Agree to Disagree

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland was surprised to get the owl from Geoffrey. Ever since the last time Riley had gone to talk to Geoffrey, no one seemed to have heard anything from him. Riley was hurt and angry, and didn't really want to talk to her best friend, and Geoffrey obviously felt the same way.

So when the owl came to Roland instead of to Riley, Roland wasn't sure what to do. He didn't exactly want to keep things from Riley, but he was sure she would be upset to learn that Geoffrey wanted to meet with Roland and not with her. So he decided that he would not tell her right away.... instead, he would wait until after he had talked to Geoffrey. There wasn't any point in getting her upset until he heard what his cousin had to say.

Still, he felt more than a little guilty as he made an excuse to Riley about going to see Jamie and Amandine in Hogsmeade, before he went over to Montgomery Manor to meet Geoffrey. He did not like keeping things from her... but she was so emotional these days that it just seemed like a bad idea to upset her.

Upon arriving at the manor, Roland was escorted inside by the proper, yet kindly butler Jensen, and led into the sitting room to wait for Geoffrey.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

It was probably a bad idea to contact Roland. When Riley found out, she'd be angry... not that she probably wasn't angry at him already. But it seemed that there were things that needed to be said between him and his cousin. And for Riley's sake, eventually, they were going to have to learn some kind of peaceful co-existence in Riley's life. Otherwise, Geoffrey would really lose his best friend for good. Given a choice, she would choose Roland... because Roland was smart enough not to force her to make a choice.

There was a dark part of Geoffrey that really did want to make her choose between them. He didn't want to share. Even though he knew it was wrong, he couldn't help the burning jealousy he felt whenever he thought of Riley and Roland together, and he wanted Riley to choose him instead. They had the history.... all those years, all those memories. He was the one who had been there with her when she was upset at something her stepbrother had done, or at some rejection from her mother. He was the one she dragged with her when she went to get her tattoo after graduation. He was the one who had invited her to his house during the summer, who had comforted her after a nightmare. He was the one whose shoulder she cried on when she found out she was pregnant with Roland's baby... How was Geoffrey to know that day that they would never be that close again.... that his place had already been taken in Riley's heart? Didn't all those years count for something?

Geoffrey didn't even know what he was going to say to Roland. He just knew, deep in his gut, that he needed to have it out with his cousin. Maybe once he got some of the anger and bitterness out of his system, he would be able to move on and begin to put his life back together.

When Jensen came into his room to announce Roland's arrival, Geoffrey nodded his thanks, then took a few deep, steadying breaths before he made his way down to the sitting room, where Roland sat stiffly on the dainty antique couch.

Geoffrey didn't walk all the way into the room, but lingered in the doorframe for a moment, staring at Roland. Their eyes locked, and Geoffrey had to force himself to hold Roland's intense gaze.

After a long moment, Geoffrey finally blinked. He released a breath and nodded toward the door. "Come on, why don't we have a couple of drinks?"

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland was going to wait for Geoffrey to speak first. He was quite aware of the fact that, because this meeting had been called by Geoffrey and was taking place on Geoffrey's home turf, Geoffrey had to be the one to control this situation. It made Roland uneasy, surrendering control, and if he didn't think that Geoffrey needed to feel in control, Roland might have insisted that they meet somewhere else, somewhere neutral. But he understood that Geoffrey was not in good shape, and he was willing to defer to his cousin, just this once.

Seeing Geoffrey now was a bit of a shock. He didn't look well at all. Usually clean-shaven and well-groomed, today Geoffrey was sporting a week-old growth of beard. His hair, though clean, was messy, unstyled. He was dressed casually in muggle clothes. He rather reminded Roland of how he himself had looked during the period of time when he had been in the safe house and Riley had been unable to visit him. This realization was startling to Roland.

When Geoffrey signalled for him to get up and follow him, Roland was more than happy to do so. He hated the formal sitting room, and he knew from experience that it was not necessarily typical of the rest of the house.

Geoffrey led him down the hall to a stairway. Roland remembered the stairs from childhood... there had been a sort of playroom down there, with pool tables and ping pong and other games. He didn't comment as he followed Geoffrey down the stairs and into a room set up as a bar.

