No one shouted at anyone in the streets. No one had the bollocks to. Either this person was brave or just plain stupid. There were Death Eaters under every nook and cranny. You joined them, you were safe from them. The Order wasn't going to attack and torture like the Death Eaters would. Elijah knew that when the time came, he'd have to make a choice. He knew that he'd have to pick them because that would keep his children safe. That would keep his wife-to-be safe. Chase would never forgive him. Neither would Khaat most likely. Elijah didn't have enough faith in the Order to keep his family safe, though. He couldn't hide, hid father was too influential. He had to make a choice and no matter what choice that was, it had to be the one that would keep them all safe.
Long story short, the people that shouted in the streets usually didn't walk the street every again. Actually, they probably didn't walk at all. Alec was one of the lucky ones that came out unscathed.
It wasn't long before he started spouting off garb about how important parents truly are. Elijah couldn't help but disagree. Marina was dead - that was one down - and although he was learning so much about her that tugged on his heart strings, Elijah was as contemptuous as ever regarding his mother. There was only Viktor left to go now but Elijah had a feeling that would push his sister completely over the edge and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
If Viktor was going to off himself then Elijah needed away to protect everyone. If they lost the head of the family, that duty would fall to him. Everything would be in his control. Even the Angelova bastards would be his problem. He'd have everyone's money, everyone's estates, all in his control. He'd be vulnerable. The family would be vulnerable. They'd be in danger from every angle because everyone would want a piece without Viktor around keeping everyone in line. Elijah truly understood now how important his father was to the family, even if it had been Marina running the show outwardly.
That was it though wasn't it? She''d been running it outwardly. She'd been walking all over him in public, and in front of him and Cecilia. She wanted to be a woman of power in everyone's eyes when in reality she was just as delicate as the pictures showed. At least...that was how Elijah hoped it had gone. He'd have to speak to Viktor one day, one day soon. He had to know why his mother had been the way she was. Elijah had been entertaining the idea for an age but he had yet to pluck up the courage.
"There is much difference within Pureblood Society on the continent when compared with, say, England...or Ireland." Elijah replied in a slightly snooty tone. "I lose my mother. As it so happens, she was murdered. Why, I have yet to discover but note my disconcern, note the way none of the papers have dwelled. Note how everyone has just gotten on with their lives. In a few months, my Uncle will turn around and thrust a baby-bearing Pureblood without braincells into my father's arms and they will walk the aisle. Then, in the months after that, she will have a child - preferably male - to add to the brood in the event that I die or, the more likely, I am disinherited. No one is missed in society because they can all be replaced.
"I hate to be insensitive but your parents? You'd get a new pair the minute word got out about their disappearance. The influential family members you possess would come up with some sort of story to back up this new development and then life would go on. That's how it works. We all have to grit our teeth and move on because there is always a new obstacle around the corner. My father is quite possibly, with the exception of the Malfoy and Potter families, the most influential man in Europe. Do you not think for a second that my grandmother, or my uncle, do not have a replacement for him the moment he dies? That replacement will be me. They don't just pull random people off of the street. They're particular. They don't care about who bares the babies as long as she's got pure blood and has a lot of money behind her. What they care about, is who will be doing the books when the head is gone. Have you not been placed with that duty yet?"
There it was, all of Elijah's worries placed on the shoulders of a complete and utter stranger. Elijah didn't have the decency to be apologetic about it, either. He didn't have time to be. He didn't need to be. He'd been matter of fact and straight forward. The same would work within the Malfoy family had they had a bigger brood and more branches. The Krum family was massive, it even came with a few generations of bastards thanks to Nia and Elijah's great-grandfather...or was it his great-great-grandfather? Either way, they were an old family with traditions and many stories to tell.
"Where they Death Eaters?" Elijah asked matter of factly, bringing the cigarette away from his lips before tapping the ash into the tray. "If one of them has photographic memory then you're a dead man, mate." Elijah smiled, as if he wasn't talking about his companion's demise, and picked up another strawberry. He bit a smaller piece this time, deciding not to inflate his cheeks with swollen fruit. "Honest mistakes can get people killed, remember that."
When Alec inquired as to his age, Elijah bristled. He broke the top of the sachet of sugar and dumped the contents into the cup. He didn't want to give a straight forward answer. He wanted to be taken seriously. He probably looked quite young in the eyes of the someone roughly twenty-three years of age. But Elijah, at seventeen, had seen much more than Alec had no doubt.
"I will be eighteen in December," Elijah replied stoically, lifting his teacup to his lips. Eighteen and months away from his N.E.W.T's. Elijah didn't plan on staying around for his seventh year. No, that wouldn't be important at all. Chase would be, though. Chase and Kitty. In a couple of months, if not weeks, time, they'd be his priority, not school. He would learn the rest from Micah if his father insisted but Elijah believed that even Viktor wouldn't care what happened to his son as long as he stood by his wife and child.
Elijah twirled one of the rings on his fingers after putting the teacup down. He leaned forward and stubbed out the cigarette, finding the whole practice mundane now. Deciding to make some sort of conversation, Elijah made a query.
"So, apart from parents...what other family do you have? Wife? Children?"