back at your door, |NOAH/NICK|

* WEARING

When Eden awoke in the hospital, her head had been resting on Noah's chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her. She opened her eyes slowly, not making any sudden movements, but immediately relieved to know that he was there. If it was possible and she was sure that he could probably tell, her whole body relaxed against his. Her eyes traveled to the wrist that she could see- a scar more visible on her wrist than it had been. It was something that she didn't plan on bringing up, not anytime soon, at least. Letting out a small breath, almost inaudibly because of her hoarse voice, she murmured three words. Three words that may have been normal for any other serious couple, but they weren't exactly a couple again, yet. She loved him, though, and he had saved her. If he heard her, she didn't expect a response. She knew how he was with that kind of stuff and it would certainly take him a little off guard, especially considering everything that had happened. And she figures she didn't only say it because of what he had done for her, but because of what he had yet to learn about Minerva. Because when he found that out, she had a feeling that the walls around him would start to crumble.

Several weeks had passed and Eden was trying to lead a life as normal as possible. The first week was terrible. One moment she would be fine and another she'd be curled up in bed crying. Her mother was visiting so much while Noah would be out, that she ended up fighting with her and saying some awful things. Things she obviously didn't mean and apologized for, but nonetheless, things were tense around her. On top of all of that, Noah had found out about Minerva, which broke her heart even more. He was always someone that was so strong all of the time. Not only for himself and others, but for her when she needed him, which was a lot more than usual. Eden sucked up her own feelings, attempting to put them on the the back burner so that she could be there for him. She felt so numb to this kind of pain, now. No longer did she cry in front of him or randomly during the day. That was reserved for when she was in the shower or taking a bath, when the running water washed out the sounds of her sobs. It was so hard. It was so hard not to fall into a dark place, to let depression completely consume her. Noah had murdered someone for her...for him...for Luke. It was certainly something that shocked her when the topic came up. Of course, panic ensued after that, her questions of how he hadn't ended up in Azkaban or on trial. She was grateful, more than she would ever be able to show or explain in words, but she knew what kind of toll it had taken on him mentally. She could see him lost in his thoughts, beating himself up over it. Things were starting to fall apart around her, brick by brick.

It started out with him being the most attentive person around her, despite what else was going on in his life. The news about Minerva noticeably set him back, at least to her. She could see it on his face...that he was sincere, but that he was being stretched in so many different directions emotionally. At this point, Eden had started to come to terms with the things that had happened in her past. Instead of continuously mourning for Luke, she had started to remember the good things about their very brief time together. It was certainly a process, but as she had started to progress, Noah had started to digress. At first, his work hours started to get a little longer. He'd come home looking exhausted, but he'd never be able to fall asleep. Eden would rub his back, trying to help calm his nerves, anything. Then, it progressed to getting a drink or two at the pub after work. Something that she was obviously okay with, because she trusted him, but because she knew what kind of stress he had been under. The fact that he hadn't really talked to her about what happened to Minerva bothered her. Coming home drunk at 3AM or 4AM started after that. She was watching him self-destruct and she couldn't do anything about it. Soon, they began arguing when he'd come home. Arguing about why he was staying out so late, why he wouldn't talk to her. Then, one night, he didn't come home at all...not until the next morning.

Eden sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her hands as she stared into the cup. A long sleeved white shirt covered the fading bruises and scars on her arms, but the look on her face showed that the discomfort, pain, and memories were still there. Noah hadn't come home, yet. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. She trusted him, though, right? He wouldn't do that to her. Not after everything that had happened, right? Eden took a drink of the strong coffee, setting the the mug back down. She was hoping that he had just passed out at a friends place. That he didn't want to wake her up stumbling into the house again. Eden had already called her mum, telling her not to make any visits unannounced. That's all that she needed right now. It was half past seven when she heard the lock on the front door turn. She stayed where she was, unable to look at the figure that was slowly making it's way into this part of the house. "Nice to see that you're alive." she finally said, glancing up at him. When he didn't make an effort to say anything, she pushed her glass forward roughly, standing up. She paced slightly before leaning against the counter. Her voice was hesitant, almost broken. "Where were you last night, Noah." It was hardly a question. "Really? You're not going to answer me?" The look on her face was a mixture of worry, hope, and pain. Her eyebrows were furrowed before she looked away from him, walking into his bedroom. Picking up the empty, medium sized luggage bag that her mother had brought to the hospital weeks ago, she sat it on the bed- staring at it for a moment before sitting down, her head in her hands.

