Chapter 3
July 1977
The only thing that indicated it was summer was the date on the calendar. The sky was melancholically gray, and a sharp, cold wind whipped through the streets, so the elderly woman had to carefully guard her elegant hat to prevent it from flying off. The silence in the area was only interrupted by the occasional screeching of old doors or the rustling of paper blown about by the wind, while in the distance, the dirty river sluggishly flowed between overgrown banks littered with trash.
Anyone who happened to spot her in this neighborhood would undoubtedly wonder what she was doing here—wealthy people never visited these places. The houses around her were dilapidated, with gray walls, their windows dull and blind. The chimney of an abandoned factory loomed like a foreboding monument above the river, reminding of long-forgotten times. The sidewalks were covered in dust and grime, while overflowing garbage containers were carried by the wind.
People either lowered their gaze or avoided her, for she didn’t give the impression that she was thrilled to be there. She muttered angry curses about the weather under her breath, even though the real cause of her bad mood was something else entirely; she hated this part of the city, where the buildings were ugly and gray, the sidewalks dirty, and the trash cans overflowing. The poor people, the plebeians of society, lived here.
So why did she come here?
She had decided to visit her daughter and grandchildren.
She wrinkled her lip as she stood in front of one of the houses, its plaster peeling, and the old railing rusting. “If she had married better, she wouldn’t be living here with that good-for-nothing!” she grumbled irritably, leaning on her cane as she opened the wooden gate, which always creaked unpleasantly.
Old Mrs. Buttercup had never approved of her daughter’s husband. She would have cared less if it hadn’t been for a car accident years ago, which had taken the life of her beloved son Christopher. She had so many plans for him! When he suddenly died, all she was left with was her clumsy daughter Judith, who reminded her too much of her late husband. Sometimes—actually, often—she regretted it wasn’t Judith who had died.
Nevertheless, she was still her blood, and this was how she could still have some influence over her grandchildren, whom she did love. Tobias, her grandson, even reminded her of her beloved Christopher.
The door to the Proudfoot apartment opened just as she critically examined the peeling yellow paint on the door.
“Mother?” Judith Proudfoot immediately exclaimed. Her mother was the last person she expected at her door. “What… what are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too,” Emily replied with a smile, but her eyes remained cold. “I was passing by and thought I’d stop by.”
“Oh,” Judith mumbled, still surprised, tucking a blonde lock of hair behind her ear.
She let her mother in and silently thanked the fact that the previous day, she had decided to clean the whole apartment—she needed to work out some energy after getting upset with Halcyon.
Emily Buttercup didn’t just dislike her son-in-law, Bruce; she also despised their adopted daughter, Halcyon. Emily knew nothing of her real family and didn’t want to; all she needed to know was that the orphan’s parents had been friends with Bruce—probably more weaklings.
“That wallpaper you have here is dreadful, Judith. The color doesn’t suit this place at all,” the woman said skeptically as she took off her olive-colored hat.
“You always say that mother,” Judith waved it off, wearing a light brown apron, which had a bit of flour on it and a few grease stains. “We’re happy with it as it is and aren’t planning any renovations. You know that.”
“If only you weren’t so stubborn…”
“Mom? Should I take this out? … And… hi, Grandma!” a girl’s voice called from the kitchen.
“Frankie, sweetheart!” Emily exclaimed, her face suddenly lighting up. “I brought you something!” She had bought her granddaughter a beautiful new dress.
A smaller girl, also wearing an apron, walked out of the kitchen. Her honey-blonde hair wasn’t braided into two pigtails as usual, making her look slightly more mature. It was about time, Emily thought to herself, after all, Frankie would be fifteen soon!
Then she insisted that Frankie try on the light pink dress. “Wow, darling, I must say, you look like a lady. Don’t you think so, Judith?” She turned to her daughter, and all tenderness vanished from her eyes.
Judith gave her daughter a warm smile, then went to the kitchen to check on the apple pies. Jazz music was playing from there.
“Is it just you two here?” Emily asked as she sat in an armchair. The entire living room was painted in a peachy-orange color—the one her daughter loved, but Emily herself could barely stand.
“Dad and Toby should be back soon. Muffin ran out of food, so they went to buy some,” Frankie replied, then went to change.
“Muffin… that’s your puppy, right?” Emily asked with fake interest. She still couldn’t understand how any animal could live in such a small space without destroying everything.
