Author's notes: Ok, this is gonna be a rather long author's note I think, so I'll try to keep it as short as possible by skipping to the important stuff.
First off, this is going to be a pretty long chapter. I could have shortened it, but it just seemed to keep going, so I didn't. Call it a late Easter present.
Speaking of Easter, I hope you all had a good one.
Ok, on to subject #2, which happens to be a bit of advertising (but it's relevant to the story, don't skip it). Jackie (that lovely friend/co- author/giver of ideas/reader/reviewer/etc) has created a fanmail site for
this fic. On it, you can talk to Selina (username SelinaSnape), Kevin (username KevinRedden), and Eric (username EricRiddle) currently (more characters to come soon), as well as myself (username Tweety), Jackie
(username Jackie), and any other readers (you can find their usernames listed under the "members" section). There are also a bunch of forums and polls, etc, so it's fun. So, if you're interested the address is listed on my profile
and it's free to register and such. Anyways, I hope to see you all there, and one more little note about it. If you do join, when you log in, clicking "always stay logged in" may
help to prevent any problems (although if you don't really want to always stay logged in, you have to be sure to click "logout" before leaving the site).
Now on to topic #3. Once again, this is a musical chapter, lol. This chapter's song? "Never Had a Dream Come True". I'm not entirely sure who sings it, so if anyone could help me out, I'd be quite grateful.
Edit (added May 2, 05): Once agian, the song lyrics have been removed, though I'm still missing an artist for this one. Anyone know who it is?
Ok, so now we're on to the fourth and final topic. Although the end of this chapter may make it seem as if it is the end of the entire fic, it is not. There will be 1, and only 1, more chapter after this. And after the story's done, I'm going to write a prequel (again, with Jackie's help- Jackie you really are one of the most helpful people I know when it comes
to fic writing..no offence to any of you who give ideas as well for this or any other fic, but she really does help a lot), which will be about how Selina met Eric and Kevin and her life before this story and such. It might help this story to make sense, but I'll leave that up to you. Just thought I'd let you know.
Edit (added May 2, 05): Still working on getting the prequel and sequel out. It's been so long that I've actually partially forgotten what was gonna happen, lol. I'll try to get them up and running ASAP though. however, with all the other stuff I have on the go, there's no guarentees as to when that'll be.
Don't forget to review and let me know what you
think.
The reviewer, lol: I'm glad you like the story so far, and are able to pick put a plot (to tell the truth, I have yet to be able to distinguish a plot myself, lol). Thanks for the review!
-An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin: rubs cheek OWW! Did you have to pinch so hard? And yes..I updated..and I'm updating again now, lol yes your character is evil, and she's even worse in this chapter (well, not really, but...well, you'll see, lol) No comment on the Josh stuff, lol.
-Yesterdayscild: lol, alrighty then..thanks for the review!
-Rebecca89: lol, thanks for all the compliments. You're a good author yourself (and your fic is so unique!). So yeah..lol, we can just read and review each other's stories and have fun, and...talk? lol, I dunno, but anyways- thanks for the review!
Chapter 23: Eric's Decision
Christmas break was nearing an end. Selina and Eric had spent the past few days together, Eric enjoying himself, and Selina attempting to.
Selina still felt quite guilty as Kevin was now avoiding her completely because of what she had said.
Selina awoke one morning to find Eric awake beside her.
"Good morning, darling." Eric said, leaning over and claiming her lips.
Selina smiled a bit.
"Morning."
"I invited Isidora to come and visit today so we can thank her properly."
"We? Do I really have to?" Selina asked.
"Selina! It's thanks to her that you're alive, of course you do!" Eric exclaimed.
"I don't see why. I'm not the one who asked her to come in the first place." Selina said.
"Selina..." Eric said warningly.
"You will do this, or else."
"Or else what? There's not much more you can do to me." Selina said.
Eric struck her across the face rather harshly bringing tears to his own eyes. He hated to harm her, but sometimes he just didn't know what else to do.
"Why do you have to be so defiant?" He asked.
Selina remained silent, simply looking up at him with a slight pain in her eyes.
"Selina, I'm sorry, but you say you love me and have agreed to marry me, and if we expect to have a happy life together, you must learn to honour me and my wishes." Eric said.
Selina sat up, a few tears now falling from her eyes.
"I'm so sorry." She said quietly.
Eric simply looked at her, somewhat darkly.
"You've said that many times before, and never seemed to have meant it."
"I do mean it this time." Selina cried.
"After all the times you've lied to me, why should I trust you now?" Eric asked.
"You have no reason to." Selina replied, hanging her head.
