Big Brother mode

[Edward Roberts]

Something was off about Christina Roberts lately. She'd been coming in puffy eyed, but he had been having to help get new layouts situated in the ministry, since their much needed remodel on some of the other departments. So now it was time for big brother to go poke baby sis about whatever it was bothering her. Opening her office door, Edward stood in the doorway, looking at his baby sister. "Want to tell me why I keep seeing a very puffy and upset Chrissy every day the last week or so? And why the damned cat wants to be in your office instead of mine guarding you there if anyone comes in that doesn't know he's here?" Shadow had been wanting to spend more and more time in Christina's office, for some reason. Probably because he knew something was up. But his job was to scare their father off, or anyone else that was unfamiliar with the massive black jaguar. 

[Christina Roberts]

Christina was signing paperwork and reading documents and looking serious or trying to look serious and remain professional, she wanted to remain work focused at all times, she was the Minister for Magic for gods sake. If there was one thing she had to be it was professional and to put everything else out of her mind, she had a lot going on in her own world and with certain events that she was trying not to think about right now. That was why she had work, she just had to keep on working and focusing on working.

The door to her office creaked open and she did not even know there was anyone there, she had not ever been the most spatial aware, but especially at the moment when she was working so hard not to think about other things. When Edwards spoke Christina looked up at him managing the meekest of smiles, but she was obviously not as convincing as she thought she was. ”Hey” Christina greeted in a small voice ”I’ve just got a lot going on here at the moment” Her brother was probably not going to fall for that but she had to give it a shot, she did not want to talk about it not at the office. ”You know it just likes me more than it likes you” Ed would just have to face it, she also hoped that she could joke with him and he was not about to do the whole brother thing that she was sure was coming because Kaleb was trying to do it too, had of all her brothers he drawn the short straw and decided he was going to push the whats up button.

[Edward Roberts]

Yeah, a load of bull. Stepping into her office and closing the door, and over his girlfriend's massive lazy ball of fur, Edward went behind his sister's desk, and stood behind her chair, wrapping her in a hug around the shoulders.

He put his chin on her shoulder gently, stooping down a bit so he was level with her as much as he could be. "Chris, you're upset. You've looked puffy for days now. You're in here and rarely come out. I have to drag Shadow home with me sometimes after you leave because he thinks you're coming back in here. He knows something is up, and I'm starting to take his hints. Talk to me."

Squeezing his baby sister's shoulders lightly in a hug, he waited patiently for her to maybe, just maybe, give up her 'I am strong, I need no one' face and talk to him. "You obviously need to get it out, baby sis. Talk to me, what's wrong? Did Dad say something? Claude? Do I need to go kick Claude's ass? Or do I need to set our dear mother on our father? Because you know if I ask, she'll do it most likely." Edward was pretty close with their mother, so if he asked her to kick their father's ass in some way, she more than likely would. Once she knew what he'd done of course. In detail.

[Christina Roberts]

All Christina’s life she had wanted a relationship with her older brother, it was too bad it had taken for them to get this old and for it to happen. They could have had so much more fun if that was the case, as he came up behind her and gave her a hug Christina smiled a little. ”Yes I am upset, but I am also the Minister for Magic remember and that has to come first doesn’t it?” Christina reminded him trying to seem professional despite enjoying the hug from her brother in the office, the last thing she wanted was for her to seem weak. People out there were looking for a reason to hate her or question her authority, namely her father and the last thing she wanted was to give them a reason. ”I am fine” Christina pointed out despite her brother knowing that she was not and trying to drag it out of her.

Edward explained that she needed to talk about it and Christina looked back at him with one of her best fake smiles. Edward, being Edward started talking about what her problem could be was it her father, her uncle or some odd combination of them both, could he get mum to help. It was all kinds of stuff that he did not want to get in with her. Of course her father was involved a little bit, he was involved in everything that made her miserable, but it was not him it was not mainly him it was Zach. The thing was to think about Zach was to admit that it was about Zach and then he came to mind and then she just wanted to cry. Crying however was not an option at work, she needed to keep it together. ”Yes Ed we know she would do anything you wanted, does not mean that she will for me” Christina pointed out ”But seriously I have work to do here Ed, you should know you organise my calendar, do I really have time to have a break down?”

