AN: I am sorry for the long wait. Hugo had a lot to tell you this chapter, so it's extra long - over 5500 words! I need to thank you for your patience and support, it means a lot to me. I've been having personal issues, and I couldn't ignore real life. I haven't forgotten this story, I will finish it. I'm sorry if I haven't replied to some of your reviews - they all mean the world to me!
Special thanks to LadiePhoenix007 and Chantal9 for the words - I used 16 words in this one cause I just couldn't decide! :)
Anyways, I'll see you at the bottom - I need ten new words!
Words:
Enthusiastic
Condescending
Invincible
Observant
Merciful
Unrequited
Beloved
Rhetorical
Exotic
Determined
Paradox
Lightning
Floating
Escape
Pensieve
Pensive
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters - J. K. Rowling does. I do make up some of my own, though.
I do not own the poetry - William Blake does.
I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! She did depart!
Hugo Weasley sat in his room and watched his Mother and sister laugh while talking in the garden. Hermione made sure that the house they lived in had a wide back porch with small garden (that Dad tended to) and swinging chairs, which is where she spent most of her free time now that both her children were (almost) grown-ups and away for school. The swing she and Rose sat in now was the same swing that Hugo spent hours and hours snuggled up to his Mom as she read to him when he was younger, especially the years when Rose went to Hogwarts and Hugo was left home alone, suddenly without his sister. It was a shock that took some time getting used to, but at least he got to spend time with his Mother, whom Hugo was unashamed to admit he absolutely adored.
He smiled at the memories, his fingers absently fiddling with his newly acquired Prefect's badge. His parents, both Prefects while they were in school, couldn't have been more proud. Rose, a newly appointed Head Girl, laughed when he told her and rejoiced in the fact that she would still be able to boss him around. Hugo just shrugged and accepted all the teasing from his family in good nature, because the one thing he was sure of was that he had the mostly tight-knit and loving family there ever was.
His brows furrowed when his eyes scanned the letter in front of him once again. An owl brought it half an hour ago, and Hugo must've read it half a dozen times.
Hugo,
We really need to do something. Meet me at Wick Avenue on Tuesday for lunch – I have some new things to discuss with you. I have spoken to my Father, and I believe you will be interested in what I've discovered.
Scorpius
P. S. Mother sends her regards, and kindly reminds you to send her a letter about whatever shenanigan you two have been talking and conspiring about during dinner previous week.
It was Sunday now, and Hugo knew he couldn't postpone his plan for much longer. He knew he had to talk with his Mother, but the prospect of that talk, unlike many others, did not excite him. Quite the contrary, actually. Hugo took a deep breath as he appointed his reluctance (cowardice, if he was true with himself, which he admittedly wasn't) to the fact that he really wanted to talk to Scorpius first, and decide on the best plan of action after that.
Being the son of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley came with many perks and responsibilities. Ever since he was a child, he had to be careful about what he said. The media (if you could even call those annoying witches from Witch Weekly's that) were always on their trail. It did not matter whether he and Rose were shopping with their Father for Christmas, enjoying ice-cream with Uncle Harry, or just walking down Diagon Alley with their Mom, somebody was always getting in their way, asking all sorts of inane questions.
His parents had different methods of dealing with them. His Father would blush and smile somewhat awkwardly, muttering a soft 'no comment'. It mostly did the job, as the journalist would soon give up the outright questioning and apply more subtle methods. Stalking them from a far, trying to fill in the gaps of what was actually happening with some mind-blowing, scandalous and obviously fake news.
His Mother, on the other hand, would get irritated quickly with interruptions in their routine, which Hugo could appreciate very much – he wasn't really the one for 'spontaneity'. That was more Rosie's domain. Hermione would then threaten the 'annoying leeches' (her exact words) with couple of well-placed, informative sentences that cut right to the point. Being Hermione Granger, a War Heroine in all her glory, her threats and 'educated guesses' usually worked, and the media learned not to interrupt their family time when Mrs. Weasley was around, lest they found themselves 'crushed like a beetle' (direct quote from his Mother, again). Mother was fiercely loyal, and never merciful to anyone she saw as a potential threat to her family.
