01. The Divorce
"Know that love is truly timeless."
― Mary M. Ricksen
There were certain things that Cassiopeia Nymphandora Malfoy hated doing. For example, arguing with her parents. Like she was doing right now. "Cassiopeia, you should understand that your father and I came to this decision after thinking this through for very long time. We are getting divorced, but you have to understand that it doesn't mean we will stop being parents for three of you." said Hermione Granger-Malfoy looking at her the way she always did when she tried to get her understand exactly why she was doing this.
The thing was, she didn't.
"Besides the obvious fact that I won't get to see one of you for three weeks." said Cassiopeia flatly, dressed in the summer dress she bought few days ago from the muggle dressing shop. She thought that she would play dress up in her bedroom after shopping for hours, but instead she had her parents' divorce bombed on her. The worst way to spend one's last day at her home before going back to Hogwarts, Cassiopeia thought sadly as she continued looking in disbelief at her parents.
"Come on, Cassie. It's been coming long now. You just refused to see it." said Scorpius, putting his hand on her should with sad smile on his face. He too, did not take the news very well. Before she had arrived, she found him shouting at their parents. His face was red as the Weasley red then, swaying his hands angrily at one side and another. He calmed down quickly after. Only for Cassiopeia to lose her temper.
"Come off it, Scorp! You were as angry as I was when I came in!"
"Well, how did you think I would react? I was ready to get ready for my date with Lily when they dropped the news of their divorce on me! What was I supposed to say? Alright, Father and Mother. I understand. I don't give a fuck about your divorce whatsoever. I wouldn't even mind if I don't get to see one of you for three fucking weeks? I wouldn't even mind if Father begins to see that dumb bitch that tries to seduce him at his office or if Mother begins to see that McLaggen dude. But, you know what, I do give a fuck about all this! We're family. You can't just bomb your divorce on us."
"Shut your mouths, both of you!" shouted Alexander beside them, clearly very annoyed by both of them. "I understand why are angry with our parents, but let them explain will you? We won't get anywhere with this yelling competition."
Cassiopeia sighed in the defeat, because however stubborn she could be sometimes when she was angry, she knew that Alec had a point. Rather valid point at that. She had no reason to disobey. So, as Alec had ordered a minute before, she shut her mouth.
She looked at Scorpius and realized that he too, had shut up.
Her father who was being unusually quiet up till now sighed heavily and sat on the coach nearby. "We didn't want you three to get through the heartbreak a divorce of parents could bring to the child, you know. But, we just couldn't. Couldn't stand to look at each other anymore without remembering what we have lost. What was lost in that attack." said her father, his voice awfully low and he seemed very tired, more tired than all the times she has seen him in his study working. The decision to divorce was hard one for both of the, she realized suddenly. They both looked very much tired. She could see it now that the anger was gone. "That's why decided that the best we could do is to stay away from one another. To get divorced."
"Besides, even if we wanted to get back what we used to be, we couldn't. Too much damage has been done. We said awful things. Very awful things to each other, my sweet honeys. We can't just keep living like this. So, I want you to understand that this divorce is for the best and that it was mutually decided."
"I understand." she said, holding back the tears that were about to come. She did not want to cry. She did not want to be seen as the ever weak little girl that used to cry every time a boy was nasty to her or that little girl who cried every time she got in the second place during the exams. She did not want to be seen as that fragile girl. She wanted her parents to see that she has grown up no matter how much she wanted to cry until her eyes went red. "If you excuse me, I'll head back to my room. I need my beauty sleep for tomorrow."
Looking at her parents one final time, she stood up and headed towards her room. She shut the door behind her and fell on the wooden floor hard. It hurt, but it did not hurt as much as her heart did. Her chest tightened and she finally allowed the tears to come.
Her parents were getting divorced. There was no stopping that now. She just wished, wished that everything was different.
