Chapter Twenty Four
Reconciliation
Somehow, in the quest to become a better person, I had decided upon meeting up with my mother and letting her talk to me. This was either going end up in two ways. The first would be that I would end up with a blunt force trauma injury to my head, which I would have inflicted upon myself, and the second would be a blunt force trauma injury to my head, which my mother would have inflicted upon me. Either way, I was going end up being yelled at and injured.
Mum and I had agreed to meet on Friday evening in Hogmede and throughout the day I was trying to decide how to sneak out the castle without being caught and shoved into detention. The only way to sneak out was to use the invisibility cloak and the marauders map; getting these would be difficult as James hid them in his room and the last time I'd used them Sirius had got them for me. Obviously Sirius would not volunteer his theft-like services for me this time. At lunch time I made my excuses as to why I wouldn't be going to the Great Hall to eat, I said that I needed to go to the library, and I raced upstairs and snuck into James' dorm.
The room was a tip, boys sure were messy. Clothes littered the floor along with Quidditch magazines, schoolbooks and general tat. The neatest part of the room was Sirius', which wasn't too surprising. I hurried over to James' bed and rummaged through his trunk until I found the cloak. I was just about to started searching for the map when I heard voices in the hallway. The voices belonged to Ryan and James. Oh Merlin. I did the first thing I could think of and lunged myself under James' bed and threw the cloak over myself. The door opened and Ryan strolled into the room, James quickly followed.
"Whoa, this room needs cleaning." James said.
"That's why we have house elves mate." Ryan said smugly. I scowled to myself. What a massive jerk.
"My sister would kill you if she heard you say that." James said as he rummaged through a draw next to his bed. "Have you seen my History of Magic book?" James asked Ryan.
"Nah mate. Anyway aren't you still annoyed at Lily for Merlin only knows what?" Ryan asked. I spotted James' book near my foot and kicked it out from under the bed. "Oh mate, your book's here." Ryan said picking up the book and tossing it over to James.
"Thanks man. Yeah I'm annoyed at her but she's been in a right mood recently so it's her own fault really." James said. Oh look, another massive jerk. "Come on, we'll be late for History of Magic if we don't go and grab something to eat now." James added. The pair of them waltzed out there room leaving me lying under a dusty bed. If I were a house elf I would never come in here just to teach those idiots a lesson. Scurrying out from under the bed I quickly grabbed the map when I spotted it in James' trunk and legged it out of that smelly room before I was late.
"Where are you sneaking off to?" Rose asked looking up from her essay. I laughed nervously. I was due to meet my mother in a while and I had to get going. Rose asking me questions was not going to be remotely helpful.
"Sneaking, me? I'm not sneaking off anywhere. I'm just going for a walk." I lied in what I thought was a smooth voice. Rose did not look remotely convinced.
"With the marauders map and the invisibility cloak?" Rose asked with a cocked eyebrow. "I suppose you stole them when we were all at lunch." Rose added. I stared at her with an open mouth before quickly composing myself.
"I haven't got the map of the cloak." I lied. Rose snorted. "I haven't!" I lied again.
"You're a terrible liar. What happened to being more truthful? Where are you going? To meet up with Scorpius?" Rose asked.
"No, no I am not." I quickly retorted.
"Well then where are you going?" Rose asked.
"Fine, I'm meeting up with my mother, are you happy now?" I asked. Rose just sat there dumbfounded.
"You're meeting up with Aunt Ginny? Since when and why?" She asked. I didn't blame her for looking so scared, I was terrified of seeing my mother.
"I owe it to her to at least listen to why she left James, Albus and I." I said.
"Lily are you sure about this?" Rose asked. "I know you're trying this whole 'making things better' but you and your mother haven't really got the best relationship. Do you really want to have a shouting match in the middle of Hogsmede?"
