Too Far ((Williard))

[Kellan Caoimhe H4]

"Kellan?"

"Leave me alone Mairi," he mumbled under his breath as he continued playing with a small pocket knife. He had been lightly poking his index finger with the point for the past ten minutes; not hard enough to draw blood, but not exactly soft either. His mother had took him to a park a couple years ago and he had found it underneath a jungle gym. It had a plain silver handle and a three and a half inch blade on it. Kellan had kept it secret since then and pulled it out from time to time to toy around with it.

"Kellan, I'm not going to call you again! Get down here right now!"

"Okay!" He threw the knife down on the floor as hard as he could, and it made a thud. He looked down and the blade was stuck in the carpet at an angle. He left it there on his way out of his room, and half heartedly stomped down the stairs. He stood directly in front of his mother when he got to the bottom, who had her hands on her hips and an annoyed expression on her face.

"Why aren't you dressed?"

"I don't wanna wear that stuff," he said sighing. His mother was in a long black dress and had her hair curled, her face made up, and all that other junk. Kellan looked defiantly back into Mairi's identical blue eyes, but that defiance only lasted for a second before he crumbled under her gaze, as always. He turned on the spot and began ascending the stairs back to his room slowly. "This is so stupid. Do we have to do this every freaking year?"

"And be quick about it please. Aunt Sarah, Uncle Ptah and Williard are on their way here," she said dismissing Kellan's comment as she turned to go back into the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.

An hour later, Kellan was dressed in a nice gray suit and black loafers, but was still sitting in his room on his bed. His mother had been calling him for the past five minutes to come down, but he had been ignoring her.

"Kellan!"

"Shut up already woman," he said moving his foot around in circles lightly on the floor. It didn't matter how many times she called him. He wasn't coming.

"Kellan! Get-"

"KELLAN!"

He had almost fell off of his bed and onto the floor. It was the voice of his father, who had sounded extremely irritated. Kellan hopped up at once and ran out of his room and down the stairs. His father had been standing at the bottom this time, with a blank look on his face.

"Exactly how many times does your mother have to call you before you answer her you great idiot?"

Kellan did not answer and was panting slightly, but stood there and stared at Gavin, unsure of exactly what to do or say. His mother was obviously not around him, because if she had been, he wouldn't have dared to call him names in front of her.

"Get down here, now."

"Alright," Kellan said walking slowly and carefully down the stairs. Gavin stood there for a moment, and then turned and went into the kitchen with Mairi. Kellan relaxed a little, and then sat down on the couch, as miserable as he had been since he had gotten home for holiday. He wanted to cry, but didn't let himself. It would get him nothing. They didn't care about him. He heard his parents through the kitchen door laughing and talking loudly, and he wished more than ever that they would just disappear. He hated them both.

The door bell rang, and Kellan stood up at once and went to the door. He opened it, and his Aunt Sarah was standing on the stoop alone in a long deep blue dress and a fine white fur coat. She looked very nice. "Hey Aunt Sarah," Kellan said unable to suppress a smile. He loved his Aunt more than he had actually cared to show her.

"Hello Kellan," she said leaning down a little and kissing him on his forehead. "You've gotten so much taller. You and Williard both," she said running her fingers through his hair. "Mairi mentioned that she was going to cut your hair later this week, but i think it looks nicer longer. Tried to talk her out of it but, you know your mother."

"Yeah," Kellan said stepping aside to let her pass to get out of the cold. "Unfortunately," he said under his breath. Sarah had turned and winked at him, and he knew that she had heard him.

"Kellan!"

He turned around to see his Uncle Ptah standing in the doorway smiling brightly at him. He went to return the smile, but couldn't once he saw the shoulder that Ptah's hand was resting lovingly on. Williard had clearly been smiling before, but it had faded. The two stepped in and passed Kellan, and went into the kitchen with everyone else. Kellan stared a hole through the back of Williards head, fantasizing that he could make it explode. Once they were gone, he stood there holding the door open staring longingly at the road. He could run away. Right now. But, he had absolutely nowhere to go. Part of him didn't care about that fact, but sense kicked in. Sighing, he closed the front door, locked it, and slowly walked toward the kitchen.

