worry is an emotion we can't control -- ginny.

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@ginevra

al was sitting in a booth in the back of the three broomsticks. his thoughts were on dusti who was currently back at the castle with her sister. he hadn't wanted to leave her but his mother had owled him the day before and he had agreed to meet her. she had read about the news of dusti's parents. he still couldn't believe the people who had made dusti's life a living hell were gone. without facing what they had inflicted on their children. it angered him but he didn't feel he could voice that, after all they were dusti's parents and only she had the right to voice her anger. he felt it and there was nothing wrong with that but ranting about what they hadn't been caught for wouldn't help her, not in the slightest so he wasn't going to. he was just going to be there for her when she needed him. he spotted his mother walking through the crowd and he raised his hand in greeting. the last time he had seen her for more than a few moments had been when he'd been in hospital after he'd been attacked by the gytrash, while he was healed from that he had a feeling it wasn't something she was going to forget anytime soon.

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It had taken her nearly three decades longer than Ginny thought it would have, but Pansy Parkinson had committed murder. What was more, she had killed her husband and died in Azkaban, leaving her four children as orphans. It was a sad situation, in and of itself, though it was easy enough to overlook as an isolated domestic issue.

For Ginny, though, her middle son's girlfriend had just lost both of her parents. She knew Albus better than she knew Dusti, but she knew that she and Harry needed to do something, in the same way that they had tried to support James and Natalia. She just hoped that she hadn't embarrassed him too much by sending him a letter to ask him to meet with her in Hogsmeade at the Three Broomsticks.

Albus had raised his hand, making it that much easier to be spotted in the crowd of patrons. Ginny walked over to where he was and smiled at him. The last time she had gotten any real opportunity to see him had been when he was in the Hospital Wing, though she had seen him from a distance at the Yule Ball.

“Hi, Al,” she greeted. Even if the circumstances could have been better—even if this was trying to get her seventeen-year-old to open up to her about his relationship so that she could do something to help his girlfriend—Ginny was happy to see him. She slid into the booth across from him. “How are you?” she asked, and then, more cautiously in her asking after Dusti, “How is she?”

@al

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@ginevra

“Hi, Al,” he nodded slightly when she greeted him, lifting his hand to rub it over the back of his neck as she sat down in the booth, the side opposite to him. “How are you?” how was he? he was fine. more or less. apart from being totally inept at being able to help his girlfriend handle what was probably one of the hardest things she'd ever go through. "i'm fine." he said, without any heat in his voice or any sort of attitude that might have been in the past. “How is she?” there was the reason she'd wanted to send him the owl. dusti. she was broken, she'd been broken when they'd spent hours in the room of requirement with each other, him just holding her as she'd sobbed, worse than he'd ever heard anyone sob before. he rubbed his hand over the middle of his chest slightly, feeling a different sort of pressure building there. he was angry at what life had done to her but more he was struggling with trying to know how to support her and be there for her. he didn't know how and that was the worst feeling for him. he needed to be there and he was trying but it felt like he was failing. "she's .." he started but then he cut off. he wasn't sure how to answer that. she was trying to pass off that she was fine but he could see, in her eyes she wasn't. that tough facade that had been rebuilt almost as soon as it had crumbled. "i don't know how to help her .." he said softly to his mother, looking up at her face.

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Seeing that Albus was uncomfortable wasn't surprising, especially not in the position he had been put in by two adults whose choices, it seemed, hadn't been the best. Ginny waited, simply listening as he spoke. She didn't want to speak over him; it wasn't her place, even as he searched for what to say.

“She's…” he began. Words didn't seem to be coming, but Ginny kept her attention on him. “I don't know how to help her.”

Ginny tried to smile. He didn't need to have all of the answers; that's what she and Harry were for. She was proud of Albus for being able to admit that he was at a loss for what to do. It was better than if he had tried to fix the situation on his own.

“It's not easy, is it?” Ginny responded gently, sympathizing with him. Even as an adult—even as his mother—it was tricky for her, too. “She's just lost her mum and dad,” she considered, “but they were awful people.” Ginny knew that she was lucky not to know how either of those things felt, though she could feel herself cringing for Dusti's sake.

