Full Summary: Aria Granger is trying to get used to the idea that what happened at the beginning of the summer was not a dream. It really happened. She's trying to deal with a tragic accident that shattered her very idea of life, while trying to tell her father's wife in a nice way that she really doesn't need a new mum, and she's not exactly looking for one. But when something awful happens, Aria's going to have to learn to trust someone she didn't really like to begin with. Meanwhile, her two best friends are trying to grasp the concept that Aria has come to stay. Rated just in case.
An Important Note: This is the sequel to the story 'Family Ties' so I strongly advise you to read that one first if you haven't already, because this story will probably hold more meaning for you, not to mention it would make a lot more sense.
Disclaimer: I really, truly, honestly, do not own Harry Potter. I dream about owning the magical world sometimes, but then I wake up and realize that it will never happen. I'm just a girl who enjoys writing fanfiction about that world (hence the name fan fiction – get it?).
Author's Note: Wow, there's a lot of notes to put in here to pave the way for my new story! Alright, this is the long-awaited sequel to 'Family Ties'! I hope it does justice to the first story. It may or may not be as long as 'Family Ties' – at the moment, I'm just not sure. Like I said on my profile, I keep getting new ideas and throwing old ideas out, so I've done a lot of mental reorganizing. But I hope you enjoy this story!
One more note: I'm thinking about turning the 'Family Ties' stories into a kind of series. After I get done with this one, I'm thinking about doing one on Jake's past and then one on Sean's past. But I need some feedback about this idea, so please review or message me if you have any ideas/comments! Thanks!
Okay! I'm done with all of these notes! So without further ado, here is the long-awaited story, 'Adjustments'. Happy Reading!
Adjustments
Chapter One: A Mudsliding Bond
Aria's POV
My mum was one of those people who liked to look on the bright side of things. I wouldn't say she was an especially happy person, because I keep learning that she had a lot of sadness and hurt hidden away beneath that smile. But looking at her most of the time, you'd have thought she lived a pretty good life. In a way, I guess she was happy. She was always telling me how lucky she was to have me, and how she loved me more than I could ever know.
Part of me blames myself for her death. I mean, I was in the car when it happened. And if I hadn't asked to see a certain picture in her purse, she never would have knocked over her water reaching for said picture, and she wouldn't have been wiping up the floor instead of looking at the road.
A knock on my bedroom door startles me from my thoughts. I glance toward the door, but I don't say anything. The knob turns and a familiar face appears in the doorway.
"We're having lunch in about five minutes. Won't you come down?" she asks, looking hopeful. I look at my father's wife with a slight surge of resentment. I've been living at my father's house for a grand total of one and a half days now, and so far, I've managed to avoid everyone, but I guess I can't stay away from her forever.
I shake my head at her, and she sighs. She comes further into my room and perches on the edge of my bed. "Aria," she says, reaching out to me. I shift away from her uncomfortably and she sighs again.
"Aren't you hungry?" she asks. I shake my head at her. She gives me a disbelieving look, but it's the truth. Maybe she doesn't believe me because two boys the same age as me live in this house, and they're always hungry, but I've never eaten much. I could live off of one meal a day if I had to.
"Please come eat something. I haven't seen you eat since got here," she prods. I shrug and look away. She sighs once again and stands up.
"Fine," she snaps, and I can tell I'm really starting to get on her nerves with the whole ignoring her thing. "Starve for all I care." She walks out of the room, all but slamming the door behind her. Well it's nice to know she cares.
I lie down on my bed and stare at the ceiling for awhile before rolling over onto my stomach and reaching over to my nightstand. I take one of my books from the little table and open it on my pillow. I start to read, but I've hardly gotten past the first page when I hear arguing outside my bedroom door.
"You knew?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"You knew and you didn't tell me? What kind of friend are you?"
"Sean, calm down, mate…"
"Calm down! Calm down? I can't believe you knew this whole time and you never told me! I'm supposed to be your best friend!"
"You are!"
"Well you have some way of showing it! Since when do you keep secrets?"
"I couldn't tell you, Sean! Harry made me promise."
"Oh so if Harry made you promise to jump off a bridge would you do that?"
"That's not even the right expression, mate."
"I don't really give."
I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. Outside, Sean Weasley – who would kind of be like … my brother I guess – and Jake Parks, who lives with the Weasleys, continue to argue.
"C'mon, mate, what would you have done, huh?"
"I would have at least told my best friend! And what about Aria, huh? Don't you think you should have told her?"
Hearing my name gives me the incentive to cross the cold wooden floor to the door and open it just a crack to see what's going on. Jake and Sean – who are supposed to be my best friends – are standing not too far from my bedroom, glaring at each other.
"I couldn't have told Aria either! Harry told me I couldn't!"
