CHAPTER 15: WHEN ITS TIME TO GO

A new year had finally arrived on the calendar, a year which for many people was synonymous with hope but also with fear for others who believed that this change of century rhymed with the end of the world. So far, no cataclysm had happened; not even the smallest tornado could cause some damage or even an unnamed drought causing famine and poverty. The colorful fields heralded an excellent harvest to come, the weather was hot and dry, and from a political point of view, the United Kingdom had never been better off for a long time, especially thanks to the recent naval victories against the French in Aboukir, Malta, and in Copenhagen against the Danes, ensuring a certain stability and power to the country against its long-time rivals.

Even the Egyptian campaign undertaken by the French almost two years ago was beginning to turn to the advantage of the British, and it was only a matter of weeks before Malta was taken back from their hands. Yes, the country lived under excellent auspices, but everything was not always rosy within its regions.

For the moment, summer had already long settled in the country, and its warm and luminous rays began to emerge very early in the morning, inviting themselves into every English home to dislodge the occupants. The smallest room in Potter Manor was no exception to the rule, and in less time than it took, the light of the sun invited itself into this room to disturb its occupant, a little lady with long auburn hair which shone brightly as soon as the sun's rays approached them.

The young lady, who was none other than Rosie, was, despite her closed eyes and the deep sleep in which she was plunged, dazzled by the brightness illuminating her face. At this contact, her eyes narrowed almost naturally as she awoke little by little to this new day while grumbling about this more than brutal method of waking up.

But even when she turned around to put her back to her window and thus have the opportunity to go back to sleep, her mirror placed near the door became just as playful as the stained glass windows and automatically reflected the shine of the sun right in her face. Attacked from all sides, Rosie admitted defeat and began to blink to get used to the light in her room and still try to start this day off on the right foot.

"I should have closed the curtains last night…," she grumbled, stretching her arms. "This will teach me to stay up late..."

No one could blame her for spending her evenings with her nose in a book just like Harry did when he was still there, but it was precisely to remember his habits that she had also taken it into her head to teach until hours that her mother would find indecent for a little girl of her age. It was also about him that she dreamed again that night, a dream which was just like the others, wonderful, full of joy and joy, and where she saw her family finally complete and gathered around a delicious meal. A meal where everyone exchanged old memories with the others, laughing, toasting, and having fun with the escapades they had been able to get up to while taking advantage of the presence of the other to reconnect the bonds broken three years ago.

"I would really like our reunion to be like this…," she said thoughtfully, smiling tenderly at the image of Harry that she had in mind. "I can't wait to see you again, big brother..."

Lost in her thoughts, Rosie didn't even notice that she had been sitting on her bed for almost five minutes, looking without even realizing it at the young girl who appeared in the reflection of her mirror and who just like her seemed to have her head elsewhere. Rosie was now seven years old, only a year younger than Harry had been when he left home more than three years ago now, but his sister tried to think about it as little as possible so as not to fall again in a deep feeling of lack and sadness thinking of his absence.

Her body, although still retaining the curves of childhood, gradually began to gain shape and finesse and already gave her a slender appearance approaching that of her mother. Suffice to say that there was no shortage of suitors, but strangely, James had not yet made his choice regarding his daughter's future husband. Perhaps out of fear of seeing her one day in the arms of a man? Out of a desire to keep her with him as long as possible? To delay as much as possible the deadline when she would leave home permanently to settle down with her husband? Nothing of that.

The only thing that explained the fact that she wasn't engaged yet was simply that he hadn't received any satisfactory offers yet. His daughter was obviously just a pile of flesh to be sold to the highest bidder, and in this market, families were literally jostling to get the best part: What could be better after all than to betroth their son to the sister of the national hero and link him to Britain's most famous family? Everyone bid, even the Malfoys, despite Rosie's half-blood status.

The latter obviously had no suspicion concerning her fate, James most often doing this behind her back, but despite everything, the few comments she received from time to time during the social dinners where her family was invited made her feel reluctant. all the flea in the ear.

"A fine and graceful face... high cheekbones... Excellent posture... This little one is a credit to the Black blood flowing through her..." was the kind of comment she could hear from time to time.

Her grandmother was, after all, a direct member of the Black lineage, a family considered by many to be the most noble and respected and always giving birth to new members later renowned for their beauty, and Rosie was very touched that day. - there that we even indirectly affirm to her that she was the worthy representative, and at the same time that we tell her that she resembled her dear grandmother who so tragically passed away. However, the same could not be said of his brother who continued to gain volume over time and who undoubtedly weighed the same as a normal fifteen-year-old.

"Maybe Matthew isn't a real Potter, or maybe the Black blood didn't see fit to get into him because it considered him unworthy to be one of its representatives." she had said to herself once, suppressing a giggle when she saw her brother waddling in the middle of the dance floor at a party organized by the Minister of Magic.

Just as her body began to transform, so did her personality itself, and although currently only seven years old, Rosie, in her mother and Remus' own words, possessed a clairvoyance and unusual maturity, sometimes giving the impression to others that she was much older than she appeared. The fault perhaps lay with the events unfolding around her and the machinations and other twists of which she had learned to know the signs and to be wary of them, or quite simply to the drama unfolding in her family and the climate in which she had lived for several years.

The time of games and laughter had long since given way to a heavy and constantly hostile climate where everyone observed the other like an earthenware dog, ready to attack at the slightest misstep or to receive blows when the situation did not go their way. in favor, and more often than not, it was she who was in the second category. In two years, many things had changed around her, but rarely for the better.

The most notable change was certainly the behavior of her father towards her, a father whom she had hated for a long time and who had ended up coming to blows to instill his values in her. Harry was the first sufferer of the family, but in less than a year she took over the sad torch left by her brother to become in turn James' favorite outlet. Slaps, spankings, belting, deprivation and other prohibitions became his daily lot, and his father even seemed to become more and more sadistic over time.

For example, it was not uncommon for her to have to sleep in the cellar or among the house elves on an old pallet as punishment for having behaved in a way that displeased James. But unlike Harry, Rosie did not give in and persisted in provoking her father by speaking out against him, a risk-taking which largely explained why she was punished so often. Her strong character, added to her sense of repartee and the almost condescending way she used to vilify and judge her father earned her numerous praises, notably from her mother and the Greengrasses, but the other side of the coin also came to her in full. appears in these moments.

"This kid is absolutely astonishing…" Sirius even admitted one evening after yet another meal during which Rosie once again protested against James' behavior. "My mother would have killed to have a daughter like her…"

Coming from him, Rosie might have been happy to hear those words come out of his mouth, but only if she could ever bond with him. Unfortunately, Sirius was a stranger to her, a man she absolutely did not want to know and who in any case had never done anything to learn about her himself. These compliments were therefore ineffective and unworthy of his interest. It was only those of Remus who never stopped praising her intelligence and those of her mother who mattered to her, the rest was insignificant compared to that.