Uncle Harry was the most fun in his ways of dealing with the media. Uncle Harry glared. It was something of an art, really, because his Mother could give an irritated glare as good as the next persons, and Rose wasn't pretty far behind with her scary frown, but Uncle Harry's glare was terrifying and unbeatable in its coldness. He would just stare at the poor reporter, his green eyes hardening, his face expressionless, rendering the person on the other end of the stare speechless and leaving them, more often than not, a fumbling mess of blushing confusion. Aunt Ginny had to hide her amused expression behind her hand most of the time, and Rose would giggle uncontrollably. Even Hugo, a usually very quiet and pensive child, couldn't prevent a laugh or two bubbling from his chest.
The media were relentless in their pursuit. When outright harassment of his parents and family did not work, they tried to approach Rosie and him alone to get them to talk about their parents. Hugo chuckled softly as he remembered Rose, who was nine at the time, setting the poor reporter's hair on fire when she cornered them in the garden of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour one afternoon as their Mother went to greet an old friend from school, Mr. Finnegan. The shrieks of the witch could be heard throughout the Diagon Alley, and that was after his Mother put the fire out and turned her own wand at the witch.
That incident, and many others, taught him since young age to carefully contemplate the words that were to leave his mouth, and never to rush to conclusions. He was teased mercilessly by his many cousins, which were much more outgoing than he was (it was a Weasley trait, really), throughout the years for his 'shyness', but the thing that always made him feel better was his Mom's soft smile as she called him 'her little diplomat'.
The badge fell from his fingers, and he didn't bother picking it up. His thoughts were far away; he had to reach them in order to make some sense from the turmoil inside his head.
Growing up, he's had a large family. The Weasley-Potter Clan, as Headmistress McGonagall dubbed them in Hugo's Second Year, was a loud, loving family that was hard to handle if you weren't used to them. Hugo, being the shyest one of them, often found himself overwhelmed by sheer volume of their family gatherings, so he took to watching people rather than interacting with them. It made him more observant, and more attuned to delicate changes in emotions.
It's how he uncovered certain things about his family he never would've known otherwise.
Hugo always knew when Aunt Ginny was upset with Uncle Harry, because she would get this ice in her eyes that not even James, who was her favourite (although she would never admit it), could completely eradicate. He always knew when Uncle Harry was having nightmares about the past, because he would flinch at every louder noise (with James, Rose, Fred and Teddy, there was always lots of noise) and he would absently fondle his scar in regular patterns of every twenty-four minutes. Hugo counted once.
When Fred and James fought about Patricia Vane's affections in Fourth Year, Hugo was the only one that could tell that the fighting actually came from deep insecurities buried beneath layers of jokes and gags that both boys felt they needed to produce in order to stay in the spotlight. They did have some big shoes to fill – James Potter I and Fred Weasley I were the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) pranksters ever to go to Hogwarts, which James and Fred were constantly told.
James was never anything special, at least not in his own eyes. He thought his parents preferred his siblings to him in every aspect, and while it was true that Uncle Harry felt more at ease with Albus than with any of his other children, James did not see the look in his Mother's eyes when she looked at her oldest son. Hermione once told Hugo that it was a really hard pregnancy, and that Aunt Ginny almost lost James after a flying accident, which in turn made her cherish him even more. She was especially hard on him, probably trying to avoid being accused of playing favourites, but James only ever saw himself as a failure in everybody's eyes.
Fred on the other hand resented his Father somewhat, because Uncle George never got over his twin's death. Hugo saw it clear as day, the shadow that always followed him, and the haunted expression he wore when he thought nobody was looking. Uncle George saw his brother in his son and his son could never live up to the ideal. It made Hugo sad and angry at the same time, to see his cousin haunted by a ghost of a person he would never be able to be and who had an enormous impact on him and his relationship with his family.
