+- Knockturn Bound (https://knockturnbound.net)
+-- Forum: Portkeys (https://knockturnbound.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=14)
+--- Forum: The Wizarding World (https://knockturnbound.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=71)
+---- Forum: Districts (https://knockturnbound.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=78)
+----- Forum: Residential Wizarding World (https://knockturnbound.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=198)
+------ Forum: Estates/Manors (https://knockturnbound.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=221)
+------ Thread: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James (/showthread.php?tid=999)
Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - Cassian McCormick - 04-17-2026
Monday, May 29, 1922
9:10 PM
9:10 PM
Sir!—Mr.—Fidele will get his master! Please! You can't—you mustn't—"
The house elf was frantic and had been from the moment Julian entered 'the great' Arundel Castle. A lofty heap of rock set atop a hill, filled with pompous, presumptuous assholes who held scant regard for human life—certainly the life of his son.
The man had been fine to ignore the sentiments, understanding that there existed a divide between those who were 'pure' and thought themselves better and the rest of wizarding society who knew the truth. Never having been one to make waves, he'd never let it ruffle his feathers and hadn't found that it hindered his daily life or work.
People talked. The purebloods held their fancy galas and never invited anyone. Halfbloods and muggleborns found their own success, some even surpassing their inbred counterparts.
It never mattered, truly.
His son deciding he was in love with one of them was where the real trouble started. Stubborn as the boy was, separating them was no small task. Rather than submit to the will of their parents, they'd run and run far.
Was it reckless? Of course. Did they deserve to have at least half a book brought down on them for being as foolish as they'd been? Without a doubt.
But the Laurences had gone too far and would finally have someone to answer to.
"LAURENCE!" he bellowed from the other side of the foyer.
Try as the poor elf did to slow his advance, Julian was having none of it. He shoved by the creature each time, brandishing his wand when his milder dismissals weren't heeded. He didn't need to wait around for the elf to 'find his master'—didn't have the time to be ushered to some waiting room where he could be seen as 'His Majesty's' mood allowed. They would talk about it and they would talk about it now.
Julian would announce himself, and the bloody lot of them could descend to see who dared darken their halls with loud and indignant shouts.
"COME OUT HERE!"
RE: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - James Laurence - 04-18-2026
"He's a strapping boy isn't he?" James grinned at his sister as he looked up from the newborn nephew in his arms. A protruding belly full of milk and limp chubby arms, Jude Alexander Barlowe was unquestioningly gone and lost to a food coma as his mother's family cooed over him.
With Maddox still required at Hogwarts for the remainder of the week, Julia had returned to Arundel with their baby to wait him out until they could settle into their new home. James had been away on business - securing new deals with a few Irish politicians - and had only just arrived home, eager to see the new baby. A boy, the first amongst the three siblings to be born from one of them. Edward had had a girl, James a girl and likely another on the way if Amelia was right. Figure Julia would be the one to bring a new Laurence boy into the world.
And he was a Barlowe. Second in line after Benji, if the elder nephew continued the new tradition of only girls.
It was late for a Monday, and most of the family ought to have been retiring for the evening. Still, Edith, Amelia, Gretchen, Julia, Benji, Uncle Robert, and Aunt Elizabeth had remained in the family room after dinner, passing the time in conversation while they waited for his return. Benji, his OWLs now finished, had been granted a day away from school to visit with his mother, though he was due back in the morning.
"He never stops eating, so I imagine he will be," his sister said, her voice tired but amused as Benji added, "He gets that from me." A chorus of quiet laughs and then various conversations continued as James's light brown eyes washed over his nephew, pride and happiness for his sister and brother-in-law inching its way through him in that quiet way it always did. James wasn't one for big displays of emotion, but there was something about a child joining the family - one of their own - that stirred something within him.
A baby was a promise of continuity. A promise that their family would live on. A new life to protect and have the honor of watching grow into his place in the world. "You'll be a brave one, won't you?" he asked the baby who remained completely oblivious to the goings on around him. "Thoughtful like your mother, purposeful like your father." He smiled, patting Jude's back gently.
