QUIDDITCH LEAGUE FANFICTION COMPETITION: ROUND 2 ENTRY FOR CHASER 2 OF WIGTOWN WANDERERS
TASK: CHASER 2: Write about a character(s) who has the power to read something about people, i.e. minds/emotions/moods/colours etc. OR write about a character(s) who is highly intuitive when it comes to others and is great at solving others' problems but is always obtuse when it's something concerning them.
Prompts:
10. (quote) Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way; wisdom is looking both directions before crossing anyway.
13. (phrase) holding your head high
14. (emotion) regret
Carnation:
Odd is a word that Laura would describe the ability that she has.
Knowing that her parents cannot do what she does is empowering and frightening at the same time.
It had its advantages and disadvantages, of course. The ability constantly reminded her that she was not like the others. To be able to hear somebody else thoughts was strange and the thoughts themselves were haunting to know.
If a star came across her, she would make a wish to switch what she had with being ordinary, to erase the ability of hearing the thoughts inside the minds of billions of people.
Φ
Now she was twenty-three, alone in a home with her cat as company. A storm was brewing outside her home. She could hear the sound of thunder clapping outside. She paused in washing the dishes to examine the world outside.
She could only see the green fields that were spreading and the one hundred foot drop to the ocean. Alone she may be, but the noise inside her head stopped after she had moved to this place. A sense of peace was what she was looking for even if it cost her companionship of a man.
God, she sounded so bitter. She laughed for a while, her thoughts reminding her of her mother when she was still alive. Her thoughts went to when her mother died. A fire had started out of nowhere in her home. It was on her twenty-second birthday when it started. She went home from work when suddenly an explosion was heard a few blocks from her home. She could only run as fast as she was able, already knowing that it was too late to stop it.
She got there and there were only patches of burnt grass and rains of ashes. She kneeled in despair that night, shock and grief were running through her veins. She willed herself not to cry when the police and firemen came, tears were the last thing on her mind.
A cup of tea was in her hand as she watched the firemen put out what was left of her home. After they left, she began to rummage through the house for personal belongings or what was left of it. She found an old watch that held her father's favorite quote. She opened it and began to recite the words to remember him.
Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way; wisdom is looking both directions before crossing anyway.
A way to say that she must use what she had wisely. His words left an impact on her even though he wasn't really there. She kept the watch in her small, quaint home. Not only a watch, Laura had managed to salvage a few items from the fire. An old book, her mother's handkerchief, and an old tape of some of the greatest music her father had collected.
If only these items could be shared by a loved one, she thought. It would be a waste to just throw it away like she did with the remains of her home. Rain began to pour heavily outside. The storm had come and she began to march toward her bedroom, putting her mind to sleep and leaving the dishes until the next day.
A heavy knock on the front door woke her up. She could still hear the rainstorm outside and began to grow suspicious and frightened of it. Someone had knocked in the middle of a storm. Her frightened state of mind made her ability pop out.
Someone was in pain.
That was the first thing she felt, someone had been shot and he was propped by another person, a friend maybe. She tried to poke around for basic information of who they were and why they came. She tried first to the one in pain since it was easier to read someone who was in pain. It was cruel of course, but she needed to do it for her own safety.
Frederick Weasley was his name.
The son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, a twin of George Weasley. She heard of that family before. Their brother Bill Weasley was a neighbor of hers even though they lived quite a few miles away. Why did they come here and to her specifically? She began to search for more but his memories began to tangle with one another and a thud was heard from outside the front door.
"Help us!"
Φ
"Come on buddy! Wake up! Keep your eyes open!"
George slapped Fred's face lightly. He couldn't keep up with his twin's weight so he lay him down on the porch. Fred tried to keep his consciousness but his eyes felt heavy and the sound of George's voice began to grow dimmer.
George was out of options to help Fred. Bill was still at the Burrow and he was not going to let his twin die on a stranger's porch. A sound of a door unlocking was heard from beside him, George was immensely relieved to know that he had gotten help. Thank Merlin for that. What he didn't expect was a rifle pointed straight at his head.
At first, he didn't realize that he was in point blank range of the rifle until it was pressed on his forehead. He could feel the cold seeping through his skin. He couldn't tell if the cold came from the gun or his fear of getting shot.
"I need your help."
The lady with the shotgun only held the gun tighter in her head. She pressed it lightly so that he could get the message that she was trying to convey.
"Don't mess with me," she said.
He was scared enough that he didn't realize that she was speaking with him without her mouth opening. All of his thoughts were leaning towards his bleeding brother and Laura couldn't help but follow his line of sight.
Her once hardened eyes grew a bit softer when she saw what was beneath her. As a doctor in training, she couldn't help but want to help him. She once took a vow to always help those who needed it and now she could take the chance to do what she always wanted to do. Help.
She kicked the front door open without tearing her eyes from the twins. She was determined to help the bleeding man but she wouldn't let her guard down. She slowly backed away towards the hall and lowered her gun. She motioned George to follow her and his held breath was soon released.
That was the most intense moment that he had ever faced, George thought.
The lady had already gone inside when George picked Fred back up again. He was trying hard not to trip or knock over a vase in the lovely house. When he arrived at the guest room, the couch was already prepped with white sheets covering it. Basic tools of operation had been laid down on the table across the couch. Laura waved him to come and put Fred on top of the couch. George limped towards the couch a bit and Laura noticed the long gash on his calf.
