* I got a PM from someone asking if they could write a fanfic using Isobelle and Holden. I don't mind, as long as you credit me for my characters, and any other information I made particular to this story. It's honestly very flattering that I've created characters that ins[ire other people's imaginations, and it makes me feel quite proud of myself that I didn't just creat something to be read, but to be thought about!
*Oh, and to answer the question I've been asked at least thirty times, I'm 14 years old. I think I mentioned being a freshman at one point in TBaM, but if you didn't catch that, now you know!
The title of this chapter comes from the song 'Little Talks' by "Of Monsters & Men!" Check it out!
Rose comes into my room, a guilty look on her face. Nina is at her heels. "Mum says that breakfast is ready," she tells me quietly.
"Yeah, come eat breakfast, Belly!" Nina adds, flopping down on my bed.
"I'll take it in my room. Have a house-elf bring it," I say disinterestedly. I'm not in the mood for a family breakfast. Even though she's used to having them around, Rose seems about as uncomfortable with the idea of house-elves as Mum does. I'm not sure why, because I don't believe she'd rather bring my breakfast upstairs herself. Rose stands in the doorway for a while.
"Sorry…" She apologizes.
I wrinkle my eyebrows at my younger sister. "What are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry that you argued with Dad because of me and Scorpius," she says, chewing her bottom lip. How can Rose believe that was her fault?
"You didn't do it," I assure her. "It isn't your fault that Dad's narrow-minded and's got his head shoved too far up his ass to realize what I want." Nina giggles at my use of 'profane' language.
Rose frowns. "I'll go see about your breakfast," she mutters before turning away. Perfect, I've scared her off. I set my hairbrush down in front of my mirror. I have to be at the Ministry in about an hour. I'm rather anxious to get out of this place.
A house-elf appears in my room, carrying a breakfast tray. "Set it there," I instruct, gesturing to my bedside table. "And while I'm gone, I'd like my room cleaned. I want my linens changed, the bed turned down, my closet reorganized, my bathroom scrubbed down and all of my new robes ironed. Hang them back up when you're done," I say dismissively. The house-elf nods apprehensively before leaving.
Nina gets off my bed and comes over to where I'm sitting in front of my mirror. She begins playing with my hairbrush and the perfumes on my table. "Don't knock any of those over," I tell her.
"I won't," Nina assures me, holding a bottle up to her nose. She screws up her face and gives me an odd look. "Why do you wear this one? It smells nasty." I look at the label on the front and snatch it from Nina.
"That's not perfume!" I snap. "Give that to me!"
Nina gives me a confused look and reaches for another one. "What about this one?" She asks. "It looks funny!"
"No. Just… Get out of my room," I mutter.
"I just want to see what it smells like," Nina protests, picking up another bottle off of my table.
"I told you no!" I reach to take it from her. Nina won't let go. "Give-it-to-me!" I tug harder, and the bottle comes out of both our grasps and shatters on the floor. I watch as the remains of my calming draught seep into my carpet.
Nina's eyes widen. "Sorry, Belly," she apologizes.
"You little shit! I'm going to kill you!" I scream. Nina runs out of the room, and I chase after her. "Get back here!"
"What in Merlin's name is that noise?" Dad demands, standing at the end of the hallway with his arms crossed. Nina runs up to Dad and hides behind his legs.
"Daddy!" Nina shrieks. "Belly said she's going to kill me!"
Dad sighs and rubs his face with his hand. "What happened?" he questions, an annoyed lilt in his voice.
"Because of Nina, I don't have any more calming draught!" I tell Dad. "That was supposed to last me until the end of the month!"
"I'm sure you can get some more," Dad says nonchalantly, more concerned with the death-grip Nina has on his robes.
"You know I can't! This is great! Just bloody, sodding great!"
"Watch your mouth in front of your sister," Dad reprimands. I have a few choice words I'd like to use toward him.
"What's all that yelling?" Mum questions, coming upstairs.
