Hey, sorry for the delay, I had a Maths exam and then I'm doing this crazy write a novel in a month thing so I've been a bit distracted. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I own my OCs.

~Chapter 25. The Pact~

Freya POV

I woke up on the ground, my clothes damp from lying on the wet grass. I rolled over onto my side and saw that I was lying next to my gravestone. Suddenly very unsettled, I moved quickly away and sat down on the nearby bench, teasing my hair out of its knots and trying not to stare at the place where I was buried. It was fairly cold for a day in mid-May and my breath hung in the air around me, separating me from the fog.

"Ok Freya, let's get out of the graveyard, it's a little creepy." I said out loud.

Catherine and Timothy had eventually convinced me to return to the land of the living and reunite the remaining members of the Pact. I still wasn't happy to be around but like they had said I would be doing more for my daughter by finding the old gang than lazing around the afterlife with the few friends I had.

Just as I'd made it onto the main street it started to rain, a lot. I didn't have any money for a bus or a decent coat, all I had were the clothes I died in—a long patchwork skirt and deep purple jumper. My brown leather boots had holes in the bottom so I took them off and dumped them by the side of the road. I caught a glance of myself in the glass of a shop window. I didn't look much different. Thirteen years older of course but the same pale skin, auburn hair and shadowed eyes. My lips were dry and my eyes bloodshot like they were the day I died.

"You really should have gotten yourself help." I muttered, lifting the pocket watch that now adorned my chest.

It was my parting gift from the dead. The dial didn't help me read the time it showed me what I needed to see. A yes or a no. A north, east, south or west. A left or a right.

"Show me wear to go, oh wise one." I laughed sarcastically, holding it out.

The familiar chill of death magic, necromancy, filled my veins and directed my body to the location of my family and friends, people who would not want to see me. My clothes clinging to my skin and the icy bite of spring showers nestling in my bones I trekked all the way to the castle, grabbing the occasional lift from a nice looking stranger.

By the time I reached their castle it was dark, my feet were cut and I was pretty sure I would die of pneumonia. I wished I'd had a wand but mine was lost in the ruins of my old house. I knocked on the door, dreading what was going to happen next.

"I don't know who it could be." I could hear Charlotte's voice approaching. "No I won't let any strangers in, I'm not stupid Fred."

I smiled to myself a little, Fred had made it back. The door opened and my sister's unusually cheery face beamed at me. And then she recognised who I was.

"It's raining out here and I don't have any money and I was wondering if you've got a spare bed?" I said weakly with a small smile.

Charlotte stared blankly for a few moments before throwing herself at me and embracing me in a hug. She held me at arm's length and shook her head in disbelief.

"Come in." She laughed, pulling me up the steps into the main room. "Look who's here? This is just crazy." She kissed my cheek and put an arm around my shoulder. "I think I have some spare clothes upstairs. Fred can you go and get Lauren, I think she's in the summerhouse with Gen and Al."

~XC021~

After I had changed into some comfortable clothes—a pair of green shorts and a long cream shirt—I went back downstairs and curled up in a blanket. I glanced briefly at the tea but didn't drink it, after being dead for so long it would take a while before my appetite came back.

"How long have you been back?" Lauren asked, sitting opposite me with a perplexed expression written on her face.

"The same amount of time that Fred's been back, it just took longer for me to...materialise, if you like, because I wasn't by the gates at the time."

"We're glad to have you back." Charlotte smiled.

I sighed. "I can't stay here. You really wouldn't want me here if you knew the truth."

"Freya what are you talking about? Why would we want to send you away?"

"I don't think you know the whole truth about the night I died." I raked a hand through my damp hair and looked Lauren directly in the eye. "It's your choice whether or not you want to listen to this but I think you should."

My daughter glared back and curled her lip slightly. "I don't know what you could've done that's so bad you don't think we could forgive you."

"People surprise you." I said sadly and took a steadying breath. "Everything was absolutely fine. Me and Joreth were happily married and then I got pregnant and everything was great." I looked up. "I know you didn't like him much but he was really kind and helpful, held my hand, held my hair whatever I needed the entire way through the pregnancy." I smiled to myself.

"That doesn't sound like the dad I know."

"Seven weeks before you were born something changed. He came home from work one day with a new attitude. He became obsessed with how often I was wearing the ruby necklace and whether or not we could leave town. I thought it was last minute nerves but he was really attached to the idea of running away and leaving the child behind. He had this fantasy of us hiding away somewhere whilst somebody else raised our child."