"Harry told me this, Harry made me promise that!"
"Sean, c'mon, you know I couldn't have told!"
"Told what?" I ask at last, too curious to stay hidden any longer. Both of the boys freeze and turn to look at me very slowly. Jake offers me an embarrassed smile and Sean casts a meaningful glare over at him.
"Told what?" I ask again, stepping out of my room. Jake bites his lip.
"Nothing," he mutters. "It's not important."
"Not important!" Sean exclaims. "No, not important at all! Just something that could have changed her life!" he spits, a scary, angry look in his eyes. I take a step backwards just in case he decides to attack.
"Shut up, Sean. It wasn't my place to tell her and you know it!" Jake snarls back.
"Tell what?" I ask again, starting to get frustrated with my friends' bickering.
"Jake's known since Christmas who your father is!" Sean blurts quickly as Jake lunges at him. I stare at them rolling around on the floor, trying to comprehend what Sean just said.
"You didn't have any right to tell her that!" Jake snarls, trying to gain the upper hand. I roll my eyes at the two of them being so stupid, but I still feel like I've been betrayed in a way. Jake's known since Christmas? It's the middle of July!
"How did you find out?" I ask quietly, and the boys stop rolling around instantly. Sean looks expectantly at Jake, who refuses to look me in the eye.
"I uh… overheard Harry and Ron talking…" he mumbles uncomfortably.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask, already feeling those dumb tears rising to my eyes. I hate that I cry so much now.
"Harry made me swear I couldn't! He said your mum would tell you in her own time, and it wasn't my place to tell you!" he exclaims, still pinned underneath Sean.
"Oh," is all I say. I walk to my room calmly and pause in the doorway. He looks relieved. I cast him a look I can only describe as loathsome before walking into my bedroom and slamming the door as hard as I can. The bookshelf in the corner shakes from the impact, and a book that was lying haphazardly on top of it drops the floor with a dull 'thud'.
I sink into the chair beside the bookshelf and put my head into my hands. Jake knew? He knew and he never told me? If he had just told me – if anyone had told me – my mum might still be alive! Does he realize that? I press the heels of my hands against my eyes, willing myself not to cry.
I don't know how long I sit like that before I hear a knock on my bedroom door for the second time today. I raise my head expectantly, but the door doesn't open, so it must not be Keira.
"Go away," I snap when the unknown visitor knocks again.
"Aria, can I please come in?" Sean's voice asks. I don't answer right away. A month ago, I felt like I could tell Sean anything. He was one of my closest friends. Now, he should still be my friend, but we're … related. It just feels so weird.
"Yeah," I sigh, curling up in my chair. I look around the ugly room as he opens the door. The bedding is probably older than I am, and the curtains – which were probably ugly to begin with – are so faded you can hardly see the design on them. My father promised to get me new bedding and new curtains, but so far, he hasn't even talked to me since he brought me here almost two days ago.
"Hey," Sean says, closing the door behind him. I glance up at him to see that he has a very uncertain expression on his face. I hate that we can't be close like we used to be.
"Hi," I answer quietly, looking away before he can catch my eye. I study my toenails closely, all too aware of his presence hovering near the bed. "You can sit down," I mutter, sensing his uneasiness.
The bed creaks as he sits, and he shifts uncomfortably for awhile before settling. I look up at him again. He's staring out the window. I look too just in case there's something interesting out there, but all I see is an extremely beautiful summer day that I can't bring myself to go outside to enjoy.
"This is kind of weird, isn't it?" he says at last. It's not really a question, not one that needs and answer, but I answer anyway.
"Just a little," I reply softly, looking at him again and holding his gaze for a few seconds.
"Hey, guess what?" he asks, a small grin making its away across his face. I raise my eyebrows at him in question. "You know how at the beginning of the school year I kind of … teased you about how you blush?"
At the mention of this incident, I feel heat creeping to my cheeks. I nod, and he smiles.
"Remember how I said it was 'Weasley-worthy'?" he asks, his smile getting bigger. I nod, not seeing where he's going with this. "Well, it isn't just Weasley-worthy," he says. "It really is the Weasley blush!"
I offer him a smile, but I really don't think it's that funny. His grin falters when he sees I don't find quite as much humor in it as he does. He looks down awkwardly.
"I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I just don't know what to say. I mean … I know it must be hard for you and everything…" he trails off, and I can tell how uncomfortable he is.
When I don't answer, he looks up at me again, but I've gone back to studying my toenails, blinking furiously behind a curtain of hair. He has no idea how hard this is for me. Two and a half weeks ago, I was looking forward to a summer with my mum at Harry Potter's mansion with Sean and Jake and the rest of the Weasleys. Now I'm still spending my summer with the Weasleys, but I'll be spending summers with them for the next six years of my life – without my mum. I try to wipe my eyes discreetly.