“She's lucky she's got you, Al.” That wasn't an exaggeration. Her middle son was a good kid, all things considered. “Dusti needs people who can help to support her,” she explained, “even if it's just listening.” What “little” he was doing probably meant a lot to her, Ginny guessed.

“Her life has changed completely.” Albus wasn't unable to relate to that aspect of it, and Ginny hoped that he had been able to sense the hint of that in how she'd said it. “And sometimes she might be angry or sad or not know how she's feeling,” she added, “but listen to her, Albus.” She couldn't stress that enough.

“And whatever she needs,” Ginny went on, “your dad and me, we'll help you.” What that meant right now, Ginny didn't know. The Flint family had money, but there was no way for her to know how much of that would even go to Dusti.

Until she had some idea of what Dusti actually needed and could talk things over with Harry, that left plenty of time for Albus to do his part. “Let's start with this. What does she like?” Ginny asked him. “You could give her something,” she suggested. “Something that might cheer her up.” Just as long as it didn't involve another broom closet.

@al

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@ginevra

“It's not easy, is it?” that it wasn't and he was only the one watching. he couldn't feel what dusti was feeling, he could only watch it tear her apart from the inside out, no matter how strong she was trying to act. he knew her better, he knew she was trying but he knew. “She's just lost her mum and dad, but they were awful people.” he scoffed a little and shook his head. that had been awful people but there was a whole lot of horrible that needed to be tacked onto the end of that. awful wasn't enough, he'd seen what her parents had done to her and it was enough to make him think, that even with all the arguments and fights he and his parents had gotten into, that they were saints compared to dusti's parents. even though he knew his parents were pretty good he had been shocked to find out how bad dusti's really were. "and you don't even know the half of it." he said, the tone of his voice making it clear that he wasn't going to divulge the parts that ginny didn't know. it wasn't his place to tell anyone.

“She's lucky she's got you, Al. Dusti needs people who can help to support her, even if it's just listening.” he had been listening to her, being there but he was still worried it wasn't enough. he'd never been the one to help people through their grief of emotions before, if anyone in his family had been upset or crying in the past he'd casually make himself scarce till it was over. there were few people he let lean on his shoulder when they needed it, so few in fact that it hadn't happened before now. though all the girl problems he and scorp had talked about over the years might count, he thought with slight amusement. “Her life has changed completely. And sometimes she might be angry or sad or not know how she's feeling, but listen to her, Albus.” he nodded slightly and raised his hand to rub it against the back of his neck. "i didn't understand it at first, they were awful people. people she shouldn't grieve over." he said with a sigh and he looked at his mother. "i'll admit i wasn't upset to hear about their deaths." he knew it was probably a bad thing to say but he knew. he knew what a lot of people didn't.

“And whatever she needs, your dad and me, we'll help you.” that hadn't been expected but he was touched. he didn't know how open dusti would be to help from his parents though, she might look at is as a hand out no matter what form the help came in, it was one of the things he adored about her actually, that she was independant and stubborn but he hoped she trusted him enough to trust his parents. though he wasn't sure how well that would go over either since there had been a time he hadn't trusted his parents at all, after he'd moved out it had been a really rocky time and dusti had copped most of what he'd been feeling about that.

“Let's start with this. What does she like? You could give her something, Something that might cheer her up.” cheer her up? he wondered whether that would work for a moment but it was worth a try. anything was worth a try and he chewed his lip slightly. "i gave her a necklace at ckristmas ... a golden snowflake." he said as he thought back on their night after the yule ball, curled up on the blanket under the stars. it had been the night he'd learned all about her parents. "something to match that maybe?" he asked his mother, wanting to know if he was following the right sort of path.

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Although Albus said that she didn't “know the half of it”, which Ginny knew must have been true because of her memory loss, she did know how Dusti's mother had been in school. “Her mum wanted to hand your dad over to You-Know-Who,” Ginny tutted, shaking her head. And Pansy had been no older than eighteen then. If she was capable of wanting that then and murdering her husband now, Ginny thought, the woman probably could have gone and done much worse than that. For everyone's benefit, she was better off dead.

