A/N: I'm going to return to my habit of giving out virtual brownies to all my reviewers, so today they go to Asterix Tutnix, Tessia, 13dramaqueen13, Ember Nickel, and ArwenJaneLilyLyra, as well as all the reviewers for the previous chapters, who reviewed during my hiatus. Also to my two anon reviewers, who I wish I could reply individually to, but obviously I can't. All I can say is, you should get an account!
Chapter 11 - Aftershocks
The Heathrow International Apparition Terminal was quiet on the Sunday morning in the middle of November. The busy period, in the build up to Christmas, had not yet started, and the only incoming Apparitions scheduled for this morning were a couple of Australians coming on holiday, and a British family coming in from Alaska. This second one had caused something of a stir, partly because one of the names on the tickets was fairly famous, and partly because the people who had come to meet the family were even more famous.
The woman arrived first, holding a small boy of around seven years old by the hand. The child was attractive-looking, with an angelic face, a halo of brown curls, and a dreamy expression, so that he would not have looked out of place in a Muggle stained-glass window. The woman stepped out of the Apparition circle with a friendly smile at the purple-robed officials standing nearby to check her passport, before turning to the four people who were waiting for her. They all moved forward towards her, but a red-haired woman was ahead of the others, and embraced the first woman warmly.
"Luna!"
"Hello, Ginny!" Luna's smile was wide, although her tone of voice sounded more as if it had been a few weeks than five years since they had seen each other. That was always how Luna was; she just walked back into your life exactly as if she'd never left it.
"Oh, Luna, it's so lovely to see you!" Ginny took a step back and looked fondly at her friend before letting her go and allowing the other three people there to greet her.
"Five years, I can't believe it," Harry commented after the initial hugs and greetings were over. "And which of the boys are you?" He smiled down at the small boy.
"Lorcan," the child said at once, his face solemn.
Luna looked down at him.
"Don't be silly, darling," she said vaguely, and looked up at Harry. "This is Lysander. He always pretends to be Lorcan. I can't imagine why."
"Nice to meet you, Lysander." Harry's lips twitched slightly as he spoke to the boy, who had scowled as his mother revealed his lie.
"Funny, I remember some other twins who used to do exactly the same thing. Remember that, Ginny?" Ron commented to his sister, with the slightly sad smile that they all still used when dwelling on the bittersweet memories of the other Weasley twin.
"Yes I do, and not even Mum could tell the difference," Ginny agreed, smiling down at the boy. "You've got a clever mother, Lysander. Because you and Lorcan are identical too, aren't you?"
"Oh, I can always tell the difference," Luna assured them. "Rolf can't, but I really don't understand why not. They look exactly the same, but otherwise, they're completely different."
At that moment, there was a loud pop inside the circle, and another two people appeared in it: a middle-aged man holding another small boy, identical to the first, firmly by the hand.
Rolf Scamander had aged more than his wife, who looked little different from her school days. He was grey now, and had a longish beard that he always grew when he was away on projects, because he said it was too much hassle to shave. However his eyes still held the same boyish humour they always had done as he shook hands all round (Rolf greeted all friends the same way, male or female) and introduced Lorcan, the older twin. Both boys had the same dreamy expression, as if, as Hermione remarked, they were composing great imaginative works inside their heads.
"Oh, they are," Rolf assured her with a cheerful grin. "Lorcan's going to be a poet or a novelist, I'm certain of it, or maybe a painter. That dreamy look is the creative genius at work. Lysander..." He glanced at his younger son and chuckled. "Well, let's just say that the dreamier Lysander looks, the greater the mischief you need to watch out for. That's all our Sandy's imagination gets used for."
