Your Grief is My Grief [DM] sequel to Beauty and the Beast

Chapter Twenty-One

Lizzie's POV:

Growing up with one parent and a brother had always been a challenge. We were always tight on money. Not so tight that we couldn't afford the necessities such as shampoo and food, but tight in the way that we couldn't afford the extras like nice cellphones or that field trip with our primary school classes.

Despite the one-person income, mum made it a point to have the Samuels' Scintillating Saturday's. On the first Saturday of each month, mum would make pancakes for dinner and we would spend the night watching movies. Of course, growing up I didn't know what scintillating meant, but I soon figured out that it meant fascinating.

These nights didn't usually get sentimental. They were just something we did all together until Gray and I went away to Hogwarts. But I can remember one particular Friday when Mum and I had both come away with tears in our eyes...

I was still in primary school, but was just about to graduate year five the following Tuesday, so my mum had scraped up enough money to make extra special blueberry pancakes (one of my favorite breakfast foods) and some whipped cream topping to put on top. I could remember thinking that Gray would be so jealous he had missed the special pancakes because he was still at Hogwarts for another two weeks.

"Lizzie Lou! Pancakes!" My mum called to me from the kitchen. I was up in her room applying makeup to my face. I thought I looks amazing, but I'm sure I looked atrocious. "Well, look at you!" she laughed when I came downstairs, grinning widely. She and I had the same laugh. We would throw our heads back, scrunch our noses, and close our eyes, letting our laugh ring through the air without any self-consciousness. "Now, sit your bum down and eat your pancakes before I eat them all myself." She smirked at me and touched her finger to my nose as she set the plate of flapjacks in front of me.

As always, I wolfed them down and sat bouncing in my chair as my mum took her sweet time cutting each individual cake into itty-bitty pieces before placing them delicately in her mouth with a knowing smirk.

"Mu-uum!" I complained loudly, rolling my head in anticipation and boredom.

"Are you in a hurry for something?" she asked, the mischievous twinkle in her eye blinked at me.

"What movie are we watching tonight?" I crossed my arms on the table and rested my chin on them, looking across at my mum. 

"Hmm," she hummed, pretending to think. She cupped her chin in her hand and placed her elbow on the table. "I think it's the one with the singing mice- Wait, no, the one with the poison apple. Definitely the one with the beast."

"Which is it?" I asked, excitement coursing through my ten-year-old veins.

"Hmph, I can't remember," she lied. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see." She would smirk at me again.

"Mum!" I repeated laughing.

I plopped my head back down on the table and watched her eat in silence. She had tied her long, auburn hair up in bun. Tendrils floated down around her face like jellyfish stingers. I had always admired her hair. Where mine was coarse and ratty in my primary-school way, hers was always neat and smooth as silk. She would let me brush her hair out and braid it out sometimes.

Her eyebrows creeped up as she noticed me glaring at her. "Fiiiine," she sighed, shoveling the last few bites into her mouth.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist into the air and hurtled into the living room where I threw myself onto the sofa in my usual spot on the end. I stretched out on the worn cushions and waited. Mum walked in a few seconds after me with an amused smile on her face.

"How does The Little Mermaid sound?" she asked, holding up the movie and grinning at me.

"Perfect!" I smiled. Mum knew this was one of my absolute favorite movies. My little mind loved the idea of mermaids and since I knew that magic was real thanks to Grayson, I hoped that mermaids such as Ariel existed (I know now that mermaids do exist, but they are nothing like Ariel).

Mum put the movie in and then sat down beside me. I layed my head down in her lap and she pet my hair lovingly. This is how we always sat for Samuels' Scintillating Saturdays. When Gray was here, he would sit on the floor in front of us or by my feet.

Per usual, I hummed or sang along to every song. Mum laughed an occasionally hummed along.

When the movie ended and the credits began to slide across the screen, my mum spoke for the first time throughout the movie. "Lizzie, sit up." I complied, slightly confused. I sat cross-legged looking at her.

"Yeah?" I asked, cocking my head to the side in question.

"Soon, you'll most likely be heading off to Hogwarts with Grayson, and I just wanted to tell you that no matter what world you get thrown into, I will always love you. Just like King Triton. Ariel left him in the ocean to go to the human world and he still loved her. Our story is reversed but it is just as true. You'll be leaving me here in the human world to go join the wizarding world and I will still love you."

"I know, mum," I smiled at her, still semi-confused. She didn't have to make me sit up for this, and if I know her at all, she has more to say.

"What?" I asked quietly. I watched her rub her eye 'stealthily', rubbing tears away.

"Oh, nothing," she laughed, evading my question.

"Mum, you're crying. This isn't nothing."

"It's just, that," she began, "this is one of our last Samuels' Scintillating Saturdays. Like I said, soon you'll be off to Hogwarts and we'll only have the summers and holidays together." A tear dribbled itself down her cheek, leaving a watery trail.

"We don't even know if I'm a witch. I could be just a regular old muggle."

"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Don't try to tell me that shattering light bulbs when you and Grayson argue isn't magic."

"For all we know, that could be Grayson's magic," I reassured her.

"What about all of those times your nose lit up when you were scared of noises in the dark? And I know that was you that toppled that street vendors cart the other day." She gave me a pointed look.

"He kicked that homeless woman!" I defended myself without a second thought.

"My point is that soon you'll be leaving me and I just want you to know that I love you. Witch or not."

"I love you too, mum."