We were back at Sarah Beth's Aunt's. We hadn't knocked on the door yet. We didn't know if we wanted to...
"Okay, Ashley. Are you ready?" Sarah Beth sounded unsure.
"I've been preparing for this. You ready?" I asked in return.
She sighed in anticipation. "Yep."
I knocked on the door. The little house elf Twinkle opened it.
"Oh! Miss! And Muggle!" Twinkle cried in delight. "Come in, come in. Twinkle will let Miss know that Little Miss and Muggle are here."
She disappeared to inform Umbridge of our arrival. I stared at the cat plates on the wall like I had before. Suddenly, Umbridge and Rufus Fudge entered the sitting room from the hallway. Rufus was carrying what looked like a monstrously heavy box.
"Oh!" Dolores said in surprise. "Sarah Beth, sweetie! I did not expect you.... or you here today..."
She was already prepared to cut me down. Of course.
"Auntie!" Sarah Beth glared.
"Hm? Oh! Oh... er, yes. Hello there, Ashley."
"Hello, Dolores!" I smiled.
"Ms. Umbridge, Ashley."
"Ms... Umbridge."
"Very good. What do you need?"
Sarah Beth smiled and announced "Ashley wanted to help out around the house today!"
Uh...
"What?" Umbridge frowned.
My fiancee took a deep breath. "Well, Ashley and I... we were, er ... Well, let's just say that... AshleyandIknewthatyoustillneededsomehelpsohedecidedallbyhimselfthathewantedtoassistyou... Auntie."
"Nonsense. I am in need of no assistance whatsoever. From anyone."
Rufus grinned. "Does that mean that I can go now?!"
"Wha-oof-well... no, Rufus! You decided to help me a long time ago! I could not possibly lose your help now! These chests have powerful charms on them that repel magical effects, so you can only lift them by hand. I am not strong enough to handle them myself..."
I decided to step in. "Maybe Rufus could take a break and I take his place, so-"
"No."
"But Auntie!"
"I said no!"
Rufus looked beat. "To be honest, Dolores, I could use a rest. And a glass of water. And the loo. Ashley is just as strong as I am, if not a bit stronger. And the both of us helping out can get the job done a lot faster!"
The woman thought. "If it keeps you all happy, the Muggle may work today. BUT if I see him slacking at all or not pulling his weight as much as dear Rufus, I am kicking him out! My house holds no room for freeloaders. Now, Sarah Beth! Sit and have a tea with me while the boys do all the lifting."
---
The attic was dark, and much farther away from everything else in the house. You could not even hear Sarah Beth and Umbridge talking over their tea in the dining room
"Let's take a break here, mate." Rufus coughed a bit, obviously exhausted from all the moving. I was, too. We had only moved a bit less than a quarter of the chests, and sweat was pouring down us. "That charm wore off."
"Is that some kind of cooling spell or something?" I asked the wizard.
He nodded and held his wand out. "Refrescio."
It was like a powerful AC unit had come on. I breathed a sigh of relief at the cool air, and I took a sip of water.
Rufus smiled and drank as well. "That's it. We're taking ten."
"Agreed... hey, Rufus?"
"Yeah, Ash?"
"What is Umbridge's thing? Like, why is she like this?"
"Eh, she has always been this way. She just felt a sense of pride in being Pureblood- which Sarah Beth has explained to you, no?"
"Yeah, she has."
"So, she just sees Muggles as inferior beings. She hates that her niece is so attracted to them. Marrying one was the final kick to the hippogriff."
"Yeah... wait. What?!"
"Final kick to the hippogriff? Wand that broke the maker's back?"
"Nail in the coffin?"
He stared at me. "Yeah. Sure. Anywho, Umbridge has seen Sarah Beth go through 'em! Goyle, Ernie, George, Percy, me..."
"You two seem more like-"
"Brother and sister? Yeah, the Unspeakable put that dream to rest."
"That. I remember that. What is that?"
"Can't tell. Un-speakable, not speakable."
"I wouldn't tell."
"Nope. You would. It's just too much for one human being to bear."
"Just whisper it in my ear."
"Sorry, mate..."
"Aw, okay. I probably didn't want to know anyway." I laughed.
"Hehe, seriously."
Umbridge entered the room. "Muggle, what are you doing? Is he bothering you, Rufus?"
"No, Dolores." Rufus's face became very unamused. "I just suggested we take a break. We're just having some guy talk."
"Hm. Very well." She stamped downstairs, humming until her voice became muffled again.
"That woman despises me so much." I picked up another chest.
"She still wants Sarah Beth to be with me. Not only did Sarah Beth and I have a terrible breakup, but Dolores will not stop pushing for us."
"That has to suck."
"Suck?"
"Trust me, it sucks."