"So." Ginny changed the subject, as they made their way out of the building, after the Scamanders' luggage had also arrived. "We've found you somewhere to live all right. At least, Hannah did – Hannah and Neville are dying to see you by the way, and so are all the others. They couldn't come - Neville had a staff meeting or something, and Hannah can't leave the pub so easily. But anyway, Hannah knows all the news all the time, running the Leaky, and she heard that the Davies' – you remember them? - were emigrating to Greece or somewhere and wanted to let their house. It's a nice place, right on the main street in Hogsmeade. Which wouldn't be very convenient for us, working in London, but we didn't think you'd mind the isolation, given the places you've lived in." She grinned at her friend. "You'll be coming to us tonight though, just for a few nights, and we'll get you all moved in." She smiled at Lorcan and Lysander. "And there are enough bedrooms for you two to have one each, if you want."
"Hogsmeade's near Hogwarts, isn't it?" Lorcan asked. "That's what Mummy said."
"Can we go to Hogwarts?" Lysander demanded. "I want to go to Hogwarts and play Quidditch!"
Hermione laughed. "Well, you'll fit right in with the crowd. James will be delighted to have a young Quidditch player to lead astray." She smiled at Harry and Ginny.
"Only too true," Harry agreed ruefully. "Although considering the family history, there are surprisingly few of the current lot who play Quidditch. James, Lily, Dominique, Fred. That's it, isn't it?"
"All right, all right, don't rub it in," Ron grumbled. "My two are hopeless."
"No they're not, Ron," Hermione said sternly. "There are other things to be good at than Quidditch, you know. Rosie's an excellent dueller, and she's very good at Potions too. And Hugo has a mathematical brain."
"A mathematical brain?" Ginny stared at her. "Hugo?"
"You wait," Hermione asserted, defending her son from the implied slur. "I'm convinced there are sides to Hugo we've never seen. He may not get the same grades as Rose, but he isn't stupid. I wouldn't surprised if he turned out to be a very good businessman or something, like George."
"Just agree with her," Ron muttered, perfectly audibly. "When it comes to Hugo, it's safer."
Luna smiled her vague smile. "You know," she stated fondly. "What I like about coming home is that no matter how long I've been away, you two never change."
Meri Hewitt woke to greet a grey November morning. It was Sunday and it was early, so nobody else was stirring, which was a good thing. The day felt ominous, like the morning after a hurricane when you're just preparing to open your eyes and look at the carnage. Meri wasn't sure she wanted to open them, even though the carnage was nothing to do with her. She had been more than occupied for a long time with holding Lily's long red hair back while she vomited into the toilet, and then with putting her to bed. However, she had been enlightened as to how the night had ended by Freya and Claire, creeping into the dorm shortly afterwards. Meri was quite glad that Lily had been asleep by that point, as the gossip was all about her brothers and Sapphie Jordan. Meri didn't understand it; she liked Sapphie, but who went and broke up with one guy and then promptly snogged his brother's face off? And she – along with everyone else – had believed that Sapphie-and-Al was fixed. They were an odd couple, but a good one; somehow, they worked. But she didn't see how they could ever go back from this.
And as for James... well, Meri couldn't even bring herself to be surprised. She believed – because Lily insisted – that there was a good side to James, and sometimes she thought she'd seen glimpses of it coming out, but recently, all she'd seen was the arrogant bastard. The guy who would kiss the girl his brother had broken up with only hours before.
Shaking her head, Meri made her way quietly over to Lily's cubicle and peeked in through the curtains, to make sure that Lily hadn't thrown up again in the night and wasn't choking on her own vomit. However, she was sleeping peacefully, so Meri left her to it. Might as well let her sleep, because she would be feeling rough when she woke up, Meri guessed.
She showered and dressed as quietly as she could; the other girls were sleeping too, and Meri wasn't sure why she was so wide awake. To be honest, she hadn't been sleeping very well since the incident in the woods, when her memory had been modified. She supposed she should go to the hospital wing and tell Madam Booth about it, but she didn't feel like making another fuss. The last one had been big enough. She had had three days in St Mungo's – even though she had felt fine after the first one – and her parents had been summoned, and Aurors had come and asked her lots of questions, and then forbidden her from talking about it. She supposed that it was quite serious if someone had been trying to get into Hogwarts, but to Meri, it seemed almost like something that had happened in a dream, not something real. It bothered her, though, that there was a whole portion of her life that was missing from her memory. That wasn't a comfortable thought at all, and she suspected that it was that that kept her awake at night. She just wished she could remember.