He remained quiet as Geoffrey poured each of them a glass of firewhiskey. Then he took a sip, and finally, unable to keep quiet for another moment, he spoke. "All right, Geoffrey. You called me here to talk.... so let's talk."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey shot him a look that quite plainly said "we'll talk when I'm good and ready." It was so bloody typical of Roland to try and take control of a situation, and Geoffrey had no intention of letting him. He'd called this meeting, and he wanted to be able to control it. But he also needed to get a little alcohol in his system, to mellow him out before they talked. Just seeing Roland had filled him with anger all over again, and he didn't want this to be a fight. Not right away, anyway.

"How is she?" he simply asked. His tone was light, but there was just a little bit of an edge to it.

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland didn't answer right away. He wasn't entirely comfortable talking about Riley with Geoffrey, and he wanted to measure his words carefully. It would have been better if Geoffrey would just say what this little meeting was all about, because Roland didn't like the feeling of flying in the dark. If the whole point of this meeting was to talk about Riley, Roland wasn't sure how he wanted to handle it.

Taking a slow sip from his drink, he avoided Geoffrey's eyes for a moment. Finally, he set the glass down and looked over at his cousin.

"She's fine," he said simply. "She's happy."

There was more to it than that, of course. Riley's nightmares had seemed to increase lately, and Roland wasn't sure if it was because of what she had told him, or if it was just because her hormones were running wild due to the pregnancy. But Roland had no intentions of sharing any of this with Geoffrey.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey winced and took another large gulp from his drink. Somehow it felt like an extra dig at him when Roland added that Riley was happy. As her best friend, of course Geoffrey wanted her to be happy. But he couldn't help but feel resentful that it was Roland who made her happy. And it wasn't fair of him to feel that way. Roland was not a bad guy. He was an arrogant git, but Geoffrey now understood that he also had a big heart. And he loved Riley. No matter what he felt about his cousin, Geoffrey had no doubt that this was true.

Roland loved Riley, and Riley loved Roland... and there just wasn't room for Geoffrey in that equation.

Maybe this had been a bad idea. Suddenly all the things Geoffrey had wanted to say seemed pointless and stupid. What was he hoping to do? To break them up? To convince Roland that Riley would be better off with Geoffrey?

But no... maybe there was a part of him that had hoped to at least make Roland feel bad about taking away his best friend, but that wasn't what he wanted. What he wanted was to unleash his anger on Roland, to get it out of his system. Maybe then he could deal with it properly.

"You're a real smug SOB, you know that?" he said, setting his glass down on the bar. "You just wanted to gloat about the fact that you can make her happy, is that it?"

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland let out a soft sigh. It was obvious now, why Geoffrey had invited him. He was looking for a fight. Roland wasn't surprised, but he had hoped otherwise. In the past, when ever the two of them had fought, Geoffrey hadn't come out of it very well at all. But Roland knew, deep down, that Geoffrey had some frustration and anger to get out if his system. And maybe it would help him.

"All, right, Geoffrey. You want a fight, let's fight, but don't make excuses for it. I was not bragging or gloating and you know that. You asked how Riley was doing, and I told you she was happy. I rather thought you'd be happy ro hear that, regardless of who might be responsible for making it that way."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Damn him. Why did he have to be so calm and rational all the time? It would be easier to fight him if he was acting like a jerk. Couldn't he at least flash one of his obnoxious crooked grins or something, so Geoffrey could wipe it from his face?

Geoffrey let out a heavy sigh. "I am glad she's happy. She deserves it. And I know that you love her. I just... I don't know if you deserve her. That stunt you pulled... You didn't even bother to think about the consequences, and how it would affect everyone you claim to love, including Riley. You hurt her, and you almost got her--and me--killed. I'm finding it really hard to forgive that."

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland sighed. Geoffrey was right, and Roland hated the thought of admitting that to him. He had made a desperate, crazy, dangerous plan that affected his family and everyone he cared about and hadn't bothered to think about the consequences. Although he knew his family would grieve for him when they believed he was dead, he didn't realize that it would have such long-reaching effects--that his parents would have trouble with their marriage, that Geoffrey would be attacked, that Riley would be unsure whether he was really alive or dead. He just assumed that everything would go back to normal once he was "alive again." But it wasn't that simple, and he'd been a fool to think it would be.

