebury’s eyes lit up like the sun itself when he caught sight of them as they entered the cottage-like shop. It looked as though they walked straight into the Ledbury’s living room, with squatting furniture littered throughout the room. Neil had been seated at a stool stationed in front of a loom-looking device. However, as he stood, the device continued moving along, fabric floating all around the air. Every so often a piece of fabric would be taken into the many different strings attached on the loom. Leo watched, entranced, as Neil approached the two of them.
“Finally! I have been so looking forward to meeting your new companion, Eleazar! I admit, Gemma was insulted you had first taken him to Diagon before bringing him to us. Do you not trust my wife’s work?”
Neil’s eyes showed nothing but mischief as he kissed Fig on the cheek, moving to hold his face in his hands. Fig laughed, “My dear Neil, I could trust none more than you and your darling wife. In truth, I merely wanted to show Leo here the grand Diagon Alley! Purely selfish reasons, of course. It’s always exciting to see someone’s first visit to Diagon, hm?”
Neil hummed along, though he didn’t seem placated by this explanation. Leo was stunned when his full attention was turned on him. His starry eyes bore into his, and he found himself lost for words. “Leo, yes? My, what a handsome young man you are. Plenty of hearts to break at Hogwarts, I think.”
He had disentangled himself from Fig entirely, moving to stand before Leo. With his now free hands, he began pulling his hair back, hair that was far longer than any Leo had ever seen on a man before. He began shuffling the lot of it on top of his head before whispering words Leo couldn’t hear. Suddenly, something whizzed past Leo’s head, causing him to duck. He watched as Neil caught the object, his wand, and twisted it into his hair, successfully holding it up. He smiled sweetly down at Leo, who was still crouched down.
He straightened quickly, clearing his throat and ignoring Fig’s laughter at his side.
“Let us see, then. What terrible items did you purchase from Diagon?” Neil walked away, returning to the magical loom. As soon as he sat, the entire contraption began moving much quicker, and Neil’s hands soon joined the fabrics tangled in the strings.
“We bought a few things, Neil. Mostly from London, actually. Muggle clothes to keep Leo more comfortable until we got closer to the school year. I was hoping you and Gemma could provide Leo with some robes. A few protection charms should do him well, I doubt our Leo here will get up to much trouble his first year at Hogwarts.”
Neil threw his head back, and laughed. It sounded like church bells, and Leo watched as stray hairs unwound from around his wand, falling like ink spills all around him.
“All boys get into trouble, Eleazar, whether they are eleven or fifteen. Trust me, I have heard tales of your time at Hogwarts, remember? And think of myself. No, no, there is too much to get up to in those drafty halls for boys to not get into trouble, I’m afraid.”
Fig made a humming noise, and Leo wondered what all the professor got up to during his time at the school as a student. He hadn’t told Leo any stories of his younger years, or any of his years, really. Fig was more interested in giving magical history lessons rather than personal tales of his own life. Leo needed to remember to ask more questions.
“I shall refrain from commenting further on certain unconfirmed rumors of my boyhood-” Neil cut his eyes at Fig then, lips pulled into a bright smile, before he continued, “nevertheless, I should think a few pairs of robes will be fine enough for Leo. We’ll return later for his school robes, he grows far too quickly to buy them now and hope they fit in a few months time.”
Neil nodded along, shifting his head slightly out of view of the sun shining into the window. In his attempt to get it out of his eyes, the sunstream landed on his neck, and bits of his shoulder. His skin shone, looking warm and soft. Leo felt his hands twitching, aching to touch what the sun was touching.
“I shall let dear Gemma know. I’m merely finishing up what she trusts me to do without her supervision, after all. She should return in two days time. We’ll bring the clothes to you,” Neil said, glancing at Leo through his eyelashes, sun-warmed skin looking soft, and inviting. Leo felt himself take a minute step forward, wanting to get closer to Neil, to his sunkissed skin, and ink-colored hair.
Before he could let his mind wander even farther, Fig bid their goodbyes, and led them out of the cottage. Once outside, Leo found himself blinking rapidly, taking in the world around them. He felt… Lightheaded.
Fig grimaced when he noticed Leo’s vacantness, and placed his hand on Leo’s shoulder. They began walking down the path that he figured led to Fig’s home, though why they were walking was lost on Leo.
