Static | Maddox

Thursday, November 29, 1923
12:15 AM

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He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't think.

Released from the modicum of calm he'd reached for when Rae was in front of him, the boy was left alone with his own dread. Panic gripped him from every direction as he raced up the staircases, making him dizzy as he climbed higher and higher. Shit. Shit. Shit.

What the actual fuck was he going to do?

As he ran down the empty, silent hallway, unable to feel appreciation for the fact that no one was around to witness his spiral, he tried to summon the courage he'd need to tell his stepdad. Maddox Barlowe was a man who appreciated ease and peace and didn't tolerate fools well. Over the years, Benji had enjoyed razzing the man every chance he had, watching as exasperation fell over his features.

When Maddox had become his stepdad, it hadn't changed, but their relationship had, becoming much more familiar and personal than when Benji was simply his student. It had given Benji a chance to see Maddox in a different light - as a father and husband - a man who put his family first and protected it with all the energy he pretended he didn't have. Benji had had plenty of horrible examples of fatherhood over the years.

Maddox was the first to show him what it actually should look and behave like. If Benji was going to take this leap - and it didn't seem he had much choice at this point - then he wanted guidance from the only man he trusted to give him the right kind.

"Maddox!" Benji called as he banged on the man's door to his apartment. "Maddoooooxxxxx!"

The boy banged again, more urgently, continuing the knocks while his panic soared with each ram of his fist.

"I h-holy shit...." the boy couldn't breathe again. The lack of oxygen made him dizzy, and all at once Benji crumpled against the door, sinking to the floor.

"Maddox!!" He was dying. It was the only explanation.

"Maddox!"

No.

"Maddoooooxxxxx!"

Goooodd, no.

The man stirred awake, immediately glancing across the dark to the bed that Jude and Evander shared. Jude gave a little half‑chirp as if his little body was trying to decide the level of consciousness it wanted to be before turning into his brother with a soft sigh and returning to sleep. Evander scratched his cheek before turning into his brother with a soft sigh of his own. Both boys were ticking bombs with hairline triggers. It wouldn't take much more to have them held captive for the rest of the night by the pair who would suddenly be unable to sleep.

"I h‑holy shit.... Maddox!!"

Maddox forced himself from bed, slipping across the room on padded feet and back into his main office. At the door and back in his right state, he pried the door open. The 'silencio' greeted the boy before the man did. He leaned against the door's frame, taking in the sight of the now silently panicking boy.

"I won't ask if you know what time it is." It wouldn't make the interruption any less abrasive. In the newly won silence, Maddox appraised the boy. He looked him up and down, assessing first whether there may have been some injury. He could almost hear the boy's pulse thudding through his veins, and he wore his panic as clearly as he did his skin. Something had happened. Perhaps something important. There was always something happening, and often it was important. Such was the nature of emergencies within the castle. They only ever seemed to happen when people were meant to be asleep.

The man did find it curious that the boy should end up here instead of banging on his mother's door, but he wasn't ready to draw conclusions yet.

"I'll undo the spell and you'll stop screaming. Whoever's on their way to the hospital wing will be addressed, and whatever you've broken, we'll fix. If you've let someone into the castle who's turned out to be a raging psychopath, MacLean's office is in another tower."

He paused long enough to ensure Benji knew abrasive noises were non‑negotiable before releasing him from the silencing charm.

Maddox exhaled.

"What is it?"

"I won't ask if you know what time it is."

Time? What was time? In the whirl of competing panicked thoughts that consumed Benji, words held no meaning. The moment his stepdad had answered the door, Benji had reverted back to infancy, unaware of the world, of language, of anything but the pure sickness that had taken hold of his stomach and squeezed his lungs. An adult was here now.

Maddox...he...he would fix it.

In his right mind, Benji would have known better than to shout and bang on the door his younger brothers slept behind, especially knowing how unamused Maddox would have been had he actually woken the boys. Evander and Jude were at the age when everything was bright and exciting, and sleep served no purpose they could distinguish.

Shit. In...in a few months...shit...

"I'll undo the spell and you'll stop screaming. Whoever's on their way to the hospital wing will be addressed, and whatever you've broken, we'll fix. If you've let someone into the castle who's turned out to be a raging psychopath, MacLean's office is in another tower."

Benji swallowed hard, his hazel eyes boring up into his stepdad's, a silent beg as he nodded his head and forced himself back to his feet. Yeah. Yeah. He could stop screaming. He could...force himself to calm down. He...he...

He felt like he was going into cardiac arrest.

"What is it?"

