Chess Pieces

[John Harper]

John was staring out of the large window in his office at home. He had many things on his mind right now, too many secrets were threatening to come out and it felt like things were on the verge of falling apart around him. There was Matthew, his latest letter lying on the desk behind John. If you could call it a letter, it was hardly more than a quick note. Just to let him know he wasn't coming home for the Holidays. Ungrateful, that's what he was. It was almost enough for John to decide to cut him off, at least financially. See how quickly he returned home if he couldn't afford staying in a cozy inn in New Zealand. Jane would never approve, though. But his wife didn't know what was at stake.

John knew by now that Matthew knew about the whole... Rebecca ordeal. At least he knew about the result. He had defied John's wishes in going to New Zealand with some flimsy excuse, and John had let him in the end. He had figured his son just needed some time to process the information, maybe even see the girl and talk to her once or twice, but he had expected him to transfer back after a semester. Matthew tended to do what John wanted, and he wasn't a rebellious kid normally. But his son had stayed at the only school in the world John had not wanted him at, and now he wasn't even returning home for summer break.

Another annoyance on his mind was related to this. Charlotte was nagging him insistently about being allowed to go to New Zealand too. What was it about that damn country that made everyone want to go there? He was sure she didn't know about the girl, and neither did his wife. But if he sent her there, how long would it take until she found out? Matthew would feel obliged to tell her, he was sure of that. It was nothing she needed to know, he selfishly wanted to stay her hero. He had already lost Matthew's respect, though his son was also not shaping up to be what he had hoped. Charlotte was more like him, stronger. But she wanted to go to Hogwarts New Zealand only because Matthew was there, and if it was up to John he wouldn't be there much longer.

A knock on the door made him turn his head, he had a feeling he knew who it was and sighed deeply. "Come in." He said, fully expecting his daughter's demanding voice to enter the room before she did. He turned and was surprised by the sight of his wife instead. Jane had been busy the last few days preparing for some charity event, so seeing her here now made him smile. "Hello, my love." He told her, turning to her.

 

[Jane Harper]

Jane was a busy woman, a busy and efficient woman. Today was supposed to be her day off from her many duties in the community, but there were other things that needed seeing to. Her daughter was in distress and there was something she needed to do about it. Her husband was like a king in Charlotte's eyes, and having him say no to her wasn't good for her self-esteem. She knocked on the door of John's office, which was the room he rarely left lately. She entered and cracked a small smile at his greeting, measuring her expressions exactly as she always did. "Hello, John. I assume you know why Charlotte is in a mood?" She sighed and approached the desk her husband was standing behind. "Darling, why not let her go? She will probably tire of it in a year, maybe two when Matthew graduates. He seems insistent on staying at that school too and if we let Charlotte go as well we might actually see both of them over the holidays." She said, looking at him and watching his expression carefully. "It's not like we will notice the difference, whether they're at Ilvermorny or at Hogwarts, they are gone from home for the same amount of time. And Charlotte will make good connections there, don't you think?"

 

[John Harper]

The surprise and delight John felt at the sight of his wife, who he had hoped would help distract him from the worries on his mind, fell away when she started to talk. He sighed, when did Jane get so soft? She was usually the one who could more easily say no to their daughter, while he was the one often pampering her. "Charlotte needs to learn she can't always get what she wants." He told Jane, fully aware of the hypocrisy in his statement. "Matthew is already going against my wishes, why allow Charlotte to do the same? If Matthew wants to see her, he should listen to me and come home. Ilvermorny is a fine school, I don't know why it suddenly isn't good enough for our children." He frowned. "You said yourself that you don't like the idea of Matthew being so far away, Charlotte is only ten. Even if the difference in distance isn't really noticeable, it is still the other side of the world." He didn't know why his wife was suddenly in favor of this ridiculous plan, even though she had seemed indifferent to it. Not even seeming to notice the tension in the house. Only seemingly, though. He knew her well enough to know that she noticed more than she let on. But now he was annoyed with her, he had expected her to be his only ally in this ridiculous situation. Children these days no longer had the respect for their parents they ought to have. Matthew had never said anything to him directly, but the looks the boy had given him had said enough. He used to be so promising, before he had gotten caught up in silly muggle 'photography' hobby. Jane had advocated for that too, telling John that the boy needed to express himself. See where that had gotten them? He was now 'expressing himself' at the other side of the world, telling his half-sister god knows what, gambling with their family's reputation. John wanted control of the situation again, and Charlotte's demands were not helping.

