Deatheaters will still at large, every ministry auror or order member was looking for them and Harry was still on the search for Voldemort and the Horcruxes.' Fred still hadn't come back, it had been a week, yet Angelina was not worried – he always came back.
Angelina continued to work in Fred and George's joke shop. Business was minimal and Alicia was busy upstairs in her and George's quarters with her son so she had no-one to talk to. Angelina looked around, a thin layer of dust had settled on the shelves and around the packed boxes, normally there would be so many people the dust would never have time to settle.
The dust reminded her that things were not normal. Wallowing to the back room she stopped and sighed at the bell tingle, he was back. Holding her almost signature yellow dust cloth she walked back through to the register.
Her dark skin still shined from the light from the bulb on the ceiling – her dark hair was still long but no longer in a plait, taut down her back, her brown eyes still flickered but dimly. He noticed she still had the same passion, same conviction in her eyes; however she was losing the force to keep it alive.
The cloth fluttered from Angelina's hand and fell in a pool of yellow at her feet. Three black hooded persons stood in front of her doorway, Angelina heard the lock click. She was trapped; one by one the Deatheaters removed their masks and hoods, he was back alright.
But it wasn't Fred.
Adrian Pucey, Terence Higgs and Marcus Flint were standing, bruised and battered in front of her.
"You took a risk coming here." Angelina watched him shave, the last bit of cream was scraped off his face, his hand was deft, it was as though he had done this many times before, however she knew that he had never done it without a wand.
Cool, brown eyes regarded her, she met his gaze unwaveringly, Adrian was pleased to see the faint glimmer in her eyes although he didn't show it. He heard her leave and watched her through the mirror. Splashing water over his face, he watched the thick yellow paste work its wonders, it dissolved and the bruises were fading with it.
Grabbing a towel and drying his face he walked through to the kitchen, he accepted the mug of coffee from Marcus who walked through to the bathroom to shave off his irritating stubble. Adrian sipped the scalding liquid and grimaced, it wasn't what he was normally used to, he hated to admit it. Beggars could not be choosers.
He had taken a risk coming back to her. She was cutting Terence's hair, blonde strands fell to the floor from the blue light that engulfed his head.
However it had been a risk he had been more than willing to take. It had been two years since he had last seen her, and he had noticed red hair during a small skirmish he had been apart of and had taken the chance.
Swapping places with Terence he sat down on the chair in front of her, he felt her hands tremble as she placed a small towel on his broad shoulders, smoothing it down. She still reacted to him and he held in a smirk knowing that Weasley would never unearth anything close to what he had from her, besides, during that one skirmish Weasley killed Bole, and although Weasley had killed his brothers wife's lover, which should have been punishment enough (except for the fact he had no idea that Bole and Penelope had had an affair.)Adrian still thought Weasley deserved to have his wife think of himself every time they made love.
The two of them looked up, Marcus was looking at the fridge, a mug had dropped from his hand, a freshly cut and shaved Terence looked around the edge of the doorway to glance at his friend. "She's getting married?"
The occupants of the room could hear his quiet rage, "Angie?" The girl in question gasped, Adrian watched Terence whip his head from the rigid body that was Marcus to the stock still body in the doorway, Alicia Spinnet Weasley was standing like a deer caught in headlights.
A loud wail broke through the silence.
Everyone snapped to life, Adrian and Angelina watched as Marcus strode towards the door and snap up his cloak, he unlocked the door and banged it shut. None of them had any doubts to where he was going. He was going to see his son.
Before the burgundy wedding invitation had touched the ground, Alicia had disappeared upstairs, with Terence hot on her heels.
The wailing had rung throughout their ears.
"Aden? Aden turn off the T.V."
Katie Bell lived in a modest size home, a modest sized neighbourhood, a muggle man, Michael Reynard, had moved in with her a year ago, he had asked her to marry him a week ago.
