Summary: Happy endings? What are happy endings? They saved the world for the future, and the kids are here. Life, meanwhile, just goes on.
DISCLAIMER: I am not J.K.Rowling. I just wish she would hurry up and publish
The Scottish Book.
Categories: Next Generation Characters: None
Warnings: Sexual Situations, Slash, Strong Profanity, Substance Abuse
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 2
Completed: No
Word count: 3928
Read: 4445
Published: 02/04/11
Updated: 02/26/11
1. Lucy by hestiajones
2. Hugo by hestiajones
I hate family gatherings.
I can’t stand the noise, the meaningless redundant chatter, the exchange of hugs and kisses, the talk about school, the questions about the future. Every single moment grates on my nerves, and today is no exception.
I’m sitting here in Grandma’s kitchen, inhaling the warm smell of the shepherd's pie which must be about the only thing that lightens my mood. Fred and Louis have apparently gone to Diagon Alley to get some wine. Roxanne is intently listening to Victoire discussing hair-care products with her mum. Dominique isn’t here. Lily will be late because she is meeting her boyfriend’s parents for lunch. Rose is in Germany, doing some research. James has Quidditch practice which he can’t miss. Hugo is outside, probably discussing dragons with Uncle Charlie. Molly is with Aunt Hermione “ I honestly don’t know what they are talking about. Could be house-elf rights. Could be some news which was in the Prophet today.
Really, I can’t be arsed in the least.
Nothing significant, nothing of importance is happening here, and I would have preferred not to come at all. I was happy in my room, not doing anything but I had my books to occupy myself with. I had an excuse. But Mum and Dad wouldn’t let it go. I had to come, didn’t I?
So, here I am, looking out the window, and I suddenly see Albus with Hugo and Uncle Charlie. He must have just arrived. They are laughing at some joke that Uncle Charlie has probably shared with them. Albus looks so different now. He is tall and even attractive in a way I never thought he’d be. He’s one of the two cousins who make an effort to talk to me. Dominique is the other one. They do it for different reasons, though. Albus is just kind, and Dominique because she is quiet, too. Though far older than me, I'm the one she would talk to if she had to. I wonder where she is these days.
“Lucy, dear.”
It’s Grandma. Mustering up some courage, I turn towards her. “Yes, Grandma?”
“Why are you sitting here alone?”
I hate this question; it is the one question which has been asked so often to me it doesn’t feel like a question anymore. It is like…like something that validates my existence, something that makes me Lucy Weasley. I dunno, grandma, you tell me.
“I just wanted to smell the shepherd's pie.”
"It’ll be done soon,” she says happily.
And she leaves me. Sometime later in the day, I’ll wonder if this conversation even happened.
I turn back towards Albus, but he’s no longer there. There is a burning pain in my throat.
Sometimes, I wish I was a boy. My male cousins seem to have so much fun, and unlike Lily, I find it hard to join them. Rose doesn’t bother. She and Molly tend to get together when we are here, the bookworms in the family. Roxanne just sticks to Victoire, and if the latter isn’t here, she’ll run off with Lily. Dominique is the only one who’ll come to me, but I don’t think she’ll be coming anymore. She had a big fight with her mum a few months ago. Dominique likes girls, and that didn’t go down too well with some members of the family, particularly Aunt Fleur.
“Hey,” says someone.
“Victoire,” I greet her. “How’s everything?”
“Great. Why are you here alone?”
Smelling the shepherd's pie.
“I “ ”
“Come with me,” she says, grabbing my hand. She has never touched me before. Victoire is a nice girl. Actually, she’s perfect. Beautiful, intelligent, and all that. She has talked to me before, but my unwillingness to thaw usually throws her off. Today, she’s grabbing my hand and leading me somewhere, and the contact oddly thrills me.
“Where are we off to?” I ask her.
“Out in the garden. Let’s go get some gnomes.”