Benji wandered over, the boy nearly as tall as James now, looking more like a man every time he saw him. Was it only a few years ago that he'd met him as a short, chubby little twelve year old menace? "He'd be the real heir, you know," Benji said casually, his hands shoved into his pockets as he smirked at his uncle. "If you wanted him to be. He's a blood Laurence."
James's expression didn't reveal the way he was taken aback by the statement, but before he could open his mouth to respond, another voice - one he didn't immediately recognize - bellowed out in the foyer below.
"LAURENCE! COME OUT HERE!"
The room went silent, every member of the family springing to their feet at the same time. Confusion washed over them, eyes flitting back and forth between one another trying to decipher if any of them knew who it was that had somehow entered their home and was now commanding their appearance. James immediately handed off the baby to his sister, his wand sliding from his sleeve into his hand as Benji drew his as well.
He didn't know who it was that shouted for him, but with a room full of women and an elderly man, he didn't have time to try and decipher before he was heading for the door. "Stay here," he commanded them all, but Benji was already out the door, rushing into the hallway towards the stairs. "Goddammit," he muttered. That boy would be his own undoing.
Following close behind, James moved quickly, grabbing Benji by the shoulder and shoving his nephew behind him. As he arrived at the top of the stairs, his eyes fell on a familiar face. Julian McCormick. Wand ready and looking angry enough to drop the entirety of the castle on all their heads.
What did he want? It had been nearly a year. Rosalie and the man's son hadn't returned.
"Put your wand away," he hissed at Benji who reluctantly did as he was told, but followed his uncle down the stairs. James tucked his own back up his sleeve and sighed as he stepped into the foyer, his eyes locked onto McCormick's. Fidele was a frantic mess, clutching at his ears and screeching.
"Fidele apoligizes, Master James! Fidele did not let the man in. Wanted to fetch Fidele's master himself, he did!"
"Enough," James said quietly, giving a quick dismissal of his hand as the house elf vanished, likely in relief of not having a sterner scolding. His eyes never left Julian's, as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Benji, obviously not recognizing the man clenched his jaw and glanced back up at the landing to ensure his mother hadn't come out.
"Quite a time to stop in for a visit, McCormick," James said lightly, only the slightest hint of annoyance at having the man drop in unannounced or invited. It wasn't as though they were old family friends.
Benji's eyes dropped from the landing above them back to the man, widening in recognition at deep brown eyes that matched those of his missing (dead?) friend. Cass's dad? "What...is..." he wanted to ask, but his uncle's silent reprimand - a quick raise of his hand to wait - had him quieting instantly.
"What can I do for you?"
RE: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - Cassian McCormick - 04-19-2026
"The man of the fucking hour," Julian said, looking the man up and down.
When the children had first gone missing, he came to the castle hoping his son had only gotten into a bit of trouble and was held there until he could arrive. The castle had been in an uproar, and Julian had genuinely thought that they'd been as devastated by the sudden disappearance. He'd left feeling a shared grief and a shared sense of helplessness.
What a performance it had been and how they must have laughed and sneered when he was gone before beginning their sickening hunt.
"What can I do for you?"
...The very gall of James Laurence. He looked him in the eyes, feigning ignorance as if that very day they hadn't done everything they could to rob his son of his life. What could he...do? This was all a game for him, a means of passing some time.
"Haven't you done enough?"
Did they know the meaning of the word?
Julian barely spared a glance at the boy who'd followed Laurence down, his ire reserved for the man who'd assured him in one breath that they would do everything they could to find the children – that they knew nothing about their whereabouts but would let them know if they turned up – while using another breath to order their execution. "What sort of sick...twisted..." He couldn't find the words. Nothing seemed strong enough to describe what they had done.
"I'm going to law enforcement come morning – I've already contacted someone in the department about the matter and will be filing a report the moment their doors open." His face contorted with derision, the man barely able to contain himself, but he did. Despite his drawn wand, Julian hadn't come for violence. It had only been a final warning to the elf who'd sought to get in his way. He was angry, but not a fool. James Laurence couldn't be the only one home, and if things came to blows, his chances of a victory were miniscule at best.
His purpose was simple. He would make sure they knew that their high society wouldn't protect them from this one.
