Things Were Good When We Were Young

[Malcolm Macfusty]

April 5th

• Mac puttered around his house, making sure that everything was ready for their guests. Izzie was significantly less excited than he was - Mac had never thought it was possible for a baby to look judgey until his baby had started looking at him that way - but he didn't care. He was going to have house guests! More importantly - house guests that weren't related to him in any fashion! It was quite the occasion, and Mac felt the need to make sure everything was all set.
  
  Food; he had some for snacks in his house, and snacks he could prepare on his own. Dragons; were not too pissy, and if they became pissy he had his wand. Izzie was there, his house was connected to the floo network, and he had a box of fireworks in one of his cabinets in case they felt the need to play with those.
  
  He actually wasn't sure how Immie felt about explosive devices, just that he liked them and would never hesitate to set them off if necessary. It had all started when someone had taught him to play exploding snap; now he was extremely adept at playing the card game, at fiddling with the cards with magic, and had moved on to things like fireworks. If his first love was dragons, then his second love was things that blew up.
  
  He was building a house of cards on his living room floor while Izzie watched him, now looking at least mildly interested in what her father was up to. They had been doing pretty well, he thought, despite having lost one rather key member of their little family. Roxana was in Spain, and Mac and Izzie were still here. And he was pretty sure that he was okay - or, rather, he would be.
  
  Roxana had always liked being on her own, anyways.
  
  He knocked over the cards as green fire from flooing whooshed into his fireplace. Mac sat up suddenly, scattering more cards with his sudden movements but ignoring that. Nothing a simple accio couldn't fix.
  
  "Hello hello!" he announced. "I hope you lot didn't run into floo problems on your way here?"

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Though Imogen had known Mac since their days at Hogwarts together and was already well-adjusted to his quirky antics, she had to admit that she was rather nervous of visiting his home, though she honestly could not explain why. Perhaps it was because their first meeting after eight years or so occurred only a week ago, and she was intrigued by what his life could be like? That reason seemed plausible, and rather than dwell upon this thought for hours on end as she would usually do, Immie decided to distract herself with preparing her boys for their first floo journey. However, rather than distract her as she had believed the task would do, the thought of the many dilemmas that could possibly arise from the situation caused her to become even more anxious and frantic.

"Please Leo," she pleaded as she witnessed her eldest son fidget in his navy-blue clothes for the umpteenth time, "stop moving, and I promise that you shall be much more comfortable." Dressing her sons for the journey had been an interesting task, to say the least. Leo preferred the color red, whilst Roy preferred the color blue; Leo refused to get dress and threw a little fit, whilst Roy watched on in curiosity and perceptiveness; Leo preferred this, Roy preferred that...the same cycle over and over again for an hour and a half before they were scheduled to leave. Finally, Immie became fed up with Leo's atrocious behavior, and threatened that he would NOT get to see his first, real dragon and neither would he able to eat dessert or ride his toy broomstick for a month - these threats resulted in Leo altering his attitude real quick. No dessert, no broomstick? What would he do with himself for a month?

"But it itches, Mama," the dark-haired young boy protested as he once again proceeded to itch his arms and his legs, and Immie sighed. As much as she loved her two sons, they were certainly a bit much to handle but she supposed that was what she received for giving birth to twins rather than just one son. However, according to how Roy seemed to be much more well-behaved than his twin brother, Immie had to admit that it was only Leo that she had the most difficulty in raising; then again, it was possible that Roy's disposition could change over time. Merlin, help me, she thought with some weariness as she held tightly to both boys hands as they stepped through into the fireplace, I am not looking forward to the teenage years.

After stating their destination, Immie and her boys suddenly shot upwards much to the shock of the twins. At one point in the journey, Leo attempted to jump out of random fireplaces, but it was fortunate that Immie had just a tight grip upon his hand or she would have lost him. She did, however, acknowledge the fact that if Leo were to get lost in the flooing system, it was a consolation to know that he most likely would have ended up in one of Mac's brothers' homes. In a way, the image of a three-year-old boy appearing out of nowhere from a fireplace in a random home rather amused her, but the amusement soon went as fast as it had come when she remembered that said three-year-old boy was her son - it would not be good parenting to be amused, she reckoned.

They soon reached their destination, Mac's home in the Hebrides, but rather than gracefully climbing out as she had planned to, Immie was thrown out of the fireplace and onto the floor, her twin sons in tow. "Ow...," she muttered as she let go of the twins' hands to rub her aching knee, but she was soon distracted from her pain when she quickly inquired, her voice filled with concern, "Are you boys alright?"

"Yeah Momma, can we do it again?!," Leo excitedly said as Immie rolled her eyes, but she fondly patted Roy's head and quietly chuckled as he softly muttered, "No, let's not."