Victoire isn’t the type to get so hands-on with menial tasks, especially when it comes to cleaning The Burrow’s garden. “Oh,” I say. I feel Roxanne staring at my back as we walk out of the kitchen.
“Actually,” says Victoire as soon as we are outside.
“It’s not the gnomes,” I finish the sentence for her.
“Yeah.” There is a sheepish smile on her face. I don’t return it. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Go on.”
“Have you…have you heard from Dom?”
“No.”
She stares at me, considering my answer. Yes, I replied too quickly, but that isn’t because I’m hiding something. The question just caught me off-guard.
“Why would she be talking to me instead of you?”
“You were…close to her.”
That’s funny.
“We just talked a bit whenever we gathered here.”
“Right.” She looks worried. “Right. Sorry. I’m just…Nobody knows where she is.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” I tell her, wanting to walk away, eager to leave her. “She wouldn’t do anything stupid. Perhaps she’s staying with some…friend.”
“Do you know if she was close to anyone at school?”
“Well…I dunno. We weren’t in the same house, she was five years ahead of me. Dom was usually with the cousins whenever I saw her, or alone. She was pretty thick with a Ravenclaw girl for a while. That’s all I know.”
“Who? The Rawal girl?”
“Yeah. I think they had a falling out while in school, though, so I don’t think she’s with her.”
“Anyone else?”
You see the problem of talking with a family member, especially one older than you. You’re under obligation to answer their queries, each and every one of it, and you can’t escape even if you want to, even if you’re fed up.
“No, not that I know of.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I go now?”
“Yeah.”
I don’t go in but walk off towards the field. I just want to be left alone. Alone is good. Alone is devoid of disappointments. Alone doesn’t let you get hurt by others. I’m quite familiar with it.
The field, which used to be nothing but a patch of land infested with tall weeds when I was just born, now looks something like a small park. Over the years, the adult members of the family cleared off the weeds, planting shrubs and flowering plants and trees. Although not as beautiful as a regular park, it is prettier than what I have seen in photos of how it used to be. I head towards there with one purpose - namely, to be left alone. And it feels great when I lie down on the grass, ruining the pale cream blouse which Mum got for me, and the light cotton trousers I just bought last week.
It feels great, seriously, and I swear that people wouldn’t notice I’m gone even if I don’t go back in for hours. See, they are used to this without being conscious of it. They would ask me “Why are you alone?” when in the back of their mind, they know that ‘alone’ is what I’m always doing. I’m mistress of it.
“What are you doing here alone?”
It’s Albus.
“Hi,” I say, a little out of breath. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you walking off,” he says simply, and he comes and sits down by my side. I hope he doesn’t notice my chest rising and falling rather heavily.
“Yeah…I love this place.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is.”
“Last year at Hogwarts then?” he asks me.
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do after that?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Mmm.”
He slowly lies down by my side. Together we lie on our back, facing the open sky. I wonder if he’d like to play cloud games.
“Give it some time,” he says instead. “I was clueless when I left school.”
“Yep.”
“But this is your last year, Lucy,” he says, and his tone is now rather earnest. “Make sure you have fun, yeah?”
“I will.” I give him a smile to make it more convincing.
“I’ll never understand how you got into Hufflepuff,” he says, eyebrows furrowed, “and not have a good time.”
“I’ve been into the kitchens,” I blurt out. “And I thought Gryffindor was supposed to have all the fun.”
“We’re just louder,” he says dismissively. “Hufflepuff are supposed to be the real party people.”
I laugh. Somehow, I can find it funny when it is Albus.
“Don’t you ever go to Hogsmeade with your friends and just…let it go?”
“I…well, I only go to Hogsmeade when I have work.”
“Work? In Hogsmeade?”
“Yeah, like buy stuff.”
“Lucy!” He sits up. “C’mon.”
“What?” I ask him, sitting up myself.
“You seriously need to start living.”
“I…am living. I’m alive.”
“No, you aren’t.”
