Chapter 20

Rooms flashed before Branwen's eyes one after another in quick secession. The twisting sensation in her stomach was strong. She hated travelling this way it always made her feel sick but this was the easiest method to visit her nhad.

Finally she was stood in the office that belonged to her nhad. It was empty but she wasn't surprised as she looked at the clock. It was nearly four fifteen and she knew he would be in his classroom teaching. She had sent a message to him and knew that he was teaching until five that was why she had waited so long to come up to the school.

Her eyes took in her father's office. So much of her time had been spent in this room in her youth. Not much had changed only the photos showed the progress of time. There was the one of Tad and Mamgu in their youth stood together smiling on their wedding day. Then the one of the pair of them with her nhad as a small boy.

She loved that photo it showed so much happiness in the family that she had never met. Her nhad was the image of Tad with the same smile and messy hair. His eyes were shaped like his mother's but the twinkle that filled them was the same as her Tad's. She'd always loved the way they looked so much alike it was a reassurance to her when she was young.

Next to that photo were a handful of Tad and nhad throughout his life as they both grew older. The absence of her mamgu was clear in all of them and in some of the earlier ones the twinkle was gone from their eyes. But by the final one it was back.

Next to that was the one of her nhad and mam and then next to it was the one where the pair of them held a tiny baby. It was the only photo in existence of the three of them together. A pang hit her heart and she thought about the fact that moment had been captured nineteen years ago this very day. It felt like an eternity to her but it was, it was her entire life. She wondered sometimes how long it felt for her father.

Following that were photos of Tad, nhad and her at different points in her life. But then they gave way to photos of just her and nhad. It marked the end of her family, the time when Tad had been ripped from the world during that awful battle. Those photos had the same feel as the early ones after her mamgu had been taken, a lack of something behind the eyes. But just as life continues that sparkle comes back.

The photo taken from her last day of Hogwarts showed that. The promise of what was to come was sparkling in both sets of eyes so much alike as they smiled and waved at the camera. She would have thought that was where the photos would end as that was their family. But as she looked she saw two more that stood there. Another taken from her last day with her and her friends laughing under the old oak tree that they had long ago claimed as theirs. All looking happy.

Then there was a wedding photo. A gift from Frank and Alice. It held the wedding party, her family. Frank and Alice stood in the middle smiling happy. Around them stood the people closest to them in life. Joe as best man stood next to Frank with his arm around Augusta and her husband Victor stood next with Aunt Enid and Uncle Algie. Then the ushers were gathered together joking around as always. James, Remus, Peter and Sirius all looked striking in their matching suits only slightly differing from Frank and Joes. On Alice's side stood her own nhad smiling happily playing the role of father of the bride for Alice. Branwen was next to him her hand in his. Then Amanda and Lily were the other side smiling in their matching dresses. It was a day filled with happiness and even though the presence of those missing was felt it didn't bring down the party atmosphere.

She couldn't help but smile as she looked around once more. She use to worry in the beginning that the war would rip the family apart. Tad had been taken as was one of her biggest fears and the other was that she would be killed and leave her nhad with no-one. But those photos showed that he would never be alone. Her friends had made him part of the family, he was the father figure for them all, considering that Remus was the only one left with a father.

Her eyes shifted to the clock and it was coming up to four thirty. She couldn't sit here any longer with the past playing out in front of her eyes. Stepping out of the office she took to the corridors that she knew so well. She had wandered them for seven years with them as her home. It felt strange today knowing that this wasn't her home anymore, that she wasn't a student.

But it had only been four months since she had been. The corridors and short cuts were so well known to her that it was quick and easy for her to find her way to the classroom that belonged to her father. She opened the door slightly and peeked inside. She recognised the colours on the students and knew this was a combination of Hufflepuff students and Gryffindors. She looked at the ties of her once classmates and felt a pang of wistfulness in her stomach. She wished that she could be sat there with them.

On the board was a sketch of a creature she knew well. It was the dementors of Azkaban. Her father was talking about why they were used and she found his voice calming on her as she slipped into the back of the room. A smile briefly swept to his lips as he noticed her and a few heads turned. A couple of Gryffindors gave her a few waves and she waved back.

A memory of a lesson much like this one came to mind. How Lily had shaken at the thought of the horrors that would be brought on by being close to them while Amanda had shrunk down into her chair eyes shut tight. Alice's lips had been brought tightly together in a grimace. Back then she thought that it was horrible but now she understood how terrible it really was. Her life was littered with tragedy that blighted her nightmares to have them forced on her during waking times would drive her insane.

A bell rang signalling the end of the lesson. She moved to the front of the room and had enveloped her nhad in a hug before the class had emptied. Leaning up she kissed his cheek a smile playing on her lips.

"I've missed you."

"You only saw me two weeks ago caried."

She laughed softly.

"Feels like a lifetime ago. I was so spoilt having you here that I got use to seeing you every day."

He held her tightly.

"I was the spoilt one. I missed so much of your childhood for this place but I got to spend the most important years of your life with you."

"You must be the only person in the world that thinks the teenage years are the best nhad."

He shook his head slowly.

"You learn who you're going to be in those years caried. And I got to see you grow got to help shape you into the woman you are in a way most parents don't. Because it's your peers and professors that help you become what you are. And I was there for that."

He tightened his arms around her for a moment. Then released her packing away his books.

"So how about we get some food from the kitchens and eat in my quarters."

"I hope there's cake."

"Are you telling me that you didn't get any cake Saturday?"

Her mind flashed back to that night. There had been a party in the boys' house. Loads of alcohol had been arranged throughout the house and music blasted as her friends celebrated both hers and Sirius' birthday. Most of the night was a blur and she knew that was down to the partying. She spent most of Sunday in bed with a painful head.

"I think it was chocolate fudge. But I don't really remember. But it was nowhere near as good as the cake from here."

He closed the door to his classroom and headed towards the kitchens. His voice was light as they turned the corner.

"I'm sure we'll be able to get something sweet."

She simply smiled enjoying the fact that she was able to have some time with her father. Tonight they would talk about everything and she couldn't wait for that.