Immie smiled up at Mac's exuberant greeting before hoisting herself from up off the floor, and laughed, "That could have gone much more gracefully, I think, but hello to you to! It is wonderful to see you again. We had very little trouble with our journey, thank you for inquiring." Gesturing to the two youngsters in front of her body, she continued, "This is Leo, and this is Roy; boys, this is Mac. He's a good friend of mine. He cares for dragons." At the mention of dragons, both of the boys' brown eyes lit up and Immie had to put a hand over Leo's mouth to keep him from blurting out excited gibberish - one could not say that Immie did not know her sons well.

However, Immie had the sneaking suspicion that she was being watched, and looking behind Mac's form, she witnessed a pair of brown eyes regarding she and her boys with curiosity. For a young babe of only five months, she seemed far too perceptive than what would be deemed normal. Was that judgement she could see in the young girl's eyes? Blinking away those evidently ridiculous thoughts, Immie removed her hand from Leo's mouth as she gestured to the cradle, "And this must be your Isobel." Taking a step closer, she gently cooed to her, "Hello, sweetheart."

Words: 925 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

• Mac grinned. "Graceless landings are more interesting, anyways," he said to Immie before giving a friendly wave to the twins. They were small, with dark-hair, and Mac seriously suspected that they had both inherited their mother's contagious grin even though he had not seen enough to surmise this properly yet.
  
  "Nice tae meet ye, boys," he said to them, nodding and noting quite happily that they seemed quite pleased with the idea of dragons. Whether or not people liked dragons was, in Mac's mind, a good way to judge their character - and though Leo and Roy were far too young to really have character, their enthusiasm certainly meant that Imogen was doing something right.
  
  "Yep, that's Izzie," he said with a nod. "She may look unimpressed, but I think that might just be her face. She does smile, though, we'll probably get to see it." Isobel may have been a bit of a neutral looking baby, but she was by no means unhappy - Mac knew this because, while she didn't seem to take him seriously, (could babies take anyone seriously?), he could get Izzie to smile without even trying very hard. However much he wished Roxana had not left them, at least Mac had never had her difficulties with bonding with his child.
  
  "She'll be staying in here with her nanny when we meet the dragons, though," Mac said, "If there's one dragon safety rule I subscribe to, it's the 'no being in the direct vicinity of a Hebridean Black until ye can walk.'" He did care about his daughter's safety, even if caring about his own had never been one of Mac's main priorities.
  
  Like many Gryffindors, he sometimes fancied himself invincible. Yes, Mac had a large grasp on the fact that dragonkeeping was likely shortening his lifespan - but he was also borderline-arrogant, and safety often took a backseat to fun.
  
  "You two are old enough to meet dragons, though," Mac said with a wide smile, "Their names are Gawain and Mordred. Have you ever heard the stories of King Arthur and Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table?"
  
  He hoped they had. Mac already knew that Izzie would grow up listening to such tales; Mac was obsessed with them, (as proven by the names of the dragons he took care of,) and besides that, at least a few of her uncles also had an affinity with storytelling.
  
  "I lied about there being only one rule for dragon safety," Mac said, "The other rule is that the pair of ye absolutely must listen to everything yer mother and I tell ye to do. Yes, everything - even if you think it isn't very fun, all right?"

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

"Oh Mac," she laughed after he had mentioned that his daughter appeared unimpressed, "she is a baby; most babies look unimpressed at her age. Give her time. Either way, she is still a beautiful baby." Immie smiled at the dark-haired baby girl in the bassinet. Though Immie was content with her twin sons and had given off the impression that she had always desired sons, it would surprise many to acknowledge the fact that she had always wanted a daughter. Unlike most women, however, Immie did not desire a daughter to dress up in frilly outfits and bring them up as proper little ladies (though she would ensure that her daughter had some manners and tact instilled into her conscience) to marry off, but rather she desired a daughter because just for the sake of having a daughter - a mini-me, if you will. Perhaps she could teach her daughter how to be a better person than she was, and to make wise decisions regarding her actions and her future.

"That's a good rule to enforce," she politely commented, a little awed. Never had she ever imagined Mac, her replacement of a big brother as well as an energetic goof ball, would become a father; however, the more she envisioned Mac in his fatherly role, the more she came to admire him. Immie had not the slightest clue on how to parent her children after she had birthed them, and had been quite lost on how to raise the twins for mothers afterward. Mac, on the other hand, though she was aware was possibly in the same boat as she had been the four years previous, but at least he was taking to parenthood far better than she had been - and just to think, his daughter's mother had abandoned him with their child, so he was mostly on his own unless he sought help from his family and the nannies.

"Merlin is real?", Leo's voice rang through the room, bringing Immie out of her parenting musings, and she laughed. She understood why Leo asked such a question, and it was because the boys often overheard their mother mutter "Merlin" on various occasions. "He once was, little lion," Immie answered her son's question, still chuckling. "He is dead now." Turning her attention back to Mac, she gestured to the twins, and inquired with an amused smile, "Does his reaction answer your inquiry, Mac? I used to read to them about the Arthurian legends when they were wee things, but I don't believe that their young minds can recall everything that I have read them - it was more of a bedtime story to make them sleepy than entertainment."

