So I'm waiting for this test to end
Who: Lisa and Richard Turpin
Where: Richard's home
When: November 22 (late night), 23
Status: Complete
Rating: PG
Summary: A heartbroken Lisa turns to her best friend for comfort and advice.
There was really no way around it, Lisa would end up at her father's home soon enough, it was just a matter of time before she finally gave in and actually went. This time, though, Lisa did not bother arguing with herself. She packed a few things into her tote bag, grabbed her lap top and Flooed over. Even at 26, Lisa still needed her daddy. Over the years, she had learned that he was the only person that she could truly depend on.
When she arrived, she promptly made herself comfortable on the sofa, looking at the room, trying to spot new pictures he may have hung up since she had last been in there. She did see one, right next to a photo album. It was in the frame that she had given him, only it had had a picture of her and Vladimir at the Quidditch Cup, Vladimir in his robes and Lisa decked out in red and black. Now, though, there was a different picture in it that caused her heart to break all over again. She found herself staring at the picture of her and Oliver in Italy. It was a classic tourist picture, they were standing in front of a beautiful background-- she couldn't remember the exact place at the moment. But she-- both of them, actually, looked happy. The photograph versions of them were dancing together, he held their arms out on one side and held onto her waist with his other arm. Her free arm was wrapped around him, and he was swaying her and dipping her comically. Photograph Lisa obviously loved it. She was laughing and smiling and her eyes were lit up with happiness-- much unlike the real Lisa Turpin. With a shaky hand, she reached for the frame. She was afraid to touch it, afraid it would cause the couple in the photograph to be brought to reality, and they would smile no longer.
Her hand finally closed around the side of the frame and she brought it to her, waiting for the picture to change. Photograph Oliver and Lisa remained happy together, though, she could see that even if her eyes were stinging and her vision was blurred with the tears that threatened to fall at any second. Lisa hugged the frame to her tightly, as if it were Oliver Wood himself. Lisa stood against the wall, allowing tears to fall freely. She slid down the wall and curled herself into a ball, the frame creating a barrier between her chest and her legs. It was a good thing that she had charmed it all of those years ago to be unbreakable, otherwise she surely would have broken it.
Richard woke up to the uncontrolled sobs of his daughter. He got his old body out of bed, got dressed and came down the stairs. Over the years, he had gotten used to her unscheduled visits. When she had been with Vladimir she made one at least once every two weeks. There was a special routine that they performed as well. Both of them had just fallen into it naturally.
He walked over to her and held his hand out. "Come on, my dear. These old bones won't be able to get back up if I sit down on the floor." He said it kindly, and Lisa stood up on her own, clutching the frame as she did. He had not seen or even noticed the picture missing when he came down the stairs, and he frowned, already forming ideas in his head about what must have happened.
"Would you like your ice cream now?" he asked, but he didn't have to, he knew the answer would be--
"No," she said between tears.
No ice cream? This was bad. Worse than he imagined. "Lisa..." he began, but he did not know what to say. But it was fine, because Lisa was making her way back to the sofa. She folded herself up just as she had done on the floor. Richard joined her and affectionately smoothed her hair away from her face with one hand. The other searched through the inner pocket of his suit jacket, fishing for his wand. He pulled it out.
"Accio clean handkerchief." When one came to him, he set his wand aside. He gently took her chin and pulled her head to face him. The other hand softly blotted the tears from her cheeks, though he knew that fresh ones would replace the tears he wiped away. The minute that she had been brought into this world, he concluded that his daughter shouldn't cry. Something that beautiful should never have to be so sad.
"Lisa, what happened?" he asked. Lisa fell silent, thinking of her reply.
"He-- He... He left me..." she said, looking over at her father. "He told me that... that he couldn't be my boyfriend. He told me he wasn't good enough for me, that I needed and deserved better, a- and t- that he c- couldn't be t- the man I d- deserved for him to b- be." She took in a sharp breath and shook her head. "I told him... but he wouldn't listen. He would n- not b- believe me."
"Told him what?" he asked.
"I told him that he is the best... the best thing that - that has h- happened to me in a long time. He just... there was nothing I could do. He... his mind was made up." She closed her eyes painfully and swallowed, her throat dry.
"Lisa, I think--"
"It's all my fault, father!" she cried out. "I rushed things. I think I barely got by when I told him that I loved him, but then I mentioned living together, and it was too much. I should not have done that, and now look at what I've done. I just thought that he would like the idea, we practically lived together, anyway." She took in a shaky breath. "I was too confident, wasn't I?"
"M-Merlin, why d-did it have to happen? I was so… I was so…" But her sentence would never be finished. She buried her face in her hands.
"Everything happens for a reason, dear… It doesn’t make it hurt any less, I know…" he said sympathetically. "Do you want me to try to talk--"
She popped her head up quickly, her eyes wide with fear. "No! I want him to love me, not pity me. He will think I am childish, that I have to turn to my father when--"
"But it’s true. And it’s not childish. It’s nothing you should be ashamed of." Richard spoke to her reassuringly, but he was a little hurt. Lisa noticed it immediately, because she frowned and shook her head.
"I’m sorry, father, I didn’t quite mean it that way…"
"It’s all right, dear. I know what you meant." He smiled kindly. "Now, you told me that he had a hard time with his last girlfriend, that they were very serious. It was years ago, I know, but he seems like the type to bottle everything up instead of address the issue before it eats away at him. He needs time. He needs to accept that the past is the past, and that there’s no going back to change it. I believe he is coming to realize it. He’s getting there. By talking to you about it, it shows that he’s healing."
