Till Forever Falls Apart

Understand Me

*Mentions of family issues/trauma towards the end. Take care of yourselves loves and as always, read with love and care. I will put a "*" next to where it begins and ends if you do feel like you would want to skip that part. Be kind to yourselves.

With love,

Jasmine

P.S. This book will end happily.

January 25, 1993

With the arrival of January came the climax of winter, frigid and biting. Many students chose to stay confined within the castle walls, only gracing the outside temperatures if they must cross between classes, otherwise taking longer routes to their rooms if they found a way. Bundled in thick winter materials, the children of all ages took to their morning classes, hoping for the end of winter.

    Val, Anthony, and Padma sat in the back of Transfiguration where the lighting was brighter, working on the lesson for that week. They were to undo the transformations they had done on the potted plant, and Anthony was teaching them what he had successfully managed in the first two days of the lesson.

    "You say the words, concentrate of course, and it will happen," Anthony said simply. "Man, I love being magical sometimes."

    Val's plant rose in the air and rocked back and forth unsteadily, turning with incredible speed as sparks of blue light emerged. Thinking she had done it, she let out a breath of victory, and the plant hit the desk still in its untransformed state.

    She put her wand down. "One day, I'll be good at Transfiguration. Just you two wait."

    "I look forward to that day," Anthony rocked in his chair. "For now, I will just have to be the only good one at it in the group."

    Padma made her fifth attempt, saying the words and jabbing her wand in the air. The plant swayed then gave in to her ability, transforming back into a wooden beam.

    "Make that two of us," she said proudly.

    Val's mouth hung open. "So now it's just me?"

    "You'll catch on," Anthony looked at her peacefully, continuing to rock with ease.

    The rare occasion of the sun breaking through the clouds in the midst of winter was apparent that Monday, the sunlight angled just right where a ray made Anthony's face shine, his eyes fluttering as he spoke of his love for the chelsea buns he had eaten for breakfast that morning.

    "Mum sent me a basket," he rubbed his fingers together, remembering the stickiness of the sweet icing.

    "You have your dad's eyes, you know that?" She informed him as the bell rang, putting her plant back on the shelf with the other failed attempts in her class. McGonagall wrote down each name and their status with the spell, jotting down notes next to Val's block of writing space on her class list as she went back to her seat to pick up her bag.

    Anthony stopped when he heard this, holding the two books for his upcoming classes tightly against his chest. "How do you know what my father looks like?"

    "I thought I told you," Val read his face, noticing he seemed caught off guard. "The day before we came back I saw him at the pub and inn near my village. He told me to tell you hi, said you told him lots about me... did I not tell you any of this?"

    "No," Anthony's mouth formed a thin smile as he walked out of the classroom. "A little heads up might have been nice."

    "Heads up?" Val repeated. "Why would you-"

    But he was already too far down the hall, her voice gone in the mass of the crowd of students.

    Val put her Ravenclaw jumper on, pulling her robe closer as Padma appeared beside her. "What's that all about?"