"Leonard...," Immie addressed the young boy (who was still fidgeting) in his red playclothes when his nod of consent wasn't in synchronization with his twin brother's. Leo never did like rules. Stooping down to become eye-level with her rowdy son, she said seriously, "You must listen to everything we say, okay? Yes, dragons are pretty awesome, but they are also very deadly, too. We just don't want anything to happen to you, so could you please be on your best behavior? Pretty please?" Leo's expression took on one that indicated that he was pondering his mother's request before he slowly nodded, his excitement returning.. "Good boy," Immie praised before turning to Mac, her own excitement shining within her eyes, "Well, let's go see some dragons, then!"

Words: 583 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

• Mac grinned. "I use them to entertain myself - although I do suppose that they make good bedtime stories also," he said, raising his eyebrows at her. Maybe after the dragons he'd tell them a story - the idea floated around Mac's head, but he wasn't sure that Immie would go for it, and on top of that the boys would probably be too excited because dragons to properly listen to a story.
  
  Some other time, then.
  
  Mac made goofy faces at Izzie as Immie outlined the rules for what he had to assume was the more mischievous of the twins. When he was younger, Mac never would have expected them to turn out like this - parents, outlining survival guidelines for kids that really just wanted to have fun.
  
  Of course, when he was younger he hadn't really thought about how much stupider he would be if he didn't know the rules. Someone had to make sure that silly future Gryffindors didn't get themselves killed - and now he and Imogen were those people.
  
  At least where their children were concerned. He was sure that they could be perfectly ridiculous if left to their own devices - another thing to find out some other time.
  
  More important than their musings was the fact that it was now time to see the dragons. "Later, Isobel!" Mac called as he waved for the Van Helsings to follow him out of the house. He grabbed a bag near the door and threw it over his shoulder.
  
  They had to walk away for almost fifteen minutes before he heard a dragon hissing to itself. "And there they are," Mac said to himself, waving for everyone to stop.
  
  He raised his wand and set off sparks. Attracted by the sound (and the scent - the promise of new people!) Gawain, the slightly smaller dragon, appeared, lumbering through the trees.
  
  Gawain stared down at the people, squinted, and raised his head to roar.
  
  "He's calling Mordred, I think," Mac murmured to them, "Immie, keep an eye out for her, will you? She's a tad less friendly. I don't think she'll try anything with them, but she might be a bit threatening at first."
  
  "She also doesn't particularly like... females, so be careful of that, too," Mac said with a nod. Mordred had been unfond of Roxana, and she had despised the old nurse. She barely tolerated the new one, and his housekeeper and Mordred had long since constructed a sort of truce - but he was always worried of her with new females.
  
  Gawain settled slightly, lying down and still eyeing them. Even smaller than Mordred, he was still massive.
  
  Mac pulled a sizable hunk of meat out of his bag. "Either of you want to throw this for him?" Mac asked. "He'll probably catch it out of the air, if you throw it hard enough."

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Immie smiled back at Mac, slightly amused. She wondered if he ever knew that he was the reason she had ever read an Arthurian legend at all. Back when she was younger (when she was age fourteen years, to be exact), and felt horrible and dirty and whorish for doing what she had done to reach for what she desired, she plead to Mac to tell her a story, and those stories were usually always Arthurian legends. He must have been quite an eloquent storyteller for Immie could recollect being thoroughly enthralled in the story, and when Mac would cease speaking to let her wallow in horrid suspension, she would eagerly inquire, "What?! Is that it? There must be more!" There was always more to the story, but Mac enjoyed witnessing her floundering about for the correct and appealing conclusion to the story, apparently. "Perhap you can tell them and Isobel the stories after our return from seeing the dragons? It would calm the boys down a bit, I think."

As the time came for the little group to set off towards the forest, Immie grabbed both of the boys' hands before allowing Mac to guide them to his dragons. In the beginning, the she relished the thought of witnessing her twins set sight upon their first dragon, but now that she was following Mac into the woods, she was feeling a bit anxious. Dragons truly were dangerous creatures, and she was leading her children to be in the presence of one. She had always known that she was different than most mothers, but was this a little extreme? Were they still too young? They were only three, of course - four in September, but still. Too late now, she reasoned as they neared an opening in the trees, Besides, Mac knows how to control his dragons should they go berserk - or at least he should.