"Your daughter is bothering me," I say, turning to stomp off.
"What's wrong with Belly?" I hear Nina whisper as I round the corner.
"She's just a bit on edge, dear," Mum says calmly. "I want you to do me a favor and go apologize to her okay?"
"Do I have to right now? She's really mad at me," Nina questions. She's right. If she walks back into my room, I'm liable to murder her.
"Not now, but I want you to do it, okay?" Mum says.
"Kay, Mummy." I hate how this is completely Nina's fault, and yet I'm made out to look like the bad person. Merlin, does that situation ever remind me of someone. I glance at the spilled potion on my carpet in disgust. Seems as if the house-elves will have one more thing to do while I'm gone.
I knock on the door of the office apprehensively. Immediately it opens, and I'm met by a young blonde man, who already has a frown on his face.
"What do you want?" He demands.
"Are you Simon Montague?" I question, hoping to all higher beings that the answer is no. I don't want to be stuck with this git for Merlin knows how long.
"I am. Are you from Hogwarts?" He questions. Well, that's a stupid question if I ever heard one.
I shake my head. "No."
"What school, then?" Why is he assuming that I'm a student?
"I don't come from any school," I say impatiently.
"You aren't my summer intern?" Simon questions, looking a mixture between confused and annoyed.
"That's what I'm doing, then…" I mutter under my breath. Great. I know what 'intern' means. I'm almost positive it's interchangeable with the word 'slave'.
"Excuse me?" Simon questions. I really don't like him, and I've known him for all of two minutes.
"Never mind."
"Who are you, then?"
"Isobelle Malfoy." Simon wrinkles his eyebrows and regards me as if I'm telling a joke.
"I've heard of you." His voice suggests that he hasn't heard good things. "I must say, I expected you to be taller."
"Does my height make me any less qualified?" I retort, narrowing my eyes.
Simon curls his lip at me. "No, but your insolent attitude certainly does." He says the word 'insolent' as if he's speaking to a child.
"I don't trust the reason I'm here is to have a conversation outside your office?" I ask hotly. Simon shakes his head and reluctantly invites me into his office. It's dark and cold, but the furnishing is nice, and the room smells like mint. Simon closes the office door with his wand, and then thrusts a stack of papers in my hand.
"You can begin by filing these," he mutters, not even glancing in my direction before having a seat at his desk.
"What are they?" I question, looking them over. They all seem to be full of names and personal information.
"Papers. Haven't you seen any before?" Simon questions sarcastically. What a prick.
"That wasn't what I meant. Are you always so rude?"
"Are you always so insubordinate?"
"I wasn't raised to take orders from other people," I inform Simon bitterly.
"Well it appears that your father hasn't properly prepared you to earn a job, now has he?" Simon retorts. Even though he isn't looking at me, I can see a smirk etched upon his face. Of course, I haven't the slightest idea of how to get a job. For more than half my life, I'd been raised under the impression that I was a pureblooded witch. Pureblood women don't work under any circumstance, at least not in my family. Being a pureblood himself, Simon would know that.
"Simon-"
"Mr. Montague," Simon corrects. As if I'm going to call him that. He can't be more than a few years older than me.
"Simon's fine, thank you. May I ask, what is it you do?"
Simon sets his quill down and glares at me. "You seem to be doing a lot more talking than filing," he observes. I swear, if I wouldn't get in trouble, I'd give him a nice suggestion as to where he could stick his bloody papers.
"I'm only curious," I say innocently, rifling through the papers. "You're a social worker, aren't you?"
"I'm a social lawyer. Why do you say that?" Simon asks. Merlin, can't people just answer bloody questions when they're asked?
"Because I've seen papers like these, a long time ago, when I was a lot younger," I say vaguely. Being well acquainted with Simon's job, I know that he's the one that handles the divorces and annulments, and custodial hearings. He has the same job as Mr. Zabini.
"I would suppose you have, haven't you?" Simon questions.
"How would you…?"
