Hometown Glory

Chapter Six: Someone's Little Girl

"A girl's father is the first man in her life, and probably the most influential." - David Jeremiah

Stomp.

"This is ridiculous!"

Pace. Pace. Stomp.

"I mean, I was doing the right thing, right?"

Stomp. Pace. Pace.

"Forced to hide in the attic like I'm a child, ha!"

Pace. Pace. Stomp.

"How dare she put me in that spot? I am almost forty—never mind!"

Stomp. Stomp. Pace.

Clearing her throat from the furthest corner —a place she was secluded to as the stomping became much dangerously closer to her—Sidney Weasley watched with knitted eyebrows as a redheaded woman continued pacing and stomping on the floor like she was a teenage-girl throwing a tantrum.

"The fact here is, I'm a good person and she's mental!"

Again, Sidney cleared her throat, trying to make herself noticed in the ranting the woman was doing by herself. "Maybe—"

Stomp.

"No, I'll tell you what this is about!" Dominique interrupted the girl before she could even say anything. "This is about her always preferring Louis over me - me! I'm the best bloody thing that has ever happened to that woman! I mean, look at me! I'm brilliant!"

Stomp. Pace. Pace.

Sidney shook her head slightly, staring at the old floor beneath Dominique's feet; wondering when was the last time her great-grandparents repaired it, and if they hadn't, how long would it last from all of Dominique's stomping until it crumbled down?

"I did the right thing, didn't I? I put that stupid git in his place—he was acting like a sodding kid!" Dominique continued, shouting to whatever was around the room as she paced once more. "How could he order the gnomes in the garden to attack poor Abel like that? He did the idiot a favor by saving his precious daughter from falling from that tree he had sent her up in the first place!"

Again, Sidney opened her mouth to say something but was cut across before she could even figure out what she was going to say.

"So Abel and Kendra fancy each other? Big deal! It's puppy-love, he swears that two fourteen year-olds are thinking about the rubbish his perverted mind did when he was their age!"

At that comment, Sidney said nothing. Instead her knitted eyebrows were now more of a confused expression than an awkward one mixed with worry. (How come she never noticed that the newest-adopted addition and Kendra liked each other?)

"Oi, oi, oi!" Dominique snapped her fingers, a sort of comprehension passing over her features. "How can Mum be mad at me for sending that beehive straight to Louis' head when I actually spared his life?!"

And once more, Sidney's facial expression turned to a confused one. (How exactly was it saving his life? The beehive was infested with killer bees, it was on fire, and she actually did send it to his head. Sidney could hear the screams from the attic before Dominique even came up and began her rant.)

"Yeah, think about it! Aunt Ginny went to go find Lily to tell her that thickheaded-Louis had attacked her adoptive-child. Which, obviously, means that Lily would have murdered my little brother on her enraged motherly-instincts if I hadn't gotten to him first!" She paused, a maniacal laughter escaping her lips. "Ha! Bet mummy dearest didn't think of that before she started scolding me and went to go fetch dad!"

Sidney humph-ed silently to herself, finally understanding why Dominique was here in the first place. It was because of Bill Weasley. It all made sense now. Because usually, since she was in diapers according to the adults, Dominique defies her mother in every which way, but every time it came to Bill doing the punishing, Dominique went hiding to the deepest parts of the world if she could.

"That's it! I am right, she is wrong! Dad will understand that his baby veela-boy is an idiot and I defended an innocent!" Again, Dominique laughed and shook her head to herself, finally stopping her stomping as she turned to the girl in the corner. "Thank you for the great advice, Sid, you're amazing as always."

And the redhead's stomps carried all the way towards the little door to exit the attic; not turning back and taking her crazy with her.

Sidney sighed, relief washing over her.

It was insane the lack of space one had in a spiraling house like the Burrow, there was a room in every floor, a shed in the garden, and yet they were always everywhere. (Though, she supposes it didn't help that Rose had gathered the entire lot to help with her silly preparations.) It was like trying to escape dust in an old, forgotten room - like the attic, where Dominique had found her.

Sidney was a simple girl, easy to understand. She liked to be alone all the time, she liked the quiet, and she liked to keep away from anything that wasn't a part of her own little world. She had no time to deal with everyone else's clutter and clanking, it just gave her a headache. She understood that for many having fun, being loud, blowing things up were necessary for surviving - they just weren't hers.

When everyone was gathered together, playing their games, gossiping with one another, Sidney was in a room somewhere, whether in her own home or a cousin's bedroom in theirs, listening to music from that handy muggle-device that she got for Christmas and just sounded everything out.