But if her personality pushed her to act against James, it was quite different for her mother who, during the same two-year period, became a shadow of the woman she once was. The fault unfortunately fell to her, and Rosie never stopped blaming herself for the day she had indulged in insulting remarks towards Matthew. Even going up to her room and despite several layers of stone and wood separating it from the living room, Rosie could clearly hear the discussion between her parents, a discussion that quickly turned into a settling of scores.

Lily initially seemed to lead the debates by once again reproaching her husband's scandalous behavior towards their daughter and the obvious preference he had for Matthew over his two other children. His attitude towards her, the choices he had made concerning Harry, the decisions he had made for the family, his almost blinding loyalty to Dumbledore... Everything was there, even more trivial things like the thousands of galleons he spent every month to satisfy the whims of his youngest son.

James took his wife's reprimands without flinching, but when she came to talk about the situation in their relationship, Rosie understood why some Death Eaters might have feared James during the War and why most chose to flee rather than die. confront. His screams shook the walls of the mansion, and the crystal chandelier in the living room tinkled so hard that she felt like she was right next to him. Even several meters away, Rosie was frightened by her father's new behavior, and she couldn't imagine the reaction her mother must have had at the same moment.

The exchange between the two was in any case very heated, each trying to be the most noisy and contemptuous of the other, until a sharp noise cut their discussion short. Rosie couldn't determine what the noise was, at least at first, but from then on, Lily suddenly became silent despite her husband's admonitions.

"Things are going to change here from now on" were the last words spoken by James that she heard before she heard the front door of the mansion slam violently. Their daughter did not dare reappear all day, terrified for the first time in a long time at the idea of showing herself in front of her father, but despite everything, her mother's fate also worried her.

This noise wasn't normal, and the idea that James might have done something to her was entirely possible for her. But she preferred to wait until the next day, once things had calmed down, to find out more about what had happened between them. The truth finally dawned on her at breakfast when she entered the kitchen. The elves were busy preparing the family's meal and didn't even pay attention to her, but it didn't matter: The sight her mother presented was absolutely awful to see. The wheels of her brain kicked into overdrive that day, and it took her only a few seconds to realize that for the first time since their marriage, James had used violence not against her, nor against her brother Harry, but simply on his own wife. The blow must have been very violent in any case for her to be left with a bruise next to her eye and a slightly swollen face, and despite Lily's protests and attempts to make her believe that she had simply fallen, her daughter was not fooled and made her confess the truth after a long time.

James had lost his patience the day before and had simply ended the debate by slapping her—a radical way to silence her but one that had left more than visible marks on her. However, caught in a rush of euphoria, thinking he had finally found a way to subdue her, her husband didn't stop there. He imposed a radical change in her life—limiting her contact with other people to the strict minimum, monitoring her Floo and mail conversations (wrongly believing she had a lover), and, above all, demanding impeccable behavior towards him, starting with a return to the marital bed without her being able to object. Her mother had become an amorphous woman, an empty shell incapable of rebelling, except when James raised a hand against her daughter. No one could help her, not even Remus, who was banned from staying with them by his now ex-friend. Notifying the authorities was as laughable as Matthew suddenly becoming intelligent and excelling at learning magic.

"Impossible," she breathed, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling of her room. "Merlin himself wouldn't be able to teach this idiot anything."

The only remaining solution was for her mother to flee from the manor, but James and Dumbledore quickly dismissed this idea. Delighted to finally have control over her, Dumbledore assisted James in using spells to keep Lily within the manor's perimeter. For over a year, Lily had been unable to leave without James' authorization, which he used as an opportunity to accompany her wherever she went, preventing any chance of escape.

This was now the life that Rosie and her mother led within Potter Manor—a life where they had to fight every day to survive, always on high alert, and where the slightest misstep could be very painful if not fatal. Even living with the Malfoys wouldn't have been as difficult as living with James, despite Lucius being by far the most despicable and unsympathetic being on Earth.

"A new day begins," she sighed, pushing these ugly thoughts from her head. "I hope it will be different from the others..."

Now fully aware of what she was saying and doing, Rosie decided it was high time to get ready. There was no better way to start the morning than with a nice hot bath. When it came to choosing clothes, the decision was less distracting, as most of her clothes were several years old without the possibility of buying new ones. Despite her meticulous search, no clothes were to her taste, and none suited her. James didn't spend any money on her wardrobe, and her old dresses served as everyday clothing, even when they were several inches too short.

"I should ask Tory to give me some of her things," she muttered pitifully, embarrassed at the idea of having to ask for help from her best friend.

She settled on a dress in colorful tones ideal for the summer day. The desire to wear it as quickly as possible ignored everything else. After getting ready, dressing, and combing her hair, she realized it had taken thirty minutes for her to judge herself presentable enough. With a final sigh, she gathered up her courage and opened the door to her room to go have breakfast.

The manor was quiet, and not a sound, except for her brother's snoring, disturbed the tranquility. A delicious smell of cooking bacon and a mouth-watering fruity aroma greeted her as she entered the kitchen. The cook, whoever it was, had exceptional skills. The path she took to come and inquire about this person was as silent as possible, and even the treacherous step that usually creaked every time someone set foot on it remained silent when she accidentally stepped on it. Maybe the day was off to a good start, or perhaps someone had finally repaired it.

Guided by the smell of breakfast, Rosie arrived in the kitchen—a room of decent size and overloaded with kitchen utensils from floor to ceiling. A simple oval-shaped wooden table sat in the center, adorned with an abundant quantity of food waiting to be eaten. The only other person present in the kitchen was her mother, who, for the moment, had her back turned to her, busy cooking dishes for their guests. No elves were there to lend her a hand, but Rosie knew that to make the most of one of the last hobbies James allowed her to do, Lily had undoubtedly dismissed the little creatures to have the free field.

"Hello, Mom," she said, walking towards her.

"Oh, Rosie, did you sleep well?" her mother asked, turning towards her while cleaning her fingers on the apron she was wearing.

Her daughter nodded before wrapping Lily in a hug, as she had gotten into the habit of doing every morning. As her mother tenderly kissed the top of her head, Rosie took the opportunity to examine her in more detail—a habit she had had for almost two years now. In such a short time, Lily had changed a lot, but not in a good way. Her once luminous complexion, envied by all the witches of Great Britain, had long since lost its radiance, replaced by pale, scarred skin. Her eyes, once bursting with life, were now sad, dull, empty, as if haunted, while her gaze was more intimidating due to the heavy dark circles under her eyes. Even her hair, once her pride, had lost its shine like the rest.

This sad spectacle failed each time to make her burst into tears. Rather than feeling sorry for her mother's fate, Rosie preferred to be very protective of her, spending her time exclusively in her company and not caring for anything else in the world. She wouldn't even leave her for a day to spend time with her friend Astoria, intending to show her mother that despite everything that happened, she was always there for her and would never abandon her. It was better than watching Lily slowly die without reacting. Rosie suspected that if she hadn't been there for her, Lily would have killed herself a long time ago, trapped in the marital home.