"Your case is quite famous, especially among lawyers," Simon explains. "Now quit bothering me. I have work to do."
"How often are these updated?" I question, ignoring Simon's previous request. I think I may have an idea.
"Honestly, do you ever quit talking?" I ignore him.
"How often?" I question again.
"Annually," Simon answers curtly, rolling his eyes. If that's the case, then there must be papers somewhere in here that have information on Ron and Astoria, since they've been divorced and annulled from my parents. It would have their addresses, who they're currently married to now, and records on their children and such. Perhaps being an intern isn't so terrible.
I glance over my shoulder to make sure I'm not being watched. Simon is looking down, reading a letter and has probably forgotten that I exist at the moment. Quickly, I glance at the file cabinet, wondering where the papers on Astoria and Ron must be kept. Obviously, they're in alphabetical order.
"Weasley… Weasley… ah, here," I mutter, removing a piece of paper from the drawer.
"What was that?" Simon questions.
"Nothing, I was just, er… admiring your neatness," I lie. Either Simon believes me, or he just plain doesn't care, because he doesn't say anything else. I open a different drawer and grab the file with Astoria's name on it as well. I fold both pieces of parchment and shove them into my robes pocket. "I've finished," I announce.
Simon glances upward. "And you managed to do it all without a step-ladder," he congratulates me, faking a bemused expression. I inwardly roll my eyes.
"You really should try to be more original," I suggest. "I think I'll grow quite tired of your height jokes by tomorrow.
Simon taps his finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, that's right, Father won't allow me to sack you," He tells me, as if I should be very afraid. How the hell am I supposed to get fired from a job that I'm not even being paid to do?
"Well, you might just luck out and I won't come back tomorrow," I say nonchalantly, crossing my arms. Simon smirks at me.
"As if either of your parents would allow that," he scoffs.
"What does it matter what my parents would allow?" I demand, narrowing my eyes. Simon shrugs.
"Well, your mother put all this hard work into finding you something to do. The way she spoke about you, I assumed you were younger," He explains in a taunting voice. I absolutely will not let such an asshole like him bother me.
"That just goes to show how misleading assumptions can be, doesn't it?" I question, my jaw clenched. "Do you have anything else for me to do?"
Simon hands me some more papers. "Take these down the hall."
"Making rounds wasn't in the job description," I mutter.
"Apparently, neither was any kind of work ethic."
"Do you think my dad would like me?" Rose asks quietly, giving me a hesitant look.
I nod. "Of course, your father would like you. Why would you ask something like that?" Rose shrugs.
"I don't know. Didn't you ever wonder if Mum would like you?" When she puts it like that, it is a fair question.
"Yeah, all the time I did. But you know that your father likes you. I knew absolutely nothing about Mum," I point out. Rose purses her lips.
"What if he doesn't anymore?" She questions hesitantly.
"Don't even think on that," I tell her. "That isn't a possibility. Now, let me ask you something."
Rose wrinkles her eyebrows. "What?"
"What's got you and Scorpius so interested in your parents all of a sudden? You've never asked about them before." I would assume that it's just a part of growing up, but Rose and Scorpius have never showed even the slightest sign that it bothered them who their parents were.
Rose shrugs. "I dunno. Well, at school a lot of people asked me about my dad and stuff, and I didn't really know what to say, and so they would just look at me odd. It was just...so...em-embarrassing..." Rose bows her head, and her shoulders begin to shake with quiet sobs. It must have been torture for her to go to Hogwarts and have students constantly asking her about her famous father. It must have been even worse that she didn't really know anything, nor could she remember it.
I pull my younger sister closer to me. "You shouldn't be embarrassed, Rose. You shouldn't ever be embarrassed by something that you have no control over," I tell her quietly, stroking her hair.
Rose shakes her head slowly. "But, I a-am. I f-feel like I should know th-these things but I d-don't..." she protests. It hurts me more than anything to know that Rose and Scorpius might feel as empty as I felt for all those years. I wouldn't even wish that sort of feeling on my worst enemy.
