#I’d rather enjoy both wizards and academics in entirely different ways thank you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

val-entino · 6 years

Text

the de la cruz family has breakfast together the morning after ines vera goes missing → valentino flashback self-para

Valentino yawned and stretched as he climbed out of his bed, getting dressed lazily before he drifted it out of his room and headed through the halls and down the stairs to the kitchen, taking a seat next to his mother, Regina.

She looked up from the newspaper she was reading, and smiled fondly at him, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. She ran her fingers through his messy hair before turning back to the news. All he could make out from a glimpse at the front page was the word ‘MISSING’ in giant, black letters.

“Anything interesting?” He asked. One of their many elves placed a plate of huevos rancheros in front of him, and he started to eat, not sparing the creature a glance as he waited for his mother to reply.

She sighed, and shut the paper, looking immensely unimpressed. “Well your cousin Ines has gone missing.”

“I knew that girl would get herself in trouble one day, with that foolish bleeding heart of hers,” Valentino’s father said, as he stepped inside the kitchen, tightening his tie. He ruffled Valentino’s hair, and then took a seat across from them, an elf placing a plate in front of him along with a glass of cafe de olla. “Then again, raised by those parents, what else could she have amounted to?”

Valentino took a sip of his aqua frescas, not particularly interested in the direction of the conversation. “Are we going to have to go visit Aunt Emilia?” He asked, sourly.

Emilia Vera, née de la Cruz, couldn’t possibly be more different than her brother, Joaquin. There was a reason they were so estranged. The only reason Joaquin hadn’t gotten rid of her entirely was because he was a man who took his blood very seriously. Intolerable or not, Emillia was still family. So by virtue of having been a de la Cruz, Emilia got to live. Valentino just hoped that didn’t mean the situation warranted a trip. His aunt had this horrid tendency to look at him with the saddest eyes. It made him want to gouge hers out. He didn’t appreciate being looked at like he was living a tragedy, thank you very much.

“Of course not,” Regina said, sliding the paper across to her husband, and stirring some sugar into her tea. “I’ll have Maritza write up a letter, and once I’ve approved it, I’ll send it over to them. We will offer them our condolences, and extend a cordial offer of assistance which I expect she’ll refuse, and we will have given them more attention than they deserve.”

Valentino couldn’t help but slump a little in relief, before he straightened his back once again. Slouching was sloppy and unbecoming. He took another bite of his eggs and sighed. “Papa, where are you going?” He asked, noting that his father was already dressed to leave the house.

“Hunting,” he said, smiling broadly. “It’s been too long and there are no urgent matters for me to attend to for once.”

“Person or creature?” Valentino asked, laughing quietly and dodging the soft smack his mother aimed at him. He’d heard her snort at his question, though, so he knew she wasn’t really upset with him.

“Creature unfortunately. No one’s displeased me this week,” Joaquin said, winking at his son. “There’s always next week, though. But we’re going back home to Mexico, hunting Re’ems mainly.”

Before he could say anything else, his owl fluttered in through the open window and dropped a stack of letters in his lap.

He reached up and gave him an affectionate stroke. “Thank you, Luci.”

He rifled through the stack and pulled out two letters, setting the others aside to read later. They weren’t important. He tucked the one from Ahren into his pocket to read when he was alone in his room, and carefully cut open the one from Celia, skimming over the words.

“Any plans for you, mijo?” Joaquin asked him, taking another bite of his breakfast.

He hummed in acknowledgement, frowning as he read what Celia had written about her dad, and shook his head. “Probably helping mama and replying to some of these letters,” he said. “I might go for a ride if I get bored.”

Regina laughed quietly. “We all know you do not go ride horses when you sneak out to go explore Rio.”

Valentino shot her a toothy grin. “Mama, how will I know what I like if I don’t try them all?”

She reached over and pinched his cheek, shaking his head.

Joaquin snorted, but didn’t react otherwise to his words. “Well your cousin is currently occupying the rumour mill. If there’s a time for you to run wild, this is as good as any.”

