Disclaimer- Harry Potter is not mine, so please don't sue me.
“I love you Nora,” Andy said sloppily as he sat down in a spot next to Nora on one of the red couches in the Gryffindor common, reeking of firewhiskey and trying to keep his cup from spilling its contents on himself.
“Do you now?” Nora asked in amusement.
“Yup,” Andy replied with a broad smile as he took a sip of whatever he was drinking. “You may have been acting like a stubborn git for the past couple of months but I still l love you anyway.”
“That’s Andy’s way of saying he missed you Nora,” someone suddenly said with a chuckle from behind her and she turned to watch David sit down in front of her followed by Alice, his hand firmly grasping hers.
Nora turned her head to her other side to see Rose settle in to the seat next to her, but not before giving Andy a disapproving look as he belched loudly. “But he is right about the stubborn git part,” Rose replied with a stony look in Nora’s direction.
Nora winced slightly at Rose’s tone. “I guess I deserved that,” Nora said grudgingly.
“Yes you did,” Alice said sternly but her expression quickly softened. “But you’re very lucky that we’re the kind of friends that forgive very easily.”
Nora smiled at Alice. “I’m so sorry you guys. I’ve been acting like an idiot to all of you for the past couple of months because I was too stubborn to realize that I needed to let people into my life if I was ever going to be happy.”
“Apology accepted,” Andy replied, slurring his words.
“No argument there,” David said with a loud laugh and he reached over and clapped Andy on the shoulder, practically knocking him off of his seat on the couch.
“So now that you’ve apologized to us, I think you should go have a nice long chat with Al,” Rose said with a sweet smile. “Merlin knows how badly you two need to have one.”
“Ha ha,” Nora said dryly. “We’re going to talk once the party’s died down a bit or everyone’s passed out, which in Andy’s case might not be too long from now.”
“Don’t bet on it,” David said lowering his voice so Andy, who was now talking to a very tall blonde Slytherin seventh year, wouldn’t hear him. “Andy can somehow manage to stop acting drunk as soon as he’s trying to get in other girls pants.”
“Therefore,” Alice piped up cheerfully. “You should go look for Al and talk to him immediately. I can’t wait for you two to finally be together. Rose always refused to go on double dates with me and David when she was with Darren and I’ve always wanted to.”
“I wonder why?” Nora said with a fake smile before shooting a grinning Rose a very nasty look.
“Never mind that Alice,” David said, his face slightly pink as he cleared his throat. “But she is right Nora. Don’t put off the inevitable. It’s time for you to talk to Al.”
“Oh fine. But I have no idea where he is right now,” Nora replied.
“Well that’s an easy fix,” Rose said. “He’s right behind you.”
Nora turned quickly to see Al with Greyson, not that far from where they were sitting, who was re-enacting a goal he scored in today’s match for a bunch of giggling 4th year girls. Al looked highly amused watching his teammate and Nora couldn’t help but smile at how happy Al looked after seeing him look so miserable for the past couple of months.
Unfortunately Nora had no idea if that would quickly change as soon as she told Al about what she had done or when he explained what had happened with the few girls he had been involved with over the years.
“Nora,” Rose said in a warning voice, obviously seeing her hesitant expression.
“Alright, alright. I’m going,” Nora said in annoyance and she took a deep breath in to calm her nerves before standing up from her seat and making her way over to where Al was standing. The group of giggling girls quickly shut up when they noticed Nora standing so close to them and they all stared at her wide-eyed as if they were afraid she may attack them.
“Hey Grey,” Nora said as cheerfully as possible. “Nice to see you’re milking our win for all it’s worth.”
“You know it Wilson,” Greyson said with a smirk before noticing she had not come over to talk to him about his fans. “Alright ladies,” Greyson suddenly said, giving Nora a meaningful look. “Let’s go get something else to drink.”
Nora watched with a smile as Greyson walked away with the group of giggling girls who followed him like a herd of sheep. “I love that kid,” Nora said with a laugh before turning to look at Al.
