If I May Be So Bold (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

43.

March 2nd, 2035

ELLA

As promised, her mum was home and waiting for her. "There she is," she said brightly, standing up from the couch.

"Happy Birthday," Ella said, brushing the soot off her clothes from the fireplace.

"Thank you, sweetheart," her mum said, pulling her into a hug. "Dad didn't come with?"

Ella shook her head. "He said he had to get a few things ready for Monday."

"Should we go for a walk? Sneak out before he gets back?"

Ella laughed a little. "Yeah."

So, they headed outside. It was still cold out, but with a hint of freshness in the air that made Ella feel a little hopeful, like spring really was on the way.

"So how's your dad really handling it?" she asked as they started on their way.

"Actually," Ella said. "Not that bad. I mean it's kind of awkward that he's always around, because sometimes I'll just be talking to Logan and then I realize Dad's just watching or something. But it's not that bad. He didn't get mad or anything. He was actually cool about it."

"You're lucky he's already been through this with Piper," her mum said with a wry smile. "Got the worst of it out of his system."

"What's he saying to you?" Ella asked.

"Oh, nothing unexpected," she said. "He likes Logan. That's the thing. He really does think he's a nice kid. He's just having a hard time seeing you grow up."

Ella shrugged. "I mean, I can't really stop it."

"No, you can't," she agreed. "And he knows that. I think he just felt really confident in taking care of your two when you were little and I always felt like... I don't know. I mean I enjoyed you being little, too. You were both so sweet and funny. But I always looked forward to this point, to you really finding yourselves and getting to have real conversations with you. I've really loved getting to know my mum better as an adult. But I think for your dad, this is the harder part."

"So he's just being sappy about me being old?" Ella asked. "Not like pretending everything's fine in front of me and then saying something different at home?"

"You are not old," her mum said, bumping her with her shoulder.

Ella just looked at her, waiting for the rest of the answer.

"He's not pretending, El," she said. "He loves you."

"I know," Ella said quietly.

They walked on in silence for a bit. Ella noticed her mum wasn't asking her any questions about Logan, really. She figured she was letting Ella be the one to bring it up, which was both appreciated and a little nerve wracking. The thing was, she wanted to talk to her mum about him. She didn't really know what she wanted to say, only that she was bursting to talk to someone about him, and she had been trying really hard not to overdo it at school. Iris was fine, but she could already see Kyrie getting a little upset.

In the end, it was that bit of things that came out to her mum.

"You had a boyfriend in school, didn't you?"

"I did," she said. "Ned."

"Did your friends ever get... I don't know. I feel like Kyrie's a little jealous. Like not of him or anything, just... in general."

"I think that's pretty normal," she said. "There were periods of time where I think we all had a boyfriend and then there were times where it was just me and I remember my friend Jenna would start to get really down if she wasn't talking to anyone and I brought up Ned too much. I just tried to make sure we had friend time, too. Stuff where he wasn't there."