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+------ Thread: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev (/showthread.php?tid=1051)
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Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 05-05-2026
Thursday, 31 August 1922
8:11pm
8:11pm
His trunk laid propped open on his bed, half filled, neatly organized. He stacked another plain white, button-up shirt atop the rest, pausing for a second, regarding his new school uniform. A strange one. Far from what he used to wear at Durmstrang.
Everything here was far from what he'd known, even this house, the light, the air. The feeling.
He still mourned it. Everything he had to leave behind in favour of duty. Which he had taken up without complaint, without delay or hesitation. After all, it was an honour to be the one to built their first connection and root their name into British soil and history.
He wasn't going to disappoint. And he wasn't going to fail.
Nonetheless, the feeling remained.
Mood darkening, the walls seemed to lean in a little closer.
His gaze slid sideways, to the small jewellery box sitting on the bed next to his trunk. The deep blue velvet was soft as he picked it up, thumb slowly brushing against the surface of the lid. For a moment he just stared at it.
It was a gift, for her birthday. Something he hoped she liked, something that would ease her up to him a little more. Her reluctance was still palpable, even despite the hint of interest he could sense. Not enough though, he needed her convinced, ready. He couldn't afford anything less, couldn't afford her defiance and fight.
The people in this house couldn't afford it.
And so he didn't have to look up then to know who'd come to gloat. There only was one person.
Drago tugged the box into a corner of his trunk, voice calm but firm. "I'm busy."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 05-07-2026
His little brother was leaving again, this time off to Hogwarts where Liliya had once attended.
To say that Lev was less than optimistic about the idea was putting it lightly. He knew the sorts that attended Hogwarts; the same sorts that Liliya had entangled herself with and still carried remnants of the less-than-desirable mannerisms she'd picked up there.
Uncouth. Loud-mouthed. Faster to fight with their hands than try a bit of easy diplomacy.
Lev wasn't above a superiority complex, and from what he'd learned intelligence was in high demand and short supply at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
He supposed the decision was out of his hands. His father made the rules and they all simply obeyed them. Whether Lev thought it a mistake to send all the younger siblings off to Scotland for their education was irrelevant. Time would tell, when they all graduated, how well the school had served them.
Until then, he was merely meant to say goodbye.
"I'm busy."
"Very," he answered lightly, shutting the door behind him and dropping himself easily into the armchair that sat near Drago's bed. He caught the sight of the blue box in his brother's hand. "How much did that one cost our Father?" A small smile curled at the edge of his lips as he drummed his hand on the arm of the chair.
“Hopefully it buys you a smile,” he said, glancing at the box again. “I imagine Father would be disappointed to learn even his money cannot make you charming.”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 05-11-2026
Lev shut the door, claiming the chair by the bed as though he’d been invited, sprawling as though he owned this house. He always did this. Parading around their father’s favour like a trophy, rubbing it into all their faces by doing what he wanted, taking what he liked.
Drago had long learned that protest was futile. Exploding in anger or annoyance only served his brother’s ideas about him, carving that tantalizing smirk of his even sharper. As though he’d won.
Instead, he reached deep into his well of calm, the way he always did. The way he had come to weaponize.
Setting his jaw, he kept his gaze on his work, picking up another neatly folded shirt. “It didn’t cost him anything. I used my allowance.” And a good bit of it. Not anything too overindulgent it came off as excessive. They weren’t married yet, after all.
Expensive though. Finely crafted. Wiosna had helped him pick it out.
“Hopefully it buys you a smile. I imagine Father would be disappointed to learn even his money cannot make you charming.”
Drago continued to stack his clothes. “He will not be disappointed,” he simply countered, tone resolute. Pushing down on a stack of trousers, Drago finally looked around, raising an unimpressed brow. “It’s not like Liliya smiles at you often, does she?”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 05-15-2026
"Where does your allowance come from?" Lev clicked his tongue against his teeth idly, as he strummed his fingers along the arm of the chair. His brother certainly didn't work for it, as far as Lev was concerned. It was his father's money, 'allowed' to his son to do with what he pleased. If Drago thought that meant it was his, well then, Father had clearly been underwriting more than coin.
Delusions, apparently, came at a premium.
Drago was always so serious, as many in their family were, but a bit of levity would do him some good now and then. Defensive, the illusion of calm. Lev knew it well, having been the same when he was a bit younger. Always eager to prove himself, no matter who it was for.
“It’s not like Liliya smiles at you often, does she?”
"Never," Lev answered, his reply light and unbothered. His gaze finally caught Drago's, a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips. "But I don't need her smiles. She's one of us already."
He inhaled deeply, as though he were already tired of the conversation, but leaned forward in the chair a bit. "Father told you what he expects of you? You'll make connections, not spend all your time romancing that girl."
A girl that was already Drago's anyway. Whether she liked him or not, the marriage was inevitable. He supposed if they liked one another, it made things easier, but like could come with time. For now, Drago was meant to be ingratiating himself to the upper echelons of Hogwarts. Finding an in with the families they hadn't yet caught in their web.