“I should have warned you, my boy, and for that, I apologize. I had no idea Neil would push it so far with you, being as young as you are. He has always enjoyed… Seeing how much he can affect people. Especially those of… Certain proclivities.”
Leo was still lost, though it felt like the cloud was lifting around his head, letting him think a bit more clearly. He blinked more slowly, and was able to turn his head enough to focus on Fig more completely. Fig looked pained when he looked fully at Leo, before he continued, “He’s an incubus. Part incubus. I don’t know how far back the ancestry goes, in truth, I just know he possesses the seduction talents that incubi are known for. He is content with Gemma, naturally, he still enjoys using his gifts on others. Gemma usually reminds him to reign it in. Unfortunately for us, she seemed to have been away at the moment. Next, we see them, I will ensure Gemma is in attendance as well.”
Incubus.
Leo’s head clears entirely as they walk along the path. He’s taking deep breaths, and wondering if Fig felt what he had.
“I didn’t fully notice it, Professor. Not until I was thinking of… Touching him,” Leo admitted, feeling rather ashamed of his previous thoughts, no matter if they were technically his or not.
Fig had not yet dropped his hand, squeezing his shoulder as he said, “Yes, that is when I knew it was time to leave. I had hoped he would pull it back after I mentioned your school robes, but when I still felt the draw, I decided it was best for us to leave.”
So, Fig had felt the pull. From how the two spoke, Leo could only assume Fig had spent plenty of time around Neil, and his wife, Gemma. Enough time to recognize and disregard the effects altogether. Leo wondered how long it would take to become so disengaged from the pull. He really didn’t want to find out.
Certain proclivities, Fig had said.
Leo’s eyes cut to Fig, fear creeping up his spine in a way he had hoped he had left behind at Saint Cecilia’s. Leo was unsure if the fear was that obvious on Leo’s face, or if Fig had just gotten that good at reading him, either way, Fig stopped their walking, and said, “It is not like that in the wizarding world, Leo. Preferring a man’s company over a woman’s, it is not so frowned upon as I am sure you experienced at the orphanage.”
Leo was silent, steadfastly staring at his shoes, already noting the scuff marks on his toes.
This was a secret he had held inside him from the moment he realized it was something to hide. There was a man, in the neighborhood, Chandler McVoy. He had been married for some time, to a woman that didn’t seem necessarily interested in him. Neither party seemed interested in the other, Leo had thought, noting they were hardly seen together. This was fine to everyone, even the nuns.
What wasn’t right to the nuns, was when Mr. McVoy had moved in another young man, Isaac Hanson. Mrs. McVoy never moved out, but she spoke frequently to other ladies nearby about living entirely separately from her husband, and his… His Mr. Hanson. It was no secret what the two were. Mrs. McVoy accepted it, provided Mr. McVoy continued to provide for her. Leo had watched, as often as he could, as Mr. McVoy and Mr. Hanson walked the neighborhood together, as the two gardened together, sat on the porch together, and attended teas together. Leo knew then that he wanted that, not what Mr. and Mrs. McVoy had, but what Mr. McVoy and Mr. Hanson had. The nuns caught him looking once, his room having the perfect view of the McVoy’s back garden where the two men sat, hands clasped together. The subsequent punishment was enough for Leo to reside himself to keeping those wants buried deep inside him.
So, no, the experience at the orphanage was actually the exact opposite of what Fig was saying to him.
“You are allowed to be with whomever you wish, Leo. Man, woman, incubus. Though I would advise against the last one, unless you do enough research to feel properly prepared to take on the particular physical burden that that relationship would entail.”
Physical burden.
Surely Fig did not mean…
Leo felt the heat rise to his cheeks, trying to banish the thought of the physical burden that Gemma and Neil dealt with in their relationship.
“You… Felt the effects of Neil, Professor?” Leo questioned, wanting to hide his surely red face away from Fig’s knowing eyes.
A soft hum was all Fig provided as an answer, before he smiled assumedly at him. “I’m sure you’re curious what those stories are Neil mentioned of my own boyhood. I was also fifteen once, Leo. And I wasn’t always married.”
Fig’s eyes are mirthful, watching Leo take his words in. Before Leo could ask any more questions, Fig moved on entirely from the conversation.
