May 2nd, 2000
Two years ago everything fell, then rose again. Two years ago, lives were lost. Two years ago, the wizarding world changed forever. Adelyn held her tears in as she sat on the sofa in her mother's home, listening to her sobs coming from the kitchen. She tied her hair back, her eyes shining brightly because of the tears she was refusing to shed. For a second she thought the sobs stopped, her mother soon picking back up again. It would never get easier for either of them. So many lives were lost during that time, more than she'd like to admit. If only the ministry would have done something sooner, had believed Dumbledore and Harry when they had first spoken up.
Her eyes stared at the pictures hanging on the walls of her childhood home, falling on a particular one that pulled at her heartstrings. Her father's eyes, her eyes, looked back at her with such happiness. There was the man she remembered looking back at her with smiles, her mother kissing his cheek. She loved that this one in particular moved, whereas some in the home were still. This was the way she wanted to remember the good times. She remembered that night so clearly, she was surprised it wasn't blocked in her mind with all the trauma behind it.
Fires were blazing on the grounds as the battle had finally ended. She was tending to the injured in the hall when the large doors swung open again with another person who needed immediate attention. Her first official year as a healer, and she was already tending to more serious wounds than others would have at this point in their career. Where were the boys? Was Harry alive? Where did Charlie run off to?
"Adelyn, I'll take over on this end. Tend to that corner over there." Her colleague had pointed randomly as she took hold of Adelyn's patient. Nodding, she got up abruptly to see a group of red-heads in a corner huddled around each other. Her heart sank as she dropped her rag and ran for them, hoping there was no serious damage to any of them. Over the years, she had become family with the purebloods. Molly cared for her like her own, and the twins really did never leave her side. And now someone was hurt, and she couldn't take it.
"Molly, what's wrong? I'll take it from—" She stopped midsentence and covered her mouth in horror. George was yelling out through his tears as he hugged his still twin, Fred. Her Fred, her goof. Adelyn fell to the floor beside George and hugged him, her eyes now a mess. Her vision was blurred, as was his as they whaled together over their loss. "I—I can do something. I can take care of—" Her hands were shaking as a hand touched her shoulder gently. She looked up to see Charlie, a few cuts and gashes added to his body, but he was shaking his head slowly, tears falling down his flushed cheeks.
"No, love…it's too late." It hurt him to say it, especially to her. George would never be himself again, losing half of him, but Adelyn was made up of the both of them. It took a toll on her, too.
"But, it's Fred! He can't be gone!" She yelled sadly, not gaining any loudness as she slumped down lower. His body was colder than she liked to admit, and his eyes were glossed over like glass.
"Ms. Blackwood?" One of her colleagues had interrupted part of the group to search for her, finally seeing her on the floor already in tears. "I think it best if you come with me." The lady's voice trailed off, Adelyn's sobs stopping momentarily to wonder where she was needed now, of all moments. Nodding, she gave George a quick kiss atop his head and followed the woman. Charlie heaved in more sobs, hearing George and watching Adelyn walk away to hold in her emotion to perform her job.
"Where am I needed, ma'am?" Adelyn asked with sorrow dripping from her voice. She needed to try and be professional at such a horrible time, she thought. The lady hesitated, but didn't respond. Instead, she stopped in front of her and stepped aside to reveal Callum Blackwood. At first Adelyn didn't respond right away, hoping it wasn't her father. Her breathing hitched, a partial scream leaving her mouth as she fell to the floor once again to shield her father's unmoving body.
Charlie heard the scream, looking around and seeing her fall to the floor in a fit of tears, and he raced for her. Who was it? Why is she crying over there when Fred was over here? The last he checked, her father was with her mother on the border of muggle England.
"Daddy, no! Daddy!" She was shrieking when he skidded towards her, on his knees and pulling her in his arms. "How—why—"
"Adelyn, breathe love." Charlie knew it was useless. She had lost her best friend and somehow her father all in one night. It wasn't that he stopped being a wizard to be with her mother. Charlie knew the story of her parents and how she didn't keep him from his lifestyle. In return, they lived on the border between the worlds for her sake. There weren't secrets, and they were so happy. Possibly happier than his own parents, and that was a close race.