"And you'll need to focus on your studies." Drago had done well at Durmstrang, but there was room for improvement. "Less on Quidditch."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 05-19-2026
"I'm well aware of where my allowance comes from," Drago countered mildly. "Doesn't change the fact it's an allowance."
And he could spend it as he wished. But Lev simply loved to spin words until they fell in his favour, anything to make himself look superior and the other stupid. No matter how far he had to twist the initial point, as long as he came out on top. Arguing was pointless though, his brother always found a way to win these games. Drago had come to terms with that a long time ago.
Lev's reply to the jab on Liliya’s lack of smiles was just another example.
"Never," he quipped with a disregard for his betrothed’s affection that bordered on cruel. "But I don't need her smiles. She's one of us already.”
Is she?, Drago almost retorted, but bit back on the remark.
It was one thing to get one over his brother, dragging his cousin through the mud for a second of triumph was beneath him though. Liliya's adjustment was bumpy at best. He was aware of that and caught himself eying it with a mixture of concern and scrutiny. Unlike Lev however, Drago felt an inkling of compassion for her.
He kept quiet on that part.
"Father told you what he expects of you? You'll make connections, not spend all your time romancing that girl.”
Drago’s attention had returned to his trunk, stacking clothes with controlled calm, every breath measured. Sometimes it felt as though he had two fathers — one he cared to impress and one who liked to parrot what he’d already been told.
"And you'll need to focus on your studies. Less on Quidditch.”
Getting a kick out of pretending to have something to say.
“I know what I’m supposed to do, you don’t have to repeat it,” he said evenly, not looking up. “My studies are good, I understand politics and connections, and I am not romancing her. I’m intending to have her fight me less than Liliya fights you. Looks exhausting.”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 05-20-2026
Lev's eyebrows raised and settled again in a brief flash of amusement, but he chose to leave the allowance conversation where it lay. If it did something for his brother's ego to think he'd done well to get the Nordstrom girl a gift with 'his money', then Lev supposed it did no real harm. He didn't necessarily look appreciatively on people claiming credit where there was none. In this case, Drago hadn't done anything to earn his allowance except be their father's son.
Was it a point worth making? Not really.
It didn't escape him how Drago remained silent, choosing what to answer and not. It had always been his way. The boy had never seemed to appreciate Lev's place within the family, especially when it had to be hung over his head. But Drago did himself no favors being soft and sensitive about it all.
If he wanted an equal place in father's eyes, then he needed to rise to the occasion.
“I know what I’m supposed to do, you don’t have to repeat it. My studies are good, I understand politics and connections, and I am not romancing her. I’m intending to have her fight me less than Liliya fights you. Looks exhausting.”
Lev was quiet for a moment, letting the jab land the way his little brother obviously wanted it. He understood perceptions and what it might seem from the outside looking in. Liliya was stubborn and did seem to enjoy fighting him, but it wasn't all one-sided. Lev pushed as much as she pulled, but there was a reason for all of it. Liliya needed to learn how their family worked from every angle. It was one thing to be a niece or a cousin.
It was another to be a wife. As his wife, there would be certain expectations of her, only exacerbated by his own place within the family. It was his job to mold her, to help her understand how not just to survive a family like theirs, but thrive within it.
The Graymere event had only shown how wild and untethered the Nordstrom girl was. "If you intend to take a soft hand with her, you'll be fighting with her all your life." It wasn't a jab, it wasn't a mock. It was the truth. If Matilda was not brought to heel early and taught how to behave as Drago's wife, then she never would. She'd be emboldened, and it would only endanger her and his brother.
His smirk returned slightly. "And I'll repeat whatever you need to hear, as many times as you need to hear it," he stood, rounding his brother, but not before thumping him lightly on the head, "Until you get it through that thick skull of yours."
When they were face to face, he sized his brother up a bit. As much as their relationship could feel tense and contemptuous, Lev had a soft spot for Drago. If nothing else, the halls would certainly feel a little more empty again without him around.
"A wife only becomes an asset when she understands what doors open for her, and which doors close when she forgets herself." A lesson he was still in the throes of trying to teach Liliya. She understood at heart, he knew she did, but willing herself into obedience seemed to be her biggest challenge.
"Remember you aren't meant to win her affection. You're meant to win her cooperation."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 05-26-2026
Drago continued to pack as a moment of silence stretched, keeping his eyes on his task. He doubted the lack of a retort had anything to do with his comment having found a sore spot, bringing the conversation to an end because his brother was stunned speechless.
Lev always had one more thing to say. Sometimes it just took a second longer.
"If you intend to take a soft hand with her, you'll be fighting with her all your life."
A small sigh escaped him then. A birthday gift could hardly be counted as a soft hand, but he wasn’t going to argue. They had never been good at finding common ground, they wouldn't start now.
"And I'll repeat whatever you need to hear, as many times as you need to hear it.” Drago almost rolled his eyes at that. It was one of Lev's favourite phrases and he'd heard it a million times. The thump to his head had him growling though. "Until you get it through that thick skull of yours.”
