Paul Bennett
June 10, 2011 6:37 PM
Checking out the living space (1st year boys' dorm) by Paul Bennett
Well, of course she’s a disgrace, Eliza had said when talking about her Head of House, now made more formidable by being the Deputy Headmistress, but she’s not so bad, really. Just keep your head down and let the - she’d taken a deep breath, remembering that it weirded him out when she went on rants about That Female which almost derailed her sentences to the point of incoherency - scum of the earth hang itself with its own stupidity and you’ll be fine around her.While he thought his sister might have gotten a little carried away with hating her roommate (what was her name, he wondered? Eliza just called her That Female recently, and it had been That Girl before she’d been demoted from human in Lize’s estimation), Paul had seen no reason to doubt her estimation of her – now their – Head of House. Amelia Pierce wasn’t likely to be a friend to a Bennett, but nor did Eliza make her sound like a dragon, and since maintaining his comfort in life was far more important to Paul than most things, he didn’t think they would have any problems so long as his roommates didn’t turn out to be Those Males. And if they did, he had planned to be a little better about it than his sister and just deal with the problem, so either way, he’d thought he was going to be all right.
That was before Amelia Pierce mentioned that she’d turned her own son into a toad for backtalk. That put a slightly different complexion on things, and he thought he might understand exactly why his sister had decided to marshal forces to deal with That Female on her own instead of taking advantage of the loophole implied by no disrespect being tolerated, even if the one who thought she was better than everyone else was a possible half-blood who was apparently illegitimate no matter which way you looked at it instead of someone from the same social class – well, close enough – as Coach Pierce’s ex-family. He wasn’t going to just keep his head down around her, he was going to keep his whole self down, as close to the floor as he could get it.
He did, after all, bear a certain resemblance to Eliza – they had the same hair and eyes, the same nose and chin, and most people said the same forehead and smiles. It was pretty obvious that they were at least first cousins as soon as anyone figured out his name was Bennett, and siblings would, he thought, usually be the first guess; Andrew didn’t look that much like them, and their fathers were brothers. He’d already known there was a chance there would be trouble if Coach Pierce or That Female saw him and, respectively, marked him down as having potential for trouble or decided to persecute him for having the wrong sister. This, though, made it sound more serious than he’d initially thought.
After the speech, they were allowed to go to their dorm rooms, and Paul momentarily dismissed thoughts about finding himself in the wrong body in favor of going to examine his with a critical eye. It was Spartan enough by his standards – four-poster beds, but more than one of them to a room, basic dresser and bathroom, the closet space was ungenerous but not so much so that he felt driven to lodge a complaint unless the other boys began stuffing things where they didn’t go and wrinkled his things – but he supposed it could have been much worse. With that cheerful thought in mind, he found his trunk at the foot of one of the beds, determined that there was nothing wrong with the bed in question, and decided to get the formalities out of the way so he could start to unpack. He wanted to get his things sorted out before he went to sleep, but he would not waste any ground he’d made at the feast by still ending up as That Male.
“Good evening,” he greeted his new roommates, reminding himself not to look like he was summing them up until or unless it was obvious they were doing as much to him. “I am Paul Bennett, of the Illinois Bennetts. It looks like we’re going to be roommates.”
