Lightning and War

A Talk With Jonquil

“You mean to tell me it was only teenage rebellion?”

Harry glanced over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes. Tom was leaning on the wall of the small sitting room where his Knights had deposited Jonquil, his arms folded and his head slowly shaking back and forth. Jonquil was paying more attention to him than she was to the mug of hot chocolate in her hands or to Harry’s questions.

“Yes,” Jonquil whispered. “You don’t understand what it’s like to be rejected by someone you want and stifled by your family.”

Tom leaned forwards. Harry moved a little so that Jonquil would have trouble seeing him, and then gently took his cousin’s hand. “Come on, Jonquil. Tell me more. You came through the portal because you wanted to have adventures and show Tom that you were worth something, right?”

Tom sighed, loudly. Harry cast without thinking about it, swiping his hand towards Tom with a wandless Silencing Charm flying from his fingers. It made the magic whip and rage through him and his teeth tighten to keep from screaming, but it did the job.

“Yes,” Jonquil said, with a small sniffle. She glared at Harry. “And I didn’t ask you to come after me.”

“You should have known I would, though. I’m your family, Jonquil. I love you.”

“Not enough to not take Tom from me.”

Harry shifted his shoulders unhappily. He could explain the truth, that he hadn’t wanted to do it but Tom and his own feelings hadn’t left him much choice, but then he would have to deal with two angry people.

Well, angrier, Harry amended, as he felt the tip of Tom’s wand touch the middle of his back. He must have reversed the Silencing Charm. Harry ignored the wordless message and said softly, “I’m sorry things worked out that way, Jonquil. But still, how could you think that jumping through a portal into a world you knew nothing about was a good idea?”

“It was the only place I could think of that wasn’t tamed and safe,” Jonquil whispered. Her hands twisted together, and she refused to lift her eyes to meet Harry’s gaze. “The only place that Mum and Grandmother wouldn’t find me right away.”

“They don’t want to stifle you, Jonquil. But they can’t tell you what you should want, either.”

“I don’t want them to! I just want them to step back and stop hovering over my shoulder all the time and thinking they know what’s best for me!” She aimed an accusing glare at Harry.

“And yet,” Tom said, in a voice cold enough that Harry went with the nudging of the wand this time when it moved him away from Jonquil, “you still leap into dangerous situations like a child who does need someone to watch out for them.” His hand closed demandingly on Harry’s elbow and he tucked Harry close to his side, an arm over his shoulders. Harry went with it, but winced when he saw the expression on Jonquil’s face.

“I wouldn’t have had to if you had—”

“What? Loved you the way I was supposed to?” Tom laughed, and the sound was cruel, flickering around the room like shadows from a fire. “I chose who I want. I’m not going to reverse my decision. Abandon the delusion that I rescued you because I like you or care for you. I rescued you because Harry wouldn’t shut up about it.”

Harry winced again and tried to step away from Tom. Tom closed his hand down hard enough to make Harry’s vision briefly white out from pain, and then hissed in Parseltongue, “Not this time, love.”

Harry stopped fighting and nodded. He couldn’t afford to do it much right now, anyway, since he was still recovering from using magic with the fluctuation in his power. He turned back to Jonquil.