Disclaimer: Nothingio is mineio.
Albus – Because Sometimes the Noble Thing Is the One You Can't Bear to Think About
He didn't have a choice. If he did, this wouldn't be a problem. If he did, he'd have marched into that Muggle bookstore last week, gone straight up to the counter, and told the girl that worked there that he loved her. Because he did, wholly and unconditionally. He'd never really felt it before, but the feeling was wonderful. There was a moment where you just knew, regardless of how experienced you were at falling in love. He'd heard about it a hundred times from Rose, but he'd never believed it. At least, until now.
Of course, it was a fantastic feeling, but a bloody nuisance as well. And if it hadn't completely overtaken his mind, Albus would've thought enough to know when to stay away. Under normal circumstances, he was usually quite smart. And now the loss of a functional mind had led him into an incredible mess.
He'd only wanted to say three words to her. Four, maybe, if he added her name onto the end. But those words carried so much weight with them. Not because they were hard to say or anything (they weren't – he'd have yelled it to her the first day they met if his brain hadn't, in a bout of sanity, warned him not to), but because if he told her he loved her, sooner or later he'd have to explain about the wizarding world. The longer he took to tell her, the longer she'd take to forgive him for keeping it from her. So it had to be all or nothing – if he told her one, he'd have to tell her the other. And if he told her at all, regardless of when, the danger that knowing would place her in was insurmountable. And Albus would never forgive himself if it were he that placed her in danger.
So he had kept his mouth shut. He'd go to the bookstore once every Saturday, always sitting in the same armchair in the corner. And she'd always find him there while she was shelving books, so they'd talk, but it'd only ever be friendly discussions of authors and works; Albus would always politely excuse himself after a while.
He was from a brave and noble family, a family of Gryffindors. The brave, noble, Gryffindoric thing to do was to leave her alone, to let her get married to a nice Muggle man and have lots of non-magical babies.
He wanted, more than anything, to be selfish. But he wasn't.
A/N. I suppose the premise of this collection is really quite simple, and as it's stated in the summary I won't bother you by repeating it. :) I'll update every week or sooner - probably sooner. Cheers, and thanks for reading! Next up: Lucy.