That was her thing, sounding everything out; secluding herself from the noise.

Putting in one headphone into her right ear, she pressed the little play button of her device; continuing where she had left off before her mental first-cousin stormed in.

"….But like everything I've ever known," she sang along with the music, so softly, "you'll disappear one day, so I'll spend my whole life hiding my heart away."

Right on the next few seconds, as she let the soft melody play insider her ear, the past lyrics tugging at her insides, Sidney flicked her eyes upward on time to notice another redhead opening the door to her solitaire.

"Oh, Sid! I didn't see you, I'm sorry." (Like she said, they were everywhere.)

There was a silence.

The redhead cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable as Sidney stayed silent and looking blank. "…Um, I'll - I'll just go?"

"Wait," Sidney sighed, speaking before the girl left the attic and she felt like a bitch. "Rory, it's fine. You don't have to go."

"Are you sure? I don't want to disturb." And even as she said this, her facial expression looked thankful to be able to stay in the one room no one else would come into; as Sidney had heard so many times before, something about a ghoul that was probably dead that Ron had left years ago. (Though, it seemed, she was clearly mistaken.)

Sidney had given Rory a tiny forced smile, an awkward one at that, and then turned back down to look at her device.

Rory stared at her from the corner of her eye, grabbing an old chair and Witch Weekly magazine from the floor. A few questions about her second-cousin flowing through her head as she did, wondering so many things silently that she always wished Sidney would give her an answer about.

But that was the thing, though. No one asked Sidney anything, everyone just let her be and do whatever it is that she did. No one ever asked. No one ever knew. And every time Rory would get curious, or any of the others of why she was the way she was, one of the adults always said to leave her alone and to mind their business.

"Rory, you okay?" Clearing her throat, catching the weird far-away stare that she was getting from one of Freddie and Evanna's twins, Sidney spoke up.

Rory coughed once, feeling embarrassed as she gave the girl a solemn nod. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sidney raised her eyebrow, not convinced. "…Is something the matter?"

"No, everything's fine," Rory responded quickly.

"You're lying," Sidney told her second-cousin straightforwardly, not really caring for the awkwardness of it all. "You fiddle with your fingers when you're lying or have too much on your mind, Rory."

Rory stopped playing with the hem of her dress, and started tapping her foot; not saying anything.

"You don't have to tell me, mind you." (And, oh, how she hoped that she wouldn't.)

"It's Riley," Rory whispered sadly, apparently not reading her cousin's expression to get out and leave her in her silence. "She's been upset with me ever since the Rowle and Bliss thing happened….because I didn't defend her, or help when Dad started yelling at her."

Sidney raised an eyebrow. "How did she expect you to stick up for her, she did a horrible thing."

Rory nodded slowly, almost hesitantly. "I know," she mumbled in a tone that suggested she didn't want to agree, "but she says we're twins, that I should have stuck up for her…She says I'm not a very good sister because I let her take the fall by herself, and that twins don't do that.

"….She's been especially angry lately, I just - I just don't like being in the same room with her sometimes, you know? Like…I want to be there for her, but she says so many….she just doesn't watch her words or her actions, sometimes…."

Trying her hardest not to snort, because basically Rory did not want to be her sister's lap-dog but did it anyway, yet Riley accused her of being a horrible sister, though she was the foulest, Sidney nodded once at her cousin.

Rory let out a puff of strangled air, her fingers fiddling with each other as she looked down at them. "S-She did the wrong t-thing, Sid, why can't I make her s-see that?"

At the sound of tears, of desperation and hopelessness, Sidney felt instantly uncomfortable. She had hoped that Rory would get whatever she had on her chest out and figure out her own advice and just let her sit there, just like Dominique had prior.

Rory sniffled, her fingers twisting faster. "But she's a good person, S-Sid, she really is." That was a lie, Sidney determined by her hand motions; something she desperately wanted to believe about her other half. "A-And I love her s-so much….but I-I…I just don't know."

Sidney sighed to herself, forcing a part of her to come out that wasn't there. "Listen, Rory, I get that you love Riley—you sort of have to, you know, she is your sister and all. But, look, that doesn't mean you should, um, deal with the things she puts you through."

Rory stopped playing with her fingers, but she continued to sniffle as she looked up at her cousin; a little surprised.

