[Leo Toscano]

Location: The Toscano Family home • Date: Spring, 2004

His room shrouded completely in darkness, with the curtains pulled tightly shut, the only light emitting from underneath the doorway of Leo's bedroom, was that of the fire beneath the potion that bubbled away.

As the pink potion simmered away, Leo was bent over his potions book, scrutinising the instructions. He needed to wait for the potion to turn orange before he follow the next step of adding the wormwood, which he should add slowly until the potion turned yellow. He'd tried the potion a handful of times since he had returned home from Hogwarts, but he always managed to mess it up at this crucial stage, by adding the wormwood too early.

[Alessio Toscano]

Huffing and puffing, anger steaming off of his ears, the oldest of the Toscano boys pushed his brother's bedroom door open without knocking.

"Can you believe that she invited Emily here?" He asked bruskly without even registering the potion bubbling in front of his little brother.

[Leo Toscano]

Leo turned round as he heard someone enter, promptly knocking over a glass jar. "Alessio!" he yelled. The lid had come loose, and as such, some of the inhabitants were making a quick and daring exit away from the 'home' Leo had created for them.

As he quickly tried to scoop the contents of the jar back inside, he listened half-heartedly to his brother. As much as he wasn't pleased with the news either, it was the last thing he could care about. "Oh, so what? We knew it would happen eventually, Al," he replied, screwing the lid back on his jar, this time even tighter. He dusted his hands off on his trousers and turned back to his potion, watching it intently for it to turn orange. It was nearly there.

[Alessio Toscano]

"She had her fun, it killed him, she can break it off now!" He argued preposterously.

Crossing his arms on his chest he finally noticed the cauldron close to his brother. "What is that?" He interrogated as he took a closer look.

[Leo Toscano]

"Oh Al, don't be so absurd," the younger boy chastised. Leo might not like his mother's relationship with Emily and he was devestated regarding his father's death, but he wasn't so blinded by... (what? hatred perhaps?) that he believed his mother's 'fun' had killed the Toscano patriarch.

"It's a happiness potion," he replied smugly, eyes twinkling as he turned to his brother. "Everyone's going to feel so much better when I'm done!" He turned around, noticing that the potion had now turned orange, indicating that he needed to add the wormwood. He added just a sprinkle of it first, watching as it turned a slightly paler shade of orange, then added another. "Everyone's understandably miserable, but I just... I can't take it anymore."

[Alessio Toscano]

"A happ-," he shook his head. Why hadn't he thought of that? In fact, why hadn't he thought of that years earlier when his parents had started to grow distant with one another?

"You little goblin," he praised despite the use of a nickname his brother did not appreciate. "When will it be ready?"

[Leo Toscano]

Leo was too absorbed in watching the colour of the potion change to notice his brother's use of the rather unfavourable nickname. It was now the perfect shade of yellow and Leo let out a rather excited squeal. He tried to cover it with a cough, but he was far too happy to indulge any of his brother's usual teasing.

"It's done!" He breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I've been working on it for so long." His chest puffed out a little in pride as he'd realised he'd managed to accomplish something he'd been trying so hard to do. All his failed attempts had been worth it. "Want to try it out?"

[Alessio Toscano]

A little torn between pride and jealousy the older brother skimmed over the potion book. The potion was indeed supposed to be yellow.

"You test it," he dodged just in case. The thing was yellow, but he still didn't fully trust his little brother.

[Leo Toscano]

Leo's eyes twinkled with mischief; there was a reason, after all, that he was a Slytherin. "Maybe mum should be the first subject we test on," he suggested. She was trying hard to disguise it from the boys, but she appeared to be the most miserable of them all at the moment. Leo wouldn't understand that her grief was littered with guilt too.

Leo carefully took a spoon and scooped it into a vial, looking over his shoulder at his brother. "I'm sure she wouldn't turn down a cup of coffee..."

[Alessio Toscano]

Alessio mouth fell open in admiration; his little brother was turning into an evil genius and he loved it. "She never turned down coffee," he agreed already leaving the room the prepare a cup.

As he prepared the concoction he couldn't help, but think about all the times his mother had gently asked him to prepare something for her. Of course, the requests had been met with moans, complaints, and even refusals. Now that his intentions were devious, Alessio had no problem preparing something for her. "Here," he presented his brother with the fuming cup of black liquid.

[Leo Toscano]

Smirking, the younger Toscano boy followed his brother with his potion vial and watched as Alessio made the steaming cup of coffee, before handing it to him. Leo used a pipette to draw up some of the bright yellow potion and carefully dropped two dribbles of the concoction into his mother's drink. He placed a bung into the vial, carefully pocketed it and then turned to his brother. "Ready?" he raised an eyebrow, his eyes lit up for the first time in days as he thought about their plan.

[Emerson Toscano]

Feeling heavy, yet empty, she laid on the bed. Emily had left. She had asked her to leave and she had simply walked away.

She did not sob or hiccup, her tears were as silent as her pain was ineffable. She heard the boys shuffling closer to the door. Quickly she wiped her tears and sat on the edge of the bed.

[Alessio Toscano]

Having forgotten about Emily's presence, he knocked on the door and simply opened it without waiting for an invitation. It is only when he saw his mother all alone that he realized he could have interrupted the two women.

"She's gone?" He asked without making much of an effort to hide his relief.

[Leo Toscano]

Whilst relatively attuned to his mother's feelings, Leo wasn't quite smart enough to identify that there was a shift in his mother's feelings. She was sad because they were all sad... even if she had been trying to hide it.

"We made you coffee," Leo told his mother, walking into the room to sit next to her on the bed. He ignored his brother's question about Emily. Clearly the blonde wasn't to be seen, which meant she had gone. "We figured you needed cheering up." Leo kept his face perfectly straight, desperately trying not to give his brother a sneaky look, lest his mother notice.

[Emerson Toscano]

"Thank you," she said as she took the cup.

She placed the cup on her lap and invited the boys to sit with her. While they had never warmed up to Emily, she felt that she should be honest with them. "Emily and I will not be seeing each other anymore," she felt her chin quiver but hid it behind the coffee cup as she took a sip.