She put these thoughts aside with difficulty, and wandered down to the common room, where the fires were already on. It was cold this morning, and she had put her thickest jumper on. It wouldn't surprise her if they got snow quite soon, even though it was only November. As she stood by the fire, trying to keep warm, the portrait hole opened, and she looked up, startled, to see who was coming in at this time in the morning, and felt a sudden apprehension when she realised it was Albus Potter.
She had known Albus vaguely all her life. Her mother had been at school with his parents; not among their closest circle of friends at that time, but the war had drawn all those who had fought closer together. And then her mother had joined the Auror Department, so Meri had always known the Potters as children of her mother's colleagues, even before she was old enough to be told the stories of the war. She and Lily had been friends before, but had only become as close as they were after starting Hogwarts. These days, she knew Albus as the older brother of her best friend, but what she knew, she liked very much. Albus was quiet and steady, but with something about him that meant that when he did speak, others tended to listen. But she definitely didn't know him well enough to talk to him about what had happened last night, and yet what else was there to talk about? Should she ignore it and pretend she didn't know? That just seemed heartless.
He looked awful, she thought, observing him quickly. She didn't know whether he'd been out all night or not, but it was perfectly possible by the look of him. It was a shock to see calm, collected Al looking as if he was coming apart at the seams, and Meri's heart went out to him, even though the story was that it was him who'd broken up with Sapphie.
"Oh... hey," he said forcedly, after a moment's awkward silence. "I didn't think anyone would be up yet."
"Sorry," Meri said, and then wondered what on earth she was apologising for. "I mean, don't take any notice of me. I just couldn't sleep."
"It's okay," he sounded as if the words were automatic, but he didn't seem really to mean them. "I'm not..." he paused for a moment, then changed what he had been going to say. "Hope you had a good time last night. And Lil. Did she like her party?" The words didn't sound bitter or sarcastic, only slightly wooden, as if his thoughts were only half with them, for which she didn't blame him.
Meri smiled slightly, although the worried crease never quite left her forehead.
"Um, yeah,I think she liked it," she said, not bothering to answer for herself. "Up to the point she started throwing up, anyway."
"Oh, Merlin." Albus sounded both exasperated and resigned. "How bad was she?"
"Not too bad," Meri lied, not wanting to worry him more. "It was just, you know, the first time she'd ever really drunk much. So she threw it back up. But then she went to sleep and was fine."
Albus looked as if he didn't entirely believe her, but didn't push it.
"Are you... Are you okay?" Meri started the sentence cautiously and finished it in a rush, wishing that she had never begun it. He wouldn't want to talk about it, least of all to her. But it had just been too awkward, trying to make small talk when she knew what had happened. It was a stupid question though, because she knew the answer just by looking at him. His face was pale, there were shadows under his eyes, a bleak look in them, and his hair was even more untidy than usual. He looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable, although she thought he might be trying to work out how much she would have heard.
"Well..." He sighed slightly. "I've been better." He shot her a sideways glance. "I take it you heard."
"Well, I heard part of it," she said honestly. "Not the whole thing. I'm sorry..."
"Yeah well, me too." His voice was tense and he didn't sound like he wanted to talk about or dwell on it. However he then broke off, apparently thinking he had been unnecessarily abrupt with her. "Sorry. It's not your fault, or your problem. I just... you know. Never mind." He shook his head. "I should go to bed or something. What time is it?"
"About half seven," she told him. So, he hadn't been to bed. Well, that didn't surprise her. He looked like he'd wandered the corridors all night or something.