“I hope not more than me,” Al said seriously.
Nora felt I very light blush grace her cheeks as she cleared her throat in embarrassment. “How about we get out of here?” she offered. “We need to find somewhere a little bit more isolated so we can talk.”
“Alright,” Al said seriously and he gestured towards the portrait hole. “Lead the way.”
After walking alone in the silence of the deserted hallways for a few minutes, Nora and Al came across a deserted classroom that they quickly darted into and Nora locked the door behind them.
“Is that necessary?” Al asked apprehensively.
“Believe me,” Nora assured him. “It’s necessary.”
Nora watched from where she was standing at the door as Al settled himself on the teacher’s desk at the front of the room where he proceeded to stare at her.
“I understand that this is a big deal for you,” Al said in an understanding voice. “And how hard it has to be for you to be trusting me so... I guess I’ll go first. But I think it would be a lot easier if you kind of... sat near me for this.”
“Oh sorry,” Nora said, slightly flustered and she quickly made her way to the front of the room and sat herself beside him on the teacher’s desk.
Al nodded as he watched her take her seat next to him, his face a mask of uncertainty. “What I’m about to tell you will possibly make you angry and I have accepted that it might so... I guess I’ll start at the beginning.”
Nora gave him a small encouraging smile and she watched Al take a deep breath in before beginning to tell her his side of what had happened with all of his previous girlfriends.
“Alright so I dated Mya in my third year. To be honest I wouldn’t really call it dating since she was my first girlfriend so I had no idea what the hell I was doing,” Al explained honestly and Nora let out a small laugh. However, Al seemed encouraged by her laughter and he continued on with his story more confidently. “So, on our one month anniversary, which was a huge deal,” Al said, laughing to himself. “Mya suddenly came out and told me that we shouldn’t have secrets in our relationship and then she told me about how her dad had killed that muggle family and how she hadn’t seen or heard from him since they shipped him off to Azkaban,” Al explained. “After that she swore me to secrecy and I promised that I wouldn’t tell anyone and then she told me that she had only ever told one other person at Hogwarts what her dad had done because it was so hard for her to actually admit it, especially since we’re living in a time where people who kill muggle’s are seen as sick basterds. Then we dated for another month or so and then we just broke up because we were bored of each other or something,” Al said rapidly and his eyes quickly darted in Nora’s direction and she gave him a reassuring look. Al cleared his throat and began again. “So imagine my surprise when a few days later she confronted me in the hallways – crying – about how I had betrayed her trust and now half the school knew about her dad. I denied saying anything, because I honestly hadn’t said a thing,” Al said more as a reassurance to Nora and Nora gestured for him to continue. “I then asked if the other person she had told hadn’t told someone else and she got this kind of dumb struck look before walking off and then she never bothered me after that, which makes me think that the other person she told spilled the beans on her dad to someone else. But since she only yelled at me in front of loads of people, everyone thinks that I was the one who ran my mouth.”
“Okay,” Nora said slightly breathless.
“Do you believe me so far?” Al questioned.
“Yes,” Nora replied honestly. “Yes I do. Keep going.”
“Okay,” Al said, giving her an appreciative look. “So Mya ended up transferring out of school and eventually the whole thing blew over and the rest of my third year was relatively uneventful, which leads way to my fourth year,” Al said with a slightly displeased look on his face.
“Something tells me, by that look on your face, that you were a little shit in your fourth year,” Nora said with a smile and she edged closer to where Al was sitting.
“A little,” Al replied and he continued on. “In the middle of my fourth year I managed to gather up the courage to ask out Kara Welsh, who was apparently the best looking girl in our year at the time. She said yes, of course,” Al said, shooting Nora a wide grin before continuing on, “and for 2 months I thought I was the greatest thing in the world because I had become Kara Welsh’s boyfriend. But then... we started talking and I realized we had nothing in common. She was honestly really... odd. She read all these books about satanic cults in the muggle world and I was pretty sure she was obsessed about them, so I ended up breaking up with her because I thought she was weird.”
