---

30th July

"Listen! Listen to me, Arc! You're doing it wrong, you're not going to get a good grade on the essay! No, don't argue with me!"

"But it worked, okay? And you don't have to yell like that!"

"I'm yelling because you called me that! And then you go 'But that's because everyone I know uses it!' Well big deal, you're smart enough to go and look it up for yourself, don't you?"

"Whatever, that doesn't matter right no--"

"No, it matters the hell to me!" Alethea advanced on Arcturus, her wand pointing at him. "You're seventeen! Act like it and stop blaming other people for your mistakes!"

"Put that wand down, Allie," said Arcturus, looking worriedly between her wand and her. "Just listen to me--"

"No, I'm not going to listen to you, I've had it right up to here with you and your stupid namecalling!" Alethea poked him with a finger, hard. "Just because you can't admit your mistakes doesn't mean you can put the blame on me for screwing up everything! If it worked then just say so!"

"Ow! Okay, fine, it worked!" Arcturus was covering his head with one arm as if to shield himself from the onslaught of his sister's wrath. "Okay, I get it! Leave me alone!"

Alethea glared at him before turning and stalking off, wand still out. Arcturus lowered his arm cautiously before looking away sulkily. "It was just a word..."

At this Alethea whirled around. A flash of light shot through the air. Arcturus had barely any time to react; he felt the light sear inches away from the left side of his head as he ducked to avoid it. The effect felt like instant fire burning into his scalp; he yelped in pain.

"What was that for?!" he shouted, clutching the side of his head.

"'It was just a word', really? You're such a child!" Alethea stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Arcturus sank to the floor, clutching his head as he tried to ease the searing pain with his hands.

"I didn't mean it," he muttered feebly, his hands pressing against his head. "It just...slipped out..."

---

31st July

Arcturus walked into the bathroom that morning to be greeted by an entire shock of white hair on the left side of his head. He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few seconds before raising a hand and lifting up the hair. It was his all right, it was just pure white.

He backed out of the bathroom, unable to tear his eyes away from the image, before turning and sprinting to Alethea's room and banging on her door. "Allie? Allie, you there?"

"She's gone to work, Arc." He turned around to see his mother just in the middle of walking up the stairs. "And what happened to your hair?"

"I, uh, dyeing accident." Arcturus gave her an apologetic smile. "Something went wrong, I thought Allie might be able to fix it."

"I'll try it." Lydia gave him an odd look. "I never knew you were into dyeing your hair, but okay. As long as it doesn't damage your skin."

"Why would it?" He was keeping his tone light, hoping his mother couldn't tell he'd turned up the lying ability to max right now. "Are there stuff that can damage your head?"

"Plenty." His mother beckoned to him. "Come on downstairs and I'll try some remedies to change your hair."

Despite his mother's efforts and skill, however, the white remained. She had books even Arcturus didn't know she had, but none of them worked.

"We'll just...change it black again, I suppose." She sighed. "Or I could dye it the muggle way."

"Ew no, I don't want that." Arcturus got off the stool he had been sitting on for the past hour patiently waiting while his mother tried to fix his hair.

"If you want your hair fixed, that looks like it's the only way." She shrugged. "Your call, Arc."

Arcturus gave her a crooked smile. "I...some other day, mum." He fled upstairs before she could say anything further.

In his room, he sat down on his bed. Rustle, as all kittens were wont to do, was rolling around on the floor and batting playfully at anything he happened to bump up against. Arcturus watched the feline for a little while. Eventually he looked down at the floor and sighed.

He was regretting so much. A month before he returned to Hogwarts, and he had just managed to insult and anger his sister. Of all the people he looked up to, he had to injure his relationship with her.

Rustle looked up at him with his large blue eyes and opened his tiny furry mouth to go "Mew?" Arcturus slid off his bed onto the floor and went over to pick Rustle up and cradle him. The kneazle kitten curled up into a furball in his arms, closing his eyes in feline contentment. Arcturus gently cuddled him.

