I have absolutely no affiliation with Ms. Rowling, Bloomsbury, Warner Brothers, or Scholastic, which means that (sadly) there is no profit at all being made from this story. My only intention is to have a bit of fun.
The bitter wind seemed to swirl cruelly about her as Gwenaƫlle Gurley sat, with her knees tucked under her chin, waiting. She had remained on the bench whilst all the students and their families had greeted each other, gathered their trunks, and departed the station. Now, as she lingered, she had relaxed her rigid posture and begun to lose herself in her thoughts.
This was the first time that there was to be no one coming for her to the train and, although Gwen knew it was foolish to feel so scared when she was almost eighteen, the idea of navigating muggle London alone was overwhelming. Mother and Father had always come for her at the end of the school year and Father had never failed to collect her for holidays. However, Father had got ill again and none of the St Mungo's retrogrades consultants had been able to assuage the symptoms of the old curse this time. Therefore, since Mother had taken Father to Brest to see another consultant and taken the household staff with her, Gwen was going to be staying with Uncle Rupert for the holiday. She knew that Aunt Philippa detested Mother and Uncle Rupert had no interest in his brother's step-daughter, so she had not been surprised that she was responsible for transporting herself to Uncle Rupert's home. Mother would be furious when she found out, but Mother wouldn't know until after the fact, so Gwen would merely have to accept that the upcoming holiday was sure to be dreary and miserable.
As she shivered slightly from the bitterness of the wind and pulled her cloak closer round, Gwen wondered if she might be less scared of leaving the Wizarding platform and entering the station if she had been raised to have more freedom like her friends had been. The truth was that she had never been anywhere in Britain alone. Mother had never allowed it since she did not trust Gwen to be able to look after herself and did not feel that Britain was a very safe place for young witches. Mother had very decided opinions about the complete unsuitability of anything or anyplace that was located outside of France. In fact, the only thing produced outside France that Mother considered to be acceptable was Father.
Gwen suddenly laughed aloud at herself and thought, 'There is no reason to be silly about this. It can't be that hard to use these 'tackie' things if muggles can do it.' Thereupon Gwen stood up sharply and pulled over her trunk and the cage for her very unimpressed cat, which had been pawing at the bars and yowling for almost a quarter hour, and placed them on one of the remaining trolleys. She pushed through the barrier and started to walk across the floor of the number 10 platform towards where one could enter the rest of the station.
As she pressed through the crush, Gwen noticed an Information sign and considered whether she felt brave enough to consult a muggle guide for help. Deciding almost immediately that this was too much to expect, Gwen looked round the crowd and saw a group of school girls, who were clearly muggles, standing by an espresso shop and giggling loudly as they looked at something that one of the girls was holding in her hand. Gwen pulled her trolley close to her and waited to see if the girls were going to leave the station. Perhaps they would be using these tackie things so she could sort out what they were and how to use them by just watching what the girls did. After several moments the muggle girl placed the small silvery object in her pocket and, just as Gwen had almost decided that they were not going to leave, the muggle girl and her friends began to walk towards platform 8. Gwen marched forward more boldly than she really felt and trailed just behind the group, pushing her trolley awkwardly and skirting round the people who were rushing past, as she followed the group of girls past a Transport Police office and round the end of platform 8. She had walked this path enough times in past years to know that they were headed towards the main thoroughfare.
However, as they approached a staircase with a large sign labelled "Underground", Gwen remembered something that she had learnt in her Muggle Studies class. The muggles had trains that they buried underground, which they used to get about in London instead of a floo network. Apparently the girls were not going to be using a tackie, but were going to use one of those buried trains. Gwen turned her trolley towards a store that seemed to be selling strongly scented muggle beauty potions. She now had no idea what she should do. There weren't any signs directing one towards tackies. Perhaps she should find an exit and go outside to look about.
Deciding that this was really the best plan, Gwen found a trolley point and hurried over to dispose of her trolley and arrange her trunk and cat cage so she could manage them alone. But just as she was trying again to balance Alaric's cage on the top of her trunk, she suddenly thought she heard someone call out her name. Gwen turned round and saw with dismay that her friend Ginny Weasley was waving to her. Almost knocking over her trunk in surprise, Gwen hastily excused herself to the man whose foot she had just smashed with a trunk wheel and tried to walk calmly over to Ginny, who was hurrying towards her.
With her red hair fluffed wildly about her face from either the wind outside or hurrying through the crowd, Ginny raced up to Gwen's side and asked in a breathless voice, "Didn't your family come? Why didn't you say that you were alone?"
As Ginny spoke, a very tall wizard with a short, clipped beard, shoulder-length red hair, and a deeply scarred face reached where Ginny and Gwen were standing and placed his hand lightly on Ginny's shoulder. Gwen barely looked at her friend's eldest brother before replying tersely, "They aren't able to come, so I am using a tackie."
Gwen saw that Ginny looked slightly confused, but it was not Ginny who answered. Bill Weasley asked in a clear voice, "Have you ever taken a taxi before, Miss Gurley?"
Gwen could not help but feel a strange chill move up her spine as she looked up into the once handsome face of her friend's brother. Gwen had thought him very nice looking when she had first seen him during her third year. It was still a shock to see how Bill Weasley's face had been ruined by the werewolf's attack and Gwen was superstitious enough to still be slightly unsure of him, especially considering what Father had once told her about Bill Weasley. Gwen replied nervously, with a displeased glance at Ginny, "No, I haven't. Are they very difficult to find? I'm not even certain that I'll know one when I do find it because I'm not too sure what they look like really."
Gwen flushed with embarrassment as Ginny's brother laughed light-heartedly. She felt slightly resentful when he replied, "They are just automobiles, Miss Gurley - special cars that you can hire. They aren't anything terrifying. Come on then, bung that trunk over and we'll organise a taxi home for you."