They'd picked the wrong 'nobody's' son.
"Where do you get off thinking you can get away with this shit? Forget Cassian, he doesn't mean anything to any of you, but Rosalie? You'd kill her, too? For what? You people are a cancer on the wizarding world."
One that would be cut out, one way or another. No family, no matter how well connected, was above scandal and disgrace. All throughout history, families rose and fell based on the whims of the public and the image they held in their eyes. The revolts of old, the overturning of entire lineages – they were proof enough that no one was ever truly safe.
It just took one well-lit match and a man determined enough to see them burn.
"Rosalie's already talking, and when Cassian wakes up...you'd better start moving those fancy assets of yours while you still can."
With a deep breath, Julian returned his wand to its holster.
"When Britain sees what you've done, they'll paint you for the monsters you are."
RE: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - James Laurence - 04-19-2026
"The man of the fucking hour."
James Laurence had been the object of a man’s anger before. His name invited it. His position invited it. His birth, most of all, invited it. Men had looked at him and seen every locked door they’d ever stood in front of and been denied.
He had long since learned to take that in stride.
What he had never had was a man bring that anger to his front door. While James didn't understand what he'd done now to incur what was obviously Julian McCormick's wrath, he didn't answer, preferring to let him say whatever piece he needed before seeing him politely out.
James had never lost a child. Rosalie was someone he loved and cherished, and having her vanish into the night had been hard, but she wasn't his daughter. Whatever new offense had resulted in Julian showing up here deserved to be heard, he figured. Even if misplaced.
"Haven't you done enough?"
James lifted his shoulders, holding them for a moment, before letting them drop, his expression only changing momentarily, reflecting his attempt at understanding. "Enlighten me," he answered. Please. The sooner they could have whatever this was out, the sooner it would be over and he could collapse into bed. The last time he'd seen the man, it was under shared grief and worry over the two fool-hardy teenagers who thought they knew better than all the adults trying to steer them otherwise.
He'd thought they'd parted with an understanding, that both of them would notify the other if any sign of the two showed up, but to James's knowledge, Rosalie and Cassian had never been found.
"What sort of sick...twisted..."
There was a commotion on the upper landing as the family began to filter out of the room, leaning over the railway to try and see what was going on. James glanced over his shoulder momentarily, shaking his head before he returned his attentions back to the aggrieved visitor. Those women never listened to anything he said.
"I'm going to law enforcement come morning – I've already contacted someone in the department about the matter and will be filing a report the moment their doors open."
Law enforcement? What matter? James's eyebrows dropped in consternation over his eyes, recognizing in a moment that something serious must have happened. Something Julian thought he was involved in. But there was nothing. Things had been quiet around the castle and within the family for the last several months - unusual yes, but not unwelcome.
"James, what's happened?"
Julia's voice carried over the landing as she held Jude tightly against her chest. Her eyes landed on Julian, the color draining from her face almost immediately. "Julian...?" she asked, hurrying towards the stairs, before Amelia stopped her, taking her gently by the arm and pulling her back before she could. Julia looked to Amelia, questions in her eyes, before they both looked to Gretchen in tandem.
Gretchen shifted uncomfortably on her feet, but held her chin a little higher, staring down her nose at both women silently.
"Law enforcement? What in the fuck are you talking about?" James asked quietly, the confusion lacing his voice as Benji took a step forward, studying his uncle's face for a moment before slowly looking at Julian again. Wheels were turning in the boy's head, his hazel eyes flashing with questions he was dying to ask, but chose to hold until Cassian's father had said what he needed to.
"Where do you get off thinking you can get away with this shit? Forget Cassian, he doesn't mean anything to any of you, but Rosalie? You'd kill her, too? For what? You people are a cancer on the wizarding world."
Kill her? James was taken aback, as a shriek sounded from the landing. "Kill her?! Rosalie? What the fuck is he talking about, Gretchen? Where's Rosalie? James - what the fuck is he talking about?!" It was Amelia's turn to asked questions, her usual decorum falling by the wayside as shock gripped all of them at the man's accusations.