He looks into my eyes and cups my face with his cool hands. “You aren’t.”
Then, he pulls me closer and kisses me. I’m shocked at first “ I can’t be kissing Albus. He has always been like an older brother to me. Except, not really, he hasn’t. He has indeed been one of the only people in the large family to talk to me and not be condescending about it. He has been one of the few people to acknowledge me at school and genuinely care about what I was up to, even though it was only on occasions when we happened to meet in the Great Hall during mealtimes, or the library…I don’t remember where else because it was years ago.
But then, over time, especially after he left school, it became so much more than that. He was there when I was crying over O.W.L. preparation. He was there when somebody in my house said I was the most uninteresting Weasley rather loudly in the common room. He was even there when Betty and Eliza went off to Hogsmeade without inviting me, although I was the one who had originally refused to go, but then they should have asked me again.
Albus was there, though he never knew it. And he is here right now, kissing me.
“But this is your last year, Lucy,” he says earnestly. “Make sure you have fun, yeah?”
Of course, this is where I really am, where I have been all this time. He has his arms - not around me - but folded below his head. Sometimes, I try not to make out what is real.
“I will," I tell him.
“Whew.” He winks at me, and then says, “I think I can hear Grandma calling.”
I think I can, too, except it doesn’t matter to me.
He sits up quickly. “Let’s go join them for lunch,” he says, holding out his hand to pull me up.
I oblige, yet it is my body which walks with my cousin back to The Burrow and the people inside it. I stay behind, still kissing Albus.
End Notes:
This is the first from a series of character studies I'm planning to do on the Next Gen kids. Do let me know what you thought of Lucy. :)
“Coming?” asks Louis as he dips his hand into the bowl.
I have seconds before I give my answer. On one hand, I want to escape to Diagon Alley with Louis and Fred; on the other, I feel like I should stay back, and then talk to Mum at least. I need something out of my system before I leave for Hogwarts.
“Nah, you guys go ahead.”
With a nod, I leave them to it and make my way out of the kitchen.
“Hello,” I wish Lucy, who has suddenly appeared out of sight and is now standing in front of me. She must have just arrived.
She returns a barely audible “Hi” and passes me without another word as she walks into the kitchen. Well, we have never been close even though we’re in the same year at school. Though, Lucy, to be honest, is not close with anyone.
“Hello, Hugo!”
That came out of nowhere again. “Hello, Uncle Percy.”
“Hugo!” cries Aunt Audrey, who has followed her husband into the house.
“Hello, Aunt Audrey!”
“Where’s your mother?” she asks me, while I watch Uncle Percy going up the stairs.
“I “ uh “ she was just here a few moments ago,” I tell her. “Maybe she’s upstairs?”
“Oh, all right then, I shall look for her,” she says, taking off her cloak. I offer to hang it up for her. “I have something very important to discuss with her.”
“Yeah…sure.”
“Your sister’s still in Germany?”
“Yeah, she is.”
“Good, good.”
“Yeah.”
“All right then, I will go up and look for your mother.”
“Okay.”
“Where did Lucy go?”
“In the kitchen.”
There is the smallest hint of a frown before she remembers I’m here, then she forces a smile and goes up the stairs. So, Lucy didn’t want to come. I don’t know why they bother if she doesn’t want to. I mean, all right, this Sunday-before-Hogwarts-at-The-Burrow is a tradition with us, but not everybody has to come. Rose isn’t here, for one thing, though that has to do a lot with her being in another country. James has his Quidditch practice, and there is an eighty-to-twenty percent chance of him not coming in the evening either.
But I haven’t got time to argue Lucy’s case in my mind; I have to get to Mum before anyone else does. And believe me, Mum’s always in demand. Everybody has something to say to her. Usually, I find that an excellent thing as it keeps her eyes away from me. Not today. Today, I really got to talk to her.