He saw first signs of Uncle George's and Aunt Angelina's marriage falling apart before anybody else, aside from perhaps Mom. He saw Aunt Angie's red-rimmed eyes and her sad smile, because how could she compete for her husband's affection with his long dead brother? She couldn't, so when one day Fred appeared at the Burrow's doorstep in the middle of the dinner and ran into James' room crying, the other boy close on his heels, Hugo knew what was going to happen even before Uncle George appeared on the doorstep and announced his divorce. Mom hugged him briefly, and she and Aunt Fleur only looked at each other before they excused themselves, Disapparating at the same time. Hermione would come home the next day, tired from crying and lack of sleep, and tell them she and Aunt Fleur were with Aunt Angelina the whole night. Hugo knew where they were, but he nodded nonetheless, and put on a fresh pot of tea for Mom.
Hugo knew that Lily never felt as close to any of her brothers as she did to him, because she could subconsciously feel the favouritism from their parents. Hugo loved his cousin almost as much as he loved his own sister, and they often spent hours playing together and imagining new worlds where they would be rulers, magnificent and invincible in the eyes of their enemies. Lily was a lovely girl, but she didn't share any of her brothers' hobbies, nor was she particularly close to her Mom, because they were too similar to see eye-to-eye on any topic. She absolutely adored her Godmother, Hermione, which was a sore spot for Aunt Ginny. Hugo caught on ginger's insecurities early on - she always felt a tad inadequate when Hermione Weasley was in the room. Hugo suspected it had to do with the year his parents and Uncle Harry spent trying to destroy Voldemort, but he could never confirm it. The open admiration on her daughter's face when 'Auntie Mione' walked in the room always hurt Aunt Ginny, but she hid it well from everyone. Well, almost everyone.
Hugo briefly wondered if his Mother had any say in choosing Lily's name, but the thought was gone before he completely grasped its importance.
Hugo saw all that and many other things - the way Grandma Molly's eyes would always tear up when she looked at Uncle George; the way Grandpa Arthur would sometimes forget things years before they diagnosed him with Alzheimer's; how Victoire pined after Teddy for years; how Molly pined after Teddy even after he and Victoire started dating, and how she shunned her cousin more and more every year, awfully condescending in her jealousy; how Louis was in love with Alice Longbottom ever since they started school together; how Dominique appreciated the way her boyfriend's sister Riley Jordan looked in her dress way more than the way Lucas Jordan looked himself; how Roxanne went from a loud, happy girl to a morose, pessimistic person she was today through her parent's divorce; how Fred decided to stay with his Mom because he knew his Father wouldn't care; the way Uncle Charlie sometimes looked at his Mom like it was the first time he ever saw her, and how she would blush and give his arm a gentle squeeze; how Aunt Fleur still looked at Uncle Bill as if he was the most beautiful person in the world, despite his hideous scars; how Uncle Percy couldn't bear to look at his brother because of the scars; Hugo saw it all, and many more.
As he blinked, he realized that the sky was now a shade of blue passing into amethyst as the night descended. Mom and Rose were nowhere to be seen, and Hugo allowed himself to be pulled into a vortex of painful thoughts and memories once again. All the reflection was giving him a headache, and he briefly contemplated acquiring a Pensieve for his overwhelming thoughts. Or just using Mom's. She probably wouldn't mind.
Hugo recalled the way Aunt Ginny's eyes would sometimes flash dangerously when Uncle Harry hugged his Mom and held her close, whispering soothing words in her ears. He saw the way his Father sat alone in the kitchen drinking Firewhiskey after every fight with Mom as she ran away to Uncle Harry and the barren look on his face that scared Hugo. He saw a flash of hurt in his Mom's eyes every year on her birthday, when Dad gave her a bouquet of red roses, even though Hugo knew lilacs were her favourite.
The thing that hurt him the most, though, was when he saw his sister overcome by desperation when she and Dad were fighting.
Hugo was his Mother's son, and 'Mama's boy', as his family often pointed out. He never denied it, knowing it was true. But Rose, Rose was 'Daddy's girl' all over, yet nobody dared to point it out to her. James tried once, and Uncle Harry found him above the house floating in the air,his body shaped like a balloon. After that, nobody ever tried.