"Oh God," Julia murmured, her voice breaking as her back met the wall of the upper landing, her arms clutching her baby as the world spun around her. It was as she'd warned her little cousin and Cassian. She'd told them it could come to this. She'd told them what had happened to her and Ezra and she had tried to spare them. So many times, she had tried to save them from this fate, and they rebuffed her at every turn. Her lips parted as she tried to get ahold of her vision again.
James - had he known? He couldn't...wouldn't. He still regretted and apologized for Ezra to this day. She could see the guilt in his eyes and the way there were times he couldn't even look at Julia. He loved Rosalie. Julia had seen them together over the years; James and Rosie had always had a fun relationship. There was no way on Merlin's green earth he would hurt her.
Her eyes fell on Gretchen again, as Uncle Robert gripped the railing and leaned over. "What is he saying, James? Where's my granddaughter? Where has he got her?"
Amongst all of it, there Kathryn stood, eyes wide, taking all of it in.
There were too many voices demanding answers, too many accusations flying above James's head for him to try and make sense of what was happening.
"Rosalie's already talking, and when Cassian wakes up...you'd better start moving those fancy assets of yours while you still can."
Benji couldn't hold it in anymore. "When Cassian wakes up? He...he's alive?" His face softened as he took another step towards the man, emotion welling behind his eyes. "Rosie's alive?" A year. A whole year of silence. A whole year of imagining graves, or worse. James and Julia had never said it aloud, never named them dead, but absence had a way of becoming its own burial. Cassian would have written. Rosalie would have found a way. Benji had told himself that until there was nothing left to tell.
Now his eyes were bright with something so raw it made James’s chest tighten.
Benji had lost a lot of friends over the years, but there was something about those two that tore at him like none of the others. "I...I need to go see them," Benji said, and this time it wasn’t a request. It was a demand, his voice melding with the growing agitation above them.
"When Britain sees what you've done, they'll paint you for the monsters you are."
James closed his eyes. There was too much noise, too many people demanding answers that he didn't have. Too much chaos. "ENOUGH!" he shouted, turning to his family, his eyes casting upwards for the only woman he needed speaking. They all silenced immediately
"Gretchen." There was a chill to James’s voice now, the ice in his veins finally taking hold. His darkening gaze fixed on her as, at the sound of her name, those bright blue eyes turned toward him. Her expression was as haughty and defiant as ever, though it curdled into open disgust the moment she caught sight of Julian McCormick.
“Where’s Leo?” he asked. “And Arthur, for that matter?” The absence of both men had not escaped him. Leo often worked late into the night, but James doubted either of them would remain tucked away in comfort while shouting and shrieking carried through the house. His cousins were not men inclined to sit idle, and though he had believed them controlled, manageable, and contained he was beginning to suspect otherwise.
"What are you insinuating? You think my boys hurt my granddaughter?!" Robert’s voice thundered across the foyer, but James didn’t so much as glance at him. His eyes stayed locked on Gretchen’s.
And there it was.
That flicker behind her eyes. Brief, but enough.
She faltered. Only for a moment. Then her chin lifted. "You all have gone soft," The words landed like venom, her sneer moving from James to the women gathered above and around him, all of them staring at her now in dawning horror.
“My husband did what he had to.”
Edith stepped forward.
Silence fell hard and fast over the room, save for Gretchen’s breathing, sharp with indignation. Understanding began to spread through the family like a cold front. “You all stood by while she disobeyed,” Gretchen went on, her voice rising, growing less controlled with every word. “While she ruined herself. While she humiliated all of us. Not just me and Leo. All of you. She carries your name as much as she carries ours.”
By the end of it she was nearly shrieking, her voice shaking as the air in the room turned against her.
"We don't hurt our children!" Amelia cried as Edith took another step.
"She stole from us and let that..." Gretchen glared at Julian, "...halfbreed boy ruin her. None of you tried to find her." She waved her hand at Amelia, then James. "You wanted us to leave her alone, after all she's done. She's our fucking daughter. Ours!"
James looked over his shoulder at Julian, finally understanding what was going on. Leo and Arthur had stepped out of line and taken matters into their own hands. Rosalie and the McCormick boy had suffered for it. Nearly died by the sound of it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his nephew shaking.