Alexander Malfoy was still quiet even after Scorpius excused himself to have a call with his girlfriend to cancel the date. He understood why. How could any of them do anything as bright and fun as having a date when the situation was like this? He couldn't even imagine what a disastrous date that would be. If he was out with Dominique in this situation, she would probably dump him right there. No other explanation needed. Thank Merlin that he did not in fact have a date. She would have dumped him too for canceling the date that she had been thoroughly prepared for.
Dominique and him; their relationship was not like that of his younger brother and Lily Potter. The thing was, Dominique was in love with her sister's boyfriend whom she actually slept with and he was in love with an older woman who was married unhappily to Roger Davies. His parents would be in shock if they found out. he couldn't possibly do that to them, could he?
"Alexander, say something." has mother said, her eyes pleading as she sat next to his father.
He sighed in defeat. When he was younger, he used to look at his father and think that the way his father treated his mother was the right way to treat a woman. His father always treated his mother with an equal respect and trust. But, after that accident where little Lyra had died, everything he thought he knew about his father disappeared. Just as how everything he thought he knew about his mother disappeared. They cursed. His mother threw things at his father. And after the fight, they slept just like nothing happened.
He could tell it was coming miles away. His siblings would have seen it too if they weren't in the denial all this time. If they weren't so blinded by their perfect image of their family. Of what they used to be. Of what they would never be now.
"What do you want me to say? That I understand?" he asked, looking at his parents curiously as to what they wanted from him. His life was miserable enough as it was before the little signs of his parents' crumbling relationship started showing up. "Because, honestly speaking I do not understand. None of us understand. Losing Lyra was hard. She was only five years old and she was the family. We all mourned. We probably would never move on. But, we lived our lives. It seems like you two couldn't." he said. "Look, I know that on top of the wounds that you got in fighting the war, losing a child was hard. Harder than I could ever imagine, but couldn't you have thought of us? About how we would feel instead of focusing on how you guys feel?"
"I understand why you feel that way. We were being selfish." his father said as he supported his crying mother who kept mumbling Lyra's name and how sorry she was that she could not save her. That was the thing. After that accident, it left his mother emotionally disturbed. It ached him to see her like this. It made him regret that he mentioned Lyra's name in the first place. He knew how his mother got when someone mentioned her.
He sighed. "I am in love with Cho Chang-Davies. Goodnight, I am going to the bed."
Before his parents could utter any words as they were in the shock, he stood up and headed towards Cassiopeia's room. Knocking on the door, he waited for his sister to open the door. He could have simply walked in, but that was just impolite. One could never enter lady's room without permission even if that lady was his sister. "Come in." said a faint voice of his sister, her voice almost inaudible.
He entered the room and realized that unsurprisingly his sister was crying on her bed. Her eyes were red, the makeup she applied ruined and her long curly blond hair a mess. His sister never liked her hair being a mess. And about the makeup? That was a disaster. His sister didn't look disastrous. It would explain how much of a toll the news of his parents' divorce took on her.
Sitting beside her on the bed, he hugged her tightly. "It's alright. We will get through this, Cassie. We will." he said reassuring words that even he wasn't sure he believed. After all, his family always consisted of his parents and his siblings. If one half of his parents lived someplace else, he did not know how he would live. He could live, he supposed. But, after that huge news he dropped on his parents just few minutes ago, he wasn't sure. What he knew was that his father would have very through talk with him after all this.
"I just want us to be together again as family. Is that too hard to ask from them?" she asked, tears still streaming down her face.
"I know."
Alec let go of his sister when he felt another weight on the bed. He turned to his left and realized that it was only Scorpius. He hadn't been crying as according to Scorpius, that's the thing only sisters do when they're sad. Men, he had said, yell and shout which would explain the amount of the noise he heard from Scorpius' room. "You know, why did leave me out from this siblings' bonding over our parents' divorce?" Scorpius asked, looking at him in wonder.
Typical Scorpius. Did not like it when people leave him out of the things.
"Come here." Alec said as they three hugged and cried(in Cassie's case) and fell asleep on that king sized bed. Tomorrow morning he would think how it was the first time he slept with his siblings since he entered Hogwarts. He thought that he did not actually mind it if they did it often.
