Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

22 June, 1992 - Unwanted

The day after Lavinia picked Jasmine up from the station, she did indeed return to Hogwarts and she was not at all in a good mood when she went. Thankfully, the previous night had been mostly salvaged from the emotion spiral it very easily could have turned into thanks in large part to a good cake and Miriam's insistence on a game of charades that had gotten increasingly ridiculous as more and more of the wine Kama had brought was consumed. So the evening had been fine. Good, even. But then everyone had left and Lavinia had been alone with Remus and the guilt had begun to creep in and she had started thinking, really thinking about it all.

And the more she thought, the worse her mood had turned until she had decided that regardless of what decision she had come to regarding her role in Harry's life, Dumbledore needed to be knocked down to size because she didn't care how clever he was or how well respected. She didn't care how many mercies he had offered her or how hard this decision had been. He did not get to lie to her without facing the consequences. No one got to lie to her without facing the consequences. And no one got to condemn a child to an unhappy home without at least one person telling them that it was wrong. Even if it couldn't be entirely fixed.

So as soon as she finished her shift at the hospital, Lavinia apparated not to home, but to Hogwarts, where she was now marching up the steps towards Dumbledore's office, very very glad that all of the students had gone home for the summer because she was sure she was making rather more of a scene than was necessary. But at the moment, she didn't care how much of a commotion she made. He had lied. He had lied and it mattered. She didn't care that she completely understood why. He had lied. And she had long ago decided that she was sick of people lying to her.

Of course, if she was honest, some of her anger was more directed at herself than anything else. She was angry that she had walked away. Twice, now. She was angry that she wasn't going to fix it. Angry that it was the best solution. But just because this was the choice she had made didn't mean that she was going to let Dumbledore off the hook. There had to be something that could be done about it. Anything, really. Anything at all. Because yes, Harry needed to call that place home and those people family, but... but that didn't mean that the entire situation had to stay exactly as it was.

So she was going to make him change it as much as he could.

Lavinia didn't bother knocking when she got to the door of the Headmaster's office, the password having been guessed by a combination of luck and a good measure of stubborn refusal to give up. So now, impatient and more frustrated than ever, Lavinia tossed the door open perhaps a touch dramatically and stormed into the office to find Dumbledore at his desk, looking up from a handful of papers in front of him.

"Do come in," he murmured, a bit drily, watching her with a shockingly calm expression that did absolutely nothing to ease Lavinia's annoyance with him.

Indeed, she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes and instead, launched right in. "You lied," she stated simply and her voice was steady. Far steadier than she'd thought it would be, actually.

Dumbledore blinked at her benignly for a moment before asking carefully, "When?"

"When I came to ask you about Harry," Lavinia clarified, the words clipped and annoyed. She was certain the old man knew when. He was just playing for time, no doubt. Trying to come up with some reasonable defense.

"I do not believe I lied to you then, Miss Selwyn," Dumbledore replied, the words polite but with an almost warning edge to them. Like he knew where this was going. Like he knew she had been dancing along a knife's edge since yesterday afternoon and this was the solution she had managed to come up with instead of throwing herself over an edge because of course, as usually, her first instinct had been to turn it inwards. And that would be the opposite of helpful. So she was here. Being unreasonable and angrier than she should be and this wasn't right either, but... well. Maybe it would actually accomplish something, which she knew wallowing in self hatred certainly wouldn't do.