Winter came like a thick sheet of dread and chill. Dread of the upcoming midterm exams drove Elizabeth to 'the point of near zombification' according to Maria. She spent probably far too much time indoors, and drank probably far too much coffee. On the morning of the exams the world felt blurred as she reviewed everything she had ever learned. The corridors melted into the great hall and she somehow found her way to a seat and poured herself some coffee. The mug was wet as she picked it up and took a sip. Looking down, the world came into focus for a moment - long enough to see that she had mostly missed the mug and the coffee was seeping into the tablecloth. Groaning, she put down the coffee and pulled out her wand, muttering the charm, she missed the hand on her shoulder.
"Hey."
Looking up, Elizabeth saw that it was Francis. He looked far healthier than when she had last seen him, and his freckles didn't show so much on his face. "Oh, Hi Francis."
"You worried about the exams?"
"Yep," Elizabeth bit her lip, "How about you?"
"I think I'm ready, after all, I did spend a good... month, I think, studying."
"Well, good luck," Elizabeth said, eyeing the plates of freshly toasted bread.
"To you too!" Francis said. Then he got up and moved down the table to talk to a younger boy who had just sat down. Elizabeth grabbed a piece of toast and stuffed it in her mouth, and then got up to look for Maria.
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The first N.E.W.T test took place at 10:00, and Elizabeth's brain was buzzing, both from nerves and too much coffee. Her first exam was charms, and she felt somewhat confidant. She had always had a relatively high grade in charms, and as a result hadn't studied as hard for the test. Oh boy was she regretting that now.
Somehow she made it through the morning exams, all five of them. She stumbled to the great hall for lunch, bumping into Maria by the door. "Hey," She said tiredly, "How'd it go?"
Maria was only slightly less tired, "I think I may have completely failed history, but who cares about that anyway. The only person who ever gets a passing grade in history is a history teacher."
They sat together for the rest of lunch, Maria abandoning her usual table to sit with Elizabeth. They drank ridiculous amounts of orange juice and ate too many breadsticks. On occasion, one of Elizabeth's cousins came up to wish her luck for the afternoon exams. Martin gave her one of his highly intelligent looks up and down and declared that she would pass all her tests but one. Maria thought this was hilarious, and asked for her own exam fortune. Martin said that would fail all but five of her N.E.W.T.S, but be happy at the result. Elizabeth smirked.
It wasn't until after all her exams had finished that Elizabeth realised that her cousin was right. Despite all her revisions, she knew she had failed either history or arithmancy, and was hopelessly worried that it had been the latter. She knew that without a high N.E.W.T in arithmancy, she could kiss her medical dreams goodbye. In a panic, she went to find Martin at dinner. He was sitting with Isaac at the Gryffindor table, and Elizabeth hurried over to him. "-and then she said-you'll never believe this-"
"Martin!"
"What?" Martin looked up and Isaac stopped, mid sentence.
"Are you taking Divination lessons?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"When you said that I would pass all my NEWTS except one, was that a prophesy?"
"I suppose it was..." Martin trailed off, "I just had a feeling, and so I said it." He paused and took a drink of his orange juice. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing really," Elizabeth shrugged. "I should go."
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Nervous energy wracked the school for the next few weeks. Summer was just a few days away, and the N.E.W.Ts had finally been wrapped up. Suddenly, after weeks and months of study, there was nothing left to do. Elizabeth found herself walking with Maria quite a lot. They would wander around the grounds, down to the boathouse, then to Hagrid's hut, then back to the school, always keeping up a pleasant chatter about this and that. Maria told her about all the strange things that Martin had said, and how she hoped she would do well on her N.E.W.Ts, and in return, Elizabeth told her about Nathan, and how she was expecting him to ask her out for a date of some sort any day now. In fact, it was odd that he hadn't, and now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen much of him over the past week. Just at mealtimes, and even then not for very long. Even Francis had been around more often. "Of course, there's always the chance that he has other friends." Maria said, "Martin has a few, and they like having him over to play chess and stuff."
" 'Chess and stuff ' " Elizabeth joked, "Descriptive."
"Shut up, I'm trying. Not everyone can be as eloquent as you."
"Thou underestimates thine own talents." Elizabeth deadpanned, "Methinks thou art lowering... um. Thou art something. Whatever." Maria snorted and gave Elizabeth a playful shove. Elizabeth, in turn, fell overdramatically, and cried out, "Thou horrid prat! Thou hast besmirched my inestimable ego!"
