Closed A Heart to Heart

[Charles Abberline]

Charles let out a heavy sigh as he watched his cousin fly around on his old broomstick. After receiving word from his aunt that Max almost had to redo the year because of his poor grades, he was trying to find a way to bring it up with him. Thankfully, getting Max to spend time with him over the break wasn't as difficult as he thought it was going to be. With an apartment in the village close to the castle and a large enough garden so that the boy could practice his flying, it was actually kind of easy to get his cousin to come over. But how was he going to bring it up without the boy shutting him down? Of course he partially blamed himself for his cousin's less-than-stellar academic achievements, thinking that if he had only paid a little more attention to the boy then perhaps he would have noticed that something was wrong. What he did not fail to notice throughout the year, though, was that his cousin hadn't been as excited about being at Hogwarts as he used to think he would be. There used to be times when Max wouldn't shut up about going to the prestigious wizarding school. What had happened between then and now? The only thing that came to mind was his aunt divorcing Jack but that surely couldn't be it? Max would have told him if that bothered him, wouldn't he? Well, if he was going to broach the subject of grades and whatnot then he needed to lull his cousin into a false sense of security first. ''Max! Come down, I think that's enough for now!'' the Professor said, holding up two glasses with soda in it.

 

[Max Goose]

Max would be lying if he said that he was happy to be home again. With his mother staying with her family in England, his sister constantly having friends over and his father doing whatever he was doing in his office, there really wasn't much he could do to entertain himself. If only his stupid sister wasn't talking French with her friends all the time then maybe he could play along with them. But no, he was forced to find something to do on his own most days. So when his cousin asked if he wanted to spend some time with him instead, Max eagerly accepted the invitation, the promise of being able to fly heavily weighing in favour of going. Charles did not have a very big garden so there wasn't much he could do other than fly around in small circles, but it was better than nothing, especially since his dad didn't want him flying around in their own garden. He couldn't tell why his dad was so against him practising his flying skills but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to make the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year, even if he had to use one of the school's old broomsticks for it. Glancing down when he heard his name, Max gave the man a thumbs up to indicate that he had heard him and slowly made his way down to the ground. ''Did you see how high I was going?'' the boy exclaimed happily once he was touching the ground. ''If I keep this up I'll easily make it up to the goalposts without being scared to fall off my broom!''

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles smiled at Max's comment and handed him one of the glasses. If only the boy had been this excited about his schoolwork, then he wouldn't have had to have this confrontation with him. ''I don't see why you should be afraid about that anyway, you seem rather comfortable on a broomstick,'' the man replied encouragingly. He figured that Quidditch might be a good way to slowly but surely get the boy to talk and open up about his poor grades. ''Now that you'll be in your second year, have you thought about how you're going to impress your team captain?'' He remembered his cousin angrily telling him that he hadn't been allowed to participate in the tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but he couldn't say that he shared his cousin's sentiment, thinking that he was indeed too young to be playing in the Inter-House competition.

 

[Max Goose]

Max put his cousin's broomstick on the ground and took the glass with soda from him, smiling at the words of encouragement. It was nice to be around someone who wasn't constantly reminding him of the fact that he hadn't performed that well in school, even if that person was one of his teachers. It also helped that he thought that Charlie was cool for being a former Hit Wizard. ''Eh, I don't know, hope for the best?'' He didn't own a broomstick and didn't have the courage to walk up to Professor Holland and ask if he could borrow a broomstick from her. Thus, improving his ability to prevent people from scoring so high up in the air had pretty much been impossible. And yet he was determined enough, or perhaps stubborn enough, to give it a go. Besides, how difficult could being a keeper be on a broomstick? He may not be the tallest of students but at least he was fast. He glanced down at the broomstick on the ground and said, ''I think that I will be fine as long as I don't fall off. I mean, I just want to be a part of the team, I don't care if he puts me on the bench the whole season,'' Max answered truthfully.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles caught Max looking down at his broomstick and then it came to him. If Max wanted to own a broomstick and be on the Quidditch team so badly, then why not make a deal with the boy? His broomstick for the promise that the boy would do well in school, or at least better than he had done during his first year at Hogwarts. That seemed fair to him, especially since his broomstick was far better than the ones the school provided for its students. Well, it would solve one of his problems. ''You can have it if you want,'' Charles told him, nodding his head towards the broomstick. ''If you promise me that you'll do better next year,'' he added carefully.

 

[Max Goose]

Max's eyes widened when Charlie said that he could have his broomstick. He leapt forward and hugged his cousin tightly, most of the soda spilling out of the glass. ''Really? Yes! You're not joking, are you? Oh, please tell me that you're not joking!'' He could not believe it, he was finally getting a broomstick after years and years of asking and begging his parents for one. This was by far the best day of his life, even better than the day he had the Sorting Hat placed upon his head. But if he was going to have his own broomstick, there was no way in hell that he was going to tell his dad about it. Or let Charlie tell his dad that he had given his old broomstick to Max. But then Charlie said something that made him let go of the man. ''Hold on, what do you mean by that? I've done well, haven't I? Eight passing grades without a worry in the world!''