---
It took four hours to move the chests. I went back downstairs while Rufus locked everything up.
"What are you doing down here?" Umbridge asked.
"We finished up."
"Nonsense. Had you finished up, the both of you would be down here. Where is Rufus?"
"Locking everything up." I said, annoyed.
"Hm. Rufus!" She screamed to him. I flinched, but Sarah Beth didn't.
"What is it?" Rufus walked downstairs.
"Did Ashley help you finish up?"
I sighed and said something without thinking. "Is it that hard to take my word for it?"
Silence.
I can't actually describe Dolores Umbridge's face with a simple word. I can only describe it as the reaction of someone who had just watched their house be set on fire and their car defaced with a hammer.
"What did you just say to me?" There was a darkness about her face, and the relatively short woman towered over me for a moment.
I tried to tell myself that everything was going to be okay.
It's going to be okay...
...
No... no it's not. Everything is going to suck.
Who am I kidding?
Everything sucks.
"I... just... I mean, I guess I wish that you would just trust me more."
"No, you moron!" Sarah Beth mouthed silently.
"You, son, you just made a big mistake. I have been kind enough to let you prance through my home, which has always been an establishment of order and tradition. What happens when you start turning on what is natural and moral? You let the Muggles in, and everything is blown to Hell! Now, I want you to take your freakish tendencies and your liberal lifestyles and go back to where you came from!"
"Auntie!" Sarah Beth stood up, shocked at the words just spoken.
"No, Sarah Beth. This... this filth has been poisoning your mind to make you believe that a normal wizard family with pure blood is something that one can deviate from and pervert. Imagine what your children will be like! They are going to be fed these lies as well! That all of this Muggle-loving is normal! Well, it is not! You are going to make them turn on their magical blood. And you know what a wizard or a witch that turns on their heritage are called?"
"Auntie..."
"Traitors. Blood traitors, the lot of them. This is just the sort of thing that caused all of the things that happened to us years ago! When Voldemort was here!"
None of us had noticed how red Rufus's face had gotten in the course of all this yelling. When he had gone over the limit, however, we noticed.
"You know what, Dolores?" He was breathing heavily. "I think that you are confused. So confused, in fact, that you allow yourself to believe that this bigotry is something that is moral, is right! You have no respect for the people that do not think like you at all! What did Ashley 'prance' in here and do exactly? Try to show you kindness? Compassion? Ashley has done all of these favors for you, like cooking for you or helping you with all of your stupid belongings, and what have you done in return? You've spat all over him.
"Now, I understand that you have lived your entire life in this socially backward mindset with the delusion that you are defending our way of life or some bollocks like that! Well! Aren't you nice? Do you not understand that so many people hate you because of all of these stunts that you pull! You ruined Sarah Beth's childhood, her education, and now you are trying trying to ruin the rest of her life! In fact, you've ruined things for me, too! I cannot even make friends with Ashley without feeling awkward around him because you keep trying to play matchmaker from Hell and setting me up with her like you have been since we were four! I don't even have to put up with this! I have been doing all of these odd jobs for you not because I want to! I've been doing them because I am making 100 Galleons a month from your niece that doesn't want doesn't want to be with you! Stop doing this to us before I decide to just contact St. Mungo's and ask them about their permanent residences!
"And now you are trying to pin a war on Muggles?! What kind of idiocy is that? From my memory, the whole war started because of people like you and Who-Know- I mean You... augh!!! Before people like you and Voldemort decided to ruin everything for everyone! And before you say anything else, yes. I am directly comparing you to Voldemort. That is how bad you are! Stop being a stubborn ass and and face the fact that you are wrong! And you have always been wrong! And you always will be wrong! Just! Stop! Doing! This!!!!"
Rufus was crying and wiping the sweat off his forehead. Sarah Beth was as white as a sheet with her eyes like saucers. Dolores Umbridge pursed her lips in preparation to retaliate, but she took a deep breath and recomposed herself. She turned to Sarah Beth.
"Are you really paying him to stay with me?"
"THAT WASN'T MY POINT!!!"
"STOP IT, RUFUS! You are acting like a child in front of Sarah Beth!"
"DO YOU THINK THAT I GIVE A FLYING F-"
"FOR ONCE, DO ME A FAVOR AND ACT LIKE AN ADULT!"
"YOU FIRST!!!"
I was getting sick. This wasn't at all how I had planned for this to go.
"YOU HAVE LOST ALL RESPECT FOR YOUR ELDERS!"
"YOU NEVER HAD RESPECT FOR US!"
"YOU DO NOT-"
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!!!" Sarah Beth banged on the table, sending silverware tumbling onto the floor. She gasped and looked at her friend and aunt with complete surprise. "You... you are getting out of hand! A-a-and you are both... just... I don't know!"