Rose and Dad were so similar; it was scary and humorous to watch. They were strong-opinionated and slightly ill-tempered, fierce in their love and hate equally, the paradox that brought smile on Mom's face each time one of them came to her, complaining about the other. Ever since Rosie started school and became somewhat independent in her opinions and beliefs, the amount of fights and clashes with their Dad rose exponentially.
They've always fought, and nobody found it strange, but never was Rose as heart-broken as when their Father refused to speak to her after she told him she was dating Scorpius Malfoy.
He remembered the yelling match that ensued, and the hurtful words he could hear even from his room upstairs. He made his escape early on, because he wasn't in the mood to interfere; besides, he knew the only person that could calm them both down was Mom, who wasn't home at the time.
He didn't tell anyone but Scorpius about it, but he was also recovering from his latest hook-up with Kane Yamazaki. That boy was anything but golden*, honestly. Hugo should've known something wasn't right when Kane asked him to keep things quiet. Hugo complied, assuming the boy had issues with his sexuality. It was never an easy thing to accept, Hugo being the prime example. They dated for five months, and the sneaking around was fun, but Scorpius was never impressed with the boy. Hugo should've known better by now – Scorpius' intuition was a gift from Merlin himself.
It turned out that the Sixth Year Ravenclaw had a girlfriend from Durmstrang, an exotic Ukrainian beauty by the name of Olena whom he proposed to couple of months prior to the start of his 'relationship' with Hugo. He was only killing time with the younger boy, and it wasn't his sexuality that was the problem – it was his friends finding out and possibly telling his fiancée. All of which Hugo found out accidentally overhearing Kane's friends from Ravenclaw one night in the library.
For the first time ever, Hugo grasped the meaning of the expression 'heartache'.
He broke it off with the older boy immediately, refusing to listen to his pathetic attempts of an explanation. Hugo went to bed that night, and every night since, knowing he made the right decision. The knowledge did not make it any easier, though, so when the fighting started, he calmly removed himself, unable to process and mediate things the way he usually did.
He could still hear them yelling, though, and he busied himself with Yeats' works. When Rose knocked on his door that night and asked to stay with him, he wordlessly pushed the covers away and enveloped his crying sister in a hug.
Desperation rolled over her in waves, and Hugo was powerless. She murmured between her sobs, and it tore at his heart, the way she wrapped herself around him and gave into misery. He was always in harmony with Rosie, and when she suffered, he couldn't help but suffer too. Siblings lay in bed for a long time, Rose crying openly as her sobs broke Hugo's heart over and over. He cried silently; not knowing what to do to help, he just held his big sister and kissed her forehead and temple every couple of minutes in order to calm her at least somewhat. He remembered brief flashes of lightning as the storm raged outside, matching the one inside him.
"I don't understand it, Hugo," she whispered to him after her sobs quieted.
"Why doesn't he trust me to know myself?"
Hugo had no answer then, and he had none now.
As the colours in the sky finally changed to the darkness of the night, he was no closer to answers, and he fell into restless sleep.
Diagon Alley was bursting with activity when he arrived to The Leaky Cauldron. He waved at Hannah Longbottom, owner of the pub and a family friend. Her lively smile brightened his day as he stepped out into the flurry of people on the street.
He made his way to the end of the street, and turned into Wick Avenue. It was a broad street, filled with coffee shops and restaurants, one of the best in the Wizarding London. Families were out, excited youngsters presumably shopping for their next year in school with their pets and broomsticks everywhere he could look. It made him smile briefly as he stood in front of the Coquelicot**, restaurant specialized in French cuisine.
"Hugo!"
He heard a yell from his right, and as he turned he saw Scorpius waving at him from a table for two in a corner next to the street. He smiled at his friend, and went to sit across from him, barely evading other customers as he walked around the tables to Scorp.
Scorpius looked great, if a little tired, judging by the light purple circles around his eyes. The waitress brought a bottle of sparkling water to their table, and left them to their menus with a wide smile in Scorpius' direction. Hugo almost chuckled out loud; his friend didn't even notice the flirtation.
"How have you been, Hugo?" His friend asked, his face serious. "You look like you haven't slept well."
"I could say the same for you, you know." Hugo replied, and Scorpius chuckled.