Immie's anxious musings were soon replaced with an awe of her own as observed the majesticness of the Hebridean Black before her. It was sleek, black, and vicious-looking, but Immie wasn't in any way frightened by the beautiful dragon - in a way, she was rather admiring of it. It truly was a beautiful creature - a beautiful disaster waiting to happen. After her moment of admiration passed, Immie shifted her eyes downwards towards her twin boys, and realized that she had been so lost in her own little moment that she had completely missed their reactions. From what she could tell, however, Leo was just as awestruck as she was, but she just became aware of how tightly Roy clung to her hand. Upon further inspection, she realized that while Roy was displaying very little emotion upon his face, the tightening of his hand indicated to her that he was a little scared. "It is okay, baby," she crooned softly to Roy in an attempt to console him as she rubbed her thumb in circles upon his pudgy hand. "The dragon won't hurt us." She nearly added, "or at least I hope it won't", but realized that that would not have been particularly reassuring and decided to delete that part of her sentence.

Immie suppressed a giggle as Mac informed her that his female dragon was less than amiable. To her, it seemed like all the female animals were much more vicious than the males. She suppose that it was their tempers that resulted in them being considered much more threatening - the males always seemed a little more laidback and friendly. Nodding slightly to Mac to indicate that she would, indeed, keep her eyes open for another Hebridean Black, Immie realized that Leo had escaped her firm grasp and was attempting to walk a little closer Gawain. Authoritatively clearing her throat, Immie stepped forward and pulled the hem of his collar, bringing him back. "Remember what I had said, young man. Can't ride your broom if you're dead, can you?"

Immie bit her lip Mac added that Mordred wasn't particularly fond of females. He could have told her as such before she had come out into the woods, practically displaying herself as dragon chow. However, rather than call him out upon his fault, she became rather curious. What could be the reason for the dragon not taking to those of her own gender? Did she feel more threatened by her gender than she would by those of the opposite sex? It was certainly possible. When she had been a schoolgirl and still attended Hogwarts, the competition amongst the female population seemed to increase with each year - it was nearly unbearable in seventh year, but fortunately for Immie, she had realized her place in society long before her seventh year, so she had not been too concerned with the competition. However, there was that one girl that had attempted to steal Edmond's attention away from her, but that was nothing that Immie could not handle and the girl ended up being rejected by him, anyhow. "Do you know why that is, Mac? I can wholly understand female competition, but feeling threatened by human females?," she inquired after she had exhausted all of her possible conclusions and was now in search of the real truth.

Knowing that Leo would most definitely want to throw the piece of meat, she released his hand and laughed as he eagerly reached for it. Roy, on the other hand, continued to stay put next to her to her side, staring up at the dragon with curious and appraising brown eyes. Suddenly, Roy pointed his index finger upwards as she said, "Look! æNother one!" Looking upwards towards the sky, Immie said brightly and winked towards Mac, "Found Mordred, apparently."

Words: 966 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

• "I think it's just that she doesnae like people very much," Mac said, "and there are so many MacFusty men that by this point she's used to 'em." Mordred, he thought, liked to try and figure out what she could get away with. She could be harsh towards human females because they were so rarely around her that Mac was perfectly able to brush it off - and even then she was not aggressive towards all of them. If Mordred had threatened males, Mac would have been far more worried, because it was usually males that were around her.
  
  Mordred was smart. Certainly the smarter of his dragons, and possibly just an intelligent creature in general - when it would be so easy for her to default towards her violent tendencies, and inevitably get put down by Torquil or Tavish, she managed to simply remain threatening. So Mac did not think that she would be too awful to the Van Helsings.
  
  But he couldn't be sure, because dragons were never quite domestic.
  
  Mac watched with a grin as Leo tossed a snack towards Gawain, who snapped it up and seemed much more content as he studied their little group.
  
  More importantly than Gawain's happiness, though, was the massive black streak that circled them twice before landing next to Gawain. Mordred was not only the meaner dragon, but the bigger one - only slightly bigger, yes, but still bigger.
  
  "That's her," Mac said with a nod, watching Mordred semi-warily. She chuffed at Gawain, who bumped her with his head and chittered back.
  
  She turned her head towards them and studied the group of them. Mac took a step back and put his hand on the wand in his pocket, just in case - Mordred had not made a decision yet, and while she was rarely blatantly violent, one who underestimated a dragon was one who was most likely to get killed. Or get other people killed.
  
  Mordred snorted smoke and headbutted Gawain.
  
  Mac breathed a sigh of relief.
  
  "Looks like she likes you," he said to Immie, "Or at least doesn't want to try'n eat you. Congratulations."
  
  He offered meat to the boys again and took a step forward, so he was standing back where he had been just when Mordred had landed. He had only stepped out of place in order to almost submit to Mordred; now that she seemed friendly (for her) it was not nearly as pressing.

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Immie scrutinized Mac's female dragon as she flew in two, wide circles around their small party, the arrow-shaped spike at the end of her tail swishing back and forth before she gracefully landed next to Gawain. Mordred was certainly the larger of the two dragons, as well as appearing decidedly more ferocious than her companion, but rather than believe Mordred to be dangerous (which she most certainly was, but Immie also believed that there were certain levels of dangerous when it came to magical beasts), she rather gathered the assumption that Mordred was quite defensive - a feeling Immie knew all too well and understood.