He went in to find five happy people, all standing around with cups of cider in their hands, smiling and laughing. No one had even looked when he opened the door, except Williard of course. Kellan rolled his eyes, got a cup of cider, and leaned against the wall.

[Williard Thoth R4]

"Anu, come here!" Anu was short for Anubis, which was Williard's middle name. Only his mother, father and Aunt usually called him by it though. Everyone else just called him Williard.

"Hey Aunt Mairi," he said accepting her offered hug. "How have you been Uncle Gavin?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Busy with work, as always," he said scooping up a cup of cider from the counter and shaking hands with Wiliiard's father smiling brightly at him. Gavin and Ptah were good friends.

"Mairi I love what you've done with the place. It's absolutely gorgeous," Sarah said accepting a cup of cider from Mairi. Williard politely tuned them out. His mother and Aunt loved redecorating their houses every season and often exchanged ideas and finds; horribly boring stuff in Williard's opinion.

He picked up a cup of cider himself and listened to his father talk to Gavin about his job at the Ministry. Both of Williard's parents were on the Magical Reversal Squad; they had stories for days of the different ordeals they have had to straighten out in the past. Just as Williard was about to settle into a chair, Kellan walked in, looking melancholy as always. He made eye contact with Williard for a second before rolling his eyes.

"Williard, how's school been so far?"

"Oh......uh.....excellent," he said to his Uncle, moving his cup around in small circles in his hand.

"Good, good. You been keeping your cousin out of trouble? Helping him with his school work then?"

"Um........" Williard looked at Kellan for a second before looking back at Gavin. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell them the truth, but he definitely didn't want to lie either. So he shrugged his shoulders and busied himself with the rest of his cider.

"Kellan doesn't need help," Mairi said placing a piping hot roast on the table that she had just pulled from the oven. The aroma of it made Williard's mouth water. Mairi was a wonderful cook. "He just needs to apply himself, that's all."

"He's only twelve," Sarah said as she helped Mairi prepare the food to be taken to the table. "When I was twelve I positively couldn't stand school. I hated the work."

"As I recall," Gavin said wagging his index finger at his sister, "you always got good marks Sarah.......from your very first year at Hogwarts. Mom gave me hell about my marks because of you."

"Yeah.......but that doesn't mean that I liked doing the work," she said helping Mairi levitate all of the food to the extravagantly decorated dinning room table.

"Give me a break," Gavin said laughing. "You were always a book worm. Williard takes after you."

"And Kellan takes after you. You didn't start really doing well until about your fourth year, did you?" Williard saw his mother wink in Kellan's direction.

"Alright everyone," Mairi said standing over the loaded dining room table proudly. "Sit, sit down already. Supper's ready. Sarah, you and Ptah here. Gavin honey, here," she said pointing to the chair to her immediate right. "And Anu and Kellan," she said motioning to two chairs that were side by side. Williard sighed and took his chair obediently.

[Kellan Caoimhe H4]

Dread filled him when he heard his father ask Williard about school. Are you kidding me, Kellan thought. Was his father really going to start another conversation about how bad Kellan's marks were? But then, panic set in when Gavin asked Will if he had been helping Kellan out. But, he soon found that his panic was misplaced. Of course Willy wouldn't say anything; he wouldn't want to start or cause anymore problems. And of course his mother chimed in with the whole "focus and apply" message. But, at least she ddin't just completely tear him down like his father seemed to enjoy doing. But, that was little consolation. They always called attention to how terrible Kellan was and how "delightful" Will was. It made Kellan sick. He was just about to walk out of the kitchen when Sarah spoke, and Kellan smiled.

She always tried to lighten them up when it came to him. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. Kellan couldn't suppress the surprised look that came to his face when he found out his father wasn't a good student from the very beginning. Gavin's smile dropped ever so slightly when Sarah mentioned it, but his mother called everyone to the table before he could reply. Kellan made a move to make sure he was able to sit in between Sarah and Ptah, but of course, his mother had already taken the liberty of telling everyone where to sit, and of course, he was stuck beside Will. He threw his cup in the sink a little harder than he had intended to, and the glass broke.