0
Paul Bennett
Checking out the living space (1st year boys' dorm)
201
Paul Bennett
1
5
Linus Macaulay
June 10, 2011 8:53 PM
Assessing its residents by Linus Macaulay
Settling in was proving thus far to be more difficult than Linus had anticipated. hese people were not like people he'd interacted with before. They knew things he didn't, and spoke in ways to which he was unaccustomed. He hadn't realized initially that there were whole families full of magic folk. As soon as he'd thought about it then of course it made perfect sense, but for some reason he'd arrived a few hours earlier with the expectation that everyone would be as new to maic as Linus was himself. This wasn't the case. He'd managed to talk to three girls at the feast - what incredible bad luck - and all seemed to have had a magical background of some description, which had become increasingly evident the longer they'd conversed. It was vexing. He'd been expecting the older students to have great knowledge, but not those in his own class, particularly girls - girls with silly shortened names and who may have been foreigners, no less.Linus wa spleased to finally make it to his personal dormitory; his living quarters for the next seven years. Although perhaps 'personal' wasn't quite accurate, as apparently he was expected to share the room with the other boys in his House and year group. Linus had never shared a room in his life. Johan and Philip shared because they were younger, but Linus was the oldest - the head of the family - and he had his own room. He wasn't keen to share, but it didn't seem like he had a choice. He was as well get to know his roomates, he supposed, especially as one was speaking up. He introduced himself as Paul Bennett, and added a place on the end. It was the third time Linus had heard that formula being used in his life, and all of those occasions had occured since he'd been sorted into Crotalus. He was rapidly associating it with this elusive magical world with which he was currently frustratingly unfamiliar.
"Good evening," he returned, visually assessing the other boy and hoping that his own sandy blonde hair was keeping itself well in place and that his robes were now less rumpled than they'd been on his arrival following the wagon ride. "I'm Linus Macaulay." It sounded short and unimpressive just like that, when compared to Paul's own speech, so, at the risk of it being superfluous, Linus added, "I'm sure we'll get along just fine." He placed his own trunk (when had that arrived up here?) on another bed, claiming it as his own.
0
Linus Macaulay
Assessing its residents
205
Linus Macaulay
0
5
Paul
June 10, 2011 10:19 PM
Are you coming to any favorable conclusions? by Paul
Paul looked at Linus Macaulay curiously, trying to place where he’d heard that surname before. He was sure he had, somewhere….Not stating a family branch implied he didn’t have a family, and was so most likely Muggleborn, but he knew he’d heard that name….“I’m sure,” he echoed when Linus asserted that they were going to get along well, looking the other boy over so he could decide if it was true or not, or at least get a good starting idea.
He looked like he’d at least made an attempt at dressing well – he had a tie, which was a definite plus – but his clothes were a little crumpled and dusty, so it seemed that he either hadn’t learned the spell to clean himself up after the ride, wasn’t good enough at magic to perform it, or was such a goody two-shoes that he’d really never done magic before. Paul wasn’t sure which of those was best, though he was leaning toward the first. Plenty of people, Paul thought, simply didn’t travel much, so they wouldn’t have as much of a reason as he had to learn things like that, and he had an older sister, which made it easier to get his hands on a wand in the past two years and practice than it would be for an only child. Lize didn’t care what he did with hers so long as he didn’t burn the house down; she’d even, to Paul’s horror, let Gem have a go this summer, though it seemed Lady Luck had been on their side that day. No one had died, and the house was still standing, and Mother didn't even know.
Linus’ hair, though, was strange. It seemed normal enough in back, but in the front it was all…long, and swept over away from his face in a strange way. It looked as though he had somehow gotten hit in the face with a wind spell from the side, and it had blown his hair all in one direction and plastered it to his face and the other side of his head, but a little too neat for that, so it seemed deliberate. Paul supposed it was…
It was because he was foreign! That was where he’d heard that name before, he’d heard it mentioned a time or two on Father’s wireless! He listened to some of the Canadian political news, too, because what was going on in Ontario could affect business at home, and there was some woman called Macaulay who’d testified at corruption trials over the summer, and had something to do with that blowup over Uncle Vic’s old fiancée before that….It really was a small world, wasn’t it?
“What made you decide to come to Sonora, Mr. Macaulay?” Paul asked, curious. He knew there were people who went to schools in other countries, but he had never understood why. It didn’t seem to make sense to him. It was, with only a few exceptions, your own country you’d end up coming back to and getting married in and all, so it made more sense to him to be there, but he’d been wrong before.
0
Paul
Are you coming to any favorable conclusions?