Immie kept her chocolate-brown orbs fixated upon Mordred as the dragon in return began to study her and her boys. It was much better, she reckoned, to keep eye contact with the dragon to assure it that she meant no harm rather than look away from its bright red eyes as if she were afraid of it, especially if aforementioned dragon held a grudge against human females like her. Out of her entire Hogwarts education, Care of Magical Creatures was the only class at Hogwarts that she truly absorbed any of the information told to her. Magical creatures and beasts were fascinating to her. Most magical creatures were often misunderstood and labeled as deadly and hazardous, but in Immie's opinion, they were just not used to human contact - the presence of humans weary them and caused them to become defensive. Much like Mordred was defensive against female humans because she was usually in the presence of nearly all the MacFusty men. Immie could not believe that she had not thought of Mac's conclusion before she had inquired why Mordred was weary of females - the truth was blatantly evident, and Immie had completely missed the obvious.

As Mordred snorted out smoke and turned her attention back to Gawain, Immie let out a breath of relief the same time Mac did. "Well," Immie began as soon as she let her tense body relax and turned her head to look at Mac, "I suppose that is a good at least." It certainly was a good thing, in her opinion. It meant that she at least partially correct in her assumption that eye contact was what Mordred needed to feel assured that no harm was to come to her. Now Immie was aware of what to do should she ever see Mordred again. However, she had to wonder whether Mordred's acceptance was fleeting good fortune and that the next time she and Mordred come face to face, the female dragon's reaction could be wholly divergent from what it was now.

Immie nudged Roy forward, hoping that perhaps he was now more comfortable being in the presence of dragons, but it still seemed as if he did not possess the same enthusiasm about dragons as his twin brother did. Leo, on the other hand, quickly grabbed another piece of meat and fearlessly threw it towards the dragon, and was delighted when they caught it with their mouths and happily consumed the meat. Deciding that it was best not to force her son to throw a piece of meat if he did not desire to, Immie put her hand on his small shoulder and once again gave him a squeeze of reassurance that nothing would harm him.

"Your dragons are beautiful, Mac," Immie commented to Mac after a moment of comfortable silence. "Raising and taking care of dragons must be an interesting commitment. Kind of like taking care of a pet, but they are so much more than just a mere pet - they require more handling and attention. I would've loved a dragon." Her voice took on a sort of wistful tone as she gazed at both Mordred and Gawain with a fond smile upon her face. Then, as an afterthought, she inquired, "Do you enjoy taking care of dragons, Mac? I'm certain that you do to some extent, but I thought that I would ask anyway."

Words: 673 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

"I would never be happy doing anything else," Mac said truthfully. He could not envision himself in any other profession, any other calling - maybe a brother or two resented the family business, (Mac wouldn't know; this was the sort of thing he didn't want to know, ever,) but that had never been Mac. He loved magical creatures and he had always been around dragons, had always known that he wanted to be a dragon keeper. Maybe it was dangerous, maybe it had very much cut down on his lifespan, but working with dragons was, in Mac's opinion, the best occupation on the planet.

"I took to dragons like a fish to water," Mac said, grimacing at his terrible metaphor. "They may be untameable, and dangerous, and angry - but it's always been the best thing I could be doing." Even if he wasn't a member of the MacFusty family, Mac thought that he would be working with dragons - or at the very least, he would be working with something dangerous. Anything that couldn't kill you was... well, boring. And while that probably wasn't a very healthy way to think, it was how he was - and Mac had long since come to terms with the fact that not everything he did would be good for him.

"Gawain is - twelve? Thirteen? Something like that," he said, "Anyways, he's a sub-adult, and when I took control of the territory here he moved into it. Mordred's been there longer, she's fifteen or sixteen, a full-fledged adult." He was babbling a little bit, but he couldn't help it. Imogen had gotten him started on dragons.

There were three things Mac could talk about forever; dragons, exploding snap, and Arthurian legends. He was fairly certain that Immie knew what she was getting into. "They're not that bad to look after. I mean, they're dragons, of course they're quite a bit of work -" probably, he thought, a bit more work than his daughter had been so far, "- but they could certainly be worse. My brother Angus looks after an old one, she's half-blind and grumpier than you can imagine."

Mac was very, very glad that his assignment was so comparatively sane. He didn't have the energy to take care of one dragon that may or may not have hated everything - Mordred and Gawain were only ornery when they felt like it.

Of course, for all Mac knew, Gus thought that looking after the old wench was fun. He didn't pretend to be able to read minds, all he knew was that he himself probably would not have enjoyed it very much.

"These two won't bite," Mac said, "Well, be careful of course, but neither of them seem very put out. If they were we would've left 'em to their own devices by now." Mac was not an idiot, and was not about to inflict angry dragons on Immie's children! Roy seemed concerned enough by these two, and Mac already did not really trust Leo to be able to behave himself.