 

[Charles Abberline]

''Without a worry in the world?'' Charles repeated, obviously taken aback by this statement. If only Jack and Abigail would feel the same way as their son. ''You cannot possibly tell me that you are satisfied with the grades you've received?'' Charles asked incredulously, stepping back a little. ''Max, you may have passed all eight of your classes but you passed six of them with barely passable grades. I talked to some of your other teachers, and none of them are overly positive about you. You rarely ever pay attention in your classes and you don't hand in your assignments on time if at all.'' The Professor looked down at the boy, wondering where this lack of intellect had come from. This lack of intellect that his cousin was showing was something he thought was truly unusual, as Max seemed quite the studious child growing up. ''We both know that you only passed Defence Against the Dark Arts with an Exceeds Expectations because I am your teacher, and Flying because that's something else you like.'' He let out a heavy sigh once more. He wasn't angry with his cousin, not at all, but did feel a little disappointed that things weren't going as well as they seemed. Why couldn't the kid's parents not just have this conversation with him? Did the divorce really have this heavy of an impact on the boy and how he was performing in school? Well, only Max could tell him that. ''Come on, buddy, tell me why you are struggling with school so much,'' Charles said softly.

 

[Max Goose]

Max wanted to say something but couldn't, his cousin's words hurting more than he thought they should. It felt as if he was being called out for cheating or something when all he had done was get passable grades for his school subjects. His eyes were starting to sting a little. He didn't see why this was such a big problem for his dad or his cousin. And he didn't think that he could be blamed for not always handing in his assignments on time. There was so much to do and so much to see around Hogwarts as a first year, that he often found himself lost or just wandering around the many corridors instead of doing homework. And with loads of other student activities, he didn't always have time to do it. Also, it wasn't as if he just straight up refused to do or turn in his homework, he was only handing it in a bit too late. It wasn't fair, it wasn't his fault he wasn't being the perfect little student they all wanted him to be. Why should he care about school if they didn't even care about him? Neither of them had gone school shopping with him once it was time to buy his wand and other supplies, neither of them had waved him off when he boarded the Hogwarts Express. And now his mother was out of the country and hadn't even asked Max whether he wanted to come with her, and his father spend most days in his office, which made it clear to Max that he regretted quitting his job to raise his kids. If they didn't care then why should he? And to top it all off, the only person who did seem to care about him was now also having a go at him... Tears were dripping down Max's cheeks, and without a warning, he hugged his cousin tightly around the middle.

 

[Charles Abberline]

As soon as he said his piece, Charles wished that he hadn't said anything about it at all. He could see Max's eyes slowly getting wet while he waited for the boy to say something. Did he really struggle that much with his parents separating? If so, why didn't he just say something to Charles? Okay, it was true that he didn't have any experience with divorcing parents himself but that didn't stop him from hoping that Max would come to see him when something was bothering him. And then out of the blue, the boy hugged him so tightly that for a second he thought that Max was going to squeeze the air out of him. It didn't take long before he could feel his cousin's tears dropping on his t-shirt, which told him all he needed to know. He let the hug continue for several moments, stroking the boy's back in a soothing way. Had his aunt really not seen what was happening with her son? Somehow he expected better of her. Somehow, he expected better of himself, too. He had known something was off yet hadn't done anything about it either. He broke free of the hug and knelt down so that he was eye-to-eye with his cousin. ''You know you can talk to me, right? I won't tell your mother and father a word, I promise,'' he said softly, wiping the tears off of Max's cheeks.

 

[Max Goose]

Max found it difficult to stop crying once he had started. A year's worth of frustration, worry and the fear of losing a parent did not make it easy to stop crying either. He looked up at his cousin and tried to smile as he wiped away his tears. ''It's just that... I... I...'' But he couldn't say it, for if he said it, it would be real. And the last thing he wanted was for all of this to be real. For if it was, he would have to choose who the spent time with during the school breaks. It would mean that they would have to spend birthdays and holidays like Christmas twice, and while the thought of double the presents sounded intriguing, he didn't think that it would be very fun without one or the other parent around. What if something bad would happen to one while he was at the other? What if he would never be able to say goodbye? He wasn't probably being dramatic but it was truly a thought going around in his head, and he couldn't shake it off. They would never truly be a family again, something he already saw the consequences of during this break. And while he wanted to understand why things couldn't return to how they used to be, something in him was actively resisting understanding it. Was it really that difficult to remain happy with each other? ''I... I just don't want to choose between either of them. It's not fair,'' Max said after clearing his throat.