0
Paul
0
5
Linus
June 12, 2011 3:00 PM
They're not all infavorable. by Linus
Paul was dressed neatly, and spoke politely, and so far that was sufficient to encourage Linus that there was a possibility they could get along. He began to unpack his trunk, carefully taking out his clothes and books so none of it would crease, and then Paul asked a question that Linus didn't really understand. He was aware that a puzzled expression crossed his features before he schooled them blank again. What had made him decide to come? Well some official person had offered him a place at a magic school - it wasn't as if he was going to turn that down. Only a crazy person would have said no. Though that didn't quite fit with the words that had been emphasized in the question. It sounded to Linus as though Paul was asking why he'd come to Sonora instead of to another place, as if there was an option about which school to attend. Could there really be more magic schools than just this one? how big was this hidden culture, anyway?Less than eager to sound as clueless as he really was, Linus took a short moment to structure his sentence before he uttered it. "My family are Muggles. I received an acceptance letter from Sonora, so here I am," he said levelly. He hadn't given thought to why Sonora had been the school that had contacted him, but then until just now he hadn't thought about other schools, so that made sense. Presuming there were other schools, though, Linus presumed it made sense that students would be invited to those nearest, like a high school catchment area system. Therefore, he added to his previous statement, "We live in Las Vegas."
He could have asked what Paul had meant, of course, and in fact could ask his roommate anything at all about magic because he was evidently one of those who'd grown up with it, but Linus would never do such a thing. It was acceptable to ask a teacher to explain their subject more thoroughly, because their job was to teach, and the students were supposed to be ignorant before they'd been taught. Paul, though, was not a teacher, nor was he a superior in any way so far as Linus could immediately identify, and therefore asking him for help would be admitting a weakness. Linus wasn't prone to appearing weak, particularly on first acquaintance. Instead, to gain further understanding, he asked, "Why did you decide to come to Sonora?" If Paul had asked he must at least think it a reaosnable question.
0
Linus
They're not all infavorable.
0
Linus
0
5
Paul
June 12, 2011 7:14 PM
That's good by Paul
Linus' response came as a surprise - enough of one that Paul found himself momentarily at a loss for a response as his new roommate added that he was from Las Vegas. After that initial moment of surprise, he took another second to think, because he had a feeling this was a moment which could have serious, long-term consequences for their relationship as roommates over the next seven years and so to Paul's comfort, safety, and happiness at Sonora.Luckily, Linus did not ask him a question in return which required a lot of thought on his part. That one, he could answer easily and with no fear of negative consequences. Well, not much fear, anyway. Paul wasn't sure there was anything that he didn't have some fear of negative consequences about. "Great-Grandfather decided that I should," Paul answered instantly. Great-Grandfather ruled all. All knew this, at least if they were Bennetts and sometimes not Uncle Roger. And sometimes not Uncle Vic, either, maybe, Father made it sound like Uncle Vic barely knew who Uncle Vic was some days, much less who Uncle Vic's grandfather was, but Paul wasn't allowed to talk about that. The family tried to pretend that the failed experiment known as His Ex-Excellency Former Cabinet Ambassador Victor Bennett not only didn't exist, but never had in the first place. "I think my Aunt Helena came here, and Great-Grandfather likes her a lot, so he told Father to send me and my older sister here."
Paul took a neatly folded shirt from his trunk, glanced around the room, and searched for a way to put things delicately. He was not sure he could think of one that was quite delicate enough to suit him, but thought it would be worse to not at least warn the other guy. For one thing, Paul was likely to be linked to him in the public eye by default. "Of course you don't really have a reason to take my advice," he said finally, "but you might not want to tell people that your parents are Muggles if you can help it." There, he'd done it. He'd mentioned the least tasteful of topics. Wouldn't Mother be proud of how well he was socializing. "Especially not in this House. I thought you might be from Canada because of your last name, you might let people think that. A lot of people - don't like people who're related to Muggles."