She had said yes and they were to be married in two months – he had told her he couldn't wait. She had snorted to herself – he couldn't wait to have sex with her considering she had told him no sex before marriage, he had argued that she had a son, however she had fought back saying that he hadn't been conceived until after the 'I do's.'
Of course it didn't mean that there weren't any other complications.
One being, he didn't know she was a witch, two, he didn't know about the war and three he wanted to formally adopt Aden.
Aden… Katie mused as she stood at her kitchen window watching her laundry sway in the wind. It would of course be so much easier if she could have used magic, but her wand was locked away in her old school trunk under their bed. Magic… Katie sighed, Aden would soon be showing much more potent signs of magic.
Katie had already once or twice caught him levitating and hiding the remote control when Michael changed the channel from cartoons to the news.
And then there was the frown of his face whenever the word 'adopt' came up. According to him he didn't need to be adopted. "No adoption!" As he said it. He had a father and it was always the same.
Every afternoon from four till five he would sit at the bay window with his toy broomstick waiting for his dad to come home. Most kids waited for their dad's to come home from work. Aden was four years old and the last time he had seen his dad was two years ago, Aden had been delirious with glee and that's when he had gotten the broomstick.
Although Michael had given her strange looks when he saw it, she didn't care. It was the best present Aden could have ever received.
Even though Flint said he would come back, he had yet to, Katie smiled hopelessly, Aden had been, Katie didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse, but he had been given her stubborn streak.
Hearing a loud pop, she growled and shouted "Aden! Turn of the television!" Stirring her drink and picking up her dunking biscuits she started to walk through to the lounge, Michael was on a business trip and would be back tomorrow night; she was almost around the corner when she froze.
"Daddy!" She heard feet pattering, a squeal and a low laugh. Placing her drink and biscuits back on the kitchen bench she went through to the lounge, she watcher the larger, broader, more handsome, black haired man fly the smaller, skinnier, much more cuter, black haired boy around the room like an aeroplane.
Aden was laughing and hugging his dad saying words that cut at Katie. "I told him! I told Michael I didn't need adoption! I have a dad, I knew you'd be back, I knew it!"
Katie watched the man smile tenderly and hug Aden, intense ebony eyes noticed Katie, blue met black and Katie locked eyes with Marcus Flint.
Angelina was alone with Adrian, the pounding on the stairs stopped, slowly Alicia's two year old stopped wailing, and Adrian and Angelina heard the lock click.
Angelina swallowed deeply and pointed her wand to Adrian's head, she could see her hand shaking and she hesitated. She took a deep breathe before muttering. A soft blue light surrounded his head, and strands of black hair fell to the floor leaving his hair in much shorter spiky hair and Angelina knew a few strands fell into his eyes and was neatly organised in a mess atop his head.
She blushed remembering how the strands tickled her neck and face, how she had run her hands through it, how she had acted so wantonly – even though she had been engaged to Fred.
That had been two years ago.
Angelina still remembered waking up to an empty bed, turning and on Fred's pillow next to her sat a ring with Fred's smiling face shining down at her. It had been one last tryst, and she had done her best to forget about it, he was never to see her again, that was the way it was meant to be, he wasn't meant to come back, and it was killing her.
He was still sitting in the chair, his tall regal pose, perhaps that was what drew her to him, his aristocracy, his power, the way he held himself, he was so different, he wasn't safe, he wasn't security, he was different, he was excitement.
He was her worst fear.
Terence looked down at the bed in shock. The child had long since been removed from his eyesight. He could only see rumpled blankets and a small dent in the mattress to confirm what he had seen had been correct. His mouth was dry and he tried to swallow but his throat was stuck and it was as though he could not breathe.
"It's lucky we both have the same colouring." He whispered and turned around slowly and watched Alicia walk around holding her son.
Their son.
A result of what happened two years ago. Angelina had been lucky, Alicia had not been, Marcus of course had not come with them at the time, he already had a son and had gone to see him.
