There Goes The Neighbourhood || Julia

Sunday, January 6, 1923
Maddox's private apartment
The night of the Spellcaster's Drill; 11:42 PM

Knock knock.

Oh for the love of God.

Maddox groaned at the sound of the knocking, not needing a glance at his clock to know that it was too late for whatever nonsense any of his Gryffindors may have brought to him. Whatever it was, shy of someone's limb falling off or any of them showing up with gaping holes in places they shouldn't be, would earn them a trip right back to their dorm. Dramatic. They were dramatic and had collectively cost him enough sleep.

A peaceful night didn't sound like too much to ask for. It felt like something he was owed.

Maddox walked by the couch on which Benji played with a hyper Evander and a bright-eyed Jude. Neither boy looked close to sleep; neither looked ready to go gentle into that sweet night. It may have become his problem had the man not given the Hufflepuff an overnight detention. His...darling son had taken the younger boys on a sugar quest and had thought it good enough to drop them back off for him to deal with. Absolutely not. Benji would be exhausted during his classes come morning if he couldn't convince the boys to sleep, but that sounded like a problem the boy should've thought of before indulging his brothers.

Knock knock.

"Alright, alright," he muttered as he approached the door. His scowl was fitted in place, wanting to assure anyone on the other side that this was, in fact, a bad time and that they would, without question, have to come back in the morning.

He moved through the door back into his office, where he pried that door open. "What could you possibly wa—?"

Julia?

Maddox slumped against the door's frame, rubbing lightly at his eyes. "Fancy seeing you all the way up here." He barely managed to suppress the yawn, his gaze lazily walking her up and down. "Whatever it is, tell me it can wait for morning and you'll make me the happiest man."

His wife, God bless her, a real favourite, had a knack for finding him work at the least opportune times, and he really wasn't interested in hearing what any of his Gryffindors may or may not have done in her territory.

She was capable of doling out punishment on her own.

It had been her brilliant idea that let him keep both boys after she heard what he'd allowed Benji to do.

The squealing that came from the small private apartment would have been all the proof she needed that she'd made the right choice – for her. This was nothing short of a small nightmare from which he was waiting to wake up. It was a miracle Kathryn had managed to sleep through it, but given that she'd already awoken once to turn the lights off, the man knew he was on borrowed time before she rose again. At this rate, no one would be rested come morning.

His night had chosen violence, and he was the hapless victim who managed to end up with four of their five children at once.

Her husband, Merlin love him, was an idiot.

Something - likely exhaustion - had crawled up his spine and lodged itself in his brain, taking hold of his good sense and letting him believe that Benji, their most reckless and hair-brained child, was a good babysitter for his little brothers. Together, with Ruth, Julia was fine to allow her eldest son to watch the little ones. Backup was always a good plan, and while her boy wasn't the most responsible when it came to childcare, he did generally well when his girlfriend was his cohort.

Alone? Julia would never allow it. Not because she thought she'd get them hurt. Benji knew good and well how to keep small children alive, having done it for Kathryn for years. Rather, he was the 'fun brother', and what that meant was that he was happy to take his nearly four-year old and eight-month-old brothers off for a bit of an unsupervised adventure.

Luckily, this time, it hadn't been brooms. It was only a ridiculous sugar high, but her husband should have known better. It was why, the moment Benji had attempted to return a very hyper infant with wide blue eyes and squeal that shattered eardrums, she'd refused and pointed him in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

Maddox's ill-advised decision, Maddox's consequences.

That had been at around seven in the evening. Surely by now, the boys were down for the count. A warm bottle for Jude and plenty of activity for Evander and she didn't doubt they were both sleeping soundly, the sugar having worn itself down into an effective crash.

That meant, she could retrieve an apology out of her husband...and more if his apology came with enough sincerity and perhaps that cheeky smile he wore when he knew he'd earned her irritation.

Julia was not so unreasonable that she couldn't be persuaded into forgiveness. She was, in fact, deeply reasonable when he smelled of vetiver and put on that sarcastic charm that always won her over. Even moreso when he put his hands on her before opening his mouth.

The apology would matter, certainly, and Maddox had surely learned by now that Julia was never above contrition in the many, many different forms it could take.

Knock knock.

She waited, knocking a second time when he didn't answer after a few moments. She could hear him behind the door, muttering to himself about something or other, likely about how harassed he always found himself now that he was HoH.