 

[Jane Harper]

Jane's eyes never left her husband's face as he talked, seeing his annoyance clearly. It never ceased to amaze her how a man with such an expressive face was such a good liar. It helped him in his work, for sure. But when it was used against her, she hated him for it. Especially because she had thought he couldn't trick her, and he had.

She checked to see if the door was firmly closed before stepping closer to her husband, allowing her expression to harden in a way that more closely reflected her true feelings than the soft smile she always wore around him. The expression she had masked for years for the sake of her family. "So you're concerned for her well-being, so far away?" She asked him, adding coldness to her voice. It was gratifying to see the confusion start to register in his eyes. He would be familiar with this voice, it was the one she used on their acquaintances she didn't like when she didn't mind them knowing that fact. She tilted her head, letting one hand trail over the polished wood of the desk. "It has nothing to do with the fact that she would surely find out about the bastard you have running around on that backwards island, and how it would stop her placing you on an undeserved pedestal?" The slight curve upwards of her lip wasn't one she could control, even though she normally was a perfect master of her expression. Charlotte had only been three years old when Jane had found the evidence of John's old affair and the other family he had in New Zealand. Before that she'd had no idea, even though she always prided herself in being the only one to see through John's lies.

Over the years, she had waited and waited for him to break and confess, giving him a few perfect opportunities to do so. But he never had, as arrogant as he was he would never have considered that she found out. She had known at once when Matthew knew, her son had somehow missed out on any of the skills Jane and her husband had of masking their emotions and it had been plain as day. Seeing the hurt on his face and the weight of keeping it to himself on his shoulders, she had decided that she could no longer keep John in the dark. It had been tempting to tell him that she knew many times before, but she had kept the information and safeguarded it for the perfect opportunity to shove it in his face. She wasn't above revenge, and if revenge meant sending both their children to the other side of the world to find out what sort of person their father really was, so be it. Charlotte really did need to learn not everything could go her way, and Jane would be there to comfort the girl when she no longer wanted to see John as the hero.

 

[John Harper]

John noticed how closely Jane was watching him, but that on its own wasn't too unusual. She was very observant, and he had often found her watching others like a hawk and figuring things out he wouldn't have guessed at. It wasn't until she stepped closer to him and didn't smile, that he felt a feeling in his gut telling him something was wrong. When she finally spoke, her words didn't register for a moment. His mind refusing to accept them. She couldn't know, he had been careful. He had erased every trace, especially since Matthew had found out. And if she had known before that surely he would have noticed something. "What?" He breathed, his eyes darting away from her face as his mind scrambled for something to say. "Matthew shouldn't be spreading such idiotic stories, he has the wrong idea in his mind. He has too much imagination, always been that way." But even as he said it, he knew Matthew hadn't been the one to tell Jane. One look at her face confirmed this and he felt his heart sink. He hadn't seen his wife look at him like this since they were both in school, competing for the highest grade. She had been the agreeable, social woman he liked to have at his side for so long he had forgotten about her steel core and her coldness. He knew without a doubt that he would now regret this.

 

[Jane Harper]

Jane laughed harshly, colder and more genuine than she had laughed in years. "You're blaming Matthew? Really John? That's a new low." She shook her head slowly. "I found out before Matthew even went to Ilvermorny, Charlotte was three. You really aren't as good at erasing your tracks as you think you are." She said, crossing her arms.

"So here's what we are going to do." She said with a tilt of her head. "Obviously, we'll stay together. There's no need to get the rumor mill going. Charlotte will go to the school she wants, we'll tell people she'll be making international connections." She brushed her hair off her shoulder. "If she happens to find out about your little indiscretion, she'll only learn from it. Matthew will be there, he'll protect her from the worst. They'll both come home for the Holidays and we will talk about it with them then." She said and she looked at him. "You will apologize to them both, personally, and you will accept any reaction they might have. I'll personally try to talk Matthew out of this... attachment to the girl. She might be your bastard but she's not part of our family. I'll make sure to remind her mother of that too if you don't do it."

She tapped her chin. "I believe that's everything. Oh! Also, I've prepared one of the guest rooms for you. There's no reason to keep up the pretense once Charlotte is at Hogwarts, don't you agree dear?" She didn't wait for an answer. She gave him one last look, then turned on her heel and strode out the door. A weight lifting off her shoulders that had been there for nearly a decade.