Oh fuck. Oh Merlin. Benji took a few deep breaths before running a hand over his face. "I - I can't tell my mum. She'll be heartbroken. And James...Maddox, you're the only one I could come to." He looked up towards the ceiling, searching for the words he already had, but he didn't know how to get them out without falling apart all over again.

It didn't feel real. This couldn't be his reality. Not when he was so close to have everything he'd ever wanted.

With a terrified sigh, Benji brought his gaze back to Maddox's and muttered out the reason he'd come.

"I - I can't tell my mum. She'll be heartbroken. And James...Maddox, you're the only one I could come to."

Well, that certainly got his attention. The man could feel deep inside his bones that whatever nonsense Benji had brought was something he didn't want to be involved in. But they were already here. Whatever calamity was yet to be revealed had already been brought to his door, and the boy seemed under the impression that he was the only one capable of fixing it. In his experience, those were the worst sorts of emergencies.

He would be lying if, despite his sleep deprivation, he said he wasn't curious. What could've driven his son to his door at this hour that was so bad his mother couldn't know?

She would, of course.

Maddox had already learned his lesson in keeping secrets. Kathryn's was...relatively harmless. Benji was seconds from collapse. It would not be something he could keep from Julia, and he trusted that even in the midst of his panic, the boy could recognise that. Just when he was about to insist he spit it out so the night could continue, Benji did speak. What he said.........was possibly the furthest thing from what Maddox would've ever imagined, even in his wildest dreams. It was so outside the realm of anything that could've been considered reasonable that, for the first few seconds, all the man could do was blink...and stare...and try to remember what peace was.

Julia was going to kill him – Benji, not him. No, his punishment would be worse. She'd be beside herself. Devastated. Likely unwilling to do anything but vent and rant and be told that she'd done her best and Benji had always been a wild card.
And what a card he'd chosen to pick from the pack.

Merlin help them.

Maddox pulled a hand down his face, his sleep fighting to regain control while his mind struggled to come online. There was no 'fixing it', not in any way he figured the Hufflepuff meant.

This wasn't the sort of problem you addressed at an hour like this. He knew that, didn't he? What could they do tonight that they couldn't do in the morning? "You're an absolute idiot." He groaned. "Fell for your mother's lie about that spell, too, I see." Jude was living proof that Julia was either full of shit or more confident in her abilities than she had any right to be. He loved his son, but there was no denying that he shouldn't have been there.

And now they had new problems.

Maddox sucked in a breath between his teeth, certain those weren't the right words.

"Alright, alright. Where is she? Is she alright? Does anyone else know?" Couldn't this wait until morning? The latter he refrained from asking, having enough sense at least to realise how...sensitive this was.

Julia...would definitely have to know.

"You're an absolute idiot."

He was. The worst of them. The king of idiots, if one had to be crowned. At one time, Benji had had the right of it, putting his appetite and Quidditch above all else. That entire year that he and Rae had left each other alone after the trip to her family's house had been the right move, but then...then...she'd had that guy at the garden party and Benji thought he had something to prove...and...

"Fell for your mother's lie about that spell, too, I see."

Oh fuck. Benji clutched his stomach, turning away from Maddox so his stepdad wouldn't be caught in the splash. He threw up, hard, all the contents from dinner now on the stone floor. A portrait across the way gasped in disgust, rushing from its frame to a nearby neighbor's with his nose pinched. The boy grimaced, spitting the last of the sick from his lips. He groaned a weak apology, before pulling his wand to clean it all away.

Jesus. This couldn't fucking be happening.

Benji didn't blame his mum. He was responsible for his own actions, and while she'd said he should be alright, he should have taken extra precautions or maybe not participated at all. He knew how these sorts of things happened, and he'd still taken the risk. He really was the greatest kind of fuck up, wasn't he?

"Alright, alright. Where is she? Is she alright? Does anyone else know?"

Where was who? In his misery, Benji went blank, his mind ridding itself of anything but the panic that was happening to him. Was who alright? A she...oh. Rae. Yeah. She was at the center of this whole thing wasn't she? "I...I left her in the clock tower. I told her I was gonna tell you and she said okay..." he trailed off, his eyes glancing back down the hallway towards the staircase. Fuck. Another way he'd fucked up. He probably shouldn't have left her in such a terrifying moment, but he didn't know what the fuck to do.

"She's not alright. She's hysterical...and the healer knows. Her dad's gonna know and...." Benji's eyes misted over as his throat closed. "I don't know what to do." His voice came small and terrified, sounding very much like that scared first year boy he'd left behind all those years ago.

The situation, against everything he believed, only continued to get worse.

