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Bennet understood a lot more than his sister thought, but he kept it all to himself. He was just a kid, eleven-years-old, but he was smart. He was observant. Even if he didn't fully understand his father's death, he understood what it did to Devore, and he understood what it was doing to their mother. Bennet was thankful for Devore, his big sister who was always there to protect him. She acted like everything was okay when he knew it really wasn't.
He observed his mother's drinking, saw the empty bottles thrown into the trash, how her moods would change from happy to sad, to laughing to crying. How his mom would fall asleep in his bed because she was scared to sleep in her own. Bennet knew all of these things.
But he still loved his mom. She was all he had, even if she was unable to care for him most days. He didn't want to lose another parent. So when she wrote back to him, Bennet was ecstatic. He raced to the Great Hall and spotted his sister at the Gryffindor table. "Devore!" He called her name. "Dev, mom wrote back to us."
"Did she?" His sister said back and took the letter from his hand. Devore opened the envelope and her eyes scanned the paper.
My dearest children,
I'm so happy to hear back from you. I miss you both so terribly. It's so hard being by myself while you two are away, but I hope you're having the greatest time at school. I can't wait to have you back home. I love you both more than you'll ever know. Come home soon.
Love, mom xoxoxo
Bennet watched his sister's face as she read the letter. It shifted to multiple different expressions but she landed on a fake smile. "That's great, Ben. At least we know she's okay." She said to him and handed him back the letter.
"Are you happy she is?"
Devore's fake smile wavered, but she kept her eyes bright. "Of course I am, buddy." She reminded softly and brushed some hair out of his eyes. "As long as you're happy, then so am I."
That's not what he asked though. She always did that. She chose his feelings over her own, and maybe Bennet had some trouble understanding that, but he loved his sister. He wanted to say that she could choose for herself. But he smiled anyway.
Devore still hadn't received a letter from her mother, but so pretended like it was okay for Bennet's sake. Reading what she wrote to them hurt something inside of her. She didn't know what it was, but she had to be okay. Bennet was so happy that she was afraid if she acted like she wasn't, he would be upset. When she returned to the Slytherin common room, she saw Draco and the others sitting by the fire and Pansy was hanging on his arm like she always was, giggling at whatever he said. Their conversation stopped when they saw her enter. It had been days since she talked to them, let alone be in the same room as them.