"Right," he said neutrally, and began to move past her, then paused and hesitated, obviously torn between saying something and not saying it.
"Meri..." he said at last, with difficulty. "What happened last night... does Lily know too?"
"No." Meri shook her head. "She was asleep."
Albus looked relieved, although Meri wasn't sure why. The whole house would be buzzing with it; Lily had her head in the clouds, but even she could hardly avoid hearing about it. Or noticing that Al and Sapphie had broken up.
Meri thought he'd keep walking now, but he didn't. He was still hesitating, as if he wanted to say something. She waited, puzzled.
"Look, Meri," he said eventually. "Can I ask you something?"
"Course," Meri agreed, slightly apprehensively; what was he going to ask?
He still hesitated. "Listen... did you know... about... well, anything about Sapphie and James. Before last night."
Things clicked together in Meri's brain. The only thing she'd heard was a vague rumour, no details. Sapphie was a sixth-year, she didn't report her doings to fourth-years. But if Albus had heard the same story Meri had, it was no wonder that he was upset. Although it was hardly Sapphie's fault either, seeing as it had apparently happened before she and Al were going out. But then, what the hell had she been thinking of, going and snogging James of all people, right afterwards? None of it made sense to Meri.
But Albus was still waiting for an answer.
"Well, yeah. I mean, a bit. Nothing much – I don't know if... you know..." she trailed off awkwardly.
Albus sighed, looking unsurprised. "Yeah, well it seems like pretty much everyone did," he said, a trace of bitterness in his voice, then looked at her, his green eyes doubtful. "Listen, Meri – I know you're good at seeing things the way they are. Last night, she told me... well, you know. About her and James. And I broke up with her." He paused, as if these words had been painful to say. "But... did I just overreact? I mean, was I being unreasonable? Is it a big deal?"
Meri stared at him, nonplussed by the questions. Why was Albus asking her these things? He'd said that she was good at seeing things the way they were, but she suspected that the real reason was just that she was there.
"I don't know," she said at last, feeling useless. How was she supposed to know though? She was fourteen, and she'd never had a boyfriend. She was completely the wrong person to answer questions about romance and sex. She tried to think about what she'd feel if she was in Al's place, or in Sapphie's. She didn't have a sister, so it was difficult. The closest thing to a sister she had was Lily. And she remembered how she'd felt for the last few weeks, as Lily carried on this thing – whatever it was – with Zeke. How she'd felt last night when Lily was flirting with Seb Graves, and Zeke had been watching, hurt helplessness on his face.
Zeke wasn't her boyfriend, of course. That made things very different. But what if she had gone out with Zeke, never knowing that anything had happened between him and Lily? And what if he had told her in the end, that he'd been with Lily first, and everyone had known except her?
Yes, she would mind. And it wasn't even the same for her, because Lily wasn't really her sister, and they had never been competitive. Would she mind enough to break up with him? Of that, she wasn't sure.
"I think it's a big deal," she said honestly. "Even if it isn't anyone's fault, it changes things, doesn't it? And anyway..." She broke off. She had been going to say 'and anyway, then she went and snogged him, so it's a big deal now,' but realised in time that that would be the most tactless thing in the world to say.
"Yeah," Albus agreed, his eyes on a point over her shoulder; he was talking to himself as much as to her. "It does change things, and I can't help that. Maybe I was harsh. Maybe I shouldn't mind. But I do mind."
"Of course you mind," Meri said uncertainly, not because she was uncertain of what she was saying, but because she wasn't sure Al was even listening any more.
He glanced briefly at her, and gave her a bleak smile.
"Thanks Meri. Seriously."
She smiled back, not sure what he was thanking her for. "That's okay."
She watched him head towards the stairs to the boys' dorms, and heaved a sigh. She had a feeling that the difficulties this year had only just got started.
