Author's Note: Written for the Without Challenge on HPFC. My challenge was to write about the emotion overwhelmed without ever using that word. (And it won first place!)
This is always written for the Brotherly Love Challenge, also on HPFC. My quote that inspired this story was "Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet."
Enjoy!
"What is wrong with you?" she shouted at the group of cowering first years. Every student in the Hogwarts library turned towards the scene with shock. Rose had never been considered a soft-spoken girl, but no one had heard her voice reach that pitch since fourth year, before she and Scorpius Malfoy had become civil. The older students immediately began mumbling questions about her sanity.
The first years may not have ever known Madame Pince—who had retired the year after James, Louis, and Roxanne came to Hogwarts, most likely because of James, Louis, and Roxanne—but if they had, the similarities between her and Rose would have jumped to all their minds.
"This is a library, not a common room! All this chattering is distracting to students who are actually revising! I should take fifty points from each of you for such disrespect toward other students! And is that food!"
"And that's our cue to leave," Scorpius said, standing from their table while Albus shoved books and quills into their school bags. Scorpius grabbed Rose's arm before she lunged at the poor eleven-year-olds, turning her towards the door. "A merry evening to you all," he said to the terrified kids before dragging Rose out of the library as she continued to sputter out complaints in a constant, irritable murmur.
As the three seventh-year students exited out into the corridor, Scorpius dropped his arm away from Rose and gave her a cautious look. "I think I already know the answer to this question, but are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Rose shouted before snatching her bag out of Albus' hand, turning on her heels, and marching away from the two boys.
"You know, I have the strangest feeling she's not fine," Scorpius said, taking his own bag from Albus and watching the ends of Rose's school robes disappear around the corner. "Should we follow at a safe distance?"
"I'd rather not get beheaded today." Albus walked in the opposite direction as Scorpius followed with slower, more hesitant steps. "But I'm not the one still trying to date her."
"I'm telling you, after summer holiday, we kissed!"
"Yes, tell me how that fairytale went again?"
As the two boys meandered through the corridors and debated the likelihood of Scorpius being delusional, Rose hurried down the staircases, letting her feet guide her towards the source of her sour mood. She burst into the Hufflepuff common room, causing quite a scene as she searched for her brother. A sixth-year told her Hugo was out by the lake, saving the rest of his housemates from Rose's wrath and receiving many pats on the back after the Head left.
"Hugo William Granger-Weasley!"
Hugo's shoulders jumped up to his ears as his sister's voice carried across the grounds. "I should've known she'd find out," he said, gesturing to his friends to leave while they could. None of them hesitated to gather their things and take a brisk walk in any direction.
"Hello there, Rosie," Hugo said, standing to face his sister. He'd though that after his most recent growth spurt that she wouldn't seem quite as intimidating. He was wrong.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Rose shouted, poking Hugo hard enough in the chest that he hissed out a soft, "Ow."
With her mouth wide open and ready to let him have it, Rose stopped to glance around at all of the eyes currently on the two of them. Her dangerous glare caused most of them to pretend they weren't paying attention, but Rose cleared her throat and spoke in a quieter tone. "Why am I hearing that you want to drop out of Hogwarts?"
"If you're hearing things, I'd suggest seeing Auntie Hannah, not me."
Rose gave him a hard punch to the arm. "You are so not funny," she said while Hugo took a few giants step back and rubbed at his arm.
From a safe distance away, Hugo said, "Okay, okay, I'll talk, but can you try not sending me to the Hospital Wing?"
"That depends on what your answer is."
"Answer to what?"
Rose pursed her lips until they turned white, then stepped towards Hugo again. "Are you thinking about dropping out of Hogwarts?"
Hugo contemplated what to say next. The simple answer was 'yes', but he feared a swim with the giant squid if he said only that. What he wanted to do was explain to Rose why before she jinxed him into next year, but he doubted she would understand. He'd even thought up the perfect metaphor, but figurative language was wasted on his logical, rational sister.