"Yes, well... things at home have been interesting." His face turned grim at that, but the waitress interrupted them before he could say anything else.
"What can I get you, gentlemen?"
The question was mostly directed at Scorpius, and Hugo once again had to stifle his laugh as he watched his friend scan the menu indifferently. Hugo could almost see the moment his friend Scorp turned into Scorpius, future Lord Malfoy.
"I'll take the lobster bisque for entrée. Then, boeuf à la Bourguignonne, but do make sure it's Emmanuel Rouget Echézaux Grand Cru, no younger than 2004. For dessert, hmm... I shall decide later. Also, we would like a bottle of your 2012 Chateau Margaux Merlot. Thank you."
The girl appeared somewhat dazzled, though Hugo couldn't say if it was because of the perfect French that rolled off Malfoy heir's tongue, the fact that he ordered an insanely expensive wine in which his beef should be boiled, or the handsome Malfoy heir himself.
"Uh, yes... certainly, Sir. No younger than 2004. Yes." She turned to Hugo, eyes wide. "And for you, Sir?"
Hugo smiled at the poor girl as he gave her his order.
"A shrimp bisque, tartiflette with grilled ham for the main course, and do bring us some baguette, please? Thank you."
The waitress nodded, and then excused herself. Hugo couldn't help it anymore, so he burst out laughing.
"You're such an arse, Scorpius!"
Scorpius laughed with him, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
"And why may that be, pray tell, good Sir?"
Hugo shook his head incredulously as he pored himself a glass of sparkling water.
"You just spent eighty Galleons on a bottle of wine and ordered your bloody beef to be cooked in another fancy wine. How much is it worth, forty Galleons? Fifty?" Hugo rolled his eyes.
Scorpius shrugged and grinned mischievously, taking a sip of his water.
"More like seventy."
Hugo sighed at his friends' obvious attempt of teasing.
"It was a rhetorical question."
"I know. Father has an open tab here. I doubt he'll notice. Anyways, the Malfoy heir deserves only the best!"
The waitress interrupted Hugo's comeback with the wine and two glasses. Scorpius did the whole 'wine tasting like a douche', complete with sniffing and rolling the wine in the glass before taking a sip. The poor, overly-enthusiastic girl looked like she would faint after he gave her a satisfied smirk, and she left quickly.
"You are incorrigible, Scorp."
Hugo raised his glass in a silent toast, feeling better than he did for the whole week. He missed bantering with Scorpius; the boys understood each other and could debate till the early hours of the morning, joking insults coming easy to both of them. However, there was never any malice behind their words, and Hugo appreciated his friend (and future brother-in-law, if he was honest) more than anyone could imagine.
"And yet, you love me."
"I tolerate you for my sister's sake."
"Not what you said a month ago while you were drunkenly professing your undying affection for me, beloved."
Hugo flinched a little, remembering the last time he got pissed drunk. He was out with Scorpius, Albus and Alexander Zabini, another Slytherin in Albus' and Scorpius' Year. They all became friends sometime in his Third and their Fifth Year, and were a sort of clique, even though Hugo was the baby of the group. They were somewhat notorious in Hogwarts because of their 'good looks and charm'. Zabini's words, not his. Rose once called them "The Fantastic Four", and it took better part of the day to explain the concept of Muggle superheroes to Scorpius and Alex.
The event Scorpius referred to was a 'boys night out' about a month ago. Hugo was moping in his room over his break-up with Kane, and Albus finally got tired of it, determined to show Hugo a good time. He made Hugo shower and dress into something other than sweatpants and dragged him to a little Muggle pub – The Clover or something – in Muggle London. Scorp and Alex were waiting for them when they arrived. Ever since Albus introduced them to Muggle drinking and pubs, the boys rarely insisted on going to Wizard pubs anymore. They couldn't get any hard liquor there anyway, and a little magic to correct the date of birth on their ID's never really hurt anyone. It was an unspoken rule that their parents were never to know about it.