Grumbling, Drago shoved his brother’s shoulder, lightly but still annoyed. The fact that Lev was five years his senior did mean he had more experience and knowledge in almost every aspect — Drago knew this. While he was only now beginning his last term of school, Lev had been out in the world and working for the family business for a few years already. Let alone, he’d been betrothed for over a year as well, besting him in that category too.
It wasn't easy to admit, and his brother's genuine advice was rare, but Drago knew Lev meant to only help. Even if they disagreed.
"A wife only becomes an asset when she understands what doors open for her, and which doors close when she forgets herself."
Drago fully met Lev’s gaze then, considering his words.
It was the principle their family ran on. Knowing one’s place, acting according to one’s standing. It was the same for all of them, regardless of gender. If Serik forgot himself, he got to feel the consequences just as much as Wiosna would. The women were expected to follow their husbands, the men were expected to follow their patriarchs. Same thing. Matilda’s world surely didn't look any different. Drago was certain she understood those principles as well as he did, despite her reaction at the ball and despite her clumsiness during their meeting in Sweden. She just needed a little help.
"Remember you aren't meant to win her affection. You're meant to win her cooperation."
“I mean to win both,” Drago said, not defiantly but steadfast nonetheless. “Gaining her cooperation through affection is easier than gaining it through force. She seems soft. It’s better this way.”
If she actually liked him, she wouldn't want to forget herself, she wouldn't want to fight him. She would want to do what's best for them. If she trusted him, Matilda would do as he told.
It was only logical.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 06-04-2026
Lev grinned at the easy shove, handing his brother a pair of perfectly pressed pants for him to pack. His brother's sighs and barely-repressed expressions weren't lost on him, and he knew more often than not he came across as tiresome and unrelenting to Drago. It was the curse of being the eldest, and a son at that. There were more expectations placed on Lev than any of the others, and it meant it was his job to keep them in line when their father busied himself with more important things.
He didn't like always being so heavy-handed, but he also wasn't going to let up just because feelings and brotherly instinct got in the way.
“I mean to win both. Gaining her cooperation through affection is easier than gaining it through force. She seems soft. It’s better this way.”
"No room for softness," Lev said quietly, meeting Drago's gaze unaffected. "If you win her affection, that's good for you. Not Serik. Not Father. Not Liliya. Not Wiosna." Matilda would need to adapt and learn how to be a Zdravkova, not a Nordstrom playing dress-up. "Affection doesn't mean she will listen. It only means she will soften you to her, and then neither of you will listen." Lev had seen it before. Drago was soft-hearted, and easily led by his convictions. If Matilda was one such conviction, he'd be useless to them.
Of course it went deeper for Lev than his brother's 'usefulness'. He didn't want to see the person he felt closest to torn away from the family in some chivalrous pursuit to make a girl happy. In any case, maybe he did need to lighten up a bit.
"She will like the necklace," he finally relented, giving his brother a soft pat on the shoulder. "Maybe bring her some flowers too. I heard she's a plant girl of some type. A gardener." He refrained from making a joke about how they'd save themselves money on a professional gardener in the future.
January 1, 1923
10:05 AM
Drago's Room
10:05 AM
Drago's Room
It had been an unexpected start to the new year.
Lev had woken to the sounds of the younger girls' wails filtering through the cathedral-like halls of Harewood House. He'd sprung from his bed, barely managing to pull on a pair of trousers and snatch his wand off his bedside table before rushing through the sitting room he shared with Liliya and out in the corridors.
What had met him wasn't a threat - an outsider with weapons blazing, threatening to bring down the lot of them like the Romanovs - but grief. At first, he hadn't been able to decipher between Wiosna's cries who it was, sending his heart erratic at the thought that perhaps it was Serik or even Danika.
But when it was finally revealed through a shaky half-breath that it was only his step-mother, a woman that he held no affinity for and was fit to pretend she didn't exist anyway, he'd breathed a deep sigh of relief. Masked only for his sister's benefit and comfort as he held her.
An overdose of some kind - Lev didn't care about the specifics or how it had happened - and just like that, the woman who had never held any sort of motherly instinct for him, was gone. Their home was relieved of her presence, and while he certainly wouldn't sit and gloat about the fact, his siblings were hurting and he did know how it felt to lose a mother.
He knocked, unusual when he approached Drago's room, but the occasion seemed to call for a lighter than usual touch. "Drago," he called through the door. "I'm coming in."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-08-2026
"No room for softness. If you win her affection, that's good for you. Not Serik. Not Father. Not Liliya. Not Wiosna."
Drago sighed again, head shaking slightly as he placed his last pair of pants into his trunk.
Him and Lev had always been different, in many aspects. It was why they butted heads so often, rarely agreeing on one thing to one hundred percent, both stubborn in their opinions. This was just another example. Wanting her to actually like him didn’t mean he’d forget where his true loyalty laid.
Drago gave his brother a flat look, raising a brow. “I don’t soften. I know where I belong.” With his family. And she’d become part of it.
