After All This Time? Solo

Lizzy Solace was going home. After all this time, she was going home. Hogwarts was a dream come true, but she had never been away from home for such a long time before getting her life changing letter. With the weather getting colder and colder and the first snowfall lightly dusting the ground, holiday break was finally here.

The train had dropped her off but a few moments ago, yet no one had come to the station to pick Lizzy up. She had previously told her parents that she had made another mode of transportation, so they didn't need to bother coming to the station. All Lizzy had wanted to gain in this little white lie was the freedom of roaming the streets of London as she walked home. It would be a long walk, that was for sure, but she would cherish every minute. That is, until she arrived home and her parents exploded at the thought of her walking from the station all by herself.

After the walk, which took a lot longer than Lizzy had originally thought, she stood at the door to her house. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked into the house she had not set foot in since the beginning of the school year. Everything looked exactly as she had remembered though. Ben's jacket thrown across the back of a chair, the smell of apple pie coming from the kitchen, and the wood railing on the stairs. It was beautiful, it was amazing, it was home.

"Lizzy?" a voice rang out. Lizzy winced and walked into the kitchen and braced herself for a long lecture. Lily Solace was leaning against the sink with a concerned expression on her face. "Hi Mum. Look, I'm really sorry that I lied to you, but I just--" Lizzy started. "As long as you're safe it's fine. Don't lie to me again though," Lily added with a slight warning in her tone.

"Is that Lizzy I hear?" Nick Solace's voice came. He walked into the kitchen with a huge grin on his face. "Hey I've missed you pal!" he exclaimed when he caught sight of her. "I've missed you too Dad," Lizzy said, giving him a quick hug.

"So, how's all your magic stuff going?" he asked. "It's amazing!" she exclaimed. "But, where's Ben?" Nick and Lily exchanged a look, one that Lizzy did not like. "There's something you're not telling me. What is it?" "Oh, well, um, it just," Nick could barely speak, stumbling over his words as he tried to find a delicate way to tell his daughter. "Everything's fine Lizzy." Lily ended up being the one to comfort the worried girl. "Ben's outside. After having you not show up for a while, he got bored and went out. Why don't you go catch up?"

Lizzy was still not entirely convinced, but she would go talk to Ben and find out what was up. After all, he had been her closest friend all her childhood. The one she could talk to when no one else was there. "Alright, I'll see you guys in a little while then." She ran outside and into the dense forest.

Reaching the place they used to play as children, near a small creek, Lizzy looked around for wherever Ben might be hiding. "Ben?" she called. "I give up! Come out you idiot!" There was only silence and then, "I'm up here Liz." Looking towards the direction of the voice, she saw Ben perched on top of a fallen tree. Though it was fallen, he was still pretty high up.

Lizzy ran to the tree and started to climb up to him. "Hey! I heard you got tired of waiting around for me," she teased. "Yeah." That was all she got from the brother she hadn't seen in months? The brother she made all the best of memories with? Something was obviously wrong.

"What is it?" she asked softly. When he didn't reply she got confused and hurt. "Come on Ben! Mum and Dad aren't telling me something and now you won't either? You were the only person I've ever--" she broke off.

"Sorry Lizzy. I've just been a bit preoccupied I guess," he said finally. "Preoccupied with what? What is everyone keeping from me?" she asked sternly. "I wouldn't have thought Dad would have kept it a secret. Mum would want you to talk it out, but I thought Dad would have told you by now," he said, evading her question. "No one's told me anything, but I know you will."

He just looked at her with more sadness than she'd ever seen in him before. "You remember Simon right? He came back with me. We made a Christmas gift for the librarian." Lizzy tried switching topics. "That's just it!" he exploded. "Lizzy you left me! We did everything together, we said we'd never leave the other, but you did."

Lizzy stared at Ben in shock. Not once had he ever yelled at her like this. "I didn't mean to leave you. I got a letter telling me some of my dreams were going to come true. What would you have done?" She shook her head a bit. "Another thing we said is that we would fulfill all our dreams, no matter how impossible they seemed."