Charlotte gave me a stern look. "You didn't say anything to us."

I took a sip from the tea to calm my nerves. "I didn't want to give you an excuse to say 'I told you so'. I thought it would be one of those things we could just ride out so there would be absolutely no point in bothering you about it." I let the steam console me as I prepared to tell them about what happened next.

"I'm still not hearing anything unforgiveable."

"I suffered really badly from post-natal depression, I didn't know that at the time but I did. I would look down at my baby and feel nothing, absolutely nothing. Me and Joreth were fighting all the time and there was nobody around to care about you, Lauren, but I think that's what he wanted. He got desperate, said it was too late to put you up for adoption, started talking about killing you and that didn't scare me as much as it should have. Actually I started to get ideas so I did a soul exchange. I thought that then if someone destroyed the ruby then it would kill the baby and it wouldn't look like anything other than cot death."

"You wanted to kill me? Why the hell would you tell me that?" Lauren glared at me.

"Because I can't stand you believing that I'm some sort of hero. When I collapsed that building I did it because I wanted you dead, not because I was trying to save you from Joreth. We were both as bad as each other, no, I was worse. I think Joreth had a reason, I just wanted to get rid of you. And I don't need pity okay, I know I was ill but I was still partially in control."

I wanted to cry, I probably needed to cry but I wouldn't do it in front of them, I didn't want their sympathy. The silence lasted for a few minutes and I put my drink down and avoided their gazes.

"Did you come all the way back just to tell me that?" Lauren said bitterly.

"No I came back because I have a job to do and I'm the only one capable and willing to do it. And I'd rather you heard the truth from me than from Joreth. For so many years I've convinced myself that I was saving you and most of the time that's how I remember it but I'm sick of lying to myself."

Ellie adjusted her position on the sofa and gave me a sympathetic look. "Do you know how we found her?" She nodded to Lauren.

I pushed my hair back behind my ears. "I don't see how this changes anything but no."

"Well I found you, I was in town working in the Ministry for a while and I got called up to your house. It was just rubble. Piles of brick and plaster and tile in a halo around this one room and when I opened it the wall almost collapsed but there was still a crying baby inside. There wasn't a single shard of glass or anything in the cot and you were there bent over her." Ellie's eyes flickered just a little darker. "I don't know what you wanted to do that day but your final act was saving her life. You wanted to protect Lauren, whether you knew it or not."

~XC021~

I didn't sleep well that night but I buried myself beneath the covers for as long as I could before there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I groaned.

Lauren appeared in the doorway, still dressed in her nightclothes.

"Morning, would you like some tea?" She smiled, levitating two mugs, a teapot and other things needed for a good morning beverage.

"Why are you in here? You should be downstairs complaining about how much of a disappointment I am." I kicked away the covers and wrapped myself in Charlotte's old dressing gown.

She sat down on the bed opposite me and poured out some tea. "How many sugars?"

"Is this some sort of torture? Some new form of punishment that I'm not aware of?"

She beamed at me with the same smile Joreth wore when he knew he'd get his own way. "This is called, I haven't had a mother in almost fourteen years and you don't get to suddenly decide whether or not you want to look after me. Children don't come with receipts and whilst you're alive and kicking, we should spend as much quality time together as possible."

"Lauren, has it crossed your mind that this isn't completely healthy. I mean I'm not staying for very long. As soon as I've spoken with Joreth I have to go and finish some things."

She handed me the sugar before lifting her own cup to her lips. "Why would you speak to my dad again after everything he's done?" I gave her a look. "Fine, he didn't kill you like we all thought but he did want me dead and he was awful to the both of us, you being a sociopathic first-time mother has nothing to do with this."

"Its not so easy to fall out of love with someone, even if they're terrible people you remember the times when they weren't. I just need to see him again, I need to hear what he has to say."

"Take me with you." She said quietly. "The two of us can speak to him and then we can go."

"You don't even know what this is about."

She pursed her lips and gave me a dark look. "This is about Ellie isn't it? Me and Al and Magenta and Charlotte and Ellie. This relates to all of us."

I nodded my head. "This is our family history, Lauren, this is our legacy, this is about the Pact."

Oooh Freya's back and she's not as innocent as we all thought! What happened to Joreth? Why did he suddenly go crazy? And what is the Pact? You know what to do in the meantime...

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Ella Bella xx