"Why was he here, Charlie? Does my mother know?" She was spouting out questions she knew he couldn't answer, but he wished he could. He had never seen her this sad since he met her, the saddest time being when she wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw. She soon adjusted and understood why the hat put her where she was, however.
"Addy—"
Adelyn blinked as she shook away her flashback. She knew she wasn't the only one that got them, but that one in particular always came up. She remembered how she had to tell her mother; her mother who was anxiously waiting at home for her wizarding family. She knew the danger of the battle, her father had never kept secrets from her, but it didn't help her nerves any less. She remembered how her mother screamed, wanting to see the body and asked how it had happened. Adelyn shook her head again, wiping away tears she hadn't felt fall.
A minute later, her mother came out of the kitchen with tea, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks stained by her tears. She wasn't crying anymore though, but she looked hollow. Her heart broke as she grabbed her cup and watched her mother sit down across from her. It looked like she had spent weeks in Azkaban.
"Mum." Adelyn said, her mother flicking her grey eyes toward her daughter. The one thing she had left was the eyes that her daughter shared with her husband. "I have something to tell you."
"Alright, dear. What is it?" Adelyn hesitated, playing out a few quick scenarios in her head before she spoke again. "I'm going to Romania…to do something different."
"Romania? Where Charlie Weasley went?" Martha set her cup down, processing everything she was about to hear. Adelyn no longer lived here, but moving even farther away? She felt like her family was leaving her.
"Um, yes. They need a healer, of sorts. To help out the keepers when they're injured, and with my marks in Care of Magical Creatures, I could also be a keeper too." She spilled her guts slowly, her mother nodding and looking at the rug in front of her. "I just need a change of pace, mum." Adelyn said almost whispering, her mother closing her eyes and nodding again.
"Ok."
"What?" She was expecting more of a fight, in all seriousness. Though her mother understood the other world, she was still a mum. She felt that after they had lost her father, she would have more of a hold on Adelyn or even wanting nothing with the world in a whole. That wasn't the case, however. Martha knew it was in their blood, knowing as far as it would do to them if their wand was snapped. There was a part of her that would never want to not be part of that world now.
"If that's where your heart is taking you, then ok." Her mother said with a deep sigh, her eyes falling on the picture Adelyn had stared at earlier. "Your father would most definitely tell you to go, Addy. If you feel like you need to, then you need to." Her mother was probably having another small flashback of her father leaving that night. He left to fight because he felt like he needed to, because his wife was a muggle and his daughter was a half-blood.
"Thank you, mum. I was so afraid to tell you..." She got up and walked to her mother to hug her, sitting on the floor as her mother ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. The hair from her, and her eyes from Callum. Suh a beautiful young woman her daughter was becoming.
"If it's one thing your father believed in, it was the truth. No secrets, and never hold it in. Just tell me, Addy. I'll always understand." And she always had, through all the years she had known Callum Blackwood. He was a few years out of Hogwarts wandering around when he came across her. She had her hair tied up in a high bun, and what she hadn't known at the time was Callum magically untying her hair and letting it fall when she thought it was a random gust of wind. Her sash that she had wrapped around it flew down the sidewalk, where Callum so graciously stopped it and picked it up for her.
"You're what?!" George screamed at his best friend over the little table they had. Adelyn had moved in with George after Fred's passing so he wasn't alone as Ron and other's sometimes helped him run Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It took him time to come up with new inventions and how he'd create them. Since the first day of becoming friends with the boys, she had always helped them with how they could do something if they needed help. She'd even put her two cents in when it came to ideas, so in a way, she was the brain behind the plans.
"George, I swear I've told you about this." Adelyn huffed as she magically moved their plates off the table, hoping he wouldn't try to flip it. She knew this was upsetting to him, as it should be. In all honesty, it upset her too. Her life, as she's known it, was her parents and the twins. Now it was George and her mother, things feeling more out of place than when she was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw.