Sarah Beth ran out of the room, and we heard a door slam moments later.
"She went to her room." Rufus mumbled.
"I would too, after..." Umbridge was close to saying something else uncalled for, but she opted out.
Twinkle popped in. "May Twinkle be of service, Miss?"
"No thank you, Twinkle."
"Very well." The house elf Disapparated again.
I followed where Sarah Beth went. Rufus sat down and stopped Umbridge from following me.
I found the door that was making sound, and I opened it slowly to see Sarah Beth in the corner with her hands on her eyes. She was grimacing and coughing lightly, with a small sound coming from her every so often.
"Go away. I hate it when people see me cry."
I stopped walking. "We all do."
She continued sniffling. "I just... I don't know why I go through this nightmare every single time I visit her! As much as I want to, I cannot live like a Muggle because I cannot break away from this madness! I want to say I hate her sometimes. But she did so much for me. She did so much to me... and I'm afraid."
"I'm afraid, too, Sarah Beth. That happens."
"No. Not like this. I never knew my parents like I should have. They were killed when I was young. When I found this out, I felt like a child waking up from a bad dream. And I kept calling out for Mummy and Daddy, and they weren't there! They couldn't be there! All I wanted was for them to be there! But all I had was this: a life that someone tried to dictate to fit what they want! It's magic this, magic that! Magic is ruining my life, and it is the worst part of me!"
"No it is not." I said.
"It's probably one of the only things there is for you to like about me."
"That is not true. Before I knew that you were a witch, I thought you were the most beautiful, talented girl that I had ever met. Magic did not change any of that."
"But it still affects me. sometimes I... just wish that there were a potion that would take away my magic forever. That I would not have to impress her anymore. That she would stop being my enemy and start being my aunt. The Fudges have always been like parents to me, and I have felt that way with your mum and dad... but I just wish that she would let go of this bad blood and these... these wars from eleven years ago! She doesn't have to change her beliefs. It's too late for her now. She just has to change her character... is that even too late for her?"
I closed my eyes and knelt beside her. I slowly took her hands from her face. She unexpectedly did not protest. She just looked at me. Her cheeks were red and shiny, and her eyes were still streaming. I smiled at her, urging her to do the same.
"You are beautiful." I said. "And no matter what happens, we are going to be fantastic together. We can prove her wrong."
She cried some more, but managed a sincere smile. "I love you more... than..."
"More powerful that any magic could compare to, Sarah Beth."
Her eyes grew brighter. "You sound like a wizard, Ashley."
"You sound like a Muggle."
We kissed there in the corner of the room, laiying down on the pink carpets. We switched places, with my back to the wall and her looking down at me. We kissed again and again."
I opened one of my eyes to see someone peering into the room. It was Dolores Umbridge, and she showed neither sadness nor anger. She walked away.
---
By the time that we had rejoined Dolores and Rufus, they were both seated at the table.
"I'm sorry, Auntie. I love Ashley more than anything else on this Earth. No other Muggle would be this fine about our lives, and that really says something. And I am sorry that I am breaking your heart..."
Dolores Umbridge stood up, looking small and thoughtful. "Sarah Beth... you are not breaking my heart. It... is not the life that I had expected. It is not the choice that I had in mind, but... it is your life. It is your choice. And it is high time that I respect that."
Sarah Beth was moved by her aunt's attitude. "I love you, Auntie. I have not always shown this, but I do."
"I know, Sarah Beth. I love you too..."
Rufus still looked down. He was watching the ceiling through the reflection of a spoon.
Dolores looked at me. "And... er, Ashley."
"Yes?"
"I apologize. Treat my niece with kindness as you have treated me. I have apologized to Rufus."
He nodded in confirmation.
"I... do not deserve to be here. Out of St. Mungo's. I have been a monster, but it feels like this monster is fighting for something... a dream... a thought that she feels is okay, but really isn't for the rest of the world. I may never change, but mark my words: I do not want you to stop on my behalf. I have hurt myself just as much as I have hurt you children... and I need to help myself. Perhaps, helping myself comes from helping you as well... I... I just need to think. To meditate on this."
"I know, Auntie." Sarah Beth kissed her aunt on the cheek. "It's not easy. It never is."
For the first time, I saw Dolores Umbridge smile. Not a smirk or a feigned grin, but a true token of appreciation toward us.
"We must be going now, Auntie." Sarah Beth walked to Rufus. "I'll see you, Rufie."
"Okay, Frecky." He stood and hugged her.
Walking back to me, no more words were exchanged. There was just the glow of the afternoon sun in the window, and th sound of floors creaking beneath us.
"Until next time, my dear." Dolores Umbridge sat down.
"Until next time."
Sarah Beth and I walked out of the door to a strange, temperate day for the middle of summer.