"The meal is almost ready; you should go and sit down," she invited, leading Rosie to one of the chairs. "Pancakes?"

"Oh, yes! Better to start with the good stuff before Matthew shows up. I still haven't forgotten the little scene he made yesterday to get them all... He can go scratch now; I won't leave him anything at all!"

"Rosie," Lily scolded lightly as she returned to her stove. "You shouldn't act like that towards your brother; there's already enough tension in this house..."

"But I can't do anything about it, Mom!" she whispered, crossing her arms behind her head. "Matthew is an idiot who thinks of his stomach first before everyone else!"

Her mother didn't answer her openly, but Rosie was pretty sure she heard her mutter, "Food is the only thing he bothers to fight for..." Hence the little mocking smile she now wore while her mother continued to cook.

"Is James still sleeping?" she finally asked after a few minutes.

"He came home late last night," Lily replied, not scolding her for referring to her father by his first name. "We shouldn't see him for a while, just enough to spend a morning between mother and daughter!"

"So much the better in that case! Rosie rejoices, already thinking of what they could do together. "It's been a long time since we spent some time just the two of us!"

The minutes that followed allowed them to take full advantage of each other's presence, each questioning the other on this or that subject while obviously omitting to broach the unfortunate subjects that could make them uncomfortable. Seeing her mother in a good mood was an opportunity for Rosie to rejoice in her father's absence. Unfortunately, he would wake up sooner or later, and this little moment of intimacy would quickly be forgotten by his arrival among them.

"Today is a pretty special day, you know?" Lily said, coming back to her, one of her hands busy balancing a stack of pancakes topped with honey which she placed in front of Rosie. "Your godmother informed me that something very special would happen today..."

"Ah good? Rosie wondered, wondering what Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and incidentally godmother, could have said. "What is it?"

"Oh, I don't know if I can tell you this..." her mother replied innocently, biting into a waffle.

"Oh, come on, Mom! You know very well that I won't leave you alone until you tell me what you're hiding!"

Lily just happily bit into her pastry under her daughter's impatient look. Tickling Rosie's curiosity was so easy that anything could interest her, even the smallest anecdote. But the information she was going to give her was more than worth marinating her like this.

"Very well, madam, you would have known very quickly anyway. So today…we receive a letter from Hogwarts."

"A letter?" Rosie repeated, a little disappointed. "That's all?"

"But this letter is very important! It concerns a particular person."

Skeptical at first, Rosie quickly understood who her mother was referring to, and this announcement brought a huge smile to her face. Her big brother Harry was going to receive his letter from Hogwarts, a letter which announced his imminent return to her and her mother and thus put an end to his estrangement. Not holding it, Rosie simply threw herself at her mother, happy at the idea of being able to do the same with her brother in a short time.

"Does that mean he can come home today?" she asked, raising her head slightly towards Lily. "Nothing stands in the way of it in any case. After all, James wanted to keep him away for three years until he was old enough to go to Hogwarts, and that deadline ends as soon as he receives his letter. We could go visit him today!"

The prospect of seeing Harry again so quickly excited Rosie even more, who had been waiting for this moment for so long now. Three years... How time passed quickly. Her brother must have changed so much in the meantime. From the fearful and sad eight-year-old boy at the idea of being separated from his family, he was now a boy about eleven years old—no doubt tall and still just as intelligent, but who would unfortunately resemble a miniature version of James Potter at the same age. The only thing she feared in this reunion was undoubtedly the resentment or even the anger that he might have towards them for their absence and their inability to hear from him by going to see him or by sending him mail. Harry would blame them for that, and she herself would react in this way if she had been in the same situation. Explaining to him that the reason for this silence was James' complete surveillance of them and their correspondence was going to be difficult. Rosie just hoped that he would quickly put aside his grudge so that he could enjoy the few weeks of reunion available to them before he returned to Hogwarts and... that he moved away from them again for many more months. Every moment counted now, and Rosie promised herself not to miss the slightest opportunity to be alone in his company.

"I miss him so much…," she admitted, sitting back in her chair. "I so wish he was there to see my first signs of accidental magic or during that day at the beach in Crete where we met those mermaids... I'm sure he would have loved to see them..."

"Me too, darling, me too…," replied Lily thoughtfully, her eyes vacant. "But we will have other opportunities to make up for lost time, and that is a promise I make to you just as I will to him."

Rosie simply nodded to his words before diving like a dam on her stack of pancakes, which she greedily devoured. Lily went back to watching the dishes she was cooking, preferring to occupy her mind with cooking rather than dwelling on the absence of her eldest son. Enough misfortunes befell her without her adding to that the nostalgia of the days spent in the company of Harry and Rosie—a period so distant in her eyes and which she continually regretted.

"Hmmm, I'm really hungry!" Matthew exclaimed as he burst into the kitchen a few minutes later.

His sister, who had just finished her favorite meal, looked up to find herself face to face with her big brother. He had gained more weight in two years, and his extra pounds now threatened to overflow on either side of his stomach, while his body itself seemed to be twice the volume of a boy his age. Despite all of Dumbledore's diets and attempts to make him lose weight, Matthew inexorably continued to gain weight and gradually resemble a well-fattened pig. This was largely due to James' idiocy in continuing to feed him with candy. Even his broom, an 1800 Nimbus of which he was nevertheless proud and which he took great care of, simply broke when he tried to sit on it one fine day despite the strengthening spell placed on the layer of varnish. Yes, her brother was very fat, and added to that an incommensurable stupidity and an irascible character and they obtained the result that she had in front of her.

"What are you looking at, brat?" he spat at her, noticing her eyes fixed on him.

"I was wondering since when we had a farm at the manor…," she said, pretending to think. "I didn't know that we had a pig among us anyway, and that this pig was allowed to enter the kitchen..."

"You're talking about yourself, aren't you?" he said, glaring at her.

"The female pig is called a sow, but pig is a masculine word which designates her partner, and there is only one person meeting this criterion among us..."

Stung, Matthew, whose Occlumency skills were close to nothing, immediately turned bright red. Grabbing a handful of strawberries from a basket in front of him, he was about to throw them at his sister when, no doubt realizing that what he was holding was edible, he abandoned his plan and instead started eating them one after the other before Rosie's dismayed eyes.

"Is that all there is to eat?" he asked between mouthfuls. "It looks like a Weasley's meal! Where are Gizmo, Dunny, and Twinny? Are they lazy? Dad should punish them for being so lazy!"

"So first of all, young man, I'm not cooking for a regiment but for only four people, so in the meantime eat what you can! Second, I forbid you to denigrate people who don't have as much to eat as we do! Your father may not intend to teach you empathy, but I am determined to do it myself!"

"But…"

"Thirdly," Lily interrupted him, raising a finger to silence him, "the elves are not here because I asked them to give me free rein to cook, so I forbid you from going and telling your father that they are doing their job badly, or you can be sure that I will be able to find you a punishment that you will remember!"