Several weeks had gone by since the realization that a child could have been part of their life together. A small family could have lived together in the home that he had managed to acquire in Godric's Hollow. The two probably would have debated over them putting both of their careers on hold to raise their son, but more than likely Eden would have won the debate of her putting her career on hold. Had he lived to reach the age that he would have been at the present time, he would have been five years old with a birthday coming up in December. She had gone into the details about their son, how he had been born on Christmas. How he had only died about a week later. When they had been in the hospital, Noah had heard three words which he already knew to be true. He had responded with the three words back though she had drifted back off into a sleep thanks to whatever the healers had given her previously. It wasn't until later that day that she revealed the news to him. News that didn't effect him entirely just yet since he managed to hold out on staying strong for her, for a few days. After all, she had been reminded of their son and his death, so she needed more comfort than Noah could afford to have from her. The first week had been the most difficult for her because she was often crying on the bed, curled up. During that first week, he had been given a few days off to mourn the loss of his aunt. However those days had been spent with Eden. Throughout those days spent with Eden, he had his own guilt to deal with. Between the fact that they had lost their child, someone he didn't know about until a few weeks ago. The fact that Eden had been through quite enough during the six years. The loss of his aunt, the last surviving member of his family besides himself. The fact that he killed someone using the curse that most likely killed every single member of his family except his other aunt. His usual strength to hold everything together had been working out fine for that first week. However, he returned to work and the hours were much longer than they had been before. Due to the hours of work and everything, he had started not sleeping despite being exhausted. Eden had been full of worry about him especially when she had learned that he had used the killing curse on Alek. The panic of him being sent to Azkaban, something that probably would not have been a big concern to him given the fact that he felt like he had recently encountered a dementor. While he had tried to keep the strong facade up, it was clearly not working at all. His face was way too easy to read to even probably Iskra that he was just mentally stressed over everything. It wasn't like him to beat himself over something so much, but things such as the things that had happened? The trait that he had managed to inherit from his great aunt was being shredded to pieces as the weeks had started to pass. Despite clearly not being able to think straight at all, he still went to work with the hopes of hearing any news about Igor. Eden had asked him to stay home for as long as it took him to get over everything, something that he refused to do. He wasn't talking to her at all about what was going on in his mind because he didn't want to give her more to worry about. Her mother had even tried to get him to talk which didn't work. Eventually as the weeks had passed, he had regressed to going to the pub after work for a drink or two. At first, it was like a normal week where he would only have a drink or two. It eventually progressed to him not coming home until three or four in the morning, waking her up due to his drunken state. Soon after arriving home, the two would end up arguing, something that they had never really done when they had been a couple. One night it got so bad that she went to her mother's house to sleep. The morning had arrived with the sun creeping up into the sky. The night had disappeared, as if it had not been night at all. Noah woke up on someone's couch, his best friend's couch to be exact. Sunlight already bothering his head which was pounding. Pulling his shirt on, he left the house and apparated to his own home where she would be awake. It had been his best friend's idea for him to not go home considering he had heard about the fight between Noah and Eden which had led to her spending a night at her mother's home. Apparating to the home, he unlocked the door which took a few times since the sun was bothering his eyes. Over the several weeks that had passed, his usual five o'clock shadow was much darker on his face and noticeable. His hair had also grown a bit longer, sticking up as it always did just more. Opening the door, he walked into the house, looking for her. It was a slow pace since he had only been awake for about a half hour and was not feeling well at all. It wasn't until he stumbled upon her in the kitchen that he heard her. She mentioned that it was nice to see that he was alive and he didn't make an effort to say anything to her. Especially considering what her words had been. His hand only ran through his hair, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to focus his hazel eyes on her. 'Where the bloody hell was the aspirin?' was what he thought as she leaned against the counter, asking him more questions. Then she began to get pissy, asking if he was going to answer her. Noah said, "Ow, you don't need to be so loud. And of course, I'm alive, sorry to disappoint you that the tree is still living." Clearly something that he would not have said, if this had been a normal day though it wasn't. She had remarked about being alive and his smartass had to comment back to it. She looked away from, walking into his bedroom which had practically become her bedroom. He didn't even move from the spot where he had been standing after her. It was clear to anyone that if they stayed the way that they were, the two weren't going to probably even last as friends. All they ever did now was fight or argue, pushing each others buttons to the maximum. Before going after her, he had finally found the bottle of aspirin which had been stored in a cabinet near the sink. Popping two pills into his mouth, he swallowed them thanks to the help of a glass of water which he had gotten from the sink. 'The bloody sun' was his last thought before he had followed after her into the bedroom. She was sitting on his bed with her head in her hands. A luggage bag was on the bed with her. He asked in his own hesitant voice, "You're leaving?" His arms were folded over his chest as he leaned against the doorway.

