This Is The Way It Has To Be

[Cecily Rambolt]

The Lawn was quiet that time of night. It had just reached curfew, the stars were out and the moon was hiding behind straying clouds. The night air was comfortable. Cecily Rambolt stood watching the stars and waiting for Nicolas to show. She was to meet him here, as requested by owl, to talk.

Her green eyes were surprisingly clear and dry. She was-untroubled by the latest event approaching in her life. She could be honest with herself and know that this day was coming. She loved Nicolas dearly and had hoped that he would be the man in her life for years to come. Yet something held them both back it seemed from taking that next commitment. At least, if her intuition were right and they did part, they would remain friends. Her lips quirked. She would still see him around the castle. It was a comfort.

 

[Nicolas King]

Nicolas exited the castle after making his round of Gryffindor Tower and assuring himself that all was well there. He would certainly miss this place - he had called it home for the past six years, and now he would be moving on once more - of that he was determined. He'd been playing with the idea for months now, tossing it about in his mind constantly, and at last he was resolute, he would be going back to the Ministry, returning to the work that he'd been drawn to since childhood, and possibly fulfil a few more of his life goals in the process. One could only hope.
Spotting Cecily's lone figure on the lawn, gazing up at the stars, Nicolas quickened his pace, not wanting to leave her waiting or keep either of them out of the castle longer than they had to be. "Evening, Cecily." Nicolas began with a kind smile as he drew near to her, glancing up at the stars a moment before looking back toward Cecily and feigning a smile. He wasn't sure how she would react to his news and until he knew he would be quite uncomfortable. "I've been thinking for quite some time now..." He began after a moment's pause, still hesitant about telling Cecily, wondering if he should wait until after the feast tomorrow - after the students left - after he had finished packing and would be ready to leave the castle forever. No, he had to continue. "I need to leave Hogwarts." Nicolas stated firmly, a huge weight being lifted from his very being as he uttered the words, "I was placed here six years ago and this place became my life - but I feel I've done my part and I need to move on - pursue life for myself, follow my own ambitions. I trust that there are other professors who are chomping at the bit to take up a post here and I don't feel comfortable occupying a position which I've grown to dislike, which has come to draw me away from the future which I've seen for myself since... well, forever."
Nicolas sighed as he concluded his statement, hoping Cecily would understand and react well to the news. He waited for her response in silence as the moon revealed itself at last from behind the clouds.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily smiled softly at Nicolas as he approached. She enjoyed looking at his profile as he allowed himself to star gaze. He really was a handsome man. She returned his greeting and stood a bit shell shocked as he dropped his news. It hadn't been what she was anticipating. Many emotions clouded through her mind and she nodded her head slowly. "I see."

She was drawn back a few Christmas' ago when she had visited his home. He's shared with her many things about himself. Subconsciously she knew that he was never meant to stay at the school, no matter how she wished it. His past, the way he felt about being an Auror, it was all connected to him.

"I understand Nicolas," she faced him fully, her hands in her robes pockets. "You should follow your dream." Cecily meant that with all of her heart. She would never wish for him to stay there, in a role he despised and grow more unhappy as his life's work slipped him by. She paused and approached her next thought, wanting clarification. "Where does this leave...us?"

 

[Nicolas King]

It was obvious to Nicolas that Cecily wasn't as pleased with the news as he had hoped she might be, but he supposed he had had unreal hopes for her reaction, too. They'd come to know each other quite well over the past six years - both in and out of their relationship - and now he had told her he would be leaving - only days before he planned to do so.
He was glad, however, that Cecily did understand that he needed to do this. It wasn't a decision he'd just jumped to and it wasn't something he could be talked out of, not without magical aid, at least. His last few months in the castle had been torturous and arguably part of the reason for his ill health. He didn't hate teaching or Hogwarts, not in the least. In fact he loved them both, but they had both come to hold him back from his truest passion which inevitably left him only to come to despise them, not for what they were but for what they had done to his plans for himself.
As Cecily asked her question Nicolas was taken aback. That had been the one thing he hadn't considered. He hadn't considered their relationship at all, it had seemed over the past while that they had grown apart (to say the very least). Ever since when they'd first broken up it seemed to him that their relationship hadn't been as strong and now with him leaving the castle was their any point left to it? "Where do you say this leaves us?" He enquired, wanting to see if Cecily had felt the same things as he in the past time, if she had come to the same conclusions and if this decision - what seemed obvious to him - was indeed mutual.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily met his eyes and studied them for a moment. It was time. "We go our separate ways." She felt lighter as she said this. She loved him and yet knew it was time for them both to move on. She wouldn't draw this out. They were always truthful with one another even if it hurt.

He would need to focus on his work and having a distant relationship would never have worked. For either of them. He was a dear friend throughout their association. She would be a good friend to him now; supportive, understanding. No tears or recriminations. It was time for them both to live their lives.

 

[Nicolas King]

"Oddly enough..." Nicolas began, a smile on his face, "I couldn't agree more." It was a relief to him that he wouldn't have to worry about a relationship that he'd never be around to develop, or wouldn't have to break it off with Cecily and ruin their friendship. "I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you about my decision." Nicolas started after a moment of thought, "But I can't say I was ever really certain until recently and then it always seemed the wrong time to tell you. I felt the closer to the end of the year it was, the easier it would be - no matter how you reacted." Nicolas rationalized, still pleased that things were turning out so well.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

"It's alright Nicolas, you don't have to explain." Her smile was genuine. "Let's not make a mess of things and draw this out, shall we?" Her eyes sparkled with a bittersweet humor. She walked forward and rose on tiptoe to brush his mouth with hers. She would keep the memories they had made together in her heart and cherish his friendship always.

"Be happy." With a light touch to his cheek as she uttered those words, Cecily turned and made her way toward the castle.

 

[Nicolas King]

As Cecily started to walk away, back toward the castle, Nicolas exhaled deeply before simply allowing himself to fall on to the grass of the lawn and look up at the stars. The stars fascinated him, and it was for that reason alone he'd even bothered to take Astronomy through to his NEWT years - then he only got an A in the course, a complete waste of his efforts by his standards.
As he gazed up at the stars, the many worlds hidden amongst them and the future he knew they revealed to some his mind began to wander about to things he didn't want to think about at all. How strange would it be to return to work as an Auror? Did anybody he really knew work there anymore? He knew Scott did, but Scott had always been an ass to him so that wasn't a pleasant thought in the least. All he knew was that the next day would be his last at the school, then it'd be back to the 'real world', back to sorting things out, saving other people's skins and risking his own every day. His skin crawled just at the thought of it, he knew he'd miss Hogwarts, but he'd missed being an Auror so much more. The adrenaline alone was enough to keep him contented.