Ginny listened as her son's thoughts seemed to be around the same lines. He rubbed his neck and said, “I didn't understand it at first.” Ginny would have been surprised if he had said that he had understood. The issues that she and Harry had had with him were completely different, she imagined, to what life had been like for Dusti with her parents. “They were awful people. People she shouldn't grieve over.” He sighed, and Ginny reached her hand out to him. “I'll admit I wasn't upset to hear about their deaths.”

For Dusti, Ginny guessed, there must have been a mixture of things at play. If Marcus and Pansy had been just as terrible over all of these years as Albus had seemed to indicate, there was probably some relief there, too. Ginny wasn't hesitant to say that she and Harry would help; it was only right of them.

Her suggestion for the short term—that Albus could give her something—received a surprisingly receptive response from Albus. He had given her a necklace at Christmas, he said—a golden snowflake—and he wondered if he should get Dusti something else to match it.

Smiling at his thoughtfulness, Ginny considered it. It wasn't a bad idea at all. “Maybe…” she told him, although she realized that simply showering Dusti with gifts wasn't going to do anything to improve her situation. “Would that mean something to her, though?” she asked.

What little Ginny knew about Dusti was what she had learned from the young woman herself, when they had met by chance in Hogsmeade. She hadn't even put two and two together then to realize that Dusti was Albus's girlfriend. “I know her parents wanted an arranged marriage for her,” she explained, “so I'm sure she'd love anything from you.” It was ridiculous to Ginny that anyone would even consider an arranged marriage for their children anymore, and she hoped that Albus knew that she and his father weren't going to push him towards anything like that.

@al

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@ginevra

“Her mum wanted to hand your dad over to You-Know-Who,” well .. he wanted to say that was horrible but he couldn't. he wasn't a liar. now he himself had gone to bat for someone a few people wanted to throw under the bus just for answers but in a situation like that one? well even though pansy was a horrible person he didn't think she was horrible for that. she had done worse things. "yeah i've been told. in the middle of a war. i can't think she's awful for that reason alone mum. self preservation. it's a key slytherin trait. we're famous for throwing people under the bus to save our own skin. i'm not defending what she did .. just saying i can understand that one thing." he said with a sigh as he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. he liked to think that when push came to shove he'd put others before himself, people he cared about but right at this point he wasn't sure. so much had happened, people had done things he never thought possible and it seemed to sort of cement the fact that people weren't who they often claimed to be.

“Maybe… Would that mean something to her, though?” he thought it would. he hoped it would. that was all he could think of in that moment and he couldn't help but think he was letting dusti down in some way because he couldn't think of something sentimental in that very moment. “I know her parents wanted an arranged marriage for her, so I'm sure she'd love anything from you.” they had. albus had met the person they'd wanted her to marry. him and dusti were friends and seemed to enjoy each other's company and while she didn't want to marry him, he was still part of her life. "yeah i know. i've met the one they picked for her. he's an okay guy." not that it mattered anymore, as far as he was aware the arrangement would be null and void now the flints were dead. but he had only a small understanding of how it worked, his parents were against it.

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Self-preservation, Ginny was reminded, was, indeed, a Slytherin trait. It explained a lot, really, particularly when it came to Albus. It explained why he could be so defensive, and why—as he had just explained to her—he could understand Pansy's motivation all those years ago. Gryffindors, on the other hand, were less likely to look before they leapt. Ginny knew that sometimes the things that they did probably didn't make too much sense to Albus, either.

When Albus said that the young man to whom Dusti had been engaged was “okay”, Ginny nodded. She was glad to hear that, even if Dusti's parents hadn't been the greatest, at least they had managed to choose a husband for her who had turned out to be decent. She also didn't expect Albus to be too complimentary of his girlfriend's former fiancé, for obvious reasons.

“That's good,” she told him. “She's a nice girl.” Wanting Albus to know that she meant it—that she wasn't just saying that his girlfriend was nice for the sake of trying to appease him—she explained, “We met each other in Scrivenshaft's… Er, before I realized that she was your girlfriend.”

For the sake of not embarrassing her son in public, she wasn't going to bring up how she'd come to realize that Dusti was more than Albus's “friend”, though she also wasn't going to hold that situation over him. They were teenagers, and, Ginny had to remind herself from time to time, they were adults.