"Riley is so used to lashing out on people and them taking it, especially you. But what she, erm, did to Bliss, none of the lot is going to forgive that that easily. I mean, sure, they're all jealous prats as they come…but no one wanted to see Bliss so heartbroken, or know that one of the lot was capable of putting another into the place…

"She has to learn from her mistake, for always talking without thinking….And you have to stop taking it, Rory…I understand that a twins' bond is unbreakable and all, fine, but you're not her slave or punch-bag, you're her sister."

There was another moment of silence and Sidney hoped she did alright - with the whole helping her cousin out, saying the right thing as actual 'advice' and all.

But before she could figure out if she did, a creak pushed the door open of the attic; another person walking into the old dusty room.

"I was looking for you." In all of her angered glory, Riley stood by the entrance with her arms crossed; a frown on her face. "I told you to meet me in Granddad's shed, Rory."

Riley's twin lowered her head a fraction, not responding or looking at her sister.

"You never listen," Riley huffed like she was speaking to a child. "But, anyway, I need you to go find dad for me. I saw him drinking with Granddad George in the garden, I think it's the right time for you to talk to him and get him to get over whatever he is on."

Sidney turned to Rory and then, "No," came from her mouth before Sidney could blink.

Riley raised her eyebrow, a vein on her forehead ticking. "Excuse me?"

"No," Rory repeated, shaking her head as she still refused to look at her twin. "I'm not going to talk to Dad, Riley. I-If you want his forgiveness then…you go talk to him."

"You're my sister, Rory, you're supposed to—"

"Riley?" Interrupting the girl, who was taking furious steps towards her sister, Sidney spoke up before a tragedy could happen and Riley could make her situation worse.

Blinking, a little startled, Riley narrowed her eyes at Sidney, looking at her like if she was wondering where the hell she had come from; obviously she hadn't noticed her before.

"Have you ever thought about, like Rory said, just doing it yourself?"

Riley's frown deepened. "I'm sorry, Sid, was I talking to you?" She snapped instantly. "This is between my sister and I. Now, if you weren't the only child, you'd know how this works. Rory and I do favors for each other all the time, and this is just one more. One more that does not involve you, so shush."

Rory lowered her head even more, and Sidney was pretty sure those 'favors' were orders and Riley did all the commanding.

"Or," again, Sidney cut in; buying Rory some time so she could find her Gryffindor-courage and stand up to her sister's Slytherin-tongue, "you can give Freddie some time, you know?"

Riley kept her glare on her cousin. "I don't have anymore time," she said through her clenched teeth. "The family's getting more and more conflicted with what happened, and I'm tired of it."

"But they'll get over it, Riley, they always do."

"And you would know that how?" Riley hissed at Sidney, shutting her up. "Don't pretend to know anything about any of us, Sid, because you really don't know how this family works!"

"I know—"

"Rubbish! You know rubbish, Sidney!" Now it was Riley's turn to interject. "You spend all your time avoiding us, walking away from us whenever we call you over and acting like you didn't hear us!

"What do you know, Sidney - what? I'm surprised you memorize any of our names at the rate you interact with us. But you tell me, how well do you know us, then? How long will this take to blow over, hmm?"

Sidney swallowed her shame, not really being able to contradict any of that because it was true. "…I…I'm just trying to tell you that I understand."

Riley laughed a mocking sound. "Understand what, Sid?"

"That you're…hurt that your dad's mad at you, I get that." Sidney spoke, clearing her throat, pushing an inflamed strand of hair behind her ear. "But, Riley, you don't think before you speak sometimes - and, yeah, I know that it hurts when your dad's looking at you like he is—"

"No, you don't know how much it hurts!" Riley screamed, not even letting her cousin finish as she spat more of her venom. "YOU DON'T HAVE A FATHER!"

Rory stood up from the old chair, looking shocked and her gasp following the echoes of her twin's shout; the words drowning the room with their meaning.

Sidney's eyes watered instantly with tears of her deepest nightmares, something inside shattering.

And almost like a miracle, or a freak moment, Riley looked a little stunned with what she had said. " I..."

But the rest was unheard as Sidney headed out the room.

X

She knelt down beside him, holding a small cloth and a potion-remedy on either of her hands as she did. Her blue eyes looked incredibly guilty and slightly shy as she reached over carefully, taking Abel Greengrass' arm. "This will sting a bit," she told him quietly, dabbing the potion with the cloth and giving him a second to prepare himself.

But Abel did not blink, did not even wince when she rubbed the potion onto the cut skin of his arm, or when it began to throb and burn. Instead he watched her eyes, a little mesmerized by them; the way they glowed an unrealistic shade of blue.

