The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

To Good Things

Augusta Longbottom stood in the doorway of her son's childhood bedroom. "You could just stay here, rather than moving, and save yourself on expense of the mortgage," she was saying, her voice ringing with desperation. She'd been repeating this mantra for weeks - months, even - and before the only thing that had kept Frank from leaving had been waiting to be officially sworn onto the force as an auror, and then of course there'd been Alice's graduation, and the matter of choosing a house... But at long last Frank and Alice Longbottom had agreed upon a small wizarding town in Cotswolds called Reeds-on-the-Water.

They'd found a rowhouse on the end of a lane, a few turns from the village centre. The house was old stone, featured a skylight in the ceiling of the highest floor, was next door to a magical florist and across the way from a wizarding travel agency, which specialized in trips to the Egyptian pyramids. Alice called the place darling and convinced Frank it would be the perfect place, suggesting they grow flowers in a window box in front of the wide bay window that most others of the houses on the row had converted into a shop-front window. "It will be positively lovely," Alice insisted, "And during holidays, we'll have the perfect place for our Christmas tree to shine for all the village to see."

Augusta had seemed supportive enough of the move - "A man ought to have his own home, of course, and he ought to live with his wife! Really, if your father could see how you've lived separate lives from your wife all this time, Frank, he would be positively miffed!" - but the nearer it came to be actually time for Frank to follow through with the moving out of her home, the less supportive she'd become - "You just never know what sort of trouble being a homeowner without a safety net can cause! You're rushing into things! You ought to be looking for a better place, a standalone place! Really... buying a townhouse, you must be mad! Do you even know your neighbors? Could be anybody!"

And she'd become even more so ever since the attack at Speaker's Corner, when Frank Longbottom's partner, McKenna Alliston, had been slashed by dark magic at the wand point of a death eater. McKenna had suffered a wound so awful that magic could not heal it - something about the dark magic kept the magic of the mediwizards from staunching the bleeding, and poor McKenna had undergone muggle surgical procedures to pack and close the wound. She'd only just barely pulled through in the end, and Augusta hadn't let Frank forget about the near brush with death that had been had. She'd be on leave for some time, which left Frank without a partner so that he found himself tagging along on missions with others, as he'd done when he was learning.

Now, Augusta watched as the last of his childhood things were packed away, the walls and shelves left with only the things which Frank was not taking with him to his new home, and her eyes were red from crying, though she was trying quite hard to act as though she hadn't spent the past few hours sobbing, trying to act as though she were being strong and just suggesting her son stay as a benefit to him.

"Mum," Frank turned to her and put his palms on her shoulder, staring into her eyes determinedly. "We're a short floo away. It's not anymore dramatic than if you were upstair and I were down, alright? Not really."

Augusta sniffed and squared her jaw.

Frank kissed her forehead as she'd done so many times to him and he turned and lifted up the last box, setting it on his hip and staring at her. "Honestly, mum, you should be relieved. I'm finally out of your hair."

"I just thought it might be easier for you and Alice in the long run if you didn't need to be moving. So help me if I thought it might be nice for you and Alice... Makes a good deal of things 'round her easier on me if it's only me in this... big... huge... entirely empty house... just me and less laundry, less to cook and clean..."

"See, that's the spirit," he murmured, knowing full well what she was doing.

Augusta beaded her eyes.