Just A Little Push
Written for The Forgotten Family Ties Competition
Pairing: Rose and Hugo
Prompt: Moonlight
Rose wasn't always there for him. Actually, saying she was there for him would almost be lying. Almost. But not quite. Once, before she ran off with that sleazy American, she had done something nice. Helped him, even.
o~o~o
Hugo turned around as he heard her sigh. She half smiled. It was a wistful sort of smile, hiding so much. Sometimes she was so hard to figure out, it just made him want to scream. But he didn't this time.
"The full moon keeps me awake too." She walked over to stand next to him by the large bay window. She sighed again, still wearing that strange half smile he couldn't figure out. If she was going to be uncharacteristically nice, he would just go with it, then.
"It's not the moon. It's the moonlight that bothers me. I can't sleep with it shining." He knew he sounded like a whiney child, but Rose chuckled. A miracle. She never laughs at anything anyone, save Scorpius, does.
"Then don't sleep. Go out, dance under the moonlight. Stay trapped in it's spell. Go. Take, Lily, James. Albus, Fred, Roxy, Molly, Lucy, Dominique, Teddy and Victoire. Don't make my mistakes of not living life to it's fullest. Go, Hugo." She turned away, he knew somehow, he wouldn't be seeing her for a while. Still, he had to ask.
"Rose, where are you going?" She didn't turn. He knew she was crying, or at least fighting tears. He almost took a step towards her. Almost. But he didn't. She kept walking.
"To live life to it's fullest." Hugo didn't understand what she meant. So he took he advice. He awoke Lily, who in fact, couldn't sleep either. They danced and laughed in the moonlight, collapsing in the yard from sheer exhastion. Rose was gone before sunrise.
o~o~o
He waited nervously. He hadn't seen her since that night that was permanently etched into his brain. He would never forget what she told him, her strange half smile. That was why he was here, in a dingy hospital in New York, the only person in the world to come to her aid. Maybe that was why he kept thinking about that night. She had helped him become a happier person, now e would help her when she needed him most.
o~o~o
She looked up ashe entered her room. She was pale, thin. She had wasted away. Still, she held her infant in her arms, cradling the little boy with the already evident red hair. He sat gingerly on the edge of her bed. She smile,a real smile of happiness.
"Hugo, I want you to take him. When I'm gone, take him back to London. If he has magic, send him to Hogwarts. Help him to not make the mistakes I made. Promise me you will, please." Her voice was weak, she looked so helpless. If this was her final wish fromhim, who was he to refuse her. He carefully ook the infant from her when she offered.
"What's his name?" He looked away from his new nephew to look at his sister.
"Jacob H. Weasley."
"What's the H for?"
"Hugo."
Hugo smiled at his sister, loving her more that second than ever before. Rose closed her eyes for the last time.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except my twisted plot.