Kintsugi

Alex and Draco ended up falling asleep in the living room together after some midnight hot chocolate. The whole house was peaceful in the quiet hours of the morning until Remus had come to shake the two awake. “C’mon boys, time to get up. People will be coming round and then we gotta go.”

Alex, who was still half asleep, asked, “Huh? Who’s coming round?”

“Your sister Alexander. And Oliver. Now hop to or we’re gonna be late.” Remus stated as he started walking towards the kitchen, “Merlin knows we don’t want to be late when it's Christmas and Sirius is around.”

This woke Alex up. He knew that he was going to have to see his sister again sooner or later but he didn’t realise it would be this quickly. Annoyed, he huffed before getting out of bed and stomping his way to the bathroom.

Bewildered, Remus and Draco looked between the two of them.

“Hey Draco?”

“Yes?” Draco replied, looking up to make eye contact with Remus.

“Do you know if something has happened between Alex and his sister?”

“Nope, sorry.” Draco shook his head.

“It’s okay,” Remus smiled, “Just curious.”

“What are our plans for the day?” Draco looked up at Remus after staring at the carpet for a moment, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well, first we are going to pack up our stuff. We are only going to be there till the 27th so don’t go crazy. Effie has got everything we need, so all we need to bring are gifts, clothes and ourselves. Then we are going to head over there for the day. Once we are there you can do whatever you'd like.” Remus paused for a moment before adding, “Feel free to ask about anything you feel unsure about Draco.”

Draco nodded in response and went to the bedroom to grab his things. Remus continued to drink his coffee on the couch when he heard Alex shut off the shower and come out of the bathroom. As he was headed to his room Remus singalled him over and patted the spot beside him on the couch. “Come ‘ere kid.”

Alex took a seat beside his dad and Remus asked, “Is there anything bugging you? You seemed upset when Ophelia was here last time. And when I mentioned her.”

“It’s nothing dad, don’t worry about it.” Alex waved his dad off and got up from the couch to go pack.
…

“Alright! Everybody ready to go?” Sirius asked after everybody had met in the Potters quarters. A chorus of yeahs and yups replied.

“Okay, we’re gonna use a portkey to get there, hang on everybody.” Remus said, grabbing the book off of the book shelf. In a moment, everybody was standing at the front door of the Potter Manor. Effie made her way to the front of the crowd to unlock the door and let everybody in.

“Okay, kids theres a room with 2 double beds in it so you all can share that room and my bigger kids, you guys can arrange yourselves however you see fit. I’ll be in the kitchen if anybody needs me.” Effie smiled and went into the kitchen and began to pull things out of the refrigerator. Everybody else went upstairs to claim bedrooms and put things away. Alex was the last to go downstairs, or so he thought. After he came out of the bathroom he bumped into somebody.

“Oh, sorry!” He said in reflex, but when he looked up to see who it was his eyes narrowed.

“Hey kiddo how are yo-”

“I don’t want to talk to you, Ophelia.” Alex said before turning on his heel before walking away.

“Please, I just want to-”

“Can we do this later?” Alex said before he opened the door to his room.

“Yeah! For sure we can do this-” Ophelia was cut off by the door closing in her face. “Later.”

Her shoulders slumped as she sighed and walked away. Once Alex closed the door he noticed Draco and Harry sitting together on their bed. He sat down on his bed as he looked for a pair of socks and asked “You alright there Haz?

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Harry replied in between his slow breaths, “Just a little dizzy from the portkey.”

“Oh thats odd,” Alex pulled his socks onto his feet. “You’re usually the best with portkeys.”

“Anyways, what happened between you and Ophelia?” Harry asked, diverting the attention from himself.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Alex stood up and made his way to the door. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs for lunch?”

“You guys go ahead.I’m just gonna lie down.” Harry said, laying back and waving at Draco to go. Alex and Draco looked between themselves before Draco turned back to Harry,

“Alright love, feel better.” Harry nodded as they closed the door. The pair walked in silence for a moment before Alex stopped them at the top of the stairs, “You think he’s faking right?”

“Yeah,” Draco agreed, “Should we talk to him about it?”

“I dunno.” Alex shrugged his shoulders, “I just don’t want to go about it in the wrong way.”

