A/N Written for QLFC
Team:Cannons
Position:Seeker
WC:1806
Prompt: Incorporate the word 'cannons'
Restriction: WC must be 1751-2000
This is the prologue to the spinoff of a fic I am currently writing but have not posted. You should be able to read it without reading the other, but some things will probably make more sense if you read both.
Also, this fic was inspired by the song Little Toy Guns by Carrie Underwood
"You know, it would be nice to have some help with the twins sometimes, or to just have you home a little more," Lorraine's mommy shouted at Lorraine's daddy.
Lorraine's mommy and daddy fought a lot. It reminded her of the 'wars' she would have with her twin brother, John, using the army toys their daddy had brought home for them one day. They have eventually lost most of the toys, except for the cannons.
The cannons made a 'bang' when they went off. The mean things Lorraine's mommy and daddy said to each other were just like when she and John's toy cannons went bang, except that when they said something, it hurt.
"Lucy, you know I'm an Unspeakable. I can't help it if you're having trouble with the kids, they're your problem," he was saying.
Bang. Daddy's words shot right through Lorraine's heart. She began to cry, hugging her pillow close. Lorraine had not been crying for long when she felt her bed shift. John crawled into Lorraine's bed and wrapped his arms around his twin.
"Lorie," John said, "don't cry. You know Daddy didn't mean that. He and Mommy are mad."
Lorraine didn't stop crying, but she did manage to quiet her sobs. She nodded her head and settled into John's arms. He would stay with her. They both waited for their Mommy to take her next shot.
"Oh, that's great, Sean. Do you even give a damn about the kids?" Bang. Mommy sounded like she'd been crying, but she had still managed to pack a punch with her words.
Lorraine cringed as Mommy's last sentence drifted through the door. Mommy and Daddy had never been so mean to each other when they fought. Of course, Daddy cared, why wouldn't he?
"Yes, I care," Daddy said, but he sounded funny. He kind of sounded like he'd stubbed his toe. Mommy's words must have really hurt him because Lorraine had never heard Daddy sound so sad before.
"I care, Lucy. I care so, so much. Those kids are my world. They're the reason I volunteered to take on more hours, and you of course," Daddy said softly.
It sounded to Lorraine like Mommy was winning the war. Mommy kept saying mean word after mean word. Every time Mommy said something, it was like a cannon went off.
Mommy must have known exactly where to aim her words because whenever she said something, Daddy's answer sounded more and more sad. Daddy must have been out of cannonballs; he wasn't firing back anymore.
"What," spat Mommy. "Is there some wizarding crisis the Ministry is hiding from the rest of us?" She must have been running out of cannonballs to because she sounded really tired by the time she was done talking.
Daddy was quiet for a long time before sighing heavily. "You know I can't answer that question, Lucy."
Mommy gasped. "No, Sean, you could tell me if the answer was no. What is the Ministry keeping from us?"
Mommy and Daddy weren't yelling anymore. They were so quiet that Lorraine and John had to strain to hear from their position on the bed, so they moved to sit on the floor at the door. John went to the closet to grab two of the Extendable Ears that Aunt Roxie had given him the last time the kids had been at the joke shop. He handed one to Lorraine and sat down.
The kids were instantly grateful for John's quick thinking when, no sooner than they had activated their Extendable Ears, they heard Daddy say very faintly, "Look, why don't we talk about this in our room? This is one thing I do not want the kids to overhear."
Mommy didn't say anything mean like Lorraine was expecting. She just agreed quietly and the kids heard the sounds of footsteps going down the hall and a door opening and closing softly.
Once Mommy and Daddy were in their room they began to talk again, unaware of the fact that their children were listening down the hall. When they started to speak, it was clear to Lorraine that, just like when she and John were done playing for the day, Mommy and Daddy had put their cannons away for good. They were just really sad.
"Alright, Sean, what can you tell me?" Mommy asked.
"Honestly," said Daddy, "if I want to stay out of Azkaban, the only thing I can say is, people have always been concerned that the peace our parents fought for wouldn't last. They have been worrying for years now that someone else would get a crazy, radical idea into their head and throw our world into chaos once more. I don't want that to happen."
Lorraine sort of knew what Mommy and Daddy were talking about. She knew that Mommy's family was famous. She knew there was a bad wizard that her great-uncle Harry had beaten as a kid. She knew that wizard's name was Voldemort and that Mommy got mad when she said that name. Lorraine had not been told much because she was so very young, but she knew enough to know that had been a very bad time for the Wizarding World after Voldemort's death, and that they were very lucky to have this New Peace.
