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

53.

April 2035

JAMES

He heard their voices before the knock — not just Juni's, which always carried, but Ella's too. Then there they were, both his girls, standing there together, and Juni, who had a look about her like she'd been crying but was trying to pretend she hadn't said, "We came to see Mum," and James ushered them through the door to the living space behind his office.

"Well, don't I feel lucky," Elise said, pulling Ella into a hug first and then Juni into a longer one. She had seen it too, then. He glanced at Ella hoping she'd give it away, but she wasn't looking at him.

Elise settled back down on the sofa, patting the space beside her and Juni took a seat, allowing her mum to wrap an arm around her shoulders. James took up the armchair again and Ella sat on the floor, not because there was no other option, but because she liked to. James knew this about her.

"I brought soup if you're hungry," she told the girls. "Potato."

Ella jumped right back up at once and when James laughed she shrugged and said, "I didn't really get to finish my dinner." She started serving herself a bowl, but then looked at Juni and held it out to her first. Juni hesitated before she took it.

She said a small thanks.

James watched Ella fill another bowl and settle back down on the floor. He felt at a bit of a loss for words. He had sort of expected Ella to come by. He'd told her Elise would be there after all. But to see both of them together was just so odd. And then there was that lingering puffiness around Juni's eyes, the way she was sitting so quietly.

He watched Elise stroke their daughter's hair, toying with the ends while she asked Ella questions about school — her O.W.L.s and choir and whether Kyrie was calming down a bit. James marvelled at how she knew to do this, to focus on Ella while Juni calmed down.

After twenty minutes or so, Juni reached out to set her bowl on the coffee table and when she sat back again, she put her head on Elise's shoulder. She looked so small under Elise's arm. So little. They usually seemed so tall and grown up to him now, compared to his baby girls, it was startling to look at her and realize she was still just a kid. A thirteen year old kid. He had never really stopped to consider how young that was. He had always been focused on how old they were getting, but thinking back to when he'd been thirteen, he realized all at once how young that still was.

She barely said a word for a long, long time, and neither did James. Elise and Ella talked and talked and talked — something that in and of itself would have shocked him even a few months ago — and Juni sat there, rubbing the edge of Elise's shirt between her fingers. James couldn't take his eyes off her.

She'd warmed up just a little by the time they got up to leave for bed, adding to the conversation here and there, but she'd still been so quiet. Elise gave them each a hug, whispering something in Juni's ear before letting her go.

She'd nodded a little, tightening her grip one more time, then stepped away and let James kiss her forehead.

Then they were both gone and James stood there watching the empty doorway.

Elise put her arms around him from behind, rested her forehead against his shoulder blade.

"What'd you say to her?" he asked into the silence.

"Just to let me know if I could help talk her through anything tomorrow. That I'd stay in case she needed me."

James turned around in her arms, wrapped his own around her back. She turned her cheek against his chest and took a deep breath.