She'd told him to take the Slytherins if he wanted peace, but Gryffindors were going to Gryffindor.

"Fancy seeing you all the way up here."

"Hmmm," she hummed, tilting her head slightly as he leaned on the doorframe, her own eyes settled on his lips even as he looked her up and down. Was there ever a time when Maddox didn't appeal to her womanly gaze? Hardly. He only seemed to get better and better every time she saw him, despite how much more often he annoyed her as her husband than he ever had as her friend.

"Whatever it is, tell me it can wait for morning and you'll make me the happiest man."

A sudden shout of surprise from beyond his office and Evander's very familiar voice screaming, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!" had her perking her eyebrows at him. Amusement crossed her features as she moved closer, her finger fiddling with one of the buttons on his shirt.

"Well, I was coming up here to retrieve your apology and offer to make you the happiest man...now," her soft voice came playfully, "But I hear our son is still wide awake and your consequences have found a second wind."

She smiled, deep enough for her dimples to show. "C'mon sunshine," she said, patting his chest softly as she tried to step around him, "I'll help you get them to bed."

Never let it be said that Julia didn't love Maddox Barlowe.

Maddox had seen that look in his wife's eyes enough times to know what it meant. Understanding only compounded his disappointment when those inevitable words fell from her lips.

"But I hear our son is still wide awake and your consequences have found a second wind."

He didn't need her to remind him about consequences or the way they seemed to be spiralling outward. No sleep, he could grin and bear. If it came to it, he could come out here to his office and silence the space enough to find some solace. Throw a night of...contentment into his face before retracting because of a screaming 3-year-old? "Cruel and unusual punishment," he grumbled, his languid as it caressed each word. "Something tells me you came to gloat."

He could certainly do without that, much as he enjoyed the view and the thought she'd come all that way for little old him. Intent didn't matter so much anymore, not now that she'd heard Evander's screams.

Maddox didn't know what it was about that little boy that could so completely capture his wife's attention, but he knew a losing battle when he saw one.

"C'mon, sunshine."

Hm?

"I'll help you get them to bed."

"Sur—"

It took a second and a pat on the cheek to wake him to the words his wife had spoken and, even more, to their implications. How quickly the sleep fled, how frivolous the thoughts of curling up on the couch suddenly became. The matter required some degree of urgency from him. It truly was turning into an unfortunate night. Maddox stuck his arm out, blocking the entrance.

"No need," he said, never sparing a glance behind him.

Screaming children? He'd never heard of them. His lips curled at their corners, enough to resemble a tired smirk. "Don't trouble yourself, love. You said it yourself, the consequences of my actions have come to find me," in more ways than he was prepared to admit. "No sense in us both suffering."

"Daaadddddyyyyy!"

"Coming," he called over his shoulders, blue eyes still locked onto those honey browns.

"Benji's not sharing, daddy! He's not sharing Jude!"

The man groaned, the sound a low rumbling in his chest. He took a short breath before remembering he was meant to be smiling. There, that was better. "They were just heading to bed, and you should be too. Another full day of being mother to an entire house that keep mistaking each other for science experiments. It's hard work, I hear." Taking her by the shoulders, Maddox spun her to face the corridor again. Dropping a quick kiss at the base of her neck, he nudged her to take a step.

"I'll see you at breakfast."

“Now, now. When have I ever gloated?”

Julia was a woman of simple pleasures. Whether interpreting old texts, studying ancient artifacts, practicing lesser-known magic, or besting her husband in the game of parenthood, she was certainly not a woman who demanded much. Knowing Maddox was only reaping what he had sown brought her less pleasure than what she had sought when she’d made the trek up here.

Color her disappointed to realize she’d have to settle for the lesser victory.

“No need.”

No need? Julia stopped, not of her own accord but his, as his arm blocked the doorway. “What are you doing?” She pushed gently against his arm, ignoring his insistence that he handle his consequences on his own. Prior to coming up here, she would have agreed, but now that she was here, there was no reason not to help. Especially when her sweet boy’s voice called for Maddox, insisting…Benji….wasn’t sharing…Jude.

“Why is Benji here?” She looked up at him, her amusement turning into expectation for an answer. “He should be asleep. He has a potions exam tomorrow.” Her eyebrows raised at her husband, as her arms crossed over her chest. “I told him to give the boys to you.”