Alicia was holding his young son, he was a year old, and for two years he had no knowledge of his offspring. He had no idea that one kiss and one grin could lead to him having a family. He was her weakness, he noticed it and that was how this happened. She was his.
He of course hadn't expected her to have a child. It had never even crossed his mind. For years he agonised over her being married, her being without him, her being with a Weasley, her in bed with him, having Weasleys child.
But she had had his child. Derek Spinnet Weasley he noticed was spun in loopy letters upon his blue blanket. Weasley. A Higgs was reduced to a Weasley, he grit his teeth as his frustration grew. "Why didn't you tell me?" He noticed her back stiffen, "why?"
"I thought I told you to leave." Her voice was quiet and he caught the underlying panic.
"Give me one reason why I should!" He snarled, "he's my so-"
"No he's not!" She turned around, her eyes were hard, "he is mine and George's son."
Terence glared at her.
"-And, I levitated it right to the fridge, and, and…"
Katie watched Marcus smile at Aden and laugh, she looked at the old grandfather clock next to the door. It was getting late, "Aden? Aden?" She interrupted his third levitation story and almost jerked at the almost identical looks of both of the men that turned to look at her. "C'mon, you have to go, you're going to Jeremy's tonight remember?"
His face instantly screwed up as he remembered pleading for his mum to let him go and promising that he would try and control his magic. That of course was all before his Dad had come home. "Mum! Dad's here and he hasn't been home in ages."
Home.
It choked Marcus up.
Adrian had her backed up against the wall, he had moved so fast that she was just coming out of her blurry jolt and noticed what position she was in. She remembered removing the cloth from his shoulders and he had grabbed her hands. They had been still for a moment and she gulped trying to ignore the tingle she got, he stood up and had pushed her till she had been standing against a wall.
His hands were braced next to her head, he was slightly leaning into her and she wished that he would lean in closer and his body, for one delicious moment, would touch hers.
She didn't know why he pushed her against the wall but her thoughts on that matter were cut off by Adrian leaning closer, her whole body switched on hyper drive as chest met chest, thigh met thigh and fingers curled against the joint hands, he was so close she could feel his hair against her cheek, she inhaled sharply as his lips met her neck.
" I haven't seen him in ages!"
"Two years to be exact, and whose fault is it?"
Marcus glared at Katie, here was the woman he would do anything for, the women he had had to leave to save her, the women who had his heart and his son. He had had to leave them, to protect them.
And here she was telling him that everything was his fault. He snorted in his mind, yes because it only takes one to make a baby.
Now his son, one he hadn't seen for two years because he was too busy trying to preserve his own life so he, one day, could see him, was at a friends house for the night, he had talked to him for what, half an hour and now, his girl was arguing that he didn't deserve to see him. Next she would tell to leave!
"Leave!" She had lowered her voice, but it was still trembly, she hated arguing. "Just leave."
He should have taken Divination.
The next Trelawney, he thought bitterly. Ignoring her, he brushed past her and lay down on the large couch. "No." He said rather petulantly, "I'm here to see my son and I will wait till he gets back."
He saw her proud, angry face falter. He knew he was being ridiculous, and he knew that if he stayed he would be putting her in danger, right now he didn't care. If worse came to worse he would abduct her and take her back to his house, she would be safe, legally she was his wife, and if anyone hurt her he could lawfully kill them.
Of course if she wasn't so stubborn they could have been together for all this time, but she had pulled out of the magical world all together, and had told him that they had nothing if he wouldn't join her.
"You can't, you have to leave. Right now!" She looked frantic, her hands were wringing around and loose strands had been pulled from her hairclip and she ran a hand through it. She glanced at the windows, she half expected Michael to pull a surprise on her, as he always did when Aden was out of the house. She didn't want to explain the strange man lying on her couch that looked like an older version of her son.