The night started off as harmless, much like any other night, but sometime during the night everything got a little blurry. Alex was approaching double digits with his Bacardi shot glasses, Albus stuck to Hendricks with lemon while Scorpius and Hugo drank glass after glass of Glenlivet 18. They were soon approached by some girls, and Albus was the only one that disappeared with a tiny blonde in a general direction of the back alley. Hugo was plastered, and apparently, he was an affectionate drunk.
Hugo couldn't remember much from the evening, although some odd flashes occasionally burst through the veil of alcohol-induced confusion. He remembered teasing Albus when he came back from doing Merlin knows what with the blonde, puking, and almost killing himself in Uncle Harry's house where they stayed for the night, given it was the only empty one. They bunked together – Scorp and Albus, he and Alex. He woke up with the worst hangover he ever had and a strange flashback of dark eyes staring into his but he just couldn't remember what happened.
"That night is pretty hazy for me, you know."
Scorpius laughed and almost spit his lobster bisque all over the table.
"Yes, princess, no kidding. Alex had to practically carry your arse back to Albus', and he was sloshed. You guys did look awfully cute while you cuddled, though."
Hugo leveled his friend with a troubled stare, pausing the spoon halfway to his mouth.
"We did not cuddle!"
Scorpius had the audacity to laugh in his face as he wiggled his eyebrows, implying... Merlin knew what.
"Oh yes you did. You were the little spoon."
Hugo threw a piece of bread at Scorpius.
I couldn't have cuddled with Alex... could I?
"Whatever, arsehole. What did your Father tell you?"
It was the first thing that Hugo could think of to change the topic. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he recalled why it might've been a bad idea.
Scorpius grimaced and gulped down the rest of the wine in his glass. He poured himself a new one, drank it, then poured another one, scowling the whole time.
"If we're doing this now, I need more alcohol in my blood. Maybe even hard liquor. I don't know."
Hugo could see that Scorpius was extremely nervous and a tad confused. He did not know what Mr. Malfoy told him, but Hugo had a feeling it wasn't good. The whole thing was mysterious at best, and their parents' strange reactions during the dinner at Malfoy Mansion were bizarre in the least.
"Is it... bad?"
Hugo felt his voice shaking as he spoke, looking into his friends grey eyes. Scorpius shook his head, and in that moment the waitress appeared again.
"How was your entrée, gentleman?"
She started removing the dishes from the table, as another waiter brought up their main course. Hugo smiled at the poor girl, but Scorpius was apparently more nervous than Hugo anticipated, because his voice turned sharp and unforgiving as he spoke.
"It was satisfactory. Please bring us two glasses of Firewhiskey on the rocks, and make sure they stay full. Oh, and refrain yourself from coming unless you are summoned."
The girl almost fell over apologising as she retreated. As soon as she was out of the hearing area, Hugo quirked a brow at Scorpius.
"You know I do not appreciate you taking that tone with anyone, Scorp."
Scorpius looked a bit sheepish at the reprimand.
"I'm sorry. I'll leave her a big tip."
"You will," Hugo nodded. "And you will apologise on our way out."
The whiskey appeared before them, and Scorpius chugged a big gulp before he started talking, food before him almost forgotten.
"On Sunday, Mother went to visit her sister – by the way, you still have to send her that letter, don't be an arsehole, she's been pestering me about it for a week now."
Hugo nodded, taking a bite of the ham and motioning at the blond to continue. He did, after taking another big gulp.
"So, I was alone with Father. I decided it was as good time as any to address the issue of his odd behaviour at the dinner. I found him in the garden, looking at his lilac tree, a bottle of Ogden's half empty next to him, and it wasn't even noon."
Lilacs. Mom's favourite flower.
"You see, it's actually Mother's garden, but Father's always had this one lilac tree he never let anyone touch. He tends to it himself. So imagine my surprise when, on the eve of the dinner, I first see a whole bloody arrangement of his precious lilacs on the table, and then smell lilacs instead of roses on Rosie. I ask her what that's about and she tells me they're Mrs. Hermione's favourite flower."
Hugo's eyes widened, and as Scorpius reached for his whiskey glass, he followed suit. Scorpius had a hard time maintaining the impassive facade, and that worried Hugo more than anything, because Scorp was the king of poker face.