The Granger-Weasley siblings were like hands and feet. The brother and sister looked as similar as a hand and a foot—they both had their mother's brown eyes, their's father's lanky body, and Weasley red hair—but they functioned in two very different ways that made their few physical differences stand out. Hugo supposed he was the foot—under appreciated and not easily likable but always dependable. He never changed, as inflexible as a foot's arch. His height gave him the look of someone unable to hold their own weight, and his too big eyes gave him the face of a dreamer.
And then there was Rose, with her compact athletic form and eyes always narrowed in thought. She was the useful, successful hand. When she wanted to be liked, she could be as sweet as a caress or as pleasant as a firm handshake, but when one wasn't on her good side, she was a fist flying straight at one's face.
The simple fact that Hugo had thought through a metaphor so thoroughly that Rose would dismiss in an instant was reason enough to show that they were two different appendages forced to be on the same body.
"How'd you find out?" Hugo asked, knowing the question would do little to distract Rose but thinking it the safest option.
"Does that really matter?" Rose said with a stomp of her foot, as she often did when impatient. If only it made her look childish instead of like an angry hippogriff ready to charge. "You know our family. Nothing is ever a secret for more than a few days."
Hugo nodded in agreement, though he knew the most likely culprit. "Lily?"
"Of course, Lily told me. She overheard you talking about dropping out of Hogwarts with your friends." Rose inflected a negative tone on the last word, showing exactly what she thought of Hugo's friends.
Hugo simmered in his annoyance in silence, refusing to say anything that would spark a heated fight. One bruise was enough for the day. Rose kept an expectant stare on him even as Hugo shrugged as if he didn't know what to say. Soon enough, Rose couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer and asked, "So?"
"So what?"
"So why did you ever think dropping out of Hogwarts would be a good idea?"
Hugo shuffled his feet, watching the toe of his trainer dig up a clump of grass. "I dunno," he muttered.
"You're such a bad liar."
"I know." Hugo stomped down the pile of dirt and tried recalling the words he thought up when imagining this conversation when he first started telling his friends of the idea, knowing eventually Rose would hear the rumors. He knew this conversation was inevitable, and he'd practiced it several times in his head. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten every single word in the elegant speech he'd prepared. "Well… I guess it was last year that convinced me. I mean, what am I ever going to do with a bunch of N.E.W.T.'s? I spent all of last year revising and practicing and didn't have any time for what I wanted to do." He gestured toward his bag and the leather-bound notebook peeking out of it where all of his writings and sketches were kept. "I was bloody miserable. I don't want to do that again next year."
Rose pursed her lips, fighting against her instincts to tell Hugo to get over it and just do well on his exams. Instead, she said, "For a Hufflepuff, you can be so selfish."
"Selfish?" Hugo's hands clenched into fists. "How am I being selfish?"
"You just… you don't… argh!" Rose covered her face with heads as she let out a frustrated groan. "You've no idea what it's like for me!"
Hugo scoffed. "For you? What does any of this have to do with you?"
"Because if you drop out, I'm going to have work even harder than I am now." Her voice sounded faded as if she didn't have the strength to yell anymore. Perhaps she had finally burnt out. "Do you think it's easy being top of my class on top of being prefect and on top of captaining the Quidditch team? And now I've got Head Girl duties on top of it all? Do you have any idea the amount of work that takes?"
"Sounds like you might be a bit over—"
"Don't say it!" Rose yelled with a pointed finger. "I can handle it. I'm fine."
The crack in her voice as she said that word made Hugo think she might be less than 'fine'. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought out his next words. "Y'know, it's kinda funny how we balanced out. You got all of Mum and Dad's qualities while I didn't get any."
"That's not completely true," Rose said, finally taking her hands away from her hips. "You're just as smart as I am." She ignored Hugo's attempts to protest, talking over him to continue. "And you're just as talented a Quidditch player. You just…"
"Don't care about those things?"
Rose grimaced as if he'd cursed. "I don't understand you at all. Which is fine. Have all the fun you want with your.. art things." She gestured towards his notebook like she would have a Flobberworm. "But I could use some help upholding the Granger-Weasley name every now and again."
"Like you'd let me hold anything that precious."
"I said 'uphold', not 'hold'. You can't hold a name, Hugo."