The pat to his shoulder finally drew a little smirk from him, tension loosening. “She will,” he said, then gave Lev another shove, harder this time. “She’s not a gardener.” He chuckled despite himself. “She gardens. Don't start giving her ideas.”
January 1, 1923
10:05 AM
Drago's Room
10:05 AM
Drago's Room
The room was quiet, the tick of a clock the only sound as he sat in a chair by the unlit fireplace, staring into black soot. Exhaustion pulled on him, eyes heavy and tired but going to bed wasn't an option. He hadn’t slept. This was the first time he was sitting.
When she had collapsed, in a hallway away from the festivities, Drago had been the first the panicked ramblings of one of her friends had reached. It hadn’t made much sense at first, the flow of words too jumbled and slurred for him to understand. Just a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense. The underlying emotions had been enough to get him moving anyway.
And there she had lied, unresponsive, eyes rolled back, pulse weak.
Warning the distraught woman to keep her mouth shut and sending a message to his father, Drago had disapparated them to St. Mungo’s right away. The healers had taken her immediately, leaving him to pace the same ten feet by himself, back and forth, growing increasingly more agitated.
Father hadn’t appeared until hours later. Busy with his party and his guests, inching closer to a promising business deal. It was what the silvery blue eagle’s message had said anyway. He’d shown up around four.
Mother had been proclaimed dead at five seventeen.
Nothing had felt real since then. The rising sun, the chirping birds, time moving on as though nothing had happened at all. They had returned home a short while later, father immediately heading for his office to deal with the paperwork, Drago heading for his room in a stupor.
A knock on the door broke the deafening silence, followed by Lev’s voice.
So he’d finally told them then. Serik and Wiosna had already been in bed before it all went down, they wouldn’t have noticed her absence. Where Lev had been, Drago didn’t know. Maybe he just hadn't cared.
The door opened but Drago didn't move, numbly staring ahead.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 06-13-2026
When no answer came, Lev let himself in.
There was no difference to the room Drago sat in. Polished, orderly, small ornaments and decor that spoke to his brother’s taste and likes. Nothing out of place that would suggest anything had changed since the night before.
Other than Dragomir himself.
Lev felt his shoulders sag at the sight of his brother, sitting silently in front of the cold, lifeless fireplace. The embers had long since snuffed, leaving in its place only soot as Drago stared into nothing. Loss was a personal thing, Lev surmised, different for everyone who was unfortunate enough to experience it.
Perhaps it was both lucky and unfortunate that Lev had been so young when Katya died. He was sure there was a part of him, somewhere, in the deep recesses of his mind, that remembered the sole year he’d had a mother. He felt it in the way his chest ached every time Ruslana had doted on her children and left him in the cold. He felt it when the portrait of his mother smiled down on him when he passed it in the corridors back in Russia.
He especially felt it in the moments where he’d achieved something grand, something that he knew she’d feel pride in, and she wasn’t there to witness it.
And yet, without any memories he could grasp to, she was only an idea. A fantasy.
Drago had known his mother his entire life. Lev surmised having to adjust and recognize that his brother would now need to navigate the rest of it without her, would be daunting.
Even if Lev did think she’d been a shit mother.
He quietly crossed the room, unsure of how to approach such a situation. There was no doubt Father had been no comfort to Drago when they’d gone to the hospital, nor when they’d returned. He wasn’t a cruel man with his children, but softness wasn’t his strength. Nor was it Lev’s, but it came easier to the young man than it did their father.
He stood beside the chair for a moment, before resting his hand on Drago’s shoulder. “I am sorry, little brother,” he said gently, without the usual edge of sarcasm or banter that was typical of them. “You should not have had to handle all of that.”
Lev had gone to bed early the night before, suffering from a headache that had kept him from the festivities. Had he stuck it out, perhaps word would have reached him first and he could have gone with Father to the hospital and spared Drago the horror of it all.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-17-2026
Lev appeared by his side and more silence stretched, even heavier now that he wasn’t alone anymore. It was like moving through a dream, surrounded by a subliminal feeling of inexplainable unreality, sluggish somehow although everything looked normal.
It didn’t feel normal though, it felt wrong.
After a moment Lev’s hand came to rest on his shoulder. “I am sorry, little brother. You should not have had to handle all of that.”
Drago didn’t know what to say. Even moving seemed impossible, as though his body had forgotten how to do it. Somehow he managed to nod though, a small dip of his head but it was enough to wake him from his stupor, chest swelling as he took a deep breath in.
Lev hadn’t liked her, he knew that. At times Drago had understood. Ruslana wasn’t the best mother, not even to himself. She had tried, Drago was fairly certain of that, but not in equal manner. The distribution of her attention had never been even, vacillating, rising and falling like the tides, sometimes an overwhelming rainstorm, the next day a drought.
She had been volatile at best, negligent at worst. Drago was fairly sure which one Danika and Lev would agree on.
