A little bit of Hopeless Magic

X

Two am, they had climaxed and slowed then to a stop.

"You alright?" Henry asked her gently.

She nodded. It wasn't like he hurt her, she wasn't asking for anything other than a little love, and he understood that. She just needed a good last night with him. She knew her mom was close with the school and she knew someone would tell.

"Did it help keep your mind off things?"

She nodded again. "I should go back to my dorm," she said, quickly throwing on her shirt and pants.

"Ali.." he started.

"Yeah?"

"Stay here tonight, okay? I need to be with you," he answered, "I don't trust you to not hurt yourself or let yourself be hurt."

"Henry," she said sadly, "you know I can't someone will see and we will be kille-" her phone dinged and it was her dad.

"Oh no," Henry hissed. "He is not messing with you, okay."

"Oh, but I don't think there's a choice," she said, reading the text.

'Come home. Now' it said and she noticed attachment loading of her and Henry during the cuddle climax.

"Fuhuhuhckk," Ali said, hitting her forehead repeatedly with her phone.

"Ali, stop that," he said and took her phone. She just moved on to hitting her head against the wall. "Aliiii," he and someone else cynically said.

She turned around. "Newt," Ali realized sadly.

"Did I walk in on something?" Newt asks.

She shrugged the question off.

"Ali, your dad texted me. He seemed pissed about something, like about you and Henry. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Newt."

"Ali. What happened?" He said more firmly.

"Nothing happened, Newt, nothing."

"Something happened," Henry chimed in.

"Fuck you, Henry," she said, almost laughing, in a skittish way.

"We just did that though," Henry said too much again, but they couldn't help but suppress a little laugh.

"What?" Newt exclaimed. "Never mind. Hopefully not important. What is important is what's going on between you and your parents, Ali. And before you say nothing again, when you see them for dinner or at all really, you come back jittery, bruised, and much sadder. What do they do, Ali? And why?"

"I don't want to talk about that, Newt."

"Why?" "Newt, I have to go home. Might not be allowed to come back here. And if that's the case, thanks for being here, dude."

"Ali! You are not going back there."

"I don't have a choice okay," she put her stuff in her backpack, running to her dorm to quickly get the rest of it, then ran back home, sneaking in through her window.

Peter heard. "Come here!" he yelled.

"Coming," Ali hid the fear in her voice. She skittishly walked out.

"Go for it," she says, having given up entirely.

He only hesitated a moment. Long enough for Ali to see the old him hidden behind the anger, and him to see her fear. He didn't care though. She was, predictably, punched to the wall."You were told not to hang out with Henry. You think that means you can let him fuck you? I don't know you, Ali," his soft side tried to show, but it was caged behind his strikes of anger.

"I don't know you either, Dad. You used to be there for me. Plus I top, I fucked him, if you are gonna judge my sex life, get it right."

"What the hell, Ali?"

"Don't care anymore," she shrugged.

"Ali, what's happened to you?"

"What's happened is you."

He raised his arm to punch her.

"Go ahead, it's not you I hope though, cuz the you I knew wouldn't make me worse. They'd make me better."

"Ali, it is me," he frowns.

"Fine. Just leave me alone," she says.

He hits her. She barely felt it. She stopped caring weeks ago.

The doorbell rang, but Peter didn't hear through his screaming. Newt walked in, intending to help Ali out, but he saw that he was late. Ali was held against the wall by her neck and getting repeatedly hit and it seemed her dad was up against her in a way that you might call a movement of every dumbass, musically fuckboy. And she didn't care. She looked used to it.

"Ali," he whispered. Neither Ali or Peter noticed him. He ran up to Peter and pushed him from Ali. "Don't fucking touch her."

"She's my kid."

Newt looked at Ali, who had fallen to the floor. "Dumbledore set a rule. There are a lot of tests and stuff soon, the kids have to stay there."

"I'm pulling her out," Peter repelled.

"She has to finish her semester."

"I have to finish something else," Ali said and went back to her room.

"Ali," newt frowned, recognizing the tone. "Don't do it."

Peter rolled his eyes and walked off.

Newt grabbed Ali's phone from the floor and ran into her room, where a scarf was looped on a blade of her ceiling fan and she was crying over a trash can full of vomit.

"Sweetie, no," he frowned.

"Newt," Ali said. "Thanks."

"Ali, sit up," he said, quickly after noticing the bottle of vodka in her hand. "Ali! You're underage."

"I don't care, Newt."

"Ali, what's this all about?"

"I don't even know. Everything I guess."

"Why didn't you tell me your dad did that?"

"I couldn't."He frowned and sat by her.

"I thought your dad helped you through things, not hurt you."

"He used to be the reason I was okay, now he's the reason that I'm not."