#Leo will be given the Eloise treatment here

[myokk]

The Babbit siblings, Leonard & Eloise 🫶

Info about their dynamics/more about Leo:

This is also super dramatic😆 idk what sort of mood I was in when I made all of this up🙏

He’s one year older than Eloise. Ever since she was born, he’s been fiercely protective of her and loves her so much. His first year at Hogwarts, he kept sending her long letters about how amazing it was and how he was excited to show her everything the following year (even though it was all but assumed she was a squib, he still believed she would show magic & be admitted). Leonard was going to be such a proud big brother😭😭 not embarrassed about her at all but showing her off etc😭😭😭😭 The summer after his first year was the worst of his life. It was the summer Eloise was exiled from their family….he witnessed the whole thing…their mom completely lost it (á la Bellatrix) and would have killed Eloise if their father hadn’t intervened on time (but their father had watched and let it get to that point😔). Leo was left alone with a dying little sister and he didn’t know how to help her….he’d only JUST finished his first year of Hogwarts…and then she was taken away and their parents pretended like she had never existed. He had to as well…what else could a 12-year-old who’d been taught by birth to obey his parents do??

(it was IMPOSSIBLE to forget her…and yet he had to try bc the parents are really manipulative and emotionally abusive…and he was always raised to be the perfect son) And then when he returned to Hogwarts…he saw two twins who were also quiet and reminded him a lot of his sister. Their parents had just died and he kind of put his energy that he had been going to use to show Eloise everything etc into them and he became really close with them & Ominis. He and Ominis were also close because they have some experiences in common & honestly at the end of the day there isn’t that much difference in their ages) But then…after Anne was cursed Leo was DEVASTATED. He was going to lose another girl who was like a sister to him….bc of his parents he had never told them about Eloise (nobody except their family knew about her existence) and so he and Sebastian got into a HUGE fight. Because Sebastian had never heard of Eloise, when he saw that Leo was just as devastated as HE was… there was just no way that Leo could understand what he was going through, and Leo had no right to be affected as much as HE WAS😤

Like the dumb teenage boys they are, they couldn’t deal with their big emotions (Leo is also a lot like Eloise in that aspect probably bc of their parents…pushing away any uncomfortable emotions instead of dealing with them, until it builds and builds and he just explodes when they’re too much) and he and Sebastian took it out on each other and instead of talking they had a duel that almost killed each other😤😭😤😭 ever since then they’ve hated each other with a passion.

Pffffffff Eloise had no idea….she was really getting along with Sebastian but also wasn’t saying her last name at all and so the two of them had already started to kind of be friends before Sebastian found out that she was LEO’S SISTER😫😤😤 then he hated her too!! Bc he thought that she was in with her brother and they had worked together to TRICK HIM like a little evil inside joke…playing with Sebastian and his emotions like the previous yesr😔😔😔 (Obviously wasn’t the case, Sebastian just jumps to conclusions without thinking which is ALSO what happened when he and Leo had their huge fight😤)

But yeah now that Eloise is back Leo doesn’t know what to do….he recognized her immediately when she walked in the Great Hall to be sorted…🤯🤯 but he isn’t good with feeling emotions and neither is she and neither of them know how to recreate the close relationship they had as children😫😫

Leo is serious, quiet, bad with emotions, but when he lets someone in they are a part of his life forever (yes even Sebastian the dumbass)

Some excerpts from my fic that involve Leo 💓 it’s Eloise/Sebastian alternating POV, so this is all Eloise’s perspective:

“Leo had changed since Eloise last saw him. Of course he had, she thought to herself. It had been five years, after all. The same unruly black curls, same eyes. And yet…he almost seemed a stranger to her. He was taller, face more angular and defined than it had been at thirteen. Voice deeper. But, the expression of vulnerability and guilt written all over his face was something she recognized well. It was the same expression that he had the last time he saw her, the face she sometimes saw before falling asleep. Just as quickly as it flashed across his face however, it was gone, hidden behind a stony exterior. His expression hardened and he sat down just as quickly as he had stood up, averting his eyes. The students sitting around him were looking between the two of them curiously but before Eloise could begin to process this new situation, she felt a gentle push on her shoulder.”

