A Tiny Bit Suspicious?

[Draeden Blackwood]

Dearest Ivayne Blackwood,

I am told that you heard of my accident. I am even told that you visited. I find this hard to believe, but I find many things about the accident hard to believe.

Many things have changed in my life. I would like to tell you about them. I know this is a new leaf we are turning over, but somewhere, I have always known we were family. Maybe I just needed to see from you what side you would choose. There was a wrong answer - but tentatively, you passed.

I have more to tell you - about the woman I love. About many things. I wish I would not have to write them in a letter, but as of now, I know you are at Hogwarts. Congrats on being Head Girl. I am proud of you for this. Perhaps it is merely the head trauma talking, but I would like for us to be closer. I know that I will never be what Grayson was, but if you can accept me as I am, maybe we could be something more than what we are now. What that looks like, I am unsure of, but I am willing to try. You seem willing to accept the fact that I have failed in becoming unattached to a woman and in this, I have learned that I can become attached to people and not lose myself along the way. Even you.

Your brother,
Draeden

[Ivayne Blackwood]

Draeden Blackwood

Yes, I did eventually come to find out about your accident and hospitalization, though it took more effort than it really should have. Imagine my embarrassment at the look of surprise on your employer that your own sister didn’t know where you had been or what had happened. The only reason I even knew you had awoken is because I had arranged it with the Healer myself.

I’m glad me being Head Girl is a source of pride for you, since I apparently have very little to offer in that respect. I will say that I worked very hard for it.

I gathered that you and Phoenyx were together when I visited you at St. Mungo’s and I have to say I’m not surprised. She’s beautiful and brilliant, and we used to be good friends, not that you would remember. She was the one that discovered that Iwasnt entirely miserable at Quidditch, despite whatever you or your brother would have had me believe.

I have always known you and Grayson were entirely different people, personalities. And I’m glad you’re finally realizing that. I’m sorry if I ever made you compare yourself to him. If anything, I ended up doing much of the same. That being said, I leave the quaffle in your hands. I have been continually let down when I try so hard. Not just by you, but so many others. I refuse to apologize or change the way I am, I refuse to give more of myself than what I am given... even to you, my only family I have left. Just as I promise to accept you as the brother that you are, you much do the same with me. I am the over emotional and sometimes irrational child that always embarrassed you and Theodora, and inspired little affection from our own parents. This is just me.

For more Phoenyx’s sake than mine, I truly hope that you have found a way to let people into your life.

Regards,

Ivayne.

[Draeden Blackwood]

Ivy,

I can hear your bitterness through the letter, but I'm not sure what to say to you I don't know what you have expected me to have done about it. I was in a coma, I was hardly making social calls. I know you will probably say that Phoenyx, the woman I love (which you surmised), whom I now know to be friends with you (and you are correct, she is beautiful and brilliant and together, we make an unstoppable team), should have told you, but you will have to forgive her. Neither of us knew at the time that she was pregnant with my child and she was struggling to deal with this information as I lay dying. By the way, we have not told many people yet, but let me be the first to tell you, Phoenyx is pregnant. The baby is mine. You will be an aunt and soon also, a sister-in-law.

I can hear how angry you are in your whole letter and I suppose it is merited. I have not been a good brother. I have not wanted to be one. But you are coming into your own rite as a woman, you are maturing and you are being ushered into adulthood. I can not pretend the world you are arriving into would be kind to you.

To be honest, I don't know how to be the kind of brother you want me to be. As we both agree, I can not be Grayson. But I also, clearly, can not be myself as myself is nothing but a disappointment to you. Can you tell me, in plain English, what you want from me? You say you are done and it is my responsibility to see it through, but I honestly don't know how to see it through to you. I can not express myself like Grayson. I don't show affection. I am willing to try and make you part of my life, but I don't know what you want from me. There are some things that I just can't do. I don't think we will ever sit around in a circle and sing folksy campfire songs. I'm just not the camping kind of person.

Honestly, having met the Turati children, I will tell you, at the very least, you are worlds above them. I know that you will never blindly follow along with our family's ideology. That is commendable to me - you know how much I value independence and thinking for yourself. These next few years, after you graduate Hogwarts, will show you if you truly sink or swim. I think in some ways you are too harsh on yourself. Our parents are not affectionate people. And perhaps you wished so hard for them to be, but they are products of Theodora and the like. They can only be who they are as well.

I know that you will be who you will be and I will be who I will be, but the question is, will those two things ever be able to mix?

Draeden

[Ivayne Blackwood]

Draeden,

Please don't ridicule me. Of course you wouldn't have been able to contact me when you were in a coma. But how is it that your employer didn't know I even existed? Did you know that Hogwarts has you, my only family, as my emergency contact? Even my friends know who you are in case something happens. It was obvious that Phoenyx was distraught, and I still have enough affection for her to easily forgive her. Nevermind that no one thought of what I would think or feel.

Like I said before, unintentionally comparing you to Grayson in the past has always been the mistake, and I've already apologized and promised to do better. I don't need another Grayson, full of empty promises and feigned affection. I don't need you to force yourself to be someone you're not, but I do expect you to communicate with me. All I ever really wanted was for you to answer my bloody owls and assure me you're alive. Since you're now engaged to Phoenyx, I am more than convinced that you're able to hold a sincere conversation with another human being. If you and I were ever to experience anything past that, it would just be extra. I guess we can only figure it out as we go along.

The only thing that remains is to congratulate you. I can't even describe the shock I felt to read that you and Phoenyx were not only together but are also having a baby. At the risk of sounding too excited for your liking, I am SO excited to be an aunt! I promise to help in whatever I can when the time comes. This family that you're starting is going to show you how it should have been for us from the start.

I know you're not going to like me prodding but, I guess my only concern is Phoenyx's family. I am not up to date with recent events with them since she came back but I know their relationships are... complicated to say the least. What do they think of this baby?

Ivayne

[Draeden Blackwood]

Ivy,

At the time when I started at Sawyer-Woodward, I simply left that part of the application blank. Truthfully, part of me assumed that I would never need it. Also, the accident didn't happen at work - my employer was under no obligation to contact anyone anyways. At the time that I started, I was right out of Hogwarts. You were 13. I didn't want to burden you with the weight of being my emergency contact at 13. I simply never updated the paperwork since then. But attached to this is a copy of my new and updated paperwork with both you and Phoenyx listed as my emergency contacts. Think of it as my Christmas gift to you. You are coming into your own right as a woman and will be out of Hogwarts in less than a year, so if you want this adult responsibility, you are free to have it.

I would like to point out that I initiated these owl messages. I can't promise you I will always communicate, but I am trying. I am doing the best I know how. I am alive. I live on, much to the disappointment of many. I am pleased that you are excited to be an aunt. Phoenyx and I are also excited. I know Phoenyx is worried. The genetics are tricky since I am fully human and Phoenyx is not, but I am making sure that she is receiving the best medical care she can get.

Speaking of Phoenyx, we are getting married on New Year's Eve and I would like for you to attend. I have attached a portkey to this message as well.

They do not know about this baby at present. I think we will attempt to keep it that way as long as we can. Our home is safe. We have a secret keeper that we know would never betray us. We will do everything we can in our power to keep our son or daughter safe. It is not secret that they were the cause of my accident, but there will be hell for them to pay if they mess with my child.

Draeden

Contents: 1 copy of Draeden's employee information on fill with Ivy and Phoenyx listed as his emergency contacts and 1 portkey

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