Chapter 7

"Teddy? What are you doing here?"

They were stood in the middle of Platform nine and three quarters, and Roxy was going back to school after the Christmas holidays.

Teddy sighed, "Roxy, you have to tell him before you leave."

He gestured over to George. He was laughing with Ron, Harry and Hermione. Angelina was absent; one of her friends had just been left by their husband, so she had gone to take care of her.

Both Ron and George still looked distraught, but they were, gradually, getting over Dad's death. I hadn't seen Mum since the Wake; she had been avoiding Roxy, which was understandable when you consider that just as her husband died, she became faced with the possibility that her dead son may still be alive in the form of her Granddaughter, the emotionally unstable girl who was tortured and left for dead in an abandoned House. It's too much for anyone to deal with; I hate myself for playing the song. Why was I so stupid? Why didn't I just tell Roxy to pretend George was joking?

It's my fault too. I shouldn't have let you.

No Roxy, this one's all me. Don't ever think it's your fault.

"Hello? Roxy? Are you there?" Teddy asked, waving a hand in front of her face and jolting her out of our conversation.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure Teddy, I'll-I'll tell him now."

She walked slowly over to where her Dad stood and casually took hold of his hand.

"Dad? Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," George smiled, and took Roxy off into a corner, away from the others. "What is it Roxy?"

Roxy looked up into his smiling face. She couldn't do it. She couldn't hurt him like that. There was no way she would physically be able to get the words out. She glanced over at Teddy, who gave her an encouraging smile.

"Dad, I…"

George knelt down so he could be face to face with her.

"I… I just wanted to say that I love you Dad, and Thank you, for everything."

George put his arms around her. "I love you too princess. I love both of you."

Roxy pulled away, a horrified expression on her face. "No, Dad. Leave me alone. I'm not him. I'll never be him. I can't believe you would…" She shook her head.

Both of them were crying. He grabbed hold of her hand as she tried to walk away.

"Roxy, I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, please!"

"No." She pulled her hand out of his grasp and ran away from him, onto the train.

"Roxy wait!"

She walked along the corridor and into the compartment that held five of her cousins. Tears still flowing freely, she threw herself down in between Lily and Rose.

The train started up, and they sat in silence, everyone watching Roxy.

"Uhh, Roxy?" Fred was sat by the window, looking out at the platform, "I think Dad wants to talk to you."

"Thank you, Sherlock." She wiped away the tears with the sleeve of her jumper.

"He's chasing after the train."


"Roxy, post for you."

"Oh, thanks Albus."

Roxy took the two envelopes from him, placed them down on the table next to her and carried on eating her cornflakes.

"Aren't you going to open them?" Fred looked concerned.

"No, maybe later, it won't be anything important."

"Roxy, is there something you're not telling us?" Rose had joined the conversation, and beside her Molly and Lily were also listening in.

"No. I'm just going to read the post later."

"That's Dad's handwriting on one of the envelopes. Don't you want to see what he wants to tell you? Especially after what happened yesterday."

She sighed, it was the morning after they had arrived back at Hogwarts, and none of her family seemed to want to forget George chasing the train.

Just open them Roxy, maybe they'll leave you alone after that.

She picked up the envelope with George's handwriting on it, and opened it slowly, holding the letter at an angle so that no-one could read it.

She quickly scanned it, and stuffed the parchment into her pocket, just as five hands reached out to grab the letter off her. There was a dull thud as Lily's fist missed and hit her face, and she yelped with pain. It really hurt; no wonder Lily was a beater.

"OW! Lily you Idiot! That hurts!" She gasped.

Roxy stood up, her face cradled in her hands, and ran from the hall.

She stood in the bathroom studying her face, it looked horrible, the whole right side of her face was red, and her eye was swollen and already going black.

Here, try 'Emaculo'.

Thanks Fred.

She pointed her wand tip towards her eye and muttered the spell. It looked loads better, although her eye was still black and swollen up.

What do we do about Dad's letter?

Well, you can't blame him, he misses me. Imagine what you'd be like if Freddie died, and then you were given a tiny piece of hope that he could still be alive, somehow.

I'd do exactly the same thing, but it's difficult…

Give it a few days, and then write back. You know he's really sorry.

Yeah. She sighed and looked back into the mirror again.

I look awful.

I took a moment to study her disfigured face.

Nah, stand next to James and no-one'll notice.