“I think we are both safe enough now to apparate home, don’t you agree?”
Leo’s brow furrowed, “Safe enough?”
Fig pulled Leo close to him, hooking their arms together, explaining, “If we had tried to apparate while feeling that stuffiness we felt as we left, I fear I would have splinched us entirely.”
It was as they landed in front of the cottage, and as Leo righted himself, that he demanded to know what splinched meant.
“Oh, nothing to worry over, my boy, really. If an apparation is done incorrectly, one could leave bits of their clothes, or themselves behind at the previous location.”
Bits of themselves?
As they entered the home, Leo headed straight for the stairs, eager to see if Fig had been truthful when he told him that all of their shopping would be in their rooms at home, so they needn’t worry about carrying bags. Before he disappeared into his room to check, though, he turned and stated, “I am never apparating again!”
He ignored Fig’s loud laughter, choosing instead to dig into his bags, smiling at the sight of the journal he had chosen to be his permanent dictionary. The first word he scrawled in his new journal was: splinched. He decided to add a few exclamation marks to the leaving behind bits of themselves part. Fig had said it far too casually for Leo’s liking. Then again, the man had dragged Leo into the home of an incubus with no warning, so perhaps Fig was just like that.
Leo had spent the next few hours holed away in his room, transferring words from his scattered parchment to the journal, writing as neatly as he could, ensuring no ink spots hit the page.
He had settled himself on the floor, papers spread around him, laid out on his belly as he slowly wrote the word incubus on the page before him.
This was how Professor Fig found him, and it was only a moment of silence before he said, “It seems we need to find you a proper desk, my dear boy.”
Leo looked up at him, neck a little sore from being bent at the odd angle for so long. He glanced around the room, wondering if a desk could even fit inside the already cramped room. Fig seemed to come to the same conclusion, as he brought his wand out of his sleeve.
“Time for another lesson, Leo! Up you get, come on, up, up!” Fig motioned with his hands for Leo to stand, and so Leo did, carefully setting his quill down.
“This is most certainly not a first-year charm, nor one you will be accepted to know prior to your fifth-year, but alas! One does not shy away from an opportunity to learn, now do they?” Fig smiled, stepping over Leo’s papers with cautious steps to the outer wall of the room.
Leo followed dutifully, standing next to Fig as the man said, “This is the extension charm! Particularly useful, not just for expanding rooms, but bags as well.”
Fig raised his wand, and it only took Fig raising his eyebrow at Leo for him to copy the Professor’s movements.
“The incantation we will use is capacious extremis. Say it back to me, please.”
Leo did as told, repeating the words over and over until Fig was happy with his pronunciation. And then, Fig had Leo perform the charm, promising that if it went awry, Fig would be there to stop anything disastrous from happening.
“Capacious extremis,” Leo recited, wand held securely in his only slightly sweaty palm. And, amazingly, Leo watched as the walls began shifting, pushing away from Leo and Fig. Leo’s bed, positioned on the outer wall, moved with it, settling itself an extra four feet away from him. The walls stopped shifting, and the groaning that came with it ceased, as everything settled into place. Fig looked around, nodding, and said, “This should do you much better, hm?”
Leo was still staring, motionless, at the far wall.
“Leo?” Fig questioned, hand coming down on his shoulder, warmth seeping through Leo’s waistcoat.
“I used to live at an orphanage,” Leo whispers, “I used to live in an orphanage with nuns that loathed me, and boys that pretended I didn’t exist. And now… Now, I have the ability to make a room change its size with two words and a flick of a stick.”
Fig’s hand shifted, never leaving him, but moving along his shoulder blades, settling on his other shoulder as he dragged Leo into him, bringing him into a firm hug. Leo shuddered a moment, collapsing into Fig, allowing himself to be held.
When was the last time someone hugged him? Leo pondered, hands coming up to grasp at the sack coat Fig had yet to take off, despite them being home for hours now. It was silent, as Fig simply embraced Leo, seemingly holding him together. Leo shifted, staring at the far wall, the one that just moments ago had been so close to him he could have reached his arm out and grazed the wallpaper. Now, Leo would have to stride across the room in order to even be near enough to touch it.
That is magic, Leo hears Tilman saying.
And Leo smiles.
Yes, that is magic.