"I'm glad we finally see eye to eye." Eric said.
"I'll go get changed and prepare for Isidora's visit then." Selina said quietly, getting up and picking out her clothes for the day.
"Selina..." Eric started, walking over to her.
Selina ignored him until he snaked his hands around her waist and turned her to face him.
"I'm sorry. I'm just tired of being lied to. How about I give you another chance, and allow you to leave and do something else after you at least thank Isidora, does that sound alright?" Eric asked.
Selina nodded and smiled a bit.
"Thank you." She said, hugging him.
"That's more like the Selina I know and love." Eric replied, hugging her back and sneaking a kiss.
Isidora showed up at one o'clock PM. Eric answered the door with Selina standing beside him.
"Nice to see you again, Isidora." He said.
"It's nice to see the two of you again too. You're both looking well." Isidora replied.
"Why thank you. Have a seat." Eric said, motioning to the various chairs in the sitting area.
"Feel free to join in at anytime." He muttered to Selina as Isidora sat.
Eric took Selina's hand and led her to the couch across from Isidora, and they sat down together.
Isidora smiled as Eric put his arm around Selina's shoulders.
"The two of you make such a nice couple." She said.
"Well, we wouldn't be able to be a couple if it wasn't for you. She would have died had you not come and taken such good care of her." Eric said.
Selina took this as her cue to speak.
"Yes. Thank you...for saving my life." She forced herself to say as sincerely as she could.
"Well, you're quite welcome. Anything to make Eric happy. I still feel terrible for making him a vampire."
"That was you?" Selina asked.
"Uhm, lets not go into that story today, alright?" Eric asked as Isidora nodded in response to Selina's question.
Selina looked at Eric, wordlessly asking if she could leave.
"Oh alright, fine. Just go. Be back by dinner though." Eric replied with a sigh.
"I will." Selina said quickly as she got up and left the room in quite a rush.
"What was that all about?" Isidora asked when Selina had gone.
"Well, we had a bit of a disagreement this morning." Eric replied
"Is that why one cheek was pinker than the other?" Isidora asked again.
Eric nodded and let out a slight sigh.
"Sometimes I just don't know what to do with her."
"Don't feel bad. She just needs to face the facts. If you make her feel pain every so often, she'll figure it out a whole lot faster." Isidora replied.
"But I hate to do it. If you could see the pain in her eyes..."
Isidora interrupted Eric.
"I have. I literally slapped some sense into her when I found her with that Kevin guy. You have to look beyond the pain, and see that she's learning her lesson."
"I still wish there was another way. I've even considered a few options." Eric said quietly.
"Such as?" Isidora asked.
"Well, mainly time travel by way of those new time travel portkeys." Eric replied.
"You're completely crazy, that's all I'll say. But I should get going, so I wish you the best of luck with her." Isidora said. Eric nodded and walked her to the door.
"Thank you again for taking care of her. And thanks for the advice as well."
"No problem. Feel free to come by again at anytime if you need anything else." Isidora said while heading out the door.
"I will." Eric replied while closing the door behind her.
Isidora walked for a few moments, heading towards the castle exit.
However, she soon made a sudden stop, hearing familiar but rushed footsteps. She looked around and soon saw Selina running towards the library and glancing around, as if trying not to be seen and followed.
Isidora immediately grew suspicious and followed her.
Selina entered the library and looked around. She smiled to herself when she saw Kevin sitting alone at a table, looking quite frustrated over, what most likely was, last minute potions homework.
"Potions homework?" Selina asked as she approached him and sat down at his table.
Kevin looked up and immediately avoided her glance when he saw who it was, but nodded.
"Want some help?" Selina asked again.
"No, that's alright, I'll figure it out on my own." Kevin replied, beginning to quickly pack up his things.
"Kevin, please don't go. I really want to talk to you." Selina half begged.
Kevin looked directly at her for the first time in nearly a week.
"What's there to say? I already know you never loved me."
"But that's not true! I didn't mean a word of what I told Eric that day; I was only trying to save your life." Selina cried.
"Sure looked like you meant it to me." Kevin replied.
"And I've been cursing myself for being such a good liar ever since." Selina said.
"If you're such a good liar, then how do I know you're not lying to me now?" Kevin asked.
Tears were forming in Selina's eyes. Her heart was slowly breaking, but she knew she deserved it.
"You don't." She breathed.
"But I had hoped that you would."
"Well, forget it. Even if I had reason to believe you, your dear fiancée would never allow it." Kevin said, picking up his things and leaving.
He was a few steps away when Selina remembered something.
