Irrefutable Certainties

Chapter 2 ~ Tragedies are What we do Best

Selene POV

    Growing up in the spotlight, you learn to brush off the roomers pretty quickly. You also learn that you can't trust everyone, because you never know who is getting close to you just to learn dirt on your family. That's why the only close friends that I have are the ones I was born into. Not that I'm complaining, it's easier to know you can trust people if they're going through the same thing you are. You can trust that they know what to say when the roomers become too much. Or when the roomer hits on a point too close to home.

    "You alright, Selene?" Neville asks from the seat across from me, "You've hardly said a word since we got on the train."

    Scorpius scans my face, "You can't be taking what that reporter asked seriously, you know Dad would never cheat on Mom."

    I look out the window of the train and ignore their questions. I've been having suspicions of Dad since Mom's miscarriage last year. He's been working weekends and a lot of late nights. I knew he did this while us kids were in school, but he started to do it more and more while we were home as well. He'd sometimes come home and have a guilty look on his face that he'd try to hide and was only partly successful. Mom and Dad stopped spending as much time alone together and stopped going on date nights, Dad always finds an excuse to cancel them. So, the question from the reporter makes me wonder if my assumptions are correct. Maybe we're both crazy and Dad is having some form of crisis, or maybe he actually loves his job. I was hoping things would be better since Mom announced that she's pregnant again, but everyone is a little cautious around her and hoping that everything works out this time. The miscarriage is still in the back of everyone's mind.

    The miscarriage almost broke our family. Now this wasn't the first time that Mom and Dad almost split up, but this is the one with the most casualties in a way. Everything was fine in our family. We were happy, Mom was expecting a new baby and we had gotten news from Rose that she was going to try to move in with us full time. But it seemed like everything fell apart at once. Avery, Lyra's bio mom, had showed up at our front door and demanded to see Lyra. That caused some tensions between Mom and Lyra because Mom never liked Avery, for obvious reasons. Mom had gotten a particularly nasty case at work that really had her stressed out and arguing with Lyra at home did nothing to alleviate her stress. Dad, being the idiot that he is, took Lyra's side of things and told Mom she needed to back off and let Lyra have a chance to form her own opinions about her mother. Then one night, Mom felt terrible pains in her stomach and knew something was wrong.

    It was rough on everyone, and everyone dealt with it in their own way. Lyra moved out and went to live with her bio mom. Mom threw herself so far into her work that she became a different person. Dad tried to keep Scorpius and I out of everything, but by that point we were old enough to know things weren't right. Dad took time off of work to help at home, so Mom didn't have to worry, but they fought all the time. It started off with them locking themselves in their room and putting on a silencing charm, so we wouldn't hear, but after a while they gave up trying to hide it. They'd fight at the dinner table and during family game night. Then one evening Mom didn't come home from work and she sent Uncle Harry to get some of her stuff. Mom didn't come home for three weeks and everyone, including Dad, thought it was over. It was so hard to see Dad like that. He was a mess. He had just lost his unborn child, his eldest daughter moved out, and his wife left him all within a month.

    Mom rented out a flat to live in and Scorpius, Rose and I all visited her on the weekends when she was off work, but it wasn't the same. Mom and Dad had divorce papers drawn up, but in the end started going to therapy and everything turned out fine. But that doesn't mean that everyone doesn't have the thought in the back of their head of whether they're going to stay together or not.

    "I'm going to go get changed into my robes," Neville says awkwardly as he gathers his things.

    I continue to stare out the window and watch the scenery pass by, "It's too early to change. He's going to be in his robes for too long and they're going to become a mess."

    Scorpius puts his hand on my shoulder, "What's going on with you, Sel? You've hardly said anything since we left the station and I'm worried about you."

    "I don't know, Scorp," I shrug, "I guess I'm just worried about the upcoming season. Ravenclaw's team is really good this year. I really want that cup."

    Scorpius sighs, "You know you can't lie to me. What's really going on? You can't possibly think that Dad is having an affair. We both know Dad loves Mom too much to ever do that. Not to mention he knows what happened between Mom and Ron."

    "How can we be so sure? Dad used to never work on the weekends when we were home. Now he works almost every weekend and hardly ever takes a day off. What if he isn't actually working and is just using it as a cover to meet up with a mistress?" I huff, "Just because Dad has a good front doesn't meet he doesn't have a dark side. He is a Malfoy and a Slytherin after all."

    Scorpius shoots me the Malfoy daggers, "Don't even pull that shit, Selene."

    He has a point. We're both Malfoys, and Slytherins as well, but we both also know Dad's past, at least the parts they want us to know about. "Scorpius, you have to admit, Dad has a shady past at best. He faked his own death for years. I mean, if he can do that, who's to say what else he's capable of."

    "I can't believe you. Out of everyone, I though you would be the last one the reporters got to. Especially when it comes to this type of roomer," Scorpius shakes his head. "You know Dad better than any of us. You work to get answers to any question you have, and you don't stop until you find it. Not to mention, you have Dad wrapped so tight around your finger its insane. If you're really this worried about what you think is going on, then ask Dad. Don't sit here and pronounce him guilty before the trial even starts, Selene."

    "You're right," I sigh. "I guess I'm just still on edge about Mom being pregnant again. I'm scared of what's going to happen if she has another miscarriage. I don't think our family can make it through another tragedy like that."

    Scorpius shrugs, "We're Malfoys, tragedies are what we do best."