He had never felt so isolated in the world before.

But no matter how long he'd waited for her, she didn't come. He eventually went downstairs to find out why.

"She sent a letter saying she's staying overnight with a colleague to get some work done," his father told him. "She'll be back tomorrow morning for breakfast before going back to work."

"Oh." That was all he could say.

Mordecai raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong?"

"N-no, I just wanted to ask her something." Arcturus shrugged. "I guess it can wait til tomorrow, then."

He trudged back upstairs, hands in his pockets. Rustle met him at the top of the stairs, about to tumble down the carpeted steps in his curiosity to join the family downstairs. Arcturus scooped him up before anything unfortunate happened and carried him back into his room, shutting the door.

He didn't think he would sleep that night, being so worried and anxious over talking to his sister, but he eventually slipped into slumber.

---

1st August

He was woken up by a "Mew!" in his ear and Rustle gently tugging on said ear to get him up. For a moment he didn't understand why, but then he remembered and picked up Rustle before sitting upright.

Arcturus thudded down the stairs to the dining room, just in time to see Alethea get up from the dining table, buttered toast in mouth and bag slung over her shoulder, dressed for work and looking slightly vexed. No one else was up; Alethea had a tendency to work at much earlier hours than anyone else in the family at the moment.

"Allie!" He stopped right in front of her. "Can we talk?"

Her expression changed to one of surprise. She reached up and removed the toast from her mouth. "About what?"

"I, uh..." He looked down at the floor. "I just...wanted to talk to you about the...argument we had."

It took about a minute for Alethea to realise what he was going on about; he could see the realisation dawn in her face. "Oh. I-- look, I'm sorry, I'd like to talk about it too, but I gotta go. Work calls, I've got a case to work on." She smiled apologetically. "When I come back from work, okay? I promise."

Arcturus felt some modicum of relief that he didn't have to do it now, but he was still a little sad he couldn't get the whole matter rested once and for all.

He watched her vanish through the fireplace and sighed. More waiting to be done. Well, he'd just go back to bed then. He went back upstairs and flopped back onto his bed, and fell asleep soon enough.

The hours passed. Arcturus found himself wandering, listless, about the house. He watched as his mother made him lunch, engaged in short conversation about his syllabus shopping list for his final year in Hogwarts. Time flowed, slowly but steadily, nearing the hour that Alethea would return from work.

When the hour came, he waited in the living room. But all he was rewarded was his father stepping out of the fireplace, dishevelled and frayed.

"Lydia! LYDIA!" His father rarely ever raised his voice, but when he did the sound was enough to demand the family's attention and drop what they were doing. His mother hastily scurried out of the kitchen.

"Mord, what is it?" She reached out, grabbed his arms. Mordecai looked as if he was ready to fall into pieces. Arcturus felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. Something was wrong.

Mordecai was shaking, he looked unnaturally pale. Arcturus got off the chair he was perched on. "Dad? What's wrong?"

"I...the Ministry. It's been taken over."

Lydia stared at him. Arcturus felt that his parents had done this before. They'd been through this before. Their expressions were telling him that they had never wanted it to happen again.

"He's back?" she whispered, her face turning pale. "The Dark Lord?"

Mordecai nodded. "They-They took over. We couldn't say anything. We didn't have a choice."

"The Minister?"

"He's dead." His father swallowed. "They killed him. Pius Thicknesse is Minister now, and their puppet."

"And Alethea?" Lydia's grip visibly tightened on her husband's arms. "Where is she? Why isn't she with you?"

Mordecai lowered his head. "She was helping people escape. I only caught her in the corridor, but she didn't...she didn't stop."

"Mord, where is she?!" Panic was audible in her voice. "Where is Allie?!"

It came out as a whisper, as heart-wrenching as the news itself. Arcturus felt like everything around him had vanished. Looking forward to returning to Hogwarts, looking forward to be reconciled with his sister...everything.

"She's dead, Lydia. They killed her."

1.	Separation, by angela.