"I didn't mean to upset you," Sean says, sounding sorrowful. "Maybe I should just go." He stands up and starts toward the door.
"Wait!" I exclaim. He pauses and looks back. "Please don't go," I say, wiping away my tears. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess. I haven't had anyone else to talk to since I got here."
Sean looks at me, seeming to contemplate whether or not I really wanted him to stay. Part of me didn't, but most of me did. I was really lonely. He shrugs and goes back over to sit on the bed. I stand up and go over to sit beside him.
"It's kind of cool, really," he says quietly when I settle next to him. I look at him questioningly.
"What's cool?" I ask.
"That we're related. You're like … my sister or something."
"It's kind of weird," I murmur, and he laughs slightly.
"Didn't you ever want any brothers or sisters?" he asks. I look up at him to find he's staring straight at me now. It's funny how he's not even biologically related to me, but he still looks like a Weasley. Maybe it's just the red hair and freckles. I don't know.
"Yeah, of course I did," I say in answer to his question. "But I didn't have a dad around, so that wasn't likely to happen any time soon," I add with a small smile.
"Well, think about it this way: now you have three siblings!" he says with a smile. I smile back.
"That's true," I reply. "But it's still a little weird."
"Yeah…" he trails off, glancing out the window again at the bright blue sky. "Hey," he says suddenly, making me jump a bit. "Want to go outside or something? We could go for a walk or go swimming."
"Swimming?" I ask uncertainly.
"Yeah! There's this little pond just through the trees over there! Jake and I went all the time last summer. It's so much fun! There's even a slide!"
"A slide?" I question, raising an eyebrow. He nods and grins.
"It's not a real slide. It's just this muddy hill that gets really slippery when it's wet, so you slip all the way down to the bottom and land in the water! It's awesome!"
I smile. I haven't been swimming in so long… "I don't have a bathing suit," I say uncertainly. He shrugs.
"Wear shorts and a t-shirt or something," he says flippantly, waving the concern away. I nod.
"Okay. Let me get changed," I say, digging through drawers to find a pair of shorts and a dark t-shirt. He nods and slips out the door.
I change quickly, looking forward to going swimming. I haven't had a whole lot to look forward to in the last few weeks, and it feels nice to be doing something fun. Mum wouldn't have wanted me to waste away in my bedroom all summer.
Outside my bedroom door, Sean is waiting with two towels, wearing shorts and a light t-shirt. He hands one of the towels to me and starts across the large open area – kind of like a really plain common room almost – toward a bookshelf sitting against one wall. Heading away from the staircase…
I follow him anyway, and when we reach the bookshelf, he pulls out a plain-looking brown book. Just like in those movies, the bookshelf swings inward, revealing a hidden staircase. He motions for me to go inside.
"Where does this lead?" I ask as the hidden doorway swings shut behind us. Sean leads the way down the winding staircase wordlessly. Within minutes we're standing in front of a plain brick wall. Sean feels around the wall for a few seconds before taking both hands to pry a loose brick out of place. In a flash a door appears in the wall and Sean pushes it open.
I blink in the bright sunlight as the side of the house returns to its normal appearance. Sean nudges me, and we start toward the trees.
"That was cool," I say enthusiastically. He smiles.
"We don't have as many secret passageways as Harry's house, and not nearly as many as Hogwarts, but we have a fair few," he says as the trees envelope us. We walk side-by-side along a faint path that twists and turns through the woods. The sun shines through the leaves, sending a dappled light down on everything, making strange patterns on the ground.
"Do any animals live in here?" I ask uncertainly.
"All kinds," he answers. "Nothing dangerous though," he adds quickly. "We have some wild kneazles – which are sort of like cats," he says. At the mention of the word 'cat' my heart clenches. I haven't been home for two and a half weeks – whose been feeding Crookshanks?
"I have a cat," I chime. Sean looks at me strangely. "He was Mum's cat," I continue a bit less enthusiastically. "I hope someone's been feeding him. His name's Crookshanks."
"That's a weird name," Sean says lightly. I smile.
"I didn't name him. Mum says that was his name when she bought him. She's had him for years – he's part kneazle, which is why he hasn't died of old age yet."
"So you know what a kneazle is," Sean says uncertainly. I nod.
"Mum told me," I answer. It feels weird to be talking so easily about Mum like this. But Sean's not all that hard to talk to. "So what other kinds of animals live in here?" I ask. He shrugs.
"We have some unicorns. I've never seen one, but Abby has – or so she says. I don't know if she was telling the truth. Dad says we have thestrals, but I wouldn't know," he says.
"What are thestrals?" I ask.