Nora laughed loudly at Al’s explanation for why he broke up with Kara. “She was too weird. Oh Merlin Al, I can totally believe that you were a little shit when you were 14.”
“Ya ya,” Al said with a look of displeasure. “But guess how I felt when a week or so later everyone was saying that she was bulimic and I felt like an idiot for not noticing.”
“So she never told you she was?” Nora inquired, slightly surprised since Rebecca had made it seem that he had told everyone, therefore he had to have known before everyone else.
“No,” Al reassured. “But people assumed I’d been told and then told everyone because of what had happened after Mya and I had split up the year before.”
“Oh,” Nora said with a slight hint of surprise. “Well this isn’t so bad. You’re really starting to make me look like a bitch now.”
“Ya, but everything I just told you was not the stuff I was worried about telling you,” Al said in a miserable voice.
Nora took a deep breath in and grabbed Al’s clenched hand and held it in both of hers, making him turn his face to look at her. “I came into this conversation with an open mind Al, so just tell me what happened because I swear I won’t over react,” Nora said, giving him a meaningful look.
Al inhaled deeply. “Alright,” he said and he gripped Nora’s hand in thanks before continuing on with his story. “Last year I started talking to Rebecca for the first time because when I became a prefect she was also one. So, when we got to talking we found out that we had a lot in common and I really started to like her. That was when I asked her out and to my surprise she said yes.”
“You actually really liked her huh?” Nora suddenly interrupted.
“Ya,” Al said, pausing, his tone slightly regretful but he quickly shook it off and began his story where Nora had interrupted him. “We were dating for a little over 3 months when I started to get curious about what her dad did for a living. It was common knowledge around school that he didn’t have a normal job and of course everyone always wanted to know exactly what he did. Andy was dead set at one point on the idea that he was some sort of ninja assassin,” Al said and Nora snorted. Of course Andy would think something like that. “So I started to let my curiosity get the better of me and I started bothering her about it until I finally wore her down a few weeks later and she told me. She then told me that I was the first person in the entire school that she had ever told and that she trusted me with her secret,” Al said and he heaved a long disappointed sigh before continuing.
“Unfortunately after she told me about her dad she started getting paranoid that I was going to tell someone about her dad and she started going on and on about how it wasn’t a good idea to tell me, especially with my history,” Al said with a look of displeasure.
“Oh,” Nora said, knowing what was coming next.
“That was when I broke up with her. I had had enough of not being able to have a conversation with her without her freaking out over her dad’s secret. Of course she had been angry after I’d broken up with her and she called me all sorts of things that made me a little depressed. Andy, a couple of weeks after we broke up, decided that I needed a party to get my mind off of Rebecca so we had one hell of a party and boy did I get drunk,” Al said angrily.
Nora took a sharp breath in as a feeling of dread began to creep up her spine. “Al?” Nora said in a questioning tone, when she noticed how he had stopped talking.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “As I was saying, I was completely smashed and at some point I had gotten out of the Gryffindor common room and had begun to wander the hallways where I proceeded to run into Tatiana Zabini of all people,” Al said, his voice turning angry and Nora guessed he was currently reliving that night as he was telling her the story.
“Don’t tell me you hooked up with her,” Nora said in a panicked voice.
“Woah. No. I don’t think I could ever become drunk enough to do something like that,” Al said reassuringly. “But she did start talking to me and she started asking me about my break up with Rebecca and why we weren’t together anymore. So, in my angry drunken state, I blabbed a very important secret about the first girl I had actually ever really cared about to Tatiana bloody Zabini,” Al exclaimed angrily and Nora watched in shock as Al’s free hand clenched into an angry fist.
