Decisions, Decisions PV Henry Knight Finished

Rose shook her head, and smirked. "No, of course not. I gave you a nickname because of your accent that more than ninety-five percent of the student body has," she said casually, as if she was just brushing it off. It was silly of her to say, but she felt like she could be silly around Henry. It was just alright around him. "Super duper fancy."

He went back to both of the words that she didn't know, explaining them to her. "Ah, okay- thanks." She lowered her voice a little, so that her brother didn't hear her when she said, "I coulda just asked Frankie, but he probably would have given me the Urban Dictionary version, with twelve different meanings and a full explanation of each word's etymology, which would have been grating with the second word." She rolled her eyes a little.

"Well, you were definitely successful in being polite," she said courteously. She finished her muffin and took a bite of her sausage. She was suddenly a little bit curious about why he had said he wouldn't eat them anyway. He was a werewolf, after all. And some werewolves liked meat more than other foods, because of their wolfish nature. Rose remembered when she had picked up a book on werewolves after Henry had told her about his condition. Well, she had picked up three, actually. She wanted to be super educated about his condition, and find any way to help him. She thought about asking some house elves about getting him some tea or something on the nights around the full moon, just to let him know that she was thinking about him. But she didn't want to solve any trouble for the house elves, and she didn't want to make Henry feel bad.

The redhead couldn't help but smile when he had said that she would always have him. To be honest? People could say that all they wanted. They could lie about it, or say it just to make her feel better. But Henry was different. He was stuck with her. And he couldn't just get rid of her or ignore her like any other person at Hogwarts could. He would be loyal to her to matter what, and through everything. He would be loyal to her. She really loved that about him. He was kind and caring and she knew he would be by her side. Usually, Rose would doubt what the person would say, ponder if they were telling the truth. She didn't even think about it with Henry. She didn't even think of thinking about it.

"Ah, okay," she said, in response to his explanation. "Well... I guess we'll find out what terms you're on at the- at the wedding." It was her attempt at a joke, to lighten up the conversation. but it was so hard to say that word nowadays. It always made her throat clog up and stutter. The wedding. If she pretended that the stutter didn't happen, she could usually just ignore it, but she knew Henry might pick something up about it. He was just too smart.

Gabe said something, wondering if their dad's family was gonna be there. But he was shot down pretty quick by Frankie and Faith, both of which found him very amusing. Rose was only halfway into their own conversation. She had noticed Henry writing something, bearing down on his knee. She didn't know what he was writing, or who it was for. If it wasn't for her, she didn't want to be rude. If it was for her, looking at it would draw her siblings' attention to it, and she definitely didn't want them sticking their nose into Henry's business. Her mind was mostly in a different place, thinking about things a twelve year old shouldn't have to think about. But was almost forced to anyway.

A feeling of a paper on her knee snapped her out of her thoughts. She tucked it into her pocket of her robes discreetly. She looked up at him when he talked, smiling at him and saying, "Okay." Rose's siblings chorused their goodbyes and cordial "nice to talk to you"s and "see ya later"s. "I'm gonna stop by the library before classes start, so I'll walk with you out of the Great Hall and then we can split," she said with a smile. She got up, grabbing the last sausage so she could eat it on the way. As they came to the place where they would separate, she said, "See you soon, Fancy-pants," and watched him walk away. Then she stood outside the entrance of the Great Hall and read the letter that he had handed to her.

The explanation was simple, but the letter... the letter was a little more complicated. In the letter, it never looked like Luke was actually trying to do anything for Henry. Everything in the letter was about Luke himself, and what Luke wanted, and what Luke would have to do to get what he wanted. It was, in a way, even a little manipulative. It was almost foreboding the way it was written, almost like- "Like me, forgive me, be nice to me... I'm your father so you have to... or else." Which Rose did not like very much at all. At least he was saying that he was trying to change, which wasn't bad in and of itself. But Henry didn't even have a choice in the matter of hanging out. He was forced to do it. Rose wrinkled up her nose. She wasn't too sure she liked this Luke guy. Was he just trying to look like a good dad for Rose's mom?

This was just all so messed up. Rose didn't blame Henry at all for ignoring Luke's letters. Rose would have, too. There was a period where she had been bitter about her own mother's letters.

Even the way it was signed bothered Rose. Not "Love, Dad." Not anything about Dads at all. It was cold and formal, as if the words that had meant to be warm throughout the letter were, in actuality, frozen in their true context- frostbitten. He just signed it "Sincerely, Your Father". Did Henry not have a name for him, like "Father" or "Dad" or something? Is that how absent he was in Henry's life?

Rose shook her head, putting her forehead in her hands exasperatedly.

She didn't think she was okay.

She wouldn't be surprised if Henry wasn't okay either.

But they would keep plugging on. Nobody would notice. Nobody would see.

Except, maybe...

Each other?

Thread finished