"I'm really sorry about this, Abel," Kendra Weasley told the boy, chewing on her bottom lip as she concentrated on healing his scrapes and bites. "Dad can be…well, his mind's a bit faulty. At least that's what my Aunt Dom says."

Abel gave her a single nod.

Kendra blinked, inhaling a puff of air, and then blinked up to look at the boy; a soft smile on her lips. "Thank you."

"For?" He asked, captivated a little more as he got a full-blast of her gaze.

She kept her smile, but said nothing. The two just stared at each other, the moment of silence so bashful and delicate.

A moment that didn't last long as someone invaded the living room of the Burrow - three boys coming in from the garden, laughing and shoving each other as they headed towards the spiral staircase. None of them really paying attention to the two fourteen year-olds in the corner.

"—This is going to be wicked! I heard you can do anything with that thing!" Orion Potter said to his two cousins.

"Anything, anything?" Lynx Malfoy retorted, reaching over and snatching the metallic-square Orion had clutched to him. "Because I've seen some pretty mental things, I doubt this…thing can compete."

Rolling his eyes at the punch Orion had just sent Lynx, Neo Potter took the square from Lynx before he could drop it. "Settle yourselves, alright? Molly will tear us apart if we break her…thing."

And as they began to climb the staircase, the three boys smiled humorously as they spotted Sidney walking down. "Oi, Sid! Want to join us? Your mum let us borrow her computing-thing!"

But Sidney did not respond, instead she practically shoved Neo out of the way; trudging her way down the rest of the steps and marching her way towards the backdoor.

"What the hell was that?" Neo asked.

An excited expression crossed Lynx. "Forget that thing, let's go!" He said to the other two, grabbing them by their sleeves and dragging them back towards the garden.

The shining-sun hit Sidney across the face, making her eyes hurt a bit from the dim light she had been getting from the attic for all those hours. She kept marching her way through despite that, ignoring Al and Nia who were both by the bushes, arguing about something, no doubt, since his wife had tears in her eyes and he looked upset - but on with it she went.

There was something thumping with so much pain inside of her, so much hurt and neglect. Like a never-ending ache that shocked the layers of her skin, that gripped her bones, that rampaged all the cells floating inside her body. It was everything, that pain. Everything she held inside, everything she tried to push away.

But now she couldn't, she couldn't control it anymore.

"No, a little higher, James, you idiot."

She needed answers.

"Higher! Are you not listening to me?" Molly Weasley II was glaring at her cousin, smacking him on the head with her wand as he wouldn't levitate the canopy of flowers the way she wanted to. "You see, this is why Rose and Scorpius put you in charge of handling the guests because you're rubbish at everything else!"

"Oi, look here, Molly, I am helping you because Mum said I had to! If you don't bloody like it, do it your bloody self!"

Ginny Potter took out her own wand and smacked her son with it. "How many times do I have to tell you not to curse in front of the children?" She threw another smack at him when Harriet and Evan, her eight year-old grandchildren smirked up.

Molly rolled her eyes, pushing James out the way. "Never-mind, I'll—" She paused, in one of her blinks catching sight of her daughter stopping next to her. "Ah, Sid, dear, help me with this, please."

But Sidney did not move, her feet were stuck to the grass; her heart pounding with all those emotions she had bottled up for so long.

"Sid, I'm talking to you," Molly said to her daughter, raising an eyebrow. But as the girl did not respond again, she concentrated a little more and noticed glistening tears in her daughter's eyes. "What happened, Sidney?" She asked worriedly, forgetting all about the canopy. "What's wrong?"

"You're wrong," Sidney said through a knot of emotions, the end of her nose burning as she tried keeping in those tears. "You're what happened."

Molly kept her eyebrow risen. "What?"

Sidney inhaled a shaky puff of air. "…W-Why don't you want to tell me who he is, my father?" It cost her so much to ask the question, but she had to. She had to get it out. "Who is he, Mum?"

Feeling like she had been slapped on the face but was determined to hold her ground, Molly cleared her throat and tried not to blink. "…We are not talking about this, Sidney," she said in a harsh murmur, not trying to add more attention to them as she already noticed a few others turning. "Now, go back into the Burrow and help your great-grandmother with dinner."

And then something snapped. "Then when are we going to talk about it?!" She shouted, the ripple of pain coming out and manifesting itself. "When are you going to stop acting like I'm a child instead of an adult and talk to me!"