“So,” Al continued. “By the next day what Rebecca’s dad did for a living had become common knowledge around school and McGonagall quickly found out, with Monroe’s help, that me and Zabini were the one’s responsible. The ministry was called in and they basically obliviated everyone’s memories about Rebecca’s dad and forced her family to move. I had detention for close to two months, but not before my mother grounded me for half of last summer. The only reason why people don’t talk about what happened last year now is because everyone’s memories were modified so they really don’t remember exactly what happened.”
Nora continued to remain speechless. Rebecca had been right. Well at least about wronging her. She could truthfully say that she believed what Al had told her about what happened with Kara and Mya and she didn’t need to read his mind to confirm that. But there was just one problem. Al had been completely out of it when Zabini had gotten the truth out of Al. Sure that didn’t excuse his actions but it was really mostly all Zabini’s fault the entire school found out in the first place. Nora couldn’t believe it. She was, for the first time in a long time, overlooking a person’s mistakes and accepting the fact that Al had obviously learned his lesson.
“Nora,” Al said in a nervous voice. “Say something.”
“I think,” Nora began, “that we should never let you get that drunk ever again.”
“What?” Al exclaimed in confusion.
“Well it’s obvious from what you’ve told me that when you get drunk you turn into a blabbering idiot so no more large amounts of alcohol for you,” Nora explained.
“You’re not mad?” Al said flabbergasted.
“Oddly enough... no. But I am a little disappointed. I mean really, Zabini, of all people to talk to you chose her. She’s a vindictive snake and now it’s obvious that her favourite past time is ruining people’s lives,” Nora rambled.
Al just shook his head in astonishment at Nora’s response. “I love you,” he admitted before grabbing Nora’s face and kissing her passionately. Nora got over her surprise quickly and swiftly responded fervently to his actions. After a few minutes of making out, and Al somehow making his way to lying on top of her, Nora reluctantly separated their lips with a small push.
“Okay Al,” Nora said breathlessly and she watched as Al, completely undeterred by her pushing him away, went straight to kissing his way up her neck. Nora huffed loudly and continued to speak. “We need to stop before we get side tracked and I forget to tell you about my issues. So please get off of me for a moment.”
Al groaned unhappily and lifted himself off of her and back to the place where he had been sitting before on the desk and Nora straightened herself up.
“Alright,” Nora said, collecting her thoughts. She was actually going to do this. She was going to tell Al the truth and everything would be fine. At least she hoped. “I guess I’ll start from the beginning.”
“They’ve been gone for awhile haven’t they,” Alice commented.
“Well they did have a lot to talk about,” David replied.
“Ya don’t worry about those two,” Rose said reassuringly to her friend. “I think Nora went into this conversation with an open mind so everything should be fine.”
“I hope you’re right,” Alice said worriedly.
“I know I am,” Rose replied. “You two want anything to drink?”
“No, I think we’re going to go for a little walk,” David said and he gave Alice an affectionate look.
Rose snorted. “Sure,” she replied, winking at David and Alice suggestively causing the two of them to blush simultaneously. Rose grinned broadly and began to make her way through the hordes of dancing people around her to where Greyson was handing out drinks to anyone who wanted them, trying to ignore the slight twinge of jealousy that had suddenly taken root in the back of her mind.
“Hey Grey,” Rose greeted and Greyson, as if by instinct, ducked under the table to hide. Rose rolled her eyes. “Get up Grey. I’m not going to get you in any trouble, since I would like something to drink myself.”
Greyson exhaled in relief as he stood up. “Thank Merlin. What do you want?”
“Surprise me,” Rose replied and Greyson set to work pouring various types of alcohol into a cup. “So where’s James? I thought he was manning the bar tonight?” Rose asked, making conversation.
“Well,” Greyson began slightly distracted by what he was doing. “Since he no longer has to be the quidditch nazi from hell, since the season is over, he immediately moved his focus to chasing after Shasta.”
“Really?” Rose said in surprise.
“Oh ya,” Greyson replied as he handed Rose her drink. “I’m pretty sure their upstairs together right now.”
“Oh,” Rose replied and she took her drink from his hand. “And why aren’t you out charming every girl in the room?”