The aftershocks of Lily and Iseult's birthday party lasted far longer than the hangovers of those who had drunk too much. Rose Weasley had a shouting match with James Potter, in which she accused him, among other things, of being a disgusting, backstabbing, selfish, arrogant prick. James' defence consisted mostly of telling her to fuck off and mind her own business.
She tried to have a similar one with Sapphie Jordan, but Sapphie uncharacteristically refused to shout back, so Rose ignored her (now ex) best friend instead, and spent more time sitting with and talking to Albus than she had for years. Albus quickly went back to his usual self, outwardly at least, and remained quiet, steady and stoic, although he avoided looking at Sapphie. Sapphie, on the other hand, went round looking thoroughly miserable, her usual brightness and high spirits well and truly crushed.
James ignored the whole thing. He was not quite able to laugh it off, especially since both Albus and Rose were refusing to speak to him, and he would scowl in an annoyed way if anyone mentioned it, but what his feelings were on the whole thing, nobody knew, not even his innermost circle of Louis, Fenella and the Carson twins. He and Sapphie continued to play Quidditch together, but that was the extent of their contact. The only person brave enough to bring it up to him was Lucy Weasley, and she received such a snarl in reply that even she backed off hurriedly. Fenella and Louis, however, who were present, exchanged significant glances. If James was that touchy about something, it was seriously bothering him, and none of his careless shrugs would convince them otherwise.
All in all, Gryffindor house had become a slightly uncomfortable place to reside, although certain members of it remained unaffected. The first-years were some of these. Although they could hardly help but be aware of the rifts between the sixth and seventh-years, it was far enough above their heads to be simply a matter of interest, although Issie was heard to mutter to Alice and Jake that she wasn't surpised that James Potter would do something like that.
One of the other people to remain apparently aloof from it all was, surprisingly enough, Lily. Despite the whole thing centring on her two brothers, Lily ignored it all; in fact, anyone who did not know better might have thought she was unaware of most of it. Meri, who did know better, knew that Lily was not that unobservant, but that she was choosing, in typical Lily fashion, to stay uninvolved. Rose had decidedly chosen Albus's side. Lily, despite her recent arguments with James, refused to pick a side, but simply made the most of James's attention being elsewhere. She had cast off Zeke Lucas, and was now fooling around - you couldn't really call it 'going out' - with Seb Graves, her fellow Quidditch player. The reason for this was that even Lily had at last begun to suspect that Zeke was not as casual about the relationship as she would have liked. He was becoming clingy and possessive, two things she disliked. So, with some regret, she broke it off, saying rather sadly to Meri that it was a shame, as she liked Zeke, but she didn't like him enough to be his girlfriend, and she didn't want to end up hurting him.
Meri thought that it might be a tad too late for that.
Christmas approached fast. Rose was still not speaking to either Sapphie or James, and Albus wasn't really speaking to anyone much. Gryffindor were supposed to play Slytherin at Quidditch at the end of November, but the match was postponed due to gale-force winds and driving rain, and put off until after Christmas, which was probably a good thing due to the decided awkwardness between some members of the Gryffindor team. Gryffindor had lost their first match against Ravenclaw, much to James' anger (which was increased by a jeering letter from his cousin Dominique, an ex-Ravenclaw and ex-Quidditch Captain), while Slytherin had thoroughly trounced Hufflepuff, leaving Ravenclaw and Slytherin out ahead, and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff trailing. They needed to win their next match to stay in the running for the cup.
The Scamanders were settling into their house on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Ginny paid several flying trips to help them move in, which she combined with brief visits to Hogwarts to see her children, and was puzzled by, and suspicious of, the moods she found them in, but nobody would tell her anything, not even Lily. Plans were made for the Christmas holidays, which were always a time of big get-togethers and reunions in the Weasley family. With Molly and Arthur in Romania with Charlie, they were bereft of their usual hosts, but this problem was solved by the fact that Luna insisted on inviting the whole family to spend Christmas in Hogsmeade, an opportunity that Harry and Ron jumped at, as they had still not had a chance to do their investigations at Hogwarts. Spending Christmas with the Scamanders was a natural and easy way for them to be in the vicinity without attracting any undue attention, and so the invitations were accepted.