"I’ve giv--"
"I know you have, Lisa." He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "Lisa, dear, he has come from some dark times. Losing a serious girlfriend, getting into that accident and suddenly finding himself out of a career. I don’t even know what else has happened to him. I’m sure you know a few more things than I do. And I don’t know him that well, but I know that even Godric Gryffindor would not have been brave enough to live through all of that and come out unscathed." He smoothed her hair out of her face once more. Her tears had subsided for now, but he knew it was only temporary. "He’s reaching the light at the end of the tunnel." he finished.
"I don’t know what to do," she said helplessly. "I did everything I could to make him happy. I thought it was working, too. Sometimes I felt like he loved me, really, really loved me back, and other times I felt like he was just keeping me around until he found someone better… In Italy, when I told him that I loved him, he said that he felt the same way, though he just couldn’t say it. I understood him because of his past, I knew it was hard for him. But then it just slowly started to seem as if he didn’t want things to be like that, he didn’t want a serious relationship. He just wanted to have fun, and I got attached."
"I don’t think he thought of you as just another girlfriend. Judging from the way he looked at you when we were having lunch together, he seemed to care for you quite a bit." Richard offered that to her, but it just made her look even more miserable.
"That was before I told him, though!" she cried out.
"If he cared for you as much as I thought he did, he would not have changed his mind so quickly."
"W- Well, he d- did…" she said. Richard pulled her to him and patted her back comfortingly, as if she were a child again.
"Now, Lisa. You have never been an awfully patient person-- don’t look at me like that, you know you’re impatient-- but you obviously know he is something special if you’ve waited this long so far."
Lisa looked at him for a moment, feeling stupid. "So?"
"So, I want you to wait a little longer. I know it’ll hurt and might even seem pointless, but I believe that he cares for you. And, Lisa, you know I would not tell you to do this if I didn’t have complete faith in it."
"I… I will, but I don’t think--"
"Shh, shh," he said softly, shaking his head. "Just wait, my edelweiss. Just wait." He kissed the top of her head. "Now, I want you to go home and pack some clothes and bring Wisteria. You’re going to be staying here for a few days."
And so Lisa got up, she Flooed home to pack up a bit more of her things. She was grateful that her father told her to stay. Her flat was full of memories of him, of all the time she primped and dressed and redressed just so he would think she was beautiful. Her bed would never be the same, either. It was where they first made love, and where he told her about Ema and his almost-children.
When she returned, Lisa put her things upstairs in her old bedroom and set Wisteria up near the bedroom window.
She retreated back downstairs to her sofa. For now, her father would leave her alone and let her think, cry, fume, whatever she had to do. And then later on he would come in to find her sleeping on the sofa. He would wake her up and tell her to go to bed.
Lisa dragged her feet up the stairs, holding her lap top in her arms. She’d set it down on her old desk and crawl into bed, looking over at the picture of her and Oliver in Italy that she had brought from her flat. Richard sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed the top of her head.
"Goodnight, edelweiss."
He began to stand, but Lisa reached out and touched his arm, stopping him. "Sing to me, father." she asked quietly. She sounded tired, and reminded Richard of her childhood, when he would put her to bed and she’d resist falling asleep, stalling by asking him to do light tricks with his wand, read her a story or, more often than the other two, sing to her. And it was always this song.
Richard nodded and sat back down. "Certainly." He cleared his throat and a moment later, began to sing.
"Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever"
They were both silent for a long while after he finished. Although they were not Austrian, the song stuck with them. In fact, that’s where she had gotten her pet name. The song had always reminded him of his daughter.
"Thank you…" she said quietly, and her eyes shut. She gave in to the urge to sleep, and within minutes, her breathing steadied and she hardly noticed when he stood up carefully and left the room, careful not to walk on the creaks on the wood floor.
She had a nightmare. Of course she had a nightmare. This time, Oliver was there, singing that one song to her, the one he always began to sing but never actually finished. And then Vladimir came in. Oliver turned against her and before she knew it, both of them were yelling at her, telling her that she will never be loved, could never be loved, that no man would want her. The next person to enter was Ema. She didn’t know what she looked like, so her face was replaced with the face of an actress, one she’d seen in a magazine but never cared to see who she was. She knew it was Ema, though, no matter what the girl looked like.
Ema and Oliver kissed and he spoke in Gaelic to her, calling her, Ema, mo nighean donn, and telling her he loved her. Ema smiled wickedly at Lisa, and she woke up crying just as Ema started to speak to her.
The sun was out and Lisa looked at her clock. 9:30 AM. Well, so much for work. Though she had a feeling that her father would not have let her go, anyway. Not that she had wanted to.
Lisa would get out of bed, shower, get dressed and go downstairs to find some food. She would spend the rest of the day reading, sulking, eating ice cream and crying. Before she did any of this, though, she grabbed her lap top and looked up the song that Oliver sang to her, glad that she’d remembered the short lines he had sang.
Have I ever told you
How good it feels to hold you
It isn't easy to explain
And though I'm really tryin'
I think I may start cryin'
My heart can't wait an other day
When you kiss me I just gotta
Kiss me I just gotta
Kiss me I just gotta say :
Baby, I love you
Come on baby
Baby, I love you
Baby I love, I love only you
No wonder he had never been able to sing it to her all the way through. Lisa immediately wished she hadn’t read it, because now she was absolutely sure.
"Why can’t he love me?" she pleaded, already crying. Wisteria made a noise, a sympathetic one, Lisa thought it sounded like, and flapped her wings.
And thus began day one of Life After Oliver Wood.