"Dad won't let you do it!" he replied, banging his fist on the table. "If you do that, I will tell him that you punished me unfairly, and you will be the one who will have a punishment that you will remember!"

At this point, Rosie was very tempted to kick him under the table, as his behavior repelled her to the fullest extent. Matthew, knowing that his mother was now passive and was subject to her husband's sometimes violent reprimands, now played into this by outright threatening Lily with retaliation if she dared to show authority against him. Lily was nothing more than a woman without any support that could help her make her son obey, and he now acted with her as with any servant, or even as with a house elf. His own mother was no longer there for him other than to clean his room, make food, and take care of his laundry—a goodie, to put it simply. That's what Rosie thought anyway, but her brother's actions tended to prove her words. Matthew hadn't shown any tenderness and love towards her in years, and Harry's sister couldn't even remember the last time he said, "I love you," without expecting a little something in return as a reward.

Lily, too shocked by her son's words and especially hurt to see that he openly threatened to give James the opportunity to administer one or two slaps, could not express the slightest word, her mouth suddenly becoming too heavy and dry to be able to use speech. Her right hand, clinging to the handle of her frying pan, was shaking so much that the strips of bacon heating inside kept jumping in the air and threatening to fall to the ground, while her eyes, fixed intently on Matthew, threatened to at any moment to shed a continuous flow of tears that had been kept deep inside her for too long.

It was a devastated woman and mother who presented herself to them at that moment, a person bruised in her flesh and destroyed deep within herself and helpless in the face of the spectacle that her family now offered. Also, to avoid having to endure the mocking look of her son any longer, proud of having managed to silence her, Lily preferred to divert her attention to what she was currently cooking, sniffing from time to time in the middle of the silence. who was installed in the kitchen.

"You're happy with yourself, huh?" Rosie whispered furiously, looking with hatred at her brother sitting in front of her. "Does it give you pleasure to make her unhappy!? What kind of son are you? What kind of son would make his mother cry?"

"A son who knows how to deal with women," he replied, not even deigning to look at her. "Dad always told me to be firm with you, and Professor Dumbledore keeps telling me that women are the weaker sex and compared to a man, they are inferior."

"You bastard!" she fumed, throwing a waffle in his face. "That doesn't give you the right to treat mom like a dog! Pfiouuuu, If it were up to me, I would have already painted your portrait for all the filth that comes out of your mouth!"

"Touch me just once and I'll warn Dad about your threats!"

"'I'm going to tell dad'! 'Daddy won't let you do it' 'When daddy hears about this' and gnagnated and gnagnated! You only have those words on your lips, idiot! The savior of wizards is beautiful: incapable of defending himself! I didn't know that the magical world had chosen to put all its trust in a big baby who was as pathetic as he was weak! Merlin, I still prefer to side with Voldemort rather than having to put up with three incompetents like you, Dumbledore, and your dear daddy!"

"AH!" he suddenly exclaimed, pointing at her. "I knew you were just a dirty viper like all the Slytherins! You just admitted it yourself: You would rather be a Death Eater than join the side of good and Dumbledore's side!"

"In fact, I would tend to choose neutrality rather than having to choose between your two camps. You're both just as pathetic, and I'd rather keep my dignity than play the role of next to an idiot like you."

Matthew, offended by his insulting remarks, clumsily tried to kick him under the table again as was customary between them at every meal, but unfortunately for him, his leg, which was too short and too heavy, almost cost him much more. than a kick in the void: His dignity. It really didn't take much for him to slip from his chair and sprawl on the floor. Rosie burst out laughing at his pathetic attempts to hurt her, and even Lily, with her back to them, suppressed the urge to giggle.

"You'll pay me for that later," he hissed through his teeth. Ron and I are going to prepare some little surprises for you which you will tell us about!

"Merlin, I'm afraid! Oh please, may my brave knight in armor come and save me from the hands of this awful boy with too short legs! Rosie exclaimed theatrically, feigning fear. "I can't imagine what this guy is capable of doing to a poor, innocent girl like me! Oh my brave knight, hurry! I don't know how long I will last against the attacks of this individual and his accomplice, the squire Ronald Weasley, known as 'the mangy weasel'!"

No longer able to stand it, Lily began to sneer, although discreetly, at her daughter's actions, while promising herself to have her join a play one day or another so as not to spoil the gift she had for the comedy. However, this moment of fun was abruptly interrupted by the arrival of James in the kitchen, looking groggy like someone who had drunk too much the night before and dragging his feet while grabbing everything that was on the floor.

"Hello everybody!" he exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen, in his pajamas and his hair more disheveled than ever.

"Hello Dad!" Matthew shouted just as loudly when he saw him appear, completely forgetting at the same time the multiple humiliations of his sister a few seconds before.

Her son was the only one to answer her; Rosie contented herself with drinking from her bowl to find an excuse not to answer him while Lily preferred to turn her back on him while continuing to cook the bacon in one of the pans. James perhaps noticed his wife's indifference towards him because he quickly moved towards her to put his arms around her waist, his head resting on her shoulder which he kissed tenderly.

"Hello darling," he whispered in her ear. "I didn't hear you get up this morning..."

"I didn't want to disturb you," she said in a neutral voice, indifferent to his signs of affection.

"Why do you cook?" he asked, finally looking at what she was doing. "That's what the elves are there for... If you continue, I'll have to part with them..."

"Mh…"

James finally loosened his grip on her without noticing for a second that his wife was definitely not willing to talk to him unless she liked the situation. Ruffling his son's hair as he passed, he took a seat next to him a few seconds later, literally slumping in his chair like an immature child, carelessly taking a handful of strawberries that were within his reach. Lily had long since given up on this losing battle and didn't even blame him for his behavior at the table, which also influenced Matthew to do the same thing. This lack of reaction from his mother encouraged him to defy what was once a prohibition, and Matthew lounged like a pasha on his chair, taking advantage of the opportunity to give a discreet foot to Rosie under the table, which this time reached her target. His sister suppressed the urge to respond or even utter a slight gasp of pain so as not to give him satisfaction, but the urge to plunge his head into his bowl of chocolate was also very tempting.

"So son, what are you planning to do today?" James said, not caring that his son had the same table manners as a cave troll.

"Ron has to come home to play with me!" he replied. "I think he's going to bring Ginny with him so the three of us can have fun! It must be said that I am very popular with the Weasleys, which is not the case for everyone..."

Rosie knew full well that last sentence was against her, but by her own account, whether or not the Weasleys were friends with her was the least of her worries, especially when it concerned Ronald and Ginevra Weasley. These two were like Matthew's minions, the first following him everywhere constantly marveling at his friend's immense fame and the expensive toys he owned, while the other was simply in love with him and already saw herself becoming the next Lady Potter. Matthew didn't even realize that the only thing they were really interested in about him was his wealth and not himself, and watching him brag about having such "fabulous friends" was a very amusing sight. If Matthew had been poor or if he had not been the slayer of Voldemort, then the two Weasleys would not have even deigned to look up at him—a shame all the same when we knew that this family was one of the oldest but also one of the poorest in the United Kingdom.

