What Strange Creatures Brothers Are

[Tobias Ashby]

It had been a long day at work. The sun had set hours and hours ago and Tobias was just getting home. Though, with it being early January and them being so far north sunset wasn't exactly the best thing to judge the time on. Tobias stumbled into the home he shared with his siblings and collapsed onto a chair. He appreciated his job but God was it tiring sometimes - at least it wasn't physical labour, that was always the bright side

Burying his head in his hands, he almost fell asleep, but managed to snap back to life and get up. He began to make himself a cup of tea. Sometimes he swore that was the only thing he knew how to do using magic - that and float feathers, of course. After he had finished he was very pleased with himself and he sat down happily at the table. This was the drink of the gods, and rightly so - it was fantastic!

Until that moment, Tobias was dead to the world. He merely pottered around doing his thing, before being awakened by his beautiful beverage. It happened everyday it did, his little routine, getting in, sitting down, making his tea then sitting down again. After that brief interlude he was ready to receive external information. In the half an hour it was until his dinnertime, he could actually do something productive. Well, besides drinking his tea.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick was honestly not in a very good mood. He could still the annoyance from time to time, knowing that she could not continue his education. He knew that he was not suited for it, because Liam fair and square had better grades than he had, and was generally more studious than he was, but it did not change that Patrick often wished that he could learn some more spells and all. Well, he had his job, and while it was not the best, then it was stabile and he helped the family as much as he could.

With Liam back at Hogwarts, then Patrick only had Toby and Mattie to worry about. with him being the youngest of them, he found it to be him that was doted upon, even if it rarely happened because they could not afford it. He di dnot minded that, though. "Hey Toby," he said when he came home from work and saw Toby with a cup of tea in his hands.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

Not long after he had sat down, Patrick came home. "Hi." Tobias replied, before he had looked up. Afterwards, he looked up to talk to his brother properly, but saw his expression. It was not a happy one. "What's the matter?" he asked in a brotherly concerned way. Perhaps Patrick was just tired, god knows they all were.

Upon remembering to ask him (for Tobias had been meaning to ask him for several days), he asked "Are you missing Liam?". It made sense for Patrick to miss his twin, because they were twins and weren't twins supposed to have some special connection or something? Tobias already missed Liam, and he was only Liam's older brother. Oh Liam, he was so lucky, so lucky to be so intelligent; Tobias often wished that he had been given the chance to remain at Hogwarts past his second year - but in the end, he could change the past.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick just sat in a chair and looked and Toby. "Just a bad day at work." he said when Toby asked. He was honestly, deep down missing Liam, but at the same time he was jealous that he was not lucky enough to be with him right now. He wanted to learn as well, but he would have to wait until he was 17 so he could actually try the spells Liam told him about.

Okay, it was only a bit more than a year, but still. "Why should I be missing Liam? I have work to do, and he has Hogwarts." he said, slightly more cold that he usually would talk to his brother, but it was the subject of Liam being at Hogwarts that brought it out in him.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

"We all have them," Tobias told him comfortingly "I find that remembering that not all days are bad helps me. Some days are even good, so perhaps tomorrow will be one of those days." He smiled encouragingly at his brother, in hope of cheering him up slightly. Though Tobias knew they lived a hard life, that was no reason they couldn't be cheerful and happy from time to time.

After hearing Patrick's response, Tobias frowned. "That can't be true," he pointed out, "I know I'm far more sentimental than you - but you have to miss Liam - he's your twin for crying out loud! Aren't you supposed to have some like weird connection... or something like that?" This upset Tobias, Patrick not missing Liam was like... it was like really sad.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick just looked at his brother with an annoyed look, before he looked confused at his brother. "We can always hope that it will become a good day tomorrow, there is still hope." he said with a sigh. Okay, he did not have a whole lot of hope, but there was always hope. "Is there tea for me as well?" he asked as he stood from the chair and quickly moved to look in the small kitchen.

"How I feel about Liam is not going to change, and you should know that." he scowled at Toby. He could not help it, he was just jealous at Liam, and it was hard to accept that his twin brother was good enough for education, while he wasn't. He did not like the thought that Liam probably would get a better job, and helping the family more than he ever could. It was simply not something he liked thinking about.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

"Yes there is!" Tobias exclaimed happily "And don't you forget that - and I'll make you some." While saying his final clause, Tobias got up and headed back to the kitchen. He spent a minute quickly replicating the process he had used to make his own. Before long he had handed Patrick his mug and returned to his own seat.

