Chapter ten: Painted Toes and Little Brothers.

A/N: Thank you to every one who has reviewed. Sorry this chapter is a bit short and sappy. I was a bit unsure about the dramatic parts so reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated and welcomed. Thanks guys!

"What do you think you're doing?" My mother asked cooly as she entered my bedroom unexpected. She was still in her nightgown even though it was three in the afternoon and she had a glare on her face very similar to Aunt Hermione whenever one of us was caught breaking some sort of rule.

Bow was sitting across from me on my bed and I looked to her for some sort of backup when she suddenly cracked away. I swore for a moment I saw tears swell up in her eyes. I had been playing with some muggle nail polish that Aunt Hermione had gotten me for my birthday the year before when Bow had asked me what it was. I told her and began to paint her little elf toe nails just for fun.

"I was painting her toes." I told my mother honestly, not understanding what the big deal was.

"So the reason I didn't have my morning tea was because you were painting a bloody elf's toenails?" she exclaimed harshly.

"Mum, I didn't mean to get her in trouble!" I immediately defended the elf.

"I seem to recall you having real friends, why the hell would you hang around with an elf!" she asked me rather rudely. "You are just like your father!" she added with a touch of disdain on her face.

What was that supposed to mean? I thought to myself, but didn't dare say it out loud. I still didn't understand what the big deal was. Bow and I were just having a bit of fun, she seemed to like the attention and I didn't mind hanging out with the little elf at all. As for the remark about having friends, well, the story was far too complicated to blab to my mother right then and there.

My attention was grabbed by what could only be described as a screeching fiery yell coming from the down stairs. I jumped toward the door in a fight or flight instinct but my mother pushed me back.

"What is that!" I screamed. The intense yelling hadn't stopped and despite my mother's efforts to keep me in the room, I fought past her and ran into the kitchen where I saw Bow sitting on the kitchen floor cutting off one painted toe at a time.

"BOW STOP IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! STOP IT!" I yelled harshly at the elf. Bow was crying and screaming. A horrible sound was emitting from her mouth that I don't ever wish to hear again as long as I live.

"Leave her be!" My mother hissed from behind me. "She's doing the right thing in punishing herself. She knew she was doing wrong!"

Bow was now standing in a puddle of what I assumed was house elf blood. It was red like a human's but thicker and with a greyish tint.

I thought quick and grabbed a dish towel off of the side of the stove and covered her feet with it. I then took the giant chopping knife out of her hands and threw it across the kitchen.

"I was a bad elf and I needed to punish myself." Bow hiccuped as I took her into my arms.

"This is madness!" I cried, a wave of emotion swept through me and I began to cry.

"Roxanne, you are to leave this elf alone!" my mother yelled, she yanked me off the kitchen floor so that Bow fell out of my arms and landed back on the kitchen floor with a loud thud. I turned around quicker than my mother had expected and pushed her hard so that she no longer had a hold on me.

"Are you bloody mad!" I yelled at her. "This poor little creature just cut off most of her toes just because you didn't have your morning tea?" I was still crying.

"It's what she was taught to do. I can't go around punishing elves all day, I have better things to do!" she said this angrily but her voice didn't raise, as if she thought nothing of an elf cutting off appendages, as if it happened everyday.

"I'll make you your God damn morning tea, mother!" I hissed. "This is absolutely ridiculous!" I gestured towards Bow who was now trying to mop up her own blood with the dish towel I gave her. Her efforts were of no use though, as her little feet were still bleeding. "Bow, please stop!" I pleaded with the elf who didn't seem to hear me. I bent down and grabbed the towel from her "Please, stop!" I yelled it this time and she plopped down with a thud onto the kitchen floor.

I sat down with her, unsure of what to do, I took the little thing into my arms and just cried. I didn't know where my mother went but she wasn't in the kitchen anymore and I knew that she was very angry with me. I didn't care though. This was just madness! Whether the elf didn't do her job or not there was no reason to sit back and watch the little humanoid creature cut off her own toes. What kind of inhumanity was this? I suddenly got the urge to join Aunt Hermione's S.P.E.W campaign.

I don't know how long I was sitting on the floor, but I eventually cried myself to sleep, leaning up against the island with the elf in my arms. When I awoke Bow was gone and all the blood was cleaned up off of the spotless white tiled floor.

Without even thinking about it, I ran to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and yelled "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" into the green flames. I was only going to stay for a little bit, I told myself all the while secretly wishing that my dad wasn't home. He'd think me a wimp or a liar if he knew I came home, even just for a little bit. I was so dead set on going to live with my mum and I didn't want to seem as if I was going back on my word. Part of me wanted to snuggle up to him like I did when I was younger and another part of me, the stronger grudge holding part wanted to let him know I was still angry with him.

When I landed in the living room of the ever so familiar flat above the joke shop a smile immediately crept to my face. It smelled of stinky socks, fireworks and fudge, just like I'd remembered. I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that all the lights were off. No one must be home, I whispered in the dark, but just to make sure, I tiptoed softly to what was once my bedroom.

My room was almost bare. My father had sent most of my stuff to my mum's place right before the Easter holidays. My closet was open and empty, the drawers of my dresser were still open as if he packed everything in a hurry. The only thing that was still comfortably recognizable was the moving poster of my Aunt Ginny throwing a Quaffle in her Harpies gear and the poster of the Weird Sisters silently performing. It wasn't until then I remembered to look up. The glowing bouncing stars made me burst into tears. I'd missed them so much, they had always made me smile when I was upset but now they just made me cry.

As I lay on my bed in a fit of tears, I heard my little brother call to me. "Roxie, is that you?" he whispered, unsure of himself.

"Yeah, Freddy, it's me." I choked between sobs.

"You came back!" I couldn't see him in the dark but I felt his smile through his exclamation. I smiled for a second between sobs as well. I felt him climb up onto my bed and snuggle up against me. "I knew you'd come back!"

He laid his head in the crook of my neck and wrapped his arms around me as I began to cry even harder. "Why are you crying?" he asked sweetly.

"Because." I hiccupped.

"I missed you, Roxie." he told me. "And dad's been a mess. He said you weren't coming back, but I knew you would. I knew that you and dad would make up and you'd start hanging out with Rose again and you'd stop it with those horrid girls at Hogwarts and everything would go back to normal. I knew it!" he spoke very fast and very confidently. Again, I knew he was smiling and I couldn't even see him.

"I love you, Freddy." I told him through broken sobs.

"I love you too, Roxie." he squeezed me and snuggled up closer. "Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story? Would that make you feel better?" Freddy was referring to all the crazy stories my dad used to tell us when we were real little. Everything from a broken bone, a scratch, heartache, and probably even death could be cured with one of George Weasley's infamous bedtime sagas.

"Sure." I told him as a gush of more mixed emotions washed through me.

Freddy started whispering a story of a knight trying to defeat a Hungarian Horntail (because they were the scariest) without magic because he had broken his wand in a Quidditch match the day before.

I smiled at my little brother's overactive imagination, he had always been creative like that and he always had a knack for making anyone feel better. Freddy and I held each other while he told his story and I eventually fell asleep and even though he was my goofy little brother who annoyed me at times, I felt comfortable and safe for the first time since we'd left Hogwarts.