#francis volunteers his aunts house but it's too tied to julian so she takes them to her place in chicago

[itmeansofthesea]

okay but hear me out: au where henry winter has an older sister who takes none of his bullshit.

she decides to visit hampden one day because she hasn’t seen him in a while. she’s a genius and went to hampden, too, and speaks all the languages, but he hasn’t been answering the damned phone so off she goes. she asks someone to point her in the direction of henry’s place. she waltzes in while him, francis, charles, camilla, and bunny are planning this bacchanal. henry sees her. 

it’s the first time the crew has ever seen him petrified with fear.

her eyes flash.

“henry winter. you better NOT BE TRYING TO PULL THIS BACCHANAL BULL A G A I N.” 

and everyone just looks at him, jaws dropped like “... AGAIN?!?!?”

and she’s like “oh yeah he tried this shit when he was like 13. this is not a new fascination of his. wait a second. does julian morrow still work here?”

henry hasn’t said a word. he’s too paralyzed. 

camilla speaks up like “...yes...”

sister starts muttering under her breath like “so help me zeus when i get my hands on that” and then they tune her out because they’re too afraid to hear whatever she’s about to say and they’re like:

“dude, who the hell is she? where did she come from? how does she know julian?”

and he’s all “sister. hell. student.”

and she starts cleaning shit and then yells at everybody to start helping her clean. she gets all the liquor out of there and starts making the kids some dinner because athena only knows they don’t know how to take care of themselves.

francis gets the nerve to ask her at dinner “so... julian...”

and she just sighs like “yeah. him. i told henry to watch out for him, but he’s irresistible. i know. but he used my class just like he’s using you now. he’s too much of a yellow-livered coward to actually do this shit himself, so he tries to get his students to do it so that he can live vicariously. i was afraid of this. i really was. it’s why i told mom and dad that you didn’t need to come here.”

and henry’s all “wait. i thought you did it because you wanted to be special.”

and she’s like “henry. no. i’m so damned proud of you. but this place led me to dark places. i barely made it out. i knew if you got into julian’s clutches you wouldn’t be able to claw your way out. there was one sane person in my class, but when you told me all about your friends...” her breath hitches and she gets tears in her eyes “you all want it too badly. want him too much. you’re his perfect class. his perfect experiment. when you stopped answering my calls i was afraid that maybe i was too late. as long as you kept answering i knew there was hope that you hadn’t totally given in yet. but then you stopped. and i knew.” 

henry just looks at her. jaw dropped.

“so that’s why you insisted on the calls. even though you’d never been one to keep in contact before.”

“yes.”

“but why save me?”

“because you’re my baby brother. i love you. i will always love you. and i am so proud of you for making it this far. but henry. we gotta get you outta here. all of you outta here. and then, i’m coming for julian.”