Chapter 7: Interlude: Growing Up
Interlude: Growing Up
Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K Rowling's characters. I just tinker-tanker.
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What did it mean to grow up?This elusive phrase became a constant reminder from parents when it became evident that the jungle of adulthood was no longer a distant dream but a very real terminus around the corner. Like everything else, the concept of 'growing up' took an uncorporeal form at Hogwarts and seemed removed from the iron sensibilities of the real world. From what the children could deduce, when they did feel like pondering about it in their magical paradise, 'growing up' was about thinking more and feeling less, doing what made your parents happy and checking off the boxes that fell in the category of Future Plans so that you could benefit from your actions at a later time—whatever those actions were and whenever that time was, no one had ever really explained. 'Growing up' meant late-night cram sessions for O.W.L's and becoming more attentive to the headlines of the daily news. It meant battling hormones, love, angst and all the other components in the Pandora's Box of puberty. It meant (god forbid anyone who should utter the word) Responsibility. Ultimately they all concluded, despite their limited understanding, that being grown up felt like the world had suddenly decided to lean on their shoulders.
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For Albus Potter, growing up meant popularity, Quidditch, and a girlfriend.
When Al entered his fifth-year at Hogwarts, he immediately succeeded Gemma Plighton and Zak Barrons as both Head Chaser and the youngest Quidditch Captain in Hogwarts history. No one complained. This resulted in a huge turning point in Al's life when he suddenly became the most sought-out person in his year. For someone who had never received so much attention in his life, Al became quite lost navigating the waters of the socially elite and became resolute in finding someone to be his companion in this new chapter of his life. Within days he approached Isabel Marrieto and proclaimed, while his hands shook tremulously by his sides, that 'he had never really believed they could be friends'. To his utter astonishment, she replied with a kiss.
Life was good. With regards to James, Al believed that his performance on the pitch had finally put his brother off his back for good, that eventually James would learn to accept there was enough room for talent for the both of them. Even if their relationship had splintered momentarily, Albus could see at long last the bright years stretching forward for the both of them in a golden, upward-winding path. He was certain that their broken brotherhood would be mended in time.
Yes. For Albus, growing up was fantastic. It meant having everything you'd always wanted.
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For Scorpius Malfoy, growing up meant misbehavior, mouthing off authority, and his sexual awakening.
Adolescence had done well for Scorpius-that much was easily said. While he wasn't the best-looking in the year, his wit and bold charisma had developed into weapons of charm. Combined with the fact that he'd grown a foot over the summer, acquired a wiry build from Quidditch and was a top student amongst the fifth-years, Scorpius drew girls to him like flies to honey. When one asked Scorpius Malfoy's admirers what exactly made him so attractive, it was customary for the answer to follow something along the lines of: "He doesn't care, but he also does, you know?" And that was precisely it. Scorpius was public with his consistently snarky and cavalier attitude, but no one could accurately say that they knew what he really thought. That's how Scorpius liked it. The idea of anyone accessing his mind, through Legilimancy or persuasion or otherwise, petrified Scorpius to the bone. He was certain this meant he was a sociopath or else why would he hold such terror over committing himself to any relationship, friendship or otherwise?
The older Scorpius became, the more it was revealed how much in shambles his life really was. If his parents' marriage was dissolving with each passing day, did love-this thing that made promises and broke them over and over again-really exist? If his professors and everyone else in the Wizarding world perceived his surname as a barrier to his success, why did he have to respect anyone's authority? Most importantly, why be in a hurry to transition into an adult when their world was filled with lies and prejudice? What was the bloody point of it all?
For Scorpius, growing up was disillusioning. It meant realizing that adulthood simply wasn't worth the price.
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For Rose Weasley, growing up meant breaking the mold, complex emotions, and new revelations.