Maddox was in for a light telling-off. While Julia agreed their eldest was partly to blame for the chaos on a school night, Maddox had been the one to encourage him. Perhaps not directly to the kitchens, but enough so that they now found themselves in this little fiasco.

From beyond the door, she heard Jude suddenly wail, a long-suffering cry that signaled he was finally crashing and desperate for sleep. Her poor baby. A quick nurse and he’d be out. Evander would only need a few minutes of being held and loved on, and he’d be out like a light too.

Before she could insist he let her by, he suddenly spun her in the opposite direction with a consolatory kiss on her neck.

“See you at breakfast.”

Pardon? “Have you lost your mind?” Julia asked, turning back around and ducking quickly beneath his arm. She looked over her shoulder as she marched through his office, making her way to the door that led to his private apartment. “What’s gotten into you? Stop being ridiculous and let’s get them down.”

When had she ever gloated? It was a question that didn't need an answer to be justified. His wife, while having never attended Hogwarts, would've made for one of the smuggest Ravenclaws whenever she was right. She certainly was here. It had been a mistake leaving Benji with the boys, a costly mistake that he didn't see himself repeating. Nearly an adult and still didn't know the dos and don'ts of children that most would consider common sense.

It wasn't a skill the boy innately lacked, just one he often chose to toss to the wind because consequences, especially when they weren't immediately staring him in the face, didn't exist. Had he known Ruth would be heading back to the hospital wing after her run in the drill, there was a part of him that liked to think he would've reconsidered.

Maybe.

Too late for all the what-ifs now. The boys were loud, and Julia was insisting on becoming his saviour at exactly the worst time.

“Why is Benji here?”

Sigh.

“He should be asleep. He has a potions exam tomorrow. I told him to give the boys to you.”

"Benji should've thought about his exam before he fed the boys all that he did. Actions have consequences. If he learns he can do it, then return them to us and go off to bed, he'll keep doing it, and we'll continue being here." Him sleep-deprived and apparently not getting laid. They couldn't very well have that, now could they? His eyes were burning, his muscles were seconds from giving out and now he had a disgruntled wife to add to his list of grievances. It was becoming increasingly clear that 'peace' would not be an option.

She ducked under his arm and was off before he could continue making the case for leaving Benji to the detention he was adamant he would be serving.

Merlin's beard.

“What’s gotten into you? Stop being ridiculous and let’s get them down.”

Maddox closed the distance quickly, his strides longer than hers. This time, he held her firmly by her arm. It wasn't enough to bruise, just enough to stop the stubborn woman from bulldozing her way into his private apartment and finding things that might make her even less amenable to a mutual happy ending at a later point in the week.

In the next room, the light suddenly went off, causing the man to groan as he realised his problems were compounding and the biggest one had just re-entered the equation.

It flicked back on.

"Cut it out, Katie. They can't help that they're loud, but you can't be turning the lights off."

The lights went off again.

Then on.

"Katie! Bad, Katie! No! Daddy said leave the lights!"

Back off.

Back on.

Evander screamed his frustrations, joining Jude in his own little fatigued explosion. The temper was the surest sign he was ready for sleep.

"Ev," came the patient voice of the older brother. "No shoving. See the lights are back on."

"But she can't turn off the lights! She can't! Daddy said so! GO TO BED, KATIE!"

"Shhh, not so loud."

"BED BED BED, KATIE!"

There was a soft click that preceded the door swinging open. The man's blood ran cold as the little blonde appeared, expression sullen, eyes sunken from the poor night of sleep she'd had so far and a look of expectation for him to come and fix the impossible when he'd already fallen into his own trouble. It didn't take her long to notice her mother standing there. Suddenly, even Kathryn was very...very awake.

Taking a step back, their daughter swung the door shut, deciding whatever trouble lay on the other side of that door was worth avoiding what now stood on this side with him.

"As I've said," Maddox tried, keeping his voice as level as he could. Fucking hell. "There's really no need. Head back to bed and I'll see you in the morning."

He turned her again, already knowing the battle was lost.

Perhaps her son should have thought of all that, but Maddox should have thought better of his part too. She was fine acquiescing the small concession that Benji should have to face consequences, but not at the expense of her babies' sleep. Some battles weren't worth fighting, and they could discuss better decision-making with Benji tomorrow.