0
Paul
That's good
0
Paul
0
5
Linus
June 13, 2011 2:17 PM
The balance, however, is tilting more that way by Linus
Great-Grandfather? Linus didn't have any great-grandparents - they'd all died before he was born - but even his grandparents played a small enough role in his life that they wouldn't know which school he was attending. Linus wondered for a moment whether Paul's family had all died or something and so he'd been raised by his elderly relatives, but the comment about his aunt didn't exactly fit that story. Linus didn't care enough to question it further; he sensed some communication barriers between him and his roomate, so instead of pushing them past a sociable level, he focused his attention on unpacking, instead, folding all his clothes with a level of neatness that bordered on excessive.Linus only paused in his endeavours at Paul's next comment. he stayed silent as he listened to his roommate's suggestion, listening intently to what he had to say. "...You might not want to tell people that your parents are Muggles if you can help it. Especially not in this House." Was this some sort of intimidation tactic? A way for Paul to identify himself as the dominant one among their group, perhaps. A lot of people - don't like people who're related to Muggles."
Linus wasn't sure quite how to respond to that. He took his washbag, containing his toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and shampoo, and placed it on the bed. It was a small, brown leather bag that fastened with a zip. It had once belonged to Linus' father, yet didn't really hold any sentimental value; Linus had lots of his father's things to remember him by. Neither was it especially interesting to look at, so the new student couldn't explain why it was that he was staring at it quite so intently. However it did serve to cause him to think of his father, and dredge up one of the memories that might prove useful for the moment. His father had liked Linus - preferred him above his other children, the eleven-year-old believed - and had often taken him aside to impart gems of wisdom. At that moment, in the dormitory, Linus could remember his father saying, 'Always be yourself, then you will have nothing to be ashamed of.'
"Then that's their failing," Linus said, his tone void of emotion but perhaps a little defiant. He tore his eyes from his washbag and looked up at Paul Bennett. He wasn't sure whether his roommate was serious, but the Crotalus girls Linus had met at the feast had been content to talk with him, so there were already three exceptions to Paul's rule. Furthermore, he remembered his Head of House saying something relative to this conversation as she'd welcomed the new class. She's said they were all equal. Linus had thought it was a ridiculous thing to say (nobody was equal - you could treat people equally but that didn't make them equal), but at least he knew she would be supportive of his position if Paul did turn out to be right.
0
Linus
The balance, however, is tilting more that way
0
Linus
0
5
Paul
June 13, 2011 3:19 PM
*Fiddles with the scales* by Paul
Paul found himself wondering if there was something in the Sorting potion that caused a small percentage of drinkers, concentrated among those it Sorted into Crotalus, to take leave of their good sense. If someone who knew more about something completely unfamiliar that he’d just walked into offered him advice, Paul would take the advice, or at least lay a little lower than usual, until he could see for himself how things were going and make long-term decisions from there. He wouldn’t bravely declare that he was sticking to his wand even after the bad guy used it to cast a Killing Curse on a community leader and plow forward without a second thought.Still, it wasn’t as bad as what had happened to Eliza, so Paul maintained his hope that they could get by without trying to kill each other at any point in the next seven years. Everyone knew that it couldn’t be helped, who you were Sorted with, and being proud of one’s heritage was nothing like happily admitting to being rude. The problem was just if Linus got killed by someone else, and that wasn’t, strictly speaking, Paul’s problem as long as no one thought he was dating the guy.
“It’s usually not thought well of these days,” he agreed. “My father told me and my sister to just not have a problem with anyone who didn’t have one with us first. But if anyone really is like that, here, they’re rich enough, and old-blood enough, that they don’t care about whether or not people think they’re good guys.”
He shrugged. “Though if you listen to my sister, the worst thing you can be here is rude. The only way to get by if you’re rude is to join the Quidditch team and play – really well so they’ll all look after you and so will Pierce. I’d still avoid the Careys either way, though.”
