"Well, did you ask Hugo?" Rose asked and James sighed as he shook his head. He was sitting in chair in the far corner of tactics, while Rose and Edward were moving around the table in the center of the room. Over the years, they'd become much more in tune with one another, almost to point where Edward worked better with Rose than James did. Of course, James knew that within the last few weeks, his mind hadn't been very well focused on any one thing. Perhaps he was focused one thing, but he tried his best not to let thoughts of Abigail affect every other aspect of his life.
"Well, I can stay here and managed everything just fine." Rose offered, sounding as though she were doing the two men a favor, but both were well aware that she would perform that responsibility whether they left to Godric's Hollow or otherwise. "But you should be prepared for anything. We don't know who lives there."
"Who else should go?" Edward asked curiously as he peered up at Rose, who only shrugged and shook her head.
"Whoever you think might be of help, I suppose." She answered and Edward nodded as he turned to look at James.
"What of the Malfoys?" James asked, earning odd stares from Rose and Edward. Both knew of his unfavorable opinions of Draco and Astoria Malfoy, and so the proposition of taking them to Godric's Hollow sounded odd coming from James.
"I can ask them." Edward finally said when he realized Rose had no response to James. That was because Rose and James shared their views of the Malfoys. Edward, however, had no idea that James had already started to see how unfair those opinions were to the parents who had never chosen their fate.
"They have wands right?" James asked and Edward nodded.
"Yeah, I signed them off to them." Edward answered, and as he turned to Rose, she averted her eyes as she started to move the papers around on the desktop. He felt her actions had more to do with keeping her hands busy than the actual papers themselves, but was smart enough not to comment on it nonetheless.
"And Scorpius, too." James said and Edward nodded. "I'll talk to Hugo about coming with us."
"We still need to decide what to do with that area if we can do anything at all." Rose commented as she finally peered up. "Do we want to use it as another place to operate out of? Or should we just let people inhabit the empty houses. If we're going to protect the area, there's no reason not to use it as another place of operation. Except we'd need to appoint people to lead. And we'd need another infirmary with more Healers, which we don't have at our disposal."
"I'm sure Hugo as a few extra hands who would be capable enough for a few cuts and bruises." James responded with a shrug as he met Rose's gaze. "We'll mostly just need a few capable wands."
"And a building." Rose replied and James shrugged again. Edward and Rose took notice of James' new found relaxed behavior, but both remained silent on it at the moment.
"Based on what Albus has said, we shouldn't have any trouble at all." Edward said, pulling Rose's gaze to him, but she said nothing. He could sense the topic of Albus as well as Lily were touchy in the presence of Rose no matter how impractical it was not to speak of them.
James drew in a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes at Rose. He knew his attempt to force Rose and Lily to speak had not worked in the slightest, but he knew it could not be nearly as terrible of an experience to force Rose in Albus' presence. He knew the mere possibility of them fighting over a man was below zero, all the more reason to force the cousins to reconcile.
"You need to go talk to him." James said simply and Rose's face contorted for a moment before she forced her calm appearance to return. "I don't care, Rose. You lecture me all the time about every little thing I do, and yet you won't even face your own cousins! What if Lily gets killed over there and you couldn't sit and have one damn conversation with her? Was it that terrible to just sit down with her?"
"Don't spin this around, James. That's not fair and you know it!" Rose argued back, but James did not stand up or even appear to have been effected by the argument starting between them. Edward knew it was probably best for his sanity to leave the cousins to battle it out, but the pressing matter of Godric's Hollow needed to be attended to.
"Can we focus on this before you two start in on each other?" Edward asked, attempting to sound rational and unemotional. Over the long years he'd been around the Potters and Weasleys, however, he knew it was difficult to remain level headed around the two families best known for their tempers and uncontrollable emotions. Unfortunately, Edward had long ago realized their emotions tended to spill out into those closest to them.
"Is this a bad time?" Astoria's gentle voice floated through the room, but only Edward and James turned to look at her in the doorway.
"No." James said, answering for the other two in the room as well. "Did you need something?"
"I was wondering if you knew where Scorpius is." She said simply as she stepped further into the room. Rose still had her back to her, but Astoria was well aware of the tension that had suddenly appeared between the two women.
"You sure he didn't just follow Lily?" Rose commented as she finally turned to Astoria, but she did not hold the older woman's gaze for long. Instead, Rose had quickly slipped out of the room, taking the papers with the list of any potential witches and wizards to take to Godric's Hollow.
"That's great." Edward commented sarcastically as he turned to James. James stared back at him, but said nothing. Edward knew anyway there was nothing for James to say.
"Is there a problem?" Astoria asked, unsure if she was over stepping her bounds but when neither man seemed defensive towards the question, she took another step towards the table.
"Scorpius isn't officially missing." Edward finally answered her original question, but the confusing answer earned him a confused stare from the mother.
