AN: As stated in the summary, this is a companion piece to "Broken" so you might want to read that one first for background knowledge.
"Even though we were never supposed to be together, I can't be with anyone else, no matter the consequences."
-Nicole Gulla
"I swear, I would rather have Alyssa date Fred instead of that son of a ferret."
She winces at the memory. Her mother had said those words on her first day of Hogwarts when they saw Scorpius Malfoy on the platform. Her mother had been joking at the time, of course, but she just had to jinx it, didn't she? Now look at the mess she's in now.
"If it weren't for the fact that they were cousins, I'd say they would be meant for each other."
He gulps as his father's words ring in his head. It's always that horrible "c" word that creates that unbreakable barrier. They are meant for each other, he knows it. But why them? Like his father had said, they are cousins.
Her full name is Alyssa Rose Weasley-Granger, named after her parents' dead best friend and the so-called saviour of the Wizarding world. His full name is Fred Lee Weasley, named for his father's dead twin. Her mother and his father are siblings. Their namesakes had been lovers before the war ripped them away, indirectly and directly. But they…they aren't supposed to be lovers. As stated before, they are cousins and cousins can never be.
They are best friends. They played together so many times as babies and children, laughing and giggling. Now they sit beside each other while sneaking longing glances when the other isn't looking. They fear of the other's reactions should their feelings ever come to light. They fear the public reaction should they ever enter a relationship. It's wrong. And they know it.
The biggest reason they hide their feelings is not for each other but for their parents. Their namesakes had wound up unleashing such pain and grief upon their parents, and they do not want to do the same. It's like giving their namesakes a fresh start through a new life and a new body. Disappointing their parents is absolutely out of the question.
Still…they wonder what it would like to have the freedom to be with each other. Whenever they're alone, they cuddle up and snuggle while playing it off as what really close cousins would do, especially during the cold harsh winter. If only they can kiss each other good night or hold hands in public or…even that.
"I love you," he says once during the Christmas holidays during his seventh year and her sixth.
She looks up at him with a crestfallen expression before hugging him tightly, her shoulders shaking with sobs. "I wish we were allowed."
It's widely known that unrequited love always hurts. Just ask Severus Snape. But forbidden love always hurts more. It hurts more to know that you love someone and that someone loves you but you can never be together. The longing, the wishing, the opportunity. It's all there. But the rules are already set in place. Why do they have to be cousins? Why do his father and her mother have to be siblings? And most importantly, why do they have to be in love with each other?
They wind up eloping after their cousin Victoire discovers them in bed together (honestly, didn't she learn how to knock?) in their flat. Victoire tattles to the whole family because she feels that what her two cousins are doing is wrong. They don't even bother to stick around to see their family's reactions. They just pack up and move to Australia.
In Australia, no one knows who they really are. Their neighbours and friends there think that she's blonde Alyssa Rose Evans and he's brunette Fred Lee Black. Only at night do they shed their disguises to become redheads again in order to be true to each other and themselves. They don't dare to procreate for fear of any birth defects but instead adopt two babies and name them Henry George and Amy Olivia Black. They were finally happy together.
The only thing missing was their family.