He resisted the urge to slap a hand to his forehead or, better yet, slap the definition of symbolism into Rose's forehead. And yes, he knew one couldn't literally slap someone with a definition. "What I meant is that even if I made perfect grades, got made prefect, and joined the Quidditch team, you'd still be overachieving you. You enjoy all that too much."
"Well of course I enjoy it," Rose said, about to cross her arms again before they fell to her sides. "At least, I used to. Before I knew that I'd be by myself all these years. I had to make Quidditch captain because I was the only Granger-Weasley who could. I had to become a Head because I was the only Granger-Weasley who would. I have to make perfect grades because I'm the only Granger-Weasley who will. I'm not enjoying it anymore." Rose took in a breath as if only realizing how she felt at that moment. "I'm not enjoying it anymore," she repeated with disbelief.
Hugo's heart tugged him into sympathy. Sometimes he really hated his sister. Jealousy was one of his best friends growing up. From where he stood, Rose had it so easy. If his parents were forced to choose their favorite child, it would be her. Hugo was sure of that. She was them, after all. Forget that a kid was supposed to be half of each of their parents; Rose was both of them. And Hugo was neither of them. He didn't mind much nowadays, being at Hogwarts and having his own friends, but he still sometimes felt that envy of always sitting on the edge of Rose's spotlight.
"Maybe you shouldn't do so much," Hugo suggested.
"I can't do that," Rose said, shaking her head. "I've made commitments and promises and—"
"Yeah, alright, I get it." Hugo waved off her further explanations before she delved into another rant. "You like juggling too much."
Rose rolled her eyes. "You aren't going to start going on about hands and feet again, are you?"
Hugo chuckled, having forgotten that he'd ever tried to explain that metaphor to Rose. "See, I told you it was perfect." Even as she fixed him with a disbelieving stare, he went on. "You've got yourself overworked and tired and never doing what you want."
Her foot tapped against the ground in impatience, but with Hugo giving her a proud grin, she sighed. "Fine. What is it that hands want?'
"Nothing," Hugo said with a wide smile. "They're hands. They can't actually want anything. That's just ridiculous."
Rose glared at him, throwing down her fists to her side and turning to walk away. Hugo jogged forward to cut her off, still chuckling to himself. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said, stopping her and grabbing her wrists to lift her hands up in between them. "Hands would like a break every once in awhile from all this abuse."
Along the lines of Rose's palms were callouses from holding her broomstick and her fingertips were stained with ink. She pulled her hands away, tucking them into her armpits. Hugo said, "And would it really kill you to not get an O on one exam?"
"Maybe," Rose grumbled.
Hugo chuckled, knowing he would never change his sister. "Can you at least admit that maybe you're stressing yourself out and it's got nothing to do with me?'
"It's got a little bit to do with you," Rose said. "The rest of it I can handle, but these rumours of your leaving Hogwarts are really pushing my limit."
"Alright, alright, wouldn't want you go completely mental." Hugo smirked down at his older sister and her serious expression. Sure, leaving Hogwarts had seemed like a great idea when discussing it with his friends—taking inspiration from his Uncle George and making plans to open his own portrait shop—but he'd always known this was the reality. He'd never get that chance to leave Hogwarts early like Rose would never get the chance to have an equal competitor in her brother. "I promise to stay at Hogwarts if you promise to get an E on your next assignment."
"You want me to purposively get a low mark on an assignment?"
Instead of pointing out that her idea of a 'low mark' was absolutely delusional, Hugo put on his best big-eyed pout and asked, "Could you try?"
"No," she said flatly. "I don't know how one would even try to do poorly. But… I guess I can promise to go to Hogsmeade this weekend."
"You don't normally go on Hogsmeade weekends?"
Rose shrugged. "Not since fifth year."
"You're seriously going to work yourself into an early grave," Hugo said as he pulled Rose into a hug. He gave a dramatic sniffle. "I'm going to miss you."
She tried to resist but gave in and patted him on the back. Despite coming from a hug-loving family, Rose normally managed to evade embraces like this, but at Hugo's words, all she could think about was how she'd be graduating at the end of the year and wouldn't be at Hogwarts with him anymore. Crap, she was going to miss him, wasn't she?