September
-he had cheated on Roxie-
She spent the days in a daze, quite literally. Roxanne wasn't sure how exactly she managed to stumble out of bed and down to the kitchen, force some sort of breakfast down her through, and make it through the general chitter-chatter of her family with crying. That seemed to be all she did these days- cry.
Her mother knew what was going on, and Roxanne had been delighted at seeing her face light up with fury, her mother struggling to hold back her anger. She had asked Roxane if she wanted her to go over and personally see Adam, which to Roxanne had refused. She didn't want her family to have any interaction with him whatsoever, no matter the intentions behind it.
She just wanted to forget about him, and all the time they had spent together. Adam McLaggen needed to be left behind in the past, and she desperately needed to move on.
There was a sharp knock against the wood of her closed door, and she blearly lifted her head to glance up, her eyes red-rimmed and cheeks tear-stained. "Come in," she croaked out, her throat red-raw from sobbing her heart out. Her mother's face peeped around the door, a soft smile on her lips as she took in her daughter.
"Hey, baby," she murmured quietly, taking a seat on the bed. It wobbled underneath the added weight preciously, rocking to and fro. A soft hand began to run itself down her back, silently comforting her, her mother whispering soft words of console.
The silence was broken by her mother's voice: "I've got some advice for you. I don't know if you know this, but, sometime ago, I was deeply infatuated with a boy. It ended in heartbreak, with his death. I was thrust into deep depression, and I spent my days crying. No one could comfort me, until one night, when my friends forced me out, I met your father. I'd know him before, but hadn't thought much of him. He was basically in the same state I was; depressed over the death of what had been someone very, very close to him. It just so happened that he was able to console me, and I was able to comfort him."
"Mmm?" Roxanne asked, her eyelids fluttering closed against the soft fabric of her pillow. She stifled a yawn, gnawing down on the soft flesh of the inside of her cheek.
"So, Rox, please baby, just remember- it's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything," he mother said, her voice soft. "It was only after I had lost one half of me that I was able to see who your father really was. I know you're sad, right now, but I promise you, someday you'll wake up, and all the pain that is thundering through you right now, it'll be gone, I swear."
Her mother smiled down at her, leaning forward to place a soft kiss on cheek. "I'll leave you alone now," she said, yawning as she pushed herself off the bed.
Roxanne watched her through watery eyes, sniffling softly as the door squeaked softly closed, her mother's face disappearing from view. The horde of tears she had been struggling to blink back as soon as her mother had started talking came out in a rush of sobbing, her raspy voice hiccuping as she poured her heart and soul out.
How could he?
How could he have bloody done this to her?
Roxanne Alicia Weasley wasn't a shell of a woman. She never had been.
But Adam McLaggen had somehow changed all of that.
"Son?" There was a knock at his door, and he lifted his eyes from the open magazine propped up on his stomach to glance at his father. "Can I talk to you?" Adam shrugged, his eyes drifting back to the magazine, his breathing sharp as he fiddled with the loose threads on his shorts.
His father sat down on the vacant chair beside his bed that Adam used to place his lamp and other assorted junk he couldn't be bother to get out of bed to place somewhere else. Cormac sighed softly, running a hand through his hair. "You know what, son," he began, placing a hand on Adam's shoulder. He shrugged it away, shifting closer to the wall, his eyes still trained on his magazine.
Cormac sighed again. "Whatever it is that's bothering you, Adam, you should just let it go. It's not worth stressing over it as intensely as you have these past few days. Your mother's starting to get concerned about you." He titled Adam's head up so their eyes were able to meet. "I'm starting to get concerned about you."
Adam threw the magazine away, watching as it flittered to the ground. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, stifling a yawn. "Whatever, Dad," he said, closing his eyes. His head hit the pillow with a resounding thump, and he pulled the blankets up closer to his chest.
"If it's a girl, you know you can tell me about it," his father told him, his voice soft in the silent room.
"A girl?" Adam questioned, shaking his head. He knew his father, knew him quite well. His mother claimed that he had changed fro his Hogwarts years, but Cormac McLaggen was still exactly the same. He always thought he had the right answer to everything, and was always trying to influence his only child's actions or thoughts.
No, he could never tell his father what he had done to Roxie. He'd never understand. Adam could hardly believe he'd done it himself. There was a sharp sigh from his father before he got up, and walked out of the room.
Adam was left in silence.
Left to the thoughts that ravaged his mind every second of the day.
Left to the fact that he had cheated on Roxie.
He had cheated on Roxie.
"Annie?" Her father's head appeared in front of her eyes, his eyes twinkling merrily behind his long strands of red hair. She mumbled a soft reply, burying her head further into the depths of her pillow. He patted her back softly, humming underneath his breath.
She knew this would happen.
They would all get concerned and offer their advice, she would take it gratefully, but it didn't really mean anything. Adam had broken her heart and that was that, take it or leave it. She would just have to learn to deal with it, and repair the fragile shards of her heart over time.
Their advice meant nothing, but she would take it. Just like the heartbreak. It was all just a pill that she would have to learn to swallow.
She stifled her screams in her pillow, sobbing loudly in the silence.
Bloody Adam bloody McLaggen.
Reviews are love! Three more chapters to go! :D