Regardless of her flaws however, she had been his mother and Drago felt the shock of her absence in his bones. The hours he'd spend at St. Mungo's, filled with uncertainty and worry, the delivery of the news, like a shockwave drowning out all sound. Her lifeless body, leaving her there. His first thought darting straight to his siblings.
It all sat on his chest like a weight he couldn't push off.
Despite their disagreements and quarrels, the fact Lev was here at all meant more than Drago knew how to express.
“How are the others?”, he finally asked, sounding deflated, vacant. At last he glanced around. “Wiosna? Natalya?” The girls would take it the worst and he wanted to be there but the mere thought of facing their grief felt like a burden too heavy to lift right now. He didn’t even want to think about the effects this would have on Serik, already unstable and frequently explosive.
Drago's jaw tightened. The thought of his siblings' pain ached more than what he'd lost himself.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 06-18-2026
It didn't matter what Lev liked or didn't. Not in this moment anyway, and rarely in any others. Regardless of his ego, Lev was a man who had learned from an early age to do what he was told and to put the good of the family above himself. He hadn't always succeeded, but when it came to his siblings - Drago especially - Lev was usually able to suppress his own feelings.
A situation like this certainly called for it, and until his father said otherwise, Lev would support his brothers and sisters in their grief. Let Danika be the one to flit about the place without seemingly a care in the world.
"The girls are grieving," he said honestly. There was no point in lying to protect Drago's sensitivities. He'd never done it before and wouldn't now. He'd be able to see for himself the moment he left his rooms. "Serik is as expected."
Their younger brother, as lively as he was, was prone to erratic outbursts when faced with undesirable circumstances. Losing his mother, of course, hadn't resulted in a tempered fire.
Lev sighed, dropping his hand from Drago's shoulder and taking a seat in the chair opposite his brother. He paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to say, but knew he'd come up woefully short. While charisma and charm came easily to Lev, comfort and empathy were harder won. He had it in him, somewhere, but with little practice using them...
"It is hard, learning how to be a man without a mother," he said finally. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs. "A father teaches a son to be a strong man, but a mother teaches him to be a good one." Growing up under the sole watch of his father, Lev had to learn the softer angles for himself. Oleg certainly saw no value in them, and expected steel from his eldest. Lev had delivered of course.
Not that Ruslana had sat on any pedestal of motherhood. What she taught her children, Lev could only surmise could be summed up in a bottle, but thoughts and considerations of that were unnecessary now. "Father will insist you move on quickly," he said, no triumph lacing his voice at the statement, but he continued, "It will serve you no good to show your anger or surprise when he does." It was Lev's attempt at kindness, at warning Drago of what was to come. If his brother knew how quickly his father would likely take another wife, it would soften the blow when the news came.
"But I am here," he said, resignation written over the way he nodded and his shoulders grew heavy beneath the weight of it. "You can take it out on me." A small smile forced its way at the corners of his lips. "No promises I won't beat your ass for it, but I am here all the same."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-20-2026
"The girls are grieving.” Drago nodded — "Serik is as expected.” — and sighed.
Exhaustion weighed him down as he leaned forward, elbows against his thighs, hands running over the bristles of his short hair. This was bad. He worried about them all but Serik the most. His younger brother had always struggled with control and discipline. Moving away from Russia and the order of Durmstrang, into this foreign country and a school with no framework to keep the boy in line with had been challenging enough. Losing his mother on top of that was bound to derail him even further.
Wiosna and Natalya would manage, slowly and through a lot of pain but they would, he was sure of that. Serik on the other hand…
Resting his chin atop his clasped hands, Drago stared ahead into the fireplace, chewing on his worry. After a moment of silence, Lev interrupted his rumination.
"It is hard, learning how to be a man without a mother. A father teaches a son to be a strong man, but a mother teaches him to be a good one.”
Drago glanced around and then hummed briefly. One thing they could agree on was that father had raised them both to be strong. Proud and unforgiving. But where Drago knew how and when to soften, Lev remained as rigid and harsh as ever. Maybe his lack of empathy and gentleness was as easily explained as the thing that brought them here. The death of a mother.
He'd never really thought about it and it suddenly shone a light onto his brother that he hadn't considered before.
"Father will insist you move on quickly. It will serve you no good to show your anger or surprise when he does.”
Drago directed his gaze back to the fireplace. “Yes," he grumbled. "I know.” It was the one thing he was preparing for, moving on with life before any of them were ready to, becoming the example his siblings would follow. Father wouldn’t mourn, not really, not for long. He wasn't the type to.
"But I am here. You can take it out on me. No promises I won't beat your ass for it, but I am here all the same.”
Drago scoffed with amusement, meeting Lev’s eyes as he grinned faintly. “Thanks, brother. I’ll come back to it.” But the moment of light jesting didn’t last long, smile fading. He hesitated for a moment but then spoke anyway.
“He will need even more guidance now. Serik.” It was hard already. Between his own studies, Matilda, and networking with certain purebloods, keeping a firm grip on Serik was like asking him to split himself in two. Although in the same house, Drago didn’t have eyes on Serik at all times and these Brits were beginning to get to the boy’s head.
