[HP Doujin] 1943

On Monday morning, before the sun had risen, a white mist hung over the Strand.I was up early in the morning, and the nurse woke Melinda and Eleanor, dressed them, fed Charles, and got his car and diapers ready.After breakfast, the driver was already waiting for us at the door.The nurse carried Charles into the car first, and I carried Melinda and Eleanor into the car, and finally got in and closed the door.

Looking at the foggy street outside the car window, I felt an unspeakable bitterness in my heart.Francis has been awake for a week.When he first woke up, I didn't know what to do, so I shook his hand and called his name softly.

He looked at me with a hint of warmth in his dazed gray-blue eyes.

"You're still here," he said.

My heart seemed to be caught by something again, and I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't help myself.I didn't mention the word "divorce" to him, but only told him some trivial matters at home. He listened quietly, with a slight smile on his bloodless mouth.

Both Melinda and Eleanor were terrified.They were both very fond of Francis.For the past week, I told them countless times in their room that Francis was fine and only had a minor illness, so they went to bed with peace of mind.Eleanor's attitude towards me was still full of defensiveness, but Melinda's cold attitude gradually eased.

Once I put the two of them in bed, turned off the light and was about to go out. Melinda said to me suddenly, "Elizabeth, you look so ugly. You need to get some sleep so I can take care of myself." .Otherwise, Dad will be sad to see the dark circles on your eyes."

Sitting next to me in the car that morning, Melinda was wearing a gray coat, her long, smooth black hair pulled back in a ponytail.She raised her head, looked at me with clear and bright gray-blue eyes, and said old-fashionedly: "Elizabeth, may I ask you a question?"

"of course can."

"Why do you always quarrel with Dad? The nanny said, my mother never quarreled with Dad before."

I thought about it and said, "Maybe it's because Francis likes your mother more."

Melinda shook her head and pouted disdainfully: "You still think of me as a child, I have known for a long time that my mother and father are in a political marriage, which was arranged by the family since childhood. My father likes you very much. You Why don't you like him?"

I smiled awkwardly, changed the subject, and asked, "What gift did you prepare for Dad?"

Melinda turned her head: "It's fine if you don't want to tell me. You adults are like this."

This girl is so smart that she has completely inherited her father's IQ.I looked at Charles, who was sleeping soundly in the nurse's arms, and thought sadly, maybe this child will only inherit my IQ.

We got to the hospital, walked through department store windows with dummies, and into the crowded waiting room.The nanny held Charles and I led Melinda in one hand and Eleanor in the other as we headed up the stairs.

Francis' ward is in the intensive care ward at the top. Because he is a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic who was assassinated, he has sealed off the entire corridor. Aurors guard all the entrances and exits, and no one else can enter.As soon as we entered, Melinda let out a whoosh, looking in surprise at the mountain of presents piled up in the hallway.Flowers overflowing trash cans, cards of all kinds—singing, color-changing, flying, bouncing—pile up a mountain at the trainee therapist’s door, supplements of all kinds—Dragon Claw Powder, unicorn powder - piled in another corner, and a large pile of protective cloaks, protective gloves, etc., all intact in the bag, unopened.

Jane, a trainee therapist with short blonde hair, said helplessly, "Mr. Stuart has too many visitors. We can't let them in. We have to move all their gifts in."

"I could take all these chocolate frogs and all flavored beans home," Melinda said practically. "Daddy's just going to throw them all in the trash."

"You can't eat that many chocolate frogs by yourself," I said. "You'll get a bad stomach."

Francis was sitting up. He still looked pale, with a bluish stubble on his chin, but he looked fine.Seeing the children, he opened his arms and smiled, then remembered something.

"Don't jump on me," he warned Melinda, "unless you want to see me burst and bleed again."

Melinda looked terrified, and I gave him a reproachful look: "Don't say that to your kids!"

He took Melinda and Eleanor's hands, listening to their chirping questions, looking patient and amused.During the entire visit, Charles slept better than a patient who has been given a sedative in the hospital.Tired, Melinda took Eleanor downstairs to drink tea, the nanny sat on the sofa with Charles in her arms, and I sat down on his bedside.

"Has Jonathan been here today?" I asked.

He nodded: "I've been here."

"The people in your ministry..."

"Don't worry, as long as I'm not dead, they won't dare to move a single step."

"Are they—" I bit my lips, not daring to say what I was thinking.

"I haven't found out yet," he said. "The assassin is very cunning. Obviously, he didn't send out the horse himself, but released the poisonous snake he tamed himself."

"Are those in the Ministry of Magic still locked down?"

He smiled: "You don't read the newspaper? It was released yesterday, otherwise the family members of those officials would protest."

