Andante - R. Lupin

47.

But she had realised she couldn't live to make others proud no matter how hard this was, she couldn't always be a people pleaser and everyone knew how much ally loved being a people pleaser so understanding that sometimes left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.

She knocked on Perseus' door three times when she arrived and he let her in with a smile and a hug. She hugged him tightly and breathed in his scent. Perseus' aftershave always brought Ally a sense of comfort when she felt anxious and she didn't know why, but like she had always thought it was probably because Perseus had done so much for her when she had been growing up.

"Hello sweetheart, you're early," Perseus commented

"Yeah sorry Perse, didn't mean to be, just had enough of revising," she sighed giving a small smile

"What seems to be the matter dearest? You haven't had a frown like that in quite some time?" Perseus asked handing her a cup of tea

"I haven't heard from the Ministry and I'm just deflated because Toby and Luke have had their acceptance letters today and I just want confirmation you know?" She huffed taking a sip of her tea

Perseus nodded and stood up from where he was sat. He had received the owl for Ally as it had been sent to their mansion. Oberon had said that it didn't look like it was good news because the thickness of the letter and it was safe to say that all the brothers had come to the same consensus which had made them all feel devastated for ally. They all acknowledged she was incredibly hard working and that she had tried so hard to do this for Atlas, for Remus, for all the children and adults who had been wrongly treated by the ministerial prejudice.

The brothers were proud of her ambition but ambition meant nothing if people weren't willing to take you on. Wolf had heard that Cygnus Black had a good amount of sway in the department that Ally had applied for and he had feared that when Cygnus had seen that Ally had applied he would have done something to jeopardise her application to make their family fall in line. It was wrong to think like that but at this moment nobody could not assume anything, there was a war about to happen.

Perseus reached into the drawer and passed Ally the letter that was addressed to her. He gave a small smile and sat opposite her clasping his palms together.

"This arrived at the mansion but you don't have to open it today if you don't want to," Perseus assured

Ally took the letter almost violently from his hands and ripped it open as quick as possible. She only scanned the letter but her heart fell to her toes when she saw the words 'we regret to inform that you have been unsuccessful at this time...' she felt her eyes start to water but she didn't want to cry.

Why would she cry infront of her eldest brother who had achieved all his dreams? Why would she ever cry infront of Oberon who was the best Auror the department had seen since mad eye moody? Why would she cry in front of Wolf who was incredibly successful at anything he set his mind to? Merlin, she wouldn't even cry in front of atlas as he understood the bitter sting of rejection better than anyone, let alone cry infront of Caspian, the perfect pureblood child, who was just as good as Oberon and matching the Prewetts in Auror training.

Alcyone Estella-Nova Montague felt like a failure and the more the thought stuck in her head the more the tears leaked from her eyes without her noticing. She passed Perseus the letter and she placed her head on her forearms and just spent a few moments crying into her arms trying to recompose herself.