“I’m not really in the mood,” Greyson said bitterly, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes; his single grey streak standing out like a beacon.
“You just won the quidditch cup and you’re not in the mood to have fun, you never don’t want to do something stupid,” Rose said in disbelief and she took a sip of her drink. “Hey this is actually pretty good,” she said in surprise
“Thanks,” Greyson said. “And I’m not always in the mood to have fun.”
“Oh,” Rose said, realizing what was going on. “I’m guessing Lily’s having fun with Ben tonight.”
“Whatever,” Greyson mumbled and began to hand out butterbeers to a group of fifth years and Rose knew their conversation was over.
Rose slowly made her way through the crowd of people, feeling slightly lonely knowing that she was going back to her seat just to sit by herself. Once Rose had managed to get her way through the chaos on the dance floor she settled herself in her comfy arm chair only to realize that she had just willingly sat down next to Scorpius.
“Weasley,” he greeted raising his cup in her direction.
Rose sighed. Why hadn’t she checked to see if anyone had taken David and Alice’s seat? “Malfoy,” Rose grumbled before taking a long drink from her cup.
“Having fun?” Scorpius questioned. Rose turned her head, eyebrow raised quizzically. For some reason he actually seemed interested.
“Sure,” Rose drawled, sounding more bitter then she would have liked. “Al is with Nora, David is with Alice, Andy is with that slutty 7th year Slytherin, Jessica and I recently broke up with my boyfriend. How about you?”
Rose watched with displeasure as Scorpius laughed a little before responding. “I’m having an okay time for the bloke who just lost the quidditch cup to a bunch of idiots from Gryffindor.”
“Well good for you,” Rose replied grumpily.
“Happy belated birthday by the way,” Scorpius commented. “I heard that you got quite the present.”
“I assume you heard that from Nora,” Rose replied.
“Actually... no,” Scorpius replied, a small smile playing across his lips. “You could say I was the first one to knowabout your rose. Maybe even before you.”
“Huh?” Rose said in confusion, giving him a scrutinizing look. Why did he look like he had just done something clever?
Scorpius suddenly lifted himself from his seat and turned to look at her. “I’ll see you later Weasley and make sure to water your rose every once and awhile. Just because it’s an everlasting one doesn’t mean you can’t kill it.” Before Rose could say anything back, Scorpius was making his way over to Zabini not far from where Rose was sitting and she did not look pleased.
What did he mean he had known about her rose before she had? The only way that would be true would be if he had given it to her.
The realization hit Rose like a freight train. Rose turned her head and stared at Scorpius’ back in complete disbelief. He had sent it to her. But... why? It didn’t make any sense. Rose looked back over to where Scorpius and Zabini were arguing and she quickly received a look of rage from Zabini causing Rose to quickly turn her head and sink very low into her chair in an attempt to hide from Zabini’s menacing look.
“Wonderful,” Rose groaned and she quickly finished off the rest of her drink.
“Feel free to go as slow as you like Nora,” Al said supportively. “I’m going to guess that what you have to tell me if a lot harder then what I just told you.”
“Mhmm,” Nora mumbled in agreement. Just do it Nora. Just get it all out of the way and out in the open. Nora took a deep breath in and out and began to tell Al all about how she had met Darius. She didn’t cry like the last time she had told Scorpius everything. She had cried last time because she was having a mental breakdown. This time she was completely in control. Well, at least for now. However, Nora tried not to look at Al’s face as much as possible because the more she told him about Darius, the angrier he got.
“And now know one knows where he is,” Nora said, finished with one part of her story.
“So Darius, your murderous ex-boyfriend, is running around without anyone looking for him,” Al exclaimed.
“People are looking for him,” Nora said with a sigh. “Just not in the right places.”
“Well where do you think he is?” Al asked slightly flustered.
“Here in the UK,” Nora replied honestly and Al gaped at her. “He’s smart Al. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was right now trying to figure out a way to get into the school.”