“Her relationship with her brother had always had an undercurrent of fear running through it. No matter how hard she tried as a child, there was always something she had done wrong, and Leo was always there to protect her. Or try to, anyway. The two of them had always lived under the shadow of their parents’ abuse and didn’t know any other way of relating to each other.

But here, with Anne, Leo was murmuring apologies into her hair as she cried, reassuring and comforting her in a way he had never been able to with his own sister.

Eloise felt sick. Sick at seeing them, sick at her own jealousy. Had Leo replaced her with Anne - that year when Eloise was supposed to join Hogwarts - to try and cover the bitter disappointment of not being able to proudly show off his younger sister? They had spent so many nights that summer before her Hogwarts letter never came, sneaking out to the garden late at night, Leo reassuring her that she would be fine and telling her about all of the magic and wonder at Hogwarts that was waiting for her. He promised her that she could sit with him on the train, that he wouldn’t be embarrassed by her.

And then…

Turning away from the two of them, Eloise headed towards the apples. She hated the emotions roiling around inside of her. She should be happy. She had saved Anne, and now things were going to go back to normal, how they were before she arrived. Eloise trailed her hand on the back of the couch, trying to focus on the feeling of soft velvet, calm her racing emotions.”

If you read all of this….You’re amazing & I love you🥹💓🥹💓 tbh I have MORE about the two of them & their family, but this was already getting so long😵‍💫

[achliegh]

Bronze

Last chapter before the epilogue, it's been a long time coming, hope you like it. :)

Explaining:

Italics is letter

Normal is memory

TW/CW: Discussions of death, miliatry training, smut, cringy jokes, underage drinking, dumb choices, swearing, hospitals, injuries and death caused by someone close, domestic abuse, blood, unfair treatment from police, false alligations.

Beta: @walking-crisis

Some Characters belong to @lumosinlove

Chapter 9:

One of Me

Clayton,

I know I haven’t written, I’m sitting here out on the porch tonight for a smoke and watching the stars like we used to do together. It was a bit cloudy but I could always pick out Polaris, or the North Star as you were taught in school. It’s a guide you know, always showing people the way.

Your grandmother always taught me that Polaris leads the way into your hearts desires and life passions, but it can also guide the spirits to heaven. I wonder if I ever told you that.

Noelle and Thomas knock on the door once, having it swing open by the second knock. Judy gulfs them both in a tight hug and holds them there for a moment. They hold her back just as tight.

Everyone was so worried.

Judy left them without another word. Backing away to show, guiding her arm to the basement door where Clay’s room is. They smile at her taking their backpacks and boxes to his room. Garland either wasn’t around or he was smoking on the back porch, from what Judy has told them he hasn’t written to Clay yet and if they were being honest there really wasn’t a point if he wasn’t going to answer.

They walked down the slightly creaky steps to the cool basement, it was nicely decorated down here. A lot of Clay was in the decoration so they were guessing he was the sole designer. There were three rooms down here in Clay’s bedroom, the room that holds all his finds that he has given to people over the years, mostly his parents. Then there was a small bathroom. They go into his room and set their bags on the desk, Noelle slowly sits on his bed and runs her hands over his comforter wondering if it still smells like him. Thomas walks over to the dresser to look at the goofy pictures of Clay and Leo in middle and highschool, they both looked dorky and awkward but it made the pictures all that more special.

He wonders if he could take some back with him…

Back home.

I’m not very good at writing like this, I haven’t written in a long time. My hands are sore all the time from working but I needed to write to you because something twinges in my chest every time I am reminded of you. Which is all the time. Your mother has started pulling out old picture books to send some to Noelle and Thomas while deciding which to keep at home. So far it has been anything from when you were a baby has stayed home and anything from when you were 14 and older has gone to them.