"I was afraid of scaring the children, so I threw away all the newspapers at home." I said, "Did you find anything?"

His face sank slightly, as if he didn't want to talk about this topic.

"Then don't tell me about it." I said, feeling overwhelming sadness in my heart, and I was very afraid of hearing the truth for a while.

"You don't want to keep in touch with an old friend of yours any more," he said flatly.

All my fears became reality.Tom actually did something to Francis, why did he do it?It can never be just because I married him.I remembered what he said that night, "Francis has calculated again." How much entanglement between the two of them is there that I don't know?

Francis spent more than two months in the hospital.After he went into rehab, I went back to Scotland with the kids.

There were two wet nurses in our family, one older, a woman from the village near Stuart Manor, named Susan, who took care of Charles.Another London woman, Denise, took care of Melinda and Eleanor.The management of the servants in the family belongs to the housekeeper, and I never interfere, but I have always disliked Denise from my instinct.I can't say why.

I lived in Stuart Manor for a while, and gradually got used to taking care of the children every day.In the morning, I usually have breakfast in my room. Before lunch, Melinda and Eleanor's rune tutors will report to me about their studies.I had lunch with the kids, and after dinner the girls went to their rooms for a nap and I took a nap with Charles in the nursery.In the afternoon, Melinda and Eleanor had drawing and music lessons, while I read and wrote letters in the study, and saw the children again at tea time.

"Everyone likes Melinda, who likes Eleanor." I happened to be back in the nursery one afternoon to pick up my woven handbag when I heard Denise gossiping with another maid, "Melinda is beautiful and beautiful." Smart and polite, Eleanor's face is pale, and every time she looks at me, she looks like I owe her ten Galleons."

"Yeah, she always puts on the airs of a young lady and orders me to run errands for her." Another maid snorted and said, "Isn't she the illegitimate daughter of a mistress? She really thinks that she and Melinda and Charles same identity."

I went in and knocked on the door frame.

Denise and another maid I didn't know jumped up in fright.Seeing me watching them silent, they were not sure if I heard what they said just now, so they didn't say a word for a while.

I went to the sofa and picked up my handbag, and turned to look at them in front of the fireplace: "After breakfast tomorrow morning, you can leave. Mr. Claude will count this month's wages to you."

No matter what they say, I haven't changed my mind.I have always been surprisingly good-natured with the servants, and have never lost my temper.I don't take offense at the mistakes of maids and valets at work, but I will never bear, and will not forgive, gossip in private about such trivial, slanderous gossip about children.

Neither Melinda nor Eleanor knew why I fired their nanny gracefully.I explained to them that Denise had found another job.The new wet nurse was recommended to me by Becca.She was a simple Scottish girl named Carrie, just out of school, and she looked lovely.

After Francis recovered and returned home, he also noticed Denise's departure. I didn't explain the reason to him, but he said to me sarcastically: "You, Mrs. Stuart, are getting more and more arrogant after two months of absence." gone."

I was so angry that I ignored him.

He had just recovered from a serious illness, and he had accumulated a lot of business affairs in the Ministry of Magic. He was also a person who did everything by himself, so he insisted on going to the Ministry despite the objections of the therapist, and went out early every morning and came back after dinner.I continued to live a comfortable and low-key family life at home with the children.

One night, after putting Charles to sleep, I went to see Melinda and Eleanor.Melinda told Eleanor a story about the ghost of Hogwarts that she heard from nowhere, which scared Eleanor too much to turn off the lights and go to sleep. "I'm going to Beauxbatons," sniffed the girl who grew up in Paris. "I'm not going to Hogwarts. There are no scary ghosts in Beauxbatons!"

"Hey!" Melinda said angrily, "Those ghosts are nothing to be afraid of! They were once human just like us, they just died!"

Melinda is one year younger than Eleanor, but she is much more courageous than her, and because she was spoiled too much in the manor since she was a child, she has a bit of a big lady temper.As soon as her temper came up, she refused to agree to sleep with the light on.

"Okay, then Eleanor goes to sleep in my room, and I'll turn on the light for you." I said, hugging Eleanor, thinking that if every child can eat and sleep like my son Charles How nice.

I carried Eleanor back to my room and comforted her.

"Melinda said Papa would never let me go to Beauxbatons," said Eleanor sadly.

I put her on the bed, lit a candle beside the bed with a magic wand, and put an oval frosted lampshade on the candlestick, and the dim warm yellow light fell into the room.

"No," I said, sitting next to her and patting her lightly, "Both Beauxbatons and Hogwarts are the greatest schools of wizardry in Europe. It doesn't matter which school you go to, or No matter which academy, I believe you will become an outstanding witch. Everyone's life is their own choice, and my father and I will definitely respect your decision."