She got up and helped put his twin on the couch. When Fred was safely tucked, she began to grab some cotton and alcohol to wipe the drying blood from his wounds. She was too into it that she didn't notice George standing there, unsure of what to do. She pulled up a chair so that George could sit down and without her talking he had gotten the cue that he was allowed to sit.
"Can you hand me more cottons, please?" she said
George, eager to help her, rushed himself towards the coffee table and prepared to be her assistant for the evening. He studied her working meticulously, making sure that she didn't make any mistake of poking the wrong thing.
"Trust me I'm a doctor," she told him.
"Thank you," he said.
With that they were back to the silence and snipping of the scissors. When she was done, George studied her expression and found a small smile on her face. Laura studied her work and felt quite impressed by it. Not bad for a doctor in training, she thought.
She began to bandage Fred's wound when George interrupted her by putting a hand where she held the bandage. She pulled her hand from his grip but he only tightened it.
"I insist. To show you how grateful I am," he reasoned.
Laura sighed and handed him the bandages so he could do it by himself. She looked around at the mess that she had created during the procedure and found that dried blood and cottons were surrounding the couch. So she started cleaning it. She went to the kitchen to get a large plastic bag to put the trash in. While she was cleaning, she made sure that George didn't screw up and wrap it too tightly against Fred's body.
After the tension went down a bit, Laura sat down and relaxed a little. Going through the twins' minds before had made her believe that they were at least good guys. She hoped she was right. A reasonable part of her told her that they were unworthy of her trust while the other was convincing her otherwise. She could say the other was winning hard on this one.
"How can I ever repay you, Miss?"
Laura thought long and hard on that. She was contemplating whether to accept the offer or not. She knew that she was sufficient enough on her own and didn't need any help at all. George cleared his throat to catch her attention knowing that her mind was elsewhere.
Laura only stood up and went up to him. She stared at him, her hands on his shoulder. She thought that she could freak him out a bit so that he could forget about her and leave as soon as possible. She could see from the corner of her eyes that his brother, Fred, would be fine since she couldn't see any infection on the wound.
"You could forget me and pretend this thing didn't happen at all," she suggested.
What she noticed was George's green eyes that were bulging out of shock but not out of horror. She couldn't quite understand why. She thought all people thought that it was an inhuman thing to do, and yet here she was standing in front of a man that was different from it all.
"Are you not afraid of me?" she asked him.
"I've seen so many weird things in this world, love. I'm pretty sure a witch that could do Legilimency is not one of them," he answered with a humor undertone.
She grew more confused. She didn't understand what he was saying at all. Legilimency and witch, what is he talking about? He was chattering quite a bit about his meetings with wizards with magic who were natural Legilimens and yet Laura wasn't hearing him at all. She had no idea what this lunatic was on about but she could go on with his ruse.
"So why don't you speak normally, love?" George asked.
Laura's eyes grew sad and yet she still answered his question rather boldly.
"I was born a mute so this is the only way I can communicate. This or the sign language,"
George only grimaced and uttered his condolences but Laura could care less. It happened in the past, there's no point in grieving or feeling sorry for what has happened.
Days went by and Fred was finally awake. She extended an offer for the two of them to stay for a while and they agreed since they had nowhere else to go anyway. The twins told her about the war even though Laura pretended to know about it by throwing random comments here and there.
Fred, as charming as ever, tried to swoon Laura but he was met with failure. George on the other hand just chatted with her on the side. They had put on their coats that day and marched toward the cliff together, admiring the everlasting beautiful view of the ocean as far as the eye can see. He could see this view before they died anyway, George thought. Laura sat on the porch of her home, also admiring the sun that was about to set. She could see one of the twins approach and smiled as he sat beside her.
Silence passed by them like it did a few days ago. Operating on Fred and bonding over her ability.
"Laura come with me. With your ability, we can win the war."
Laura only laughed a bit and shook her head. A sense of betrayal was brewing inside of George's heart. He knew that she was a good person, otherwise why did she bother to help Fred at all, but his heart grew restless. Laura could hear his thoughts about her, she wanted to act on it but how could she? Even if there's a small chance that his 'world' was real then it was really not her place to act on such thing.
"Whatever it is that you think about me, George. It's not it. I have no place in your world. Even if I take part in it, what impact will it make and at what cost?"
George contemplated her words. It was somewhat true, but didn't she want to help her own kind win the war? He began to doubt her again but Laura repelled the thoughts away .
"I never owed anything to your world. I would really love to help but making my ability as a weapon will have a side effect. This ability, if used as a weapon, who knows what it will bring upon us."
Her certain words made George certain as well, and with that, he said his goodbyes and Apparated with Fred to join the cause he believed.
When he disappeared, Laura was shocked to know that maybe what George was saying was right. He was not a lunatic. She tried to reach them but to her disappointment she lost their trail. A sense of regret for not helping a world that was beyond her wildest imagination started to rise within her, but that regret turned worse when she found out that she could have helped after all.
With her at George's side, she could help make sure that Fred wasn't just a name on a stone. A relic of the past he had become.