Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Assignment #10 - Religious Education (Elizabeth & Mary)
Task #2 - Write about visiting a distant relative (any interpretation of distant is acceptable)
Warnings: ableism, divorce
Further prompts are at the end.
Word Count: 1,934
Alyssa's seven, the first time she meets her grandparents. She's practically vibrating with excitement, because she's finally going to meet the people she and Frankie are named after, because Mum and Dad finally think she's old enough to go - Frankie, who's two years younger, is staying home with Mum and he's so jealous.
She bounces through the halls after Dad, and just wow. St. Mungo's is so big! And all of the witches and wizard walking through look so important, and they're helping people and being important and that's when Alyssa decides.
"I wanna be a Healer when I grow up," she says.
"Not a princess ninja dragon-tamer?" Dad asks half-jokingly.
"I'm serious! And no," she wrinkles her nose, "that's just babyish."
And then they're turning the corner and walking through a fancy-looking set of doors, and she's staring at the people in the beds by the door because they look kinda weird, kinda scary, but it's fine because surely Grandma and Grandpa won't look like that!
Dad stops at the end of the room, and Alyssa glances around, trying to find two people who look like Dad.
"Mum, Dad," Dad says, pulling Alyssa's attention back to him. He smiles at her, nodding for her to step closer, as he adds, "This is Alyssa. Your granddaughter. Ally, meet-" Dad gestures at the bed right in front them, "your Grandma and Grandpa."
Alyssa stares.
Dad… Dad's joking, right? Because these people look nothing like Dad, like Alyssa, like Frankie. They- they look almost dead, with their wispy white hair, their thin and tired faces, their creepy empty-looking eyes. They can't be her grandparents, can't be the heroes Dad tells them stories about, can't be the people she and Frankie are named after… can they?
Dad's looking at her, waiting for her to say something, but what's she supposed to say to these strangers she happens to be related to? She wants to scream, wants to go back home and never come back, wants Dad to laugh and take her to where her real grandparents are, wants to go back home and pretend today never happened-
"Ally?" Dad asks, concerned. "You alright?"
But these are Dad's parents, and she knows that showing her disgust-horror-shock is only gonna hurt Dad, gonna make him disappointed in her, so she squeaks, "Hi," then spends the rest of the visit trying not to stare. Especially when Grandma drops a gum wrapper in Dad's hand, and instead of throwing it away, he slips it in his pocket and thanks her.
When the visit's finally over and they're finally back home, she decides something else. That she doesn't want to be a Healer, but that's less important than that she never wants to visit her grandparents again.
Of course, that's impossible.
Two years later is Frankie's first visit. Alyssa watches his expression eagerly, as they enter the ward that's, to her horror, becoming familiar; as Dad greets Grandma and Grandpa and introduces Frankie. Because finally, finally, there'll be someone who understands Alyssa's feelings about their grandparents. Even if it's her annoying little brother.
Only, he doesn't. There's no disgust, no distaste, in Frankie's expression as he smiles cheerfully and greets Grandma and Grandpa, talking about how excited he is to finally meet them, then getting distracted about something else like he always does and acting like normal. Like this, these grandparents, these almost-dead, freaky grandparents, are normal.
And suddenly, Alyssa's ashamed of herself, for how she feels about her grandparents - her grandparents, who she's descended from! - because isn't Mum always saying that normal's overrated anyway? Hasn't she always been proud of Dad for being a famous war hero, a friend of Harry Potter, which is about the farthest from normal you can get? Shouldn't she be proud of Grandma and Grandpa, too, after what they went through and what they survived? They're war heroes too, just like Dad.
Except not. And nothing Alyssa says to herself can change the fact that she doesn't want these grandparents!
She's ten when she realizes what the problem is with her grandparents. It's not, exactly, that they drool and can't speak and don't know who Alyssa or Frankie or even Mum and Dad are, though that doesn't help, doesn't make her less want to deny that she's related to them at all. It's that they are everything wrong with her family. They're not dead, like the war heroes of the First and Second Wizarding Wars, like practically everyone else's grandparents. They're not alive and loving and indulgent and not-actually-embarrassing, either, like the grandparents of some of the other kids she knows. They're war heroes, sure, but everything they are now seems to prove otherwise. They're just there.
Broken, yet alive.
Sometimes, she thinks it'd be better if they were dead.
And it's not only that. They're the root of all the other problems in her family. The arguments between Mum and Dad, always after their visits, always ending with Mum reminding Dad, tone cold and terrifying, that her mother's dead. Alyssa and Frankie's names, because they're not exactly named after Grandma and Grandpa, but don't have names of their own, either. Mum's job at the Leaky Cauldron, which isn't the most prestigious of jobs and which means she's only home mornings and evenings while Dad's only home on weekends or over the summer because he teaches at Hogwarts, because they're not poor but not rich, either, and it costs a lot to keep her grandparents in St. Mungo's.
She starts at Hogwarts, eight months later. It takes several minutes for the Sorting Hat to choose Ravenclaw. And she loves her new House, in the lack of a push to make friends, because while she does like having friends, she also finds people tiring, in how everyone overthinks like she does, and it's not overachieving or weird, in how no one thinks she should be in Gryffindor because Dad was a famous Gryffindor after her grades for the first essay come back. Which is why, even though she feels horrible about it, she likes it better at Hogwarts than at home. Part of it's that Dad's here, all year, teaching, but another part is that, well, she's away from it all. Away from their problems.
That's why she hates the holidays. Because with those come, in order of increasing importance, a lack of class, visits to her grandparents, and Mum and Dad's arguments. She's read somewhere that it's normal for couples to argue, but surely it's not normal to fight as much as Mum and Dad do? But then, if Mum and Dad's relationship isn't normal, then what does that mean?
