Ruse Aftermath Ⅴ

Surprisingly hungry after the funeral, Asclepius gestures to his guests to take a seat, while he courteously holds out the chair for his wife to sit first, before sitting down and joining at the table. Despite their sudden ravenous hunger, Secundus Wilkes and Wilfredius wait to eat until their host and hostess begin to eat. The sound of their silverware clinking softly against the china plates is the signal for them to commence eating. The only sounds heard for some time in the cottage are the sounds of silverware and those eating. At long last, the silverwares are put down one by one leaving the four satisfied with the meal.

Seeing that their guests have finished eating, Annise softly says, "Teeny, please clean up the table."

With a soft pop, the petite house elf appears and with a flourish of her hands, the silverware and plates gather themselves up and float away into the kitchen in a neat line without so much a crumb spilling to the floor. With the table cleared, Teeny squeaks, "Miss will that be all? Teeny has a lovely blackberry crumble just popped out of the oven to be served with freshly churned sweet cream. Should Teeny serve the guests now?"

"That would be just lovely, Teeny," Annise instructed. "But just three plates for I shall retire early for the evening."

"Yes, Miss!" Teeny obediently said, before popping away to bring the pipping warm dessert.

Turning towards her husband and guests, Annise says, "I find myself overly tired, gentlemen, and ask that you excuse me for the evening."

The two wizards murmur, "that it is no trouble at all, Mrs. Belby," before Annise turns to her husband and places a quick peck on his cheek, she whispers, "I will be fine by myself. Feel free to chat the night away tonight, dear." Before turning away and heading towards their shared marriage bedroom.

Asclepius' lips twitch with faint tenderness on his face as he watches his wife go, before turning his attention to his guests. Before he can speak with a loud pop, Teeny appears with three plates of blackberry crumble accompanied by fresh sweet cream. "Please enjoy!" Teeny squeaked as she set the plates before them.

Wilfredius murmured his thanks, while Secundus and Asclepius merely nodded at the house elf. "Sir please call upon, Teeny should anything further be needed," she eagerly piped, before vanishing with a loud pop.

With Teeny gone, Asclepius reaches for the bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey and poured three generous shouts of Firewhiskey. He motioned for the other two men to each take once as he took one for himself. Secundus gladly takes the glass, while Wilfredius with a wary expression takes the other glass. He wasn't much of a drink and tended to not to fair too well with alcohol. His Achilles heel so to speak.

Raising his drink in the air, Secundus proposes a toast. "To Damocles."

"To Damocles," Asclepius echoed with Wilfredius.

Asclepius and Secundus down their drinks in one gulp leaving Wilfredius to only take the tiniest of sips. His eyes begin to water as he tries not to choke at the fire burning down his throat. He just knew he was going to regret drinking in the morning.

Not wanting to drink more, Wilfredius eagerly starts on the blackberry crumble with sweet cream. He lets out a happy sigh at the taste and murmurs, "Master would have liked this," before his voice breaks and he lets out a rather loud sniff.

"Mm, he always did have a taste for the sour," Secundus echoed with a weak chuckle. "Damocles turned up his nose at anything sweet, but if it was bitter, sour, or any other flavor, you would him purchasing the sweet by the dozen."

Asclepius shivered as he recalled their childhood. "Ug, he used to consume Acid Pops by the dozens when we were children, never mind the fact that they burned a hole through his tongue!" All three wizards shiver as they recalled the horrid childhood sweet.

After a moment, Secundus begins to loudly chuckle to the bewilderment of Asclepius and Wilfredius. "When we were third years, Damocles first purchase at Honeydukes was Pepper Imps. He crammed just about a dozen into his mouth on a dare. To his horror, he suddenly was blowing out fire from his mouth like a dragon. He wasn't able to stop until he ran out of the shop and dunked his head into the nearly frozen fountain in the square."

Asclepius guffawed loudly as Wilfredius openly gaped unable to believe that his collected master had ever done such an uncouth thing in his youth. "My brother was always far too prideful for his own good," Asclepius snorted. "It tended to get him in trouble more times than I can count. He used to exasperate my mother to no end, and she was convinced that he had been sorted into the wrong house. She used to say that with his pigheaded rashness, he should have been in Gryffindor! He was a hat standstill, you know."