He realized Linus wouldn’t know who the Careys were. “The Careys are a family that really doesn’t like anyone,” he explained. “My uncle was engaged to one of the nicer ones for a while, but then her cousin kidnapped her and wiped all her memories and everyone thought she was dead, and later we found out that her sister had killed about five people and used mental magic on some others. One of them’s still in a hospital.” That one was Paul’s uncle, though, again, that was something he couldn’t talk about. He was saying more than he should anyway, so how bad things could be would be clear. “And she got away with it, too,” he added, “and there’s four or five of them here at Sonora. Eliza says they’ve never bothered her, but that might be because she avoids them.”
0
Paul
*Fiddles with the scales*
0
Paul
0
5
Linus
June 15, 2011 7:36 AM
Stop that. by Linus
Giving up on good sense, and unpacking, for that matter, Linus sat on the edge of the bed and listened to what Paul had to say. Maybe not a call for domniance, then, unless it was unnecessarily disguised, and Linus didn't think people his age were really that convoluted. While acknowledging that these people who would have problems with him did exist, Paul at least wasn't claiming to be one of them. That was as good a start as Linus could hope for at this stage, he thought. He contemplated the likelihood of these rich, old-blooded families Paul mnetioned, and was subsequently pulled from these thoughts as Quidditch was mentioned once again. Linus hadn't found mention of it in the textbooks, but from what he'd heard at the feast and now, he assumed it was a game that involved flying. He thought the school must have a team that played this sport, as Paul referenced join the team. Plus his head of House was a Coach, who apparently looked after her players. Linus thought he might give it some consideration, in that case - he was good at sports - but he'd liked to know a little more about the game before he dove in head first.Explaining things even without being asked (a trait that often annoyed Linus but in this instance he was actually thankful that Paul had this flaw; it saved Linus having to sit yet further confused as he was too proud to ask questions), Paul warned him about a family called 'the Careys.' Linus wondered whether they were anything like the O'Neils, whose kids had attended his school and gotten into trouble for fighting just about every week. Linus would swear their father encouraged them in this. Then again, he was fairly sure Mr O'Neil had never killed a man, or wiped their memories, for that matter, but that wasn't exactly within Muggle capabilites.
Regardless, it was a lot of information - some of it quite frightening - to take in all at once. By the end of it, all Linus could say was, "Who is Eliza?"
0
Linus
Stop that.
0
Linus
0
5
Paul
June 15, 2011 1:48 PM
*Looks innocent* Stop what? by Paul
“Eliza?” Paul asked, momentarily confused, then realized he hadn’t been perfectly clear. “She’s my sister – older sister,” he corrected himself, since he thought he’d most likely end up making some mention of Gemma at some point in the year, too, and she was also his sister, just younger and not in this building. One of the possible perks of school, which he hoped he would like, was not having quite so much family around. “She’s a Crotalus, too, but in third year.”Which meant she was going to be in intermediate classes, which meant that it wasn’t too likely that she and Linus would cross paths very often. For that matter, she and Paul would have to go out of their way to cross paths very often. There was something a little strange about that, just like there was something a little strange about the whole past two years.
When they were little, he and Eliza had been inseparable. She’d treated Gemma like a doll once she was big enough for Mother to let them anywhere near her, and more or less ignored their little brothers – she’d been ten when Richard was born, and had come to Sonora almost immediately after he turned one; their youngest brother knew her better as a picture in the living room than as a person, never mind as his sister – but they had always been close. They were Father’s kids, not Mother’s; before Richard was born, their parents had split their four children right down the middle, so they each had a son and a daughter, and Paul and Eliza were Father’s while Gemma and Leo were Mother’s. There had of course been overlap, Mother went through the gestures with Paul just as Father petted Gemma and everyone ate around the same table, but they had always picked their favorite siblings based on who was closest to which parent. When Richard had come along and Eliza had left home, though, there had been a shift; Father took up more time with Leo than he had, there were too many boys running around, and by the time Richard had begun tentatively walking and flirting with talking, he had felt more often like the eldest of four than anything to do with two or five. Things were more normal at Christmas, and in the end of the summers, but when Lize came home each June these days, for a while she felt more like a guest than a sibling.
