Never will fall, never will end
Shot like a rocket up into the sky
Nothing could stop me tonight

Outfit @rembrandt

He was getting soft. Being around his pregnant wife all the time had made him emotional, which was not something he was hating but he needed to be around men again. He worked as little as he could at the sanctuary, simply because he didn’t have time to go back and forth with a pregnant wife so he had found a job where he could be near if needed and work still with Dragons when he had the time at Gringotts. He was good at his job and this way he wasn’t so close to danger all the time. He honestly knew that he was better off for it, that his health and being present for all the things of his wife’s pregnancy and the child’s life was more important and even if he hated people with every fibre of his being at times, he knew that he could always blow off steam at the end of the day when he got home.

It was still sinking in that he was a husband now, not that they hadn’t been living together or anything, they had, but he honestly couldn’t believe his luck. She was stunning and everything he had ever wanted, there was honest love between them, a deep affection that had formed from friendship and were now forever tied together by the small one growing within her. Within six months he would be a father, holding a young one in his arms a piece of him and his bride. Since Gen had moved in most of his time had been with her and then with Pansy. Save for Death Eatery things, he had not spent time with men at all and he was starting to fell… bad about it? He needed some mates, or a guy that he could hang out with and not feel bad about it. Yes, there was Harrison, but his older brother could be a bit much at times and he didn’t want to deal with the perfect Charlotte either.

So he had sent a quick owl to Brandt. The nephew that he didn’t really know all that well. His sister’s ‘son’ was not a male that he knew very well, but he had been at the wedding and perhaps he might find a friend in the young man, but he wasn’t getting his hopes up really. He sat at a table with a glass of Glenmorangie Pride 1974. one of the ones that he really loved and he liked to really savor the taste. Even if he would only have a glass or two the expense was well worth it. Not like he couldn’t afford it really. He would probably order something kinda food like once Brandt got there so that he didn’t get drunk and stumble home. Pansy killing him wasn’t a part of the plan.

When the note had come from his uncle Brandt had been more than a little surprised. It had come to the house, and Mam had sent it on to Morocco. Upon reading it, he realized that he had better go, if his parents hadn't been worried about him going they wouldn't have forwarded the letter, and so he had come home. Only to realize that he had to go to England, actually, and the name of the village was apparently Godric's Hollow? Or something like that… He wasn't sure. Mam had warned him that it was a mixed village, that there would be muggles about as well, and he supposed that that wasn't terrible, he had grown up in Amsterdam, and there was always a collection of people that had been around. Mages, and Muggles alike. That didn't really bother him, but Brandt couldn't say that he knew his way around England enough to really know where he was going. Luckily, he only had to go into West Country. He thought that he could manage that without getting lost. He knew London by now, and he knew how to get to Ingrid's. That was all that he thought he needed to know really.

The Ministry, and Gringotts, and really that was all that he thought that he really needed. There wasn't much else to it. But he knew that he had to meet his uncle in here tonight, and he thought that it was funny really, that he had an aunt and uncle that were right in the middle of he and Mam. It could have gone either way on whether or not they were her siblings or his. Though, he knew that they were certainly hers. They all looked strikingly similar really. It was crazy how much the siblings all looked like they were related. It seemed to be a thing here in England. That siblings all seemed to look the same. There were tons of them too. People didn't seem to understand the whole only having one or two kids thing. And Brandt thought that had more to do with pure bloodlines than anything. They were a little obsessed with that here, and the more kids they had, the easier it was to make sure that lines were going to stay pure. They had more chances for success if they had four or five. He thought that they were lucky that that wasn't their tradition.

Brandt thought that he would laugh for days if Mam and Dad ended up having a baby, but he didn't think that he was going to have to worry about that. He didn't think that Mam was going to consent to having any babies, but he hadn't really thought that she would consent to wearing the ring thing either and she had. Babies were a different story though, and he thought the last thing that he was going to have to worry about was Mam having one. She was a mother already, she had them, he didn't think that she was going to be consenting to actually having one of their own. What Brandt really didn't know was when he had started thinking about things like babies, and his parents, and everything else, but the thoughts were there anyway. Things that he knew that they were all thinking about. Things that people in relationships thought about, and he was glad that he and Ingrid were nowhere near there yet. They had just managed the whole, 'I love you' bit. And he thought that that was plenty for now. They didn't need to worry about anything else.

Shaking off whatever he was thinking about, Brandt pushed the door of the pub that he had been directed to open and made his way inside. He spotted his uncle at one of the tables, and headed in that direction, sliding into the seat across from him. "Hey." He offered a nod, and a smirk before he flagged down a server and ordered a pint. He didn't think that he needed anything flashier than that, he wasn't looking for anything in particular out of this meeting, and he didn't even really know what the other man wanted, to get to know him? That was the PR line that Mam had fed him when she had sent a letter alongside the one that she had clearly opened and read before she had sent it along to him. He had chuckled, at that, knowing that she had very clearly read whatever it was. It was really impossible to keep a secret from someone with an ability like hers anyway, and he thought that it would be a little easier in letter form, but apparently not.

