Chapter 16
The third generation, Emma, Lisa, and Zack, were at the entrance of Hogwarts, saying goodbye to Teddy and Victoire, who were leaving to see what working in these times was like.
The third-generation kids were not sad about this; they were used to it. Since Teddy and Victoire finished Hogwarts, they only saw them during vacations, so they were accustomed to it.
Everyone, for one reason or another, felt sad, nervous, confused, embarrassed, and/or angry, but none of them showed it, none of them shared it; everyone pretended to be fine, everyone pretended that life went on and nothing had happened, that nothing had changed.
Everything had changed; truths had come to light in less than four days. Everything had been said, but nothing was resolved, and no one was okay; everyone pretended to be fine.
Emma and Lisa pretended to be okay, but neither of them was, not even their relationship. After the events of the previous night, both had pretended nothing was wrong, but they hadn’t spoken to each other all day, and if they could avoid it, they stayed away from each other.
Zack felt terrible and was giving Emma the space she needed, but he felt miserable doing it. He wanted to be with her; Emma was his best friend.
Hugo, although he didn’t show it or admit it to anyone, felt guilty. He felt guilty for causing his sister to relapse. She had gone a year without a single anxiety attack, and because of him, she had another one. He felt guilty, he felt horrible—what had his sister done to deserve being treated this way?
Alice felt the same as the previous night, with the difference that now she felt pressured, even more like a bad person, and also powerless. She didn’t know whether to tell Rose or if she should say it herself. Neither option was appealing to her; she couldn’t do it, even though she felt like the worst person in the world, she still believed that breaking up with Albus was the best choice.
Louis was confused—what was going on? Nothing made sense. What had happened with his mother? What had changed?
Lily was crumbling. She still felt her chest tighten when she thought about what her boyfriend had said a few days ago, and now she felt her chest wanting to collapse. Why did death have to chase her loved ones?
Rose felt angry, sad, guilty; she didn’t know, she didn’t understand what she was feeling. She felt like she could cry right then and there.
Everyone felt bad, but they were all standing there with a smile on their faces, pretending everything was fine, which was difficult for some after the events of the day.
They couldn’t have a quiet, uneventful day, and this day was no exception. After the news about Louis and Hugo, the shocks and news kept piling up, starting at lunchtime.
The first classes had ended, it was lunchtime, and Louis was greatly surprised when he entered the Great Hall. There were his parents sitting at the Gryffindor table along with his boyfriend, Hugo, and cousins James and Fred.
“Hi, Mom, hi, Dad,” he greeted as he sat down, looking at Hugo for answers.
“Hi, son,” Bill greeted. Fleur just waved.
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Hugo took the opportunity to tell James and Fred to be quiet. They were about to tell Bill and Fleur about their relationship, and they had decided that each would tell their parents separately and privately.
“We came to find Teddy and Victoire and took the opportunity to spend the day here,” Bill answered happily.
“Your mom said you had to tell us something,” Fleur told her son.
“Uh, yes, yes, but in private,” Louis would lie if he said he wasn’t nervous.
“Do you want to tell us now or later?” Bill asked kindly.
“Now is fine, I suppose,” Louis answered hesitantly.
The three of them got up and headed to an empty classroom. As they left, Louis noticed Hugo giving him a thumbs-up.
“What’s going on?” Fleur asked kindly.
“Good,” Louis took a deep breath. “Mom, don’t get mad.” Fleur looked at him, confused.
“What did you do, Louis?” Bill was already imagining the worst, just like Fleur.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Louis quickly added.
“Well, okay, what’s going on then?” Bill quickened the pace of the conversation.
“Well, um... I’m seeing someone,” Louis stopped talking, and Fleur’s face grew more confused.
“Why would that make me angry?” Fleur didn’t understand what was wrong.
“Yes, that, and who?” Bill added jealously.
“I’m seeing a guy, Hugo Granger-Weasley.” Both parents’ eyes widened in surprise, and Fleur continued with her confused face. Bill proceeded to hug his son, while Fleur looked on, even more confused.
“Why would this make Fleur angry?” Bill asked before Fleur could.
“Because in the future, Mom was very upset with Dominique for dressing and acting differently from how ‘ladies’ do, and I thought you might think the same thing,” Louis explained timidly. Fleur hugged her son.