"It's difficult, I know. But no matter what happens, things are going to work out. I promise. Hey, you know something?" I question. Rose looks up at me, and her lower lip is still quivering.
"What?" her voice is so quiet, it seems that only her lips are forming the words.
"You have two parents that love you unconditionally. That's already more than I knew I had," I tell her.
Rose seems to be considering this, but she doesn't look completely bought. "I know..." she mutters. "Which is why I'm afraid to say something to Mum. What if things get ruined between Mum and your Dad because I want to see mine?" I know it isn't fair, but I feel slightly annoyed when Rose points out that we don't have the same father. I want to remind her that Dad's been more of a father to her than Ron, but I don't want to upset her any more.
"Get ruined? What do you mean?" I ask instead.
"Well, Dad sort of left Mum because of you..." Rose says this hesitantly, as if she's afraid of hurting my feelings. My feelings are hurt, but I know that Rose is right. I can't hold it against her, because she didn't mean it in a rude way. I just don't want her to begin blaming me for this, but I fear that she will.
"Other things were going on too," I add, trying not to discourage her. Rose seems to sense that I'm slightly upset by her comment.
"But what if it does ruin things between Mum and Dad? I could never live with that." Oh, and I can? According to most, I'm the reason both my parent's marriages failed. I've dealt with that for seven years.
"Look, if Mum and Dad separate because of this, then they didn't really love each other like we thought, right?"
Rose's eyes widen and she gives me a slightly shocked look. "You mean my Dad never loved Mum?" She asks.
"I put my hand to my forehead and sigh. "No, that's not what I was saying. I just meant that, if Dad was ever willing to leave Mum because of this, then we wouldn't want them together anyway, right? That would mean he didn't care enough about you or Mum to think of what you want," I explain. I know that I've confused Rose, but she nods politely and pretends not to show it.
"But you always say that Dad doesn't know what you want," she reminds me.
"That's different, you see. Dad and I, well we've been together the longest out of everyone in this family. I mean, there was a point when it was just us. No Mum, no Scorpius, no Scorpius' mum, it was just the two of us. I suppose it was for that reason that Dad and I grew so close, which makes all this feel even more confusing. We've both changed a lot. There's no way that this won't change you, so be prepared for that."
Rose frowns slightly, and her eyebrows come together. "But I like who I am," she tells me, sounding quite conflicted. "At least I think I do..."
"Changing doesn't necessarily mean that you become a completely different person," I inform her. "Changing can just mean realizing certain things about yourself that you didn't know before."
"What did you realize about yourself?" Rose asks curiously.
I purse my lips in thought, thinking of something that will benefit Rose to know. "I suppose I realized that I never really spoke up for myself. I kind of just let my grandparents and Scorpius' mother say what they wanted to me, and I didn't say anything back," I answer.
Rose shakes her head in disbelief. "That can't be true, you always argue with Mum and Dad," she tells me.
I roll ny eyes and smile with guilt. "It is true. As for what's going on between Mum and Dad, I suppose it all stems from the same thing. But at the same time it's different, you wouldn't understand. Anyway, it's you we're talking about, not me." My relationship with Rose probably isn't as strong as a sibling relationship could be. Of course, my relationship with her isn't the same as mine is with Scorpius. Still, I've always felt as if we never really bonded, or had any strong common ground beyond our looks. Don't get me wrong, I love Rose just as much as I love all my other siblings, but we're about as close as distant cousins who only see each other on important holidays like Christmas and Easter, not siblings who live together. I try my hardest to be someone who Rose can look up to, but half the time, I'm convinced that I don't do too well at that.
"I know. But you know more about this than I do."
I sigh and give Rose another hug. "I don't know as much as you think I do," I admit.
Rose looks at me as if I'm mad. "You know a lot of things she tells me."
"Like what?" I question, waiting for her to humor me. One thing about Rose is that she always tries her hardest to make you feel better about yourself. I hope she never loses that trait.