"Wait!" She called out.
"What now?" Kevin asked as he spun around, sounding rather frustrated.
"I thought you might want this back." Selina replied, removing the necklace he had given her for her birthday from her neck and sliding it to the far side of the table.
It was this part that pained her the most, and she found herself squeezing her eyes closed to prevent the tears from falling.
Kevin stared at the necklace for a few moments, then went back, picked it up, and put it into his pocket before walking away again.
Selina simply sat there and stared at the table, softly singing to herself; "Never Had A Dream Come True" by (A/N: HELP! Need an artist!)
Kevin heard the words of Selina's song and turned around again. He pulled the necklace from his pocket and suddenly thought of something.
"You kept this? All this time?" He asked.
Selina nodded.
"I didn't take it off for a second. It reminded me of you when our son couldn't."
"And who were you singing about." Kevin asked again, his face softening.
"You." Selina replied quietly.
"But if you're going to go, please do and spare me the grief."
Kevin walked over to her and stood there for a moment, looking down at her.
"I wouldn't leave you alone again for the world." He finally said, sitting down beside her and wrapping his arms around her protectively while putting the necklace around her neck again.
Selina's tears finally began to fall, now turned to tears of happiness.
"Thank you."
"Oh now this really is the last straw." Isidora said angrily,
stepping out of her hiding place behind a bookshelf.
"There's nothing you can do about it now that Eric is back." Selina replied with a glare.
"No, but I can take you to him and let him deal with you." Isidora replied with a smirk.
"Come on, both of you. Don't make me use force."
Selina sighed and began walking back to her room with Kevin at her side, Isidora following close behind.
When they arrived, Selina let them all into the room.
"Eric, could you come out here please?" Isidora called
"Isidora? What are you still doing here? How did you get back in?" Eric asked as he entered the room.
"What's going on?" He asked when he noticed the three of them standing there.
"Look who I found in the library...together." Isidora replied with a wide grin, showing that she was quite proud of herself.
"Selina, is this true?" Eric asked.
"Of course it's true. Stop being so soft on her, Eric! Remember what I said earlier." Isidora snapped.
Eric simply stared at Selina, anger, frustration, and disappointment in his eyes.
"Hold him back, Isidora." He finally said, pulling out his wand.
Isidora grabbed Kevin and held him tightly.
Eric pointed his wand at Selina.
"Crutio!"
The pain that Selina felt was unbearable. She felt as though she could not breathe, but was screaming.
Eric ended the spell and Selina collapsed to the floor.
Kevin simply watched in horror, knowing there was nothing he could do.
"Nicely done, Eric." Isidora said with a grin.
"You like seeing her like that?" Eric asked Kevin while somewhat ignoring Isidora.
Kevin shook his head.
"Then perhaps you'll learn to stay away from her. If I ever hear of you being with her again, I'll make it worse." Eric threatened.
"You can't do this to her! It's quite obvious that she no longer loves you! Just let the poor girl go before you end up killing her!" Kevin shouted.
"I'll kill her if I let her go. My father vowed to kill her if anything happened to stop this wedding, and I intend to not let that happen." Eric said.
"Then perhaps you should learn to treat her better." Kevin said.
"I once heard a story about someone telling the father of the girl he was supposed
to love to take a closer look at his daughter after he had beaten her and see what he had done to her. The father did look eventually, and you known what? He's never harmed his daughter in any way since because he's hated himself for what he saw. Perhaps you should take note of the moral of the story." He finished.
Eric stared at him for a moment.
"Where did you hear that story?" He asked.
"Selina's father told me." Kevin replied.
"Well, it's a nice story, true in fact, but I'll treat Selina as I wish, thank you." Eric said.
"Then you're not worthy of her." Kevin said.
"Obviously she sees me as worthy enough. She did agree to the marriage on her own after all." Eric retaliated.
"I did it to save my life! After everything that had been threatened, I knew you were acting on your father's orders. And I would have declined the offer had I not been fearing what my father and yours might've done had I done so." Selina suddenly piped up, getting slowly up from the floor.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear any of that." Eric said, looking quite shocked.
"Shall I repeat myself then?" Selina asked.
"No! I heard what you said, I'm simply choosing to ignore it." Eric replied.
"You've been everything but pleasant to me since the night Lucius brought me to you're house, and I've had enough of it! I no longer care if your father will kill me or not, I refuse to spend the rest of my life with you!" Selina shouted.
"Selina, you can't do this. Not to me, not to your father. And what would your mother say if she was alive?" Eric said calmly.