"Look I'll be fine. If anyone asks for me then just say I'm either in the library or talking to a teacher." I said quickly. Rose gave me a look full of doubt. "Rose I'll be fine!" I snapped. Rose raised an eyebrow at me. "Rose, I'll be fine. I owe it to her to at least hear what she has to say or I'm going to feel like even more of a horrible than I already am."
Mum was waiting for me in The Three Broomsticks; she sat in one of the corners and tapping her foot against the floor with either annoyance because I was slightly late or because of nerves. I hoped it was the latter because then I wouldn't be yelled at.
"Hello Lily, I got you a drink while I was waiting. Is butter beer alright for you?" Mum asked. I noticed she wasn't as well put together as she normal was, I doubt she had even brushed her hair. She looked more tired since I had seen her last at Christmas but considering what had happened that was a given.
"Butter beer is fine, thank you. Sorry I took so long." I said sitting down opposite her. We sat there in silence for several minutes while we both sipped our drinks. Yes, it was highly awkward. After nearly seven minutes (I actually counted in my head) my mother coughed.
"Thank you for meeting with me, I know you have taken your father's side-"
"No I haven't." I said quickly. "Mum I never took his side; you just gave me no choice when you walked out with Minnie. I would hardly speak to Dad after he told us about him and Hermione; I've only just started to forgive through one reason or another." I explained.
"It took you a long time to reply to my letter." Mum pointed out.
"It was a difficult letter to read mum, I know you have been through a lot but you did come across as slightly harsh and preachy towards me." I said bluntly.
"I might have a reason to after James wrote in his letter to me." Mum said
"James wrote to you, when?" I asked. Oh dear God this was not good, not good at all. "What did he say? Mum, what did he say?"
"That you're acting like a little madam and that you hurt Sirius Lupin in a very big way. I never thought you would turn out like your father and that woman." Mum said. I'm not going to lie, that was slightly harsh and it really hurt.
"Mum I don't want to talk about what happened between Sirius and I, if you do mention it then I'm going to go back to the castle right now, before I get caught and shoved into a Saturday detention. I don't want to miss the Quidditch match this weekend." I snapped.
"That would be a first." Mum said.
"Actually I've never missed a match in all my years at Hogwarts especially when one of my best friends is the captain of the team. I really loved Quidditch until it became a symbol for our entire family." I said bluntly.
"The family which you hate."
"The family which I hated for reasons, part of that reason is why I'm talking to you now."
"Lily what do I have to do to make you see that I'm not the evil person here? I never ruined a marriage." Mum said sternly.
"I never said you did!" I hissed and several people glanced round to look at us. I looked down and breathed in deeply to compose myself "I don't see you as the evil one either but you were the one that walked out without giving James, Albus or I the choice to come with you." I hissed quietly
"You wouldn't have come anyway, that's obvious from how you stayed with your father." Mum said pointedly.
"Albus stayed with Dad, James and I didn't."
"What?"
"We went and stayed with Sirius at Dora's until the new term started. Didn't you know that?" I asked. Mum shook her head. How could she have not known that?
"No, I haven't really spoken to anyone but my parents, Ron and Minnie since Christmas." Mum explained. "Look I just had to leave; I couldn't stay in that house a moment longer. I knew you wouldn't go with me as we haven't got on for years and the boys are too much like their father so they would have stayed. I'm sorry that I did not give you the option of going with me though."
"Well thank you for saying that. I'm sorry for being a brat." I said.
"Is that just during this conversation or for the past sixteen years?"
"No, just for this conversation, I have a reason for being a brat for the past sixteen years actually but I'm not going to get into that right now." I said. "If it makes you feel any better I went and shouted at Hermione as soon as I found out."
"You did?" Mum asked.
"Yeah, I've only started to be courteous to her because of Rose" I explained. Mum's face darkened when I mentioned Rose. "Oh…sorry…shall I not mention her?" I asked.
"It's not that Lily, it's just that Ron is actually missing her something terrible. Ever since he kicked Rose and Hermione out he has felt guilty about it. He must have written over a dozen letters to Rose but he never sends them." Mum said.