"Where are they?" James prompted her, but before she could answer, Edith slammed the palm of her hand across Gretchen's face, eliciting a cry of shock from the woman. She slapped her again, and a third time, before Amelia rushed forward and grabbed Edith's hand, pulling her away from Gretchen as Rosalie's 'mother' let out a torrent of curses that mattered to no one.
"Filth, that's what you are," Edith spat in her cold and abrupt way, "How dare you call yourself a mother?!"
James shook his head, turning completely to face Julian again as Amelia struggled between the two women, and Julia slipped from them, hurrying down the stairs with Jude in her arms. "Julian..." she tried, her voice cracking and her eyes full of questions. "I swear, we didn't know," she pleaded, shaking her head, "Are they...how bad..." Benji stepped forward, his hand on his mother's back, watching as Kathryn stood at the top of the stairs. "Mum," he said softly, "Take Kathryn and Jude to bed. This isn't good for any of you."
"Not until I know they're alright," she snapped.
James sighed. "I don't know what to say." It was a first for the man, who was usually full of clever words and understood how to talk his way out of anything. "It likely doesn't mean much, but we didn't know and would have stopped them had we otherwise. Amelia's right, we don't hurt our children."
Except Leo apparently did. It was a betrayal that would need to be rectified.
"If you need to file the report, I understand," he said quietly. "My cousins can't go unpunished, and they won't. As for what happened to your boy," he took a deep breath and gave another slight shake of his head, “I can't pretend there is anything adequate to offer in the face of it. But whatever can be done, whatever is within our power to do, you need only say it.”
RE: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - Cassian McCormick - 04-22-2026
...
....
What fresh hell was this?
Julian watched on, his eyes furrowing inward with scepticism while the castle erupted into some form of radio drama nonsense. He hadn't been sure what to believe when Laurence played the role of the baffled bystander, sure the man was taking him for a ride as he built toward his latest ruse. The man was convincing; he'd give him that. It was no wonder they'd been successfully able to put him and Kari off their trail.
But this...this was overkill.
Julian had already said his piece. In the morning, he had an appointment with someone over in the MLE, someone he'd already given a very general gist of things. It wasn't enough to expose them just yet, but enough to insinuate motive should he disappear before then. Frankly, he hadn't come to do a lot of talking. All he cared to do was let them know their days were numbered and that this was the one thing they wouldn't be allowed to get away with.
What he got...was...a different side of aristocracy than what he was used to or could ever imagine. Very quickly it became clear that they'd collectively lost their minds.
Then the confession came, and the story became more linear. Suddenly, it no longer looked like performance but shock and a web of betrayal that ran deeper than they knew. There was something satisfying about watching it all unravel, not because Julian was a man who enjoyed chaos or harboured spiteful glee but because it made him feel less alone in the same way their distress a year ago had. They could see the rot for themselves. He wouldn't struggle to get them to see things from his perspective. The Laurences couldn't hide behind a veneer of detachment while the wolves returned to their door.
"Where are they?"
He ignored the question. Stunned as they were, at least one had confessed to feeling justification for their actions. There could be others. His son had come home barely alive. Who knew how he would find him the next time? Who knew whether they might send someone to their home to finish the job?
"Julian...I swear, we didn't know."
Didn't she? The man met her with a hard stare, his defences taking their time to come down.
"That may be the case," Julian said evenly, "but some of you did, and that was enough to leave my son bleeding out." If they didn't know, genuinely, then good for them, but what did that help? What did it solve? Who had it protected?
"It likely doesn't mean much, but we didn't know and would have stopped them had we otherwise. Amelia's right, we don't hurt our children."
"Could you have stopped them? It doesn't seem like you're in control of anything here. You say you don't hurt children, and now it's clear some of you do. Stay away from him. Stay away from Rosalie. You can't protect them – couldn't protect them..." He shook his head, trying to dislodge the image of the bleeding children and the horror etched into Rosalie's face. "Your family's already done enough. They need to heal."
"My cousins can't go unpunished, and they won't. As for what happened to your boy. I can't pretend there is anything adequate to offer in the face of it. But whatever can be done, whatever is within our power to do, you need only say it.”