Bill and Fleur and their family were going to Fleur's parents in France, and Charlie would of course be with his parents in Romania, but the rest of the family would be there. Percy had kicked up a fuss about the distance ("As if it makes any difference!" Ron had said exasperatedly. "You can Apparate, can't you?" "Aubrey doesn't like Apparating," Percy had said stiffly.) but he had agreed in the end, and the Longbottoms were also invited, as were Teddy Lupin and Andromeda Tonks, two honorary members of the Weasley/Potter family, without whom Christmas would not have been Christmas. Both Luna and Rolf were only children, and their parents were dead, and Harry thought to himself that this was probably the closest thing either of them had to an extended family.
Scorpius and Iseult were not going home until several days into the holidays, much to Issie's disappointment. Their parents were finally bringing their baby brother home from St Mungo's, and although both older children wanted to be there, their father was firm. Their mother was still fragile and easily upset, and it would be better for her to be able to bring her youngest child home and get him settled as quietly as possible. Scorpius and Iseult could come home a few days later, and would meet their brother then.
Scorpius informed Hazel of this fact by text, and she was also disappointed. She was looking forward to seeing her best friend, and to unloading some of her thoughts onto him in a way she couldn't do in writing. The whole affair with poor Fiona Murphy had apparently died down, and in fact might as well never have happened for all anyone remembered of it, and Hazel couldn't help feeling as if she must be going mad sometimes, and remembering something that had never taken place. Talking to Scorpius would help, because he at least knew that it had really happened.
Hazel was thinking of this as she strolled along the pavement of the High Street in Mirlton on the Saturday before Christmas. School had finished yesterday, and she knew that Hogwarts had finished on Thursday, but Scorpius would not be home until Monday. She had a few last Christmas presents to buy, and was heading for some shops at the other end, weaving her way in and out of the Christmas crowds. It was cold, and although she had gloves on, her hands were shoved deep in her pockets, but there had been no snow so far. She stepped sideways to avoid a large, old-fashioned pram, and it was only as she passed by that she glanced sideways and realised who was pushing it.
"Astoria!" she exclaimed, turning fully to face the woman, who was wearing the same long dark coat that she had been wearing in Charlotte's video. Now however, rather than a swollen bump in the front of it, she was pushing the pram.
The woman jumped slightly at her name, and looked up, her face relaxing as she saw Hazel.
"Oh... Hazel..." She smiled, but Hazel got the distinct impression that she was having to try very hard to sound pleased to see her. In fact, Hazel was slightly shocked by how ill Astoria looked. Of course, she had been very ill back in October, which was only a few weeks ago, and the baby's illness must have been incredibly stressful, but still. Her face was almost gaunt, and she had huge shadows under her eyes, and she was painfully, obviously thin. Pulling herself together, however, Hazel smiled back.
"How are you?" she asked with genuine warmth. She liked Astoria – the woman had been kind to her, ever since she and Scorpius had first made friends – and she had been worried about her lately.
"Well, I haven't been well," Astoria acknowledged. "But you probably knew that. I'm much better now though." The stiffness of her first greeting was fading into the habitual reserve that was just Astoria's way. She was a quiet woman by nature, and Hazel suspected that she was especially so when in non-magical society.
"And this is the baby?" Hazel enquired with a delighted smile, peering into the depths of the pram. Nothing was visible; Astoria was clearly taking no chances in the December air, and the baby was well wrapped up.
"Yes, this is Caelum." Astoria's face lit into a genuine smile, and she reached over to pull the blanket back slightly and reveal a tiny sleeping face, capped by a blue woolly hat.
"Oh, he's gorgeous!" Hazel said impulsively, and then smiled up at the woman. "I'm so glad he's home in time for Christmas. And Scorpius and Issie'll be coming home soon, won't they?"