"Don't bring my mother into this! I can do this, and I am!" Selina continued to shout, now removing the engagement ring from her finger and holding it out to Eric.
"I believe this is yours."
Eric stared at her.
"Why you annoying, spoiled little brat!"
He attempted to slap her again, but Selina saw it coming and blocked his hand, then slapped him instead.
Eric looked shocked for a moment, then smiled.
"That was to be expected, as you seem not to be myself. Come, perhaps some sleep will help." He said, wrapping his arms around her in a rather tight grip.
"Let go of me!" Selina ordered, struggling against his grip.
"Don't bother." Eric muttered in her ear while dragging her towards the bedroom.
"We'll only be a few moments, if you could watch him for me. You may release him, but make sure he doesn't escape or disturb us." He said to Isidora, referring to Kevin.
"Alright." Isidora replied, releasing Kevin as Eric closed the door behind himself and Selina.
"Selina, what's gotten into you?" Eric asked as Selina gave in and sat calmly on the bed.
"I just can't pretend to love you any longer." She said.
"You've never loved me since before we broke up then? I've been such a fool to think you did." Eric said.
"I'm really sorry. I had hoped that perhaps my feelings would change and that things could be as they were, but I obviously thought wrong. Between me being depressed about having to break up with Kevin and you being so cruel, there was no room for change." Selina replied.
"I suppose I have been treating you rather badly...I'm sorry too." Eric said.
Selina nodded.
"But now the question is, where do we go from here?" Eric asked.
"Well, I suppose we all go on with our lives until your father finds out and decides to end mine." Selina replied.
"Oh, Selina. Are you sure you won't re consider?" Eric asked hopefully.
"I'm sorry, but I'm positive. Right now my mind says that death is better than living this life any longer." Selina replied.
"Well, if that's really the case then I may have another solution." Eric said.
"I'll be right back."
Eric went back out into the sitting room.
"Thank you so much for all your help this past while, Isidora. I can take it from here." He said.
Isidora smiled a triumphant smile.
"Alright, I'll see myself out then." She said, getting up and leaving once again.
"What have you done to her?" Kevin nearly shouted when Isidora had gone.
"Calm down! She's perfectly fine, I've done nothing to her. Go see for yourself." Eric replied.
Kevin hurried off and Selina soon found herself in his arms.
Eric re entered the room a few moments later.
"Alright you two, that's enough of that. I'd suggest you stop before I decide to change my mind about this." He said.
Although confused, Kevin released Selina and sat beside her.
"So, what's the other option?" Selina asked.
"Well, I had been planning to take you back in time on the night of our wedding; back to before I lied to you. I thought perhaps I could change the past and make life a whole lot nicer for us.
"However, now that you have decided not to go through with the wedding, I thought the three of us could all go back in time instead; all the way back to before we met. We could modify our memories to forget all that's happened in these past few years, with a few exceptions, for example the two of you will remember your want for each other.
"Hopefully this will lead to the start of your long lasting relationship and happy life, while I attempt to find someone for myself with no memory of either of you whatsoever." Eric said.
"It sounds wonderful, but how would we do it?" Selina asked.
"Using this." Eric said, removing a time travel portkey from his dresser drawer.
"Would you like to?"
"I will." Selina replied.
"I will if she will." Kevin said.
"Alright then. All we have to do is touch this and think of the day we want to go back to. I thought the day before the Hogsmeade trip in third year would work well. I'm sure you both know which trip I mean." Eric said as Selina and Kevin nodded.
"Perhaps you can ask her to go with you." Eric finished, whispering to Kevin, who smiled.
They all did as they were instructed, and disappeared within a few seconds, soon arriving in their past.
"Now to modify our memories." Eric said.
"Wait!" Kevin said suddenly.
"In case I don't get a chance to ask later, will you accompany me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" He asked Selina.
"Of course I will." Selina smiled, then laughed.
"This feels so weird.
They all then modified their own memories.
Selina and Kevin only remembered their knowledge up to that point and their love for each other, as well as the fact that they were to go to Hogsmeade the next day with
each other.
Eric only remembered his knowledge up to that day.
They allwent their separate ways to see how their lives would turn out.
Another author's note: OUTCH! 7 pages! No wonder my wrists are killing me! That's a record for me!
Lol, yeah...anyways, no wonder it took me about 12 hours (broken into a 3 day period) to write...not to mention about 12 pages or so (in little notebook paper that is).
Anyways, I'm blabbing now. I hope you enjoyed it, because you're most likely not going to get another chapter of that length (with the exception of the next chapter..and there's
no song in the next chapter! Lol).
Anyways, don't forget to review!