Dictating Fate

Chapter twenty-four

Time has passed, which meant after the hours the two have spent together, they had to go their own ways come bedtime. Albus quietly made his way to the common room, holding back a grin that he wanted to show for no reason other than he felt genuinely happy. After he said the password to the portrait, he made his way in. He tried to not look around, though he failed miserably.

Sitting on one of the couches sat his two friends, they seemed to be chatting until Albus walked in. He looked over at Ember and Elphias before walking over. sitting down on the couch in front of them. "Hey," He started as if what happened earlier in the day didn't occur. His friends just stayed quiet and looked at him as if they were looking at the wall. Ember refused to do anything else except cross her arms, wondering why Albus told anything to them at all.

After a good amount of silence, Albus spoke again, this time to try and start some kind of conversation. "How did it go with professor Phineas?"

Ember let silence be in control for maybe a minute after that was said, but after she felt like it was long enough, she spoke. "Bad, but at least we were able to speak with him. It's better to tell him then to just stay quiet about it, but of course, how would you know that, right?"

Albus was glaring now. He didn't go in this conversation wanting to be rude, though, this was something he now felt compelled to do. "I wouldn't know that." He said. "Because I was with Gellert, someone who gets why I didn't want to go. I had a pleasant time with him, and plan to have more moments together, smiling, then with you planning something that would waste the day."

As those words left his mouth, Ember stood up. She was about to make her way over until Elphias got off the couch as well, grabbing her arm as if he was holding her back. This made Ember look over at him, taking a deep breath before sitting back down, causing the other to let go. "If you came here to just gloat about how this didn't work, I suggest we don't talk about this at all." She said as Elphias sat back down.

"I didn't come here to gloat, I thought that I would try and find out how everything went. But, as I thought, I didn't expect it to work."

"Okay, but now you have an answer. It didn't work. Now go." Ember said.

Albus didn't say anything else and stood up. He looked at Ember one more time, expecting her to change her mind and maybe say that she didn't want to argue about this anymore, but that didn't seem to be the case. After no words were exchanged, he nodded a bit before heading upstairs, going in the dormitories. Others were there, though only one seemed to acknowledge him, which happened to be Aberforth. He planned on saying nothing, and move along with this time he had for himself, though he seemed like he couldn't do that since his brother started to speak.

"I saw what you were doing with Gellert under the tree." Aberforth started, having a hint of disgust in his voice that he tried to hide. He wasn't trying to hate on his brother, he really wasn't. But he didn't seem to like the other person that he was around. "I'm telling you, he's no good."

"You never even spoken to him, so don't tell me that he's not good. He's kind to me and cares about my feelings, unlike some others."

"Please, you have Elphias and Ember...oh wait, you don't because instead of trying to help them with something important, you went to go snog under a tree."

Albus just looked at him for a moment, it was quiet until he heard someone else walk in the room, though he didn't turn to see who it was. A frown came upon his face before answering. "Why are you so upset about me not wanting to do something? It's my own will,"

"We're not mad at you for not going with us, mainly, Ember is just upset because it seems like you picked Gellert over your friends," Elphias explained, jumping in the conversation. "Just go talk to her. I'm not mad at you, but I know Ember will be for the amount of time you don't try to talk it out."

"But she's just going to give me attitude and-"

"Albus, just go and talk to her," Aberforth said, announce growing in his voice with every word that he spat out.

Elphias looked at Aberforth before looking over at Albus. After a soft sigh, he started to talk once more. "I already spoke to her. She said she would be willing to talk to you without the added attitude."

Albus tried to take in all that they said. he took a deep breath before leaving, not saying a word to the two. He made his way out of the dorm, back downstairs to the common room. After he got off the final step, he strolled over to the couch, looking over at Ember who still had her arms crossed. "Hey," he started casually before sitting back on the couch in front of her.

"Hey." She said, the word sounding dull.

"Look, I'm sorry if it seems like I picked Gellert over yourself and Elphias today."

This made her glare. She opened her mouth to speak but bit her tongue that time since she agreed that she wouldn't give attitude. She took a deep breath before continuing to speak in a calm manner. "It's not just today. Lately, you've been, I don't know, leaving us every chance you get. Look, I'm happy you made a new friend, and I'm glad you seem to be happy with him. But make sure you make time for the other people you talk to."

"But Ember, I'm not trying to ignore you-"

"I know you're not. But, if you're truly not trying to ignore me, make an effort to spend more time with me. I won't stay upset if you just try to do that." She said, which seemed to be her final words before standing up. She took a few steps forward, and after Albus stood up as well. She held her hand out in front of her, feeling as the other gripped it. After a firm shake, the frown was able to leave her face in exchange for a small smile.

((Ah thank you so much for 2.2k reads! It really is crazy. Also, I've been following up on the backlash on JK at the moment because of her statement about Grindeldore. Either way, it was confirmed that they were definitely a thing. I don't really have a full opinion until we see if they add the flashback scenes in the upcoming FB movies. Anyway, that's all I have to say. Have a good day/night and I'll hopefully see you all in the next chapter!))