The concern had been there for a while already. Serik was slipping and Drago didn’t know how much longer his grasp on him would hold. He hadn’t wanted to bring it up to father yet, hoping things might change, knowing how Serik would react, but he couldn’t justify it any longer. Relenting, Drago entrusted Lev with his worry. “If this makes it worse, he might have to go back to Durmstrang.”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 06-25-2026
The brief moment of levity lifted the gloom that laid in the space between the two, giving Lev hope that with time, Drago would be able to move forward. There was little choice for his brother who often was the one the younger siblings looked to for guidance, rather than Lev. It wasn't that Lev kept them at a distance, but that it was natural, he supposed for siblings that shared a mother to be closer.
"He will. As much as he can get." Serik was a boy like any other his age. Wild, untamed, a thirst for adventure and troublemaking. Fine, he supposed for any other boys, but not for Serik who was already expected to behave like a man. Their father held no tolerance for individualism, no patience in waiting for growth or maturity. They were demanded, every member of the family a reflection of the whole.
Serik was a wild horse that wanted to run and needed to be brought to heel.
“If this makes it worse, he might have to go back to Durmstrang.”
A soft hum rose from Lev's throat, as he too cast his eyes to the cold fireplace. Slowly, his mind worked through all of the angles and outcomes depending on what route was taken with their youngest brother. Durmstrang seemed an extreme measure, one only needed if the boy was truly breaking from their grasp.
It would never do. The punishments Father would rain down upon Serik would be brutal; more than Lev believed his younger brother could withstand at his age. "Is it that bad?" he asked quietly, fiddling with one of his cufflinks, as he mulled the idea around in his head. "Or is he only testing boundaries?"
His gaze remained on the hearth, expression thoughtful rather than concerned. "Durmstrang may be necessary if he has become unmanageable, but I would rather know what we are correcting before we decide how severely to correct it. Serik has always been wild. That alone is not new."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 07-01-2026
Drago didn’t answer right away, contemplating.
He wanted the best for his younger brother, to guide him towards becoming the man he was expected to be one day but without constricting him as much as his father would like to see. Give him some freedoms while still maintaining a certain sense of order, dancing a fine line.
Serik had always been wilder, prone to getting into fights, both at home and at school. Father put up with it to a certain degree — boys needed to rough each other up a bit after all, didn’t they? A detention for fighting was tolerable in comparison to one given for tardiness or curfew breaks, especially if it meant his son had been the one to stand out as the winner.
Almost anything had a way of being useful to the Zdravkova name, if one knew how to twist it.
When core values began to shift however, when defiance began to feel more like rebellion —
Serik had been testing boundaries since their move away from Russia, he always had in a way. But when testing slowly morphed into pushing, into disobedience, Drago knew something needed to change. He didn’t like the idea of sending Serik back to Durmstrang; it would be harsh on the boy, being taken away from his siblings and Hogwarts’ looser atmosphere Drago knew he had come to enjoy. It was a last resort, as was speaking to Father himself. He hoped confiding into his older brother first would be intervention enough.
Gaze still ahead, Drago took a breath. “He is starting to skip lessons,” he said as he exhaled, “spending time with the wrong sorts, getting strange ideas. His grades are worse, he copies homework from others.”
Still leaning on his hands, Drago turned his head to look at Lev. “He started talking back. To professors, to me. Not all the time. But more often.” A beat of silence stretched as everything began to feel even heavier. “He’s pushing, Lev. Hard. I do what I can but I’m not sure it’s enough anymore.”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 07-01-2026
Lev grunted low in acknowledgement, his fingers refastening his cufflink as he leaned back into the chair. Initially, none of what Drago offered up surprised him. Skipping classes, getting bad grades, those were what he'd expected when Drago had complained of his behavior. But talking back to authority? Even Drago?
It wasn't acceptable. Serik's personality could be accepted to an extent. Some of it could be brushed off as his age or immaturity, with the understanding that with a heavier hand, he would fall back in line. But Lev knew better. Once a boy started mouthing off and disobeying his betters, he was already too far gone.
“He’s pushing, Lev. Hard. I do what I can but I’m not sure it’s enough anymore.”
Lev's gaze fell back to Drago, a sigh of resignation escaping his nose. He grimaced, running his hand over his face while he let the silence stretch between them. "We all pushed some." His words came softly, but he didn't quite believe them anymore than he expected Drago to. Lev had been the poster child of a good and obedient Zdravkova boy. Drago, while gentler and less-inclined to remain unquestioning, hadn't been far behind.
"Don't tell Father just yet," he said finally, letting his hand fall to the arm of the chair where he drummed it lightly. "See how he does after all of this. Maybe he'll surprise us and this will calm him some." Unlikely, but Lev needed time to figure out what to do. Sending Serik back to Durmstrang needed to be a last resort, and that would only come if Oleg found out. Sparing their younger brother their father's wrath was Lev's first priority, even if it meant he would need to take matters into his own hands.