“Mother, you’ve seen him before.” Judith sighed as she removed her apron. “And you criticized the stupid name we gave him, remember?”
“Oh yes. Your dog tried to knock me over.”
“He was just greeting you,” Judith retorted.
“Either way, it has a foolish name,” Emily concluded the debate as she looked around. “Shouldn’t that orphan be here too? I haven’t seen her in a while,” she complained.
“She’s outside with the dog.”
“Oh, right, but she should be back soon, shouldn’t she? I’m curious about her schooling at that… what’s it called? Some school for the slow-witted, right?” Emily pursed her lips thoughtfully.
“It’s a Catholic school for children with a special talent,” Judith corrected her immediately. The truth was different, but Emily couldn’t handle it. “And her walk means she’s visiting Edwin and Evelyn, which will take a while.”
“Ah, I see.”
Perhaps if Emily’s voice hadn’t been so loud, Halcyon would have opened the front door at that very moment. But she stopped just in time. It took so little, and she would have been in view of the old woman, whom she secretly hated.
The girl glanced at their black Labrador Muffin, stepped away from the door, and gripped his leash tighter.
“You really don’t want to meet this witch, Muff, trust me,” she whispered softly as the dog looked at her with bored eyes. She petted his head, then they descended the stairs again.
Once back outside, she sighed wearily. She hadn’t been able to sleep properly in the past few days and was hoping she could return to her warm bed, though Judith would probably never allow it.
The first few days after her arrival, she had been quite angry with Halcyon, constantly reminding her of how foolish she had been. Halcyon understood their worry… but by constantly throwing it in her face, nothing would change. Judith, however, didn’t argue and tried to ignore it, hoping her mother’s anger would subside and lift the silly house arrest.
She wasn’t exactly dressed for the coming rain—light drizzle began to fall, and the cold wind picked up.
Great, she thought.
For a moment, she considered heading to a store to wait out the rain. The problem was, she didn’t have any money.
Perfect.
So, there was nothing left to do—she’d have to hide at Evelyn and Edwin’s place. She was already planning to straighten things out with Lily anyway.
The walk to the Evans’ house didn’t normally take long, especially when running. Halcyon didn’t want to be soaked. They reached the terraced house marked number 778. It was a simple family home with a small garden. This was where she had spent most of her childhood, pulling pranks with Lily.
She rang the bell, pulling Muffin close, but as it turned out, the puppy had great strength and broke free as soon as it spotted Petunia.
“For heaven’s sake, get that wet thing away from me!” Petunia shrieked.
Muffin kept jumping on her, overjoyed. Halcyon grabbed the leash and tried to keep him grounded.
“Great, Halcyon, now my clothes are ruined!” Petunia screamed, a paw print on her red T-shirt.
“Oh, sorry, Muff’s still learning.” Halcyon nervously smiled. “Can you hand me a towel to clean him up?”
Petunia muttered something under her breath and disappeared into the house. Halcyon scolded Muffin, who promptly shook himself off.
“Oh, who do we have here?” Evelyn cheered when Muffin excitedly ran up to her. He had a towel in his mouth, which he had snatched after Halcyon cleaned him.
“Hi, I hope we’re not disturbing you? Muff and I were out walking and got caught in the terrible rain,” Halcyon explained while trying to take the towel from the dog. “I thought I’d stop by.” She didn’t even mention Emily.
“I don’t understand how you go out like this without a proper jacket. You’ll catch a cold…” Evelyn said, shaking her head as she turned to Petunia. “Petty, get her something to change into.”
Petunia rolled her eyes but went to fetch clean clothes.
“You, girl! Keep rolling your eyes like that, and they’ll stay that way,” came the raspy voice of Bluebell Evans—Petunia and Lily’s grandmother. As always, she sat in her blue armchair by the TV, holding her knitting needles.
Muffin dropped the towel immediately when he realized that Grandma Bluebell wanted to give him a treat. Then, fortunately, he just lay down beside her and stayed calm, which Halcyon was quite glad about.
She sneezed several times in a row. Evelyn handed her some tissues.
“You are a complicated one, child,” Bluebell shook her head over her.
If there was someone Halcyon truly respected, it was Grandma Bluebell, who constantly offered the girls excellent homemade cookies and gave them very valuable advice for life.