I’ve even sent Aunt Audrey upstairs, even though I know Mum had accompanied granddad to his garage. He had some questions for her as well. I hurry outside, hoping to get to her before Dad and Uncle George turn up. They are still in the shop at Diagon Alley. Uncle Harry and his family aren’t here yet, thank God. I can’t stand Lily nagging me to get a move on. As for Uncle Bill -
Shit.
Is that Victoire’s voice?
“Hello, Hugo!”
“Hey…Victoire.” There she is, walking towards me, looking as perfectly put together as always in her cool blue satin dress and long blonde hair.
“Not happy to see me?” She has a frown on her face.
I should get a grip on myself. “You look great.”
“Thank you.”
“Is Teddy coming?”
Something passes over her face, but she recovers quickly. “No, I don’t think so. Rose still in Germany?”
“Oh yeah.”
She nods and starts tying her hair into a bun. That’s something she does that when she’s uncomfortable. I wonder what’s making her uncomfortable.
But I’m not about to bring it up. “So…where are Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur? Don’t see them around.”
“They’re coming soon,” she tells me, her hair done.
I need to move. “I’ll see you later then.”
“In a hurry?” she asks me, eyebrows raised.
“I need to talk to “”
“Victoire!” someone shouts.
“Hey!”
Then, she completely forgets about me and runs off towards her favourite cousin. Thank you, Roxanne, for rescuing me. I must go to Mum now. It’s important that I do. I have had an entire summer to talk to her about this, and I haven’t been able to. School starts in three days. There isn’t much time left.
I can hear her voice as I get closer to the garage. They’re discussing something, her and Granddad. Granddad wants to install a telephone line, as a few of us have started using them “ our family, and Lily’s. Grandma is not keen on it, so I’m thinking Granddad wants to enlist Mum’s help.
“…if you tell her, she might agree,” I can hear him saying earnestly.
“I’ll try my best, Arthur,” Mum replies. She won’t succeed.
I knock on the door; there’s a crash. “It’s me, Granddad,” I call out. “Hugo.”
“Oh “ oh!” He sounds flustered; he must have probably thought it was Grandma. “Come in, Hugo.”
I can’t help but grin when he gets like this. “Uhm…yeah, so we’re talking telephone lines here, eh?”
“Shhhh.”
Both Mum and I laugh, and Granddad joins in. “So…you’re gonna talk to grandma about this?” I ask Mum.
“I’ll try,” she answers.
Granddad pats her on the shoulder. “Just this last time.”
There is a pause when both of them turns towards me and looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak up.
“Can I have a word with you, Mum?”
“Of course,” she says.
I wait.
Mum has a questioning look on her face now, while Granddad just stares at me. I refuse to elaborate.
“Ah,” says Granddad finally, getting up from his stool. “I’ll leave you two to it.”
As soon as he leaves, I close the door and stand near it, unable to walk any closer towards her.
“Hugo,” she starts. “Wh-”
“I need to discuss something with you before I leave for school.”
“Okay,” she says. She looks surprised, but calm too.
I can do this.
But as soon as I nearly blurt out what I want to say, she speaks again. “Is this something we can’t discuss at home?”
No. “No,” I say aloud, shaking my head unnecessarily at the same time. “Not when…not when Dad is there.”
Now she looks nervous. Great. I should have just done this before she got a chance to speak. This is hard.
“Mum…look,” I begin, and I realize my voice has started shaking. “This is… I really want you to know this now because I’m going away to school and I’ve been keeping this secret for two years and I don’t want to keep it that way any longer…especially…especially from you, Mum…I…”
I nearly say it “ nearly, even though mum looks positively scared by now. But I can’t because I have just heard Aunt Fleur’s voice outside.
“Urrthur, ‘ow are you? Is Victoire already inside?”
I hear it loud. Clear. My mind is going blank.
“Hugo?” prompts mum.
“Mum…I…”
She waits. I suddenly find I can’t do it, even though I must.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” she says gently.
