“Alright, I’ll see you around you drunkards!” Laughter filled the air as Barbie pushed his way out onto the streets of Hogmeade, stumbling as he turned back to wave a final goodbye to that night's set of drinking buddies. It had been a good day. They’d finally landed what was needed to wrap up the cheating husband scandal and with a hefty payout it had become customary to use some of the earnings on a celebratory good time. A custom that perhaps Barbie took a drink or two too far most of the time. Or in that night's case about six drinks too far.

The walk back to the house wasn’t nearly as horrible as Barbie had thought it would have been given how utterly disappointed he was when he realized it was probably best to not apparate in his current state. Who knew that being responsible wasn’t quite as awful as Rhys made it out to seem? Ecstatic to be home since even alcohol was having a hard time taking the edge off of that nights cold, Barbie hurriedly ran up the steps only to fumble on the last step. Slamming into the front door with a undignified thud, Barbie tried his best to slyly peak over his shoulder as nonchalantly as possible so that he could check if anyone had actually just seen him do that. The sight of an empty street perked up Barbie's face into a smile as he chuckled at himself under his breath before fumbling for the house key.

“What the…” Barbie's calmed state quickly dissolved into a state of panicked flailing as he quickly skimmed the bottom of every pocket on his person. Gone. The bloody house key was gone! Great. Pulling out his wand, Barbie pouted as he knew there was no way in hell Rhys would have actually left the door unlocked so that it would even be possible for him to get in through the front door. Some sloppy wand flicks led into a final tap on the doorknob when suddenly Barbie realized he had more problems. “Uh…” The trailed off word quickly shifted into a groan as he was too drunk to remember the spell since he’d normally just apparate home. “Are you kidding me?!” Barbie seethed at himself in disbelief when his wand suddenly spit out red sparks at its shared disappointment in the failed spell. “Ow!”

Dramatically standing up, Barbie gave a cool brush off to his coat as if it were going to help regain his composure. He was better than this. So what if he couldn’t come in through the front door? Sparing a seconds worth of time to glance down the street again, Barbie slinked down the side of the house into the shadows. If there was one thing he knew how to do; this was it. A fact that was reaffirmed as it barely took much time at all for him to pop the window open and begin sliding himself through. A victorious smile had Barbie beaming from ear to ear when suddenly his landing was met by a sharp piece of furniture to the shin. The shooting pain caused him to drop to the ground immediately and let out a loud, almost feminine yelp.

What had just happened?? It wasn’t Barbie’s first time having to come home through the window so he knew the entry point pretty well. Had Rhys randomly decided to rearrange the house?? “That absolute fucking moro-” Raising himself up from the ground in the pitch-black, Barbie’s head managed to catch the corner of a table. Groaning at the pain now radiating down through his face, Barbie swiftly grabbed the side of his head for comfort. The lack of blood gave him some assurance but any sense of comfort was quickly lost as the sound of footsteps started to fill the houses silence. He’d woken up Rhys. Shit.

The sudden illumination of the hallway had Barbie’s eyes tearing up as he tried to squint away through the darkness. As the light approached and got brighter and brighter, Barbie raised his hands almost playfully at his step-brother for having caught him needing to break in to get home. “Alright, alright, alright!” He rambled still blinded by the light. “So look, did I lose my key? Yes. Did I have to use the window again even though I know you hate it? Also yes. BUT!” Barbie dramatically wagged a pointed nagging finger at his brother. “Who was the bloke that decided to go all housekeeper and rearrange everything in the middle of the day!? I mean come on mate, do you really not have anything better…,” The drunken ramble trailed off as Barbie’s eyes started to adjust to the darkness and he realized it wasn’t just that the furniture had been moved… It was also not even their furniture. “...to do?” The words were barely mumbled out as Barbie turned back to the figure that was blinding him only to notice that his step-brother's looming frame was nowhere to be seen.

“Rhys?”