"Geoffrey, I'm very sorry for what happened to you. And.... you're right--" his lip curled up in distaste at this-- "I didn't think things through before I did what I did. But you can't understand the situation I was in. Everyone I loved was in danger because of me, and I thought the only way to protect them was to remove myself from the situation. I wish I could have found another way, but everyone's alive, so I can't completely regret it."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Could the guy ever apologize without making a face? Roland hated to be wrong, and this was one of the things about him that Geoffrey couldn't stand. Everyone was wrong once in a while, at least, but Roland never liked to admit it when he was. He was so arrogant that he probably never really thought he was wrong.

But even if he hadn't made that face, Geoffrey didn't think it would have helped. Yes, there was a perverse sense of pleasure in watching Roland admit that he was wrong, but ultimately, the apology didn't make things any better, and in a way, it made Geoffrey feel worse, like he was an object of pity.

"So what you're saying is, that you're sorry I got hurt because of what you did, but you're still not sorry you did it," Geoffrey said, narrowing his eyes. "You still think that what you did was the right thing, even though it hurt a lot of the people you were trying to protect."

Slamming his glass down on the bar, Geoffrey jumped down from the stool and began pacing the room. "Honestly, could you be any more arrogant? You just had to protect us all, even if it killed us. When are you going to learn that it's not your job to save everyone?"

[Roland Ferrera]

As it happened, Roland was starting to learn this lesson already. It was still his instinct to try and protect everyone, and to keep them all safe, but there came a time where he had to let the people he loved live their own lives, while he lived his own. Jamie had tried to tell him that months ago, after the Hogsmeade attack.

However, he still thought that the situation with Blake was different. It had been his mess, his mistake that had put them all in danger. If it was not his job to clean up that mess in whatever way he could, then whose was it? Yes, he could have asked for more help. He had a whole family of aurors that could have helped him. Any one of them, or all of them, would have been glad to help. But Roland had felt certain that Blake would be expecting him to do just that, and that it would be putting too many of the people he loved into danger. His way had kept them all safe. Maybe it hadn't been as clean as he'd thought, and there had still been casualties, like Geoffrey, that he hadn't counted on. But he never would have forgiven himself if he'd involved the whole family and someone had been killed trying to help him with his problem.

"I know it's not, Geoffrey," Roland said in a low voice. "And for what it's worth, I'm trying to back off a little. I have my life, and everyone has theirs. Your problem is that you want to blame me for what happened to you, instead of accepting that it happened and trying to move on."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Maybe it was what he needed to hear, but that didn't mean it didn't infuriate Geoffrey. Without even thinking, Geoffrey swung his fist through the air, and struck Roland right in the nose. It felt odd... good, but odd. He would have said that he felt like he was watching it from outside of his body or that some other person was controlling his actions while he was powerless to stop it, except that he actually knew what that felt like, and this wasn't it. Rather, it seemed as though time slowed down, like a slow-motion scene in a muggle movie. Geoffrey didn't feel anything except the rage boiling inside of him and the feeling of his fist striking Roland in the nose.

"How dare you, you self-righeous, arrogant git!" Geoffrey yelled, not even looking at his cousin to see if he was all right. "You honestly think you have the right to say I'm not handling things right? You? After what you did? Your parents might split up. Christine was catatonic, I got cursed, and Riley.... Riley knew and it was still tearing her apart! You manipulated her, and she was a wreck. You didn't see her out here, you only saw her happy, because she was just so glad to be with you. Merlin knows why."

[Roland Ferrera]

This time, Geoffrey's punch hit him hard, and Roland was knocked backward, nearly falling off his bar stool. He only managed to right himself by grabbing onto the bar and pulling himself back up. Unfortunately, however, his nose was not so lucky. He raised his hand to his face and felt the warm, sticky sensation of blood on his fingers and running down his nose.

"Ow, Geoffrey," he said, still calm. "I think you broke my nose."

If Geoffrey wanted to fight, Roland would let him have it. Yes, there was that tiny bit of pride that told him to fight back, but for Riley's sake, he wouldn't. If he hit Geoffrey, Riley would be furious with him. Besides, Geoffrey needed to get this anger out of his system.