Under my comfort, she gradually fell asleep.I kissed her on the head, stood up, took off my dressing gown and hung it on the bedpost, and suddenly found Francis standing in the doorway of my room looking at me.

I was slightly startled, so I walked over lightly, stepping barefoot on the thick velvet carpet without making any sound.

"Just back?" I whispered, pushing him out and closing the door of my room so as not to wake Eleanor.

He was still wearing a daytime black robe, and he smelled like cigarettes.He nodded, looked at me with gloomy eyes, and said calmly, "When are you leaving?"

I was stunned.These days, I have gotten used to the life in Stuart Manor, getting along with the children day and night, almost forgetting that I usually don't live under the same roof as him.I also wrote him a letter asking for a divorce before he got hurt.

Seeing me frozen in place, he smiled mockingly, took out a document from his bag and handed it to me: "The divorce agreement has been drafted a long time ago. It's just that I've been too busy these days, so I haven't had time to give it to you. You go back Let's see, we can sign if there is no problem."

The thick document looked so cold in his hand, but I didn't take it for a long time.

"Why?" he said, "regret it?"

"I want my son," I said.

He smiled, his eyes were cold: "Oh? So you still know that you are a mother? Do you still have a little sense of responsibility in your heart?"

He dropped the agreement at my feet, turned and walked down the hall to his own room.I picked up the agreement and ran after him.He had already entered the door, and I followed him in before he closed the door, jumped in front of him, tore the divorce agreement to pieces, and smashed it on his chest.

"I want my son." I said slowly, "I will not easily divorce you on your terms."

He put the briefcase on the table, took off his coat and threw it on the sofa, while unbuttoning his robe: "I still have one in my bag. If you tear it up again, I still have it in my office."

I was shaking with anger.He chuckled lightly, stepped on the divorce agreement that I had torn up, walked over, took off his robe, took off his cufflinks and threw them into a metal box on the table.

"I really don't understand you, Elizabeth," he said, turning to look at me, his dark blue silk tie glimmering in the candlelight. "I really don't understand you. Ever since Charles was born, You just fool around with Riddle in York, and you can ignore your son for months. You tell me you want a divorce, no problem; A child is entangled, what do you want?!"

He yelled at me for the last sentence. As soon as the words fell, he grabbed my wrist, forcibly hugged me, turned around and pressed me on the sofa.His expression was that of a desperate lion, and my pupils were reflected in his eyes.I confronted him for a while without saying a word, then suddenly raised my head and kissed his lips.

He trembled all over, and then pushed me away hard.

I reached out to hug his neck again, and he opened my hand again. I sat up on the sofa with him, hugged his waist, and said, "Actually, you like me, don't you, Francis?"

He remained silent, and my fingers slid down the buttons of his shirt one by one.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I said in a whisper, "If you told me that you actually liked me when you got married, I wouldn't have hated you so much all these years. Maybe I would I like you."

All of a sudden, he picked me up and threw me on the bed, pressed me down hard, and began to bite on my lips, so hard that I almost screamed out.We hadn't been this close since the night I got pregnant with Charles.He seemed to have vented all the emotions he had accumulated for more than two years. The candlelight reflected the fine sweat on his face and the terrible wound on his chest, and his usually cold gray-blue eyes Burning within me was a desire I had never seen before.

Breathing quickly, I whispered in his ear, "I want my son."

His voice was confused and indistinct: "Lizzie, you will never leave me."

"Why are you so sure?" I smiled, "Just because I slept with you doesn't mean I love you. You taught me this yourself, remember?"

He seemed to be irritated by me, and said to me fiercely: "Aren't you afraid that you will be pregnant with my child again tonight?"

"I'm not afraid." I gasped under his kiss, my nose dripping with sweat, "because I'm already a month pregnant. It's Tom's."

This is the fatal blow.I saw his expression become stiff and numb, and there was a complex look in his eyes that I couldn't understand.

I stared into his eyes and said calmly: "I love him, and I only love him in my life. I know he is dead now, but I still love him. I know I am sorry for you, so we will Divorce amicably. I want nothing but Charles. I'll go back to my flat in Edinburgh, give birth to Tom and the baby, and bring up the kids well."

With that said, I climbed out of bed and picked up my pajamas at the foot of the bed.

"If you don't agree to give me my son, then I will spend this time with you, and by the way I can give birth to Tom's child and give him your last name." I said, "I hope you do the right thing." decision."

After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked out the door without looking back.I finally won him over.

His voice came from behind me, quietly and deeply.

"Get out of Stuart Manor. I never want to see you again."

My steps stopped, and a burst of cold penetrated my heart instantly like a bayonet.I turned around slowly, took the wedding ring off my finger, threw it on the carpet, and walked away without looking back.