“Oh, no, no, love is love, and a lady can dress however she wants as long as she respects the dress code,” Fleur said as she pulled away from the hug.
“But...” Louis was interrupted by Bill.
“Louis, we don’t know what happened in the future, but we know that from our time, it doesn’t bother us at all. You’ll have to wait until you return to your time to see how Fleur and I react then,” Louis nodded. A million questions were swirling in his head, but the most important one was: what had changed in his mother? “Louis, we have to go to a meeting with Dumbledore, and you have classes,” Bill said as he said goodbye to his son. He and Fleur began to walk away but not before saying, “Thanks for telling us. I hope your relationship lasts, and let that Hugo know that he and I have a talk pending.” With that, they walked away.
Once his parents had left, Louis also went to his class, although he didn’t pay much attention. His head was spinning with thoughts about what could have changed in his mother.
The rest of the day passed normally, with nothing important. The third-generation kids went through their classes almost without speaking to each other; each was wrapped up in their own thoughts.
The last class ended, and everyone had gone their separate ways. Lysander had gone to do his homework by the lake’s edge, though he was sure he wouldn’t actually do any.
Lorcan was with Fred and James, planning a prank that they would execute who knows when. The three needed a distraction, and pulling off a prank always required a lot of their attention to make sure they weren’t caught and that the prank worked.
Teddy and Victoire were organizing the few, very few, belongings they had to leave in a few hours.
Scorpius was accompanying Albus, as he had done the rest of the day, to the Slytherin common room.
Hugo and Louis, although for the first time since they had started dating, could be together without worrying about being seen, were not together. Hugo was with some Gryffindor guys he had met, and Louis wandered around the castle, still wrapped in his own thoughts and questions.
Finally, Alice and Lily were in Alice’s room. Alice was lying face down on her bed, and Lily was trying to figure out what was wrong with her friend. There was complete silence in the room; Lily didn’t dare to ask. Alice always told her everything, and she told Alice everything in return, but this time she didn’t know what was going on and had a small feeling that she didn’t want to know what was happening with her friend.
That silence was broken by an very angry Rose bursting into the room.
“WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?” Rose shouted. Alice got up from the bed, and Lily cast a Muffliato spell. “WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU?” Rose continued shouting, and Alice looked at the floor. “ALICE, I’M TALKING TO YOU, LOOK AT ME, WHAT DID SHE DO?” Alice looked up but didn’t say a word. “WHAT THE HELL, ALICE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” Rose was red, very red, and Alice seemed on the verge of tears. Lily was getting angry—what was wrong with Rose that she was treating Alice this way?
“ROSE, WHAT THE HELL? YOU CAME IN SHOUTING AND INSULTING ALICE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Lily stopped her cousin’s yelling.
“LILY, I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT IF SOMEONE HAD TREATED MY BROTHER LIKE THIS, I WOULD BE ANGRY, I WOULD BE DEFENDING HIM,” Rose yelled at Lily, who now had a confused look.
“What happened with Albus?” Lily guessed it would be Albus; Rose wouldn’t make such a fuss over James.
“Didn’t she tell you?” Lily shook her head. “Alice broke up with Albus in the worst possible way, telling him a bunch of hurtful and false things, and apparently without any reason,” Rose said accusingly. Lily turned to Alice.
“What did you say to him?” Lily asked coldly. Alice didn’t answer, just stared at her. “What did you say?” Lily repeated, still not getting a response. “Alice, what did you say to my brother?” Lily asked one last time. Alice just looked at her. “Rose, what did she say?” Lily went to her second option when she didn’t get any answers from Alice.
“According to what Albus told us, she told him she hated him, that she was tired of him, that he was not the person she thought he was, that he was just like his parents, and that it was best if they broke up and never spoke again,” Rose explained.
“What?” Lily turned to Alice. “Why did you do that?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Alice answered coldly.
“You don’t have to explain anything to us, but you do have to explain to Albus,” Rose replied with the same coldness.
“I’m not going to, and I don’t have to explain anything to anyone,” Alice was almost shouting.
“Alice, I know something’s wrong. What’s going on?” Lily insisted.
“I’m not going to tell you,” Alice was on the defensive.
“Alice, you hurt my brother, and I’m doing everything I can to control myself and not curse you right now because I know something must have happened, something bad, for you to say those things. But if you don’t explain, you’re giving me no other option,” Lily was worried about her friend but also angry.