"If you want I can get her to talk to him but she's still pretty upset over it. Plus she's trying to build up a relationship with Dad; I know you don't want to hear that but its better you knowing that now." I said.
"Lily I know you've heard your father's side of the story and no doubt you have heard Hermione's side but can I please explain my side of the story?"
"Of course." I said. "That's why I'm here after all."
"Ok, thank you. I first met your father when I was ten, he was the famous Harry Potter and I was just little Ginny Weasley. I was the only girl and the youngest in the house full of rowdy boys, we grew up with hardly any money but I grew up happy. Your father grew up in extreme misery because of his aunt and uncle." Mum explained.
"I know." I said. I had only met my Great Petunia once and that was at the christening of my second cousin Dudley's son Alfred five years ago and I had spent the whole day being pretty frightened of the woman. My father's Uncle Vernon had died of a heart attack nine years ago and my father hardly ever mentioned it. My father and his cousin Dudley spoke on occasions such as Christmas or Alfred's birthday when my father would send a card but that was about it.
"Well, your father truly fascinated me even though I always thought he'd never look at me. After all, he was the famous Harry Potter and I was just plain old Ginny Weasley. You know the stories from school like what happened in the Chamber of Secrets and how we went to save Sirius Black from the Ministry of Magic." Mum said. I nodded. "Well after the war we started dating again and it really was wonderful, now that there was no war and no danger things could become normal again."
"But Hermione told me that it never felt normal for Dad, he was still looking for adventure."
"Maybe that's what she said but I know your father just wanted a quiet life after what he had been through." Mum said sternly. "We'd only been back together again for a year and half when he proposed, it was one of the greatest days of my life Lily. Harry Potter was proposing to me, everything I had dreamed of since I was ten years old was coming true. When I found out that I was pregnant with you and James I so joyful, telling your father was both frightening but delightful because our family was coming together. Now looking back and knowing that he had already been with her on the night before our wedding hurts like a hex to the chest." Mum said and her voice dropped for a moment. Because she looked so despondent, I reached across the table and took her hand. I could not remember the last time we had been this close to one another.
"Dad loved you though, he married you."
"Lily open your eyes and don't be a silly little romantic like I was. I am Ron's only sister, the sister of your father's best friend. If Harry had left me at the alter then Ron, along with my other brothers, would have killed him in the most brutal way." Mum said firmly.
"Mum…dad loved you. He stayed with you for sixteen years."
"He was having an affair during those years Lily; he could not have loved me as much I loved him. Look, I am not asking you to take sides because that is not fair in the slightest; I just want you to see it from my side."
"I know you do, I seen how much it hurts people, both emotionally and physically." I blurted out.
"What does that mean?" Mum asked. I hesitated for a moment, did I really want to tell her about Sirius, Scorpius and I? I told Hermione and my father so why could I not tell my mother?
"When Sirius found out about what I had done he was really angry, obviously. In his anger he started a fight with Scorpius and ended up really hurting him. I was the one that caused that and I still feel terrible about it." I admitted. "I don't even know what I am going to do now because no matter what I do I will end up hurting someone." Mum shook her head and sighed. "I know, I know. I am no better than my father or Hermione but it not's that easy to just say someone is a bad person because they cheated, you need to know the reason behind it."
"What was your reason then?" Mum asked.
"You really want to hear this? You won't shout at me or anything?" I asked.
"Lily, please just tell me. I am your mother so maybe I can give you some advice." Mum said.
"I thought being with Sirius was something I wanted because we were such good friends and he understood me but I realised that it wasn't. I'm too impulsive and flighty and I can't have that loving stability because it will make me feel like I am drowning. That's terrible to admit but it really is true. Being with Scorpius is completely different. Scorpius is rude, sarcastic and dark but at the same time he has this caring nature like when I told him dad and Hermione."
"When was this?" Mum asked.