Your mother knows something.

They make their way out of Clay’s room after a few moments of taking everything in once again. They have been in this room many times but never just the two of them, it almost felt like they were walking sacred ground.

Linking hands they walk over to the door just across the hall, this was the room where all his treasures lie. Clay is a bit like a dragon if you really think about it, collecting valuable things to put into a room. Unlike a dragon though, these items weren’t for himself. He never got anything for himself really, unless he felt like he earned it somehow.

They open the door to find an organized mess, very Clayton. They set their boxes down on a table that has little ballerina figurines on it with name tags. One was Judy, one had Noelle, one had Katie and one with a messed up face had Eloise on it. Noelle has never seen this little figurine before, picking it up was rather heavy, looking at the face she realizes why this one was chosen for her. It looked a bit like her with the green eyes and dark hair. She sadly smiles at it and gently sets it back down.

Thomas pulls Clay’s little record player suitcase out of his box and sets it up on the ground next to a plug in where he places Clay's favorite record on it. You would think it would be an old country album but really it was Lil Nas X’s album Montero. It was his absolute favorite, they remember him getting it delivered and playing it so often Noelle and Thomas learned the words when they didn’t even mean to.

The song that reminded them both of Clay was One of Me, they didn’t know why it reminded them of him but it was a rather… sad song. Clay isn’t really a sad person but he has been through some sad times. They have seen the best and worst of him.

Starting the album from the beginning they sit next to each other and start pulling various items out of their boxes.

The first item Thomas pulls out is actually the jersey that Clay bought to go to his first ever hockey game when he was trying to help Leo get out of his own head. Noelle's first item was a picture of William in a little cowboy hat that Clay made for him after she suggested making hats. That was back when Clay was at home everyday by himself.

He must have been so lonely.

I guess I need to get to the point of why I’m writing after all this time…

I’m proud of you son.

Even if going into the military was the very last thing I ever wanted you to do.

I’m proud to call you my son.

I wish I could have told you this before you left for the last time. But I wanted to be able to tell you when you got home off your first deployment.

I’m proud of you everyday and have been since the day we adopted you as that small little baby, looking lost until you figured out you were home.

One of Me came on as they started getting to the bottoms of their boxes, having pulled out everything from pebbles that were in odd shapes to sticks that looked like wands from his favorite fantasy series to pictures Clay had either taken of them together, or of special moments Clay wanted them to remember forever.

The last things they pulled out of the boxes were exactly the same thing, it was a small brown leather box that was smaller than the palm of their hands. Sharing a look of confusion, they had never seen this before. They usually were shown everything that went into the boxes before they went in because Clay would tell them the meanings of everything so they would understand why it was in there. Like the little Tupperware of water in Thomas’ box that was Clay’s first snow with them and the envelope with blades of grass in Noelle's box from when she taught him how to use a lawnmower that wasn’t one you sit on for the first time.

They decided to open the boxes together as the piano was still ringing from the record player.

I just wanted to say as your father.

They opened the boxes.

That you are the biggest ray of light in my life.

Inside were lockets.

You are the Polaris that lead me to the right direction in my life.

They were oval shaped, on a thin chain for Noelle, a thick one for Thomas.

I love you, son.

They opened them.

I wouldn’t give you up for anything.

Inside were pictures. Left side was of the three of them, Noelle and Thomas asleep with Clay smiling in the middle of them on the back of the pickup the night before he left for Seal training. On the right was a picture of Clay from his first snow, smiling beautifully wide and happy at the sky. There was a little button on the side where the locket latches. Clicking it, it opened to show a picture of Thomas lovingly looking at Noelle as she talked excitedly with someone out of frame and the other was just empty with a little sticker inside that read.

‘For Our Future.’

Love,

Your proud father, Garland Clayton Bruss.