Rosie had no idea how these three could have met, especially since Matthew was extremely prejudiced against poor families and continually denigrated them; That he didn't do the same with them was surprising to say the least, and that he tolerated their presence was even more so. But that was none of her business anyway, and the best thing today was to avoid the presence of these three idiots as much as possible so as not to create more tension around her. She had nothing in common with them anyway and still preferred to quarrel with her father rather than discuss food with that glutton Ron or talk about garden gnome and squeaky floor with Ginny who never missed an opportunity to complain about the dilapidation of his parents' house.

"Well, that means we'll have the whole day just for the two of us Lily," said James without worrying about what his daughter had planned to do today. "We won't be bored!"

"Wonderful, James…," she simply said without turning towards him.

Her unfriendly behavior towards him, to say the least, seemed to displease her husband who quickly lost the smile he had been wearing until then. His eyes never left Lily for a single second, as if to analyze her.

"Come on Lily, you could at least pretend to appreciate the fact that I want to spend a whole day with you! You're constantly complaining that I don't spend enough time with you, and..."

A knock on the kitchen window interrupted his diatribe, while the rest of the family had turned their attention to the owl waiting on the other side of the window for someone to come and open it so they could deliver the letter that he held clinging to his paw.

"My letter from Hogwarts!" Matthew exclaimed, already getting up from his chair to go get what he thought was his mail.

"You're only nine years old, Rosie informed him in a condescending tone, rolling her eyes.

"What are you getting involved in, Miss Know-It-All? I'm so smart that Dumbledore thought it was time for me to start school now, that's all! When I think of the look the other students will make when they see me arrive, they won't believe it! Their national hero going to Hogwarts two years early!"

Even if he wanted to, Matthew found it very difficult to do two things at once, and talking about himself and the behavior that the Hogwarts students would have in his presence prevented him from rushing to collect the letter from the poor owl. Lily, on the other hand, had wasted no time in doing so, knowing full well that this letter was addressed to her eldest son. But as she opened the window to let the bird in, it remained seated on the sill of the window, simply holding out his paw to allow him to detach the envelope hanging on it.

"This letter is not addressed to you Matthew," she informed him while she thanked the owl by giving him a slice of bacon which he gladly accepted.

"So who is it for!?" he said impatiently, tapping his foot. "It's a Hogwarts owl, I recognized it! And what's more, students should receive their letters today!"

"You're still too young to go," his mother replied, closing the window just as the owl had just flown away. "This letter is addressed to your brother," she added, showing him the address and name written on it.

The tension in the kitchen suddenly rose a notch at the mention of Harry, especially among James and Matthew. While the first suddenly stiffened and clenched his fists on the newspaper he had opened in front of him, Matthew swelled with indignation at the sight, his face as red as a tomato. Hands on hips, he looked from Lily to the letter with an angry look, as if the envelope contained something he couldn't have and was responsible for it.

"Him!?" he exclaimed, looking with bulging eyes at the letter Lily was holding. "But it's a Squib! He has no magical talent, and what's more, he's a moron!"

"I forbid you from talking like that about your brother!" his mother warned him harshly. "Another mistake, young man, and I'll forbid you from seeing Ron and Ginny for the rest of the month!"

"That remains to be proven...," his son muttered, wearing a mocking grin.

Matthew wasn't stupid enough to doubt his father's influence over his mother, and he was well aware that Lily's word was worth absolutely nothing compared to James's. With a snap of his finger, the father of the family could undo all the punishments she gave him, destroying Lily's chances of one day having authority over him and at the same time humiliating her in front of her own son. James didn't even scold Matthew for his remark, too busy looking absently at the newspaper he was reading without giving the impression of being concerned by the events taking place only a few meters from him. But it was bad to know him...

"When are we leaving, Mom?" Rosie asked with unfeigned excitement. "I'm dying to show him what I can do!"

"Around ten or eleven o'clock, the time for your uncle and your aunt to finish eating too," she replied, giving him a discreet wink. "I don't want to show up there and disturb them during their meal."

"Owl! But… Oh, Mom! You're not ready yet! Quickly!" she said as she began to lightly push her towards the exit. "I'm going to change my clothes too, I want to look beautiful for this occasion..."

"No one's going anywhere," James suddenly said in a deep voice.

All eyes immediately converged on him, disconcerted for Rosie and Lily and both curious and happy for Matthew, who immediately sensed a probable argument between his parents. He even sat down obediently in his chair as if to show that he wanted to be in the front row to witness this exchange between his parents. James quietly drank the contents of his bowl without even looking at his wife, his eyes instead focused on the newspaper placed in front of him on the table, which was apparently much more interesting to him than a discussion concerning his eldest son.

"Nobody's going anywhere?" his wife repeated without understanding, breaking the silence. "What do you mean by that, James?"

"It's obvious, though," he said, putting down his bowl while royally ignoring the other members of the family present. "No one will go out and find a kid whose face no one wants to see again. Let him stay where he is, his presence already bothered me before, I don't want to have him back in my way..."

"How dare you talk about him like that!?" Lily said, crumpling the letter she was holding. "How dare you think that no one here cares about Harry? I'm his mother, I carried him for nine months and raised him for over eight years when you preferred to go have fun with Sirius or spend your time with Matthew! You have done absolutely nothing for him that gives you the right to claim to be able to decide the direction his life should take! So you can say whatever you want, James, but whether you like it or not, I'm going to get him back, and to hell with your reluctance!"

"You're going to stay here!" exclaimed James in turn, suddenly getting up from his chair. "I forbid you from going to visit him, just as I forbid you from even setting foot outside the manor!"

"Or what, James?" she asked him as he approached her with his fists clenched. "Are you going to slap me again? Are you going to hold me prisoner in our room? Are you going to continue to make me unhappy for a long time?!"

James didn't need to open his mouth to express his thoughts to her. His hand did all the work, and the shock caused between it and Lily's cheek was such that she collapsed to the ground, narrowly missing dropping the still hot contents of one of the pans on herself. Rosie was horrified to say the least by what she had just seen, especially since she too almost suffered the hazards of this gesture when Lily had collapsed right next to her, hitting her violently. It was with immense sadness that she helplessly witnessed a new scene of violence taking place between her parents, a scene where generally, Lily never lasted long. James, moreover, did not even seem saddened by what he had just done to his wife, accustomed now to using his hands to make her listen to reason and no longer even hesitating to beat her in front of the children to respond in his way to his reproaches.

