TEN WELCOME HOME

     "Welcome home, Xander," Alecks greeted him with a warm hug on the train platform while Jo helped him with his things. Salem was hanging off of Xander's shoulder, jumping to loosely wrap around Alecks' neck as they hugged.

The woman laughed and pet the cat softly, "Hey, buddy. You taking good care of Xander while he's at school?"

The cat purred and rubbed against the woman's cheek as Xander turned and gave Jo a hug as well, "Hey, guys. How's it been without me? Nothing too bad, right?"

Alecks shook her head, but she bit her lip and shared a glance with Jo as though they were hiding something. The girl sighed as they loaded up the car, turning to her brother as she slammed the trunk shut. "It's not the worst, but uh, mum has had to take medical leave from the ministry. She's been in and out of the muggle hospital since they're better equipped to deal with this than St. Mungos. Still, at least she'll be home for Christmas. Come on, let's get home."

He sat in the back of their family car since it was tough to apparate with a muggle, an underage wizard, and a trunkload of things, but he didn't mind as he just gazed out the window. He missed Diana already and he knew he was going to have to wait for her to send a letter first since they didn't have an owl of their own. Still, he knew she'd write. She always did.

"So, Xander," Jo turned around to face him, a bright smile on her face as she was clearly trying to divert away from what she had heard the siblings talking about, "How's school going? Tell me all about it please, I wanna know what it's like to go to school as a wizard!"

Xander laughed at this, "Nothing fantastic, really. Nothing super magical really goes on as you would think. I almost got into a duel with someone --"

"A duel?" Alecks exclaimed from the drivers' seat, "You? Of all people? What did someone say that could possibly make you so angry you pulled out your wand?"

"He insulted Diana!" the boy exclaimed, "Said I was better off not being friends with muggle-borns and that was bullshit so I disarmed him and then he almost punched me in my face! Ridiculous really, the ego on that one. I think he really can be sweet, though, I just don't think he knows that."

Alecks laughed at this, shaking her head as she asked, "Is this the Malfoy git? I'm telling you, he's a dickhead, stop trying to befriend him! You're better than that!"

"I'm sixteen, I can make my own decisions," Xander argued with a smile on his face as he turned back to Jo, "He's not as mean as he sounds, I promise. Well, he kind of is, but I really think there's more to him. Anyway, are we almost home? I wanna say hi to mum."

"You ask that and then you don't even recognize your own driveway," his older sister chastised as she pulled up to their home and parked the car. Their house and neighborhood looked just like any other, but it was in reality a small wizarding community made up of all sorts of witches and wizards and their families. He watched as Alecks used her wand to carry Xander's stuff inside and Jo looked at her like she saw the world in the way she held her wand. Xander thought it was sweet how sickly in love the two of them were -- he almost wanted something like that for himself, but he knew he wasn't going to get it. Running past his sister, he opened the front door and ran in with Salem close behind him.

"Xander, honey!" his mother's soft voice cooed as she came out of the kitchen. Xander did his best not to be startled by her patchy buzzcut. It was certainly different from the long black hair he was used to on his mother -- everyone always said he inherited her hair and his father's tan complexion. The woman enveloped him in a hug and he realized how skinny she had gotten. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you, baby. How's school? How's Diana?"

"It's good, everyone's good," Xander nodded as the woman pulled away, looking at him for a moment before she tugged him into another hug.

Dinner was quiet as they discussed miscellaneous things about Hogwarts and what the girls had been up to. There was certainly an elephant in the room, but no one was going to acknowledge it. How could they? Still, Jo had cooked for them and it was absolutely lovely. The woman was fascinated by Alecks' enchantment for the dishes to wash themselves.

"Oh, Jo, I got you guys a little something from Hogsmeade since you two are coming up on your anniversary," Xander brought up as they stood in the kitchen after dinner. He walked over to where his trunk had been discarded by the door. "It's not much, but it's my favorite fudge from Honeydukes. Alecks told me you like sweets."

"Aw, that's so sweet," the curly-haired girl mused as she pulled the younger boy into a hug. He sure was getting a lot of hugs today, he realized, but Xander never really minded such a thing. He thought Jo fit in quite nicely with their little family if he was honest.

"Uh, Xander, can I talk to you in your room super quick?" Alecks interrupted them by clearing her throat and nodding down the hall. Xander complied as the two headed into his bedroom.

His old boards were hung on the wall, along with posters of muggle bands Diana had introduced him to. There was a Weird Sister's poster as well that played a small snippet of the band performing silently. On his nightstand, there was a picture of his father spinning his mother on their wedding day. After he died, his mother gave that to him so he could remember him when he looked at his happiest.

"Xander, I know it's the holidays, but there's some stuff I need to talk to you about before you go back to school," Alecks said with a sigh as she sat down on his bed and patted the spot next to her. He sat down and the woman turned to face him. "They're doing everything they can at Mungos and at the muggle hospital in London, but, I don't know how to say this gently, mum isn't getting much better, Xander. They're not saying that she'll be dead tomorrow, but they pretty much told me that we're... past the point of no return."

"What are you saying?" Xander asked, his eyes brimming with tears, "That when I come back for summer holidays, mum might not be here?"

The woman hesitated, biting her lip before she nodded hesitantly. "Well, they don't think it'll be that soon, but while you're still underage some precautions need to be taken to ensure you end up where you want to be. I just need you to sign something saying that you consent to Jo and I taking you on and becoming your legal guardians should anything happen before you turn seventeen. I just... I hate to do this now, but we want to make sure that we get to take care of you."

He forced himself to keep his composure, not wanting to break down in front of his sister. It was hard not to when he was essentially just told that his mum was going to die. He had known it was getting worse for a while now but hearing it was a whole other story.

"Xander?" his sister's voice was soft as he avoided her gaze. He didn't have to say anything for her to reach over and pull him into a hug, cupping his head as he pressed his face into her neck. "It'll be okay, you know? I'm not... I'm never leaving again. Not without you."

He nodded as he pulled away, wiping his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'll sign, you know I will. I just... this isn't exactly what I wanted to hear when I came home. I didn't... I don't know what I expected."

"She's terrified of leaving us, you know? She told me that she wasn't even scared of dying, that she's accepted that part," Alecks sighed with a humorless laugh, "She just is scared of what's going to happen to us. Can you believe that woman? Even when she faces her own mortality, she's worried about us. Ridiculous."

"Yeah," he scoffed, forcing a smile onto his face. "Ridiculous. Um, Alecks, if you don't mind, I'm really tired. Can we worry about legal stuff in the morning?"

The woman nodded, "Of course."

She pressed a kiss to his forehead as she went to stand. For a moment, she paused by the door, turning back to the boy, she said, "I love you, Xander, and we'll get through this together."

"I love you, too," he muttered before she closed the door.

Once she was gone, for the first time in probably years, Xander broke. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried like this, but once it started, it couldn't stop. That night, he hugged his parents' wedding photo as he wept himself to sleep. God, he missed Hogwarts already.

brief intermission for me to make you cry before we're back to our regularly scheduled content i hope you all enjoyed <3 also this officially marks the halfway point of part one how the fuck are we here already i posted this story a week ago