[Edward Roberts]

Edward shook his head right next to his sisters, so she felt it. "No. You come first. We have other people around here, me included, that can cover you so you take time for yourself." He squeezed her shoulders tengly as she declared she was fine, which was obviously a very shitty lie. "And I'm Jonathan. If you're fine, I'm our worst brother." Jonathan and he were absolute opposites. Edward looked out for all of them, except that little shit of a brother they were stuck with.

Ah, fake smile. He could spot it miles away. Had saved her in many meetings with that. "She would, you're just underestimating it. And I've told her a few times what Dad has done. I just never heard back if she laid him a new one or not." He kissed Christina on the head, spinning her chair around so he could stand straight and talk to her face to face fully.

When asked about organizing her schedule, he snorted. "Believe it or not, you actually do have room for a breakdown. You don't have a meeting all week for once. And all this signing stuff? Guess what? You're way ahead of yourself for once. So talk little one. Tell me what's going on. I hate seeing you upset." He stooped down to sit on his knees on the floor in front of her chair, holding onto the arms so she couldn't turn around on him. He knew her evasive tactics. Seph did worse. She disappeared into the basement of her house for days, sometimes weeks at a time. "Come on, I thought we were close enough you could come to me when you needed someone to talk to."

[Christina Roberts]

Christina could not help but chuckle when Ed stuck his head out next to hers and shook it to talk about how much more important she was than this job. It was good that in his eyes she was, but in hers she had weight and responsibility. It was why the wedding was taking so long to plan because she had to spend all this time at work and could not justify anything else. At the suggestion of him being Johnathan again she could not help but chuckle just a little, ”Oh right, my apologies Johnathan” She teased him back ”At least you are owning that you are the worst brother now not that holier than thou thing you normally do”

As Edward took the time to talk about their mother, Christina had to really wonder if he was here to make her feel any better or if he wanted to talk about their parents. If it was to talk about their parents it would not make her feel any better, for if there was one thing they all knew it was they all had very different parents, so much so that if they all described them nobody would think they are talking about the same people. ”Yes but that is because she likes you the most”

Damn he big brother, her big bear brother, he just cared too damn much about her, she was used to crying in a corner on her own and getting past this stuff without someone to talk to. Instead now she had a person who was giving her direct attention and not letting her escape and wanting her to talk, nobody ever wanted to talk to her. It was a feeling she was not used to it. Especially considering her brother had been planning the conversion and this break down in her calendar by moving things around.

Looking back at him now that he was in her eye line she could not hide her face now and she just bit her lip a little, feeling like the smallest little child. ”It’s not like that” Christina pointed out to him ”If I talk about it then … then I am talking about it and .. I don’t know if I can do that” If she talked about it then it was real, besides what could she say to him. I’m sorry it turns out my fiancé was a death eater and I think we broke of our engagement, but I don’t know and I am heart broken and want to cry? ”It has just been a really bad week”

[Edward Roberts]

Edward laughed when Christina played into the 'hate on their brother' game. "Yeah, the parental units caused that mess. Definitely none of us. And it's Dad who did the most of it. So blame him for it. I sure do."

"And you're the only girl. If it weren't for Dad chasing us all away, trust me. She'd fawn over you like she did when you were born. Dad put a stop to that if I remember correctly. And I think the only reason she likes me as much as she does is because I wound up in her old house. So being a badger apparently gains me points with Mum."