“There’s no way he’s going to,” Al replied.
“Sirius Black did,” Nora countered. “Loads of death eaters got in here during the last war. So, what’s stopping Darius from finding a way in here?”
“I’ll make sure my dad raises the security around here,” Al assured and Nora shook her head.
“Your dad can’t get too involved.”
“Why?”
“Because of my dad and how he’s too stubborn to admit that he needs help. Until he asks your dad, or anyone for that matter, they can’t get involved,” Nora explained.
“That’s idiotic,” Al said angrily.
“I know it is Al,” Nora responded. “But I’m not done telling you things, so can we talk about this issue later.”
Al gave her a frustrated look and began to relax a little. “I’m sorry. Please continue,” Al offered calmly but Nora noticed a vein jumping in his neck so she decided to tread carefully.
“So after Darius killed Emily, school became very hard for me. People’s parents were pulling their kids out and they were all blaming me for it. Most students hated me because, from what I heard, by the end of last year, about a quarter of the Academy’s students had left and started going to Salem, which meant loads of peoples friends were leaving. Also, loads of parents were trying to get me expelled because I was a threat to their kid’s safety.”
“Gits,” Al mumbled and Nora laughed.
“Ya, well... they were right.” Nora noticed the shocked look on Al’s face from the corner of her eye and he was about to say something when Nora lifted one of her hands to silence him.
“You can imagine that at this time I was practically losing it. I honestly could not understand why someone I had loved would literally destroy something I loved and with all the added stress of no one being on my side and all other students parents wanting me to leave school, I started to lose control of my powers. I could tell it was starting but I just didn’t want to cause any more trouble so I stayed quiet,” Nora explained miserably.
“But that was the wrong thing to do. A week or so after Emily was murdered a bunch of seventh year girls started getting on my case and they ended up telling me that I should leave because I was no longer wanted. For some reason those words were what made me snap,” Nora said and she looked at Al who was staring at her with a look of compassion. “You remember my first Hogsmeade weekend and how I made you knock me out?”
“Of course,” Al replied gently. “I’ve never seen you look so terrified.”
Nora nodded. “I told you I would hurt a lot of people if you didn’t because I had done it once before,” Nora said mournfully and she suddenly began to cry.
“Nora,” Al said reassuringly. “It’s okay. Just tell me what happened.”
Nora took a shaky breath in. “I still don’t know how to explain it but I suddenly developed this intense headache, just like in Hogsmeade. Healers told me that it was because I let all my stress build up to the point where I had a mental breakdown. Unfortunately for me, sometimes my mental breakdowns are different then your run of the mill meltdown. When I started freaking out in front of those 5 girls my mind literally got rid of all of the stress that had been weighing on it by sending some sort of telepathic wave from me, hitting those 5 girls and 2 third year boys who were walking by. It was just my luck too that since my brain runs a little differently than other peoples; whatever telepathic crap that came out of my mind that night put all 7 of those people into instant comas,” Nora described with anger and she heard Al’s audible sharp intake of breath as she said the word comas but she continued on.
“I remember watching them all collapse and destroying a few tables and chairs around me as I fought for control over my mind but I just eventually ended up blacking out,” Nora continued. “The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital a week later where I was told exactly what I had done and how I had been expelled because I was not safe for other kids to be around anymore.”
“Oh Merlin,” Al said, his voice pained.
“My dad quickly made sure to cover up the entire mess by saying that he was pulling me out of school because of my mental health and he made sure the school reported that there had been an explosion caused by a bad potion one of the third years was carrying. He also swore all 7 of those families to secrecy. Eventually all 7 of the students I put in coma’s woke up and they were sworn to secrecy as well and I wouldn't past my dad if he even modified their memories a little as well. As for me, I spent the rest of the year in therapy and locked up in my house,” Nora said with resentment.
“Nora,” Al began but Nora stopped him again and continued.