"Do you think we will be safe?" Mommy asked.
"I don't know," said Daddy, "but I do know that I'm worried your family will be a major target if anything comes to light."
Lorraine would later realize he had been trying to warn Mommy of something. At the young age of six, however, she just became very scared at the thought of someone hurting her family and hugged her brother close.
Mommy understood what Daddy was trying to say. She gasped very loudly, and then there was a pause.
"The New Peace was never going to last, was it? Our generation grew up in it, but there are people whose brains have been poisoned by Voldemort, even now, and those people are going to put our children through hell."
"Lucy, I wish I could lie to you," said Daddy. "But I can't. There is a good chance our children will see war, even if they don't fight in it."
At this, Lorraine's mind immediately flashed to her toy cannons. With those, she and John played war. When they played with their toys, it was harmless. Real or not, Lorraine had been told enough stories about her grandparents' childhood to know that. She leaned back against John, taking comfort in his presence. She didn't want there to be a war.
When Mommy answered, she sounded like she was trying not to cry anymore, "They've already managed to hurt this family, though."
"What do you mean?" Daddy asked, confused.
"Isn't it obvious?" Mommy asked. "They've torn our family apart."
"Lucy, I'm doing this for our family," said Daddy.
"I know that. It still just doesn't change the fact that our children never see their dad and I don't have a husband anymore; I have a man who I sometimes sleep in the same bed as… when he gets to come home. We all need more stability."
"What are you saying, Lucy?" Daddy asked, sounding like he was scared of the answer.
"You know, they have legalized a reversal to the marriage spell." Mommy was crying really loudly by the time she finished talking.
Lorraine was confused, but only for a little while as Daddy quickly asked, "Divorce? You want a divorce?"
Lorraine knew what divorce was. There had been a big thing in the news earlier in the year about how an old quidditch player named Victor Krum had gotten a divorce as soon as it was legalized. When Lorraine had asked Mommy about it, she had explained it was a Muggle thing where people stopped being married because they weren't happy. She said wizards never used to get divorced, but then they decided we should all get to be happy.
She didn't want Mommy and Daddy to get divorced. She didn't want for them to live apart. If they did that, she and John would have to have 'visiting days'. She liked it better when she just saw Mommy and Daddy whenever they were home.
It was obvious that Lorraine was not going to get what she wanted when the next thing Mommy said was, "Yes, Sean. I want a divorce."
Lorraine put down her Extendable Ear and scooted away from the door. She began to sob uncontrollably, and while John put his hand on her knee in a soothing gesture, he continued to listen to the end of their parents' marriage.
Mommy and Daddy talked for a long while after Lorraine stopped listening. John, even as a constant stream of tears ran down his face, bravely continued to listen through the end. Lorraine watched him through her tears. Sometimes, when he heard something, he would cringe. Other times he would glance over at her, looking more and more upset each time.
John would squeeze Lorraine's knee gently whenever her crying became very loud and hysterical, or when he overheard something he particularly didn't like.
When John finally let his Extendable Ear drop to the floor, he gave Lorraine's knee one final squeeze and collapsed into his sister's arms. They held each other close and took comfort from one another as they processed the fact that their family was breaking apart.
"Daddy." Gasp. "Is." Gasp. "Leaving." Gasp.
John spoke through his tears as he attempted to tell his sister what she'd missed. Lorraine simply nodded her head. She'd expected no other outcome.
As the kids sat together in the middle of their bedroom floor, they heard the pop of someone apparating away. Daddy had left. Lorraine dissolved into tears once more.
Mommy came into the room a little while later to find Lorraine and John still sitting in the same spot on the floor. Coming through the door, she tripped. Mommy looked down to find both Extendable Ears laying in the doorway.
A look of realization dawned on Mommy's face. She looked down at her children., and Lorraine stared up at her. The child's face was streaked with tears that Mommy stooped down to wipe away.
Sitting on the floor, Mommy took her twins into her lap, hugging them to her. Lorraine clung to Mommy's neck.
"You heard everything, didn't you?" Mommy asked, rubbing Lorraine's back soothingly.
Lorraine nodded against Mommy's shoulder and hiccuped as she tried to stop crying.
"Oh, my poor, poor babies," Mommy said. "I never wanted you to get hurt."
Lorraine wanted to tell Mommy how she thought about her and John's toy cannons whenever Mommy and Daddy fought, but she didn't. Mommy wouldn't understand, but Lorraine did, and she knew that when cannons go off, someone's bound to get hurt.