The Dreaded Dinner of Doom

Reginald stood up to leave.
Ana nodded and went to open the door.
"Bye Darius." Reginald waved as he headed through the door.

"Bye...?" Darius said really confused.

"I'm just going to talk to Will." Nicolas said leaving the table.

Darius looked at Ana. "What's happening?"

"Grandfather's...going to...miss the Knight bus if he doesn't leave soon." Ana replied, putting a hand on Darius' shoulder.

"That's right Darius. Now, you look after your little wolf." Reginald smiled and crouched down in front of Darius, pulling the boy into a quick hug. He smiled and walked out of the door. Ana waved goodbye as Reginald spun around and apparated away.

Ana had an idea. "Darius, come sit in the study for a minute. I need to tell you something."

"What?" Darius said heading to the Study.

~~

Nicolas headed to Fitz's room upstairs.

"Well Darius..." Ana paused for a second.

"When Fitz was little, a mean man came to the house. And your daddy had to shout at him to make him leave, but he looked a bit like grandad. And because Fitz was only little and far away, he thinks it was grandad. But it wasn't. Okay? It wasn't. Fitz thought it was, but it wasn't. Because grandad isn't a mean man is he?"

She put her hand on Darius' shoulder. "It was all just a big misunderstanding. Okay?"

She felt a bit guilty lying to him, but at least it would cover the tracks left behind. Hopefully Nick would convince Fitz it wasn't true...or whatever he was going to do.

"Eliza, I swear I saw him before." Will said desperately trying to make someone, anyone believe. Eliza was his sister, his real family. She had to believe him, she had to.

"Fitz...I wasn't there, I don't know if it was him or not." Eliza felt guilty taking sides.

"But..." She paused. "I believe you Fitz. You're my brother. If you saw him, you saw him."

Will sighed and looked very much relieved that Eliza believed him. "Thanks for believing me Eliza..."

Nicolas knocked and entered the room.

"Eliza you didn't lock the door?" Will said angrily. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Eliza, Ana wants to talk to you downstairs." Nicolas said.

Eliza shrugged. "Forgot."

She glanced at Fitz, then at Nick. Then she slowly walked out of the door and went downstairs to Ana.

"Okay guys, what do we want to do now? Listen some wizarding wireless? Watch the muggle television? Play frisbee?" Ana smiled, noticing Eliza.

Eliza glanced at Darius. "Don't mind." She said.

Nicolas closed the door as Eliza went out and put a silencing charm on the door.

"Will," Nicoals turned to the boy.

"I saw him!" Will exploded at Nicolas. In all his years he'd never really thrown a tantrum but he couldn't believe that Nick of all people didn't believe him. He felt betrayed, betrayed by his own family. "I know I saw him!"

"Will," Nicolas repeated.

"I know you know! I remember you... afterwards. You said everything was going to be okay, I remember it. After I hit him with the chandellier and I started crying!"

"Will!" Nicolas yelled.

"I got mad at him because you were mad at him," Will continued to relate what he remembered. "I remember him... saying all those bad things about you... and Diana..."

"I believe you."

That shut Will up... but not for long. It took Will several seconds to recover and when he did, he shooted off.

"But you said... you said," Will blinked rapidly in confusion. "You said you didn't! You and Ana! You said! You LIED!"

"Will, calm down." Nicolas said to the upset boy.

"No, you lied to me!" Will said, frustrated tears started to fall. "You. lied."

"Will, please, let me explain." Nicolas said.

"You said... why did you lie? Why did you lie?" Will continued on.

"Listen Will, I am about to tell you something..." Nicolas sighed. "Something I need you to keep a secret."

Ana smiled at the children. "Well...what's it to be? Telly, frisbee...anything in particular?"

Eliza shrugged. "Don't know."

Ana laughed. "Oh come on, there has to be something." She paused. "Want to go in the garden?"

Eliza glanced outside. "But it's raining."

"Bah humbug." Ana smirked mischievously. Concentrating, she raised her wand and cast a spell non-verbally. A large clear bubble enclosed the garden and house, and she shot a ball of light into the centre, as the bubble became the same colour as a sunny blue sky. "Better?"

Eliza clapped her hands and pulled Darius outside. "Come on Darius! Let's all play frisbee!"

Ana smiled and replaced her wand in her pocket. Picking up a frisbee, she flung it smoothly. "Catch Darius!"

Darius ran up and tired to catch it. He managed to stop the frisbee but it slipped through his fingers.

~~

Will stopped and furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Listen Willito, I am telling you this because I trust you. You are a great big brother to both Eliza and Darius, you've always made things easier, I know, I can count on you for anything."

Will blushed at Nicolas' praise. And continued to listen.

"Will... Reginald... Ana...," Nicolas sighed, unsure how to tell or what to tell Will. He had complete confidence in the boy but it was still a tricky tale to tell. "What you saw that night..."

Nicolas sighed, running his hands through his hair.

Will decided to help him out a little bit. "I've a question Nick."

Relieved to be relieved, Nicolas answered him. "What?"

"How is Reginald Darius' grandfather?" Will stated.

"What?" Nicolas said taken aback by Will's question. "Reginald's Ana's father."

"Yes," Will said nodding. "But she isn't his real mother."

Nicolas was rather shocked by Will's powers of observation. "How did you know?"

"I was six, not stupid." Will said indignantly. "I remember Diana and you. I remember her being pregnant and Ana never was..."

Nicolas' eyes widened. "Why haven't you said this before? Does Eliza know this too?"

Will shrugged. "I just figured you didn't want to talk about it... and Eliza doesn't know, she was too young then."

Nicolas nodded. He could let this be. Let Will think that Darius really was his son but with Diana instead, like what everyone else knew... but no, he might as well tell the boy the truth now that it was all out in the open. But it would only be too easy to lie...

However, Will made the decision for him. "So why is Reginald Darius' Grandfather?" He asked again.

Nicolas briefly mused on how an eleven year old could confuse him so. "What do you mean?"

"Well because I was looking at him throughout Dinner, and the way he was looking at Darius.... well it just seemed like it was real, like Darius really was his Grandson, like how you look at him sometimes, but never us..."

Nicolas blinked. Gotta watch out for the really observant 11-year-old. "Well Will... Darius isn't my biological son."

Will blinked.

"Darius, like you, is half-Casillas and half-Vaight." Nicolas said toying with Will's curtains. "Darius' biological father is Ana's brother, Darien."

"Nearly!" Ana called to Darius.

Eliza clapped her hands and waved at her little brother. "Darius, Darius! Over here!"