"Help me get that justice." That was what he wanted. "If you mean it, if you really care about these kids, don't let them spend the rest of their lives running. No. No, in fact, I don't intend to have my son living in fear for the rest of his life. I will be going to law enforcement. If anything happens to him – even years from now, you'll never get away with it. They've already made their choice," his eyes rose to lock on the woman they said was Rosalie's mother, "It does you no good trying to change it. I'll see these walls crumble before any of you have another chance to hurt them."
This wasn't a negotiation. Either make sure they leave them alone, or I will."
RE: Arundel Castle - The Sins of The Son || James - James Laurence - 04-24-2026
It was getting worse by the moment. The shouts of confusion and anger above them escalated, Uncle Robert now getting involved in the verbal barraging of his daughter-in-law, while Amelia tried to settle all of them and keep Edith separated from Gretchen. James knew what it looked like, but at the moment he could only focus on the man in front of him...and his nephew who was looking redder in the face by the moment.
"Could you have stopped them? It doesn't seem like you're in control of anything here. You say you don't hurt children, and now it's clear some of you do. Stay away from him. Stay away from Rosalie. You can't protect them – couldn't protect them..."
James's gaze cast sideways at Julia as she defiantly shook her head at him. "You can't ask that of me," she said, her emotions boiling over as Jude began to fuss amongst all the chaos. Sensing his mother's distress, the newborn writhed in her arms, his little cries starting slow, adding to the noise that surrounded them. "She's my girl." Her first little love amongst them all. There hadn't been a time since Rosalie's birth that the two had been apart for more than summer camp, until she had ran. Tears filled her eyes, and without looking at Julian, she hushed Jude and turned back for the stairs.
James knew how much Julia loved the children in their family. They had always been her weakness and soft spot, especially Rosalie. He sighed, watching her go, knowing there was nothing he could say, nothing he could threaten that would keep Julia away from Rosalie if she wanted to see her.
He chose to ignore the bit about not being able to control his family. While it seemed accurate in the moment, James also reasoned that all of them had just had a horrid shock and despite their determination for a curated appearance, the Laurences were, after all, human with human emotions.
As far as Leo and Arthur? They were the exception in that sentiment and would be dealt with.
"Help me get that justice. If you mean it, if you really care about these kids, don't let them spend the rest of their lives running."
"We will." Benji stepped forward, not waiting for his uncle's reply. His jaw was set, something flashing within his hazel eyes that even he couldn't quite place. Unless his uncle wanted Benji going on a rampage through the castle, there was no other option as far as he was concerned. James nodded in agreement. "Of course we will."
"I will be going to law enforcement. If anything happens to him – even years from now, you'll never get away with it. They've already made their choice. It does you no good trying to change it. I'll see these walls crumble before any of you have another chance to hurt them."
James let out a breath of air, contemplating how they had all ended up here. It was beyond him in the first place how such a sweet and obedient girl like Rosalie had gone so astray, but hearing the things Gretchen was shrieking and knowing now what Leo had done, he was beginning to understand. The first time she had run with the McCormick boy, James had thought it all a fling, one that had ended in bloodshed and terror for the carefully sheltered fifteen-year-old girl. He'd thought all the trouble with the Ministry that followed would have ended this whole thing, but it had only gotten worse.
When they'd finally run off again last year, James had tried to help Leo find his daughter, but only under the condition that she was to be brought home for her own safety. When she hadn't turned up by her seventeenth birthday, James had insisted Leo leave her alone and let her live her life on her own terms. There was no use trying to force the girl into a life she clearly didn't want, if the family didn't want more trouble from her and the boy she'd ran with.
Nobody ever fucking listened to reason, and now their girl was hurt somewhere. Somewhere Julian McCormick was refusing to disclose.
"It won't be a problem anymore," he said earnestly, and looked at Benji before nodding to Julian, "We'll find them and we'll meet you at the MLE office tomorrow with them. You have my word." His cousins would pay for what they'd done to Rosalie, and to Cassian. While James's primary concern was their own, he couldn't dismiss that Rosie obviously loved this boy.
He'd made the mistake before, regardless of what his father had ordered, and he wouldn't let Rosie down the same way he had Julia.