She was nearly to the door that led to his apartment, when Maddox took hold of her arm, stopping her in her tracks. Her eyebrows furrowed, confusion finally making its way across her features as she stared up at him, not understanding why he was being so difficult about her offering help. The man had never been one to turn down childcare, especially when he looked as exhausted as he did now. The dark circles under his eyes and the slight slump of his shoulders told her he was well-past the plane of tempered consciousness he normally existed upon.

"Maddox - "

"Cut it out, Katie. They can't help that they're loud, but you can't be turning the lights off."

Confusion gave way to understanding, her gaze moving slowly from her husband to the crack beneath the door where the lights flicked on and off.

"Katie! Bad, Katie! No! Daddy said leave the lights!"

On the lights flicked again, before they were turned back off. Julia's eyes didn't move from the conflict of light and dark, allowing the emotions that were slowly trickling outward from her chest to take over.

Kathryn was here. Sleeping. Not in her dorm, where she should be.

Her children's voices flew back and forth, muffled behind the door as her youngest wailed, and when the door clicked softly, her gaze rose from the bottom of the door to midway, catching the soft blue eyes of her daughter. Well, there was the evidence right there in front of her. There'd be no denying from Maddox's end which Katie it was or that she'd imagined it all.

When the door closed once more, Maddox attempted to turn her around again, ushering her back towards the hallway, but she yanked her arm from his, brown eyes flashing as she turned back to him.

"As I've said. There's really no need. Head back to bed and I'll see you in the morning."

She ignored it. She wouldn't be going anywhere. "Maddox," she said quietly, but the chill in her voice unmistakable, "Kathryn should be in her dormitory, where she's been sleeping for the past four months." Her words came through gritted teeth. "You know how difficult it was for me and her to make that adjustment. I told you over and over how it broke my heart, and how hard it was for her. So explain to me why she's sleeping in your apartment and why she looks so comfortable doing it?"

Quickly, she preferred. Julia wasn't one to lose her temper easily, but she could feel the fuse burning. She didn't want to think her husband would go against her - and behind her back, no less - but she wasn't sure what else she was supposed to infer here.

The door opened again, this time by a much smaller figure. Evander's face twisted with anger, his little eyes reddened and wet, immediately dropped into a brighter happier look when he saw Julia.

"Mummy's here!" he crowed and ran for her. Before she could scoop him up, he was already halfway up her leg, clawing his way into her arms. "Mummy! Katie's being mean, and Daddy said not to turn off the lights! Tell her, Mummy! Go to her bed!" His little hand pointed indignantly back towards the apartment.

Her bed. Not a bed. Not the couch. Her bed.

Julia popped a kiss on Evander's cheek as Benji stuck his head out the door, Jude wailing louder in his arms when he saw his mummy. His tiny arms outstretched for her, large tears rolling down his face. "Go with Benji, lovebug. I'll be right there to handle it." She set Evander down, nudging him back towards her eldest. The little boy looked reluctant, but went, offering a loud unhelpful, "SHHHHHHHH!" to Jude who only screamed again when Benji shut the door.

Brown eyes fell once again to her husband as she tightened her lips and shook her head. "How long?"

Merlin's beard.

"Maddox."

He knew what came next, had known from the very second night he'd allowed Kathryn to remain in his room. It wasn't that Maddox didn't respect his wife's wishes or the authority that remained over the daughter they now shared. He knew that explaining all that, while emotions were so high on all fronts, would do no one any good.

"Kathryn should be in her dormitory, where she's been sleeping for the past four months. You know how difficult it was for me and her to make that adjustment. I told you over and over how it broke my heart and how hard it was for her. So explain to me why she's sleeping in your apartment and why she looks so comfortable doing it?"

He knew that, too.

Maddox, being a man who preferred the path of least resistance whenever he could find it, hadn't been able to see the issue with letting Kathryn stay until she was ready to go. The girl hated change with the same vitriol that felines harboured toward water. Hogwarts was full of change. Her mother would no longer be the one teaching her magic – and she hadn't adjusted well, opining silently that she believed at least half her professors were unintelligent and off-putting. Her meals were now communal, and each time he looked to the Ravenclaw table, the little girl was sulking with her shoulders pulled in to avoid being touched. She picked with unusual specificity around her meals, as if by doing so she might be able to return some order to the rest of her life. Those were unavoidable changes. Where she slept, on a grander scale, hadn't seemed quite so dire to him, not dire enough to warrant the heartache on both ends.