“There was a moment where I wanted to end it,” Nora admitted, tears falling down her face. “There was a moment where I wanted to jump out a window or just Avada Kedavra myself and to be honest, I think I might have if it wasn’t for Longbottom and McGonagall showing up at my house in July last summer where they asked me if I wanted to come here in September. I pretended like I was tough,” Nora said with a watery smile, remembering Longbottom sitting uncomfortably on one of her dad’s antique chairs and McGonagall, almost 100 years old, and still able to argue spectacularly with her father. “I pretended like I was some lost cause, since that was what my dad told me I was, but the two of them managed to make me believe, just a little, that I was worth something. And then they set up meetings with the board of governors and once they decided that I had been rehabilitated McGonagall accepted me here instantly. But even to this day, I still wonder if my dad has always been right about me. Because I wonder all the time if all I’ll ever be is the thing that causes pain in other people’s lives.”
Nora could tell Al was shocked without looking at him and she waited sadly for him to call her a freak or run away from her, just like everyone else. She hadn’t even told Scorpius that she had wanted to kill herself.
“You,” Al said shakily and Nora winced instinctively, waiting for his insult. “You,” Al said again, “are definitely worth something and you may have caused me some pain Nora, but I can honestly say I love after all the shit we’ve put ourselves through.”
Nora was stunned. She had never heard Al speak with such conviction before. She turned her head to look at him, a fresh batch of tears pooling in her eyes. Al noticed this instantly and he swiftly wrapped his arms around her, causing her to instantly break out in tears.
“Hey, hey,” Al said stroking the back of her head. “Don’t cry. I’m not used to it so you’re kind of freaking me out.”
Nora snorted. “That’s one hell of a way to seduce a crying girl,” she sniffed, pulling away from him. “Tell her you’re freaking me out.”
“I’m charming, what can I say,” he said with a grin, obviously trying to get her to smile. “So is that everything you wanted to tell me?”
“There’s one more thing,” Nora said hesitantly. “It has to do with why my dad resents me so much.”
Al stared at her in confusion. “I thought he was just a psycho and there was no explanation.”
“No there is one,” Nora said in a distracted voice.
“What is it?” Al asked.
Nora took a deep breath in and with a straight face replied. “He thinks I’m the reason why my mother is dead.”
Nora watched as Al’s jaw dropped in astonishment and he stared at her in utter disbelief. “Your dad thinks you had a part in your mom’s death. Merlin, he is a psycho. I mean he actually has the stomach to say that you might have killed your mom,” Al said with a laugh of disbelief. But Al quickly stopped when he saw that Nora’s expression had not changed and he gave her a hard look. “You told me she died from Alzheimer’s when you were 12.”
“She did,” Nora replied her mind racing. She had a feeling that this part of her past might be the thing that scared Al away for good but she knew she owed it to herself and Al to be completely honest. Even if it meant pushing him away forever.
“Then I don’t understand,” Al said in confusion.
“You know how when I had my telepathic meltdown after Darius murdered Emily and I put those people in comas. Well, that’s not the first time I’d ever done that,” Rose admitted her voice becoming shaky.
Al just stared at her and Nora was unable to read his emotions so she continued. When I was little I had temper tantrums just like any other kid. But the problem was I wasn’t like every other kid so sometimes I would get a little carried away and I would go into one of my telepathic meltdowns. I had a grand total of four before I turned 8 and each time my mum was the one who got the brunt of the shock waves. But unlike those students, my mom never fell into a coma. Instead she would just get pushed over and she was fine. However, as the years passed my mom started forgetting things so my dad, being the worried husband, insisted that she go to the doctor since she was a muggle,” Nora explained, talking in a very emotionless voice.