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Nathan made an appearance two days later at supper. Elizabeth had just sat down at the Slytherin table with Francis, as usual, and Maria had joined her, when he walked boldly up her her surrounded by a group of Gryffindor boys, most of them sixth years. Elizabeth watched him stop, and raise his arms, stopping the crowd. Then he began to say what was clearly a long-recited speech. "Elizabeth, my darling-," Elizabeth felt her cheeks grow hot, and she hurriedly took a sip of her water. "It is true that in the past, members of our houses have despised and hated each other. Each has called the other a pest, a waste of space, evil, degenerate, and all kinds of horrid things. I myself have been guilty of this, especially during our friendly Quidditch matches." He paused, and Elizabeth saw Maria smirking at her, clearly enjoying every second of the display. Nathan kept talking, but Elizabeth couldn't hear him anymore, she was too focused on the fact that her ears had suddenly decided that red was the colour to be nowadays.
"-In short, And what I should have said first, now that I think about it. What I came here to say is I love you Elizabeth! I love you and I don't care what the rest of the school thinks about our houses. You were obviously mis-sorted because none of the houses deserve you! You are an angel, and if I had a ring on me I would propose right now!-" Elizabeth stopped holding back her blush, shocked, and felt the red heat spread all over her face. She must look like a sunburned tomato at this point, and Maria was doubled over in a fit of silent laughter.
"But since I don't I'll do the next best thing!" Nathan bent towards her and whispered, "Will you kiss me?"
Elizabeth barely heard herself agree over the roaring of her ears and of the crowd around her. Then she was leaning in, her eyes closing as their lips touched. The roar of the crowd became cheers and clapping, and she felt her face cool slightly. Time slowed, and suddenly there was only Nathan there with her. No one else seemed to matter at the moment. And that was ok.
The first person she saw when they broke apart, (other than Nathan, or course) was Maria. The look on her face was one of pure elation and triumph, and Elizabeth was sure she would never hear the end of this for the rest of her life. It wasn't until the crowd had dissipated that she noticed that Francis was nowhere to be found.
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The end of term finally arrived, and the kiss was now written down in school history as one of the most over-the-top declarations of love in over thirty years. Elizabeth sat with Maria, Martin and Nathan on the train. She had decided to show Nathan the case, and more importantly, what was inside. Leaving Maria and Martin as lookouts, she led Nathan down into the case. He looked astonished by the size of the interior, and stared openly at everything. Elizabeth showed him all the old habitats, the shed full of photos where she did her homework, and the cupboard where she kept the bottles full of memories. Nathan was duly impressed by everything, and then they went back out of the case together. They emerged just in time to catch the trolley and buy some chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties.
When they arrived at platform nine and three quarters, Elizabeth remembered the wedding. William and Freida had agreed to be married over the summer so that everyone could attend, and the big day was just a week away.
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It had been years since she had worn an actual dress, and the memory of that night, and that dress had been caked into her mind. Meeting Nathan at the ball had changed her. Before Nathan, she had no idea where she was headed, but with his help, she had found more of herself. She had found her love of medicine and learning. She had pushed herself further than she could have ever gone.
After the ball, she had put the dress away somewhere, and hadn't found it again. She hadn't really thought about it much since then, but now, as she looked at the dress that her aunt had given her to wear to the wedding, she felt like this dress was what she could have ever wanted from a dress. It was simple, quiet, and elegant, everything the other dress hadn't been. Smooth black fabric, with a pattern of pale pink spring flowers, on it. Not too many flowers as to overpower the black, but to too much black to look like a funeral. It was the sort of dress you could wear to anything, and be comfortable in. Looking at herself in the dress, she looked older, not at all like she had just finished her final year of school. She felt older too, more responsible, calm, and self-assured. She took a deep breath, and felt the fabric of the dress pleasantly press against her chest, not constricting, but not too loose.
A knock at the door, and then Isaac entered, looking not at all happy in his dress suit. "I don't see why I have to wear this," he said, pulling at his sleeve, "It's not like I'm the one getting married."
"Still, you look nice," Elizabeth stressed that last word.
"Whatever. It's time to get going." Isaac left abruptly, shutting the door hard behind him with a crack. Elizabeth smirked.