Regina nodded. “As long as you’re safe and keep the upper hand in all of your little rendezvous. It’s only natural for a growing boy to have urges. It’s not like we could stop you, even if we wanted to. You’ve always been good at getting what you want.”

“Let me know if any of them put a toe out of line. I’ll arrange to have them dealt with...I can always use more fresh meat for the griffins guarding our vaults,” his father said, dryly.

Valentino had the best parents in the world. He beamed at both of them and took another sip of his drink.

His father flipped to the next page of the paper and groaned after a moment. “This says the international wizarding community is concerned about these disappearances. They’re likely going to send all the students who are fifth year and higher to study together at Hogwarts this year.”

Valentino looked up, eyes wide, feeling aghast. He didn’t want to step foot in Europe. Especially not Hogwarts. If it had to be Europe, why couldn’t they have chosen Durmstrang? “What? No! I’m not going to some disgusting school in Britain of all places. The castle’s hideous, the weather’s dreary, the staff’s incompetent and I’m sure the students are intolerable.”

Regina looked equally disgusted by the proposition.

“He’s right, Joaquin, mi amor. We cannot possibly expect him to live in those dreadful conditions. Our boy is not a pauper. He deserves better than that filthy, cursed place.”

Joaquin rubbed at his forehead, frown lines marring his normally handsome face. “As much as it pains me, we haven’t got much of a choice. Pulling him out of school, even for a year, will raise more questions that I’d rather avoid. After the incident at Ilvermorny, we can’t draw more attention to Valentino’s academic career. Mijo, we’re going to do our best to make this awful year comfortable for you though, mark my words.” He set down the paper and flicked his wrist. An elf scuttered forward, grabbed the paper and then disappeared again.

The words did nothing to make him feel any better. But he knew deep down his father was right. That didn’t mean he liked it.

“Mama, may I invite Celia over later, por favor? If we’re both being forced to spend this year at Hogwarts, I’d like to at least enjoy the remainder of the summer with my best friend and a lot of tequila.” He groused, crossing his arms. He knew he was behaving rather childishly but the fact that he had no choice in the matter irked him. He always had choices. He always got what he wanted. And now he didn’t? All because some cult was stealing losers? It wasn’t fair. He wanted his fifth year to be the best yet and it hadn’t even started yet and he hated it.

His mother reached out to rub his hand comfortingly. “How about you invite Celia over tomorrow? Today I have some...business...that I’d like your help with.”

He brightened immediately, eyes lighting up. “Hexes? Curses?”

She laughed, her eyes sparkling, and twisted her wrist, wandlessly creating a brilliant fully-bloomed flower that she tucked behind his ear. “My brilliant boy. Yes, we’re going to need a few curses. Some of the help...has been less than helpful of late. Alas, they’ve seen too much, so they have to go. I only trust my men to help me with the affairs of this household. And since your father is out socializing, it’s just you and me today. Think you’re up to the task?”

Valentino was three steps ahead of her already, thinking about the curses he was going to test out. His mother had shown her some new Caxcan magic last week and he wondered if she’d allow him to test it out on their victims today.

Joaquin drained the last of his drink. “He’s got that look on his face. The one he gets when he’s going to make us proud. I think that’s a good an answer as any,” he said, amused. He crossed around the table and pulled Regina in, giving her a deep kiss, and then turned to give Valentino a tight hug. “Listen to your mother, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and remember, no mercy. I love you, mijo.”

“See you tonight, papa.”

Joaquin clapped him on the shoulder and left, and with that Valentino turned back to his mother, an eager look on his face.

“Lead the way, mama.”

#triw:self-para #this is basically the summer before the current school year starts #in june after ines goes missing #it's very much just a glimpse into valentino's home life which is like good but also like from an outside looking in #the entire family is very messed up #obviously #idk this has no real purpose i just love writing about valentino's family theyre interesting to me #they're like the lodges on riverdale except actually straight up evil instead of whatever half assed shit riverdale is pulling #and there's no fancy title bc idgaf to think of one

1 note · View note