“She came back after her check up and told my dad that there might be a possibility that she had Alzheimer’s. So, at first my dad just accepted it since it was normal for muggles to get this disease and my mum was already 50 years old since they had had me a bit later on in their years. But as the year passed my mom got worse faster than any Alzheimer’s case the muggle doctor’s had ever seen. At this point my dad was freaking out so he was able to get one of his wizard healer friends to come take a look at my mom. At first they couldn’t figure out what was going on but one day when I was playing with some of my toys the healer noticed how I could levitate things so easily without a wand, especially for a child who had yet to even start school. My dad replied that I was special and that I could somehow use some form of telekinesis. I remember the healer getting this weird look on his face and telling my dad that he had heard about my case and then he pulled my dad into the other room to talk to him,” Nora explained. A single tear escaped Nora’s eyes and rolled down her cheek, her blank expression never faltering as she began to relive one of her most painful moments.
“Suddenly my dad started yelling and shouting from the other room and I was only 10 so I had no idea what was going on and the next thing I knew my dad was suddenly in the room and he literally grabbed a hold of both of my arms and he began to shake me, the entire time he was sobbing and saying ‘what have you done.’” Nora said, her body beginning to shake.
“It turned out that the healer had a theory that my magic, in high doses, was dangerous for everyone because it could possibly alter people’s brain waves. The healer believed that my mom would have one day gotten Alzheimer’s but with my repeated over dosage of my magic, it sped up the process. So, for the next couple of years I got to watch as my mother wasted away and forgot about me and my father grow to hate me more and more each day,” Nora said wretchedly and she turned to look at Al’s silent form. “So, there you go. I’m the monster who caused my own mother’s death and I have to live with that every single day.”
Both of Al and Nora remained silent for a few minutes as Nora braced herself for the worse. There was no way he was going to take this lightly. There was absolutely no way.
“It’s not true,” Al suddenly said in an angry voice.
“What?” Nora said in confusion.
Al suddenly lifted his hands and grabbed a hold of her face, making her look at him. “You are not a monster and right now I hate your father for making you think that when you were only a little girl.”
Nora stared at Al in bewilderment. “Didn’t you just hear me? The healer said that-,”
“I don’t give a damn what the healer said,” Al interrupted, rage dancing in his emerald green eyes. “Your father should have protected you, he should have comforted you. Instead he blamed you, a little innocent girl, for his wife’s death. I swear to god if I ever see that man, I’m going to kill him for what he put you through.”
“But how can you defend me,” Nora exclaimed. “I know I had a hand in my mother’s death, especially after I put all those people in comas. That just proved it.”
“No it does not Nora,” Al replied angrily. “You put those people in comas; you didn’t give them Alzheimer’s. You and your father’s beliefs about how much involved you were with your mother’s death are all based on one healer’s theory. A theory.”
“But it could be right,” Nora said in small voice, tears streaming down her face. “I could be the monster who killed my mother.”
“You are not a monster,” Al said fervently, shaking her slightly. “And I will spend as much time as it takes to make you believe that you did not have any hand in your mother’s death.”
“But-,” Nora whimpered.
“Enough Nora,” Al said in a strong voice, silencing her instantly. “You are going to stop blaming yourself right now for this because there is no proof that you hurt your mother at all.”
Nora nodded meekly and Al let go of her face only to wrap his arms around her in a comforting embrace where Nora continued to cry. How could this be happening? Al, instead of running in the opposite direction, was trying to convince her that she wasn’t responsible for her mother’s death and was threatening to kill her father. Nora couldn’t believe it. She had to have found the most perfect guy in the world and she honestly had no idea if she actually deserved him. But that thought was silenced when Al continued to reassure her while stroking the back of her head. “It’s okay Nora,” Al said comfortingly. “I’m here to protect you now and I swear no one is ever going to hurt you like this ever again.”
A/N- This chapter was both happy and sad at the same time. We have Al and Nora finally settling their issues but at the same time we realize that Nora has needed somebody like Al (Scorpius as well) to turn to for a very long time.
On a brighter note Rose has realized that Scorpius is the one sending her expensive meaningful gifts and she has a good idea why. Also I promise that the next chapter will be much more upbeat before we get down to last few chapters. Anyway please read and review. Toodles!
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