* WEARING

These past few weeks had been rough on both of them. Eden had told Noah all that there was about Luke, even offering to show him a few memories later on down the road. It obviously wasn't good timing right now to bring up anything else emotional, especially with what happened to Minerva the same day Eden was taken to the hospital. He had never shut down like this in all the years that she had known him. He wasn't talking to her about anything, regarding Luke or Minerva...or anything about work, either. Yes, she had been stressed...worried...way more than usual, but she wanted him to be able to talk to her no matter what. Obviously, he was holding back, considering her less than perfect state of mind at the present. The fighting had been awful between the two. Not as awful, though, as it was exhausting. It was a mix of his drunken stupidity, her lack of sleep from being woken up by him, and their fiery personalities. It was just over-all a whole lot of not good. They'd push each other until one of them would snap and sometimes over the dumbest things. The other day, they had an argument over who fed Sylvester. So stupid. Of course, when he started drinking more, the more they would fight. Her mother had even tried to talk to him, see what was on his mind. Unfortunately for everyone, he wouldn't budge. It was slowly taking Eden's grief away, replacing it with worry and helplessness towards Noah. She honestly didn't know what to do. She knew that it was starting to reach a point in their relationship, that it would ruin them for good if things didn't get resolved. That's what she had been planning on talking to him about when he didn't come home the previous night. It caused her to sleep like shit, wondering where in the hell he could possibly be...or who with. She trusted him enough to not sleep with another woman, but it worried her when he got black out drunk. That's when she had to pray that his friends were complete idiots and would take care of him. That morning when she had been waiting for him to get home, she had been thinking of her options of what to do. She couldn't live like this anymore, not if he wasn't going to let her help him. Going to her mother's in Bulgaria was always an option. However, it was one that she didn't want to make again so soon. The less she knew about their relationship trouble, the better. Because just like any other mom, she wanted to fix the problem herself, when what she'd really do, is just get in the way. That left her with one option...going back to the house that she once shared with Alek...that was left to her. Eden was going to give him a chance to redeem himself, though. However, when he just continued to ignore her, it pissed her off. When she had made the comment about him being alive and well, she hadn't actually thought about what had just came out of her mouth. A saying that was typically harmless, struck a chord with him, seeing as he had no family left. "Shit," Eden cursed, letting out a sigh. "That's not what I meant and you know it, Noah." He was definitely being a little smartass. She raised her voice a little more, taking a hint from his snide remark. It was when he continued to ignore her questions that she left the kitchen, going into what was pretty much their bedroom, now. She picked up her empty luggage bag, setting it on the bed before sitting down, cradling her head in her hands. She heard Noah shuffling around until she could feel his eyes on her- his voice hesitant. Eden stood back up, walking into the closet that she had partially taken over, throwing an occasional shirt or pant onto the bag on the bed. She didn't know what to say...she had never done anything like this before. It wasn't even breaking up because they weren't even an actual couple. She stopped abruptly, feeling her eyes water. She was so sick of crying. "I don't know what else to do. You've completely shut me out." Eden lowered her eyes before grabbing an arm full of clothes, dropping them on the bed. Her hands were almost shaking, she was so frustrated, so upset. She threw the folded shirt she had in her hand into the suitcase, looking up at him again. "Am I supposed to just stay here and watch you self-destruct?! There's literally nothing I can do!" She wiped at her eyes, angry with herself. "All you do is drink now. I never know where you are or when you're coming back. It drives me absolutely insane, especially after everything we've been through!" Eden paused, taking a small breath to compose herself. "So, yeah...I guess I am leaving." Eden continued to fold her clothing into the bag, not looking up once to see his expression. She had pretty much just had a nervous breakdown and composed herself to be okay again. Obviously, not so normal, but she was coping. He, on the other hand, was not.

In all the years that they had known each other, he had always been the strong one out of the two. He didn't shut anyone out nor did he just not talk to anyone about whatever was on his mind. He had always gone to her with any problems that he had. It was completely unlike him to shut her out, refusing to talk to her or even her mother. However in the years that they had been in school, nothing terrible had happened to him or his aunt. The two had always been by themselves considering the rest of the family had passed away when he was too young to know any better. It was perhaps why he had managed to stay so strong with Eden during certain times that she needed him because he had never really gone through anything tragic. Atleast not until she had left him six years ago, did he experience anything that could be considered tragic. During those six years, he had just managed to not really open himself up to another relationship except one. When Minerva had slapped her previously saying that she didn't know what he had gone through the six years, the elder woman knew exactly what she was talking about. The fact that he basically relied on drunken girls at a pub for entertainment even if he didn't have one night stands all over the place like some of the guys. Considering the years that they had been together, he should have been able to go to her with anything. However, the fact that she had enough on her mind was something that prevented him from going to her. He also hadn't expected in all the years that he would be alive that his aunt would pass away even before him. She was probably the greatest witch left around and had easily been taken away by an asshole. That asshole being Eden's own father, perhaps another reason that he was not dropping any walls to talk to any of the Karkaroffs about the death of his aunt. As an auror, he had found out who had killed her. Again, it could have been prevented, if she knew about the fact that they both had been attacked by Igor and Alek. The reason that Noah even thought the elder woman would outlive him despite her elderly age was due to the fact that she was too careful to even let old age be the cause of death. He was too reckless that he probably would have passed away even before she did, that is how much he hadn't thought much of her dying when he was younger. Especially by the father of his..whatever Eden was to him now, they still hadn't discussed the state of their relationship. The state of the relationship had been going downhill since they had been told about what happened to Minerva. A fight always took place between the two for stupid reasons. She was often tired due to him waking her up either when he came in the house drunk or couldn't sleep thanks to work. He was often in a drunken state because he spent the nights after work, drinking. Her mother had stepped in though he had avoided talking to her altogether. If something wasn't done then their relationship would have potentially ended up going sour. When he had spent his drunken nights, he had luckily not made the mistake of sleeping with any other women despite the two not officially being in a relationship. The night before, his best friend had been the one to not let him return home considering the fight that had occurred between him and Eden previously. Noah had brought it up, while he had been drinking. Something that he wouldn't normally discuss in a public place or even with his best friend since things with Eden were usually kept between the two of them. Or he went to Minerva for advice dealing with women. Except she wasn't around anymore. When he had commented back to her, she told him that it wasn't what she meant and that he knew it. It was him not answering her questions that caused her to leave the kitchen, heading to the bedroom which she practically slept in alone since he barely ever slept. He had made his way to the bedroom, leaning against the doorway, watching her. Noah had asked if she was leaving which led to her bursting out with many words. An arm full of clothes were dropped on the bed before she looked up at him, saying more words. Noah bit his tongue as he pondered what to say to her as she continued to fold her clothing into the bag. He said, "Well fine then, leave. It'll be no different than the past six years you were gone." There was no point in fighting for her to stay since she had obviously made up her mind of what she was going to do even before he had walked into the house. Clearly, there was no way that they were being their complete selves. Rarely did they fight and if they did, it was stupid fights which they got over quickly. The past few weeks had proven to show different sides of them, perhaps showing that they didn't really know each other as well as they thought. He kept leaning against the doorway not blocking it completely, so she was free to leave, if she wanted to leave.

