Post Train Ride

July 1st, 2021

Another year come to a close, another ride back from Hogwarts spent soaking up every last second with his friends he could get. With goodbyes given and luggage in hand, Pericles picked up Athena and cradled her against a shoulder, maneuvering carefully through the tide of students. It was not difficult to find his father. The man was bundled in an absurd amount of layers for the summer season: a broad black hat, long dark coat, leather gloves, a black scarf, round dark lenses. Every inch of him was covered, and the odd individual radiated such an uninviting aura that a small circumference around him remained perpetually unoccupied. Pericles was elated. He picked up the pace, muttering a short apology as he dipped around a witch reaching for her child, and quickly strode straight towards Isaac Dralt. Like a bad rendition of Babadook, the man's eerily long arms stretched wide, ignoring the squirming protests of the cat as he wrapped his heir in a firm embrace. Though their greetings were short, even faintly formal, it did not take a discerning eye to see the vibrancy of Pericles' smile, nor a keen ear to hear the warmth resonating from the patriarch.
"Hullo father."
"Pericles."

They passed through the barrier side by side, Isaac's arm draped across his son's back, spindly hand wrapped affectionately over the opposite shoulder. Pericles spied their destination almost immediately; it was hard not to notice, aside from the familiar family chauffeur standing by the street. "Oh- you've brought the car...?" A pureblood possessing a car was irregular, but then, there were a great many traits about the Dralt family which were way weirder than material matters. Not to mention, if the Commodore was going to own a land vehicle, it was going to be exquisitely expensive and borderline absurd. The Duesenberg Coupé was like a luxury antique, designed in the 1930s and generously inspired by the Art Deco movement. It wasn't at all as if Pericles disliked traveling by car, rather, what he did not favor was the fact that the thing was drawing the eyes of multiple bystanders. Imagine if they knew how impossibly spacious it was on the inside. The tips of his ears turned a faint shade of pink as they passed through gawker eyelines. "I wagered a long drive would grant us adequate time with which to catch up," Isaac drawled nonchalantly, though his tone bordered on a diaphragm-deep purr; he was terribly proud of the silly thing. The young heir would draw relief from the fact that its windows were heavily tinted.

The conversation carried along easily, less like a father and son stuck in a car, more like amiable scholars reacquainting after a series of exciting expeditions. Pericles enthused about duelling, about his new Animagi League, as always omitting the number of times he or his peers had to dodge death. If Isaac had read something interesting in the Daily Prophet, he was polite enough not to bring it up. The deliberately positive choice of stories wasn't the only thing which stood out to him. There was something different about the boy. Last year, his arrival had been buzzing with excitement, eagerness to tell tales of his new friends, new spells, favored classes, ample accomplishments. It wasn't as though he was unhappy: his smile was kind and clear as ever, though there was a flicker of forlornness as he stared out the window one last time, sending a longing look back towards the station. It was possible that he was missing his friends already, but Isaac seemed to suppose that all he needed was a distraction. He had just the bit of news to do the trick. "I received a letter from your Aunt Kashvi just this morning. She has invited you to accompany her on the annual hike to Kedarnath Temple, after which we will be spending all of August with Mamo Tama."

The proclamation was made with a fanged smirk. Isaac appeared quite confident that this would elicit only joy, so it would come as a staggering surprise when the response he received was anything but. "That's..." Peri shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, looked everywhere save the patriarch's eyes, "...fantastic news. I can't wait to see them." The words came mechanically, borne on garishly strained gladness. Isaac's grin grew dim. His gaze fixed analytically upon his heir, unwavering and unblinking. It wasn't meant to be malicious. He was taken aback by that utterly irregular fakeness, a blatant attempt to appease, but more so the lack of excitement. The boy was suddenly doubled over his seatbelt, unspeaking as he inexplicably untied and began retying a shoe. Isaac would wait, watching all the while, for the fidgety distraction to end. Cautiously he posed: "Unless you had alternate intentions for your Summer?" Peri, partway through pretending he couldn't remember how to do a bunny knot, became still. He considered his shoestrings, then his father's shined shoes, the window (a tempting exit), and finally sat straight with hands folded in his lap. He was steeling himself, procrastinating until the words he wanted to say had built to such an intensity in his head that they were blurted with force. "I'd like to go to the school camp." Isaac's eyebrows arched slowly. Camp? Since when did such a thing appeal to Pericles, spending even more time at school as opposed to staying with family? But Lord Dralt was in for further surprise, as the lad soon after added, "And a slumber party, for the newspaper team."

His manner of speaking was usually soft, but now it sounded outright breathless. This would mark the first instance in which Pericles proposed doing something outside of his father's vacation plans. He was afraid, not because he worried over angering the man; Isaac was tender and malleable where kin was concerned. Pericles did not want to disappoint him. At the moment, Isaac looked anything except for crestfallen. His hard features carried watered-down expressions, though they were clearly marked with shock as he tried to rationalize the request, deep voice coming cautious and slow: "Slumber party?" "I don't know what that entails," Peri explained quickly, misunderstanding the cause of confusion, "but I really want to find out. If that is, well, if it's okay?" The fear in those final words spoke much of the adolescent's inner conflict. He wanted to fulfill his familial obligations, however, he wanted a childhood, the kind he was seeing that others had experienced, and he had not. Hiking to an ancient temple in the Garhwal Himalayan range was all well and good. Yet he wanted to play silly games, throw himself into frivolous competitions, eat horrible camp food. For a boy who had grown up in a fancy-pants manor with travel being the norm, his idea of a fantastic getaway was going back to school. Isaac could not relate. He had been a solemn child, dedicated to an ideal of nobility, groomed sharp and fiercely independent. Though he had always insisted his heir took after his mother, and with each passing year, he was starting to see less of himself there, more of... well... something different altogether.

"Of course it's alright." A late response, still subtly ringing with astonishment, but genuine. He smiled softly this time as Pericles perked. "Your mother and I will make the arrangements tomorrow. You must tell us more about this..." a vague gesture with rolling at the wrist "...party."