"If it seems hopeless, send a message immediately."
Thursday, April 13, 1922
4:50 PM
♫
♫
Lev walked swiftly through the main corridor, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows with practiced ease. There wasn't a sign of frustration or anger on the eldest son's expression as he strode evenly across perfectly polished floors, eyes from the portraits along the walls following his every step.
Twenty-four hours.
An entire day he'd allowed his youngest brother to believe he'd gotten away with speaking to him the way he had. Twenty-four hours to let the boy get comfortable and feel bigger than the shoes he wore. Enough time to let Serik's ego grow just big enough to make him think he was invincible.
He would be mistaken.
Drago hadn't been exaggerating; Serik was behaving like a little shit and was only getting worse by the day. It was the trouble with boys allowed too much leeway. They mistook patience for permission. They found space in a silence and filled it with arrogance until someone was forced to cut it out of them. He could almost admire the nerve if it had not been so inconveniently stupid. There was only so much mouth Lev tolerated from his brothers, and even less his father did. While he enjoyed a bit of snark and banter, there was a hard line he drew with outright disrespect and whether the younger boy liked it or not, Serik would be made to understand his place.
There had never been much room for interpretation in Oleg Zdravkova's house. Obedience was not requested. It was assumed. Anything else was an insult, and insults were dealt with until no one in the room could forget who held authority.
Whatever Serik had done, whatever he might yet do, Oleg would not see a boy struggling with his place in the family. He would see rot. Weakness. Disrespect spreading unchecked beneath his own roof. He wouldn't correct Serik for Serik's sake. He would do it for the satisfaction of watching the youngest son remember fear before he remembered defiance.
He cracked his knuckles as he heard swift footsteps approaching behind him, heavy and familiar. "It's what needs to be done, Drago." He didn't look back, continuing his swift strides.
His brother knew it as well as he did.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 07-06-2026
His concern had proven appropriate — Serik’s already temperamental behaviour had only worsened since their mother’s death. Where before he had still been manageable with a firm look or a heavy-handed slap to the back of his head, Serik no longer seemed to give a shit about anything. His moods had steadily grown more erratic, angry outbursts that landed him in fights and detentions more often than was advisable, talking back to authority figures with increasing impertinence, sulking broodily whenever Drago set his head straight again.
Attempted to, at least.
Keeping his younger brother under control had become an almost impossible task. The boy was sliding further and further into disobedience and disrespect, eating away at Drago’s patience and stirring even his usually immovable calm. Dealing with his cocky ass had become nothing short of frustrating.
Since the start of Easter break, Serik had grown even bolder, mouthier, as though returning to Harewood House had been the one catalyst to really flick over the switch. Fuelling something that had already been teetering on the edge of disaster. And with Father under the same roof, disaster wouldn’t be far.
Lucky for Serik, Lev had been the one to stand in the crossfire first.
When Drago finally caught up with him, face set in stone and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the pent up exasperation was already shifting into adrenaline, seeping into his veins. He loved his brother, he had always done everything he could to prevent the family’s wrath to rain down on him. He was patient and forgiving, compassionate where Father and Lev weren’t.
But even Drago had his limits. Several months of being disrespected and disobeyed had done enough to break even him.
“Yes, it is,” he said, falling into step beside his older brother, tone firm. “That fucker has been driving me crazy all term long. I’m coming with you.”
He cast a glance around, months of annoyance gleaming behind brown eyes. Rare. Drago opened the top button of his shirt, loosening his collar. “Liliya told me. We’ll do it together.”
Rounding another corner they found him lounging on a sofa, immersed in some Quidditch magazine, looking entirely too at ease. Wordlessly, Drago tore the journal from Serik’s hands. "Hey!", he exclaimed in indignation but Drago ignored him, grabbing the shithead by the back of his neck to drag him into the next room over. Taken by surprise, Serik had no choice but to stumble along, cursing all the way.
As the door shut, Drago landed a right hook to the gut, releasing his brother with a shove. Bent over coughing, Serik growled through his teeth.
“What the fuck, asshole?!”
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 07-06-2026
“Yes, it is. That fucker has been driving me crazy all term long. I’m coming with you.”
"Good." Lev didn't have time for an argument or walking Drago through all the reasons it was better for him to handle Serik than their father. A part of him had expected Drago to call him cruel or say he was overreacting to an errant, grieving teenaged boy.
It was neither.
This wasn't only discipline or righting a wrong. This was saving Serik from himself and a far worse fate if he didn't comply. Lev understood nuance, and that Serik's world had been turned upside down in more ways than one. It was a lot to ask of a boy who already struggled with self-control and discipline, but Serik was not just any boy. He was Oleg Zdravkova's son, and there was no room for the erraticism that had firmly taken hold of him.
All that was left, should this not work, was a fate that Lev understood all too well. One he'd been on the receiving end of more times than he'd like to count. Not because he behaved in the way that Serik did, but his father always was able to find fault. Always able to sniff out the smallest cracks in one's armor and exploit it in the most painful way.
