Rainbows (A Hogwarts Mystery Story)

Chapter 20

He didn't just stop there.

Cecil began to explain everything to us--how his days used to be very bright until his older brother got arrested, along with his wife. Like Jacob and me, he and his brother were close, almost like best friends forever inseparable. Or at least, so it seemed. The two eventually forged on different paths, but still kept in contact until Cecil got the news. Since then, he'd blamed himself for everything.

"I've buried my grief in my work," he said then. "The news of my brother's arrest...it shattered me. Had I not been so foolish to believe that he'd turn things around, maybe I would have still had him. Maybe not in the same way we used to, but at least he'd still be...around."

In all my life, never had a professional come up to me and admitted defeat because of one little thing that they couldn't do. Maybe it was so that the public would retain its stereotypical image of professionals--that they could do anything without restraints, without problems. But in reality, even the best of us had weaknesses. No one's image could remain so pure, so genuine.

"It's okay, Uncle." Barnaby spoke up then. "Not everyone can defeat the fiercest Chimera. I'm already proud for what you can do. We can work as a team and do what we can to achieve our goal."

"Mr. Lee is absolutely right...um, Mr. Lee," Professor Flitwick chimed in with a nod. "You can handle werewolves, and there are others who can help with the Dementors. Don't feel like you have to handle every burden alone."

"And it's not your fault. What happened to your brother...well, he chose his fate," I said, my voice a little hoarse after having remained so quiet. "He chose his destiny, and you chose yours. If you're happy with what you can do, then stick to it. And as for the Patronus...well, a lot of people have enlisted my help after I was able to cast one--though I couldn't have done it without my best friend, Rowan. Point is, we'll help you Mr. Lee. We'll help you with the mission you've been called here for."

I felt strangely hollow suggesting that. He had been through a similar traumatic event, so similar to mine, and yet it left him crushed. Ever since my brother went missing, I thought my family would crumble to ashes, too--especially my mother, who ended up getting the brunt of the harsh impact with negative reviews from the public. She drew the curtains over her career, and was afraid of stepping into the sun again. Only recently did she begin to take up work at the Ministry. Even then, she still hid her insecurities, but I knew enough to see that she was never the same following my brother's disappearance.

No one ever remained the same following something so significant. Even I didn't feel like the carefree child who still had her brother to lean on.

For a moment, Mr. Lee looked a little stunned to see us give him support. Maybe he wasn't used to getting words of comfort for opening up to a group of strangers--even if one of them was his family. Then he nodded. 

"Miss Lin, your brother..." he started to say before clearing his throat. "How do you cope?"

Now I was surprised to hear this question from him. Honestly, I wasn't sure how to answer this question--not when thoughts of my brother still haunt me day and night, and even more so whenever Dementors were around to remind me of that day. I felt Barnaby squeeze my arm reassuringly, and I nodded, a shaky exhale escaping.

"Well...some days, I still think of Jacob and cry," I told Mr. Lee slowly. "Or maybe not cry, really--just sit in a numb shell and reminisce. But I try to live in the present. I have friends with me. Making new memories with them...they help me get over the bad things in the past."

Eleven year old me, still so naive, wouldn't even have thought of getting over her past if she never met Rowan at Diagon Alley. Only her consistent presence reassured me that I could do anything--that I could be unstoppable. Or almost, for that matter. At least present day me clung on to that one thing that rooted me to this phenomenon called life, and it seemed like Mr. Lee was realizing that too, the way he nodded in thought.

"Thank you. It's just..." Mr. Lee took a breath. "Never mind. I look like an idiot, don't I?"

Barnaby laughed, and I shook my head in response.

"Never, uncle. You know I can be an idiot too," Barnaby replied.

"Not always, dear nephew. You are still a sharp one sometimes." Mr. Lee eventually calmed down after a bit and nodded. "I suppose I do need to hold myself to the present. After all, we have a werewolf to hunt."

"And if you have trouble with anything, holler at one of them," Professor Flitwick suggested, nodding at me and Barnaby. "They're very good at these things. At least, that's the hope...?"

"I'm reassured enough." Mr. Lee smiled at me then. "I'll send you an owl when I need you, Ms. Lin."

The three of us eventually left Professor Flitwick to clean up his classroom, Mr. Lee walking too the staff room and Barnaby and I to the courtyard. Barnaby didn't remove his arm around me the whole time.

"I'm sorry about my uncle," he eventually said as we sat by the fountain, gazing out at the sunset painting beautiful hues in the sky.

I knew he had a right to be embarrassed--he didn't expect his uncle to leap so suddenly on our slight dynamic change in friendship. I wasn't sure what we were, though. Barnaby made a good point to his uncle--nothing happened much after the first kiss. The Dementors had done enough to wrench apart even a slight possibility of a normal teenage romance.

"I'm sure he meant well. After all, he did witness a friendship that normally wouldn't happen within Hogwarts' walls--let alone a romance," I told him, nudging him lightly with a laugh.

"True. I remembered last year, how Felix kept warning me that befriending a Gryffindor would have serious consequences...because of that rivalry," Barnaby murmured. "But I stand by what I said last year. You're one of the nicest people I met, and I don't care what house you're in at all. I like you. I really do."

That was enough to make my cheeks warm, blood rushing to my face possibly making it glow even brighter than the setting sun. "And so do I," I managed to respond.

Barnaby gave me a tender smile that would have made me melt, but barely had he lifted his hand to move a strand of hair behind my ear when I suddenly heard the courtyard door fly open with a BANG.

Storming outside with stomps that echoed all around was none other than Merula, her fists tightly clenched at her sides and her hair sticking up even more in every which way. One of her fists held a crumpled piece of parchment. I could have sworn I saw something glitter in her violet eyes as she passed us without glancing our way.

I turned to Barnaby with concern now, and he glanced back at me with worry glinting in his emerald eyes.

"Did something happen to her?" I asked him.

Barnaby shrugged. "Honestly, I haven't really talked to her much. But I can tell something's giving her a hard time."

In his attempt to sound offhanded, I couldn't help but feel guilty. I promised I'd help her with the Patronus Charm, but in the haste of trying to put my close friends first in response to the death of the Slytherin prefect I had failed to consider her and her problems. If that note she held in her hand held bad news, then it would make my attempt to help her redeem her reputation much more difficult.

Still, I couldn't just leave her hanging. She helped me with the wolves, after all.

It was time I properly repaid her.