"Well, you know how to pick out really nice clothes. You know a lot about books, and you always give me good ones to read," Rose answers. "And you know how Scorpius and I feel."
I give Rose a small smile to let her know I appreciate her telling me that. "What does Scorpius think of all this?"
"It bothers him the same way he bothers me. But he says that he knows his Mum misses him. I don't know how, but he says that he knows it," Rose answers. If Astoria is still the same selfish snake she was, then that can't be true. I'm sure Scorpius is just being hopeful.
"Does he remember her?" I ask. Rose nods, and then shakes her head.
"Well, he told me he remembers her face a little bit. Like if he ever saw her again, he could recognize her,but it's still fuzzy. Kind of like with my dad. I'd only know him if I saw him," she explains. As sad as it is, I have to consider Rose and Scorpius a bit lucky. I wouldn't have known my mother no matter how many times I saw her. "He says he remembers her voice a bit too, but only the way she said his name. He says he wants to hear it again some day." I hated Astoria, but that right there nearly breaks my heart. It also hurts that Scorpius apparently misses Astoria so much, but he told Rose about it, not me. I don't mean to sound bitter our resentful, but I've known Scorpius his entire life, and he used to tell me everything. Does he blame me for Astoria's absence?
"Oh," I say to myself, not knowing any other way to respond.
Rose nods solemnly. "I know we've been talking a while, and I've been thinking of something the whole time..." she mutters, her voice trailing off. The cross between uncertainty and hopefulness in her eyes makes me wonder if that's how I looked when I was her age.
"What is it?"
Rose takes a deep breath, and she's suddenly interested with her hands in her lap. "Well, Father's Day is in a couple weeks, and I was wondering if...never mind, it's stupid," Rose says, shaking her head.
"You were wondering if you could possibly see you father by then?" I guess.
Rose nods slowly. "D'you think so?"
I honestly don't know what to say, because I believe the chances of that happening are very slim. I don't want to admit that to Rose and let her down, though. "I don't know. Maybe," I say, trying my best to sound hopeful. I hope my voice is convincing enough.
Teddy glances at me from over the rim of his coffee mug. "Wow," hey says. "I never thought I'd see that coming. They always looked so happy."
I nod in agreement. "I never thought they'd ask, either. But, it's not that they're just asking, they actually miss their parents," I tell him. I decided to talk to Teddy about this, because he always knows what to do. I can always go to him for advice. "And I'm sure they, Rose especially, expect me to do something to bring them back just because I understand what they're going through. It's like they think I have some power in this."
"Well, do you?" Teddy questions, raising an eyebrow. I hold a silent debate in my head on whether I should tell him about the papers I got from Simon's office. It's Teddy I'm speaking to, and I can trust him no matter what. It can't hurt.
"I suppose..." I say. "Do you know Simon Montague?"
Teddy scoffs and nods. "Do I? He was a year above me in Slytherin, also the biggest prick I ever met," he tells me. I couldn't have said it better myself.
"That's the very one," I say. "Well, he works at the Ministry..."
"Yeah, you're interning there, right?" Teddy questions. I nod, and annoyed expression on my face.
"For Simon. Basically, I'm just doing all the shit he's to lazy to do himself," I answer. "Did you know that he's a social lawyer?" Teddy shakes his head.
"Really? I never imagined that git to be in a profession that involved helping other people..." I don't know Simon too well, but I was a bit amazed by it as well.
"And he made me file all the new papers. They were pretty recent, and they had one on Ron and one on Astoria," I continue, hoping Teddy will get this picture. I can tell he realizes what I did when his eyes widen just a bit.
"You took them, didn't you?" I nod.
"You can't tell anyone," I make him promise. "And besides, I'm going to return them." Teddy seems fine with this once I tell him I plan on giving the papers back.
"What are you going to do with them?" He questions.