"What do you mean?" She asked, and James could clearly hear the concern in to her voice. He could even decipher it from her face.
"The spells on the outer door and the surrounding area haven't been tampered with, which means nobody has left the building since we put them in place right after the meeting with Division outside." Edward explained. "He's somewhere in the building, but none of us have seen him since Lily left, except Albus. But that was early in the morning and he managed to slip away again."
"He could be anywhere?" Astoria asked and Edward nodded.
"We don't track whereabouts inside the building." He replied. "But we don't have the man power to thoroughly search all eight floors. He'll come around eventually. He's just a little depressed and upset. Rightfully so." Edward's voice had a tinge of anger but Astoria left it alone. Judging from James' glance, she assumed James felt the same way even if she didn't understand entirely what it was directed towards.
Silence followed, but it seemed only Edward was affected by it. James was staring at Astoria, watching her face, studying the way her eyes darted between the two men, noticing how she chewed on her bottom lip. Astoria remained perfectly silent, as though she were trapped in the advise she wanted to give the young men, but knew where that had gotten her husband some weeks ago.
"Say it." James finally said and Astoria turned towards him, her head a little higher than before. "You're thinking something."
Astoria remained quiet for a moment longer before she drew in a deep breath as though to steady her nerves. When she locked on James' gaze once more, she parted her lips. "You've already invested the younger part of your life into this war. And I would never say give up or run away, but don't let it consume you. There are so many other things in life, even now. And you can't pass them up."
"What if we don't want to pass them by? What if they've already passed us?" James replied and Astoria's face softened. He wasn't sure if she knew the exact meaning behind his words, and Edward certainly didn't, but Astoria attempted to answer nonetheless.
"You try anyway to catch it."
"The way you want act like Scorpius' mother?" James asked. He hadn't tried to imply that she wasn't his mother, but there was no way around that hidden meaning.
"Something like that," Astoria finally answered, but her voice had fallen.
"You still have a chance." James said and Astoria narrowed her eyes at him. She was confused about his answer, but James simply held her gaze as though she was supposed to completely understand him.
"How do you mean?"
"He won't shut you out of his life." James said with a slightly shrug as he rose to his feet. He was taller than Astoria, but her eyes followed his upward. "He might've been just fine without you his whole life, but that doesn't mean he didn't want you."
"He's more shut off to us now." Astoria admitted, and James saw the concern in her eyes.
"Well, first of all, you were in cells next to each other for years. He didn't really have a choice in the matter then. Now that there's a little more space, you shouldn't have expected him to be chained to you." James told her, but did not realize how harsh his words had sounded until he heard them himself. He paused for a moment as he gauged how she had taken the words, but she hardly reacted anyway. "And you can't try to be somebody you're not." He added afterward.
"Who am I not?" Astoria replied, surprising James that she appeared so interested in his advice.
"You can't pretend that you've been his mother his whole life." James finally said. "Because you…" He paused as he wondered whether or not he should finish the sentence. When Astoria nodded, he knew she already knew what was coming. "You weren't. But that doesn't mean you can't for the rest of whatever's left."
"How is your brother?" Astoria asked, quickly changing the subject, and James smiled lightly at her attempt to push the touchy subject aside.
"A lot better." James admitted. "Eventually, you'll need to meet him. He's probably a better candidate for advice anyway. He and Scorpius are a lot closer."
"I hope you haven't found mine and Draco's presence too much of a burden." Astoria commented and James shook his head.
"It doesn't really matter. We taken in everyone and deal with the problems with it later." James answered and Astoria nodded slowly. "But we are going to Godric's Hollow to scope out the area. If it's clear and not under the influence of Division, you and your husband are perfectly free to set up there if there's space. I can't imagine you like being stuck in the war that nearly destroyed your life."
"That's a kind offer." Astoria replied and James shrugged as he looked down at his hands for a moment before he met her eyes once more.
"You'd be surprised how many people would take up that offer."
"Would you?" Astoria asked, and an odd smile crept over James' face.
"If I had someone to spend all my free time with, perhaps." He answered truthfully. Astoria met his gaze for a moment, but did not respond. Instead, she nodded softly before she turned and left the room, leaving Edward and James to themselves.
"Are you letting people leave?" Edward asked after the door had closed behind Astoria.
"Why not?" James replied. "It's not as though we're getting anywhere."
"Are you ok?" Edward asked suddenly, changing the subject entirely. James narrowed his eyes back at him, but Edward held his gaze. "You haven't been acting like yourself lately. Sometimes you say things like that, and yet when you're arguing with Rose, you act hopeful."
"I've been going back and forth." James admitted and Edward only stared at him.
"Do you need anything? Someone to talk to?" Edward asked and James shook his head. He already had that.
Edward wanted desperately to say that everything would be ok, but both knew it was lie. Instead, they were left in the quiet, but they'd long ago adjusted to it.