"Yes," Astoria nodded. "Their school finished the other day, but they'll be home the day after tomorrow." She spoke carefully, because neither of Scorpius' parents had any idea that Hazel knew about the world of magic. "Oh, and I never thanked you for the card you sent." She smiled again, although there was a shadow behind her smile, Hazel thought. "That was kind of you, dear. Draco told me you'd been round to the house."
"I was worried about you," Hazel said simply. "Scorpius told me about everything."
"Yes, I thought he must have done," Astoria agreed, although the faintest of puzzled frowns appeared on her face, and Hazel was suddenly uneasy that she had said too much. Scorpius' parents did not know about his use of Muggle technology either, so Astoria must be wondering how they communicated, and what Hazel thought of being woken in the night by an owl tapping at the window. However, the woman pulled herself together and continued. "And we were quite worried ourselves. But luckily, we seem to have come through it."
"Astoria." An unfamiliar but imperious voice interrupted them at this moment, and Hazel looked round to find herself facing a tall woman, as blonde as Astoria was dark, but otherwise with a distinct resemblance to her.
"Daphne." Astoria suddenly seemed twice as uneasy, glancing worriedly at Hazel. "Hazel, this is my sister, Daphne. This is Hazel Kitson, Daph – a friend of Scorpius's."
Hazel looked with interest at the woman. She had heard Scorpius mention his Aunt Daphne, although she couldn't remember anything he'd said about her, and she had never met any of his extended family. The second woman was immaculately turned out, in contrast to Astoria, who usually looked neat and attractive, but was currently looking a little unkempt. Older witches and wizards apparently often had trouble with keeping up with Muggle fashions, according to Scorpius, but Daphne did not look out of place, in a pair of smart black trousers, heels, and a fashionably cut trench coat. Her expression as she looked at Hazel was guarded, but Hazel detected coldness behind it, and more than a hint of contempt.
"I see," the fair haired woman said. "Pleased to meet you, Hazel. Are you, er, a school friend of Scorpius?"
So, that was what was bothering her. The fact that Hazel wasn't - or might not be - a witch.
"No," Hazel replied clearly. "I go to the High School here." Yes, the coldness and contempt definitely increased at this news. So Scorpius's Aunt Daphne was one of the blood purists Scorpius had told her about. His father was one too apparently, but he hid it better than this woman. Refusing to let herself be intimidated, Hazel met her gaze boldly, and Daphne was the first to look away with a sniff, as if to say that Hazel was not worthy of her attention.
"Come along, Astoria," she said, without looking at the girl again. "You've been out here in the cold quite long enough; you're still not well. We should be going."
"Yes, I suppose you're right," Astoria agreed meekly, shooting a look at her sister that Hazel caught but did not quite understand. It seemed to be a mixture of warning, apprehension and pleading, but Daphne did not appear to notice it.
"Bye, Hazel. It was lovely to see you." Astoria smiled somewhat anxiously at Hazel before beginning to push the pram on up the street.
"You too," Hazel said neutrally, although her brain was moving at about a hundred miles an hour. It was all just suggestions and nuances, but something was jarring here. Something was not quite right. She hadn't taken at all to Daphne, who, for all her concern for her sister's health, had not even offered to push the pram. But that wasn't it – she had noticed it before Daphne had ever appeared. Astoria claimed to have come through her illness, but she was not her usual self. There was deep worry and anxiety in her eyes; what could be causing that? And her personal appearance too. Astoria had never been glamorous, but she had always made an effort. Now she seemed to have let herself go. Something was bothering her. The word 'depressed' occurred to Hazel. Astoria certainly seemed unusually down, and Hazel wondered uneasily whether she could really be suffering from some form of depression. It wouldn't be so unlikely, after everything she'd been through recently.
But whatever it was, Hazel didn't think that the presence of her sister was helping Astoria, and she wondered why.