Chapter 279 - Wilkes Family Ⅱ (1/2)

”Can you please recount the events that occurred this morning?” Ogden asked.

”My wife and I were getting ready to depart to the Malfoy wedding,” Mr. Wilkes explained, while Mrs. Wilkes clutched their youngest and now only child to her chest.

”Our youngest is still much too young to be present at such formal events and as such, he was to be left in the care of his nanny house elf,” Mr. Wilkes continued. ”Since Silviu could not attend with us, my wife and I allowed him to leave with his nanny to go and see his friend, Esmond Fawley. The two boys are of the same age and they are rather good friends.”

Mr. Wilkes took a deep breath and said, ”The house was empty as the house elves had already been sent away earlier on various errands.”

Mr. Wilkes grows silent as Mrs. Wilkes wipes another stray tear and speaks in place of her husband. ”My husband and I were waiting in the hallway for our son when he pulled out his wand. We thought nothing of it until he petrified us with a full body-bind curse. We were unable to speak nor move and could only helplessly watch as he took a hair from each of us. And then-.”

Mrs. Wilkes voice faltered as Mr. Wilkes wrapped an arm around his wife in comfort. Leaning into her husband's hug, she softly whimpers, ”And then he turned away and left with our invitation. We lay their stiff and cold on the floor until our house elves returned to prepare lunch. At this point, we immediately sent our house elves to the Malfoy wedding to warn them, but it was much too late.

We then sent word to Percius to have him swiftly see us. We knew that something terrible had occurred and it was best to hear the horrible news from a close family friend. And then-. And then, Percius told us what foul thing our son had done.”

Mrs. Wilkes is unable to speak anymore and buries her face into her husband's shoulder. Mr. Wilkes gravely says, ”We knew not what our son had planned, Ogden. We'd never have tolerated such foolishness. And though I believe in preserving blood purity to an extent, I am no zealot. The Wilkes family bears the traces of half-blood's and the marriages to foreign wizards and witches, we are certainly not hypocrites to cast the first stone.”

Ogden slowly says, ”Have you seen or suspected your son of anything strange?”

Mrs. Wilkes shakes her head as Mr. Wilkes face slightly darkens ”There is one thing,” Mr. Wilkes stiffly said. ”He had been in contact with my half-brother, Primus Wilkes.”

”And?” Ogden pointedly inquired.

”I do not like to speak ill of family,” Mr. Wilkes reluctantly said. ”However, my younger half-brother and I do not get along, it is a rather commonly known fact. My younger brother was raised by my rather zealot father and stepmother, whom I have not seen since I took my inheritance and have never more set another foot in my childhood home.

Still I wanted my children to know of their family and as such, I permitted my sons to visit the Wilkes family home for a week during the summer and for a day or two during the winter holidays. My stepmother and father were long gone by then and my still unwed half-brother is the sole resident of the Wilkes ancestral home.”

”I saw no harm in it despite our differences,” Mr. Wilkes quietly explained. ”And if my elder son loved his uncle, I did not terribly mind. For all our differences, Primus is still my younger brother and I cared for him in my own way. But then, something changed in the winter of my son's fifth year.”