He didn't wish that for Serik. It was better this way.
“Liliya told me. We’ll do it together.”
Liliya could always be depended on to run her mouth. At least this time it served them. "Two is always better than one." It would be a stronger message in any case.
As the two rounded the last corner and came upon the boy, lounging as though he hadn't a care in the world - and perhaps he didn't - Lev moved quickly towards the next room, swinging the door open as Drago dragged the already struggling teen through it.
A hit and a shove.
“What the fuck, asshole?!”
Lev didn't hesitate. He swung, fast and smooth, the back of his hand catching Serik in the mouth. The boy grunted, his head swinging hard to the left as his lip split and blood burst forth. "We'll try this again," Lev said quietly, flexing his hand once. "This time, you'll remember who you're speaking to."
The younger boy lunged forward, but Lev caught him by the throat, shoving him back towards Drago.
"Greet your brothers properly."
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Dragomir Zdravkova - 07-09-2026
Serik’s words had barely left his mouth when Lev’s hand came swinging, splattering blood onto the polished marble floor. Anger glittered in their brother’s eyes, twisting his face as he lunged forward but Lev had no trouble stopping him.
Another shove, grabbed by the throat, and Serik stumbled backwards into Drago, caught in a headlock before he got the chance to recover. Not so tight he couldn’t breathe, but tight enough for the boy to struggle to break free. They didn’t want him unconscious, after all; there was no lesson in that.
"Greet your brothers properly.”
Serik’s hands pulled at Drago’s arm, snarling as he spat blood onto the floor. “Fuck you,” he growled, glowering at Lev, “I’m not doing shit.”
Drago felt his jaw tightening, patience running out. It had been months of increasing disrespect, never quite outright like this but enough to grow agitating. His calm ran deep, the pain for his brother’s loss even deeper but the principles of how this family worked ran deepest.
Respect, hierarchy, discipline, obedience.
And they’d all been here, at one point or another. Pushing limits, testing boundaries, overstepping lines. An older brother, a father, an uncle ready to set a young boy’s head straight. It was necessary, it was cyclical. Serik had used up every ounce of leniency and then some, and now it was his turn to feel the leash snap tight again.
Drago squeezed the arm around Serik’s throat. “Try that again,” he said, eliciting a sputtered cough, followed by the jab of an elbow aimed for his guts.
He took the blow without so much as a growl, immediately answering with a fist to the boy’s flank, not allowing him to curl in on himself as he grunted in pain, forcing him to remain upright. One more hit and he let go, sending Serik dropping to the floor, sputtering.
Staring down at him, Drago silently watched as he tried to find his bearings, waiting for him to speak. He didn’t expect him to cave this easily though, and sure enough, Serik glared up at them.
“Fuck. You.”
Snarling, Serik made to get up.
RE: Harewood House ~ with bared teeth | Lev - Lev Zdravkova - 07-13-2026
Lev recognized the rage behind Serik’s eyes. It was a rage of being made to feel small, less than, tamed, managed. It was the natural wildness that lived deep within every boy, fighting against the cage that contained it. It snarled and growled and foamed at the mouth until it was cut down, broken and wielded for purpose.
It was a rage Lev had known and felt, beaten out of him by his father and uncle whenever it had tried to rear its head. A cub, roaring into the frost, until the bear arrived and reminded him whose roar reverberated through the forest.
“Fuck you. I’m not doing shit.”
“That is the problem, yes,” Lev agreed. Serik wasn’t doing shit. He was lazy, ungrateful, bold and prideful where he deserved to hold none. The boy swung at Drago who answered with two hard hits of his own. Lev’s eyes followed Serik’s fall to the floor, the grunts and gasps that had came before his hands hit the marble doing nothing to provoke leniency or pity for his brother.
Another curse. This would take longer than Lev would have liked.
He snatched Serik by the collar before the boy could struggle to his feet, yanking him up hard. “You want to talk like a man? You want to act like a man? Stand still and take your hits like a man.” Serik swung, landing his fist across Lev’s jaw with a hard CRACK. It caused the slightest grimace as the pain spread like wildfire through his face, but without wasting a moment, Lev slammed his fist into Serik’s ribs, causing the boy the keel over, the sound of air rushing from his abdomen and out through his lips. He fell back, hitting the wall as he staggered, unable to speak with the wind knocked out of him.
“Now,” Lev said, shaking his hand to relieve it of the pain. “You’re going to answer for the way you’ve behaved. And for every time you do not answer correctly,” Lev stepped forward lowering himself to meet his younger brother’s eyes. “The punishment gets worse.”
Lev didn’t enjoy this. He didn’t get his thrills from beating up on his brothers or having to teach them how to obey. He didn’t like being the heavy around the house, nor did he enjoy watching his siblings suffer under his hand or anyone else’s. Serik had done this. Serik had brought this upon himself.
He knew well what would happen if he’d continued his bullshit.
His head tilted slightly, motioning for Drago to take hold of Serik. “Do you understand, little brother?”