Of Secrets and Stags
Frank pulled the suitcases up into the house, under the strict watch of his mother. His mother, however, was constantly glaring in the direction of Alice. Frank's family was much different than Alice's family—Frank's father, who was considered a genius, left her and Frank when Frank was only three-years-old. Ever since then, his mother had been over-protective of her son, giving him very little trust and freedom.
Their families were polar opposites, in other words.
"Frank! Hurry up with those suitcases!" His mother called out. She then turned quickly towards Alice and said in a commanding tone, "I'll show you to your room now."
"Thanks, Ms. Longbottom," Alice said politely
She rolled her eyes before motioning for her to follow her. Just when they were out of Frank's hearing range, his mother turned to her and said, "I'm going to be watching you two. Don't think I won't notice any, and all, of your flaws and personality dysfunctions. By the end of these two weeks, I'll judge whether or not you're worthy of my Frank." Instead of waiting for a reply from Alice, she walked quickly up the stairs and threw open the guest room door.
The guest room was very dusty, and smelled like the window hadn't been opened in years. The bedspread was moth-eaten, and the chair and small desk that was in the corner of the room looked as if they would fall down if just another speck of dust would land upon it. The dresser's drawers were hard to open and jammed easily, and, even considering that, it only had three drawers and wasn't elaborate at all.
"Unpack and then change out of those clothes—wear something respectable. All three of us are going out grocery shopping, and I need to pick up some things as well," Ms. Longbottom said before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Alice looked down at her clothes and said to herself, "What's wrong with these? Lily got them for me! Oh… she must mean change into robes…" she muttered to herself. She had been wearing a light yellow t-shirt with a monkey holding up a banana and a pair of tight jeans with diamonds up the sides, but that was definitely not something to wear to a wizard's shop. She pulled out a black robe with lavender lining, and put that on in the other outfit's stead.
She quickly put her hair up in high ponytail before hurrying out of the room. "Finally! What took you so long?" demanded Ms. Longbottom.
Keeping herself from a rude answer, and trying hard to make a good impression, she replied, "Sorry… Were you two really waiting long?"
"No, not rea—" Frank began, trying to excuse her from taking "a long time" getting ready.
"Yes! We've burned daylight because of you! C'mon, let's go—we do need to buy food for dinner tonight," Ms. Longbottom said rudely before walking towards the fireplace. She looked at Alice and said, "You go first. Diagon Alley," she commanded, handing the container of Floo Powder to Alice.
"Right…" Alice said nervously, taking the container and throwing a pinch of Floo Powder in the fire before stepping in and yelling "Diagon Alley!"
Alice's mother then took the Floo Powder and threw in a pinch herself, following Alice. After that, Frank left the house as well.
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Completely ignoring all of the other shops, Ms. Longbottom immediately headed for the small food store she had been buying from since before Frank was born. She walked down the street in between Frank and Alice, effectively keeping them from talking or touching at all. With eyes of a hawk, she stared intently at Alice, expecting, daring her to try getting closer to her Frank.
In short, shopping took a very, very long time.
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Back at their home, Ms. Longbottom immediately commanded Alice to help her in the kitchen with dinner, leaving Frank alone to do whatever he wanted for a while. Ms. Longbottom believed in actually cooking the food in a way that was half-Muggle, half-magic, so Alice was having a hard time.
"Here. Do something easy. Cut the carrots up—you should be used to stuff like that from Potions," Ms. Longbottom said in an exasperated tone.
"Yes, ma'am," Alice said politely and she pulled out a knife and chopped the carrot submissively. Ms. Longbottom, too, went silent as she cut the meat into thin strips, and the kitchen was filled with only the ghastly noise of Alice and Ms. Longbottom's knives.
"… Can I ask you something?" Alice asked as she put the now chopped up carrot into the bowl beside the cutting board.
"That depends. Does that question count?" Ms. Longbottom asked sarcastically.
Alice gave a dry laugh before revising her past sentence by saying, "Sorry. Please allow me to ask a question." When Ms. Longbottom didn't reply, Alice went on to ask, "Are you over protective of Frank because of his father?"
From the corner of Alice's eye, she could see that Ms. Longbottom had stopped slicing the meat, and had a pained expression on her face. 'Maybe I hit the nail too hard and too perfectly on the head…' Alice thought with a wince.
When Ms. Longbottom didn't say anything back, Alice sighed and continued, "I know… I know I'd be overprotective of my son, if something happened to Frank. I mean, if we had one and we ended up marrying," Alice added embarrassedly.
"No, you don't understand…" Ms. Longbottom whispered, tears coming out slowly. "I… Despite what that bastard did to me, I… still love him, with all my heart and soul. Every time I look at Frank, I see Michael's face…" Ms. Longbottom clutched her hands to her chest, despite her still holding the knife.
"It's okay. When I think about Frank leaving me or… dying… I get the same way… There are no guarantees in this world, and… Considering the line of work Frank's going into, it makes me worry a lot. I think worrying about it might actually be worse than then dying… But even if he did die, or leave, I'd… I'd be grateful if he left me with a child…" Alice said slowly.
"I am… every day…" Ms. Longbottom managed to get out before the tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began sobbing uncontrollably.
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"What happened to Mom?" Frank asked curiously. Ms. Longbottom had become a lot warmer towards Alice, and was more approving of their relationship.
"I guess we just connected…" Alice said with a shrug.
"Alice! C'mon, let's go clothes shopping! Frank, watch the house for us! We're going to have some alone time, 'kay?" his mother asked a bit too brightly.
"S-sure…" he replied, stuttering. 'Alice turned my mom… into an older Alice clone…' he couldn't help but think.
They left quickly, heading for Diagon Alley. "Somehow I feel left out…" Frank muttered before shrugging and turning on the TV.
Oh, well. Some alone time couldn't hurt. Besides—the whole point of the trip was for the parents to get to know their future son- and daughter-in-laws, right?
A/N: Hard chapter to write… especially the part where Alice finally gets to where she and Ms. Longbottom connect… Oh, well, I guess. Next chapter is Christmas! I'll show both sets of Christmases, so yeah. XDD