Would it be like that when he went home, he wondered – for about one second. Then he contemplated Gemma for a moment. The age gap between them wasn’t much different from the one between him and Eliza, but Gemma…Gemma wasn’t going to step up to the plate and be the eldest and try to fill the missing spaces left by Eliza and Paul. Gemma was going to be right where he’d left her when he found her again, pretending to pour tea from a teapot the size of the end of his thumb for her dolls, then winding up her music box and making them waltz with each other. She couldn't care less about what Father did, or about what was going on outside her playroom. And that was how it was supposed to be.
0
Paul
*Looks innocent* Stop what?
0
Paul
0
5
Linus
June 19, 2011 4:31 PM
Stop touching my things. by Linus
"Right," Linus acknowledged Paul's reply, considering that he might have been able to work that out for himself, had he not been so heavily distracted by everything else that had come before this revelation. He was finding it difficult to work out which bits of information he wanted to take on board, and which to ignore, and all the time he was fighting down a rising concern that maybe he shouldn't have come to Sonora after all. What if he didn't fit in here? What if he fell victim to this bullying that Paul had mentioned? He had never been picked on at his previous schools, but then there had been no reason to single him out - until he was identified as being Malcolm Macaulay's son after his father passed away, and then there was even less chance of people going out of their way to make his life miserable.At a loss for what to say, Linus stood up and resumed his unpacking. He resorted to the pattern he'd been executing every moment since his departure from Las Vegas: he latched onto an aspect of the conversation that he could understand, and dismissed the rest for later contemplation. "So you have younger sisters, too," Linus commented after a pause. It was a statement, not a question; Paul had said Eliza was his older sister (he wondered whether she had been named Elizabeth or if the traditionally shortened-version was in this case her full name), and therefore he must have at least one younger sister to have made the distinction. Talking about siblings wasn't the most originaly conversation topic, perhaps, but it was safe, and familiar. Glancing at his wash bag again, Linus was prepared to admit, if only to himself, that he was depending on those things that were familiar more than he had anticipated. He wasn't entirely comfortable with it, truth be told, but this was only the first night. He was sure his outlook would be greatly improved by morning.
0
Linus
Stop touching my things.
0
Linus
0
5
Paul
June 22, 2011 12:27 AM
Sorry about that by Paul
“Just the one,” Paul said when Linus asked, or stated after correctly assuming that they must exist, about the younger sisters who made clarifying that Lize was his older sister necessary. Though, now that he thought about it, he could have been…no, he’d already said his sister was at the school, so he couldn’t use that he’d been clarifying that she was older, they were first years, so it was obvious. The clarification could only mean that he had at least one younger sister.“Gemma. She’s seven, so she’s still with the tutors back in Illinois. I have two brothers, too, Leo and Richard, but they’re even younger than Gem. Richard’s not even with the tutors yet.” Though he would be soon, Paul thought; he could remember the day he had started with his first tutor, but not how old he’d been without being told, but he thought Gemma had been four or five when she inherited Mr. Albright from him and he’d started sharing with Eliza. Their family was well off, but not enough for each of them to have multiple tutors of their very own. That, everyone agreed, would be useless extravagance.
The only point of deviation was with etiquette tutors. There had been some lessons that crossed over, quite a few even, but a male one had been hired for him and a lady one for Eliza. The vast number of people in the world who weren’t rich enough to hire tutors at all made Paul think that etiquette wasn’t strictly necessary for survival, but Mother and Father would not have been very sympathetic to that point of view even if he had been stupid enough to bring it up. The Bennetts were making their place in the world, and if he wasn’t going to contribute to that goal, then he had no purpose in life. At least as far as Mother was concerned; he thought, sometimes, that Father might be fond of him even if he was a failure, but Mother, he was sure, would write him off so fast he wouldn’t realize what was happening.
