Done: Jo

Love is a Battlefield Chapter 36

September 1st, the last September 1st that was going to matter, dawned hot. The weather was pretending it wasn't September, for which it was a terrible liar, because I was so done with summer and this bloody house. If I played my cards right, I would never sleep under this roof again.

Mum, of course, was a blubbering mess at this prospect.

"My last baby!" she whined, handkerchief mopping up her tears and patting her blotchy face. "My last darling girl! Going to that nasty school and leaving me and Archibald behind!"

Oh yes. Archibald was here too. He came over early for breakfast, which forced Mum to not attempt to drink herself into an even greater tizzy. Instead, she was showered and clothed in a great billowy yellow dress, something that contrasted nicely with her hair, actually, and almost reminded me of wizard robes. Baldie had dressed up for the occasion too, wearing a dress shirt and trousers, though I imagined by noon he would sweat through both. Now he was all smiles, linking arms with Mum as we walked to the waiting car in the driveway. I could have easily Apparated to some King's Cross toilet stall, but that would have been too startling for our mother. And she must deserve this. This small form of goodbye.

"There, there, my dear. Jo will be back for Christmas, won't you? You'll see her then," Baldie reminded her, patting her hand. Sweat was dripping from his forehead, slipping off his glasses.

I lugged my trunk to the boot of the car, the heat pressing down on the bare legs, uncovered except for my denim shorts, showing off my slight tan (I'm a bit smug about that). A low breeze tugged at my loose white button-up. I could feel hair escaping my bun, sticking to my neck, but I reminded myself that my appearance didn't matter because my heart was definitely not thumping in my chest in anticipation of seeing a certain Weasley boy. No. No. Definitely not. My stomach seemed to crackle at the thought.

Joss mercifully honked the horn of the car. "Hurry up the hugs and kisses: I've got to go to training!"

Mum startled a bit at the noise. My project had worked a bit: she had gotten more sober over the summer, I think. Full bottles of alcohol were piling up, which was a paradoxical sign that she wasn't drinking. I'd enchanted all the rest, but I wasn't sure what would happen once those were gone. What if she went off the deep end? Her tolerance was lower so it would take considerably less.

Baldie, of all people, seemed to be thinking these same thoughts. Our eyes met through his glasses and he gave me a small smile. He patted her arm again. I'll take care of her.

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. His very presence, which was reaching near-constant levels, always calmed her down. Then again, Mum had a long way to go to being completely functional.

To demonstrate this point, Mum sprang from Baldie's grasp then and flung her arms around me. "Josephine, darling, you'll write, won't you? Emma has been so busy and not able to call. That dratted hospital of hers. And Val is still in Romania and Joss with her training. Mummy's got an empty nest."

"It'll just be a regular school year, Mum," I reassured her. "We'll think about post-graduation when it's closer."

She squeezed me harder. "And then you'll get married to a nice rich young man and have lots of grandchildren right next door."

"I'm going to have your grandchildren in a hospital."

"That's what I meant, dear. Mustn't get confused now. Find a young man first."

"I hate to interrupt this spectacular delusion you have that Jo will cough up kids, but we have to leave," Joss said.

Mum gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. She pulled back and I saw that she actually was crying. I felt the corners of my mouth slide downward. "It'll be alright, Mum," I said. "You have Archibald, remember. You'll have lots of fun with him."

"Oh yes, Archie!" Mum turned to him and went back to being on his arm.

I watched the odd couple for a second before saying, "Goodbye, you two." I slammed the boot closed and got in the passenger. As Joss revved up the engine, Mum and Baldie waved excitedly. I waved back until we turned the corner and they were out of sight.

I took a deep breath through my nose. I was done. I was finished with all that. It could be at a distance from now on. As the Wizard War raged, they would be fine.

"Alright, I've got questions," Joss said.

"Ugh, what are they?" I sighed. Might as well get the cross-sister examination over too.

"What did you do to Mum? She seemed more an excitable bint than usual."

"She's slowly figuring out that I lowered her alcohol intake. I think Baldie will help her through it. Or at least try."

"But she hardly took the time to criticize me about my job. I was looking forward to setting Fred on her."

"That sounds like you should be thanking me more than questioning me."

"But what the hell did you do to bewitch the banshee?"

"I lived with her the entire summer. By myself."

An awkward silence settled in the car. I shouldn't blame, Joss. Merlin knows I would have done the same thing if our positions were reversed. My gaze lazed towards the window, seeing Muggle London pass by. Joss was actually pretty expert at navigating the city in the Muggle contraption, smoothly turning the wheel and not killing the other drivers. "Where did you learn to drive?" I asked.

A sly grin grew on her face. "Fred."

"Ah. Also, when did you start setting your boyfriend on people?"