"Remember, Lily," he said, kneeling in front of her, "I am the head of the family and therefore have the right to do whatever I want with each member of this family. If I want to spend time with one of my children, I have the right to do so. If I want to keep another person away because they are becoming a nuisance, I also have the right to do so. If I want to use my hands on my children or even on my own wife, I once again have the right to do so. The law allows me to do so, darling, and I'm just implementing everything it allows me to do without being held accountable. You have absolutely nothing to say, you just have to shut up and behave as I wish, that is to say like the perfect little faithful and loving wife that I want you to be. However, this is unfortunately not the case, and it saddens me deeply. You see, Lily, subjugating your wife in this way was never my goal when I married you, but the more time passes, the more I have the impression that you enjoy antagonizing me, so I - I have the idea of putting you back on the right path, regardless of the way you use it."

"You're just a monster!" she spat in his face. "What kind of man hits his wife because she doesn't think the same thing as him, wants her independence, and doesn't tell her what to do? A coward and a weakling! YES James, you are weak!"

A second slap made her stagger again, and to Rosie's horror, Lily suddenly began to cough up blood, a small amount, but enough to alarm her all the same. A thin stream began to flow from her mouth and ended up on her apron or on the kitchen tiles.

"Hit me as much as you want, James… You won't stop me from going to get Ha-Harry," she mumbled between two gasps. "No wall is strong enough to... To keep me from finding him."

"You still have to manage to cross the barriers and magical protections that I have put in place on the house and, in particular, on you!" he sneered with an icy laugh, making Rosie shudder in spite of herself. "Remember, Lily, only I can get you out of here by lifting the restrictive spells placed on you!"

To everyone's surprise, Lily suddenly began to giggle, a laugh just as cold as her husband's. Despite the blood beginning to flow abundantly from her mouth, his wife even gave a broad smile full of disdain and contempt for James, an absolutely nightmarish vision which gave Rosie, for a moment, the impression that her mother had gone crazy.

"Pitiful… And you dare to say that you love me? The good thing... A man does not cloister his wife between four walls, preventing her from doing what she desires... And my greatest desire at the moment is to leave this house to never see your repulsive face again!"

"Really?" he said in a very unpleasant tone where one could easily perceive disdain. "REALLY!?"

Perhaps it was the fact that his wife was repulsed by his very presence that made him lose all control, because James suddenly grabbed her hair to pull her towards the exit, screaming at the top of his lungs nameless malice at her. No matter how much Lily twisted and struggled to escape his grip, nothing worked, and the only result she got was strands of hair torn out and a terrible headache.

Faced with this overwhelming spectacle, Rosie could no longer hold it and did the only thing that crossed her mind at the moment: She threw herself at her father to make him also let go. Clinging to his arm, Rosie scratched him, bit him, hit him with her little fists so that he would let go of her, despite her father's other hand which also tried to make her leave. Finally, in a lucky twist of fate, James lost his balance by catching his foot on the leg of the chair Matthew was sitting on and all three fell hard to the floor.

"Little pest!" James shouted, throwing himself at Rosie. "I will teach you to obey your father!"

"NO!" Lily shouted, throwing herself into the fray.

With a sudden gesture, she managed to move her daughter away from James' grip, but unfortunately, it was she who became the designated target of her husband's anger. James was particularly violent and grabbed her firmly by the neck to throw her against the wall, making the few trinkets and other decorative objects hanging on the wall shake in the process. One of them fell right next to James and narrowly missed cutting off his arm, but he didn't even seem to notice, too busy glaring at his wife.

"Are we rebelling, my little fleur-de-lis?" he mumbled, squeezing her neck even tighter. "You had never shown me this side of your personality before, although I suspected since school that you could be so impulsive..."

"Why don't you leave us alone for a few... a few hours, huh?" she stammered with difficulty. "So go see your little Manchester sluts... I'm sure they wouldn't refuse to serve as a release for you..."

"So, do you know?" he said, feigning surprise. "I thought I could hide it from you for a long time! But what do you want Lily? Men have needs to satisfy, and you're no longer young... You're becoming a lazy old lady! And then my little streaks, as you say so well, still give me the feeling of being desired and desirable, something that you haven't given me for a long time..."

Humiliated by his words, Lily could no longer hold it and simply spat in his face. James was taken aback by her gesture, especially since he had never thought that she could do that to him one day. Spitting on him was a real show of contempt, but he would have taken it from anyone… except his wife, and he would never let that go. His hands finally released her neck, but far from leaving her alone, James suddenly began to caress her face while with his other hand, he made the spit running down her cheek disappear, much to Lily's surprise, who was already expecting him to hit her again.

"Now, my sweet Lily, don't force me to have to use force against you again to prevent you from overstepping my instructions," he said, tenderly stroking her chin. "I'll be so upset if I have to ruin that pretty face again..."

"You're disgusting," she fumed, looking away. "I so regret the day I was able to respond to your advances! I certainly wouldn't have been so unhappy in love if I had made the choice to reject you!"

"But you would probably not be in as advantageous a situation as you are now, with wealth beyond measure and a title of Lady that all young ladies in bloom would dream of wearing to have the privilege of benefiting from the fame of our name. What would have become of you, eh, Lily? A peasant like your parents? Or even a common waitress in one of those disreputable taverns where drunks and bandits end up? Perhaps you would even have become a courtesan or a common whore… Is that what you want, Lily? Sell your body to the highest bidder?"

James no longer even seemed to notice that two of his children were still in the same room as him, one completely frightened by the scene playing out in front of her, eyes brimming with tears, while the other was completely disinterested in the fate of Lily and preferred to continue eating her breakfast rather than worrying about the state her own mother was in.

"You are too cowardly, Lily," he said, taking her silence for an admission of weakness. "Despite your fine speeches and the rejection you feel towards me, you will never want to give up all this comfort, all this luxury, and the wealth that is yours thanks to our marriage. Admit it, Lily!"

"How do you expect me to leave when you force me to stay cloistered here?" she replied harshly. "You and that idiot Dumbledore have locked me up here like an animal for two years without the possibility of even being able to go into the garden without your consent and without removing all the spells you placed on the house! Is this proof of love, James? Is this how you see our couple ending its days?"

Only another slap answered his questions. Lily's already red cheek took on even more color as she tried not to lose face in front of her children, and especially in front of him. Crying would only make him happier.

"I forbid you from talking to me like that!" he belched, grabbing her by the throat again. "If I did all this, it was for both of our good, and you should be grateful to me! When I realized that day that I was starting to lose you, seeing the foundations of our relationship shattered, I panicked, and I was afraid to see you leave! I couldn't accept that you could escape me even though I love you deeply. But you... You only had it for Harry and Rosie; you never asked yourself what I could feel seeing you so close to them and so distant from me!"

"You're just... selfish," she stammered weakly because of the grip on her throat. "You only think about your... your little personal happiness without worrying about that of the children."

"I only think about my little happiness, huh?" he said suddenly, getting up to dust off his pajamas. "Very well then, I will go and have fun in that case."

Under the astonished eyes of the other three, James headed towards the exit with a ridiculous step in which he hoped to appear proud and arrogant but which gave him more the impression of walking like a lame duck.