* WEARING

The fact that Eden's father had been the one to kill Minerva...well, that put a strain on their relationship. It wasn't like she was close to Igor, he didn't raise her and practically had nothing to do with her during her childhood and so on. Eden was nothing like him and the only similarity she had with him was his last name...and unfortunately, dark magic. She understood where Noah would be hesitant to talk to her, but seriously. They were practically an old married couple by some people's standards, having spent half of their youth together and longer. She just felt that he was only making the inevitable worse. She was afraid that the build up would lead to more drinking, more fights, and something potentially worse- like him ended up in a muggle jail or Azkaban. He did some dumb shit drunk. While Eden was throwing things onto the bed, ranting, Noah said nothing. He stood there, perfectly still in the doorway, saying nothing. Of course, it only made her more angry, more upset. Making her cry more, her hands shake more. When she had looked back down to finish packing, she heard him say something that made her freeze instantly.

It'll be no different than the past six years she was gone. He wasn't even going to fight for her to stay? A part of her crumbled inside, but another part of her was furious. How could he say something like that? Eden looked up at him, speaking in a broken voice. "Really," she said softly, "No different. Glad to see that all of this was worth it, then, right? I can't believe you." She was disgusted. She zipped the bag, picking it up and linking her arm through the handles, stopping in front of him, slapping him hard across the face before pushing passed him. Eden stopped short of the door, turning to look at him. "You're really going to just let me leave." Tears stung her eyes as she looked back at him. He hadn't moved from the hallway. She felt so small. So fragile. And what she had said wasn't even a question. It was obvious that he was just going to let her walk out of the house. "I don't even know who you are anymore." she cried before turning around, opening the front door. She paused once more, hoping that he'd say something...move an inch, but nothing happened. He wasn't coming after her this time.

Eden apparated into the backyard of the home she shard with Alek. It was protected by wards, so she'd have the freedom of apparating without others seeing her. However, this house only brought back terrible memories. She was almost afraid to walk inside the doors. After doing a quick run through, however, she walked around the house, re-setting all of the charms that had been put up for protection. When she walked inside the front door, however, she dropped her bag to the floor, immediately sliding down to a sitting position. She was crying like a lovesick teenager. Who knew that all of this could be so awful?! And on top of that, she was stuck living in a fucking house that she hated, she wasn't with the man she loved, and honestly...she wanted to burn the contents of the rooms to smithereens. So, that's exactly what she did. If he was going to ignore her and his feelings, she'd try not to worry about it, either. The only way to get better was to accept the past and try to cope and move on. Pulling out her phone, she dialed the phone number to the muggle's in charge of the cemetery in Godric's Hollow. A headstone for Luke was definitely a step in the right direction.