Rose spent the summer before fifth year trying to 'find herself'. It was a romantic notion, a notion that had wormed itself into Rose's head after she had discovered an inexplicable treasure of Muggle authors stashed away in her mother's bookshelf. The books themselves exploded with enlightenment, opening a door in Rose's mind that she never knew had existed. How innovative and brilliant muggles were, the way they articulated the agonizing complexity of the human condition! It occurred to her that the other Weasleys had probably never heard of Nietzsche, Emerson, or even Winston Churchill—a suspicion that was confirmed when her cousins begged her to change the subject every time she brought them up at the dinner-table. The gap Rose had unknowingly placed between her and her family made her realize that if she could not find the answers to her growing questions at home, then she could find them in Muggle London.
And to Muggle London she went. She visited the iconic sites of the city, marveling how the lines blurred between Muggle history and their own. She observed the ingenuinity of lives without magic and realized that the Muggle world was infinitely complex, so much so that when she concentrated and thought about how any of it was possible her head began to hurt. Prejudice and hatred was just as powerful in the muggle world and certain idealogies revolving around the oppression of certain groups of people had ruled for centuries, but Rose learned that there was plenty of love too—love for people, love for God, love for science—science! Rose could spend an entire day in a science museum gawking at the inventions that had helped muggles overcome the physical forces without magic, speculating that this was a form of magic itself. Muggles fought, loved, and created amongst themselves every day, never knowing that the Wizarding world existed. There was so much to absorb of this massive, volatile world that Rose would return home wearily at the end of each day, not noticing Hermione's knowing smile when Rose treaded past her to lie defeatedly in her bed, more questions in her head than before she'd left, as was the nature of such things.
For Rose, growing up was an enigma. It meant trying to understand things before you even knew what they were.
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For Carpathia Nott, growing up meant casting off old skins and blossoming dreams.
Carpathia was a wanderer.
There were times in her mind that she saw herself as an animal—a big loping creature like the cows outside her family home, plowing through the tall, lilting grass of the highlands, utterly free, until perhaps some lonely obstacle rose to meet them. Instead of facing the obstacle, instead of trying to change it, the cows would simply shrug and move on. Their freedom to be true to themselves and to live their life was better than any sort of confrontation.
Carpathia liked to think she was as free as the cows grazing outside her window even if she knew better. She had often speculated that the Sorting Hat's decision to place her in Gryffindor was the beginning of her shedding the constraints that had plagued her like they were excess skin-an ironic analogy, since it was her shedding the house of serpents. As the years passed, her parents became increasingly demanding of her devotion to the family rules, as if she owed them for something that had been completely out of her control, so Carpathia's solution was to distance herself completely. Her silence around the household became an endless source of exasperation for her brother and Carpathia would look out the window, at the trundling, ignorant cows, as Gareth lectured over her in an attempt to hammer in the laws the Notts had lived by for centuries.
She knew this isolation was not her own. Her friendship with Albus Potter was a bright, beautiful anchor to what would have otherwise been a life of weightlessness. His kindness and the unassuming manner in which he held himself had locked in her heart the moment she'd seen him cornered defenselessly by Scorpius Malfoy. They became friends, shyly at first, then he told her that she was the bravest and most uncompromising person he'd ever met, and for the first time in her life Carpathia found herself longing to be forever around him, his limitless patience, and that feeling of admiration. When she realized after that Al did not feel for her the same way she had inexplicably begn to feel for him, she stashed her love in a dark corner and found solace in the company of Devon Lynch, who seemed just as lonely and misunderstood as she was. The cows in Carpathia's head treaded on and committed her puppy love as one innocent and without reason, like most things were in childhood.
But childhood was just a phase, and Carpathia had laid out plans for a life that had begun to wear itself out of its chains. She could not wait for that magical number of seventeen to break her free so that she could choose between the multitude of paths laid out for her, each more outlandish than the last—freedom, like she had for so long dreamt about.
For Carpathia, growing up was an adventure. It meant that at a certain point you would never have to look back.
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There will be several 'interludes' like this scattered among the stories. They're meant to emphasize a certain theme in the story. As you probably picked up, transitioning into adolescence is a pretty large influence in my Potter universe, which is why I decided to include it.
Next up: Scorpius is put in a situation of particular vulnerability, with no one but his two fellow redheads to turn to for help.
Thank you for all the helpful feedback!
Love,
Missuswitch