"Come on Patrick!" Tobias reasoned "You can't honestly not miss Liam - it's silly to think you won't! This is me you're talking to, I won't mock you for acting emotionally, in fact I'd be happy because then I wouldn't be the only sentimental man in the entire world." The expression on his face was one of earnest concern and pure sympathy. God, he was such a woman.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick just looked at his brother as he got up to make him a cup of tea. He quickly went back to his chair and sat down. He would admit, his brother being sweet enough to make him a cup of tea did help on his mood, but he still di dnot wanted to admit that he missed Liam.

"How can I forget such a thing with you and Mattie around?" he asked and looked at Toby before he took the mug of tea he got offered. "Seriously Tobias, do you have to keep talking about him?" he asked obviously annoyed. He wanted not to keep talking about his twin brother.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

Tobias left it when Patrick snapped. It would have been untruthful if Tobias said his feelings weren't hurt a little bit. "Sorry," he muttered, awkwardly grabbing his mug and drinking heavily (although it was still a bit too hot and it hurt his throat just a teeny tiny bit).

In an attempt to redeem the conversation Tobias awkwardly came out with "So... what... do you think of... the... new train station in Irvingly?" He wasn't good under pressure. Plus, his feelings were hurt and it was taking quite a lot of his brainpower not to pout and frown and be super mardy.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick felt quilty when he saw Toby's reaction. "Sorry, it has been a bad day, and you know snappy I can get when you mention Liam and that he still studies." he apologized. He did not wanted to make this house even harder to be home. And Toby was actually a good person, it was not his fault that Patrick allowed his temper to fun away with him.

He carefully sipped from the tea and looked at Toby. "You made that well." he commented. "And that train station, we have the one in Hogsmeade, and it is not like we can afford to go anywhere with the train." he said calmly. He was practical and it was not going to change very easily.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

"No, it's fine," he assured Patrick "I shouldn't have pressured you when you obviously weren't happy about it. Anyway, it's understandable that the fact Liam's still at school is upsetting for you. It even upset me for a while, but I have to admit that I'm just proud of him now - but I am his older brother, you're not." Patrick was right, Tobias did know and he shouldn't have pushed it.

"Thanks," he added in reference to the tea "get enough practise so I should be good at it by now." he laughed weakly at the end. "Good point." he said in response to his brother's comments on the train station. "Good for the muggles though," he pointed out "Getting to leave and go to London and stuff." Tobias imagined that not being able to leave a place would be pretty rubbish after a while.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick was glad that Toby seemed to be taking the apologize he gave him. It simply meant so much to him that his brother did not hated him even though he had been so hard and snappy. "Still, you are much better at making tea than I am." he said with small shrug of his shoulder. Oh merlin, this was not easy, but he would still do well.

"And I think the muggles is of course happy, but then - I am sure they are happy for it. I have yet to go to the town, but - maybe one day I should go. We could go together?" he asked wonderingly

  

[Tobias Ashby]

Tobias smiled, but merely motioned his hand in dismissal. "I'm sure that's not true, and if it is - it is merely practise." he said. Maybe it was just the magic, maybe that improved it. After all, Tobias had not made a single cup without it since his seventeenth birthday. He was sure that if Patrick put his mind to it after he turned seventeen, he would achieve the same results.

"Yes, we should," Tobias replied, "With Mattie too, maybe Liam - if he's around." Tobias felt it better to not insist that Liam had to come along too, to not rub salt in the wound. Anyway, Tobias didn't overly mind if Liam came along, as long as Patrick and Mattie was there, it would still be special. "Perhaps we could go to a tearoom." he added with a small laugh.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

Patrick just decided not to add further to the conversation about the tea. Because to be fair, it was actually a stupid conversation, because they were not girls, who could keep talking about tea like it was the most important thing in the world.

"It does not sound like a bad idea, actually. Do you know if there is one there?" he asked, deciding not to decide wheter or not his twin brother should go with them. Liam was still his brother, he just had times where he did not wanted to be remembered about him.

  

[Tobias Ashby]

At Patrick's question, Tobias had a good think. "I think there is," he guessed "I'm pretty sure I heard some passengers talk about it a few times. It's called... something French. Luh Moo or something? I'm not sure." He had another little think, and concluded "Yes, there is one, but I can't remember the name."

This sounded like a good idea! Tobias was excited, but then again, just the idea of spending a whole day with just Mattie and Patrick made him excited - no matter where they were. But he had to admit, tea in Irvingly did make him even more happy than normal.

  

[Patrick Ashby]

It did not matter what the place was called, what mattered was that they found the place and had some good family time. It was already limited how much they could afford going anywhere but it happened - because they were three people working, and Liam did what he could to keep a scholarship up for himself so he could get as good an education as possible.

He looked at his brother. "Well, the name does not matter that much, as long as we find it." he said.