"They're kind of like horses. Dad says they're black and have these big bat-like wings, and they have fangs."
"Fangs?" I ask, shuddering.
"Yeah, fangs. Dad says they eat meat."
"So how come you've never seen one?" I ask.
"You can only see them if you've…" he pauses uncertainly.
"If you've what?" I insist.
"If you've seen someone die," he says softly. I feel my stomach knot up.
"Oh…" is all I can say. Sean looks up at me.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, it's fine," I say, attempting a smile. He smiles back slightly.
"We're almost there," he says, changing the subject. "Just around the bend up here."
We round the curve and a fair-sized pond comes into view. I see the "slide" running down the hill. It's just a strip of dirt barely wide enough for a full-grown person to slide down that runs down the side of a grassy hill right into the water.
"Look," Sean says suddenly, his voice dropping to a whisper. He grabs my arm and points to the other side of the pond, near the mouth of the little creek that feeds the pool of water.
I look and feel my chest constrict as I draw a breath in sharply. Near the mouth of the creek is a bright gold unicorn foal, its head bent as it grazes. Not too far away is its mother, dazzlingly bright white, its single horn long and pearly. I try not to breathe too loudly.
Sean and I sit down slowly at the side of the pond, careful not to startle the unicorns. I've never seen one before – only read about them. I'd heard that as a third year in Care of Magical Creatures you got to work with them, but that was still two years off. I was really seeing them in the wild, not tied up outside Hagrid's hut.
The adult unicorn raises its head suddenly and looks straight at us. We freeze as it stares us down, seeming to dare us to try to make a move. Finally she lowers her head again and takes a long drink of water from the stream, still eyeing us carefully.
We sit there silently for five more minutes before the unicorn starts off through the woods. A few seconds later her foal follows, glancing back at us in what looks like mild surprise, like it hadn't noticed us before now. When they're gone, I let myself breathe normally again.
"That was amazing," I say, still in awe. Sean nods silently.
"I guess Abby was right," he says. "There really are unicorns in here. Wow."
"So…" I say, dipping my feet into the lukewarm water. "Are we going swimming now?"
Sean grins at me. "I don't know about me," he says, drawing out his words into a lazy drawl. "But you are!" he exclaims, shoving me suddenly. I shriek as I fall into the water.
"Sean!" I howl as I come back to the surface, sputtering. He's sitting on the shore, laughing his head off. I swim back to the edge of the water. Sean smiles and offers me his hand.
"I'm sorry," he lies. "Let me help you out."
I grin at his stupidity. "No," I say, grabbing his hand. "Let me help you in!" I exclaim, yanking him forward headfirst into the water. I quickly jump out of the water before he can decide to get revenge.
"Aria," he says in mock-anger when he resurfaces. By that time I'm on the other side of the pond, scrambling up the hill that has the slide running down the side of it.
"Hey, how about you help me get some water on this slide?" I call down to him from the top of the hill. He spins around in the water and glares up at me.
"Okay," he says, a dangerous smile on his lips. He swims to the edge and hauls himself out of the water. He disappears behind some trees and returns a moment later with two plastic buckets.
"Come help me fill these buckets!" he calls up to me. I look at him dubiously. "Come on!" he says impatiently, dipping his pail into the pond. I don't move.
"Do you want a slide or what?" he asks impatiently, starting to fill the other bucket. Hesitantly I move down the hill toward him, still unsure. I'm pretty sure I know what he's going to do with that bucket…
When I get up next to him, he hands me one bucket and starts off up the hill. I follow him a few paces behind.
"Okay," he says when we get to the top, "pour your bucket down the slide." I do as he says, and the dirt quickly turns to thin mud as the water runs down the hill.
"Your turn," I say, turning to him just as he raises the bucket and dumps it over my head. I gasp at the suddenly wetness and gape at him. He grins.
"It slipped," he says unconvincingly. I smile at him dangerously.
"You wanna know what else is gonna slip?" I ask, and he starts to back away slowly. I advance on him, and he holds his hands out in defense.
"Hey now, Aria. Don't do anything you're going to regret," he says.
I'm not going to regret this… I continue to advance and he continues to back away, right toward the start of the slide… I jump toward him suddenly and he all but flies backward, his foot hitting the mud and making him slip. He falls backward and goes down the slide on his butt, all the way to the water.
"My turn!" I call cheerfully, jumping onto the slide feet first. I slip down into a sitting position and I fly down the side of the hill, sliding right down into the water on top of Sean.
"That was mean," he mutters as we resurface together. I laugh at him and shove him again. He shoves back and splashes at me. I smile happily. This is what I've always imagined having a brother would be like.
A/N: That's the first chapter! Please review! Parts of this was a little iffy, but I think it turned out alright. Thanks for reading! Cheers!