“You’ll have to curse me, Lily. I’m not going to explain anything,” Alice’s eyes were still tearful, but her tone was cold.
“Alice, you’re worrying me. What happened?” Lily was sure something had happened.
“Nothing happened, I just told him the truth... I just told him the truth...” Alice couldn’t continue with the pretense and broke down, tears began to flow from her eyes. First one, then another, and another, and another, until she couldn’t control them anymore and was crying in Lily’s arms. Rose watched worriedly from where she stood.
Once Alice calmed down, Lily and Rose asked for explanations, and surprisingly, Alice began to speak. “It’s for the best for Albus. He deserves the best in the world and to live happily without having to worry about whether his girlfriend will make it through the next month.” Tears began to fall from her eyes again. “I can’t do that to him.” Rose and Lily’s faces showed understanding.
“Alice, what are you talking about? How is he supposed to worry about you dying? What’s wrong with you?” Rose asked, very worried.
“A few days before this time travel incident, my parents took me to a Muggle hospital. I had been feeling unwell all the time, and St. Mungo couldn’t find the reason for my discomfort, so they took me to the Muggle hospital,” Alice paused to hold back tears and continued. “They did all sorts of medical tests, very strange ones, with needles, weird machines, headphones to listen to your heart, they did everything. A couple of days before all this happened, they gave me the results.” Tears began to fall again; she still couldn’t believe it was happening to her. “They diagnosed me with... with... with leukemia.” Rose’s face filled with tears as she wrapped Alice in a tight hug.
“Alice, how serious is it?” Rose asked as she pulled away from the hug.
“The doctors said that because it developed quickly and because I’m so young, it’s much more serious and with fewer chances,” Alice replied with a broken voice. Rose couldn’t stop crying, and Lily looked on in confusion.
“What’s happening? What is leukemia?” Lily asked, worried.
“Leukemia is a type of cancer, a Muggle disease, and therefore treated with Muggle methods. It’s an extremely serious disease with no cure, only treatment, but it’s not always effective,” Rose explained without pausing to breathe, and Lily’s face filled with tears. This couldn’t be happening.
“Alice, why didn’t you tell us before?” Lily cried.
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to accept it,” Alice said. “But also, once I accepted it, I didn’t want to involve anyone. I didn’t want to make the people I love most suffer because of me,” Alice confessed.
“Alice... that’s not fair. The people who love you want to be by your side,” Lily hugged her friend.
“Is that why you broke up with Albus?” Rose asked seriously.
“Yes, I’d rather he think I hate him, that he hates me so he doesn’t suffer as much if I don’t survive. And besides, it would be selfish to ask him to be in a relationship with no future,” Alice said. Rose understood what Alice meant but wasn’t going to allow her to make the same mistake she had made when she was diagnosed with panic attacks. Pushing away loved ones only makes things worse.
“Alice, it’s not your decision. It’s Albus’s decision if he wants to be by your side or not,” Rose stood up abruptly. “Alice, Albus is devastated. He’s not doing any better thinking that you hate him,” Lily looked at Rose somewhat angrily but knew she was right.
“I’d rather he think I hate him,” Alice said sincerely.
“That’s because you haven’t seen him. Alice, you need to explain to him—”
“But...” Alice couldn’t finish her sentence.
“But nothing. If you don’t tell him, I will,” Rose declared.
“But...” Alice tried to protest again.
“But nothing. You have until Friday, today and two more days,” Rose said firmly.
“Rose, I’m not going to tell him, and neither are you,” Alice was getting angry.
“Alice, I won’t let you make the same mistake I did, pushing people away. Lying only makes everything worse. I won’t allow it,” Rose glanced at the time. “We need to go say goodbye to Teddy and Victoire. You have until Friday to tell Albus, and know that we won’t let you go through this alone,” Rose turned and left.
“Alice, Rose is right. We would never let you go through this alone,” Lily walked to the door. “Shall we go?” Alice nodded, and the two of them headed to the entrance of Hogwarts to say goodbye to Teddy and Victoire.
And now there they were, all of them, all pretending to be okay, all saying goodbye to the couple who looked so happy, so strangely happy among so many people who were not okay, who were pretending. But maybe they are also pretending. Who says they’re not pretending?
You can’t see what people are feeling, so who says they’re okay?
If everyone was pretending, why can’t they do it too?