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Some things never change, Immie thought as Mac began the mini-rant that usually occurred when one instigated a conversation about dragons, exploding snap, and Athurian legends - though at present, however, Immie's inquiry seemed to have resulted in Mac speaking about his dragons. Quite aware that these rants could usually last several minutes or more, Immie spotted a gray, medium-sized boulder rock in which she backed away slowly from the dragons, pulling her twins with her, until her back collided with the hard, rough stone. After hopping onto the large rock, she pulled Roy onto her lap, leaving Leo at her feet as she politely listened to Mac speak. She would still have to keep an eye out for Leo, though, because she was still uncertain as to how much she should trust him with behaving himself.

Immie could understand Mac's love of taking care of his dragons - it was both dangerous and wonderful at the same time. It also helped that dragons were truly beautiful and majestic creatures, quite dangerous but also harmless as long as a person knew how to handle one. There was also the thrill of knowing that you are taking care of a species that most people would not even approach within a five mile radius for fear that they would be harmed. Once again, Immie had to envy Mac's occupation. Being a dragonkeeper sounded rather wonderful to her ears, and she felt as if she were missing out.

"Oh, certainly," Immie answered after Mac had mentioned that his elder brother handled a cantankerously blind dragon, "It could be much, much worse, but I must admit that I would also be quite grouchy had my vision began failing me." She giggled at her words as Roy proceeded to lay his head upon his mother's shoulder, and Immie responded by resting her own head on her sons, closing her eyes as she pressed a loving kiss to his dark hair. She really did love her children. She may not show it often, but they truly were the best part of her life, and the only mistake that she did not regret.

"See, baby," Immie cooed to Roy in reassurance, aware that he was still quite weary of the Hebridean dragons before him, "they won't bite. They look menacing, certainly, but they won't cause you any harm. Mac knows better than to inflict you and your brother to angry dragons - he does have at least have some common sense." Her voice took on a teasing tone at the end of her words, and she lifted her head from Roy's to gaze back at Mac, the teasing evident in her eyes.

She barely even noticed that Leo had moved from his spot.

Words: 469 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

"If I ever go blind," Mac said, "I plan on pitching a very, very long fit."

Of course, it wouldn't actually be very long - Mac knew that if he went blind, he would probably die in a dragon-or-cliff related accident soon afterwards. He worked with dragons and he lived on an island; these were not circumstances that lent themselves to frailty, and neither was his personality.

Mac would be perfectly content to die young, actually - die young and become like a legend, Mac MacFusty, dragonkeeper extraordinaire. Perhaps he was exaggerating things - Mac thought about it, and it was more likely he would become known as 'that stubborn moron that got his ass killed' - but it was a nice thought, anyways, even if he knew that he would never actually do anything to make it happen.

He would also be content to be known as Mac MacFusty, stubborn fuck that lived far too long. Just as long as people were remembering him.

"Hey!" he said, "If Ah didn't have any common sense, I would've accidentally blown myself up in a tragic exploding-snap related accident ages ago." Either that or he was just lucky. Mac supposed that could have been the case. At the very least, he had all of his limbs and senses pretty much entirely intact, and yes there were scars here and there but that was quite common to MacFustys.

Mac would have bet that it was common to Van Helsings, too, at least the adult ones.

He almost didn't notice Leo approaching the dragons - except then he did, and Mac very carefully slid his eyes over to the dragons themselves. Mordred's eyes were lidded - she was tired, which was probably why she was behaving herself so well - but Gawain was eyeing the boy with mild interest.

Was it good interest, or bad interest? Mac honestly had no idea which - dragons were not domesticated creatures, and even he could not read them that well - but he did know that he really did not want Leo making any sudden movements at that moment.

"Leo?" Mac called, "I know they're fascinatin' and all, but yer gonna need to move very, slowly back to me and your mother, alright? Like she said, ye cannae play Quidditch if yer dead, and I've never known Imogen Van Helsing to be a liar."

Gawain sneezed and Mac stared intently at Leo, willing the boy to listen - they were docile but dragons, and dragons could only be messed with by people who knew what they were doing.

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Immie shook her head in amusement at Mac's words. She was certain that she would have reacted to failing vision in a manner rather similar to Mac's, but she believed that her temper would be far worse than his since he most likely did not have the misfortune of his magic wrecking havoc whenever he was enraged or irritated. According to one of her favorite professors at Hogwarts, wandless magic was extremely rare, but when a particular witch or wizard in possession of strong magical capabilities came along, their magic would unintentionally display itself in the forms of windows shattering, objects being set aflame, and so forth. However, learning how to manage wandless magic all of the time required much energy and effort, and Immie was uncertain as to whether or not she possessed the strength the lessons took to properly use her magic without wielding a wand. She was also afraid that if she took to wandless magic, her own wand would refuse to function properly.