"Over Christmas, I sort of stayed at his house for the night." I admitted.
"Lily-"
"Nothing happened! I didn't go there because of him anyway, I went there because I had to see Cissia and I ended up telling Scorpius everything. He wasn't mean about it at all, he sat and listened to me. He's not a bad person at all. How I went about things wasn't right at all and now I'm stuck trying to make the choice between going back to Sirius because it's the right thing to do or try and see how things work with Scorpius because I think I might really like him, he even said that he might be falling for me."
"Lily that's a very important choice to make."
"I know."
"No, it's a very important choice not just because of your feelings but because of others feelings. We all thought Sirius was in love you because you two get…got on so well. You were wonderful friends and if you get back with him I know he'll forgive you because he loves you but you have to understand that he'll know deep down you're going back to him because it is the easy thing to do, he will know that your heart is not really in it and that is just downright cruel. If your father had told me about Hermione back when it first happened then things would be a lot different and the people who got so hurt from probably be as hurt now."
"I am so sorry for thinking you were a terrible person during this time. I'm sorry I've thought that for the past few years actually." I muttered.
"I will admit I haven't treated you right but that was probably because I just thought you hated me, you spent so much time with Hermione that I could see my daughter slowly slipping from my grasp." Mum said and I noticed tears forming in her eyes. Mum hardly ever cried.
"Please mum, don't cry." I begged. Mum sniffed then gave me a weak smile. I hated to admit it but crying people rather freaked me out, I say that has someone who cries as well. I really did not like to see people cry.
"Do you want to know what your father's reason was?" Mum asked.
"What reason?" I asked.
"The reason behind what he did." Mum explained.
"He told you the reason?" I asked. Mum shook her head.
"No, I figured it out after a while; after all I am quite smart though not at Hermione's level. I could love Harry as much as I wanted to but I would never know the real him because he put a lot behind him after the war. He hid things deep inside him. I wasn't always there but Hermione was, she's been his best friend along with Ron since Harry was elven years old and friendships that deep will never change. You develop a bond that will stay with you until the day you die. It can just be a friendship, but sometimes it will turn into love; when you have a love like that, you cannot stop yourself no matter who you are with, no matter what you have already. It's not right, it will never be right but it is love even if it hurts people." Mum said. I saw what she meant and nodded.
"Will you ever forgive Dad?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, I know you have in a small way but I have everything to him, now I have nothing left. When that happens you lose something inside yourself, I think I might have lost my forgiving streak." Mum explained. We sat in silence once again for a while as mum's words sank in. After a while, Mum glanced at her watch. "It's getting late; I suppose you would want to get back to Hogwarts now."
"Yeah, I best." I said standing up and making sure I had the cloak and map in my bag.
"Thank you for meeting with me." Mum said as she stood up. I nodded because I did not know what else to say or do. Mum reached for to give me a hug but thought better of it, she probably thought I would just shrug her away so she simply held onto my hand and gripped it tightly. "I've never been ashamed of having you as my daughter, you're a very girl so why would I? I wish that things had been better though. I wish that I hadn't of cared about what people thought of our family so much, then I might have been able to keep you as mine for a little while longer."
"Mum…I'm going to live with dad once the school year is over. Hermione is moving into the house as well." I blurted out. Mum closed her eyes for a moment and I thought she might scream. "I'm sorry I told you that but I figure that you should at least know." I said quickly.
"I'm looking for somewhere to live at the moment; I have money saved up in my bank vault so I shall be fine in looking for somewhere. I'm thinking of somewhere near my parents but I want you to know that there will be a bedroom made up for each of my children if they want to stay there." Mum said as she gripped onto my hand. "I don't want to lose you even more than I already have Lily."
"I know Mum and I am so sorry." I said.
