[OPEN] Don't put your blame on me.

There were a number of things that Lucien probably should have been able to realize about himself. He wasn't half bad looking, though he of course had a fair number of quirks. He was more capable of learning than he properly realized, given he'd had to teach himself how to study and practice safely. There was a surprising amount of patience within him, and he was nothing if not polite. He'd been trained to be, after all.

So he blinked - nearly allowing himself to flinch - when she got mad at him. He knew the answer he wanted to give. But he apparently couldn't bring himself to say it aloud, considering these two had just saved him, probably. If nothing else, they'd stopped the madness, and a growing part of him was feeling indebted to them. Perhaps if he'd been in strictly serious danger, that part would've been stronger, but it had been over five years since he'd seen someone do something for another person simply because they wanted to. Even Indra had acted, he was sure, because she thought it would bring her some sort of reward, even if that reward was just thanks.

Oh. Was he meant to thank them? Probably.

"I-- I don't know. But-"

She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and Lucien snapped his mouth shut, utterly incapable of continuing. He seriously disliked touching people - granted, not to the extent that that glove-wearing Landvik bloke did when he came by the shop. But he wasn't at all sure what to do.

On the one hand, it felt right to go limp in the hopes that whatever this was would be over with more quickly. On the other, fear had slipped back into his veins. And, unfortunately, that won out. So his fingers curled in on themselves and he felt himself tug slowly, though not quite gently, away from her. As though she might forget what she'd been doing and just let him take his hand back without a fuss.

Lucien's eyes flicked towards this Duck fellow as he approached, and for a moment it was like he could feel the girl's heartbeat thudding through her fingers and into his. Bizarrely comforting though it was, he knew better than to believe that those arteries matched. That their systems were the same. Theirs was whole in a way he couldn't believe his own could ever be.

So he just swallowed roughly and turned his chin away. If there was glass about to fly out of his arm, he certainly didn't want to deal with that, either.

It would take Lydia years to understand that taking care of people didn't always mean fixing right off the bat. That people could not be jostled or bullied into self care, that they didn't see it so plainly as she could. She could see the worth in people, especially those denied it for whatever reason, and she demanded they see it in themselves because how dare anyone waste what they had.

And here she was, ready to drop out of school because every fight had ended in vain anyway.

It was a tough time for those with ideals.

Honestly, she hadn't even thought of barriers of touch, so quick her mind was to latch on a problem that needed fixing. But she felt his arm tighten within her grasp and his fingers began to curl, and her eyes lifted to his. He hadn't exactly been present before - this was the person who had just watched himself get robbed for a solid minute or two - but there was definitely a veil between the pair of them. Her eyebrows lifted, one arching significantly as she carefully flexed her fingers, releasing him from her grip.

Okay then.

Weirdly, this was what Ducky bested his sister at, that intuition with people, the natural way he had with them, his uncanny ability to put people at ease. He stepped towards the guy, meeting his gaze in a nonthreatening but level way. "You alright, mate?" He glanced down at the kid's arm and he winced sympathetically. "Hey, I get it. If you don't want some random bloke to take a stab at it, I can apparate you to Mungo's. They can have you healed in half a second. Or the Auror can help you out."

Lydia wet her lips. "But-"

"But, yes, Lydia's right. That'll get nasty if you don't deal with it. And taking it out on your own might not be a good idea either." He glanced towards Lydia. "Incidentally-"

"I'm fine," she said, shrugging.

Lucien merely blinked, accepting her silent reprimand without an argument. He knew full well that it wasn't strange for other people. That it didn't make other people forget how to speak or move or think. To be quite rude about it, he understood that he wouldn't exist at all if that were true. So he got why she was bothered by his reaction. But that didn't convince him to behave any differently.

Something akin to shame was building in his chest. Why couldn't they just leave? He felt like more of a failure with every word the two before him uttered, and it only really served to remind him of his otherness.

The bloke seemed to have misinterpreted Lucien's silence and behavior, which was just fine as far as the clerk was concerned. Better, even, that he didn't have to explain.

Lydia. Yes, she sort of looked like a Lydia, he decided. But he suddenly had the same question. Was she-?

Lucien's eyes swept over her, checking, disbelieving. Sure, he'd thrown her off of him and managed to turn himself into a barricade. But he hadn't expected it to work that well, given how long it had taken to get her there from the moment the glass shattered. But that was a relief, perhaps.

Realistically, they were going to get angry if he didn't start replying soon. People always did, it seemed. Some liked to hear themselves talk, to be fair, but the girl was too intense and the boy was too hero-figure to drop it. Especially now that they knew something was off.

But he couldn't very well go to St. Mungo's with a fake name like his, now could he? His options had become limited in so many aspects of his life - money and health in particular. So he just held the injured arm by the hand, bracing it across his stomach. They didn't need to know about how his back was burning as well.