The past eighteen years had been a scramble of memories for him. He could remember some moments, mostly from Durmstrang. The past six years had especially been a big pile of memories that he couldn't really remember having. Since a young age, he had known that his father had used a curse on him. Why had he known? His father had told him about using the curse on him because he didn't behave. He didn't do what he had been told to do thus it was punishment. Since he had grown up without a mother, Nick was quite loyal to his father. He always tried to do what the man said to do to the best of his ability. It was just obvious that he perhaps had some humanity to him unlike Igor had. Despite all the horrible things that students of Durmstrang said about his father (which were true), he still defended him since he was the only family that he had. When he had only been twelve, he had seen a man walk out with a child from a hospital room. He had never even questioned why the man had been walking away with a screaming child. When Igor had finally come to get him, he only told him that the child was going to be fine. That nothing would happen to the child, so Nick believed him since he was only twelve. Another memory that was vague at times was the fact that his father along with Alek had kept a close eye on a woman. Nick could barely remember, if he had ever been kept around to keep an eye on her, but he always wondered why they looked out for a woman like her. Igor had told him that Alek and her were getting married, but he never understood the connection between Alek and Igor. It was something left unexplained to him and something that he never questioned. Never did he question Igor to his face.

Speaking of Igor, he hadn't seen the man for over a month it felt like. It was during that month that he actually felt the freedom to think for himself as well. Unlike most guys his age, he spent the time not at a pub rather a library. It was a hobby that his father had always found to be so stupid. Reading. So the past month had been spent reading, making potions, and smoking of course. Had he not been under the imperius curse for so long, he most likely could have gotten a job. The only subject that he lacked any real talent was Transfiguration. Nick had obviously looked for Igor, while enjoying the freedom. He was his father despite everything that he ever did to punish him. Due to the circumstances of his mother being dead, Igor had actually been there for him. Hogwarts was something that no matter how much Nick wanted to go there, Igor refused. It was perhaps the one thing that he had wanted the most out of anything that he wanted from Igor. The ability to go to Hogwarts because he had always heard great things about the school. Plus, Durmstrang was where he was basically an outcast thanks to his last name. No one really liked him from Durmstrang. The only girls that had ever been associated with him were muggles, something his father took some high disgust to. Needless to say, he never saw the girls again and his back was full of scars from being punished for even talking to the girls. That was something that had made him skittish around muggles because his father had told of what terrible things muggles had done. The story of how many wizards or witches ended up in Azkaban due to muggles. Now, if he ever ran into a muggle, he would simply avoid any conversation with them. Never was he a jerk to them, but he was scared of what they were capable of. Igor had told him that it was smarter to just stick with his own kind, witches and wizards. So for that, he had tried to get along with girls from Durmstrang. It never happened though. The only girls from then on that he ever managed to get along with, were the girls that he came to know from visits to London with Igor. Those visits had been rare until recently. Recently, Alek and the girl had moved back to London. Since he was always the third man in the middle of the two of them (Igor and Alek), he had been able to get to London quite a bit.

Today he had decided to take a trip to the house where Alek and the woman had been living. Despite having known the woman for six years, he still hadn't really learned her name. Or maybe he had, but he couldn't remember it. He was still looking for Igor because despite the freedom, he felt as if he was alone without any sense of direction. Remember, he had never really been free to do what he wanted on his own thus he was dependent on his father. Nick had on a white buttoned up shirt and jeans, clothes that he usually wasn't found to be in since he usually had stuck to wizard robes. However with Igor gone, he had gone for more muggle clothes despite the warnings of how muggles were. If he did find Igor, he probably would have been told to change into robes right away. Unlike most wizards, he had taken a cab to the house. Nick had a high fear of heights and didn't really like the idea of apparition. Again, something Igor could have been blamed for. He was the one that had forced him to try to learn quidditch and it was something that Nick wasn't ready for at all. Thus, the fear of heights had developed. Apparition was something that he feared because incase he messed up. He could apparate perfectly fine, but it was just a fear of his. The cab driver was under the same curse that he had been under before, the imperius curse. It was something that he had a knack for, dark magic. However, he never used it against his own father. He had used it on the cab driver because he was a muggle. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the home which looked like no one was even living at the house on the outside. Stepping out of the cab, the cab driver drove away, free of the curse. Nick pushed some of the hair out of his eyes (occ | the icon hair mannn unf) and made his way to the door. To his surprise, it was cracked open as if someone had left it open for someone. Perhaps remodeling since he smelled fresh paint? Walking into the home, he made his way around the house searching for someone. Some form of life that was in the house and boy, did he find it. A screwdriver went right to his shoulder, the back of it hitting his shoulder which may have left a small bruise. He cussed, "Dumma människor och deras kastar kompetens av skruvmejslar (Stupid people and their throwing skills of screwdrivers)" in Swedish, his native language. His blue eyes looked up to meet the form of the woman that he had known for the past six years.

