Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Four: Miserable Mornings
Meredith could hardly believe it.
First, Leo had shown up. And then she hadn't been able to get him out of the house before people had come into the kitchen - mainly her parents.
"Mer, come on. Don't be like this, okay?" Leo sighed.
"Stop it, Leo." she muttered as he attempted - again - to place a comforting hand on her arm.
She couldn't believe that he was here. She just couldn't believe it.
She had simply been walking into the kitchen of her own bloody house, thinking about him with sadness as she always did, and there he was.
Just sitting there, as if he did it every morning.
"Meredith, can we just talk, please?" he asked in a soft voice.
Meredith finally stopped to look at him. She took in his slightly tanned skin and the bags under his eyes that mirrored her own. He looked just as tired as she did.
"I don't want to." Meredith sighed.
"Please, Mer. You can't avoid me forever. Not after -"
"Do not talk about that right now. I can't talk about that. Especially here, okay?" Meredith snapped, her teeth grinding together.
"Do... do they not know?" Leo asked. "Do they not know anything?"
"No, Leo, they don't! The only person who knows anything is Marley and that's just because she saw us at school together, okay? So just shut up and get out." Meredith said loudly, shoving him towards the fireplace.
Leo just groaned, shaking his head. "You've spent the last year avoiding me, Meredith. Over the last year. I know that you're home for a couple weeks now, so you're going to have to talk to me, okay?"
"Who told you I was -" Meredith started. "Teddy. I am going to kill Teddy."
"Don't blame Teddy. I've been bugging him for months now." he sighed.
"I can't do this right now. We'll talk later. Now, go." she said.
Leo stared at her for another moment before stepping into the fireplace and Flooing away. As he did, it took all Meredith could do not to lose it. She felt like crying. She felt like screaming. She felt like throwing something - anything.
"Meredith, love? Who was that?" her mother's soft voice called from the stairs.
Meredith whirled around, wiping her eyes quickly to avoid any evidence of appearing tears. Her mother was climbing down the stairs with Jeremy following quickly behind her.
"No one, Mum." Meredith muttered, walking up the stairs past her mother.
"Meredith -"
. . .
Before Hermione could say anything else, her daughter was gone. She looked down at Jeremy who had the same confused expression on his face.
She had been coming out of Jeremy's room when she had heard the yelling - most of it done by Meredith herself.
She didn't recognize the male voice at all, so she knew it wasn't Teddy.
Hermione turned around to follow Meredith, but was stopped by Jeremy's tug on her arm.
"Mum, just give her a minute. You know how she is. She'll talk when she's ready." Jeremy sighed.
She looked down at her son. He was the most like her out of her children by far. He had her hair and her eyes, as well as her intelligence. He was in Ravenclaw, in fact. The only one in the family who had been in that House. Meredith had been in Slytherin, while Marley was in Gryffindor. She had no idea where the twins would end up. She was thankful that they still had more than a few years to go.
"Alright, alright." Hermione sighed, wrapping an arm around Jeremy's shoulders as they headed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Wait, okay. Explain this to me again." she heard Draco say.
"Dad, I literally just told you, for the love of God." Marley groaned.
Jeremy went to get his own breakfast as Hermione made her way over to the twins, kissing both of their heads in greeting.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked.
Marley rolled her eyes, heading over to the coffee maker to fill up her cup. Hermione walked to Draco who kissed her quickly before turning his attention back to their daughter.
"Okay. Leo was in Meredith's year at Hogwarts. I seriously don't know anything other than seeing the two hang out at school, okay? We were in different houses, Dad." Marley explained.
"Leo?" Hermione asked, realizing that that must be the person she had heard Meredith argue with.
"Yeah. Leo Greengrass." Draco said.
"Wait, as in -"
"Daphne's son. Except, Daphne died when he was four and he's been living with Astoria ever since."
"Astoria as in..."
"Yes, as in the one I dated."
"Wait, you dated Leo's Aunt?" Marley asked.
Hermione watched as Draco's face went hot. She stepped on her toes, pressing a kiss to her husband's cheek. She knew that he had only dated her to please his own mother.
"It was a long time ago, Marley. When your father and I weren't together, obviously." Hermione decided to say.
"But, I don't understand what he was doing here." Draco groaned.
"Yeah, well, neither do I! How about you go and ask the daughter that actually knows." Marley snapped, grabbing her mug and walking out of the room.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, and then realized that she now had two mildly upset daughters.
"Okay, Jer's advised us to leave Meredith alone for now." Hermione said, turning to Draco to fill him in.
"Right. And clearly I'm not having any luck with Marley." Draco groaned.
"Okay, you get us both some coffee and I'll go to talk Marley, okay?" Hermione decided.
Draco leaned down, pressing his lips to Hermione's until Jeremy groaned and the twins were laughing. He pulled away, kissing her forehead before she headed off into the living room.
