NineteenYearsLater

Two weeks after school started, there was an explosion near the entrance. The shock of the sound made me drop my books and stop talking; I knew who had made that noise. I left Albus, Lily and Rosie to pick up my books as I raced to the entrance.

Smoke filtered through the doorway as angered voices rose through the air. I heard John’s voice screaming senselessly.

“John!” I yelled, over the din. The screaming stopped and I spotted movement. He raced through the dust and people towards me. He held me tight and buried his head in my neck.

“Save me,” He whispered, “The voices were talking again! Please sis, don’t let them take me away!”

I held him with a troubled look on my face. I was trying to think.

The voices to which he was referring had started when he cracked down the middle when we were six. He had insisted back then that they wanted something from him and that they were trying to make him do stuff, but Mother never believed him. Part of the reason he had gotten so bad before was because Mother sent him away to a mental facility. Our separation had meant that he had shattered briefly, but had mended when he came back.

This time, I was almost unsurprised to see him in such bad shape. He had been my constant companion for three years now, and his immunity had gone down severely. When he had gotten sick right before we left, I knew there was going to be some fallout, but I never imagined it to turn out quite like this.

“Miss Belle,” Madam Promfrey said, striding towards us. (I’ll have to admit that for being an old woman she sure seemed to have no trouble getting around quite yet.) She grabbed John and tore him from my grasp, “remove yourself from this area immediately. We have to decide what to do regarding his actions a moment ago and you’re being here will not help in the slightest.”

I gave her such a glare that she took a step back. I knew that he had caused a ridiculous amount of trouble, but if I left he would just get worse.

“Madam Promfrey,” I said, feeling a slight growl to my voice, “my brother John has a codependence problem. He needs to be by my side for most of the time, otherwise he has issues dealing with the world at large. If you force me to remove myself from this area, the damage will only grow, not lessen, so I suggest you allow my brother to hold me again, else you may find yourself with more students in the hospital wing.”

She glared, “Is that a threat?”

John slipped from her grasp and latched back on to me, telling her, “No, she was just stating facts. I can’t go without her. Please allow me to calm down and then I will help you repair any damage I just caused from my overexcitement.”

She looked so shocked that she just nodded. John buried his face in my neck again. (I was actually feeling mildly uncomfortable with this, since we were getting older and he was still acting the same. Then again, I guess I should be used to that then, as should anyone else watching.)

He took a few deep breaths and calmed down. We then walked over to the group of teachers standing amidst the rubble and offered our services. The only person who didn’t scoff at our offer was the headmistress, Professor Lovegood, who accepted it with a sort of pensive grace. We cleaned everything up in a matter of moments and accepted the detention that was given to us for destroying the entrance. I walked over to the stretcher which had a student on it and healed the student as quickly, and as quietly, as I could. John did the same with the one other person injured. (For some reason, whenever us twins were together, we could do just about anything we wanted to, including healing people without using potions. It was a bit awkward, so we never told anyone about it.) We then left and I took him with me to lunch. Lily, Albus, James, and Rosie were all seated in our usual place and I quickly joined them. John looked at them in surprise.

“Who’re they?” He asked me, looking confused. I gave him a confused look right back, and the others were following my example.

“What do you mean, who’re they?” I asked him, “Have you forgotten your friends already?”

He gave me a shocked look, “My what?”

James stood up and looked him in the eye. I realized, with a jolt that James had to stoop in order to pull that off. He said to John, “Do you honestly not remember who I am?”

I knew why he was asking John that. Those two had had so many fights and conversations, that it was almost impossible for John not to remember James. John squinted at James for
a moment before asking, “J-James, right?”

James nodded and sat back down. Albus did what James did, as did Rosie and Lily and soon, John was back to normal. Well, actually, there was something that was slightly different; John had to now sit next to me everywhere, even in class. I didn’t understand it, and neither did the teachers, but at least it was allowed. My only problem with it was that I wanted to have a private discussion with James regarding my twin and he was sitting one foot away from me. I finally just asked him why he was so attached now, after two weeks of taking this punishment. (At least, it was to me.)

“Sis, I feel anxious being farther away from you than that,” He replied, looking innocent, “Please don’t tell me that you hate it.”

I sighed, “Just try to distance yourself even a little bit. You do have to sleep in a different dorm you know and falling asleep in the common room every night is going to put a cramp in my style right quick.”

John gave me a look that gave the impression that he was about to start crying, so I quickly tried to reassure him.

“It’s not that I like being separated John,” I said, (I never called him Bro or Brother), “but I do need some space from time to time and I’m feeling like I’m being suffocated. I just want to do what’s best for the you, and that is teaching you to be able to handle being away from me for longer than five minutes.”

He yelled at me for a bit before agreeing grudgingly.

The next day I sent him three seats away from me in class; he was twitchy the whole time. When it ended, he was by my side in a flash. (In fact, I was pretty sure he apparated over here, but I wasn’t about to say anything.) I smiled up at him.

“Was that so hard?” I asked him, getting up and gathering my things. He nodded furiously.

“I wasn’t able to concentrate at all,” he said earnestly, grabbing a book or two of mine so that he had a reason for walking by me down the hall. I sighed a huge sigh in my head and just allowed him to stay by my side for the rest of the day. Two days later it felt like he was even closer to me, if possible. I slipped into the girl’s restroom, to get away from John for five minutes.

I let out a scream of frustration and started banging my head against the wall.

“Sis, is everything okay in there?” John called to me, having heard both of those things. I let out a moan of pain.

“I’m fine John,” I called, “I just slipped and fell is all.”

I let out another scream, but this time in my head, and came out, rubbing my head. John gave me a worried look and looked ready to ask me something, but I pushed past him towards my next class.

James walked up to me, “Lil, are you okay? You look upset about something.”

I gave him a wane smile, but didn’t say anything except, “I fell in the bathroom and hit my head, that’s all.”

He looked like he thought of what might be bothering me, but I warned him not to say anything by switching my line of sight towards John, who had been watching this exchange with much suspicion. James sighed and walked with us to class.

“Divination is a stupid class,” John complained, striding into the tower. I had specifically asked for Professor Trelawney after I had taken Firenz’s class last year. He didn’t impress me much, so I wanted to try the human version of it. I sat down at a table and heard James and John trading insults regarding this class.

“For goodness sake, do you guys really have to complain?” I finally stated, laying my head down on the table. I felt them both look at me somehow. I ignored them and tried to rid myself of the pounding headache that had been growing over the past week. (The slamming of my head into the bathroom wall hadn’t helped much.)

“Sis, what is going on with you today?” John asked finally. I let out a groan. (My natural disposition made me hate having so much attention coming at me for so long. I needed about three days of solitary confinement to make it all better, but I knew that was never going to happen.)

“Maybe it’s the fact that she hasn’t had any true alone time for the past three years,” James said, knowing my personality.

I watched John give him a confused look as I lifted my head back up slowly, “What do you mean, James? She’s had plenty of time away from you guys.”

James and I couldn’t help but let out groans at this and ignore John’s attempts at finding out why we did that.