The young man watched as his parents shuffled around their now empty house. Seventeen years he'd lived in this house and now they had to leave. He looked over to his scrawny cousin; messy black hair and wire-rimmed glasses framed his green eyes. The young man wondered when he'd see him again. He didn't want to think about if he never would.
His parents muttered something to each other then, the large man to the skinny woman. He noticed their glances to the three people standing on one side of their living room, the people from his cousin's world. His father looked like he was about to combust over the fact they were standing inside his house and, not only that, forcing him out of it. His mother, however, was acting as though they weren't even there. He wondered how long she'd be able to pretend ignorance was bliss.
They muttered to each other again and the topic didn't appear to be a good one. Their son doubted any topic could be a good one at the moment as they stood with all their possessions in boxes and suitcases, prepared to run. But still, his mother's face adopted a look of offense and hurt as his father turned his back to her and marched straight out of his house, past the wizards in the doorway, and didn't look back. His mother stared after him, her eyes slightly wide and her mouth partially open, as though disbelieving he'd walked away from her so abruptly.
He ignored the way her eyes became sheened with tears and she rushed to shove whatever belongings she hadn't already into a bag.
As they drove away from their family home the young man looked out the back window at the house he'd probably never see again. He didn't want to look forward and see the evidence of his parents' distress. He could hear the sniffling from his mother and the angry muttering from his father. He knew that magic, that word forbidden from their household for so long, had driven a wedge between them. He didn't know the full story – his parents wouldn't tell it to him even if he'd asked – but he knew that whatever his younger cousin represented had destroyed whatever happiness his family could have had.
He blamed the tight-lipped attitudes that had been drilled into his family since before he was born.
So this was a requested short, but I liked doing it from a separate person's POV. Dedicated to the wonderful islanzadi heap, you gorgeous reviewer, you! I hope you enjoyed this take on the "hearts are often broken by words left unspoken" theme. Right! Congratulations to darkswansea, TheFantabulousPotterHead, 03hermione1992, islanzadi heap and 5sunday5 for successfully guessing Hermione and Draco last chapter. Buahaha, such a hard one that one, wasn't it? Up next is…? You tell me.
Anyway, I did want to apologise to those of you I wasn't able to get a PM to about not updating this Monday. I did forget to mention the other exam I had on Tuesday and the assignment I had due just yesterday. Rest assured I now have only one assignment left until June-ish (even if it does involve reading four textbooks and completing a research article in the next week – please pity me) but I should hopefully have time to get back to updating regularly. Hooray!
Until next time!