Alyssa tries not to think about it. Being a Ravenclaw, that strategy doesn't work very well. Also because she's a Ravenclaw, she turns to the library. Being a school library, there's nothing useful there. Being a second-year, she has to wait until the Easter holidays to find a good book on marriage, from the public library because eyebrows would be raised if she bought the book.
Chapter 6: How to Tell If Your Parents are Getting a Divorce.
It's… scarily accurate.
But her parents can't be getting divorced, right? They love each other! They're her parents! They're the sort of romance Alyssa reads about in books, the couple that got together during some kind of conflict, forced to work together until they slowly fell in love, the fairytale ending that proves that happily-ever-afters are possible! And if they divorce… what about Alyssa and Frankie?
Alyssa's third year, and Frankie's first, comes as a relief, even if it's also with Mum's icy retorts that, unlike some, she won't be seeing Alyssa or Frankie again for months, because at least Mum and Dad will be apart and not arguing again, at least their visits to Grandma and Grandpa and the fights that always come after those will be less frequent again.
Frankie's sorted into Hufflepuff. Mum's happy. He's happy, too, by the looks of it - though his grades are average at least in comparison to Alyssa's, he's part of a group of close friends. And for a moment, in the peace and quiet that is autumn, Alyssa lets herself believe that things, that their family, might be alright.
That's when the winter holidays come.
"Alyssa. Frankie. There's something we need to tell you. Come."
Heart sinking, hoping desperately that she's wrong about what this is about, Alyssa follows, to the living room, to the seats around the coffee table where Dad is already waiting.
"Your father and I- well, we hoped this would never happen, but can't seem to fix our relationship. We're-"
She chokes off, and Dad finishes, his gaze more tender towards Mum than Alyssa's seen in years, so much so that for a moment Alyssa hopes-
"We're getting a divorce."
No.
"No!" Frankie says, a moment later, springing from his seat to look furiously between Mum and Dad. "No, no, you can't be! You-"
"We are," Mum says softly. "I- We still like each other, and we still want to be friends, but we don't love each other anymore. We-"
"No," Frankie repeats, still shaking his head. "Don't give me that, you-" He breaks off with a cry, then runs to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of Floo Powder and shouting, "Scamander's Place!" before Mum, who's dashed after him, can stop him.
"Frankie-!"
"Leave him," Alyssa says emotionlessly, before Mum can follow. "It's the least you owe him."
"Ally, I'm so sorry-"
"Stop it. Don't apologize," she interrupts, in the same tone, because if she let herself feel she'd break down in seconds. She finds herself smirking coldly, though, as she adds, "Anyone with eyes knew it was coming, anyway." And then she makes her way, fighting to keep her pace even, to her room.
And it's true, that she's been predicting this divorce for years, that she really shouldn't be surprised, but it still hurts, still makes her sob into her pillow until she can't stop crying, then until her tears run dry. The next few days aren't any better, as Mum parrots the things she no doubt read in a how-to-tell-your-kids-about-divorce instruction guide, as Dad only repeats that I'm sorry, but it just didn't work out, as Frankie continues to hide out at the Scamanders', refusing to come home when they try to bring him back. But at least he's got friends, has got shoulders he can cry on - for the first time, Alyssa's sorry she never made close friends, because all she wants right now is someone to talk to, someone who will understand.
She reaches her breaking point in a week, and just runs.
Somehow, she finds herself at St. Mungo's, and it's pure habit that leads her to the fourth floor. To the Janus Thickney ward. To the beds at the very end of the room.
To Grandma and Grandpa.
And she's never been one for sharing, but it's probably the fact that they'll never tell her secrets because they literally can't, the fact that they won't judge no matter what, that has her telling them what's happening.
It feels… better, once she's finished. And she's just about to leave, when Grandma makes a small noise. Holds out her hand, clenched onto a fist, gesturing in quiet sounds to Alyssa. Alyssa holds her hand out, and there's something like understanding, in Grandma's eyes, as she drops something into her palm.
A gum wrapper. But also, so much more than a gum wrapper.
"Thank you," Alyssa finally finds it in herself to whisper. "Thank you… Grandma."
Autumn Seasonal Challenges
Days of the Year & Religious Events: 1st October - International Day for the Elderly: Write about someone at retirement age or older
Pet Peeves Week: Chewing with mouth open - write about someone not using table manners
Chemistry Week: Dysprosium: Disbelief
Games and Puzzles Week: Plot Point: Sitting around a table
United Nations Day: Lao People's Democratic Republic - (item) Book
Princess Day: Rapunzel - Write about someone disobeying their parent or guardian
Locations: The Leaky Cauldron
Crystals and Gemstones: Moss Agate: Write about someone gardening
Writing Club: November
Book Club: Peter Walsh: (plot point) traveling, (object) knife, (plot point) a divorce
Amber's Attic: My freedom. I left an abusive marriage a few years ago, and I am so glad to be okay again: (plot point) a divorce
Elizabeth's Empire: Almond roca: (plot point) receiving a gift
Liza's Loves: Land's Stride - Write about someone hiking or a Herbology class
Scamander's Case: (action) running
Marvel Appreciation: L - Logan / Leaky Cauldron
Lyric Alley: Cruel confessions and brand new lies
TV Spree: Write about someone whose life is falling apart around them
The Forecast Says… 23rd. Sleet: AliceFrank
EnTitled: The One with Joey's Big Break - Write about a falling out or losing a job
Honeydukes Hoard: Lollipops & Suckers - Solution
All Aboard: Orange Train - Pub
Truth or Dare: Dare - Action: Crying
Wings of Fire: Mudwings: Prompt: Write about siblings taking care of each other.