"Uh, Yeah. Perhaps the auror can help," he decided, figuring that would be somehow less invasive. He was probably going to be in a bit of a shock real soon, though, wasn't he? "You called them?" Lucien asked the young man. "I'm sure they can take care of this. If you were walking by, you were probably heading somewhere, so.. I mean, you can just.."

He shrugged, lifting his uninsured hand to the back of his head. Suddenly, though, he winced, tearing his fingers away from his hair to stare at the dark red that now stained them. "Shit."

Lydia was not easily impressed. She liked to shroud herself in apathy and indifference because it kept people from feeling obligated to speak, which gave her time to think. But color her impressed, she was impressed at how standoffish this guy was. Standoffish was sort of her thing and it was unnerving to be bested in it.

But there was something about his distance. Hers was volatile and assertive, but it seemed like he truly would be happy to melt into nothingness. And he was certainly acting guilty for the victim of the burglary.

He stuttered through his words and she felt an instinctive suspicion that something wasn't quite right.

"Shit," she breathed in unison with him.

"Alright, mate, we gotta get you to Mungo's," Ducky said firmly, stepping forward. He shot the burglar a conflicted look. "We just leave, though, and that starts to look..."

He shared a look with his sister. He had a reputation, a rap sheet. He'd get implicated so quickly.

"Just apparate us there and come back when it's all settled." Lydia said decisively, before turning back to the boy. "We're going. You need help. Okay?"

"No," he repeated. Shaking his head was a bad idea, he realized immediately. Lucien blinked a bit sluggishly, frowning before he explained. "No, I can't go there. Just- just let me send a message to the Minister. He'll help me when I get home, it's fine."

Whoops. He didn't want to have to explain that. And he also didn't think he could actually produce a patronus. Ever. So he would have to write and send a letter by owl, wait for Robert to see it and apparate to him. Lucien doubted these people would wait that long.

What if he just left? They wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But he also wasn't confident that he could apparate safely after this catastrophe. So why didn't he just go with them? Well. He would have to provide a name, wouldn't he? And they wouldn't be able to find any sort of file with his name, because his new name wasn't his old one, and apart from the very, very beginning, he had never been back. So they wouldn't even find proof that he existed. Worse yet - if he gave his real name, who would come looking for him and have new clues?

"I can't go there," he repeated, emphatic now. "I won't."

Ducky Baker wasn't pushy, nor was he the sort to err on the side of safety. Perhaps if there wasn't a crime involved and if his sister wasn't watching, he would have ducked away already. But he felt compelled to be the adult in the situation.

And besides, the Auror had just arrived.

Ducky glanced towards Lydia. "Why don't you get him to sit?"

The brunette, usually so defiant against authority, nodded and gestured for the boy to follow her. She pulled out a stool from behind the counter and pulled it up for him. "Here, sit down," she said. She glanced back at Ducky, who had stepped forward to confer with the tall, handsome Auror who was now keenly circling the tied up woman. She tore her gaze away and stepped in front of the shopkeeper.

"Can I look at it? Check to see how bad it is?"

The Auror, who had introduced himself as Caleb Flint, had taken over the situation with a speed and ease that Ducky didn't feel was exactly normal, but as he wasn't being treated as a criminal, he wasn't going to complain. "I've seen this woman before, so I don't even need much of an explanation," Flint said, kneeling down to lock magical handcuffs on the woman's wrist, while a floating quill took quick notes on a floating parchment. "So you and your..."

"Sister, we were just walking by when we saw. I think he's a little in shock. Acting a little funny, seemed frozen in action. But he protected my sister, sorta, so-"

"Probably just shock," Flint agreed. "She has a signature style, this one." He paused, and suddenly looked Ducky up and down, his eyes squinting and making Ducky's stomach drop. Was he in trouble? But suddenly a smile cracked across Flint's handsome features. "Good thing it was me, mate, and that I know this woman. Anyone else would have seen a young gun like you and assumed your only intervention was against Mr Wide Eyes over there. You seem like a nice enough chap. We need more people like you."

A rush of satisfaction and pleasure waved over Ducky - this was absolutely never the case, and to come from a successful looking Auror... Merlin, maybe he was turning things around.

Flint handed Ducky his card and apparated off with the woman. Ducky turned and tried to hide the pleased grin on his face as he approached. "So, are we going to Mungo's or..."

Lydia cleared her throat. "I think we should take him home. Luca was visiting, he could help-"

Ducky shook his head. "No. Absolutely not."

Lydia's face darkened. "Ducky-"

"I said no."

"But he-"

"I have mates, alright? We'll go there. Actually, that Zabini bloke might be able to help. I can walk us onto campus, the gameskeeper hut, get him. Or meet in Hogsmeade. Or something. But I'm not going home."

Lydia didn't have the time to deal with her brother and his issues with her other brothers. She instead turned to the injured party. "C'mon, mate, can we have someone help you out?"

