Disclaimer: Don't own, so please don't sue.
AN: This is a response to the houses four challenge by Rising from the flames. This is the Ravenclaw entry. The character is Roxanne Weasley and the prompt is 'torn up letters' Roxanne, for those of you who don't know, is the daughter of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson. In this piece, Roxanne is in her third year at Hogwarts.
"I don't know why she's crying. They're just a bunch of letters." Miranda Flint sneered. "They're hardly something to get all worked up about."
Roxanne seethed in silence. How dare that Flint girl act like those letters were unimportant, how dare she PRETEND. Roxy fingered her wand, slowly thinking through the hexes and curses that she would use.
But true fully, Roxanne wouldn't pull her wand out, or lose her temper, or do anything like that. No, she was the smart one, the Weasley who never caused trouble or stood out. Unlike her brother, or her cousins, Roxanne Weasley was not loud and mischievous. No, she could see how her father preferred Fred to her, his louder, braver and infinitely more troublesome than his quiet and studious daughter.
"Didn't think you'd have the bottle to do anything about it Weasel." Miranda Flint sneered. "Because unlike every other blood traitor in your family, you don't even have the spine to stand up for yourself."
Miranda swaggered away, still laughing at Roxanne's tears. A wave of despair swam over Roxanne. These weren't any letters; they were the last letters her mum had sent her before she had died. They were Roxanne's last link to the one person in her family who she felt she actually connected to. And now they were just a pile of torn up letters, lying in a pile at her feet. Unconsciously she began walking, her feet leading her to a place she always went when she felt upset.
She looked down from the top of the astronomy tower and felt another wave of despair wash over her. She wanted to scream, to rage that it wasn't FAIR! Her mother hadn't gone LOOKING for trouble.
No, it was supposed to be a treat. Roxanne and her mother were out shopping in Diagon Alley. A dark wizard of some foreign organisation and a witch from a rival group started a duel in the middle of the street. The Aurors responded quickly, the fight only lasting mere seconds. But that was all that it took. A killing spell fired at the start missed its target and hit her mother firmly in the chest. Roxanne had watched in mute disbelief as her mother died in front of her, her brain refusing to accept what her eyes were seeing.
Her father was devastated by her loss and became a mute shadow of his former self. If it wasn't for the help of Uncle Ron, then Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes would probably be in serious trouble.
Her brother Fred blamed Roxanne for their mothers death. He yelled it at her in an angry voice words to that effect when she'd tried to talk to him about it. He had claimed that had she not been having a girls day out with her, then their mother would still be with them. The rest of their family was either too busy trying to help their father and Fred to notice quiet little Roxanne Weasley screaming in silence. So Roxanne did what she normally did when she was troubled. She threw herself into her studies with a vigour that even Aunt Hermione would have considered a little too much.
She looked over the side of the Astronomy tower once more. It would be easy, so very easy, just to step forward and drop off the tower. No more pain, no more no more hurt, no more grief. Just the sweet oblivion of death. She put her foot forward, but before she could make that fateful step, she felt a strong pair of suddenly grab her around her waist and pull her back into the tower.
"What in blazes do you think you're doing?" her rescuer hissed and she recognised the voice as belonging to Albus and Rose's friend Scorpius Malfoy. A year older than her and having grown a lot in his third and fourth year, Roxanne was no match for Scorpius's size and strength.
"What does it LOOK like I'm doing?" Roxanne hissed back. How DARE this boy, this MALFOY stop her! "Let GO of ME!"
"Now why would I do that?" Scorpius asked in a sarcastic voice. "Do you REALLY think that I'd be THAT stupid?"
"I don't see what this has to do with you!" Roxanne snapped back. Scorpius sighed loudly.
"Aside from the fact that losing you would practically kill your family? Do you think your father would be able to cope?" Scorpius countered angrily. Roxanne opened her mouth, but Scorpius pushed on. "Your father lost his twin brother during the Battle of Hogwarts and now he's lost your mother. Do you really think that he can survive losing his daughter as well?"
Roxanne stopped struggling and Scorpius relaxed his grip a little.
"You feel like you're at the end of your tether, like you can't live with the grief anymore." He said in a calm voice and Roxanne nodded. "You feel as though you are so small and unimportant and no-one would notice you if you were gone? That nobody cares about your pain?" Again, Roxanne nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Scorpius shook his head sadly and sat them both down.
"Roxanne Weasley," he began, "the reason that nobody has been there for you to cry on is that everyone thinks that you're coping better than everyone else. They don't see that you're falling apart underneath the façade."
"Then why, in the name of Merlin's saggy left-"
"I can see what you're feeling because that's what I was like after my father died. You're exactly the same." Scorpius cut in. Roxanne gave Scorpius a puzzled look. Scorpius Malfoy was the Ravenclaw joker, with a lethally sharp tongue and withering glares, she could not see anyone more different than her.
"But-"
"But I always seemed to be joking and sarcastic and half the school probably didn't know that my dad was dead?" Scorpius cut in. "That you and I are nothing alike?" Scorpius turned and faced her. "I know what you're going through. You've thrown yourself into your studies in an attempt to drown the pain. I was the same with my humour."
"BUT I SAW HER DIE!" Roxanne screamed at him and Scorpius gave her a sympathetic look.
"And she would not want you to die as well." Scorpius told her wisely. "I'm going to tell you what my Auntie Daphne told me. Honour the dead by living, not dying." He gave her a small smile. "And if you need someone to talk to, to cry on, come to me. I found that helped as well."
"Are you any good at fixing torn up letters." She asked in a muted voice.
"Yeah, why?" He asked curiously. Roxanne pulled out the remains of her torn up letters.
"I was wondering if you could fix these ones." She continued and Scorpius gave her a sad smile.
"I think so. They're from your mum right?"
"Her last letters to me." Roxanne replied. He pocketed the torn up letters.
"I can fix them overnight. Now lets go downstairs." He said, taking her hand and leading her down to the dining hall. And for the first time since her mother died, Roxanne Weasley could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
AN: I don't know how old the characters are in relation to one another in the next gen, but in this piece, Roxanne is a year younger than Albus, Scorpius and Rose and a year older than Lily and Hugo. Her brother Fred is two years older than her.