* WEARING CURRENTLYYY

The first day Eden had been back in the house that she hated so much, she had gotten out her cell phone, deciding to call the muggles in charge of the cemetery at Godric's Hollow. Once she got a hold of someone in charge, she decided to just go and talk to them in person about the headstone she wanted picked out. It would be simple, considering it was for a child; a child that never had a proper burial. The stone would go on the McGonagall's plot, next to Noah's parents, who would have been Luke's grandparents. It was emotional and considering she had been here recently with Noah, they knew her by name- even asking where he was. She didn't bother explaining anything involving their relationship, simply saying that he was away for work. They parted with a friendly hug, a 'sorry for your loss,' and Eden was heading back to her new home. A home that needed a hell of a lot of work before she would feel comfortable in it. Eden walked into the dull, painfully sterile living room, contemplating her next move. She needed a new car, not that piece of shit that Alek had bought her (an expensive piece of shit). After calling up her mother, inviting her to go shopping, she waited momentarily next to the fireplace. Iskra hated traveling by floo. She claimed that it was dirty and that it was what poor people did. She could be so sweet sometimes. Eden rolled her eyes, dusting her off before grabbing her hand, walking to the front door with her. With Alek gone, she not only had access to his bank accounts now, but the ones that were in place for her long before she was born. Iskra had several cars of her own, which was one of the reasons Eden made her tag along. She still hadn't brought up Noah, something that Eden was grateful for. As soon as she slowed down to catch her breath, the worry and guilt of leaving him alone started to creep back into her mind. She was currently having a mini midlife crisis, even though she was only twenty-five. Despite the many luxury cars she could have picked out, she ended up getting a luxury SUV- the Honda Urban. With all of the things that would be going on around the house the next few days, it would certainly come in handy.

Over the course of the week, so much had occurred in the house. She had not only burned everything that belonged to Alek, but she had taken over the master bedroom, completely remodeling it. No longer was is as white as an operating room, but warm with splashes of pastel colors throughout. She figured that the bedroom was most important, considering she'd have to sleep there every night. Every night. Thought of Noah always flooded her mind, distracting her from the things she was doing to stay sane. She was so mad at him, but at the same time, she felt like she had abandoned him. He was there when she needed him and she had left when he was at his worst. However, he seemed to not want to get better, which is really what motivated her to leave. She couldn't stand by and watch him lose his job, drink himself into oblivion, self-destruct. When he didn't go after her, something inside of her told her to just leave. Which is why she was in the position she was in now. While it was all fun and games to remodel and try to create a home for yourself, Eden knew that home was wherever Noah was. She missed him. Eden threw a pillow onto the bed before collapsing onto it. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about the past month in general and how crazy it had been. And honestly, she needed a fucking job or she was going to go insane.

The days went by and the house was actually starting to feel like one. She was proud of the work she had done, she had even met the neighbors when a truck delivered more furniture to her house. The were muggles. They obviously had no idea what had occurred in the home that she had been working on. Eden had just finished the living and dining rooms, now destroying the kitchen to make it to her own liking. The windows were open, letting in the cool breeze to dry the paint in various areas. She never knew that taking a sledge hammer to old cabinets could be so therapeutic. From the living room, she heard a record playing, humming lightly to the song. However, it wasn't until she saw headlights appear in front of her house that she froze. Eden looked down at her pants, patting for her wand, but she didn't have it on her due to the remodeling. "Fuck." she murmured, grabbing the screwdriver and setting down the awkwardly large hammer. When she heard the door creak open, Eden moved into the hallway, throwing the screwdriver at the intruder with incredible precision. He cursed in another language, Swedish, she figured, and looked up at her. Him! "You! What the Hell are you doing here?!" She looked at him in disbelief. She always thought the guy resembled her, it was weird. "And did you take a cab?" Eden sighed walking passed him into the living room, turning off the record player. If he was going to try and kill her, the idiot wouldn't have come in a cab. Plus, he looked equally confused as her, even a little lost. "Nick, right?" she said in an almost irritated tone. "Did my father send you here or were you looking for Alek- because I can happily tell you right now, that he is dead." she smiled sarcastically, reaching for her wand, but not aiming it at him. "So, if you were just stopping in for a visit, I'm afraid there's no one here that you'd want to see. Besides, I have a fucking scar on my back from the last time I saw you, you little shit." She rolled her eyes, walking back into the kitchen.

The house that he had entered looking much more like a home than it ever did before, atleast as much as he could remember. The home had looked like Alek had picked it out to be a prison. He could never understand why it looked so bare considering a woman had lived in the home. One that was quite beautiful, he could say so himself. Though he never found himself attracted to her despite perhaps every other guy on the earth being that way. The reason being that she looked a little like him which weirded him out a bit. She was also older by a few years, if he could remember correctly. It would have been obvious that with her living in the home, it would have looked more like a house than a prison. There was no sight that Alek had even lived in the home. It was a good sign. Nick had never liked the man enough to actually respect him. He felt that he was too pigheaded at times. However, he never said these thoughts to his father, who clearly respected Alek. Nick never understood some of the things that his father did such as respecting Alek. As far as he knew, Alek wasn't related to him in any way. There were many times where he was thankful that Igor had not brought up any siblings that he perhaps had. That being because he always feared it was Alek that was related to him. Someone that he didn't care much for at all. Alek would treat him like crap as if he was a complete waste of space. This would only occur though if his father had sent him without him accompanying him since Alek was perhaps afraid of Igor. Igor rarely let anyone disrespect his only child without a reason behind it. Other than that, he could barely remember what their other encounters had been. The house would have been perhaps considered welcoming, had he not been hit by a screwdriver thrown by a woman in the house. That woman that had always been with Alek for the past six years that he had known of the two.

