Written for astronauts' Legitimately Challenging Challenge. Before I used my loophole I struggled forever. My pair is obviously Rose and Rodolphus and my prompt is deteriorating. I used this very AU couple as best as I could, I hope it makes up for how much I annoyed everyone:p. Percy Weasley deserves some love; he apologized to Fred, after all. But he's clearly not my favorite :3
Everything is JKR's; challenge is astronauts'; I don't have a single dime to my name: all things that should tell you, I pretty much did nothing but form sentenced with the information I was given.
It was a sad day. The odd couple had just returned home from the funeral of the young witch's uncle, and Rose was crying to Rodolphus. "It's not fair," she sobbed. "He shouldn't have been there."
Rodolphus rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. He let her get all of her feelings out.
"Anyone else in the department could have gone. Why did he have to? Why did they choose him that day, of all the times they chose others to go there?"
The two were walking along Diagon Alley. The street was full of magical folk; no-one heard or noticed Rose but her husband. She stopped abruptly, dissolved completely into tears and Rodolphus pulled her into a hug.
"I know you love your uncle, Rosie. You were very close to him, more than any of your cousins." This was true; Rose had grown up visiting Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey all the time; during her time at Hogwarts she always spent her Easter holiday with them while Hugo stayed at the school. Rodolphus ran his hand up and down Rose's back.
Rose had cried through the funeral. When she would think she was getting a hold of herself, a sad, guilty voice hidden in her mind would tell her that she shouldn't stop crying for her uncle.
Abruptly, Rodolphus spoke. "'Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.' Richard Bach" he said, quoting someone that Rose had never heard of.
He continued: "You and I both know, further, that your uncle loves you. And you'll see him again, Rosie."
She smiled slightly for the first time in days. Percy Weasley had been sent out by his department head to check the same old deteriorating building that a dark aura was always picked up on. Not five minutes after he got into the abandoned stone structure, it crumbled.
She could tell that her family felt ever-so slightly uncomfortable in Rodolphus' presence; everyone but Rose's mum, who had quickly accepted him into the family years ago.
Everyone else might always fear the worst, though. Rose hadn't been born until the war was long over, but she knew the story. Her husband's brother and former wife were both Death Eaters, and two of the most loyal of Voldemort's followers. Rodolphus, on the other hand, was adamant against their cause. Refusing to be imprisoned or to lose the trust of their Lord, Bellatrix and Rabastan had kept Rodolphus under the Imperius Curse for years. It was only after the wife he never loved and the brother he never cared about were dead and imprisoned that he realized he had done horrible things; that he had been used as a pawn.
The Ministry saw quickly that Rodolphus was innocent, and gave him an opportunity that they had never given anyone before: to start his life over; a reform, almost. Using magic that was such a well-kept secret that Rodolphus didn't know what they did when they kept him in the Department of Mysteries for so long, they had returned the man to a very young boy. He was able to restart his life: a clean slate.
He met Rose at Hogwarts when she was a third year and he a fifth. Rose had taken him home to meet her family the next year and her father Ron had warmed up to the young man in time, though he would never forget what had happened during the war, whether Rodolphus had been guilty or not. Hermione Weasley, on the other hand, took the boy in as a second son.
At Rose's Uncle Percy's funeral, there was a feeling of family intermixed with the grief. Although there were people from all different lives there to mourn, they all shared their love for the man. There were all the Weasleys, who now declared that they were Blood Traitors and proud of it; there was Rodolphus and Rose, who were together purebloods, though the two LeStranges were also happily accepting. There were half, quarter, eighth-bloods, both family friends like Harry Potter and co-workers the same. A number of Muggle-borns were in attendance, as well as several Muggles, part of Aunt Audrey and Rose's mum's families. Their sorrow brought everyone together, and as one family, they celebrated Percy Weasley's life.
"Thank you," Rose said quietly, feeling choked still by her sobs but also holding back a wave of grateful tears: grateful that her husband was always there for her, knowing what to say. His new life had made up for his brother and former wife's mistakes.
"Anytime you need, love," he said, kissing the top of her head.
Author's Note: At last check, my stories have had a cumulative visitor count of 890 for the month of September. Guys . . . it's only the SIXTEENTH. I can't even describe how amazing that is. I'm not going to say that reviews don't matter, because reviews are great and all, but just knowing that eight-hundred and ninety individual people have clicked on my stories makes me elated. So I ask for no reviews, I just ask that you keep reading. Not just my stories . . . anyone's. Taking the time to read someone's work is the highest compliment. Share some love :*
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