Lucien nodded vaguely at her question, and did indeed sit down as he was meant to. But as she did whatever she wanted to, he just watched the auror as he talked to Ducky. And if Lucien hadn't already been fascinated by the stranger that had stepped in, he surely was now. Even someone trained by the Ministry was impressed, and had actually given Ducky his card. That was rather amazing, really. And this, after Lucien himself has basically been saved by the man as well. Merlin, what the younger man wouldn't have given to be somebody like that.

So he may have been disconnected before, but when Ducky walked back over there was probably a stark difference. Lucien had never been to Hogsmeade, or the school down the road from it. And people rarely took an interest in him outside of Robert and the people working for his mission statement.

Lucien glanced around the shop and winced at the sight. Their new plan sounded like something he could actually go along with but manage to keep out of trouble. It was his manager he was worried about, now.

"I'll go," he confirmed, his voice likely much weaker than he wanted it to sound. He did mean it, but asking for and accepting help made him feel that much more pathetic in front of Ducky. Strange name aside, this was someone he wanted to earn some level of respect from - even though he hadn't the foggiest as to why.

"I'll go," he repeated, "but I can't leave the shop like this. If word gets to the owner or the manger I'll be.. beyond fired." And whether they knew it or not, Lucien was trying to imply the truth: that he would probably never find another job if he lost this one so soon. That he might well end up stuck in this awful shop for the rest of his life, anyway, but that would be better than having nothing and no way of even beginning to support himself.

The boy seemed a bit out of it as he agreed and Lydia stepped closer to him, hands hovering awkwardly for a second as she considered how to even approach this situation. She wasn’t exactly a touch-y person. She enjoyed her distance, and even in this special circumstance, it felt strange to break character and step through that barrier she usually kept comfortably between her and the rest of the world. He was a stranger, after all. A strange stranger, at that.

Though as she glanced at her brother who willingly went by the name Ducky, she supposed she had little room to judge on the basis of strangeness.

And besides, how stupid and petty of her was it to not intervene because of comfort. Stupid. Unhelpful. Irrational and privileged.

So she carefully slipped her fingers into his hair and pulled it aside to peer at the wound. She wanted to wince – it wasn’t necessarily deep, but the bleeding didn’t look like it’d stop on its own. At least, not before he passed out. But she didn’t wince, instead nodding and bracing herself as she dropped her hands and gave him space. “We really should have someone check. Just in case.”

Ducky was back, and she had never thought she’d be so relieved to have him in the position of responsibility. The boy had agreed, thankfully, but had his conditions. Ducky look conflicted and was gazing about looking a little lost. “Right,” she said, clearing her throat authoritatively. “So you send off another patrnous and tell your pal where to meet us. Apparate us to the school, walk us onto the grounds, and come back here. It’ll take you ten minutes with magic, but it’ll take me all night without. I’ll find the place – how many huts can there be?”

Ducky looked between the two and heaved a sigh. He had no better plan so he sent off another patronus with some concerted effort and took their elbows.

Ducky was keeping a running commentary of what to look for, who they were meeting, how to get there, and stressing the rules a bit too much for Lydia to not take a little offense. They crossed the gates and after she assured him over and over that they’d be fine, turned back for the shop while she and the boy continued on in the direction Ducky had pointed them.

Lydia glanced towards the stranger after a moment’s awkwardness. “Right. So I’m Lydia.”

Lucien frowned slightly, as per usual, but took in the plan with as much attention as he could manage. Except, then they were apparating and it made his head ache even more. The world tilted in front of him, but they started walking, so he did what he could to steady himself without leaning on either of them.

But then Ducky took off and left Lydia to deal with a dumbstruck Lucien. Because how in the heck was this a school? Durmstrang had looked giant at the time, but in hindsight, he felt certain hat he must have been imagining things to some extent. No way could it actually be that big, really. So Hogwarts, comparatively, was utterly enormous.

He heard her offer a name, and nodded vaguely. "Lucien," he returned, unable to recall if he'd ever said as much before.

But they had to keep going, so he ripped his eyes away from the castle and tried to help her locate the hut.

Within the castle, Apollo was sitting across from Naomi and Aleksa in the common room. But when the patronus came in, requesting his help, he forfeited their game and excused himself. It was late, so sneaking out would be a task, to be sure. But he knew who to ask for help. At the Hufflepuff common room, he asked for Ace. He needed that map of theirs. Or at least a look at it.

Ace Longbottom didn't want to share the map with Apollo. She was irked he knew about it at all. But he claimed someone was in danger, and after finally convincing her that her involvement wasn't necessary, she agreed to show him the map. He, of course, had to turn away and cover his ears while she opened up the map, but she let him look it over and then sent him on his way. Once he was gone, she ducked back into the common room to watch the map, twirling her wand in her hand, ready to dash off to help if anything seemed off.

"Got it," she said, nodding. She slowed her pace and let her eyes scan over the grounds, looking for the little hut that Ducky claimed was his go-to. She cleared her throat and said, "I didn't actually go to school here, so I'm not much of a guide. But. I think it might be this way."