“What about you?” Paul asked, deciding that turnabout was fair play, especially in such a mild instance as this. “Do you have siblings?”
0
Paul
Sorry about that
0
Paul
0
5
Linus
June 22, 2011 11:16 AM
You should be by Linus
"Yes, I do," Linus replied when Paul asked whether he had siblings. This was a topic with which he was familiar. "I have two younger brothers, Johan and Philip, and my sister Daphne is six." Which meant that while Paul had more siblings in total, they had younger relations in a similar capacity; Daphne and Gemma were even a similar age. It was comforting to note that despite their apparent differences in terms of magical backgrounds, Linus could share some similarities with his roomate. For a start they were both first year students in the same House."So what's Crotalus like?" Linus finally got around to asking a question. He didn't see this as demonstrating weakness in this scenario; more like making polite conversation. Even though Paul had only been at the school for the same, short amount of time as Linus himself, he had a resource to draw on in his sister Eliza who, if she talked as often as other girls, had undoubtedly talked at great length about her time at school, and in crotalus House more particularly. For Linus' part, he had heard that the student were sorted into Houses based on personality traits and attributions, and so he hoped Paul would confirm that Crotalus was the place for students who were brave, responsible, and dependable.
Having now unpacked the limited belongings he'd brought with him (his school supplies and robes, other clothes, wash bag, and some recreational reading - not much because the school undoubtedly had a library, but just his favorites), Linus found himself at a lose end. he supposed he ought to get ready and go to bed, make sure he had enough sleep to see him through the following day's surprises. Truth was, he wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. he was keen to hear Paul talk more about this magic world, even if parts of it didn't seem especially friendly.
0
Linus
You should be
0
Linus
0
5
Paul
July 02, 2011 5:52 PM
*Backs away slowly* by Paul
Paul made a mental note of Linus' siblings. So they were both eldest sons. Did that mean the same thing in the Muggle world as it did in his? He had been hearing about that responsibility for as long as he could remember from Father and Grandfather, both of whom were the eldest sons in their families, a fact that conspired to make Paul - the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son of Orson Bennett - the theoretical heir to everything, and so the one who'd have to look after his brothers and sisters as soon as they were all adults and eventually, once Father and Grandfather and Great-Grandfather were dead, all the Bennetts.To judge by Father and Grandfather, being the eldest son was an unhappy thing, something they would have happily passed on to their younger brothers but given anything to spare their own sons. Paul wasn't looking forward to it too much himself, though at least he didn't think he had their problems with his younger brothers. He and his siblings all usually got along, were more affectionate than Father and his siblings and far more than Grandfather and his brothers.
Though, the thought occurred to him suddenly as they sometimes did, maybe they had been as close to their families once. Grandfather was on cooler terms with his brothers than Father was with his brothers and sister, despite Uncle Victor's problems and Aunt Katherine's...oddity and Uncle Roger's personality flaws. Would it eventually be that way for him and his, too?
The thought was depressing. He was glad when Linus changed the subject.
"It's the House where everyone knows everything about everyone - who their family is, if they've got any here, any scandals their family's been in, who they support politically, who their friends are, their enemies, who they're, you know, dating. Lize makes it sound like everyone's watching everyone all the time, but being polite about it so that, if they ever get a chance to do anything to the people they don't like, no one will know they had anything to do with it. The girls do that stuff the most, though." He shrugged, clearly not very bothered by that. "So it's not that different than how Dad says things are in the real world, except for the last part. I guess that's why Eliza said it's the best for being prepared."
He considered what kind of question to ask in return and finally settled on, "Is it true that Muggles really don't know anything about us? They don't even suspect?"
0
Paul
*Backs away slowly*
0
Paul
0
5