"Oh, very true," Immie acquiesced, nodding solemnly if not somewhat amusedly. Immie had always found Mac's obsession with Exploding Snap to be rather entertaining, and rather than recoil from the spontaneous flames that were often involved during the game, she would instead laugh. During the brief amount of time in which Immie had known Mac in school (which was only for a year during her fourth when he had been in his final year of schooling, unfortunately), the two youngsters had played so much Exploding Snap that by the end of the year, excessive amounts of burned or charred cards could be found dotted about the Gryffindor Common Room. It also became common knowledge amongst the Gryffindors that should anyone inquire as to whom had been playing Exploding Snap, the person would inevitably answer, "It was MacFusty and Van Helsing, as usual."

However, before she could prompt a conversation in which allow she and Mac to reflect upon their school days, she became aware of the fact that the elder of her twins was not where she had expected him to be; rather, he was much more close to danger than she would like. With her heart thudding within her chest from anxiousness, a little afraid that perhaps her son would somehow provoke the presently rather docile dragons and as a result get himself injured, or worse, killed (she definitely did not desire for that occurrence to be upon her conscience), Immie authoritatively said, "Leo, please come back; I assure you that you will greatly benefit from listening to Mac and I. Being mauled by a dragon is not a pleasant experience."

Leo turned his hazel eyes, which much resembled that of his mother's, towards his family and Mac, a serious expression upon his young face as if he were determining his options of whether to listen or not to listen. Immie had seen this similar facial expression multiple times during various situations, and she was perfectly aware of which option he nearly always chose. "Leonard!," she said sharply, her eyes burning into her son's little form as she firmly continued, "Come back here now." Her anxiousness was increasing the longer Gawain continued to gaze intently down at Leo, but she refused to let her distress show for fear of losing the firm disposition she needed to control Leo (Roy was an entirely different matter - he barely needed disciplining at all).

Leo's round eyes swiveled back and forth between Immie and the dragons, once again appearing as if he were weighing his options of what he should do. Finally, however, the young boy defeatedly plopped himself down upon the earth, pulling his little legs up to his chest and once again gazing at Gawain in wonder with Gawain staring right back. Somewhat relieved, but still nervous at how close Leo was sitting near the dragons, Immie bit her lip before curiously inquiring of Mac, "Is he safe right there? I mean, that's about as close as we are going to get when it comes to him listening to demands, unless we take matters into our own hands and bring him back kicking and screaming, of course."

Words: 703 | Tag: Macbook | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

• Mac was relieved to see that Leo had decided to listen. Perhaps Immie's son was not listening nearly as well as Mac had wanted him to, but he had not approached the dragons more, and so Mac was content to sit on the ground and watch Mordred and Gawain with the rest of them.
  
  "He should be okay," Mac said, "They seem not to mind him at the moment." And the second they did start minding - well, that was when the kicking and screaming part would begin. Mac was not letting anyone die today, particularly not one of the sons of his very good friend, regardless of whether or not Leo wanted to do his best to get himself eaten.
  
  Mordred shifted to her feet, disentangling herself from Gawain and snorting at him. Mac casually slipped his wand out of his pocket. Mordred did not seem to mind Leo yet, but he was still utterly nervous - he knew as well as anyone how lethal Hebridean Blacks could be - but instead she leaped from the ground and into the air, flying off and landing somewhere else on the island with an audible crash.
  
  Mac grinned. "Looks like she's done for the day, kids," he said, fully expecting Gawain to follow her momentarily. He had hardly made his prediction when Gawain similarly roused himself, sneezed once more - sparks flew from his nostrils - and took off in a different direction from Mordred, flying further away until he was merely a massive black form in the sky that circled lower and landed.
  
  Mac grinned again and stood up, brushing the dirt off of the back of his trousers. "Well," he called to Immie, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand to see if he could see either dragon anymore. He couldn't, and he didn't think any of them really felt like hunting for them - or at least he didn't - so that meant that they were about done here.
  
  "I'm counting that as a success."
  
  No one had almost gotten bitten, nothing had caught on fire; this was about the most one could ever expect from a pair of dragons. He knew that not every encounter with dragons would be this successful, and he was quite glad that the boys' first one had been, apart from the little blip of Leo deciding to approach them and even that had not gone too badly. Mac was quite content.
  
  He walked over to the still-sitting form of Leo and offered the child a hand. "C'mon, it's time to go back," he said, "I believe I promised the two of you a good story?"

  

[Imogen MacFusty]

Immie still wasn't wholly convinced that her son would be safe from harm with how close he was to the dragons, but she decided to take Mac's word for it. Leo could be difficult when it came to obeying demands, after all, and Immie sure as hell did not desire for her son to cause a scene in front of Mac. It did not particularly matter whether or not Mac was a good friend or whether he was a complete stranger, it was still quite embarrassing to have to discipline her son in another's presence. Fortunately for Immie, however, her children were only her children to other people when she announced them as such - otherwise they were perceived to be her younger brothers, so there were a minimal amount of distractions whenever she and her sons ventured out in public together, which was very rare.