Secundus snorts, "Now that I remember, the old sorting hat was quiet for about five minutes the longest sorting in our year. But Damocles was always far too prideful for his own good. If anything else that is what swung the Sorting Hats decision, I'd wager."

Wilfredius blinks his eyes in even greater amazement as his master always used to sneer at Wilfredius being a Gryffindor. Huh, who'd ever guessed his master was a hat still. And could have easily been a Gryffindor at that!

However, Wilfredius unconsciously blurted out, "But master used to say that he was a Slytherin just like Merlin." Wilfredius turned bright red causing his freckles to stand out more as the two men turned towards him. "Er, what I mean to say is that is what master's goal was. He wanted to be a great wizard like Merlin and bring a noteworthy change to wizardkind. And he did by all accounts, he cured the greatest blight known to the wizarding world!"

"Merlin," Secundus muttered. "Well, he did always have Merlin's poster hanging in the boy's dormitory in our first year, but he never put it back up after our second year."

Asclepius has the grace to look guilty as he says, "After mother's death during the start of the summer holidays, Damocles and I fought. In a fit of fury, I took the poster from his school trunk and tossed it into the fireplace."

Asclepius voice falters for a moment with regret. "In retrospect, it was rather cruel of me for it had been a gift from our mother to him. She'd saved up a few precious knuts to buy Damocles that poster of Merlin. With our father drinking any of the hard-earned money away, it must have taken her some time to save up in secret. And Damocles treasured the poster all the more for it. It was one of his most prized possessions."

A heavy silence fell onto the room until Secundus broke it. "You were only a grieving child, Asclepius. You did not know any better."

"Was I?" Asclepius barked back. "I knew that my mother had purchased it, and I knew that it was one of her last gifts to my brother. And yet knowing so, I still went forth and committed such an act. Can you truly say that I did so out of grief, Secundus!"

Asclepius lets out akin to a broken, pained sob. "With these two hands, I was the one who first began the tear between our brotherly bond until it became an impossible divide to breath. I know that I should have said apologized, but I never did."

Asclepius voice broke down to a whisper. "And now he is gone, and I won't ever have another chance to make amends. My brother is truly gone. Forever-," as his face dropped down into his hands.

Wilfredius gazes upon with sadness unable to think of a single word of comfort at this moment. He did not know what he could say to ease the pain of Asclepius Belby. It was not his place to speak.

The only sound heard for some time is the crackling of the logs in the fireplace as the three wizards sit in mournful silence. After some time, Secundus rises and fills their glasses to the brim again except for that of Wilfredius, who had yet to finish filling his drink.

"I can't say nor deny the fact that you were just as prideful as Damocles, Asclepius," Secundus said. "But you did love your brother in your own way and Damocles cared just as equally for you. He was always right proud of you and would brag about his clever younger brother in the Slytherin common room even though you were sorted into Ravenclaw."

Secundus paused to down his drink. "I can't claim to say what went wrong between the two of you, but I do know that Damocles did intend to speak to you someday and put his pride aside. I believe like the rest of us he thought that he had more time to set things right. And as long as you thought the same that is what counts even if it little to no consolation at this present juncture."

Asclepius lets out a bark of laughter as he raises his reddened gaze from his palms. "I suppose that's something at least," he bitterly said.

"Of course," Secundus self-assured retorted as he lifted his head high. "I was his best friend ever since our first year at Hogwarts, I ought to know him best."

Asclepius begins to weakly laugh with Wilfredius and Secundus joining them. The three of them chat long into the night telling stories about Damocles. Wilfredius even shyly chimes in with a tale regarding the wedding invitation from Asclepius. All though Damocles acted irked and loudly declared he would not attend, he would every so often peek at the wedding invitation that he always carried in the inner pocket of his waistcoat.

It was a long night. It was a sad night. It was a good night. They wept, they talked, they laughed and remembered the one they had called, Damocles Belby. The three men would proceed to pass out in the dining room early that morning and awaken with roaring headaches later that same morning. They stayed over for a late brunch consisting largely of hangover cures. But most importantly of all, they began a budding friendship that with time had the potential to become a true and long-lasting friendship.