Here it is, kids. The last chapter. Thanks for all the reading and reviewing. I'm quite proud of this story and the reaction it's received.
The room went into a lull, calming down to that of a normal funeral. The two worlds Katie lived in went to their seperate sides and left each other alone, finally. Alicia and George stayed near the middle, still holding Josh.
Therefore, it was inevitable that something or someone would come and cause an uproar.
What surprised Alicia the most, was the happy face and cheefrul voice that brought in the uproar.
"'Ello, ther'." the acne scarred face of Gus chimed as he entered the room, back first as he pulled something in.
"Gus!" Alicia exclaimed, surprised at his appearance. Her voice wasn't happy, but not unhappy, it was just pure shock. "What are you doing here? I mean--no, what are you doing here?"
"I was to'd to bring one of the g'ests, o'course." he responded, coming in all the way, pulling a wheelchair with him.
In it sat the little frame of Mrs. Nochiviscoff, her knitting gone and her clothes clean. She had finally showered by the look of it, and her thin hair had been combed. What was really strange about her was the thick, silver handcuffs keeping her hands secured to the arm rests of the wheel chair.
"Why, hello!" she chirped, looking up at Alicia. The air in the room went thicker than ever. Everyone waited, less than patiently, to see who this small woman was.
"I'll j'st ro' 'er up front, then." Gus commented, noticing how many wide eyes were staring him down. He seemed a bit uncomftorable, which was odd seeing as he spent almost everyday in the most feared place the wizarding world. Alicia gave a small nod and stepped back.
"Is that who I think it is?" George whispered in her ear, looking unsettled.
"She looks better than before." Alicia answered, nodding. She shifted Josh to her other hip, his weight becoming more and more obvious.
"Why, hello! I haven't seen you since you were just a baby." Kelene commented once Gus had stopped rolling her. She was looking a terrified looking Kamryn. The woman's eyes might belong to a crazy person, but a crazy person who knows what her daughter looked like, and therefore, what her granddaughter looked like.
"Oh..." Kamryn muttered, scrunching even deeper into Jordan's lap. He obliged by wrapping a protective arm around the small girl. Emily and Rick both looked uncomftorable, wanting to protect Kamryn but well aware of the fact that they could do no more than what Jordan was doing.
If the focus of the room had not been entirely on the strange little woman chained to her wheelchair, someone might have noticed the scuffle on the other side of the room.
"No, Edward, no!" Mrs. Bell was pretty much shouting with frustration as she stood up, shaking her husband off her arm. "That--that woman knew about the baby! But she didn't tell me! ME! I'm her mum! ME! I took her in! But who does she turn to? An insane creature who doesn't know the first thing about children! But she chose her over ME!"
Once all the eyes had successfully been removed from Kelene to Mrs. Bell, a very pale looking Mr. Bell tried to usher his wife out of the room, which she would not oblige.
"For Merlin's sake, Abigail! This is our daughter's funeral! Why the hell are you choosing to break down here?" Mr. Bell demanded in outrage. His face had gone from pale to beet red, his body shaking with frustration. The couple had become oblivious to the shocked people around them, Oliver, his face stained with tears, right next to Mrs. Bell.
"Should we do something?" George whispered in Alicia's ear, taking Josh in his arms.
Alicia simply shook her head, she had seen something like this coming. She had not, however, seen Mrs. Bell as the one to crack.
"She's my daughter, not that things." Mrs. Bell growled, her teeth gritted and her eyes nothing but slits.
"You have no right to say that." Mr. Bell growled back, his right eye twitching while his left appeared bloodshot. "You were a horrid mother! I've told you that before, and I'll be more than happy to remind you later!"
So that's what really drove her over the edge...Alicia's mind whispered. It made sense. Katie would end up crazy, her mother openly against her, her father secretly hating her mother. Emily was a miracle, being as sane as she was.
"Someone do something!" a random voice hissed. There was no way of telling which side of the room the voice came from, much less if the voice was male or female.
"Someone should have done something a long time ago." the large foster mum cut in, her eyes sliding around the room, cutting each person like knives.
The question of whether or not the woman had the right to judge everyone else ran through the mind of Alicia. True, the woman had never claimed that she had done something that could have saved Katie, if it weren't for the fact that everyone else had intervened. Yet, at the same time, there was a chance that she could have.
It was all a very complicated matter that really seemed incomprehensible at the moment.
"Let's go home," the miracle that is George whispered into her ear, out of nowhere, and they went into the lavatory and apparated back home.
"George!" Alicia exclaimed, obviously startled after only a few moments at home, "We stole Josh!" she pointed out, pointing at the still sleeping boy Alicia had forgotten. despite the weight, on her hip.
The trademark, sheepish 'oops' grin graced George's face as Alicia found herself in a slight panic.
A little over a year later, a new book was published. It claimed to be based on a true story, and the reviewers found it to be a pleasant surprise, especially since it was written by a children's book author.
The Truth About Kacie Ring
by A.S.Weasley
For:
The real Kacie Ring, a dear friend I will always love
Dedicated to:
My beautiful family, the men of my life, George and Josh, and my
lovely little girls, Kaitlyn and Kassie, the second generation
of the Red Haired Wonder Twins.