"You're going off to Romania to make kissy faces at Charlie?!" He was frantic, his face red with anger. Her poor Georgie. He wasn't convulsing, but he also wasn't as calm as she thought he'd be. She did tell him ahead of time that she would be leaving, so he was being very unfair by playing the victim.
"No." Her face flushed at the mention of his older brother. She hadn't seen him in a while, but she wasn't going to Romania to make kissy faces at him. She was going to take up the healer position they had to offer. And possibly help Charlie if he was injured at all. Because, you know: Dragons.
"So, has Charlie kissed you yet?" Fred asked with a straight face as he jumped over the back of the sofa in the common room.
"We're not even dating, idiot." Adelyn was trying to finish her Transfiguration paper as the twins pestered her over her crush with Charlie. Cruse the day when they had found her staring at him in the hall during breakfast, and began making snide remarks ever since. Freshly showered ginger hair, a bright smile down the few seats, his blue eyes shining with the gentle lighting above the tables. Who wouldn't stare at him? She couldn't have been the only one.
"But you want him to." George sat down on the other side of her. He wasn't lying, she really did want him to. It played around in her mind more often than not, even when she lay in bed trying to sleep at night. It was a crush she wasn't proud of, considering her best friends were his brothers, and every other girl wanting to be noticed by him. Which they were, at some point or another. She was just the twins' best friend, Adelyn.
"Better hurry, it's his last year." Fred started to make kissing noises as Adelyn dropped her quill. It was frustrating, trying to write a paper when the thoughts of Charlie were swarming her mind. Most of the time she would work on her schoolwork before he entered the common room so as to avoid that tidbit.
"Nah, she's got plenty of time." George waved the imaginary problem away. "She's always over at the Burrow anyway." Which was true, but he wouldn't be there for long. There would still be a time limit as to when she could plan on her fantasy never coming true, but yes, she had thought of it beforehand.
"Right, you've loads of time, Addy!" Her head was beginning to hurt as the boys laughed beside her, staring blankly into the fire. What she wouldn't give for a chocolate frog, right about now.
"Loads of time for what?" Speak of the devil, Adelyn thought as she cleaned her small mess and continued her paper. Acting natural was her go-to, and it worked well for her.
"Just Addy wanting to—" Adelyn shoved Fred over the couch before he could say anymore. Why did they ever find out that she liked their brother? That was outright stupid of her to let slip.
"Does Charlie know you're going?" George settled down, letting his plate float back to the table to continue eating. She made a 'derp' sort of face, staring at him plainly as he chuckled a little, almost choking on his potatoes.
"No, he doesn't. We haven't talked in a while, though. Are you sure this is ok?" She was worried about leaving him. Two years and it was still hard on everyone, him and Molly the most. She hated leaving him, but she couldn't stay forever. She needed her little bit of change, too.
"Yea, I'll be fine. Didn't expect you to stay forever, but I appreciate you staying here as is." There was a glint in his eyes as he spoke that made her feel warmer about her decision. Him understanding was his way of showing that he was finally mentally stable enough to be able to live alone for the first time.
"I just really need a change, you know? It's been two years, and I'm not doing any better mentally. I haven't had a date since we graduated, my mother is in a sort of depression, and my anxiety is through the roof." She started to breathe heavily, George moving across the table to pull her toward him. It was something him and Fred used to do whenever she was upset, namely when she saw Charlie snogging a girl in the halls. She had fallen for it and should have heeded their warning sooner; a real lady's man, that one.
"No, I get it. Do you, because all you've been is doing me." There was a pause as she gave him a blank stare, not enthused by his words. "Please, you know what I mean." Since losing Fred, he lost a lot of his comedy. They used to set each other up with the jokes, but now he was going through a dry spell. One every now and then, but he thought himself to be sad. He was still trying to get the swing of things without him.
"Thanks, Georgie." She nestled up against her best friend, a few days left before she left for Romania. She was nervous, and excited, and plain out worried what Charlie would do once he saw her. That was her biggest fear, and she was going to be on a dragon reserve of all places.