Family was everything for the Burke clan and blood or not, Daniel was more than happy to meet with his ‘nephew’. He had learned as a boy that a good man would draw a circle around him and care for those within, protect them and do everything he can to ensure that they were happy. He was a Death Eater, but something that he had learned along the way was that that did not make him a bad man. One did not determine their worth based on the people who currently ran the world, but instead by the measure of those that they loved and the impression they left on their life. He had decided that he would give his all only to those who stood inside the circle. Others would come and go, as life would dictate, they would get better and they would get worse, but just as the tides would always rise and fall, family was forever.

Pansy was his everything, and his sister was his world before that. He knew that it made him a sap, it made him soft but that had developed from a need. His father had not been super loving, and he knew that Gen’s husband hadn’t been either. So over time he had become more like that, giving her more love and attention than she needed, because she didn’t get it elsewhere. Over time this had become less of a habit and more a piece of him. Some said that it made him weak, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be strong. Anyone who crossed into the circle and dared to try and hurt any of his family would quickly find themselves in a world of hurt.

Daniel smiled at the younger man and held his hand out to him in greeting, ordering a soft pretzel an some stew when he ordered his pint and then leaned back. He had no idea what to say. What should he say. Damn it. He should have asked Mellie to make him some note cards or something for this. ”I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything important…” he said at last with a small smile. ”I feel like I am around women far too often, male company was needed and I thought we could get to know each other a little better?”

feel invincible never will fall

Mam had a lot of family here in England, and Brandt was convinced that he wouldn't be able to remember who was all attached to whom if his life depended on it. And sometimes it felt like it did. He wasn't convinced that there wasn't going to be some sort of test some day, and that he was going to fail. Or that he was going to accidentally make friends that weren't of the acceptable sort, or something else that he couldn't handle. He didn't think that there was a real answer there. He didn't know what to do about any of it, but he was trying. And he knew that Beth was trying. And even Dad was trying now that he was here. Now that it was his ring that was sitting on Mam's hand. Brandt thought that he still owed Aunt Gen a drink over that one. But they weren't going anywhere any time soon. They were all in this together, and he thought that even if he moved out of the main house, and into one like Aunt Gen's at Ffynone, they were all together.  There was no doubting that, and having a family here in England was all well and good. Well, Wales, he supposed that they lived in Wales. And Scotland. Mam's brothers and their wives lived in Scotland. But the UK. They were all in the UK, and it was nice having a family here too. Even if he knew far less about them than he did about his family that was family by blood. There were far fewer of them. He had one living uncle. His father had a younger brother, and he had a wife, and two daughters. And that was it. They had had a third brother, but he had died a long time ago. Brandt didn't even really remember if he had been alive when he had been born or not. It was nothing like coming here, and knowing that Mam was related to at least half of the population. It seemed like it was never ending really, the amount of people that they were related to in one way or another. But Brandt tried not to concern himself about it too much.  He wasn't interested in the politics of all of it. He didn't think that it was necessary to keep track of it. He didn't think that it was necessary to try and keep it all straight, when they were just going to tell him who everyone was before an event anyway. And he thought that he stood a better chance of remembering who all of the people that Ingrid introduced him to in Denmark where, before he remembered all of the British people that he didn't think that he cared about. He cared enough to pay attention to Ingrid. She was a princess. It was more important to know those people's names, he was sure about that. The people here... He had learned his aunts and uncles. The people that Mam thought were important. Those were the ones that he had bothered to memorize. Even if he was quite sure that Gen was his favorite. It was more like having an older sister than an aunt really.  And she was always up for having his help in tormenting Mam with something. Something that was all that much easier when she was worried about what her own mother thought of things. Brandt still wasn't quite sure what he thought of Stella Burke. But he was doing his best to reserve judgement. He wasn't going to hate her, because it was her lack of care that had led to Mam being his mam, but he didn't think that that was a great way to treat your kid either. Stella wasn't the family member that had sent him a note asking to meet though, if she were, he doubted whether Mam would have forwarded it after she had read it... But instead he was looking across the table at the man that was his youngest uncle. "Nothing important. Just came in from the site." He hadn't even been home yet, and he was sure that he was more than a little covered in sand from the Moroccan dig site. As far as getting to know one another, Brandt didn't know anything about the other man, except for the fact that he had just gotten married.

Brandt's Outfit

Tag: Daniel