She laughed, and picked up her bag. She had already missed the whole of potions, and was five minutes late for Herbology. I was glad that she was in a good mood today, she deserved a bit of happiness.

In that moment, both of us forgot that the other letter still lay on the Gryffindor Table, waiting for someone to pick it up…


Professor Longbottom was not famous for giving out harsh punishments, so we were surprised to find ourselves scrubbing Bubotuber Pus off the floor of Greenhouse one after dinner that evening, having been caught talking in his class. Neville sat with his feet up on a table, enjoying watching Roxy work. I preferred him before he was a war hero; he was a much nicer person.

He might look smug now, but I don't remember him being so chuffed when Snape made him wash the entire Potions corridor… Twice!

She giggled, and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Something funny, Miss Weasley?"

"No sir." She was still grinning.

"I despair; the only reason I gave you this detention was because your parents told be to find out what's wrong with you, and now you just sit there looking like you've just taken a grinning potion. If it wasn't for your eye I'd probably say you were one of the happiest people I know."

Roxy sat still for a minute, not sure whether or not to be angry that her parents were checking up on her.

Neville sighed, "You can go. I'll tell your Dad that you're fine. What did happen to your eye by the way?"

"I… Lily punched me in the face. It was an accident and she's said she's sorry. It's fine now."

In reality her eye still throbbed painfully, but Neville believed what she had said, and waved her away with a flick of his wrist.

When she arrived back at the common room it was nearly empty. She walked over to the armchairs where Lily, Molly, Albus, James and Fred were sitting and sat down on Albus' chair arm.

"I just had to scrub Bubotuber Pus off the Greenhouse floor for two hours!" She complained loudly, crossing her arms.

"Really? That doesn't sound like Neville." Albus frowned.

"He says Mum and Dad put him up to it, they want to know what's wrong with me."

"So there is something wrong with you!" Lily cried out. "I knew it! What is it! You can tell us!"

"No there's nothing wrong, I'm just still a bit…" She trailed off, looking downwards.

There was a long awkward silence, in which Molly walked over and put her arm around Roxy. "Does the cruciatus curse hurt a lot?"

"More than anything in the entire world."

There were a few more minutes of silence where everybody sat, fidgeting, and avoiding Roxy's eyes.

"I'm going to bed. It's late." Albus stood up, and walked away, out of the common room, presumably back to the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.

"Same."

"Me too."

"And me."

One by one, they stood up and left, until only Roxy and James were left sitting by the fire.

James stood up, and said, "I may not have been the most trustworthy person in the world before this, but this is a whole lot bigger than what I told Fred. You can count on me this time Roxy. I'll help you through this."

He walked out of the room, dropping a piece of parchment onto her lap as he left. Roxy picked it up, and buried her face in her hands.

Dear Roxy
I'm really proud of you telling your Dad. He might not have reacted very well, but it's only natural that he's upset about it. Now I know your parents are supporting you now, but I just wanted you to think about some of the options. I'm sure you aren't the first Hogwarts student to be Pregnant, so there will be someone there that you can talk to about what to do with the child. I grew up without my parents Roxy, and I can tell you, as great as Harry and Ginny are, there's no way I would have chosen them. I'm not saying adoption's a bad idea, but you should really think about it before deciding what to do. I also know some people might try to pressure you towards Abortion, but I don't see that as an option, I don't think you will either.
Make sure you keep me up to date with EVERYTHING, and I mean every tiny little thing, however insignificant you think it is. Please know that however bad things seem, there will always be people to help you through it.
Love, Teddy

Roxy shut her eyes for a second; James would easily have made the connection.

"He thinks I told Dad. What do I do? What do I do?"

Well, you could stop face-palming for a few seconds, people are staring.

She smiled, glancing over at the group of first years watching her. A taller figure stood up and walked over to her, looking concerned.

"Are you alright? You look like… well… like crap if I'm honest." It was James' girlfriend, Holly. They had only spoken a few times, but she seemed nice enough.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit stressed out." She said quickly, smiling up at Holly. "I think I'll go to bed, night."

Roxy ascended the stairs slowly, aware of the kind, but still slightly concerned looking eyes that still followed after her.


Don't really have very much to say any more having just deleted the lyrics to the entirety of "Harry Freakin' Potter" from down here. I mean, wow, you're still reading. That's gotta be a good thing... right? Or maybe you're just laughing at me.
Probably.
Oh well, thank-you for reading this far anyway, I hope you're enjoying yourself.
Edited as of 26/6/12
Hannah :)