He started to pat his sister's legs gently, trying to get her to talk to him. He knew she wasn't used to this, but that's why he was such a bulldog now with her. He wanted to be able to be that rock she leaned on. "That's why I'm asking you to talk to me. I know I've been an absentee brother, but I'm here now. And before you think I moved things around on purpose, no, that's how they fell into place. And because you've been cooping yourself up in here lately, you're way ahead on everything." He started to pat her legs gently, trying to get her to relax enough and trust him to open up.

"If I promise not to go and beat up the person who made you cry, will that help? Or if I promise to go beat them up? Whichever one you want. Your choice." It was killing him that she was upset, he wanted to fix it, wanted to help her. He couldn't when they were growing up, but he was there now.

[Christina Roberts]

At least there was one thing all of their siblings had in common and could always talk about it, that was their difficult brother Johnathan. He united them in a way that they all knew he would absolutely hate, but that only united them even more. ”We will put it on that list of things we blame them for”

Edward seemed to have a much greater insight on their mother than she did, but of course Edward did he knew so much more than the rest of them did. He was in their parents inner circle, they talked and respected him, she was down at the bottom of the food chain of all of that. ”Ahhh the Badger club, I forget you have a friend in team badger. I am just a lonely lion.” Two badgers, Two snakes and two ravens, that just left one lion, but Christina was used to being on her own. It was something she was going to have to get used to it seemed, for no matter what happened she always ended up on her own, maybe she was destined to be alone.

”You are not fooling anyone” Christina teased him ”Of course it happened that way” Christina too was capable of teasing him too, even if he had reorganised it then that made him even better because he just knew what she needed. It was why she had hired him because she needed people on her team and on her side, there were so few people on her side in this life and she was very good at scaring them away.

At the suggestion of either not beating up or definitely beating up the person who upset her Christina chuckled a little. ”See you are my big brother, it doesn’t matter what you promise I know you and I know you won’t keep it if you think he deserves being beaten up” They cared too damn much about her and either way they were going to do what they thought was right. ”I don’t know Ed, I’m not … I’m just not sure .. “ Just trying to find the words to say it made her well up with tears ”this thing happened with Zach and .... and we aren't talking at the moment and ... and I think .. I think it might be over” She had not really been meaning to say it but the second she opened her mouth the words tumbled out and so did the tears.

[Edward Roberts]

Oh, he didn't need to add it to the list of things to blame their father for. It was right up there at the top. Top five easily. But when Christina said she was the lonely lion, Edward sighed. "You forget, I'm the only badger out of us kids. Dad didn't talk to me easily for the entire term when I got sorted into Hufflepuff. Mum had to make Dad talk to me again. So you're not the only lonely little sister." And then his brothers got one another in Ravenclaw, and Jonathan, their father's pride and joy, got sorted into Slytherin. "And Mum was pregnant with one of you at that point too I think. Maybe Kaleb? I can't remember. But yeah, you're not the only lonely child. Nice try."

He held his hands up when Chris accused him of rearranging her schedule JUST so she could handle whatever it was that was bothering her. "Honest to whatever deity is up there, it landed that way. Three times one of your meetings got canceled, and I think most of that is because of the rearranging they've been doing downstairs. Apparently, the janitorial staff got fed up trying to keep things straight, and they started to do some rearranging on their own. I finally authorized it on your behalf, but yeah... I think everyone downstairs is still getting used to it."

When she told him that she didn't believe he wouldn't beat up whoever made her cry, he grabbed her chin lightly and looked her in the face. "I promise, unless they physically put a hand on you, I won't go beat them up if you say no." Anyone put a hand on his sister, they were dead. That was non-negotiable.

When she finally started breaking and telling him something Ed sat on his butt on the floor, playing with her legs. "Okay... So what happened with Zach? I won't lay and hand on him, but that doesn't mean that Seph won't find out and go rip him a new asshole. She knows him better than I do, I'll let her handle him if she needs to." He rested his arms on his sister's lap, then his head on his arms. "Come on, get it off your chest little one." He could tell she was about to break, and if she didn't get it off her chest she'd break in a way she didn't want to break.

