The Years of Riddle

Chapter Thirty-Two | Hogwarts, September 1964

Chapter Thirty-Two

Hogwarts, September 1964

Anthony Lacroix did not want his daughter to go to Hogwarts. Without her, the house at the end of the lane, with its oak trees and books and soft scents, would feel empty. The last breathing bit of Gwyn would be gone.

Unlike her father, Violet was very excited. She had hardly been able to contain her excitement for weeks, asking Silas questions every chance she could. That was a difficult task, as Silas was holed up in his room, usually staring at the ceiling, thinking deep thoughts. This is what he told Violet when she bothered him.

"I'm thinking." He would say.

"What kind of thinking?"

"Deep, deep thoughts, Vi."

"Okay, I'll leave you to it." She would go off, but return later with a new burning question.

When the siblings did finally reach Hogwarts, Silas watched proudly as Violet was sorted into Gryffindor. Her curls, silvery in the candlelight, were crushed under the sorting hat. She swung her legs, gleefully jumping up at the announcement. Silas was not surprised – Violet was the most loyal, just person he knew.

Silas led the first years to the common room, as he was a prefect, and McGonagall's favourite. "Make sure they don't wander off," she warned. "I'd hate to expel you."

They could joke like this, as Silas spent many evenings in her office, learning tricky transfiguration and charms. He took the first years up, and Violet pulled him aside before going up to her dorm.

"The hat almost put me in Hufflepuff!" she whispered, very badly. There were only a few other students, and they weren't paying attention to them.

Silas grinned. "Hufflepuff would have been fine, Vi – but I think Gryffindor will help you grow." It was true; Violet was fierce, but she was also timid.

"Maybe I'll be more like Mamma?" Violet says, quietly but with hope.

"I think you already are." Silas gave her a quick hug. "Go on now, meet your dorm mates, make friends. I'll see you tomorrow."

Violet waved and bounded up the stairs. Silas didn't go to bed for a long time, contemplating the differences between he and his little sister. It was almost midnight when Molly and Arthur stumbled into the common room, giggling and falling over each other.

"Nice evening?" teased Silas as they fell onto the couch, still holding hands.

"You're not my mother," Molly laughed and kissed Arthur's cheek. "Stop giving us that look."

"What look?" Silas asked innocently, to which Molly threw a couch cushion at him.

Arthur gently kissed Molly's neck, and she pushed him off. "I'm off to sleep, and you two should be too." She allowed Arthur a single kiss, and practically floated up the stairs.

"You two are sickening."

"Fuck off," Arthur was grinning too hard to sound menacing. "Like the way you look at Inesa isn't nauseating."

"What?" he ducked his head, unable to look Arthur in the eye. "I don't look at Inesa like – like anything."

"Like hell you do!" Arthur threw another cushion. "Love sick, is what you are – like you don't know."

Silas threw it back, defensive. "I don't know!"

Shaking his head, Arthur could only laugh. "Take it from someone who's been in a relationship for two years – you know, and you do look. Use that genius head of yours and figure it out."

Still baffled, Silas followed him up to bed.

There was just a whisper of summer left in the air, but Silas was hopeful. With his hands loosely in his pockets, a light jacket on, he slipped out of the Gryffindor common room without being noticed. Out on the wet grass, he carefully stepped over last flowers and leisurely snails. He let worried about assignments and deadlines slip away, and he returned to a simple, quiet mind.

Down by the lake, the shy sunset was inching across the glassy water, and just around the bend, beneath the beach trees, was Inesa Fawley. She was kneeling by the water, conversing with a mer person. She was a girl of many talents, and came from a 'stupidly pompous family' – her words. They were lovely for the most part, but she had been privately tutored in many talents as a child, including being able to write in mermish. "A useless talent for the most part," she would shrug. "However, they can be very helpful when one is feeling out of sorts." Whenever by the lake she would carry a small notepad, and she would write messages for the mermaids she knew.

Silas watched her for a moment, until she noticed him. She waved, and said a quick goodbye to her mer friend. She had this gentle smile that grew when she wasn't thinking about it, and the sweetest crinkles by her eyes when she laughed. All this Silas kept in a tiny box in his mind where he could go over them when no one was around. Inesa was easy to get lost in.

"Hullo you." She grinned, sidling up next to him.

"And you." Silas had noticed that he smiled more when she was close. "How are the lake dwellers this evening?"

"Oh, they're fine. A little concerned that I'm spending so much time outside, with all this damp weather."

Silas did not admit that he too had been worried. Inesa had been out sick earlier that year, just after Christmas. He hadn't been that scared since Gwyn had passed in first year. "At least you're wearing a jacket and scarf today."

They took a walk around the lake, going over the assignments due and what Violet was up to and ideas for the summer. They stood at the very edge of the lake, watching the last of the sunset settle and fade. They didn't speak; they often didn't when alone together. It was a comfortable, easy silence – Silas treasured it. Some people still felt awkward around him, he wasn't fully sure why. Older people especially seemed to become uneasy when he was around.

"Sy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like me?"

Silas frowned, and his eyebrows smushed together as they did when he was confused or worried. "Of course I do. What sort of question is that?" he turned to her, searching her face for answers.

"No, not – I mean - " she sighed, frustrated. With a determined look in her eye, she went on her tiptoes just a little, and kissed him – full on the mouth, hands on his face, smelling like spring. Pulling away, she was blushing furiously. "Like that."

"Oh." Silas said, dazed. "Then my answer remains the same."

"Be clear, Silas."

"I like you like that." He stumbled over his words, and in an attempt to be even clearer, leaned down and kissed her again, one hand on her waist, the other in her hair.

"Well then." Inesa said breathlessly, "That's cleared up."

Silas couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I guess Arthur was right."

"Whatever do you mean?" Inesa was mortified Arthur even had an opinion on this.

"I'm lovesick." He whispered. "Very. I think I need the hospital wing."

Laughing, Inesa looped her arm through his. "Slow down, lets just finish our walk, okay?"

"Okay." Silas felt as if he could fly, his heart was so light, more so than it had been in a long time.

A/N: I'm on a train with bad wifi. BUT - INESA AND SILAS!

Question: Thoughts on this couple...? Also Arthur and Molly make my fucking life.

Rose