"I sat down next to him, and told him I wanted to talk. I just... I didn't know how to start. You know my Father is very proper in his mannerisms, and we don't often have a – how do you say it – a heart to heart. So I just... I blurted it out."
He looked somewhat embarrassed now, and Hugo took another bite of his food, adamant not to interrupt the Slytherin even though questions were whirling around in his head.
"I asked him what was going on with him and Mrs. Hermione, because they were both acting weird at the dinner. He tensed for a moment, and then asked me if I knew what unrequited love meant. If I was fucking familiar with the concept."
Hugo felt a strange weight pressing his chest at the moment. Scorpius does not curse. A dreadful feeling of anxiety overwhelmed him, and he grasped the whiskey glass tighter in his hand. This makes no sense.
"He quoted fucking Blake to me, Hugo. Never seek to tell thy love, love that never told can be, et cetera. He quoted Blake to me, and then he suddenly turned serious. He sat by me and told me that he vowed never to make his Father's mistakes, and to always show me how much he loves me. So he told me he loves more than anything in this world!"
Hugo knew the poem – it was one of Mom's favourites. I told my love, I told her all my heart...
Scorpius was almost yelling now, his eyes unfocused as he drank up the whiskey. A couple seated behind them turned around at his words, and he dropped his voice a notch.
"So I got agitated, and asked him what he was talking about. And he just smiled at me Hugo, this mournful, awful smile, and his eyes were misty, and he told me to cherish Rosie, to be grateful that she decided to love me back, because if she's her Mother's daughter, she must be remarkable!"
Hugo was lost for words. He tried to tell something, to rationalize what he'd just heard, but the puzzle pieces just wouldn't fit. There were too many unknowns to take into account, and none of it made sense.
"He told me to never let her go, because I would regret it for the rest of my life, and then he took the bloody bottle with him and just walked away. Haven't seen him since."
The couple behind them was still watching them, but Hugo didn't care. Words rolled around in his mind, scorching in their path.
Soon after she was gone from me, a traveller came by – I can't remember, what is the last verse? How does the poem end? Lilacs... unrequited love... the letter from Mr. Malfoy Mother accidentally burned... oh Lord, it couldn't be, but, they, they...
"... they hated each other in school."
Hugo whispered the words incredulously, knowing that Scorp would hear it. The consequences of what Scorpius just told him, if his doubts turned out to be true...
His Father, Mrs. Astoria, and Rosie, how do we explain it to them, if we're right?
"Apparently not, mate."
The smile on Scorp's face was bitter and sarcastic, and Hugo understood his friend perfectly. He couldn't wrap his head around it, he just... couldn't.
Was Mom in love with Draco Malfoy? Was she dating him in school? Was she... was she still in love with him?
Scorpius was on his third glass of Firewhiskey now, wine and food long forgotten. Hugo ran a hand through his hair, connecting the pieces of a story that should've been, but was obviously never forgotten. They opened the Pandora's Box – now they had to deal with it.
"What do we do, Hugo?"
The blonds' voice was a hoarse whisper now, and his eyes bore into Hugo's, searching reassurance and guidance there. They had to get to the bottom of this, even if it hurt them in the end. Nothing can stay hidden forever, and this had the potential to cause even harsher pain if it stayed under wraps for even longer time.
Silently, invisibly: he took her with a sigh.
Hugo Weasley looked into Scorpius Malfoy's eyes.
"Summon your little waitress. We're getting out of here, we're taking a bottle of Ogden's with us, and then, we're going to make a plan."
*Kane - Japanese name; meaning: "golden", according to some.
(金 (kin, kon, gon, kana-, kane, -gane) meaning "gold,")
**coquelicot - French; a shade of red; originally name for the wild corn poppy.
A couple of points:
- First of all, tell me what you think? Did you like it? :)
- I have absolutely no knowledge about wines or French cuisine. I Googled everything, and I hope I didn't make any unforgivable mistakes.
- I love whiskey. Love it.
- Hugo over-thinks. And loves talking. And gets easily distracted. He's not sorry.
- I look forward to hearing from you. Hope it was worth the wait.
- I need 10 new words! :)