But like everything else he knew, Maddox understood the idea was better kept to himself. While Julia was his best friend turned wife and they shared an alarming number of similarities, there were still parts of them that had been cut from vastly different pieces of cloth.

Julia welcomed the struggle, the grit, and the proof that one could come out the other end, proving survival. She was also stubborn, to boot. As endeared to him as he was certain that his wife was, he understood that his more lackadaisical approach to many problems was a source of irritation to her. A simple 'Leave her be; she doesn't want to move beds yet' wasn't an argument-winning knockout of a statement and wasn't likely to earn him anything more than a scowl and a request for more support on his end.

It had been easier to leave her to it, and the man had had every intention of staying out of it until the second night Kathryn had dragged her trunk from one tower to the next.

The children sporadically interrupting weren't the sort of cover Maddox could take solace in. Sweet as she remained with them, he knew the real fire was coming the moment they were no longer present.

"Couldn't we discuss this in the morning?" he offered, the severity of the situation doing nothing to improve his waning energy level.

The door clicked shut, leaving them alone in the office again.

"How long?"

He sighed. Apparently not.

"Julia, this is...bigger than a quick chat at midnight." His nerves were fried, and in such a condition, he...frankly...wasn't in the mood to discuss any of their children or the things he should or shouldn't have done. "Since the second night – look", before she could get on him about it. "Tomorrow, please. I don't have it in me tonight."

"Couldn't we discuss this in the morning?"

The morning. Wouldn't that be convenient for him? Julia wasn't ignorant to the dark circles beneath his eyes, but when weren't those there? When wasn't Maddox Barlowe too exhausted to function? It could hardly be used as a relevant excuse now, not when the man's average state of being was somewhere between unconscious and only just lucid enough to carry a conversation.

"Julia, this is...bigger than a quick chat at midnight. Since the second night – look -"

The scoff of disbelief that escaped her throat said it all. She wouldn't 'look' at anything. She wouldn't continue to stand there, listening to his pleas to have the discussion another time.

Since the second night.

When Julia had set the boundary that Kathryn would no longer reside in her private apartment at Hogwarts and would instead sleep with the other girls in her dormitory, it hadn't been done to be mean. There was no part of her that wanted their daughter to suffer or feel displaced, and in many ways Julia had been indulgent with Kate. But her daughter would never learn independence, autonomy or confidence if she hid under her mother's wing forever. At some point, all little birds needed to be pushed from the nest to force them to fly.

Someday, Julia would take her last breath, and the last thing she wanted to do was leave behind a daughter who didn't know how to function without her.

And yet, here came Maddox, swooping in the very next day to save Kathryn from the fall, not trusting her to spread her wings, but certain she'd hit the ground with a gruesome splat. What a hero he was, while Julia had been thrust into the role of the villainous, unempathetic mother.

Had he held concerns about the wellbeing of their daughter and Julia's methods in parenting her, then as her husband and Kathryn's father, he should have spoken to Julia about it beforehand. No, he was content to go behind her back. She wondered what else he had done when she wasn't looking?

She turned from him, unwilling to listen to his pleas for tomorrow. She wouldn't be speaking to him tomorrow or for the foreseeable future. Throwing open the door to his apartments, she scooped her screaming baby from Benji's arms, taking a soft moment to soothe Jude with quiet shushes and gentle kisses on his head. "Go to bed, Benji. No excuses in the morning over your exam." Benji nodded with relief, giving a tired wave to his siblings as he headed out the door. As he passed Maddox, he gave his stepfather a pitying look before making himself scarce.

When Jude had calmed, she deposited him in Maddox's arms, before bending down to hoist Evander up and onto her hip. He was coming with her, as was their daughter. If Kathryn wasn't sleeping in her dormitory, then she was sleeping with Julia. "Gather your blanket and pillow, Little," she said calmly. When her daughter was ready, she took her by the hand and moved swiftly past Maddox and for the door.

"Send her trunk and the rest of her belongings to my room in the morning, please."

Without another word, Julia marched out the door as Evander grinned over her shoulder and waved goodbye to his daddy.