Immie watched on in contented awe as Gawain and Mordred decided that they have had enough company and being ogled at for the day, and prepared to fly into the sky to some other unknown destination. She quite enjoyed seeing Mac's dragons and she was fervently hoping that she would one day observe them again, except perhaps without the presence of her children as she could fully relish in the experience without constantly worrying herself that one of her children could get themselves injured. Immie's tightened her grip about Roy's little form as one after the other, the two dragons lifted off into the air and landed with a loud crash somewhere nearby.

"It did proceed rather smoothly," Immie agreed as she lifted Roy off of her lap and put him gently upon the ground before jumping off the large boulder herself, grabbing Roy's little hand in hers in the process. Yes, her children's first exposure to a dragon had gone much more smoothly than she had anticipated (well, as smooth as a situation could be when Leo Van Helsing was involved, of course - honestly, the elder of her twin boys was going to be the death of her), and for that she was grateful for it meant that they would have a memorable experience. Looking down at Roy, she saw that he seemed much more relaxed now that the dragons were no present, and she slightly chuckled. Well, at least one of her sons would have a memorable experience. "We're all done here, baby," she once again cooed to her son as she squeezed his hand in reassurance, "Mac's going to tell you two a story! He's a very good storyteller, you'll like them better than seeing a dragon, I'm sure." Roy just smiled broadly and slightly skipped in response.

As the four of them proceeded to walk back to Mac's spacious home - Leo, she was glad to note, was holding onto Mac's hand without pulling away and running in another direction - the twins talked nonstop. Leo was still hyped from the dragons and was speaking about how one day he was going to train a dragon how to fly with a person on its back, while Roy retorted that that sounded dangerous and that Leo should be careful. Leo went on to mention that perhaps flying on a dragon would be much more thrilling than riding on an actual broomstick (something Immie would openly agree to her son's logic, but she did not desire to encourage such a dangerous activity - she was their mother, for Merlin's sake!), but Roy once again said that it sounded scary and that he wanted no part in his twin brother's future plans.

"They're lively, aren't they?," Immie asked Mac with a laugh as they crossed the threshold of his home. "They frequently have these conversations - one proposes an idea, the other either accepts or rejects it. It is really quite an interesting conversation to witness. Will little Izzie be joining us for storytime?"

Words: 674 | Tag: Mac | Outfit: here

  

[Malcolm Macfusty]

• Mac was rather delighted that Leo was not only listening to him, but holding his hand as they walked back - it meant, to him, that Immie's rowdier son liked him, and sometime today Mac had decided that this was important to him. He didn't know why it would be, beyond the obvious - Leo's mother was a very good friend of his - but he was pleased nonetheless.
  
  "Very lively," Mac agreed, even though he knew that he and his siblings must have been just as bad back when they were kids. Things were quite different when they were looked at from the other side; now all Mac could see was kids they needed to keep track of, keep healthy and happy and clothed and fed and safe, while surely Leo and Roy saw an adventure.
  
  He liked them, though. They were almost as brilliant as their mother was, but he had by no means expected them to somehow eclipse Immie in terms of excellence.
  
  "I think she will," he said after pondering for a moment, "If she's not cryin'. Lemme get her real quick - make yerself at home, please." He vaulted up the stairs and to the nursery, scooping up a half-sleepy Izzie in his arms. She didn't grumble at him and instead grabbed the cloth of his jacket tightly in her hand and continued clutching it as he walked down the stairs, much more slowly this time.
  
  He sat down on his couch next to Imogen, bounced Izzie gently in his arms, and grinned at Leo and Roy, who sat in front of the couch with their legs criss-crossed.
  
  Now, what to tell them? There was practically an almanac of stories in his head, because there were a lot of Arthurian legends, and Mac loved them so.
  
  "Before I begin," he said, "I'll have you boys know that these are muggle stories - Merlin does some things that a wizard couldn't, and a wizard could do things that would have helped Merlin out a lot. Jest keep that in mind as I tell the tale."
  
  That still hadn't answered his main dilemma. Finally, after a few more seconds of wonder, it came to him.
  
  "King Uther Pendragon was ruler of all of Camelot," Mac said. "He was a decent king, as far as kings go - neither agressive nor stupid - but he certainly could have been better - all kings could be better!"
  
  "Uther did, however, have a problem. His true born heir was missing, so no one stood to inherit. Luckily, Merlin the great wizard had an idea."
  
  "He stuck a sword in a stone, and made it so that whoever pulled the sword out would be heir to Camelot. An easy task, right? But no one, no matter how strong they were, could ever get it out. Practically everyone tried to."
  
  "Including a boy named Arthur..."