"It'll be good to see her." Roxanne was a good egg, even if she was a little loud for Albus most of the time. They had never really spent any time one on one. There were always more interesting people around he assumed, like her brother or the fun cousins. But they'd talked wand lore a few times, and of course he did love her. But thinking about her just made him think about Lilu, and that was a fucking gut punch. His little sister was dead...
"I am not having a party here," he said in a faint little voice. Lilu. Rose. Fred. Uncle Charlie. Uncle George. Lucy... No. Nope. No breakdowns. He'd already had one, in front of his damn father, and he wasnt doing it again.
"Eight hours? That's so arbitrary. Shouldn't we just do what needs doing? Why mandate it like that? For some sense of normalcy in the middle of this H.G. Wells nightmare??"