I shrug. "There are a lot of things I could do, I suppose. Write them, go to their houses, just about anything. But there really isn't anything that I want to do. I want to get things sorted first. If I tell Scorpius about this, and then tell him not to do anything rash, it'll be as if I never even spoke," I explain.
"That's true," Teddy agrees. "What do you think about it?" I'm getting a bit annoyed with being asked this question, because it's a bit difficult to answer. I'm not sure whether he means in general, or just in my particular situation.
"Well, every child should get to meet their parents if they can," I say, not trying to shed too much light on Teddy's particular predicament. "But in the case of Ron and Astoria, that changes things. I really don't know. I think Rose and Scorpius should know their parents, but the thought frightens me, because I know who their parents are, especially Astoria," I tell Teddy.
He nods solemnly. "Yeah, definitely. But at the same time, if Rose meets Ron, it's only fair that Scorpius meets Astoria."
"Exactly," I agree. "That's what I'm afraid of."
"Does Hugo ever wonder about Ron?" Teddy questions matter-of-factly.
I shake my head. "Never. He treats Dad, like he's just as much his parent as Mum. He really likes him," I answer. Speaking of that, one thing I'm glad about is that Scorpius and Rose feel comfortable with their step-parents. One of the reasons I wanted to meet Mum was so that I could have a parenting figure in my life that wasn't as terrible as Astoria.
"That's good," Teddy says. "Rose gets on with him, too."
"Yeah, and Scorpius gets on with with Mum. Did Rose and Scorpius seem any different this year?" Granted, I've only really seen Rose and Scorpius about three times since last September, I don't really know how different they are. I'm still trying to find out.
"Not really, at least not to me anyway. I never knew they were so close, though. Connected at the hip those two were, even after the sorting," he tells me. It's no secret how close Rose and Scorpius are. They may as well be full siblings, better yet twins. Ironically enough, Rose is only a handful of days older than Scorpius.
"Oh, they're very protective of the other," I inform Teddy. Scorpius won't say so, but he's very protective of all his siblings, including me. "But they just don't seem like themselves, you know?"
"I'm sure you didn't feel like yourself when all that rubbish was going on with your dad and Aunt Hermione," Teddy points out. He's right, I felt like a completely different person.
"I don't want them to feel like that," I tell Teddy. "Especially Scorpius. Merlin knows the kid's been through the ringer."
Teddy puts his hand on my shoulder in a comforting touch. "It's great that you care about them so much," He tells me.
"Well, I didn't really have anyone in my family there for me," I point out, shrugging nonchalantly. "Except for you. I just don't want them to feel like no one understands them, because I do. It's just that at the same time, I don't know if it's best for their parents to be back, maybe not right now anyway."
Teddy wrinkles his eyebrows and gives me an odd look. "What do you mean 'not right now'?" He questions.
"I just mean, when they're older. There are some things about Astoria that Dad and I aren't quite ready to let Scorpius know just yet," I remind him. I know it isn't anywhere near fair to keep Scorpius in the dark about his mother, but I think it may be what's best for him.
"What about Rose?" Teddy asks.
"I don't know. I mean, she's very mature, but at the same time I know that she's a lot more nervous about everything than she'll let anyone know. I see so much of myself in Rose," I admit. "But I think she's a hell of a lot more levelheaded than I was."
A light smirk comes across Teddy's face. "It would be difficult not to be. So, what are you thinking?" I want to admit to Teddy that I don't really know yet, because I don't. For some reason, I feel a bit guilty about not knowing how to help Scorpius and Rose. I wonder if I would feel the same way if I wasn't one of the reasons their parents left.
(A/N: So, I hoped you liked this chapter! It's beginning to get more serious again, like TBaM was... It's starting to become obvious that Rose and Scorp's parents being gone affected them, and they do think about it, just like Isobelle did. I really hope that you guys kind of get what's going on with Isobelle's feelings. Her thoughts on Rose and Scorp meeting their parents are starting to mirror Draco's... interesting... Hope you liked the chap!
Thanks for reading! Leave a review! Let me know any predictions you have for what's to come!)