"I know you are, we all are." Mum said. "Now go, I don't want you to get into trouble." Mum added. I gave her a weak smile and a nod before I quickly rushed out the pub. It was later than I thought it was so I had to sneak very quickly into Honeydukes, which was just about to close, and get back to Hogwarts. I snuck into the store under the cloak and raced down into the basement. The walk back to Hogwarts always took a while so I mixed between jogging and running along the packed earth.
"How did it go?" Rose asked when I crept into the dorm room. Aphrodite and Amelia were fast asleep and both breathing loudly. Dominique, from what I could hear, was having a shower and singing along, loudly and badly, to The Goblin Girls. "What did you talk about?"
"Everything." I said. I placed the map and the cloak near the end of my bed and rooted around for my pyjamas. "We talked about what happened over Christmas and how she's coping. We talked about most things really." I said as I pulled off my clothes and stepped into my pyjamas. "She's coping, she's hurting but coping. She's looking a house to move into actually."
"She knows about you going to live your dad?" Rose asked and I nodded. "Wow, and she didn't shout or kill you?"
"I'm still here aren't I?" I pointed out.
"So it went ok?" Rose asked.
"Yes and she had something to say to you." I said. Rose went as pale as a sheet. "She said you need to talk to your father."
"I am." Rose said.
"Not our father, your father. You need to talk to Ron; he's been trying to write to you." I said.
"I don't want to talk to him! He kicked mum and me out the house!" Rose hissed.
"And he is sorry about that! He wants to talk to you and I think it will do you good."
"Why? Because you had an ok meeting with your mother does not mean that one with my father will go well! He kicked me out the house!"
"And I just said he is sorry about that! Talk to him! Talking to my mother has helped things and talking to Ron will help you! You said that making things right will help both of us so take your own advice!"
"For Merlin's sake will you two shut your bloody mouths? Some of us are trying to sleep here! God, you are so sodding selfish!" Aphrodite screamed as she threw a pillow at Rose, which hit her square in the face. "You walk around like you're so famous and perfect! Just shut up about your pointless lives!" Aphrodite added as she slumped back into her bed. I looked back at Rose who just shrugged at me and flopped onto her elbow.
"Whatever." I muttered to myself as I changed out my clothes and into my pyjamas.
When morning came round, you could actually smell the desperation when it came to the Quidditch match from nearly the entire school. The Gryffindor team had been in serious training all week and this morning the whole team sat together eating breakfast when I walked into the Great Hall. Rose was sleeping in apparently. I sat down next to Dominique and grabbed a piece of toast.
"Morning." Dominique said with a smile. "No offence meant by this but you look like crap."
"Thanks, we can't all have Veela DNA." I said. "I couldn't sleep last night, that's all."
"Well make sure you're feeling full of pep for the match." Dominique said as she dug into her bowl of fruit. I stuck my tongue out at her. "That's attractive, ok I know you're never full of pep but this is an important match." Dominique added. "Your brother looks nervous as hell."
"Well he deserves it." I said bitterly. I was still annoyed at him and even more so now that I knew he had written to my mother and told her about Scorpius.
"Have you two fallen out again? You've only just made up again." Dominique said with a roll of her eyes.
"It's nothing. We had a fight the other day and I'm still annoyed at him." I said with a shrug.
"Well you can cheer up tonight."
"Why tonight?" I asked.
"We've going to have a party in Gryffindor common room if we win; apparently James has already got things sorted out."
"And what if we don't win?" I asked. Dominique snorted.
"It's Hufflepuff, of course we're going to win." Dominique said. As Dominique said this, her face darkened and she rolled her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked someone behind me. I felt a hard tap on my shoulder.
"The next time you and your stupid friend decide to have an argument try and do it when people aren't in the room trying to sleep." Aphrodite snapped. "I'm sick of you and your drama." Aphrodite added. I looked at Dominique and rolled my eyes. "Potter, I am talking to you."
"Aphrodite I really don't care about your sleeping pattern and I really don't care about you. Go away." I snapped.