"Long story: involves boredom and fireworks. Next question: who are you all dressed up for?"

"What?"

Her eyes slid from the road to look me up and down. "You've got your 'nice' clothes on when usually you use those frumpy Muggle rags before you change into your uniform. What gives, little sister?"

Merlin, I did not want Joss to know about him. I would get a letter a week telling me to shag him silly. "Maybe I just wanted to look nice for my last first day at school, ever thought about that?"

"Uhhhh-huh. It definitely does not have to do with George, does it?"

I groaned and tried to choke myself with my seatbelt.

"Stop that, or I'll hex your face. Explain, little sister."

I put the palms of my hands against my eyes. "There's nothing going on, I swear to Merlin, would you please leave it alone."

"You were all buddy-buddy with the Weasels at the end of last year. George talked to you while you were upset and returned with his entire face intact. Even Fred's been asking after you. Said you weren't answering George's letters. Wanted to know if you were alive."

"Merlin's fuck," I replied. Joss knew everything. I wanted to slip from my seat and through the car and lay on the road until someone ran me over to end my mortification.

"My word of advice, little sister, is that if you want to sell your Magical soul and do as Mum wants and marry some moronic rich Muggle, as a last act of rebellion you should get your cherry popped by a wizard."

I stared at her. "That is possibly the worst bit of advice I have ever heard in my life."

"Yeah, well, I'm also not the one who locked herself up with our mother all summer."

"Someday, somewhere, someone is going to find bits of you spread over a motorway and they'll never be able to find out who did it."

"Such affectionate words. You can get out of the car, now."

I looked out the window. "How are we already at King's Cross?"

Joss waggled her eyebrows at me. "Magic."

We shared a smile. "Brilliant," I whispered. "I love magic. Thanks, Joss!"

I jumped out and dug my trunk out of the boot before going back to the window to say goodbye.

"Be good, little sister. You're the last Wilde." She winked. "Give 'em hell."

We were both laughing as she pulled away from the curb. Joss had told Mum we would need an hour and a half to get from home to the railway, but it had been barely ten minutes. She'd saved me almost an hour early: it was only 10 o'clock. I watched her drive away and noticed how the car slid into impossible spaces, changing lanes and scooting ahead of the traffic easily. Amazing.

Once Joss was gone, I looked down at my trunk. I'd cast a weather-light charm, but it was still a bit heavy. I'd packed as much of my room as possible in it, wanting to have as little excuse as possible to go back home. I lifted the slight monstrosity and used the wheels to maneuver to platforms 9 and 10.

And there it was. The barrier. A thin line of illusory magic that separated the ordinary from the extraordinary. My life from Mum's. Crossing it was like a goodbye too, a farewell to these dog day summers, to directly dealing with my mother's alcoholism. It was freedom. It was what I wanted.

I crossed it and the smells of 9 and 3/4 assaulted my nose. There was instantly the quirk and itch and brightness of magic in the air. The hum of being alive and changeable. The world seemed cleaner, less burdened (though the opposite was true). The train was there, some other students and their families meandering about the platform. I passed them all and quickly boarded, feeling the strange hush and quiet tingle through my skin. It was usually so busy by the time I got here. Now the train was mostly empty.

It wouldn't be for long. It seemed like I had just tucked myself away in a compartment when noises entered the space, the called out greetings and chatter and human warmth bringing the train back to its usual life. Like a punch in the gut, I realized George must be here, somewhere. Should I stay here? Should I go find him? I nervously tugged at my clothes, half-praying no one would come in this compartment, half-wishing he would. I could feel the electricity building up, the pull coming in with renewed force. He had to be here. Please.

After a half-hour of this, I realized what a twit I was being. I changed into my school robes, tucked my wand in my pocket, and opened the door to find him. I searched around, walking up and down the train until I spilled back out onto the platform.

And there he was.

Or rather he and his double.

The two were standing there, in a crowd of other people, talking with them, their trunk and extra books on a trolley. I sucked in a breath, trying to figure out which was which, but their faces were too far away to tell by freckles. Using wandless magic to nudge past the crowd, I approached, focused on their faces because I had to know which was which, which was the one I had hoped, prayed, would be here.

Their mirror blue eyes were staring at me by the time I was in front of them. I looked carefully and counted.

Ah. The one on the left.

"You're back," I said quietly.

"I am," he said.

I tackled him into a hug.

"Oi! If you two would like to get a room," said Fred. "There are people about."

"Shut up, Fred." I glared at him. "Hello, everyone else."

From George's arms, I saw that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were staring. Ginny sniggered behind her hand. I let go of George and stepped back. While smoothing out my clothes, I darted glances at him, trying to see how he had changed.