Smiling just a little, Ginny looked directly at Albus. “You know your dad and I will support you,” she told him. Maybe she was repeating herself, but it was necessary. They were lucky to be in a position where they could help, especially with everything else that was happening in the world. “We might not always see things the same way,” she considered, “but we love you, and we'll make sure you're sorted.” And they wanted to keep their children safe.

“Let Dusti know that she can always write me, too,” Ginny offered. While she didn't know how open Dusti would be to communicating with her boyfriend's mother, she didn't want to seem inaccessible. “I'm not working right now—you know that—so I'm not anywhere near as busy as your dad, and…” It made it easy enough for her to drop everything, if she had to. “If that's something that might help her…” She might not have been the most knowledgeable at times—due to no fault of her own—but she wanted to be available.

@al

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@ginevra

“You know your dad and I will support you, We might not always see things the same way, but we love you, and we'll make sure you're sorted.” he couldn't help but wonder how true that would actually be. it was easy for his mother to sit there and say it but past experience with his parents had told him to question some of their intentions. after all his father had made it clear that him wasting away his summer wasn't something his parents would support. not that al had planned on doing that, he'd had a plan for years but there would be limits on his parental support. "we never see things the same way." he said with a sigh and he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. he was too different than his family, it had caused more problems than it had ever fixed and there was no shortage of him being made to feel he was the only problem. "dusti and i are going to look into getting a place after we graduate. i'll be looking to move out of the cauldron as soon as i can." he didn't want to rely on hannah and neville's kindness for ever. he'd worked some shifts in the pub and done some work for neville and hannah while he'd been living there so it hadn't all been for free till he could pay for it but he still felt he owed them for taking him in. “Let Dusti know that she can always write me, too, I'm not working right now—you know that—so I'm not anywhere near as busy as your dad, and… If that's something that might help her…” he nodded a little and took a sip of his drink before responding. "i'll let her know. i don't know how she'll react though. her and parents aren't the greatest mix." he chewed his lip a little. he did want her to get to know his family a little more, after all if they were going to stay together she'd need to get to know them, they'd be a pretty big part of their lives whether either of them liked it or not. "maybe i can convince her to come have dinner with you guys .. so you can all formally meet. i know she's met dad, she saw him after i was attacked by the gytrash." he ran his hand over the back of his head, thinking back to the night when he'd woken up to both of their faces.

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“We never see things the same way.” Albus could say that again, Ginny thought, and—if she was being honest with herself—he probably would. Maybe, one day, he would recognize that she and Harry really were trying to see his perspective; they weren't trying to shut him out.

That day, though, probably wouldn't come until he had children of his own. From the way things seemed to be headed between him and Dusti, it probably wouldn't be much longer, anyhow. Albus explained that they would be looking for somewhere to live for themselves after they had graduated, and he was intent on moving out of the Leaky Cauldron as soon as he could.

Part of Ginny was hesitant to respond. Her purpose as a parent was to raise well-adjusted, independent children, wasn't it? She knew that she should have been happy, but there was also her worry that maybe he was rushing things. Had James and Natalia rushed into things, too? Was she setting her expectations for Albus too high?

All that she could do was give her son a nod, at least for the time being. She made a mental note to herself to talk it over with Harry later, but she couldn't—or didn't want to—say anything definitive without his presence.

After she had suggested to Albus that he mention her availability to Dusti as someone to whom she could write if she needed the support, Ginny was reminded that the girl's attitude towards parental figures probably wasn't the greatest, after everything that her own parents had put her through. Ginny couldn't hold that against her. If all it did for Dusti was let her know that there was someone else out there who cared about her, that alone was enough.

And then Albus had an even better idea. “Maybe I can convince her to come have dinner with you guys… so you can all formally meet.” That Dusti had met her by chance in a shop and Harry at Albus's bedside in the Hospital Wing hardly counted for much.

Ginny had no objections to it and smiled. “I know your dad is really busy,” she acknowledged, since whatever plans they made would depend upon Harry's schedule more than anything else, “but I think it would be wonderful,” she told Albus. “For all of us.”

@al