Smoking was back on the agenda; but so, it seemed, was London. Elijah had left Paris a week before after spending three weeks drawing and painting scantily clad females. It always astonished him how well it paid but Arnold drove a hard bargain. The man knew what he was doing and Elijah was lucky the man had so much trust in him. He’d worked and it had paid off for the pair of them. Now, he had every intention of spending time with his family. Not his extended family necessarily, but his family. Fauve and Thierry had been with Stelladora and Micah, much the same way Elijah had been when he was little. He had to say though, he was glad to have them back with him. He’d missed them dearly and though he wouldn’t admit to that, he was infinitely pleased to have them with him once more. He had found himself drawing them while he was away, picturing them pottering around in the garden with Stella or sitting and listening attentively to Micah as he taught them Latin and Greek.
Elijah had stood himself underneath a lamppost that opposite the shop that Fauve and Thierry had disappeared into with Elisabeth. His cousin had decided she was going to spend some time out of Bulgaria, deeming the situation with their family a little too dire. Since the wedding, the Harrows had been distant. They blamed Viktor for Marina’s death and had separated themselves from the Krums. Elijah was as distant as ever from his father, deciding to leave him with his little love-in with Irina, and so he’d set up on his own. He’d abandoned the town house and had Arnold find him a home in Devon, right by the seaside. It was large, perhaps a little too large, but Fauve and Thierry loved it there so that was all that mattered. Elijah got on with the locals well enough and though he could tell they were a little suspicious of him, they were welcoming all the same.
It didn’t take long for Elisabeth to emerge, her cheeks flushed and the smile on her lips wide. Elijah flicked his cigarette into the gutter and popped a couple of breath mints into his mouth before sweeping over and kissing his cousin on the cheek. He then leaned down and scooped up Fauve who was clutching a rather large bear to her chest. She giggled and turned ‘Harry-the-Bear’ around so she could show her father, going into detail about where he’d sleep in her bedroom. That was one thing that Elijah was so glad of in the new house. Finally, they were settled. Finally, she had a bedroom that he could say for sure she’d stay in until she went to Hogwarts. Thierry was in his element there with his room next door to Fauve’s. They had their privacy but it was rare for Fauve not to wriggle into Thierry’s bed in the middle of the night. Elijah had long since stopped going into Fauve’s room first in the mornings - he went into Thierry’s, knowing he’d find them there curled up amongst the books and the teddies.
“Alright,” Elisabeth spoke, her voice betraying the happiness she was struggling to conceal. “We have everything!”
And so they began to wander up the road, Elisabeth and Thierry discussing books while Elijah and Fauve spoke about everything from toys to the art studio that was slowly taking life in the house. That was something she loved seeing, art around the house. She’d already had Elijah painting murals on the walls and now, as was typical of her, she wanted more. Elijah was more than happy to oblige because she helped. She was fantastic. She was not nearly as book-ish as her brother but she would paint and that was something Elijah loved seeing. But then, Elijah loved watching Thierry pour over books and take in the information like a sponge. He could never love one more than the other because both were spectacular. He couldn’t have asked for better children.
There was that little niggle in the back of his mind though. There was that room that he knew would have been perfect for the third - the one that would been perfect for Kitty.
by 