Draco smiled sadly, “Yeah, makes sense.”

The rest of the day went on without a hitch. It was quite sunny out for December so the family spent most of their time outside. Once everyone had exhausted themselves and gone to bed, Alex sat alone at the kitchen counter, sipping tea. It was dark as Alex sat with his thoughts until someone came stumbling into the kitchen.

“Who is tha- Alex? What are you doing sitting in the dark?” Ophelia asked, her face coming into view once Alex’s eyes adjusted to the light.

“Just having tea.” Alex replied, staring into his cup and away from his sister. They sat in silence as Ophelia grabbed some juice from the fridge. Once she had put everything away she pulled up a chair and sat beside him, “I know you don’t want to do this but I feel like we can’t afford it any longer.”

Alex said nothing, but nodded and looked up in response. Ophelia locked eyes with him, took a deep breath and continued. “I’m really sorry Alex. I should have a, never screamed at you and b, I never should have called you your dead name. I know this is not an excuse but I was really worried about you and pop, and anytime I get scared it reminds me of when we were younger. I’m reminded of the little kid I was always protecting. I’m really sorry Alexander, I’m really sorry.”

Alex sat in silence for a couple moments before wiping a tear off of his face and wrapping his arms around Ophelia. “It’s okay. It was just a mistake. I’m sorry I was being so cruel to you. I shouldn’t have ignored you.”

“Its alright.” Ophelia replied, “So we’re cool now?”

“No,” He wrapped his arms tighter around her, “We’re more than cool.” He pulled away from Ophelia, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. Now, you gotta fill me in your life.”

“Of course. Only if you update me first.” Alex jokingly nudged Ophelia with his elbow.

“Oh, well I’ve got some updates for you.” Ophelia took a breath, “I want to ask Oliver to marry me!”

“Really!” Alex shouted, throwing his hands around his sister.

“Shush! You’ll wake everybody up.” Ophelia chastised. “But yeah, I’m gonna ask him sometime this week.”

“Oh my god,” Alex smiled, “Thats amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks kid.” Ophelia pulled Alex closer, “So whats been going on with you?”

“Well lots has happened,” Alex started before cutting himself off, “Can I ask you something?”

“Always, whats up?”

“But you can’t tell anybody about it.” Alex added.

“Alex,” Ophelia raised her eyebrow quizzically, “What is going on?”

“Ophelia please,” Alex pleaded. Ophelia thought for a moment before sighing and motioning for Alex to continue, “Okay, so lets say hypothetically, you were super worried about one of your friends mental health, what would you do?”

“Worried in what way?” Ophelia questioned further.

“Worried in the sense that they might purposely have some unhealthy habits.” Alex said after figuring out how to talk about Harry without any identifying language.

With the possibilities running through Ophelia's head her face darkened, “Alexander who are you talking about?”

“I can’t talk about it.” Alex said meekly.

“Alexander Regulus Black-Lupin, tell me what is going on!” Ophelia raised her voice, her body tensed and angry. After a moment her anger ceased and she deflated before sitting back down and trying for a second time, “Alex, if you think that one of your friends is hurting themselves or doing something that can cause them harm you know you have to tell someone right?”

Alex looked down, rethinking his actions. Ophelia grabbed his hands and titled his chin upwards, “You know you aren’t doing them any favours by keeping their secret. Now whats going on kid?”

Alex broke apart to wipe the tears from his eyes before bringing his knees up to his chest, “I think one of my friends is starving themself.”

“Oh Alex,” Ophelia exhaled, “Why didn’t you tell Dad?”

“I was- I think that he’ll be mad at me.” Alex sniffed. “And I can’t lose his friendship, I can't.”

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna-”

“Please don’t tell him! Please don’t!” Alex pleaded.

“I won’t tell him.” Ophelia ran her hands up and down Alex’s arm, “But what I am going to do is tell you that you should talk to them. Ask them about whats going on. Tell them you’ll be there for them, point them in the direction of help. Alex I know you feel like keeping their secret is helping, trust me I’ve been there, but help is what they need, that is how you can really help.”

“Thanks Ophelia,” Alex wrapped his arms around her again, “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Ophelia smiled and gave Alex a tight squeeze, “I’d do anything for you kid, anything. I love you.