"I'm not yours to protect," she said simply, snapping the corner of one of the pieces of toast and crumbling it up. Her fingertip played with the crumbs, picking them up and dusting them off, only to repeat the same mindless action. "What I do is what I do, nothing you say or do is going to make any difference."
That wasn't to say she wasn't a little bitter. Where had he been when Ang was missing? Had he even gone to visit her? Did he even notice she was away? Did he know she had been in Azkaban? Alicia couldn't be truly mad, she wouldn't really know if he had gone off either. They were in different worlds anymore. Al had the girls and he had Natalie. They weren't a solid group like they were in school, maybe that was a part of growing up. But Charlie, Robbie and Katie had noticed she was gone, they all had known where she had been. They had to seek out the information somehow. Did George?
"You could, if you had to. You all could." She didn't say it to be heartless but because it was true. It might suck but they'd all survive, just like they survived Fred. It was the cruelest joke the world had, it just kept moving. "If you're wanting me to forgive you for something there is nothing to forgive. Or I forgive you if you're convinced there is. You have a family now, they're who you should be focused on, not me."
Al knew she was detached. She had been since they put her in that cell. It was her strongest coping mechanism and the one that pushed the most people away. She got like this when her mum died. When Fred died. The first time she was attacked. She'd snap out of it eventually, but for now it was enough to play with the crumbs on the table.