"You-"
"Aphrodite, go away!" I snapped slamming my cutlery against the table. "Just go away before I end up doing something I won't regret until I get shoved into detention." Aphrodite gave me a withering look before she grabbed Amelia's arm and dragged her along the table until they sat down next to Ryan, Louis, Sirius and the Quidditch team. "How were you friends with her for nearly five years?" I asked Dominique.
"I was part of the golden crowd; it's easier being friends with her than it is not being friends with her. Acting stupid though is really hard." Dominique said with a shrug.
Rose and the rest of us walked to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the school. Rose still seemed half asleep and was ignoring me, I could tell that the others were aware of it but I really didn't know what to say. Maybe Rose had a point, just because the meeting with my mother and I went ok, sort of, it did not mean that Rose meeting up with Ron would do her any good.
Even from where we were sat in the stands, you could tell that Tom was nervous. If we beat Hufflepuff we were one step closer to winning the Quidditch cup, it was the one thing that Tom wanted from his last year more than anything.
"If we don't win then I think Tom might just pitch himself off the tallest tower in the castle." Jasmine said as she threw a piece of Honeydukes' chocolate into her mouth.
"Please, he's been training furiously over this for weeks. The only way we could lose is if the team play blindfolded." Victoire pointed out while she tipped Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans into her hand. Leonie leant forward, plucked several beans out of Victoire's hand and popped them in her mouth.
"He's worried but that's only because the seeker for Hufflepuff is really good this year. Apart from that he's oddly calm about this match." Leonie said. She was sitting with us for this match instead of sitting with the Ravenclaws.
"Did he tell you that during one of your kissing sessions?" Jasmine asked with a smirk. Leonie rolled her eyes and gave Jasmine the finger. "Lovely." Jasmine said."
"Shush, the match is starting." Dominique said as she pointed to Tom shaking hands with the Hufflepuff captain Adam Mills.
You had to hand it to Hufflepuff, they put up a good fight. Their seeker Poppy Humphreys was brilliant but the Gryffindor team were just better. The match lasted over an hour before we finally caught the golden snitch. We all hugged and screamed from the stands and once the team were back on the ground most of us raced onto the pitch. Leonie launched herself into Tom's arms and gave him a giant hug, Jasmine and Victoire wolf whistled loudly and grinned at one another.
"Party in the Gryffindor common room tonight!" James shouted over the cheering. Dominique, Cissia and I were congratulating Charlotta when I felt and nudge on my side. Rose gave me a weak smile.
"I'm sorry about last night, I shouldn't have shouted at you." Rose said. I shrugged.
"I shouldn't have pushed you about seeing Ron." I said.
"Shall we hug now?" Rose asked.
"Lets." I said with a smile as I pulled Rose into a hug.
"Did you put the cloak and map back?" Rose whispered into my ear. I nodded. "Good because I heard James saying that he was going to get things for the part tonight at Honeydukes." Rose quickly explained. "It should be fun."
"Yeah it should." I said as we began to back to the castle. We were passing a group of Slytherins when I spotted Scorpius walking with a few of his friends. I noticed Azalea Smith skulk past him with her friends. She shot him a furious look before walking off. I suddenly had an idea. "I'll be back in a minute ok?" I said to Rose.
"Where are you going?" she asked. I nodded at Scorpius.
"Mum said I had to make things right and make a choice so that's what I'm going to do."
"What are you planning on doing?" Rose asked dubiously.
"I'm going to ask Scorpius to come with me to the Gryffindor party tonight." I said
Author's Note:
Thank you to all readers and reviewers, you guys are awesome. The next chapter is being written at the moment and should be up soon along with another chapter to Toil and Trouble.
To the reviewer who wrote the review under the name 'Uh' please message me because I actually loved your review as you got so many little things from the story. It was great to read as you really got the story. This is not a 'love story' really, it is a story about family dramas and how they can affect everything. The characters are not meant to be lovable in the obvious sense. You may feel sorry for a character because their stupid actions have made them hurt people and therefore be upset with themselves etc.