[Christina Roberts]

Christina rolled her eyes deliberately when Edward talked about how difficult his life had been having been sorted into Hufflepuff. Wow how heart breaking that was how difficult it was that his father had done that to him. ”That sounds so terrible” Christina teased him ”Just one term he did not talk to you? When I got sorted into Gryffindor he didn’t talk to me for … oh no wait he never talked to me to begin with” If they were going to talk all about their problems with their parents then she was going to need alcohol to drink because that was not a fun conversation. As Edward tried to work which of their siblings their mother had been pregnant with at the time Christina laughed ”I don’t know I forget you are old sometimes” She teased him ”I don’t know if we want to get started about who the loneliest child is I think we can all give that title a run for its money” That would be a good sibling bonding evening if they ever needed one, but they would need lots of drinks.

Of course Ed would not admit to it, he suggested there was something else going on some mythical force that had put this into place, she did agree there was someone out there pulling the strings, but that just happened to be Ed. ”Authorising things on my behalf how dare you” Christina teased him ”In a way that makes the place more functional and gives me more time, I just can’t believe it”

Having spent so much of her childhood on her own, sometimes it was difficult to remember that she did have brothers, brothers who would go out and deal with someone who upset her. Zach had probably forgotten about that fact and had no idea what was coming.

Ed sat on her floor making her chuckle a little, it was just a funny sight, him sitting there while she got upset and admitted her personal life was falling apart. ”We just had a fight and left things in a bad place and .. I Just don’t know what to do or how I feel” She could not tell her brother that her fiancé was a death eater that would not end well at all, so she had to find another way to put their argument some how. ”We just … he just kept some things from me and I … and we talked .. and it didn’t go well and .. and he left and now here we are and I don’t know where here is” It was not helping and she just got more and more upset.

[Edward Roberts]

Edward hugged his sister tightly when she started poking back at him. "Well guess what? They robbed us both just as much keeping us apart and not letting us have any real relationship. So we can blame them both for that. Dad for doing it and Mum for allowing it to be done in the first place. You've got me now, and you're stuck rugrat!" Just to be comical, he planted a kiss on her cheek, acting like a goof when he did it.

He gasped when she said how dare you. "Forgive me, oh mighty small one! How dare I make it so it's less work on everyone, especially the janitorial staff? Shame on me." He hung his head like a puppy that had done something bad, laughing a little as he did it.

When Christina finally spit it out, Edward thought about it, letting her get it out. "I'll ask Seph to find him when I get home tonight. She's becoming a bit of a recluse, so she can have something that will occupy her by finding him and finding out what's going on. She knows him better than I do anyway."

He sat up a little, keeping his arms crossed on his sister's lap, tapping at her legs with his fingers absentmindedly. "What did he keep from you? That he's already married? Is he secretly a woman?! Dear god don't tell me he's an alien!" He knew those things were very unlikely, but still, he wanted to make her smile a little bit. He was sure he could help her through it, no matter what Zach had kept from her.

[Christina Roberts]

Edward’s endless positivity was good for Christina, she had a habit of getting stuck in her own head and spiralling. Where as he just had a habit of saying things and getting her to talk, he was also so forgiving of their parents and though sometimes he made her feel like she was too hard on them, they had always been nicer to him. It was easy being the golden eldest child or Richard, it was harder for the rest of them. ”oh goodness let’s not clinically assess our childhoods that’s never a good rabbit hole to go down” Especially not in the work place where she did not have a drink in hand.

As Ed continued to act like the biggest dork Christina struggled to not smile or chuckle a little, he was doing this deliberately to get this rise out of her. It was hardly professional of them to act such a way in the office of the minister for magic, she felt a little guilty for the lack of professionalism in such a high office. On the other hand she needed this, she needed to smile and have fun. ”Oh my god hush up” She shoved him a little daring to let a smile spread across her lips.