“I…I am…”
She gets up and walks towards me, and that gives me some courage.
“Mum…I’m gay.”
This makes her stop before she reaches me.
“Wh-what?”
“I…am gay.” Now that it’s out, I should just tell her the whole story. “I’m gay.” I like that my voice is suddenly growing stronger. “I like boys. I’ve known this for some years now. I’ve even…I’ve even gone out with boys.”
For a long, long time, she doesn’t reply. We stand there, unable to break the eye contact, while Aunt Fleur’s voice rises between us and eats up the air. It’s suffocating. I wish she’d just shut up and go inside.
“Is that why…” Mum croaks. Clearing her throat, she begins again. “Is that why Fleur’s voice is bothering you?”
Is it that obvious? “Yes,” I answer truthfully.
“Hugo…” she says. She sounds like she is pleading. “Hugo…”
“Mum,” I say, raising my hands, “if you…if you aren’t comfortable with it, you just have to bear me for three more days, and I’ll be off to school.”
This must have shocked her; her mouth’s hanging open. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to say this, but I cannot bear hearing her say I disgust her or something like that.
“I’ll keep it quiet, okay? It won’t have to be like what happened between Dominique and Aunt Fleur.” And my throat is hurting now. “Just wanted you to know, all right? Because…you need to know. I’m not going to change. It has to come out one day or the other, and I want you to know now.”
“Hugo…”
“Lily knows,” I continue stubbornly, not wanting to hear to anything she has to say, “and that’s about it. No one else does. She’s been nagging me to tell you, but I couldn’t, not after the fuc “ freaking fiasco that happened last time somebody tried to tell you all…It can’t be helped, all right, Mum? So, just…”
“Are you going to let me speak at all?” she asks me coldly.
“Go ahead,” I reply in the same tone, though she scares me when she gets like that.
“I’m not going to pull a Fleur on you,” she continues. “I thought you knew me better.”
“Oh.”
“I’m only…” She pauses. “Oh! Hugo…” She goes soft again, yet she’s walking towards me again, so that must be a good thing. “Well, I won’t lie to you. This is…a bit shocking. Yes, I’m shocked. I suppose I never really gave it a thought…that one of my…one of my…”
“One of your kids could be gay?”
“Yes.” She pauses again, and then shakes her head. “No, actually, after Dominique, I did think about it, and I discussed it with your sister, but you…I just didn’t give it enough thought, I suppose.”
“Wait. You discussed this with Rose? Why did you leave me out?”
Tears are welling up in her eyes now. “It never struck me. I thought you liked “ I thought you liked Elsa.”
“Elsa?” I ask, stunned. “Elsa Nott? Rosie’s friend?”
“Well, yes. We met her at Diagon Alley, didn’t we? And the two of you were hitting it off so well…”
“Mum, just because I hit it off with a girl doesn’t mean I’m going to fall in love with her. Besides, she’s Albus’ girlfriend!”
“What?”
“Not that I was supposed to tell you that.”
“Why?”
Shit. I never meant to go into this. “Well…Elsa used to date…Mum, this isn’t important, all right?” She looks as though she wants to go on a bit more on Elsa, so I hit her with my question. “What are you gonna do now that you’ve found out your son is gay?”
“Nothing,” she answers me, completely forgetting about Elsa. Then she hurries over, crossing the last remaining distance between us, and gently puts her hands on my chin. “Hugo…It doesn’t matter. You’re still the same to me.”
“Really? I mean…that is too good to be true…”
“I’m serious.”
“You aren’t…you aren’t freaked out?”
“I’m just surprised, Hugo. That’s all.”
And then, she hugs me, and I feel like crying. I also feel light, now that the burden is off my chest. Of course, my dad has yet to know and that will be something, the day he finds out, but everything’s brilliant at the moment.
“So,” she asks me when she lets me go, “are you seeing anyone in particular?”
That’s something even my Mum isn’t prepared for yet. “Nope,” I lie.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.