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The church was small and cramped, and as it filled up Elizabeth looked closely at the guests. A number of William's old school friends had come, as well as some of her Uncle and Aunt's acquaintances from before the war. Elizabeth didn't recognise most of them, but a few caught her eye. There was a black man with greying hair and his hat in his lap, and a short, older black woman with a tight bun. Elizabeth recognized the woman as Miss Hicks, a retired teacher from America, but didn't know the other man. She was about to ask her uncle Jacob about him, but was interrupted by Samantha's elbow colliding with her ribs. "Ow!"
"Sorry!" Samantha hissed through her teeth. She looked pretty in her blue dress, but her hair had become mussed and flyaway, like she had been pulling at it again. "I'm bored."
"Huh," Elizabeth rubbed her ribs, "Well, it should be starting in a few minutes, so you should sit down."
"I don't want William to get married," Samantha said grumpily, "It'll change everything, and I don't even know Frieda. I don't like it."
Elizabeth scooched over on the pew bench to let her cousin sit beside her, "I don't like it very much either, but I'm also happy for William. He spent a long time trying to find his life, and now look at him, he's never been happier, and that's a good thing."
"I guess..." Samantha sat down heavily, "it's still weird though." She crossed her arms and turned away. Elizabeth sighed and turned around to try and catch a glimpse of the bride. More and more people had filed in, and an air of hushed anticipation had fallen over the church. Then the organ began to play, and the doors opened. William walked down the isle, looking crisp and neat in his suit. After a moment, Frieda came through the door. Her white dress looked like it was made from snowflakes, and it glittered as she moved. Elizabeth stared, transfixed. William's face was glowing. It all felt somewhat unreal.
And then it was over, and William and Frieda kissed. The guests cheered, Thomas didn't, and neither did Samantha. Oddly, the happiest of her cousins was Martin, who normally wasn't a romantic person. Elizabeth looked again at Thomas, who seemed to be glaring at her aunt. Elizabeth wanted to look away, but there was something about the look that was hard to banish from her mind. She kept thinking about it all through the reception, and hardly payed attention even when the cake was brought out, and a few speeches were made. Then, before the cake was served, some presents were opened. One was a set of blankets and towels, all expertly crafted by one of Frieda's aunts. The next was a painting of William and Frieda against a backdrop of trees, the leaves just beginning to change colour. It was the painting that Jonathan had hid from her in his room that summer, and Elizabeth was impressed.
Distantly, she appreciated the cake, and how moist and richly chocolatey it was, but her mind kept coming back to Thomas's reaction, and how baffling it was. That night, as she was just climbing into bed, she suddenly remembered the magical frame that she had lent to Jonathan. Overcome with a desire to see her mother in that frame again, she snuck down the hall. Jonathan wasn't in his bedroom, and she quickly wove her way through the mess on the floor, discarded papers and art supplies, and grabbed the frame off the wall. As her fingers touched it, the picture changed, and her mother was looking back at her. But the picture was not the same as it had been before. Tina looked paler, younger and sadder, her hair was short, and she wore a long black coat. Elizabeth stepped back, her eyes crinkling with worry and overwhelming emotions that she couldn't quite place. Her bare foot landed on a paintbrush, and pain lanced through her heel. As she jerked it back up, the painting changed again. Her father was there now, with Tina behind him, both were dressed in black. Tina looked shocked, but her father's face was devastated. Elizabeth couldn't see what they were looking at, but by her parents' faces, she could tell it was terrible. Was this real? She wondered. Did this actually happen? When? Who had caused it?
She fled from her cousin's room and back into her own. She flung open the suitcase and hurried inside it. If the image she had seem was real, her father must have hidden the memory of it down here. He had hidden a lot of other hard memories, and most of them weren't as impactful as the one she had just seen. She pulled a basin out from under the counter in the shed, and poured all the bottled memories in at once. They swirled lazily in circles beneath her, revealing nothing. "Revelio!" Elizabeth cried, and the basin swirled faster and faster, a whirlwind of shimmering lights. In the middle of the glow, and blackness began to surface, growing larger and larger until it filled the basin. Elizabeth saw the shadowy forms of her mother and father, exactly as they had been in the picture. But there was more to it, she drew in a deep breath and plunged her head into the swirling memory and whatever darkness lay within.
Author's note:
I feel like my writing style is very inconsistent in this story, and I'd just like to think everyone who has managed to make it through this very turbulent time in my writing journey. This story was never meant to be this long, and it was never meant to be anything more than me just word-vomiting on a page to get out my thoughts. But now, it has become the largest writing project of mine to date. And it's become really special to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope to have the next one out before the summer at least. (hopefully sooner)
-JMSpy49