After he had cursed in Swedish, he had looked up at her. She began to look at him in disbelief, questioning why he was at the home. He said, "Yes, I took a cab. Just cause it's yellow, doesn't mean it's food or whatever you bulgarian women think a yellow car would be." Nick was already aggravated by the woman. Igor had told him that the woman was bulgarian, something that he didn't know much about. Yellow came from the fact that so many people called yellow cars or buses, twinkies, something that he had no knowledge of except it was some kind of food. She walked past him, turning off the record player that had been playing. He honestly hadn't been paying attention to what had been playing on it. She began to talk more in an irritated tone, trying to remember his name again. The woman then mentioned her father or Alek. He immediately reacted with a confused look on his face when she mentioned her father. Nick said, "Yeah, my name is Nick...what did you mean by your father?" She had walked back to the kitchen as she continued to talk about him visiting. He followed her and sat on a chair that was next to the dining table. Tapping his fingers lightly on the table, he thought of how to reply to her. He said, "I came looking for my father, who is dead.." The last three words were in his own disbelief. There weren't many things that he knew entirely, but the unbreakable vow was one of them. The reason that he knew was to make sure that it was never broken. The terms, he never understood them because he didn't get why the woman was kept away from a certain man. It was something that he didn't look too much into. All he knew was that if Alek had died then Igor would have died. Nick was even more confused as to what she meant by a scar. He asked, "I gave you a scar on your back?" The look on his face was a clear expression of being lost and confused. While she had her wand in her hands, his own wand was nowhere in sight since he wasn't there to attack her. It confused him as to when he had attacked her before considering he didn't have much memory of ever attacking anyone unless it was necessary for his own sake.

His blue eyes were on her as he tried to figure out everything. She had mentioned her father, was she related to him? He had never guessed it since Igor never appeared to have much respect for her when he had seen the two together. It was rare for him to see them together since Alek was like a watch dog to her. He never had an idea of what Alek did to her, in fact whenever he saw the two, they always appeared to be a happy couple. Perhaps, it had been a show for everyone. Nick wasn't entirely sure what to think considering apparently some things had happened though he had no clear memory of it. He had known that the imperius curse had been used on him, but that much throughout the past six years? It felt like he had missed six years of his life considering the things that she had brought up.

* WEARING CURRENTLYYY

Nick was always someone that Eden felt sorry for during her time spent with her father. She had basically watched him grow up over the six years she was held captive, but she never really knew who he was. Maybe it was naive for her to think that he was just another former Death Eater's child, but maybe not. Igor always had company in his home and it wasn't uncommon for her to see other children his age around his estate. It was no doubt that he had previously been under the man's control. Looking at him now, his eyes didn't have the same cloudiness that they had before; they were perfectly blue. Confused...lost. It almost made her regret the tone she had taken to him, but it was out of defense at first. Considering that in her mind, he was connected to the people that hurt her and had control over her all those years. Children learn from example, after all. He was handsome, but in a completely platonic kind of way. He looked similar to her, which she had always found to be strange. Perhaps it was because they shared a similar heritage. However, when she heard him speak in Swedish, it was clear to her that he was certainly not Bulgarian. Her dark grey eyes were focused on him as he stood in her doorway. Why had he decided to come here? Who told him she lived here in the first place? It was confusing, for sure. Especially because he hadn't come here to hurt her. If anything, he looked completely defenseless. Eden honestly couldn't wrap her head around the boy. Why hadn't she kicked him out already? It was back to her feeling some sort of pity for him that she couldn't place. Even after what he had done to her under the Imperius. She decided then that she'd give him the chance to talk.

That didn't mean, however, that she was going to be all nice to him. She still needed to know why he was there...and why in the hell he had taken a cab. That was unusual for someone that barely knew anything about the muggle world. Her eyes widened at his comment about the yellow cabs and buses being twinkies. The fact that he had made it about food and her nationality made her laugh. It was a legitimate, happy laugh. She crossed her arms, then, shaking her head slightly. "And you have so much to learn, malko shvedsko momche." Little Swedish boy. She smirked slightly. "And besides. You can't talk about the deliciousness of a Twinkie unless you've had one." Okay, she was off track. Why was she suddenly being nice to him? Back to business. Eden walked past him into the living room, turning off the record player. She continued talking to him, her tone sounding irritated. He followed her into the kitchen, sitting in the dining room that was practically in the same area. When she mentioned her father and Alek, it seemed to have struck a chord with him. If she thought he looked confused before, he certainly did now. His fingers had stopped drumming on the table, causing her to stop and look over at him. "You grew up around him. Igor Karkaroff..." And it clicked. Eden stared at him like a deer in headlights. HOW? More importantly, when?! Eden sat her wand down, moving into the dining room at a slow pace. He was her brother. They had been essentially kept from knowing about each other. He continued talking, realizing that Igor was dead, seeing that Alek was as well. He also asked about her scar, but honestly, she couldn't even focus on that.