She was exactly the kind of woman everyone would wish for as their grandmother. Her red hair streaked with silver strands was tied up in a careless bun. Lily resembled her somewhat, except for the fact that Bluebell had warm dark brown eyes. Petunia, on the other hand, looked more like her mother; both were blond with sharp facial features.
“Take a cookie. And tell the old lady how school is going… And I don’t mean that stupid idea of yours to walk in the forest at night,” Bluebell said. Halcyon already had a dry shirt on, and Evelyn placed a cup of hot black tea in front of her before heading to the kitchen to do the dishes—Halcyon wanted to help, but the woman immediately shooed her away.
“Well… this year I took the O.W.L exams at the end of the year. It was tough… But I studied enough over the year, since my future was at stake… the professors also tortured us with various essays,” Halcyon said with a sour expression.
“Enough?”
“Well, yeah…”
“Oh, girl, with that attitude, you won’t get far. Only hard work will get you somewhere. I wouldn’t rely on luck if I were you,” Bluebell scolded, and Halcyon just nodded in agreement.
“And any boys?”
“What?”
“Did you find a suitable boy there?” Bluebell repeated curiously. Halcyon was a little surprised that she was the one asking—she would have expected it from Evelyn.
“Well…” Alfred Belby, her first almost-relationship, immediately came to her mind, which ended catastrophically. “No, no boyfriend. They’re apparently scared of me.” She shrugged indifferently.
Bluebell had her usual comment, suggesting that boys were a distraction from studying. Halcyon often wondered if Bluebell had been like that when she was young… focusing only on studies and rejecting everything else. But Evelyn once told them that Bluebell had been quite the wild one and now offered all this wisdom to prevent anyone from following in her footsteps.
“Is Lily here?” Halcyon asked after finishing her tea.
“Yeah… she’s been locked in her room all day. She wouldn’t even watch Doctor Who with me this morning. She acted strange, did you two fight?” Bluebell asked, giving her a probing look.
“Unfortunately,” Halcyon muttered glumly.
“Take some cookies and tea, maybe that will make her forgive you… Nobody can resist my cookies,” Bluebell said proudly with an encouraging smile. “And before you leave, turn on the TV… my crime show is starting!”
Halcyon laughed. Bluebell had several favorite series she watched repeatedly. When they were younger, Halcyon and Lily loved watching Doctor Who together, although now, they barely understood the few episodes they watched during the holidays.
Naturally, when Halcyon grabbed the cookies and tea, Muffin faithfully followed her to Lily’s room, which was on the first floor.
As she imagined this moment in her head, she wanted to rush in and tell Lily everything. How could she be mad at her now, after the werewolf attack? How could she not believe her when she had no idea what exactly happened that night?
What bothered Halcyon the most was that Lily was somewhat right—James and his friends were indeed involved. From what Lily implied, she suspected Potter was the one who dragged Halcyon into it. That would make sense, considering the events of the last few months, when the houses had allied against each other. It could easily have been a prank that got out of hand.
The truth was a bit different, though, and Halcyon couldn’t admit anything. Even Professor Dumbledore didn’t know that all four Gryffindors had been in that forest—it seemed he didn’t suspect anything about Remus.
She knocked on the door. She waited a moment for a response, but none came. She tried again, but still, nothing. Cautiously, she opened it.
“Lily?”
No answer.
The red-haired girl was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled to her chin, staring blankly ahead—her gaze was completely empty, which scared Halcyon enough. Muffin, of course, quickly ran to Lily. Halcyon blinked in confusion and gently pushed the dog aside.
“Are you okay?” Halcyon asked worriedly. Lily turned her emerald green eyes toward her, filled with sadness.
Lily pushed the Daily Prophet toward her. The main headline read, “ATTACK ON DIAGON ALLEY.” Halcyon’s breath caught.
In recent months, there had been more and more attacks. The main targets were wizards of Muggle-borns and Muggles. The two of them always took it seriously, but this time it really hit home because the Daily Prophet was showing a black-and-white photo of Lucinda Winston, their classmate, who had lost her life in the attack.
✷✷✷
It took Halcyon a while to absorb this dreadful news. Her whole body froze as she tried to sort her thoughts. She knew Lucinda—while they weren’t close friends, she had spent more time with her in recent months through both knowing Alfred. She seemed like a nice girl who certainly didn’t deserve to die. Just a few days ago, she saw her at the station—alive and smiling. Now, as she remembered that scene, it felt like someone had suddenly punched her in the stomach.