"What, afraid you're fiancée will come back?" Marcus asked maliciously, his eyes were glinting. "He's not my-" Katie broke off with a gasp, and her anger dissolved, "how do you know about that?"
Marcus raised an eyebrow towards her comment and she blushed, he stood up from the couch and walked her into a corner, "you know that you can't marry him."
Katie lifted up her nose obstinately. "Says who?"
Marcus frowned, "you're husband!" He growled menacingly, he reached down his shirt and pulled out a gold band that dangled on a thin leather strap around his neck. She looked down at her fingers and sighed, he had performed a spell on her ring a few years ago, only they could see them, and she still hadn't taken of hers nor had she taken any steps to make their marriage invalid.
He looked her in the eyes intently and started to draft her down the hall way, "you're husband, who has every right to you."
Katie glared at him as she kept stepping backwards to avoid touching him. "You have no rights to me, I am my own person, I am no one's possession!"
The were in the middle of her bedroom now, she insisted that Michael take the spare room, he was circling her like prey now, "then why are you living with him."
She stared at him and he nodded, and stepped closer to her and she moved backwards, "You're a possession to him."
She shook her head as the back of her knees hit the bed, she clutched at his shoulders and they fell back on the bed, she breathed deeply, relishing the feeling of his hands against the bare skin of her waist.
He looked down at her and smiled tenderly. She shook her head, 'I'm not a-"
He cut her off with a kiss to the lips and he started moving to take off her bottoms, "I know, to me you aren't a possession."
She knew she had lied, and she knew that he had told the truth.
Her worst fear had been realised.
"He's a Higgs it's written all over him!"
"Stop it! Stop yelling!"
Terence and Alicia were breathing heavily and Derek was again wailing, It took Alicia a few minuted to calm him down and again he nodded off to sleep, he dozed to the sound of the music box that sat next to his bed, Terence recognised it, it had been the one she had thrown at him after he had saved her life.
Noticing her arms were no longer occupied he grabbed them and pulled her through the lounge into the small bathroom where he locked the door and performed a silencing charm, something he shouldn't have done but he doubted that anyone would pick up on the use of it.
She stood away from him but looked him in the eyes. Slowly she watched a grin form on his face and she started, he was doing it again. Rushing forward she tried to push past him, "I have to see Derek."
She knew she shouldn't have gotten so close to him but she had to get out of there, she stopped in front of him, wishing like hell that she had brought her wand in with her. "Let me pass."
His hands encircled her waist and she felt his body up against hers, she trembled feeling the warmth of his hands on her back, "let me pass," she lifted her hands to his chest to push him away, she felt weak and she stopped her futile movements.
Terence shivered as she rested her palms against his pectorals and he lifted her chin with two fingers under her chin.
Alicia breathed deeply and threw caution to the wind; she already knew she shouldn't be doing this. She allowed herself to meet his eyes. Nothing had changed.
It was her worst fear.
Katie got married.
She had lived a lie. She had lived her worst fear already.
She never could win in an argument against him and as he said, they hadn't reached eternity yet.
She knew that she would never see Michael again.
She didn't care.
He had worked her fear to his advantage and she didn't even leave a note.
Fear was such a wretched thing.
George never found out Derek wasn't his son, yet he always was reminded of someone when the boy grinned.
Alicia never told him about her trysts with Terence, she would have rather died than seen the look he would have given her.
She let him go.
She may have been full of life and spirit, but she had a son, so especially in war, she wanted security.
Terence Higgs could not give it to her. The music box was proof of that.
Her fear could be overcome. She just had to wait.
The war would be over soon.
Angelina woke up alone. She heard a scuffle in the store and realised Fred had come back last night.
She had a choice to make; lying on the pillow next to her was a red rose, tipped with a sharp green.
He didn't have to beg.
Angelina was never one to acknowledge fear.
Fin.
Line breaks added: 27/03/10
Okay I have had this story for a while actually, and I just hadn't posted it, but it was quick and easy and I felt like posting something.