Practice Makes Perfect :: Alice

15 April 1921



Things had been difficult lately. Tilly was sad… A lot. After the events of the tower, Everleigh being taken and tortured, it was hard for Tilly to get motivated to do much of anything. Add to that, Ren being gone and she was in a full weepy depression.

Her grades had suffered the most in her current state. She hated going to classes, sometimes skipping all together. Her normal spunky extrovert self was turning in, becoming a sad and lonely introvert. She missed her cousin and her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend? Ugh, she didn’t even know what to call him.

When Ren left for Japan just after Christmas they parted on good term. Of course she still loved him, that would never change. Although, a long distance relationship at their age was impractical. So they were taking “a break.” If he came back… no, when he came back, if they they still had feeling for each other, they would revisit the relationship. In the moment it made sense. Now it just made her sad.

Tilly also missed her cousin. Everleigh hadn’t been the same since coming back from Easter break. Sher was quiet, withdrawn, spacy and quick to emotions. Ever was not the type to cry at the drop of a hat, until now. It was hard to watch, but she loved her cousin and would be there for anything she needed.

Today was a necessary evil. She had missed a drill and wasn’t the best at taking notes, so a practice session for Spellcasters was a must.

Tilly sat on the floor of the practice room waiting for Alice to arrive. Laying on her back, knees bent, her red hair splayed around her head in a red halo. She really had no desire to be there, but hopefully it wouldn’t be to painful.

Why did it feel like everything was blowing up around her?

Alice was constantly worried about Everleigh, who was her top priority despite the fact that she had her own studies to attend to. Still, seeing her sister wander around the castle like a ghost was scary.

Then with Tilly being sad – mopey even – about Ren being gone… It was a lot, and Alice was constantly distracted. Sometimes the outside ‘noise’ got too loud and she had to go seek solitude in some random quiet area of the grounds.

The Easter break had been awkward, to say the least. Alice and Ever’s mum and dad had tried treating their youngest like normal, as if nothing had happened. Sweep it under the rug, move on, don’t let anyone know about the struggles.

Alice had yet to get her sister to open up to her, but she’d discovered during the break that her sister was having night terrors and was jumpy during the day. What about? She asked, but Ever never responded.

Ever rarely spoke, actually.

For once in her life, Alice was falling behind in her studies. She frowned as she entered the Spellcasters room. She’d missed something, she couldn’t even remember what at this point, but she would be thoroughly disappointed in herself if she didn’t at least try to work on something.

She saw Matilda, her cousin, lying on the floor. Alice plopped down next to her, instantly laying back as well.

“I’ve never wanted a term to be over so badly in my life before,” Alice commented. “But to be honest, I’m not even looking forward to summer.”

She heard the door open and then Alice plop down next to her. She loved her cousin deeply. They shared a kinship that went beyond simple cousins. “I’ve never wanted a term to be over so badly in my life before, But to be honest, I’m not even looking forward to summer.”

Tilly nodded, awkwardly since she was still laying on the floor. “Girl same. Maybe you and Ever can come stay with me and Gramps in Sweden for a time. Are you coming to camp? Have your parents said?”

Her Aunt Margary was nice enough. She seemed timid, never standing up for herself. Always deferring to her uncle Thatcher. Now Thatcher, Tilly didn’t like. Not that she would ever say such things to Alice. He wasn’t mean exactly, just intense. He commanded every room he was in. She was sure it was the same in the business world. While that was probably great in a boardroom, at the table for Easter dinner? He could probably bring it down a notch.

Sighing loudly, Tilly sat up. Her hair in a state of disarray. “Well, we should probably practice. Do we need to get up for this? Can we just sit here and toss spells at the practice dummy?”

Backing up so that her back was to the wall, still sitting on the ground, legs extended out in front of her, Tilly raised her wand and cast “Flipendo!”

The practice dummy fell back with the impact of the spell. Smiling Tilly turned to Alice. “Awesome. I don’t plan on getting up at all. If anyone asks, we wanted to practice casting from a lowered position. You know, needing to practice for all eventualities.”