George had cut his hair over the summer (pity) and he somehow seemed taller. His shoes were scuffed up and his Muggle clothes a bit worn and rumpled (my fault there though). They looked comfortable, and, judging by the small bulges everywhere, there was plenty of pocket space. The new fifth years somehow also seemed larger, especially Harry and Ron, who seemed to have grown a foot. Ron and Hermione had small (owl?) scars on their fingers and Harry's eyes seemed to be reigning in something, a hidden anger. His green irises seemed ready to firecracker. Guess that's what happens when there's a war on. And he, of all people, was its epicenter.

I turned my attention back to George. "I've got a compartment we could use, come on." Leading them back there, I called, "Oh, and Joss sends her regards, Fred."

"Did she send a kiss too?"

"She could have sent you a punch in the face."

"That'd be more like it."

I think Ginny muttered something about weird relationships under her breath and Hermione nodded her head, bemused.

It was a large crowd, but we, plus a pleased Lee Jordan we picked up along the way, settled into the compartment. I snuggled into George's side, breathing in the comforting scent of him as he put an arm around me. The whole year would be like this: no Mum, no Martini Mondays, no Muggles. It would be a dragon's worth of studying, but it would be peaceful.

Until we graduated that is. The war was waiting. The Hogwarts Express was already moving towards it.

"So what did you all do over the summer?" I asked, eager to hear their stories. Probably something really amazing like-

"Nothing much," Fred shrugged.

"Mostly stayed in," added George.

"Harry and I practiced Quidditch," said Ron, a proud note in his voice. "He's Captain of the team this year."

I noticed the glint of a shiny Prefect badge. "And you were made Prefect, I see."

"Hermione too," Ginny said.

Harry seemed sullen. "I watched the news."

My eyes widened in question. "Good job?" They all seemed tense somehow, like they were avoiding the same thing. Obviously this was not what they had been doing over holiday. I sighed and buried my head into George. It might be some shared drama, something that would add to Harry's anger, but just in case, I asked softly, "You weren't fighting were you?"

The room seemed to go still. George's arm tightened around me. "No," he said. "We weren't."

There was a slight bitterness to his voice.

"Well, this is bloody depressing," Lee interjected. "Show us the new products you wrote me about."

The Canary Incident popped in my head. "Are they safe?"

Fred and George wore matching grins. "Oh, definitely."

George continued, "We're going to test them out on students, see what they really like and want."

Fred rubbed his hands together. "It's going to be brilliant, it is. All those unsuspecting first years..."

"You can't go testing products on first years!" Hermione said, aghast. "That's horrible!"

"And which rule would that be breaking, Miss Prefect?" said Fred.

"Don't reckon they have a rule for that," George added.

"Hermione, calm down. We have to go to the Prefect's meeting anyway. Sort it out later," Ron said. "See you."

As the pair exited, Ron more or less dragging a fuming Hermione, Lee smiled like a devil, "Filch is going to be pissed."

The rest of the ride passed like that, the twins pulling out invention after invention. I loved Weasley's Wildfire Whizbangs. I immediately bought one of the Skiving Snackboxes and as a joke a whole bag of Canary Creams. Alicia, Katie, Angelina, Neville, and Leanne also piled into our compartment (lots of lap sitting was involved) and soon we were all drowning in feathers, edible Dark Marks, trick wands, and Ton-Tongue Toffees. Ginny succumbed to a Nosebleed Nougat and Neville accidently set off some fireworks, which left bloodstains on the carpet and scorch marks on the ceiling. The trolley lady saw them and nearly had a heart attack, but showed us how to clean them up nonetheless (and in compensation we bought a cauldron-full of her sweets). On the plus side, Harry came out of his angry shell a bit, finally relaxing and enjoying himself enough to let me teach him how to make flying paper cranes.

"That was possibly the best train ride of my life," I told George as we got off and headed towards the carriages. We were arm in arm since I was enjoying his presence entirely too much to let him go. He didn't seem to mind.

The crowd of black-robed students was streaming from the train, Hagrid's mass bulk swarmed by tiny eleven-year-old bodies. As we walked, the Castle came into view and lit up like sky with warm, welcoming light.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said. I leaned my head on George's shoulder.

A smaller voice answered, "Why didn't you answer my letters?"

I did not want to think about Mum. "It's complicated. I didn't want them to say you were not coming back."

"And not writing back would prevent this?"

"I was dealing with my Mum. She's better now. She'll be alright if I...don't come back. I wanted to do something to help her instead of just watching it get worse all the time."

George sighed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I fidgeted. "Let's just get through this year, okay? It can't be as insane as the last."

George nodded. When we reached a carriage, he opened the door for me and we both climbed in. Summer was officially over.