He reached across the bar and found a napkin, holding it to his nose to stop the blood. "You think I didn't know how miserable she was? How confusing it was for her? She's still confused sometimes. Sometimes she still thinks that I really died, and that she's just dreaming me. Can you even imagine how that makes me feel? You think I didn't get punished for what I did, but I've got news for you.... It hasn't all been wine and roses for me, either. The woman I love doesn't always believe I'm really alive... and she could have been killed herself. My parents barely talk to each other right now, and I don't know if they're going to get through this. And I killed my own uncle. Sure, he was a first-class git, but how do I tell that to my aunt, who was so dependent on him that she can't see what a jerk he really was?"

[Christine Montgomery]

The Montgomery household was never really empty, but most of the time it was so large that it seemed as if no one were there, even with the many families that inhabited it. Today however there was shouting and the liveliness of the argument seemed to shake Christine out of her stupor. Her feet carried her to the scene and still it was fairly surreal.

"What's going on?" she asked although hearing her name and catching the scene her eyes fled to Geoffrey.

At this particular point in her life Geoffrey was the closest person to her, she was building a world around her and her brother letting no one else in, it didn't matter who Geoffrey was fighting, she'd be right behind him ready to fight as well.

[Roland Ferrera]

Roland froze at the sound of her voice. He could imagine how this must look to her, and was doubly glad that he hadn't attempted to fight back. He was bleeding, and Geoffrey was not, so at least it wouldn't look as though he had been the one to start all this. But the bigger concern for Roland was just how much she had heard of their conversation. He didn't think she'd understand if she knew that he had faked his own death, intentionally putting his family through hell. His only consolation was that Geoffrey probably wouldn't want her to know either... because then she would also find out that he had kept the secret from her as well.

"Christine," he said, looking over at Geoffrey with a warning glance. "We didn't know you were standing there. We were just working a few things out... It's nothing to worry about...."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine didn't understand Geoffrey hitting Roland at all, well a part of her too had blamed him for dying, but it wasn't his fault. Heaven forbid she learn the truth.

"Roland...your nose." she said softly then looked toward Geoffrey, " You shouldn't fight." she came further into the room. "What were you fighting about?"

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey jumped guiltily at the sound of Christine's voice. She was just about the only person who could calm him down at this point, and he quickly felt his anger fading to a low simmer for the time being. Now he could feel a dull ache spreading through his hand where he had hit Roland, reminding him that he'd have a bruise there in the morning.

"Sorry," he mumbled to Roland, though the apology didn't sound particularly sincere.

Rubbing his hand, he turned to Christine. For once, he and his cousin were in agreement on something. He didn't want his sister to know that Roland had faked his death, either. She looked up to Roland, and while Geoffrey didn't share that feeling, he didn't want to shatter her illusions, either. She was upset enough these days, and needed to know that there were people she could still count on. And Roland, faked death aside, would certainly help Christine if she needed it. Besides, if she did find out the truth, she would also find out that Geoffrey had known about it long before Roland's "miraculous" return from the "dead." Which would mean she would also lose her faith in him. And he needed her just as badly as she needed him right now.

"Chrissy... I just... Roland and I were just talking about Riley. I shouldn't have hit him, I just lost control. It's OK, though... it's nothing. I swear we aren't going to kill each other."

[Christine Montgomery]

She nodded, before everything had happened she probably would have ripped into Geoffrey scolded him and demanded to know the truth, but so much had changed, she would settle for Geoff's faded version of the truth but walked further into the room to prevent further bloodshed. She walked over to the bar and got one of the napkin cloths and brought it over to Roland gently administering some elementary first aid.

" Did it make you feel better?" she asked wondering if it did make her brother feel better, it was so hard for her to feel these days.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey looked over at Roland as Christine began dabbing at the blood on his nose. Somehow, even now he still managed to look smug to Geoffrey, and if he was honest, he really wanted to hit him again. Because it had made him feel better. For just that one moment, Geoffrey had felt a little better, like he was taking matters into his own hands instead of just letting them happen to him.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, it did." Then he laughed. "Maybe I should take up that muggle sport. You know, the one where they wear those funny gloves and hit each other? Boxing, I think it is."

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine nodded then laughed a little at the picture that painted, " Mum would kill you." she said gently. The entire situation was odd, but then again her life had become rather odd so she simply accepted it.

"Maybe since Roland's here we could have lunch together?" she asked a little hopeful.