Lily looked at her sadly, her eyes full of suppressed grief. At that moment, it didn’t matter that they were angry at each other.
“I still can’t believe it,” she whispered, nervously playing with the edge of her sleeve.
“Yeah… like it’s some kind of bad joke.” Halcyon replied, her voice empty as if she were speaking to herself. She looked up at Lily, but her eyes were glazed, distant.
“And you still expect someone to come and shout April Fool’s!” Lily sighed and looked away. Her hands were shaking as she folded them in her lap.
They looked at each other. Lily was wearing a winter hat for some unclear reason, and Halcyon would have asked why under normal circumstances, but now it didn’t matter. She placed the food on the desk and put her head in her hands.
In the ensuing silence, Lily suddenly spoke softly, her voice carrying traces of exhaustion. “Why did you come?”
“What?” Halcyon, as if pulled from her own thoughts, lifted her head and stared at her in surprise.
“You know that… what happened with Lucinda… doesn’t change the fact that we’re still fighting.”
“I came because I want to fix things between us,” Halcyon replied firmly, her voice steady. “But to be honest, I don’t understand why you’re mad at me. I’m just telling you the truth, and I don’t understand why you don’t believe me.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed sharply, although her face still showed bitterness. “I’m not stupid—I saw how Potter and his friends were looking at you! And I also find it strange that you, injured, managed to get out of the Forbidden Forest and all the way to the hospital wing!”
“Pettigrew helped me,” Halcyon said calmly.
“Who just happened to be wandering the halls alone that night, right?”
“Maybe he was going to the kitchen, what do you want me to tell you?”
Lily quietly clenched her hands in her lap, her white knuckles revealing suppressed tension. “The truth, Halcyon! I want to know the truth.”
“The truth is that I don’t remember anything, like already told you,” Halcyon began, her voice gentle but full of fatigue.
“And… I haven’t told anyone because it scares me too. I don’t think I lost my memory just like that. It’s like… like someone used some confusing spell or something. I remember studying potions, and then—nothing. Darkness.”
Lily stared at her with a suspicious expression, but there was a flash of concern in her face. “And how can you be sure it wasn’t Potter?”
“Now you sound like Snape,” Halcyon replied skeptically. “Remember his crazy theories about Lupin’s condition? That’s exactly what you sound like. And all because you’re mad and blaming Potter!”
“That’s not true.”
“But it is, you feel guilty! Admit it.”
“I… this isn’t important. Not now,” Lily answered, but her red cheeks gave her away. “I’m angry at you. And not just because of the werewolf incident. Why didn’t you tell me about Belby?”
Halcyon turned away, her gaze dropping to her hands. “I didn’t want to burden you when you were so caught up in self-pity after the breakup. I didn’t have the strength to make it even worse for you,” she admitted in a quiet voice. “Besides, you could have asked at any time when I was hanging out with the Ravenclaws.”
Lily stared at her, her eyes filled with a mix of disappointment and pain. “You should have told me. I would’ve supported you!”
“I know you would’ve. But that doesn’t matter anymore. And not like you could’ve helped much anyways even if you wanted.”
“Wait—what do you mean? Don’t tell me he dumped you just because of your—”
“No. Not that,” Halcyon reassured her, but there was a strange emptiness in her voice.
Lily leaned closer, her expression softening, and when she spoke again, her voice was quiet. “Because he looked really worried when it happened to you.”
“Uhm,” Halcyon cleared her throat. She didn’t want to hear that. She didn’t want to know how worried he had been. She didn’t want her heart to betray her and forgive him again. Alfred Belby had a way of saying cruel things unknowingly, things that deeply hurt an unprepared person. He apologized, but that wasn’t enough. Besides, she didn’t know if she could have a relationship with someone when others would point at her in disgust.
“Well… I just can’t think about a relationship right now. That accident changed everything,” Halcyon explained vaguely, not intending to elaborate.
Lily looked at her for a long moment, her expression finally softening, and then she nodded.
Finally, the girls lay on the bed, gazing at the ceiling, which looked like a night sky. When Lily had decorated the room, they had convinced the Evans family to paint stars on it.
They ate Bluebell’s cookies, which improved their mood, and talked about various gossip they’d gathered over the past few weeks.
For a moment, it seemed like things were returning to normal—if only Lucinda’s smiling face from the newspaper wasn’t staring back at them.