Gwen gripped the handle on her trunk and briefly considered telling him that she was entirely capable of managing her things, but when Bill reached out his hand to take the trunk from her Gwen released it and turned to Ginny. "I thought you had left."
"Well Mum asked me again if I were sure you were alright and that's when Bill told me that you looked sort of evasive when Mum asked you about who was collecting you and so I thought I'd just run back and see if you were alright. If you would have told me that they weren't coming then we would have arranged to help, Gwen."
"I don't need anything, Ginny, really. I am just supposed to take this tackie to Uncle Rupert's house in Holburn. They've sent me muggle money to pay. I hope it is enough." Gwen looked over at Bill, who was holding both her trunk and the cage for Alaric and obviously feeling awkward, and she asked him stiffly, "Do you know if the note with a fifty on it is the right amount?"
"More than enough, I should think. Holburn isn't far from here you know. We'll need to go over by platform 1." Bill nodded in the direction where they were headed and waited for his sister and Gwen to follow him. They all three pushed silently through the holiday crowd and, as they reached an exit, Bill hastily transferred the cat cage to the same hand that was pulling the trunk and opened the door.
As she walked through, Gwen silently hoped that Ginny's family was not waiting nearby. If Mrs Weasley were to come over to her then it would be almost impossible for Gwen to extricate herself without involving the Weasleys further in her situation. Aunt Philippa would not be pleased to have her laziness and neglect displayed to another Wizarding family.
Just as Gwen was about to ask Bill to return her trunk and cat so she could make her escape, Bill spoke unexpectedly. "Why don't you go back with Mum, Gin, and I'll apparate home on my own? I'll make sure Miss Gurley gets home safely."
Gwen looked with surprise up at Bill and saw him smile gently, so she then turned to Ginny, who seemed oddly relieved.
"You'll take her home, Bill? You know you have no idea what you are doing, Gwen. It would be better if Bill did take you."
Gwen tried to smile confidently at Ginny and looked at her friend's brother as she said, "I really can manage alone, I think. If you can find the tackie for me then all I'm supposed to do is give it the address and it takes me there. At least that is what Uncle Rupert said." As soon as she had spoken Gwen could see that she had somehow insulted Ginny's brother. Remembering her mother's adage about how the British could take offence to the oddest things and knowing that she would have accepted any French wizard's escort without thinking, Gwen shook her head and amended her statement, "It is really very kind of you to offer. I think I would appreciate your help, actually."
Ginny looked at Bill and then placed her hand on Gwen's arm saying, "Good, then you'll be alright? I had better hurry back to Mum before she goes spare worrying that I've disappeared, too."
Gwen saw a pinched look come over Bill Weasley's face as he nodded in response to his sister's uncharacteristically tactless statement. Gwen quickly said, "I'll be fine, Ginny. Anyway, I'll be seeing you on the train back soon enough."
Ginny, who had also noticed her brother's reaction, said with a trace of embarrassment, "Right. I wish you were coming on Thursday with Elisabeth, but I'll owl to you, don't worry. Remember, don't open your present until it really is Christmas or else don't say you weren't warned."
Gwen returned Ginny's friendly smile and gave her a quick hug before Ginny turned to her brother and said, "Thanks, Bill. I'll promise Mum you'll be back in time to eat."
Gwen watched for a few moments until Ginny had disappeared back inside. She then turned with a feeling of deep discomfort to face Bill, who was smiling lightly down at her. He merely asked gently, "Ready?"
"Thank you. It's very kind of you."
Bill frowned slightly and rubbed his cheek, but he replied with a half smile, "It's no trouble. Muggle London can be confusing if you aren't used to it." Bill adjusted the cage in his hand and jostled the handle of the trunk as he nodded towards a taxi approaching the kerb. He spoke awkwardly, "Come on, we'll try for that one."
As Gwen scratched behind her cat's ears and stared at the roll of parchment that lay on the window seat in front of her, she silently said a prayer that Father would finally be able to find a cure from the consultants in Brest. Father had always said that Breizh was damp and unpleasant in comparison to Wales and that if mother moved it would be without him. But now Mother was making plans to stay in the Morbihan for as much as four months whilst Father underwent the treatments.
Mother had promised that Gwen would be allowed to come to visit them during the next holiday, but Gwen knew that Mother could easily change her mind. Gwen wasn't even sure that she wanted to go back to Brittany so close to her eighteenth birthday. Uncle had already begun doing some preliminary research into which of the better Breton families had unmarried sons under 35.
Picking up her mother's owl and holding it tightly in her hand, Gwen wondered if she had too much independence of mind and not enough of the sense of duty and family devotion that a Breton witch ought to have. It was a family's right to make these decisions for a daughter. Perhaps living amongst the British had turned her head and she needed to be reminded of who she really was. It would surely be hard to forget that you are the daughter of the 17th Master of the Bizouarn and one of the northern Toussaints if you were living amongst your own in Morbihan.
Note: This is another story in response to a challenge from my group, although this time there won't be a pair of stories - just the one. The challenge is to pair either Bill or Charlie Weasley with another of my original characters. The story does take place after what ought to have been Harry, Ron, and Hermione's seventh year. It is now Ginny's seventh year and Voldemort is irreparably vanquished.
I won't be offering many answers as to what occurred during the war, although quite a number of both canon characters and my own characters have been killed off or imprisoned. I won't say that these are actually the characters that I believe will be killed off in book seven, but merely those which made the most sense for my story. Although I mention a few characters and use some of my inventions from other stories, it should not be necessary to have read either of the other stories to understand this one. As always, I appreciate everyone who reads my story and would welcome any reader comments.
Ecaterana