At the notion of Seph getting involved in her personal affairs Christina merely shrugged ”Let me know what she finds” She doubted Seph would find out exactly what Zach had told her and if she did then Christina would have more questions for him.

Now her brother decided to kick her relationship with outlandish suggestions of what Zach might have kept from her and as wild as each of them sounded, they were better than the truth, better than him being a death eater. ”Im glad this amuses you” Christina had her guards up and was quite upset about all this, not ready to joke about it yet. ”It doesn’t matter what it is, it just matters that he lied about it” as much as she trusted and loved her brother, she was not sure telling him Zach was a death eater was a good idea.

[Edward Roberts]

Chrissy was right, going down their own personal rabbit holes inside the collective one they all shared being siblings was never a good idea. "Not today anyway. You're not in a good headspace to do that I think."

Edward fell on his ass when his baby sister shoved him. "Admit it, I'm the best big brother ever. I make less work for you, let you get ahead of yourself for once. And you love me for it." He gave her a cheezy grin, just hoping that she would relax a bit and maybe crack a smile.

He would tell her anything to make her smile even just a little again. Zach lied to her about something, something important. "What did he say? Because I'm honestly about to get Rich and Kaleb and go find him ourselves and beat him up. If Seph doesn't get to him first of course. She's scary in her own ways." Lord knew she had run with enough Dark Wizards in their day to learn a thing or two. The price of being a pureblood. He played with Christina's legs a little bit more, knocking them back and forth between his hands gently. "Chris, you can tell me anything. I would hope you know that by now. What did he say? You're not easily hurt, so it has to be something huge." He didn't want to speculate, but Edward was starting to get his suspicions, just from his own girlfriend's associations with Zach over the years. She would know for sure more than likely.

[Christina Roberts]

Not in a good headspace to think? Christina had not been in a good place to think for the past several weeks ever since everything had fallen apart with Zechariah. She felt a little pathetic for not being able to pull herself together, she never wanted to be one of those women who fell apart entirely because of a man and here she was … falling apart. Zechariah had got in her head and been her world, now she was all alone again and she only had herself to blame because she had let him in. Looking up at her big brother who was desperately trying to make her laugh .. well maybe she was not as alone as she felt.

”You know I am not allowed to give away that title, I have two other brothers we both know will get really upset with me if I say its you” It was his go to line of course he wanted to be her favourite brother. ”you do make a lot less work for me and that is why I love you, but also why I pay you” Christina teased, she must be feeling the smallest bit better if she could tease him, he was obviously doing something right.

At the suggestion of rounding up her brothers to go beat the hell out of Zechariah, Christina just smiled see that was a fun joke but at the same time she was quite sure that he was being serious. Kaleb would especially like to get a few punches in, it would probably be the two of them stopping him, Rich did not strike her as the person to throw punches, Ed on the other hand she did not know what he’d do. ”I don’t really want to talk about it” She could not really talk about it could she, what would Ed say if he knew the truth?

Edward was really pushing for a conversation for the truth out of her and she ran her hands through her hair thinking about what had happened how could she explain this to her brother. ”I don’t know it just changed the way I thought about us and how we met and I don’t know how to feel about it, about us anymore” How did she tell him her fiancé was a Death Eater and had been all this time.

[Edward Roberts]

Ed chuckled a bit when Christina told him she wasn't allowed to give the favorite title away, because of Rich and Kaleb. "True, but I do it because you're my favorite sister." She was his only sister, but still. Out of their siblings, she was his favorite though.

He wasn't going to push. She was badly upset from the look of it. He was tempted as hell to go and find Zach himself and find out what he'd said to upset his sister. Maybe he'd pay a visit to Mungos later, see if he could catch the man at work, and make him explain why his sister was upset. "How did you meet anyways. I don't think I ever asked." He hadn't realized until now he had zero clue how his sweet sister had come to be with someone like Zach de Luca.