"I'm going to get ready to go and visit my dear friends in Manchester! I have to treat myself after all, so as not to lose good habits since apparently I only think about my little personal comfort! And then... I feel a tension in the air when I'm here, don't you? Better for me to go and recharge my batteries elsewhere... You'll just have to wait for me until this evening, Lily; I'll try not to come home too late so that we can resume this discussion in our marital bed."

"BASTARD!"

BANG.

James did not see the curse approaching him, nor did he hear Lily say the spell. The only thing he noticed was the sudden immobility of his body and the dizzying fall he made to the floor, which he hit hard. Unable to absorb the shock, his nose broke on contact with the ground, and immediately, a continuous flow of blood came out and formed a small pool that gradually grew in size. Lily remained standing for long seconds, her arm and wand still pointed towards him and her breathing ragged. Her eyes bulged, as if her own action had shocked her to the point, and her face became as pale as usual except where James had hit her. A silence rarely seen in the house accompanied this turnaround, and the two children present were just as shocked as their mother at what had just happened.

"Mom!" Rosie finally cried, rushing over to hug her. "Is this... Are you okay?"

"Everything is fine now, Rosalyn," she said, trying in vain to be reassuring while her daughter delicately touched the marks on her cheeks, her eyes clouded with tears.

Her gaze then focused on Matthew, her second son. Maybe it was still shock or just a longer than normal reaction time, but he didn't even seem to notice the hug going on between her and Rosie. No, his gaze kept leaving the inert form of his father, lying in the middle of the corridor and remaining perfectly still. Anyone could have easily believed that he was dead, but Lily was certain that she had not used the wrong spell; There was still a notable difference between the Petrificus Totalus and the Avada Kedavra just in their pronunciation.

"Mom? What… What are we going to do now?" Rosie asked, snuggling even closer while looking fearfully at her father's still body. "We can't stay here; he's going to hurt you even more now!"

Lily herself was beginning to realize what her action had caused, but deep down, she didn't regret it in the least. But now what to do? Stay and wait for him to recover to be entitled to a new volley of slaps, certainly more terrible than the previous ones, or... leave? The second idea was more tempting, but leaving to go where? Her parents were dead, her sister hated her and would accept her presence under her roof as much as a nest of cockroaches, and the Greengrasses had apparently left for a few days on a trip to France without giving her the slightest address to contact them. Above all, it was necessary to find a hiding place where no member of the Order of the Phoenix, the group created by the director to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters, could find it, not even Dumbledore.

The only person she could turn to for help was Remus, and with a slight pang of regret, she realized then that he was now her last friend. Living for more than eleven years with James had completely cut her off from the world, and the few friends she had made at Hogwarts hadn't spoken to her for years now. Yes, Remus was her spare wheel, her last support on which she could count, especially since her accommodation was certainly small and modest, but had the advantage of being known only by her and Rosie, a precaution that her friend had taken following yet another argument with Dumbledore, which resulted in his departure from the Order of the Phoenix. Her mind was made up, and Lily was sure that Remus would accept her request for help without batting an eyelid.

"We're going to leave, Rosie, for... a while," she finally said after a few moments of reflection.

"No, forever!" Rosalyn replied, clutching the sides of her mother's dress as if her life depended on it. "James will hurt you if you come back, and you'll never be able to leave again! This is your only chance! Our only chance! We can be a family again with Harry, without worrying about what he might do against us!"

Lily had to admit that the foresight shown by her daughter could not have been more logical and very sensible. James had already told her many times in the past that he could change, that he was going to go back to being the dashing young man she had married, but usually returned to his bad habits shortly after, even becoming more and more horrible every time. Here again, her behavior risked becoming absolutely execrable following what she had just done, and the threshold of a few slaps risked being crossed. Her life could now be in the spotlight if she continued to be around him any longer, hers but also that of Rosie who had long been her father's pain. Her decision was finally made, and with a nod of her head, she made it clear to her daughter.

"Go to your room and prepare a suitcase, Rosie," she ordered, getting away from her. "Take only the bare minimum and go back down immediately. We will leave as quickly as possible before the effects of the spell wear off."

Her daughter obeyed immediately and almost ran away towards the stairs leading upstairs, not without taking great care to crush her father's fingers while glaring at him with so much hatred in her eyes that Lily thought at the time that it was terrible to see a child hate one of his parents so much. Once again, her attention was focused on Matthew, but unlike earlier, her son was no longer looking at his father but was now staring at her with such a look that she thought she was fainting. Matthew's eyes seemed to flare as his face took on a hateful expression towards her, brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, and fists clenched on the arms of his chair.

"You killed him!" he finally exclaimed, approaching her, a threatening expression on his face. "You killed dad!"

"N-no Matthew, I just kneaded it…"

"I hate you!" he cut her off furiously. "Professor Dumbledore was right about you; you are a bad mother and a bad wife!"

Although she didn't let anything show, these words spoken from the mouth of her own son hurt her terribly, especially since she found him very unfair in his words. Eleven years now that she had tried to be the best mother possible, fair and firm, kind and attentive, impartial and tender... But Matthew had apparently never seen anything of the efforts she had made for them. Only the opinions of Dumbledore and James mattered to him in the end, when she was obviously seen as the mere progenitor, the woman who had brought him into the world but for whom he apparently had no regard. No need to ask him in these conditions to kindly follow her to get her away from her father; his choice was made.

"You won't come with me then," she said in a neutral tone, taking out her wand again. "There's no point in asking you; I know your answer perfectly. I simply regret that you did not take the time to see to what extent I made enormous sacrifices for you, to what extent I gave myself body and soul to your education to give you the best childhood possible, and how much I simply love you. Dumbledore and James influenced you too much, and I notice it today."

"What are you going to do?" he said, panicking at the sight of the wand pointing at him. "You have no right to hurt me! I'll tell daddy, and he will punish you!"

"So you'd rather see your father brutalize me?" she asked with a slight hint of sadness. "I definitely lost you then… Petrificus Totalus!"

The spell hit him with full force in less than two seconds, just enough time for him to cry out, "Great Mudblood!" before he collapsed to the ground. Lily rushed over to him and checked to make sure he wasn't hurt by the fall, putting aside the slight resentment she felt for him. Her son was perfectly still, not moving an inch, but his eyes continued to move in every direction, making him look like he was panicking. Almost like a farewell, Lily leaned towards him and tenderly kissed his forehead while playing with the few strands of hair framing his face.

"Goodbye Matthew," she whispered sadly. "Despite whatever you may think of me, know that I love you as much as Harry and Rosie, and that I regret what happened. I hope that one day you can forgive me for leaving and that we can become the family that I always wanted us to be."

Her son obviously couldn't answer her, but a big surprise still came: His eyes began to become wet, almost as if he were about to cry. Of fear? Sadness? Hard to say, but seeing him like that made her doubt what to do next. Leaving him was actually one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life, but after two minutes of looking at his petrified face, Lily left him on the floor, kissing his face one last time.

