"Hey Charlie, can I speak to you for a minute?" Her choice hair colour of the moment was black, her eyes shone darkly, they look sad. We were in a war after all, but I missed it when they twinkled mysteriously, lustfully, anything but the fear they emitted now. I nodded, and sat down. We hadn't talked in a while, due to my being in Romania and her being married to Lupin. I liked him, I really did but I couldn't stand to be near him. I had always thought of her as mine, and I knew she loved him, but she loved me too. She sat down opposite me and I was struck with a memory of back when we were in school together.
Her hair at this point was bubblegum pink, her eyes were a grey blue and her button nose was crinkled up in delight. We were playing a match, seeker against seeker. I wasn't worried, Hufflepuff usually lost to us but I wanted them to win this time. She was so beautiful and I was almost willing to give up the whole match to see her smile. If she found out that I had forfeited just for her, she'd probably punch me. Merlin she was great. I was so busy staring at her that I missed the snitch zoom around me and it practically placed itself in front of her. She followed, her eyes crossing over in concentration and I flew quickly after her, my arm stretched out in a vain attempt to catch the goddamn ball. Tonks was just about to grab it when she turned slowly, winking at me and pulled her arm back subtly. I seized the snitch and raised my eyebrow at her but she was gone. Flying in circles, grinning, not caring that they lost, her hair flashed the colours of the rainbow and I touched down on the ground, not taking my eyes off her for a second.
She snapped her fingers in front of my face and I grinned. "Sorry, was away with the fairies. What did you want to talk to me about?" I stared into her eyes and she glanced away, hers slightly filling up with tears. "Is everything ok?" I grabbed her hand and sat closer to her, my heart thundering in my chest. My rough, burnt and freckled hands swamped her tiny, smooth ones and had it been any other time I might have joked about the contrast. Shaking her head, tears streamed down her pale face and I pulled her into a hug. "Dory just say whatever is bothering you."
"You're the only person I know that calls me Dory, everyone else says Dora." She rolled her lips tightly, biting down on her bottom lip.
"I like to be different."
"Merlin don't I know that. Ok, I just have to say it. I'm pregnant Charlie." I froze and pulled my hand away slowly. As quickly as my heart had been beating, it now felt like it had completely stopped. It wasn't like I hadn't expected it, they were married, of course they had sex and obviously she could have gotten pregnant but it was during a war, what a reckless time not to use contraception.
"Couldn't you have waited until after the war?" Her eyes narrowed and the tips of her short hair turned slightly red.
"It's clearly not ideal but there mightn't be an 'after the war'. It could be my only chance!"
"That's exactly what my parents did. Got married in the heat of the moment and then got knocked up just as the war came to a close. Mum couldn't fight because of it, you're one of our best fighters, just like she was. We can't afford to lose you now!"
"You've already lost me Charlie. I'm going to have a baby. Accept it and be happy for us, I'm happy about it!"
I shook my head and let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah you're so happy about it. I will be happy for you, hell I am happy for you. I'm just worried. A baby is so restricting of what you can do. You'll be attacked Dory, we all will be, but now there's an extra threat and they will use that against us. You know how dangerous this is. Bella is out to get you, do you know how happy she'll be now that she will literally be killing two birds with the one goddamn spell? It's the stupidest thing you've ever done. How many months are you?"
"I'm six months gone. I get that it's risky but I'm delighted. I love Remus and I am glad I am carrying his child. And for once Charlie I'm not going to feel bad that I am happy. I'm not going to feel bad because maybe the kid will be brought into a safer world even if it was born during the worst of times. I'm going home now. It was nice to see you. Thanks for the support." She stood up, her hair was a fiery red at this point and her ears were practically steaming. I would have felt bad for pissing her off so much but I was already upset myself, and I felt bad enough that it wasn't my goddamn kid so I let her leave. It was the last time I saw her, we didn't talk afterwards and it was only when she was killed that I realised how much of a dick I was. I spent my time thinking of when we were back in Hogwarts, the first time I saw her always reappearing.
We were in the queue in the Great Hall, huddled together, shivering and in shock. The ceiling was incredible, the stars, the clouds, the colour all perfectly mimicked the sky outside and I stared up with my mouth open until something blue caught my eye. A small girl walked up beside me, dripping wet, her electric blue hair stuck to her face and her dark eyes reflected the candles floating above her. She was shaking but slightly smirking and I shrugged off my robe before placing it over her shoulders. "What happened?" I mouthed, not making eye contact but looking openly at her curly wet hair.
"I fell in the lake." She whispered, her lips almost matching her hair with the cold and I wrapped my robe around her tighter before turning back to McGonagall. I heard a quiet thank you and I smiled, my nerves disappearing. When she was sorted into Hufflepuff her hair turned yellow and black, much to the delight of everyone and she winked at me as she sauntered past to immense cheering and the slight disapproval of the Deputy Headmistress.
I shook my head, trying to clear away my memories and I lay down on my bed, curling up into the foetal position. My brother had died, the love of my life had died, I had lost less than a lot of people had during the war but I honestly couldn't care less. I had left England straight after all of the funerals, I had tried to help a bit but I couldn't stay any longer. I kept seeing them there and the only place I could escape was work. At least there, I wasn't haunted by as many memories. I drank slowly out of the bottle of firewhiskey I kept beside the desk and I fell asleep, clutching the alcohol, tears running down my face.
Author Note: So it's been a while since I've done a fanfic and I'm not sure if this will stay just this one part or progress into a full blown story. Please Read and Review if you like or don't like. I own nothing in this except the plot, the rest I owe to the darling Jo Rowling.
~Rebekah. xoxo