"I know we said that. You didn't even notice that I was hurting though. That I cried after you boarded the train because I knew I was losing you. I was there to watch you leave me. To disappear and never come back."

"I'm back now though. And I'll be back during spring break and the summer. Ben you aren't losing me. It's just a new chapter in our book," Lizzy tried. She had missed Ben so much while at school. He said he had cried at the station after she left? She didn't have that luxury. She had to wait until she was alone in her dormitory to cry the night she left. How could he say all those things like she didn't care?

"I'm leaving," he said, breaking the silence. "I have dreams too you know. I'm going to America." Lizzy's brain shut down immediately, in denial of the true meaning of his words. "Okay, you're wanting to fulfill a shared dream of ours. We'll can go together during summer break perhaps?"

"Lizzy, I'm not taking you with me," he said bluntly. The words finally caught up to her. "Fine. You want to go alone, go alone. But don't go like this. Don't go out of revenge or you'll hate the whole trip. I want you to have a good time when you go."

"Don't you worry about that. I'll have the time of my life. Without you." His words were like a knife, cutting through all of the barriers Lizzy had put up and stabbing her in the heart. Her eyes stung. Tears were threatening to spill over her eyelashes, to show Ben just how deep his words had cut. She held them back though, trying to keep a brave face.

"Mum and Dad won't let you go on your own," she was trying desperately to find an excuse, any excuse at all to stop him. "As it happens, Aunt Zoe was going anyways, to Nevada. I'm going with her, and stopping in New York. I think I'll be able to make it back on my own," was his response.

Lizzy couldn't think of any other reason why Ben couldn't go. He had set his mind to this evil revenge and now he was going to get his way. Without saying another word, she jumped off the tree. Because she hadn't calculated how to land before, she landing hard on her ankle, sending a sharp jolt of pain through it. Ignoring the pain, she ran as fast as her injury would allow back home.

"How could you do this?!" Lizzy screamed, entering the house. "How could you let him go to America for revenge? How is that good parenting?"

Nick and Lily came around the corner into the living room. "Lizzy, we just wanted him to be happy. That is what parenting is. Making your children happy and doing what you think is right for them," Lily tried to explain. "You're making him happy and crushing my heart!"

"Hey now, it's like your Mom said." Nick's American accent came through as he spoke. "And Ben has had his heart crushed by you already." "You think I meant to do that? Why can't you act like the parents in this situation and stop him?" Lizzy snapped back.

"Elizabeth Solace go to your room now! Think about everything that has happened and come back down when you've gained some empathy!" Lily yelled. When Lizzy had said be the parents, she hadn't meant be the parents to her. Nevertheless, she knew when Lily raised her voice it was better to shut up and listen. She trudged upstairs to her room silently and cried herself to sleep.

The next morning when she woke up, there was a note by her bed. She scanned through it quickly and then pulled her trunk out from under her bed. The note said thus:

Lizzy,

I know you probably hate me, but I'm doing what I have to. By the time you've read this I will be in route to New York City. I hope you have a good rest of term at Hogwarts.

-Ben

It was hastily written, Ben had probably been packing happily as he wrote these words. The clock on her nightstand said the time was 4:30 am. Her parents were still asleep. Lizzy threw a few things into her trunk that she had unpacked last night. Making sure she had everything, she pulled on a jacket and started towards the door quietly. She stopped with her hand hovering above the doorknob. She reached up to her neck and undid the clasp of the necklace Ben had given her. Placing it carefully on her desk, she left the room, leaving nothing but a note explaining to her parents that she had gone back to Hogwarts for the rest of break.

Peering into their room, she saw them sleeping peacefully. They would have no idea their daughter had 'run away' until later that morning. "Love you Mum, Dad," she whispered. Then, she left the house she had been so eager to come back to.

"I know where I should be," Lizzy said to herself. "Hogwarts. Hogwarts is my home."