Not even ten in the morning and it was already proving to be a difficult day.
. . .
Marley had to hold in a scream at the sight of her mother coming back into the living room.
She just wanted one minute of peace after her nice few minutes with James that morning.
"Your dad's just confused, Marley. We've never heard of this guy before." Hermione said, sitting down next to Marley.
"Meredith's an adult. Why does it matter?" Marley huffed, taking a sip of her coffee.
And then she caught sight of the look on her mother's face and felt bad. She hated being so rude to her parents. She really didn't mean it - she just couldn't help it. Her parents were actually nice people. They were lovely people - and they were still in love. Something she knew wasn't so common these days.
"You've seen how she is. We're just worried about her." Hermione sighed.
"I know, Mum."
"Are... are things okay with you and James now?"
Marley prayed that she wasn't blushing as she nodded to answer Hermione's question. She hated when her parents asked her about James.
"Did he give you that yesterday?" Hermione asked, gesturing towards Marley's wrist.
Marley had almost forgotten about the charm bracelet James had given her yesterday.
Almost.
"Yeah." Marley said, fiddling with it on her wrist. She looked up at her mother who had a smile on her face.
"What?" Marley groaned.
"You know he likes you, too." Hermione observed.
"Mum!" Marley shouted, desperately ready to get away from this conversation.
"And it doesn't matter that you bicker all the time. Me and your father argued a lot when we were at school and look at us now." Hermione said.
"Yes, but we all can't have a perfect love story like you and Dad." Marley groaned.
She watched as Hermione raised her eyebrows before running a hand through her hair and shaking her head. Marley was confused. When she had been younger and asked about her parents' life when they first fell in love, it had sounded magical.
It had been tough at first, and they had lost each other, but never lost the love they held for one another. When they found each other again, it was like falling in love all over again for the first time and they were married within months.
"Trust me, Marley. Me and your Dad had anything but a perfect love story at the beginning." Hermione sighed.
Before Marley could say anything else, Hermione had made her way back into the kitchen, leaving her alone. She pulled her legs back up on the couch, tucking them underneath herself and pulling the blanket onto her.
Before she could take a second and relax, the fireplace erupted into flames. Marley groaned. Her house was never a dull moment.
Much to her delight, James walked out of the fireplace. He was showered and dressed - unlike herself - and headed immediately to her side.
"Back already?" she said in a hushed voice.
"Yeah. I had to get out of the house." he groaned, grabbing Marley's coffee from her hand and taking a sip. "Mum and Dad are rowing. Drives me nuts to listen to it."
"What's it about this time?" Marley sighed.
She knew that Harry and Ginny were still incredibly in love, but fought all the time.
"Mum caught me coming back in through the Floo earlier." James said darkly.
Marley raised her eyebrows. "Shit."
"Yeah. Dad's calming her down, but going about it all the wrong way, as usual. I don't know. It'll be fine." he said.
"Yes, it will be."
"What do you say we get out of here today?"
Marley smiled at him, taking back her mug of coffee and batting her eyes expectantly at him.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Anywhere you want."
. . .
Something James loved about Marley was that she was always up for adventure, no matter what it was.
He watched as she beamed at him from the other side of the couch and once again knew that he had made the right choice in coming here instead of sitting at home and listening to his parents fight. He felt bad leaving Albus and Lily to listen by themselves, but he knew that he couldn't take them with him.
Before leaving, he had knocked on his parents door and politely told them to cast a silencing charm before continuing their row.
"Alright, well, I've just got to shower and dress and then I'm yours, okay?" she said, standing up almost instantly.
At her last few words, James felt his heart pound. He wished she was his.
"Okay."
Marley started for the stairs, leaving James alone on the couch. She paused on the stairs, turning around. He had been watching her the whole time, and smiled when she turned to face him.
"James?" she called out.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for the bracelet. It's really beautiful."
James felt his cheeks flush and looked down, hearing Marley's laugh fade as she walked up the stairs and into her room. He groaned as she left, thinking back to their almost kiss last night.
If the adults hadn't interrupted, would they have actually kissed?
James was almost certain they would have.
He had kissed a number of girls over the last few years, but he had never really liked any of them. It had always been Marley for him.
It would always be Marley.
"James?"
He looked up, finding Meredith in front of him by the fireplace. He smiled at her as he took in the sight of her reddened eyes. She had been crying.
"Are you okay?" James decided to ask.
She wiped an eye before nodding. He had seen Meredith upset a whole number of times - she almost always looked upset - over the years, but this time... he felt that something was really wrong.
Besides, she had always looked out for him. Why couldn't he do the same?
"Hey, Meredith. What's going on?" he asked, getting up and walking over to her.
"Nothing, James. It's - it's fine. Is Teddy home?" she said, stepping closer to the fire.
"Yeah, I think so." he said.
Before he could say another word, she stepped into the Floo and was gone.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Please read and review! xx