Fred, April 2004 (Present, April 18th)
Fred was anxious. Anxious is not a word typically used to describe him, yet in this moment, he was on the balls of his feet.
An emergency Order meeting was called as a result of the Creevey article on April 18th. Reporters were demanding to know if "this great organization of heroes" knew anything that was hidden from the public.
"Selfish," "Attention-seeking," "Liars," "Monsters."
Those were the words associated with the ministry at this moment. And the public demanded to know if the Order knew anything that supported the torment that the 9 young adults "secret saviors," went through for the past six years.
As Fred looked around the room, he saw similar looks on the faces of most people. Harry looked pissed, Ron shocked, and Hermione seething after the minister confirmed everyone's fears. That "yes" the Creevey article is true, and the Ministry has the memories to prove it. And those three emotions appeared to be on everyone's faces as he looked around the room, all except for two people.
Kingsley and McGonagall. They just looked exhausted. And then they spoke.
"I knew the moment it happened, I was against it but it was their choice to sign the contract. The minister at the time was adamant it be swept under the rug. He said we lost too many people for there to be uproar about child soldiers." McGonagall said softly.
"It was a done deal when I was voted in, the contract was magical and couldn't be amended. We should have brought this up before now, but I wanted those kids to have the power over their story" Kingsley reasoned.
"But one of them was 15! How could we ignore a 15 year old, especially when she is the reason we have Fred!" Molly shouted back. "Why was no one looking out for her, for them?! Everything we stand for is looking out for the innocent!"
"They are all relatively successful young adults Molly, they did fine with the cards they were dealt" Kingsley stated, and in that moment, sounding like the minister and not an Order member.
As shouting from Harry, Hermione and Molly continued, Fred just stayed quiet. Because his mind wandered and he knew that he found her. She wasn't dead and she actually was a successful healer.
"Of course, she saved your life and decided to make a career out of it." he thought.
Frowning, Fred knew what Kingsley had said wasn't totally true. Because the Creevey article stated that all 9 have dealt with long-lasting effects from participating in the war. Long lasting effects that received bare minimum treatment. And he needed to know exactly what her sacrifice was.
"What happened to her? To them?" Fred's voice cracked and the room fell silent, eyes shifting to him and Kingsley.
"What do you mean Fred?" he replied.
"Well, you said the article was true" Fred clarified "And if it is true, they all have dealt with some effect from the war, something that made them not fine. So, what happened to all of them?"
The room hushed as they waited for Kingsley to answer.
"Well," Kingsley said, clearing his throat and with little emotion, "Family troubles, sleep concerns, difficulty with managing emotions, some pain. All things that everyone who has fought in the war has dealt with."
"Pain?! And why haven't we been helping them, they were children for god's sake!" Molly screeched.
"The lasting pain has been minimal and they have been taken care of by the ministry Molly, it was in their contract," Kingsley replied coolly. "This was not a decision I had any say over."
"What specifically happened to her? All the article said was that she saved my life,that she suffered from fighting in the war and she doesn't talk to her family anymore but despite all that she finished school and became a healer, what exactly happened to her?" Fred pleaded, as George placed a grounding hand on his shoulder.
"I need to know that she's okay." he thought.
"That's, well, that's going to have to be her story to tell" Kingsley replied more softly.
Eyes of betrayal from The Order members rested on Kingsley. All except for Fred. He was too busy, lost in his thoughts, wondering how he was going to set about to finally meet the young girl, all of 21 years old, who morphed into his hero.
OOO
Sophie, April 2004 (Present, April 22nd)
From the days Sophie had following the publication of the article, you would've thought that a full moon was about to happen. Not because she deals with werewolves, but because the residents of the fourth floor get a little...rambunctious around a full moon.
It's a theory, not proven, but a strong enough theory that no healer wants to be working on the night of a full moon.
Instead, it just happened to be another "off" day. Where poor sleep for multiple residents lead to them having terrible days, thus having the healers feel the repercussions.
A blessing in disguise.
Because, for Sophie, she truly did not have a spare minute to think about her friends, the reporters, her co-workers, her family, or him. Her main tasks included keeping Mr. Lockhart from tearing the posters off the wall and sneaking cake back to his room to smear on the walls "to change up the colors."
