The Extraordinary Lessons Life Taught George and Felicity

Lesson 12: Nothing is Ever as it Seems

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
~Edmund Burke

The conversation Felicity shared with Alabaster that fateful day was a lengthy one that was frequently interrupted by tears, hard questions, and brought to light just how harsh the beliefs of the Nott family were and how deep the Wizard World's problems ran.

Dianne had been a werewolf squib runaway, no one had cared about who she was and what she was capable of until she was found in Alabaster Nott's bed.

Regardless of the newly reformed ideals of the British Ministry of Magic, the discrimination was still there, underlying, writhing like a dark snake stalking its prey, waiting patiently to strike.

The story of how Alabaster and his younger brother were forced to take the mark, and of how Felicity found herself imprisoned in the ministry, which was the primary topic of Alabaster, Felicity and George's conversation that day, went something like this:

Seventeen year old Theodore Nott did not want to kill his sister.

Even though he thought her unworthy of his name and in spite of all the times he had tormented her, he did not want to bring about her death.

Nonetheless, it was what the Dark Lord had commanded of him. To purge his family of the shame and filth she had brought them, the two true Nott heirs had to bring about her demise.

Alabaster Nott was even more unwilling than his brother to kill his sister, even more so after the demise of his beloved Dianne, and so he devised a plan. He convinced Draco Malfoy -ever conflicted, eager to prove himself- that Felicity Nott had a connection to the one thing the Dark Lord desired  more than anything else.

Alabaster made Draco Malfoy believe with all his heart and soul that Felicity Nott had a tie to Harry Potter.

Theodore led the snatchers to her doorstep, but they had been instructed to deliver her to Alabaster, who was waiting, secluded somewhere, to apperate the both of them to safety, leaving Theodore to play the act of the betrayed brother, while the Dark Lord and the Nott family believed Alabaster to be the only Nott to disobey the orders of Voldemort.

Pansy Parkinson had been the loose straw in the plan. Assigned to lead the snatchers alongside her classmate and friend, she had changed her mind, and decided to deliver Felicity to the Ministry herself.

"Why should the werewolf-sympathizer and squib-lover take the credit for my hard work?"'she had rationalized, and so grabbed the unconscious Felicity from Theodore's arms and whisked her away herself. 

Theodore, panicked, had sent word discreetly to his brother about what had happened, and told Alabaster that he should return, and face his fate and destiny like a man.

Alabaster had run. The Deatheaters had scoured Europe looking for him, and when the Deatheaters were brought to their knees by the boy who lived, the Ministry's aurors came after him, believing him to be as vile and twisted as his parents.

Only now had Alabaster Nott worked up the courage to come back to England. Only now had he decided to find his sister.

He was a coward and he knew it, no better than  his parents who had so willingly followed a man without a soul.
He didn't expect Felicity's forgiveness, he didn't deserve it either. He should have rescued her from the ministry the moment he'd received word of her capture.

Instead he ran.

He didn't know why he had turned to George for help so soon after returning to England. He hadn't known that he and Felicity knew one another, and he certainly wouldn't have known how George would have reacted to seeing his old Slytherin classmate on his doorstep in the middle of the night.

Perhaps, whatever twisted power had made George Weasley offer Felicity a place to stay for the night, so many months ago, had been urging Alabaster Nott forward as well.

Alabaster sat on the sofa, still clutching the delicate green and silver teacup in his hands. The irony of the colours did not escape him.
Felicity sat twisting her purple scarf between her hands, while George ran his one hand up and down her back. His story told, the trio sat in silence, no one willing to be the first to speak.

To Felicity, speaking meant acknowledging what she had just been told, and if she acknowledged it, she had to take back every harsh word and dark thought she'd ever had towards her brothers, because in the end, when it mattered, they had tried to save her.

So maybe they could have done more. So maybe their plan was a half-assed one at best.

But they had tried.

Suddenly, Felicity pushed herself off of the loveseat she and George occupied and flung herself at Alabaster. She hooked her arms around his neck and buried her face in his threadbare jumper, and sobbed.

George watched as the woman he loved sought comfort from what remained of her family. He watched as she wept while Alabaster awkwardly tried to comfort her. George knew that she needed this; that Felicity needed her big brother right now. The news Alabaster had brought with him had been earth-shattering.

Still, it bothered George to see Felicity so close to her brother. Coupled with what little he did know of her childhood, the sight before him just seemed so wrong, but the tugging in his heart and a warm feeling similar to what he felt whenever he visited the Burrow, reminded him that no one had the right to deny someone their family, no matter how messed up.

Alabaster had started to cry as well. He babbled incoherent apologies as he hugged his sister.

His little sister.

That was why he had come back. To make sure she was okay. He'd given up on hiding from the aurors, he'd given up on running away from everything. In truth, he'd been running since he'd lost Dianne, and he was so, so tired.

Felicity was okay, which meant he could join his brother in his imprisonment, as he should have, long ago, to pay for what happened to Felicity. To pay for what happened to Dianne.

31 July 2016
1026 words