“Girl same. Maybe you and Ever can come stay with me and Gramps in Sweden for a time. Are you coming to camp? Have your parents said?”

Alice sighed and moved to sit next to Matilda – also leaning against the wall because she couldn’t be bothered with putting in more effort than this.

“I don’t know. Honestly. They probably will send us both, but I don’t think Ever should go…” she admitted, biting her lip. Did Tilly know just how bad off the younger girl was?

“She doesn’t sleep, Till… she doesn’t talk and barely eats…” The brunette couldn’t stop the frown from taking over her face. She watched her cousin’s dummy fall backwards with a loud thud. She barely even wanted to be here.

“And mum and dad are just acting like nothing happened. They won’t get her help and she clearly needs it,” she added. “So if Ever is not going to camp, then I won’t be either. I have to be there for her.”

Pathetically, Alice waved her wand. “Depulso,” she sighed, and watched the dummy rock back and forth.

Lame.

Alice felt a flicker of something but she shrugged it off. She had opinions about her parents, but she would never say anything against them. Not to their faces, anyways. She’d been raised and trained from a very young age to always act perfect in front of them.

No matter how much they deserved to be told off.

Listening to Alice relay information about Ever, things Tilly didn’t know, was heartbreaking. “She doesn’t sleep, Till… she doesn’t talk and barely eats…”

Shit.

She knew it was bad, but it seemed things were getting worse. And to hear that her Aunt and Uncle weren’t taking this seriously, was infuriating. “I don’t understand why they won’t get her help. She went through something traumatic. Maybe I can talk to Gramps, he got me help after Grams went off her rocker, AND after the plant incident. I’ll write him a letter, he can talk to Aunt Margie.”

In her head, Gramps would fix everything. He usually did. Bram was one of those guys that exuded confidence and always had an answer for the world's problems. “Until then though, I will try and spend some time with her. Maybe some of the things I learned in therapy can help here. Obviously my situation was way different, but the techniques they taught me might help.”

Remembering why they were here, Tilly pointed her wand at the practice dummy. “Do you think if I cast the tickling spell or the vomiting slugs spell, it would effect the dummy?”

Not waiting for an answer, Tilly said “Slugulus Eructo!” and second later, “Rictusempra!”

Tilly watched, nervous at what might happen. After a few seconds, the Dummy had only twitched and moved around a bit. No l, no laughing. “Well, that was anticlimactic, but I’m glad I don’t need to clean up slugs.”

Alice sighed as she stared at the dummy, feeling… completely worn. Like she hadn’t slept in a century. It was horrible. And what made it worse was knowing that whatever her sister was feeling must be a thousand times worse than this. It wasn’t fair. Yes, Ever was stronger than any of them. But Alice would have given anything for it to be her that was suffering, not her sister.

“Yeah, maybe…” Alice responded, though to be honest – she didn’t think anyone would be able to get through to her parents. Not even their grandfather. She shrugged. “I don’t think they’ll listen to anyone, honestly…” she said, her voice monotone.

“I think we should just try to help her ourselves… mum and dad won’t listen to anyone. They don’t want anything to be wrong with her because it ‘reflects poorly on the family’, and God forbid that happen. God forbid the Ravenstones be anything other than absolutely perfect.”

She watched Tilly’s spell hit the dummy and do – well, hardly anything. She shook her head.

“Do you ever just want to give up, Tills?” she asked and then lifted her wand. It was a long shot, but Alice decided to attempt Confringo, which she knew was way out of her skillset.

Not even a damn spark from her wand. Alice looked at the thing, sighing. Was it pointless? She then bit her lip and glanced at her cousin. It’d been easier when she was at home over the break; at least she knew what role she was supposed to play when she was at home. Always be perfect, Alice. Never speak out of turn, Alice. Always smile, Alice.

Now that she was back at Hogwarts, and she was more aware of how badly her sister was struggling, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

She felt… pointless.