She finally left the kitchen with a heavy step, without looking behind her at the inert form of her son so as not to collapse her barriers and drag out her goodbyes for a long time. Her attention then fell on the lying form of James on the ground, still motionless and looking in all directions like his son, apparently trying to know what was going on around him. His eyes finally landed on her as she approached, and the look he gave her was so cold it would have given anyone a cold sweat. But not to her, no. Her own shell had allowed her to be strong and to ignore the feelings that she could inspire in her husband, a husband that she now hoped not to see again for a long time.

"This is the last time you will see me as Lady Potter James," she said loudly as she took off her wedding ring. "You are no longer the man I loved and married more than twelve years ago. I married a good, generous, loving, and brave man, not a cold, violent, haughty, and selfish man like you have become now. From now on, I take back my freedom and my autonomy, and never again will I allow myself to be influenced and dominated by someone else. You have long since crossed the limits of what is bearable, but the last straw was certainly the day you decided to abandon Harry. That day you asked me to make the choice no mother should have to make, a choice that concerned our son who had done absolutely nothing to deserve this."

Her ring finally removed, she threw it carelessly in the face of her husband who continued to observe her intensely. The ring that was once the sign of the union between them bounced on her cheek and ended its journey under a chest of drawers, as if the love she had for him was now part of the past, a past which, moreover, was ending its running under the furniture like a common grain of dust.

"All these years, you have been odious, even despicable, and why? For glory, for recognition, and to take advantage of your son's status to become an important figure in our society. You have swapped your role as a father and husband for the less glorious one of a businessman by extolling the merits of a son who is not even capable of remembering what he did and selling his image to the highest bidder to pocket cash. In the end, you gained nothing James, nothing except perhaps succeeding in destroying a family and losing me, but now it's over. I'm leaving, perhaps permanently, and for your part, you have the choice: Either you become again the man I knew at school, a man who made me laugh, who also exasperated me, a man with whom I easily managed to imagine a future in common, or else choose the second possibility, that of remaining under the yoke of a man who has nothing to do with you, remains the one who in recent years he is transformed into a greedy and detestable tyrant, and who on top of that prefers to run around the brothels of London in search of young girls in bloom rather than respectfully taking care of his marriage and his own wife."

James was obviously unable to answer her, but Lily assumed his answer would have been the latter. His honor and his pride as a man would tell him that he did not have to have his behavior dictated to him by a woman, especially her, and that on the contrary, he had to put her back in her place and her role as a discreet and submissive wife, a role which no longer suited her. Without missing a beat, Lily searched her husband's pants pockets for his wand, which she quickly found. Removing the spells he had placed on her was child's play now, and in less than five minutes and a few tingles in her body, she fully regained her freedom. For good measure, Lily took the opportunity to firmly tie James up with ropes that she made appear and wrap around his body, a way for her to show the feeling of confinement that she had known until then.

"I'll tell the elves to release you as soon as I'm gone," she said, getting up. "I hope that you will take advantage of the time you have left to feel what I have felt in recent years: the imprisonment, the oppression, and the inability to free myself from the chains you had placed on me. Goodbye, James."

It was with a surprisingly light step that she left her husband to head upstairs to also prepare some things for his departure. Emptying her wardrobes of all the clothes she could take while the James petrifying spell continued to work was easier than she would have thought, even if her wand had a lot to do with it. Barely two minutes were enough to quickly pile up a few dresses, corsets, shoes, underwear, and a few other odds and ends that she thought she would need later. With a wave of her wand, she reduced the trunk now carrying her clothes to the size of a small walnut which she quickly slipped into one of the pockets of her dress so as not to be inconvenienced, before leaving for the last time this room in which she lived cloistered for the last few years, a place that she would not regret in the least. With a supple gait and revealing all the serenity she had in her now, she quickly descended the steps of the stairs to stand in front of the front door where Rosie was already waiting for her as well as a thick suitcase just asking to be opened.

"Ready to leave?" she said hurriedly as she also reduced her daughter's suitcase to store it with the other one.

"I've never been so ready in my entire life!" Rosie replied, quickly grabbing her coat from the coat rack. "You should take off your apron, Mom; you won't need it now."

"Oh, I forgot that detail," she said, undoing the knot behind her back. "Gizmo?"

The little elf immediately appeared, and with just one glance, mother and daughter immediately understood that the creature was aware of what had just happened in the house and seemed just as upset as they were.

"Mistress Lily is leaving us?" asked the elf, looking sadly at the one who was his mistress for a long time. "What will become of Gizmo and his ilk now that our good mistress is leaving? Gizmo doesn't want you to leave, but he knows you're in great danger staying with Master James..."

"I'm sorry, Gizmo," Lily mumbled, moving to his level. "If I had the opportunity to do so, I would have taken you with me without hesitation, but the place I am going to is in the middle of a Muggle town, and it would be impossible for you to be able to work peacefully without making sure that no one sees you, and James is the only one capable of freeing you anyway…"

"Gizmo understands Mistress Lily," stammered the poor elf, rubbing his eyes. "Gizmo is delighted to have one day served such a good lady as you, and Gizmo hopes you will be happy wherever you go."

Lily then made a gesture that very few wizards would have the idea of doing to a creature of this type: She gave the elf a hug, hugging him against her, as she would for any man, for a friend, for an equal. Gizmo, not used to this sign of kindness, gasped at this contact but did not break it. The tears flowed down her gray skin, but they were not tears of sadness: They were tears of joy because her mistress was finally leaving this prison in which she was locked up and was finally freeing herself from the yoke of her husband.

"Free them when we are gone," she ordered him, moving away from him. "Consider this my final order, and say goodbye to the other house elves on my behalf. I will miss you more than you can imagine."

"Very good, mistress Lily," squealed the little elf, smiling sadly. "May the future smile on you both!"

Rosie also greeted the elf by making the same gesture of affection as her mother a few moments earlier, much to the astonishment of Gizmo who did not expect to receive so much kindness from two human beings. Then, just as quickly as the goodbyes were said, Lily and Rosie hurried across the landing of the manor, leaving behind seven years of life for one and more than twelve years for the other, many happy memories, last vestiges of a bygone era, and also others much darker which caused many tears to flow. Both turned back towards the manor one last time when they arrived beyond the fence demarcating the domain, each contemplating for a few seconds this house that they were leaving perhaps forever, and above all, the two residents that they also gave up permanently.

"Let's go, Mom," Rosie said, tightening her grip on her mother's hand.

"Yes… Yes, let's go…"

A whirlwind later, and Lily finally disappeared from Nottinghamshire, as did Rosalyn who had never stopped holding her hand. In less than an hour, the Potter Manor had seen much more life than in ten years, but the sky, still so bright, had not changed. The sun even seemed to shine even more intensely than before, as if he himself was satisfied with the latest events that took place in this family.

A summer day that wasn't as ordinary as Rosie thought it would be.

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