At the end of the day, it was a pizza day. Another blessing in disguise.
Because pizza meant going to the muggle world, and the muggle world meant there would be no reporters to follow. And what Sophie needed were her friends. Sure, two of them would be missing, oblivious to the uproar that just stirred in London, but 6/8 friends wasn't terrible odds.
As Sophie entered Joe's, she could feel tension. January, Derrick and Cassie on one side and Doug, Raven and Matilda on the other. Normally, she would bee line for her fellow Hufflepuffs, but something about this scene seemed...odd.
The oddest part was that nobody dished out the deep dish yet.
"Hey guys, you didn't have to wait for me, I am just fashionably late like always!" Sophie exclaimed as she reached for a piece.
Tension still heavy, Derrick shot her a look and tilted his head towards Doug. Doug who looked uncomfortable under the gaze of Cassie and January.
"What's...what's going on?" Sophie broke the tension again.
"Just ask him," Derrick pointed at Doug, this time with his hand.
"It was time, Derrick!" Doug yelled back, his face turning red with rising anger. "It was time that it was talked about!"
"You should've asked, we all should've had a say in this! We all agreed to be quiet, we all should have been involved in everything being outed by bloody Dennis Creevy!" Derrick yelled back.
"Ask June and Jer, they knew!" Doug shouted back.
And that's when it hit Sophie. That the article wasn't a fluke. That Creevy boy had inside information, which is why he was able to say so much about the "9-ers" today. Because that inside information came from one of their own.
"Doug, did you…?" Sophie trailed looking at him wide eyed.
"Sophie, we had to, it wasn't fair anymore. Our 5 years was up, everything was quietly put out in the open, we just gave Creevy the right direction to look." Doug pointedly looked at her.
"We?" Sophie questioned. But she knew by the downcast gaze of Matilda and Raven just who "we" involved.
"We wanted it to be over." Raven whispered. "I miss my family, I wanted to be able to talk to them and, and." her voice cracked.
"It's the right thing, and it's done now." Matilda said firmly, glancing at Cassie as she said this.
Deep down, she wasn't surprised. Her fellow Hufflepuffs were the ones who emotionally suffered the most. And she knew they didn't do this for the fame, they did this to be fair. She believed that. Because a Hufflepuff's known quality is to be fair. And hiding in secret and stuck in the past while others are allowed to move on isn't fair.
Badgers are seemingly docile, but when they are provoked, they are vicious and protective.
And it seems they got June and Jeremy's permission as well, because at the end of the day, 5 "yeses" to 4 "nos" happened to be majority rules.
"You didn't have the right, we should have known, we have everything to lose! Our co-workers think we're a joke!" he exclaimed.
"Oh shut it! You've been fine. So what? You have to work a little harder for a bit? You'll be fine!" Doug argued right back.
Before her eyes, Sophie saw the divide between her chosen family happening. Matilda and Cassie couldn't even look each other in the eyes, Derrick and Doug were neck and neck and January looked everywhere but at her friends.
"Just STOP!" Sophie exclaimed, her shoulder's aching with the mounting stress. "Just stop for a minute" she said softer.
All eyes turned to her. Doug came, rested a hand and started massaging her shoulder. The stress of the past few days have exhausted Sophie.
"Derrick, you beat a giant. And Cass, you took down two death eaters in the heat of battle at 16 years old! They know you're worthy. The Auror's knew you wouldn't come in with glowing recommendations if you didn't deserve them. And January, you're excellent at everything you do, you're an excellent healer, no one will doubt it is where you belong." She began and her rant and continued.
"We will be fine if we stick together, that's how we have operated for 6 years. We're a family. Families don't always see eye to eye but we need to support each other. We always knew this could happen. And I am not about to lose another family because you're mad about how it came out." Sophie huffed, her shoulders starting to relax.
"We have more important things to do." She stated as she reached for a piece of pizza, finally. "We have to figure out what in the bloody hell I am going to do, because I bet you 10 gallons I am going to have to see him sooner rather than later."
And slowly they began to dig in, the tension not gone but at least they were not close to hexing each other anymore. And slowly but surely they all began to conspire, because they all knew who "him" was. "Him" was Fred Weasley, and everyone knew Sophie would be face to face with him sooner or later.