"Kellan!" Mairi walked over to the sink angrily and examined the glass. "I just bought these yesterday!"

"Mairi, calm down, it was an accident," Ptah said joining her beside the sink. "Look," he said taking his wand out and aiming. And without muttering a word, the glass was as good as new. "Relax," he said walking her back to her seat and then taking his own. "No harm done." Kellan sat down as his mother scowled at him with a look that clearly translated a warning that he had better be on his best behavior for the rest of the night; a warning he disregarded completely. He didn't even want to look at Gavin.

Dinner carried on, and Kellan had not said a single word; neither did Williard. Their parents talked and laughed, and it was as if the two of them weren't even there. Feeling fed up and bored out of his mind, Kellan grabbed his cup of punch and put it to his lips, but didn't drink. A thought had crossed his mind, but he wasn't sure if he should entertain it. Although, it could be fun, and it was an excuse for him to possibly leave the table, even if for a little while. kellan jerked and grabbed his calf as he leaned over to the right as far as he could. "Oops," he said with a straight face. He had spilled, well, thrown all the contents of his cup on Williard, staining his white shirt a deep pink color. "Oh no Will," Kellan said standing up from the table. "Come on, I have a shirt you can borrow."

[Williard Thoth R4]

Williard's jaw dropped at what his cousin had just done. Did he really just throw his cup of punch all over his shirt? Williard tried to tell himself that it was an accident, but no one in their right mind could not have been able to tell that it was on purpose; Kellan was horrible at faking accidents.

"That's not necessary Kellan," Sarah said pulling out her wand and taking aim at her son. "Anu turn a little.........there. Good as new. Nothing to worry about." Williard surveyed his shirt and it really was as good as new; his father had only bought it for him yesterday evening.

"You had better behave yourself," Mairi said pointing a fork at her son.

"Mairi it's alright," Ptah said helping himself to a huge spoonful of mashed potatoes. "We're probably boring the boys to death with all our talk."

"Even so, that's no excuse for him to throw punch on his cousin." Gavin spoke without looking up from his plate. He was lightly stabbing his bread roll with the tips of his fork.

He looked over and saw his cousin's cheeks go extremely red. Williard almost timidly spoke as he helped himself to more pot roast, though he was already thoroughly full. "Uncle Gavin it's alright."

"Well, why don't we let the boys go off for a bit? We can call them back down when we're ready for dessert. Off you two." Williard stared at his mother with an expression just like he had felt; like she had made the most horrible suggestion in the history of the planet. He hoped against hope that his Aunt or Uncle would speak up and discourage it, but neither of them had spoken.

"Er......I'm not finished eating yet," Williard said starting to eat his roast a lot slower; his stomach was very appreciative.

"Anu your full. You've been rubbing your stomach for the past ten minutes." Williard inwardly cursed his mother's knowledge of his tell signs. He sighed, and dropped his fork. He looked over at his cousin, and when Kellan didn't look at him, Williard got up and went to open the door to the living room but Gavin stopped him.

"One moment Williard. Kellan, apologize. Now." Oh no, Williard thought. If there was anything that could make Kellan hate him more, it would have to be being forced to apologize to him.

"Uncle Gavin that's not necess-"

"Apologize." It was as if Williard hadn't even spoken.

[Kellan Caoimhe H4]

He stared in disbelief at the man who was unfortunately his father. Was he serious? He couldn't have been, but of course Kellan knew he was as serious as a heart attack. There was no way in hell Kellan was going to apologize to Will, even if he did do what he did on purpose. But, at the same time, he didn't quite have anywhere near enough courage to disobey his father; he knew very well the consequences.

"Kellan!" Gavin barked, and for the second time that evening, Kellan jumped.