Eden moved towards him suddenly, hugging him tightly. It was definitely random...but definitely needed for her. After a few moments, she let go, opting to sit in a chair next to him instead of across from him. "I can't believe this. I can't believe he kept you from me...that Alek didn't even tell me who you were!" She bit her lip, her mind racing. How in the hell would she tell Noah about this. Would she even get to tell Noah about this? "You were obviously much closer to him than I...I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to say goodbye to him." And she meant that seriously. She never got the chance to say her goodbyes to Luke, even though that was completely different. However, it was still goodbye, and she knew he was probably shocked. "I can't say that I'm sad to see Alek go, though. What he did to me...it was horrible. He deserved to die." She looked at him, speaking in a much softer tone than she had previously. "I literally watched you grow up...this whole time, I could have gotten to know you better." She let out a dry laugh. "And you don't even know my name." she offered a small grin. "I'm Eden. You probably heard them call me Emiliya...that's my middle name- my Bulgarian name. Dragonov is my mother's last name. Apparently they didn't want anyone to know who I really was...like you...and for good reason." She pursed her lips before standing up, walking into the kitchen. She got two glasses out of packed up box, getting them water. Before she sat down again, she put the glass in front of him. She was in disbelief. "What do you want to know? Where do we start?"

Much like his father, he was a bit of a coward. He wasn't the type to go charging into someones home with his wand out. When he had been under the imperius curse, he was the type to be quite aggressive meaning that he attacked just about anyone. Something that obviously he didn't remember doing though had been told by a few people from Durmstrang at the beginning. The more he had been under the curse, the more it was hard for them to tell who he really was. Considering in the later years, it had started to get worst. Since he was only eighteen, he had yet to really go out into the world which meant he was not ready to support himself without some kind of support system. If Igor was to even be considered that. Growing up, he had discovered an ability that he must have inherited from his mother's family. That ability was that of being a seer, something that Igor managed to never find out about since Nick had never brought it up to him, keeping it a secret from him. The only way he had discovered the ability was when a divination professor realized his abilities in it. Something that had yet to come to light except the mere fact that he had a feeling that Igor would eventually die by his own hand, if you would consider it that way. If anyone was smart enough to leave Igor, they would have left him long ago. However, Nick had never left his father's life considering he believed himself to not have any other family. Finding the woman in the home without Alek or his father had been a surprise for him considering he was so used to seeing her around either of the two. Having grown up with Igor, he had certainly been more accustomed to wizard methods of doing things such as traveling. However when he had been out of Igor's site, he had learned plenty of things about muggles. Thus why he knew how to flag down a cab for him to take to the house. When she had brought it up, he had mentioned food. Something that he could honestly admit that he loved, food. She mentioned something in another language which he did not know. Perhaps Bulgarian? He said, "I'll be sure to go buy some when I leave here though I could perhaps transfigure a cab into the actual thing, ya know." His blue eyes watched as she turned off the record player. No longer were they the cloudy blue that some people had told him that they would see. Instead, they were a dark blue which had been quite an uncommon site over the past six years. After she had turned the record player off, she had walked into the kitchen. Following her into the room, he had sat at the table. He was practically making himself at home despite how she had wondered why the hell he had come there. The woman brought up how Alek had been dead, something that didn't upset Nick much at all. It only made him wonder if she had managed to kill the man or if someone else had. However, confusion certainly hit when he realized that with Alek's death, Igor would have died. Confusion had hit mainly due to what the woman had mentioned. How he had grown up with Igor, something that he thought would have been obvious since he thought Alek was related to him. He had asked about her scar though got no response instead receiving a hug from her. Nick questioned, "You're my sister?" She had let go after a few minutes, sitting next to him. Despite sitting next to each other, they were looking at one another. The woman looked like a deer in headlights, while he shared the same look. When she had hugged him, he hadn't moved his arms since he had been so confused as to why she had hugged him. He said, "Alek never told you who I was? I thought he was related to me which was why my father was always around..." Moving hair out of his eyes again, he wondered how this would play out. The two had been around each other for six years without knowing who they really were to one another. Plus, he had seen how Alek and Igor had treated her at times. He had also apparently joined in with it, considering she had a scar from him. Something that he had barely any memories of, thanks to the imperius curse. She brought saying a goodbye to Igor, their father...no longer just his father as he had thought. Nick said, "It's fine..." He really couldn't think of what to say to her since he was still a bit shocked over the fact that his father had ended up dead. Perhaps he really did have the ability of being a seer, something he had doubted despite his abilities in divination. She continued to talk about Alek, how he did horrible things to her. Then she brought up how she could have gotten to know him better. She also finally told him her name which was Eden, something not bulgarian at all. She then asked what he wanted to know, where he wanted her to start. He asked, "Why didn't our father treat you better and what did I do to you?"