Her mother narrowed her eyes. "Well, you're not really acting like an adult now, are you, Sidney?"

"I want to know, tell me!" Sidney snapped, ignoring her last bit. "Stop keeping me in the bloody dark and tell me! Tell me who he is!"

"I have given you everything, Sidney, everything," Molly responded, her own insides igniting with fire. "You have a happy, healthy life, and that's all because of me…not him."

Sidney scoffed, her tears falling down. "You have secluded me, that's what you've done!" She retorted. "You've made me into what you were at my age, don't think that I can't see that! But instead of pretending to fit in with them, you took away my father! You cast me out by throwing me into the images of happy families! Into something that I don't have because of you!

"What am I supposed to do, mother? Wait 'til I leave Hogwarts so I can runaway and live a muggle-life like you did? Like you've been doing all these years?"

Molly took a step back, feeling like she had been slapped again but much more rougher. Her brown-eyes began to water, to burn as she could not recognize the girl in front of her, or where was all that coming from - but before she could even retaliate, someone stepped into the scene.

"Sidney," Teddy Lupin called in all of his parental mode, "that's no way to speak to your mother, alright. Go inside now."

The crying-girl shook her head, narrowing her eyes now at the man. "No."

Teddy sighed, copying her frown. "You have a right to question things, Sidney, but you don't have a right to be ungrateful," he spoke with a strict tone, no sugar-coating tone. "Your mother has done so much for you, by herself. And when she hasn't, when she couldn't at times, we have been there for you….I have been there for you.

"…I was there from the moment you were born…The first time you got sick. When you were three and got lost, who helped Molly scout the streets of London? I was there, Sidney, to take you to your muggle-school everyday, to pick you up when traffic was terrible and Molly couldn't make it. And even at the times when I haven't, your uncles have; Freddie, James, Al, or Louis have been there…Your Granddad Percy and great-grandfather…You've never been left alone….

"I…I have treated you like my own, Sidney. You have been like my own—"

"I don't want a borrowed father!" Sidney interrupted Teddy, another fresh batch of tears rolling down her cheeks.

Teddy shook his head. "It's not like that, Sid. I have never seen it like—"

And again, the torn-down girl interrupted him with a heartbreaking, "YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER!" Teddy was automatically silenced, no spark of wanting to make the situation left in his body as he shut his lips in a tight line; an expression of wretchedness crossing his face.

Molly gasped, a flood of shame and disappointment entering her body as she looked at her daughter with incredulous eyes.

"I am not Glorie or Angelique, am I?" She whispered to them, to all those staring at her, but mainly to her mother and Teddy. "…I'm not yours, so stop….stop acting like it."

At the loud silence that had taken over the garden and the small group out there, Ginny Potter stepped in, putting an arm around Molly who looked ready to crumble at everything her daughter kept saying. "Why don't you go inside now, Sidney? This isn't the place or time for this."

Sidney sucked in more air, her tears not stopping. "There is never a time or place for it," she said to her aunt, spinning on her heels and heading back to the Burrow; a place she did not want to be.

She knew, somewhere deep inside her sensible side, that she had taken it too far. That maybe the words she said, the things she reproached her mother for, the way she spoke to Teddy weren't right, but they never listened. She had been carrying around those questions for seventeen years, and she couldn't contain it anymore.

She couldn't keep pretending like she belonged, or like she wanted to. She was different from all of them, she knew it and they did too. They just all went along with the picture-perfect, modern twist of a family Molly wanted Sidney to live with.

But enough was enough, and the bottle broke from an overflow.

She wasn't anyone's, she was half of something, and that's why she hid.

"Move over," Lynx muttered frantically to Orion and Neo, shoving them to the side so they could give Sidney pass and her tornado of anger wouldn't catch them.

And as Sidney past them, not sparing them a look, she also ignored a redhead with a completely guilty-expression; looking sorry for the first time in her life. "…Sid, wait."

But Riley was ignored—the truth was out there now, and Sidney Free Weasley didn't want to be a part of them.

AN: :'(

So sad, but needed to happen. Mhm.

Well summarize characters really quick:

1. Sidney is Molly's daughter.

2. Riley and Rory, twins, daughters of Freddie and Evanna.

2. Lynx, Rose and Scorpius' son

3. Kendra, Louis and Coral's daughter

4. Neo is Al and Nia's son

5. Orion, James and Emily's son

6. Abel Greengrass, adopted by Lily and Liam.