Maddox watched Benji lose everything he'd earlier watched him shovel into his stomach, the ground now the scene of his unravelling. The news was... it was big, yes, but it was also already done. The man understood. He wouldn't stand there pretending that his son should gird himself by his loins and get a hold of himself. He wasn't about to get on a soapbox about accepting consequences with grace. He just... didn't think... his nostrils needed to suddenly be filled with the stench of throw-up.

He waited for the boy to collect himself, recognising that nothing productive would be accomplished that night. Lectures could come in the morning. A proper sit-down would be needed. Neither could happen while Benji's body still reacted so violently.

One would think, with how determined they both were, that they'd at least considered the outcome before and would, therefore, have some amount of fortitude against it. Evidently, that wasn't the case. Benji acted like a boy who thought one procreated through an extensive avian network.

Surely this had crossed their minds at least once.

"I...I left her in the clock tower. I told her I was gonna tell you and she said okay..."
Seemed a terrible place to leave someone whose world had been upended. He wanted to believe that he knew the girl well enough to make assumptions about what she would or wouldn't do... but Benji was currently breaking down. He couldn't imagine she was handling it much better. It would be better for them to collect her before the night became an avoidable tragedy.

"She's not alright. She's hysterical...and the healer knows. Her dad's gonna know and...."

Well, that certainly complicated things. The more Benji explained, the clearer it became that this would have to become... something. What remained was containment, and a part of that would require them to somehow get ahead of the downward spiral about to take shape. Maddox didn't know much about the girl's father, but he didn't imagine any man would be thrilled to receive such news. From what Julia had shared, he wasn't the sort to suffer such a slight lightly either.

Each passing moment saw the situation swelling.

Soon, there would be nothing they could do.

"I don't know what to do."

Well, not nothing.

Maddox placed a hand on Benji's shoulder, trying to steady him and bring him back to the moment they both stood inside. "Hey. Look at me." He waited until he did. "We'll figure this out. You, me, your mother, Ruth, we'll find a way." The 'how' had yet to be determined, but there were currently more pressing matters, like finding the Slytherin and ensuring no more dumb choices were made. "In the morning, we'll find your mother, and we'll have a talk with the healer." She knew she was fond of the girl, which might work in their favour. "For now, let's go find her. She doesn't need to be alone. Neither of you do."

He let his hand fall from his son's shoulder, then closed the door behind him. The boys were unlikely to stir before they returned, and if they did, there wasn't any trouble for them to get into that might harm them in the safety of his private room.

"Take a moment to breathe, then we'll go get her."

"Hey. Look at me."

The hand on his shoulder was gentle but firm, forcing the boy back to Maddox's gaze. Benji had always thought when this day came, that it'd be a happy one. Full of excitement and exuberance, knowing he was well past his training and studies. A full man, ready and able to take care of his child and the mother that carried them. He'd never, ever, seen himself in this position. A scared kid, with no idea how drastically his life was about to change, whether he was ready or not.

He'd taken care of Kate, but that was his sister. He'd never been responsible for someone's entire life and existence. This child would only have one father - him. HIM! This wasn't something he could bullshit or grin his way through. A baby needed a dad - a good one. Benji of all people knew how having an absent or terrible father affected a kid for the worse, and he never, ever wanted his child to experience a modicum of what he had.

But fuck. Could he do it? He was only seventeen. Rae was only seventeen. How were they going to do this, and do it right? He knew things could have been worse. They could have been on the streets without a support system or money, but...a baby needed so much more than that. Could he provide it? Could he be the man he didn't think he was yet and be what his kid needed? What Rae needed?

It was too much to try and wrap his mind around now.

"We'll figure this out. You, me, your mother, Ruth, we'll find a way."

Benji inhaled a shaky breath, nodding quicker than he meant, wanting to find relief in Maddox's words, but there wasn't any. Not any that he could grasp and absorb in the moment. He knew his stepdad was earnest and that somehow, they would find a way, but while Benji's heart was still hammering in his chest, he couldn't see a path one way or another.

"In the morning, we'll find your mother, and we'll have a talk with the healer. For now, let's go find her. She doesn't need to be alone. Neither of you do."

"Yeah," he managed, his voice cracking as he sucked in another breath and jammed the balls of his palms into his eyes. She didn't need to be alone. Rae needed to be surrounded by people that cared about her and loved her. She needed the reassurance more than he did, that everything would somehow be okay.

In the morning, when he hopefully had more wherewithal, he'd make it plain to her they could do whatever she wanted. Would their families let her do whatever she wanted? He didn't know, but...he'd have to step up and defend it. Whatever it was. It was his job now. He was her protector now. He had to be a man in all ways.

"Take a moment to breathe, then we'll go get her."

He did. A few good deep breaths to gather himself, before he nodded his thanks. "Okay. Let's go."