"I'm sorry okay!" There. He said it. He got up from the table aggressively, and stormed out of the kitchen, but not before bumping into Williard on his way out as hard as he possibly could.

"Kellan!" That time, it was his Aunt Sarah's voice who had called out his name, and the sound of that hurt more than his forced apology, and he felt tears swarm his eyes. He ran upstairs, slammed his door shut, and locked it. He threw himself onto his bed and started punching any and everywhere that he could. He hated his life. He hated his parents. He hated his cousin. And now, worst of all, one of his favorite people in the entire world was now angry at him. He threw one final blow to his bed, and there was a loud bang and a crunch, and Kellan cried out inside his pillow; he had punched his night stand instead of his bed. Pain rang through his knuckles, palm, and the back of his hand.

"Kellan, open this door!" It was Gavin, but Kellan couldn't respond; he was in too much pain. "Kellan!"

"Gavin calm down," said Sarah. Kellan let out a quiet moan as he raised his hand to examine it.

"Sarah go back downstairs."

"Gavin, don't over-react-"

"Sarah he's gone too far! He's been misbehaving all evening, and I won't stand for it!"

"Gavin he's only twelve!"

"Will you shut up Sarah! Williard is only twelve and yet he doesn't act like stupid little-"

"Gavin, I would appreciate it if you did not speak to my wife that way." It was his Uncle Ptah. His voice was calm, but adament.

"Ptah, she is my little sister!"

"I do not care! I know the two of you argue from time to time but you will not speak to her like that in front of me, or my son. That is enough." There was a pause, and after a heavy sigh and a threatening punch to his door, Kellan distantly heard footsteps descend the stairs. Relief filled him and he spread himself out across his bed.

He just laid there, his hand throbbing, tears rolling down the sides of his face, saliva running down the side of his cheek. His eyes felt extremely heavy, and he stared at the ceiling, motionless. He couldn't stay here much longer. He needed so desperately to leave, to get away. But where on earth could he go? There was nowhere, and he wished now more than ever that he could be back at Hogwarts.

[Williard Thoth R4]

Williard hit the counter after Kellan threw his shoulder at him; he wasn't expecting, nor was he prepared for the attack. His elbow hit an extra glass bowl full of green beans; it shattered when it hit the floor and its contents splattered everywhere. Williard stared at the door even after Kellan had already disappeared through it. It wasn't until Gavin went storming through it that he came to his senses.

"Are you alright?" His mother placed a hand on his shoulder. Williard nodded. She smiled and went after her brother.

"Anu are you okay?" Mairi held her head, still seated at the table. "I am so sorry he did that. I don't know what in the world is wrong with that boy!"

"I'm fine," Williard said going to pick up a shard of glass.

"No Anu," Ptah said pulling out his wand for the second time this evening. He waved it and the glass bowl reformed. With another wave, the green beans and its juice flew into the trash bin. "Mairi," he said sighing, but before he could say what he had wanted to say, Gavin and Sarah's voices rang through the kitchen, and Ptah turned and walked out, Williard behind him, scared for his cousin. Williard had seen this scene so many times before; Gavin would get abnormally mad at Kellan, and then Sarah would try and calm him down, usually resulting in the two of them arguing. But, after Gavin told his mother to shut up (which had never happened before), his father spoke, and Williard somewhat settled a bit.

He was completely terrified of his Uncle whenever he was angry. He couldn't exactly explain it, but he could always tell that Gavin was intimidated by his father. Whenever Gavin's anger reached it's boiling point, there were only two people that could calm him down; Grandma Annabelle, and his father. Ptah was definitely a more gifted wizard than his Uncle, but Gavin must have known that Ptah would never duel him or anything of the like. Williard often wondered why his father seemed to have this control over his uncle, but was never able to pin point it, or come up with a solid reason.

Gavin descended the stairs and sat down on a couch in the living room. Mairi came in and sat on her husband's lap and kissed his forehead. "Calm down sweetie."

"He's gone too far Mairi. We need to do something about him." Williard exchanged a look with his mother, and he knew what the look she gave him meant; it was time to leave.