Disclaimer- I own nothing, it is J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter 6: Uprisings, Softies and Brothers
Delilah Black was stretched out on the floor of the sitting room in the small cottage where she lived with her godfather. Her best friend, Maggie Wood, was on the sofa reading a rather large novel. "I still don't see how you got Charlie to buy a television and a laptop!" she exclaimed. Delilah shrugged, "He's a big softie." Just then, Charlie Weasley walked in the room, pulling off his dragon-hide gloves. "Oh, the dragon trainer is a softie, huh?" he laughed. The rather buff wizard walked across the room and swiped the dark-headed fifteen year old off the ground and over his shoulder in a firefighter hold. She screamed and giggled like a toddler as he spun her around.
"Charles Septimus Weasley put that girl down, right now!" Charlie turned around, and seeing his mother, set his goddaughter down. "Mum, not to rude or anything but why are you here?" Molly Weasley sighed, "I figured the girls would want a decent dinner on the first day of summer holidays." Maggie and Delilah laughed, over the girls' laughter Charlie said, "Ordered pizza from a nearby muggle town. Why did you come all the way from Romania to bring us dinner? There is something more, I know it. Is it Lily? I told Gin she was ill, but she thought it was just a cold."
"No, no, it isn't Lily. There's been an attack, by Death Eaters, we assume."
"I thought they were in Azkaban after the battle?" asked Maggie
"Some escaped capture, some had children, but this group is just as bad as the rest." explained Molly.
"Was it Avery from Slytherin? I wouldn't mind hexing him to bits." said Delilah.
"You did yesterday on the train." muttered Maggie. Delilah shrugged.
"Not Avery in your year but his brother who graduated a few years ago. There was also a Lestrange boy, Tom." said Molly.
" So there's an uprising, who did they attack?" asked Charlie, who was struggling to hold the girls back, as they wanted to stop the "good for nothing Death Eater offspring" right then. "DELILAH ABIGAIL BLACK, stop it this instant, before I ground you! And Maggie, your parents gave me the authority to do the same for you!" he yelled.
Molly sighed, "It was…" she struggled to get it out, "They attacked Ottery St. Catchpole. Ron and Hermione's house to be exact." By now she was near sobbing, "They… they got Emalee!" And with that, she collapsed on the sofa in tears. The other three joined her in her mourning, until Charlie told her to go back to the Burrow. His mother nodded sadly and apparated with a POP!
Delilah POV
Grandmum Molly wasn't gone ten minutes when I felt Teddy poking at my mind, I sighed.
Yes?
We're dropping by in a minute, when you answer the door, make us prove who we are. Uncle Harry says it is something every wizarding family needs to pick back up, answered Teddy.
Got it! So, you heard the news?
Yeah, Harry was part of the auror team that was assigned to hunt down the suspects.
Oh, ok. You'll be side-alonging with Harry then?
Yes, yes, by the way, Colton has been trying to get your attention for an hour, apparently you were preoccupied.
Ok, see ya soon.
I knew I should tell Colton I was alright but I was to busy thinking about my family's loss. I was sure he knew of the attack, and would understand. I was stupidly selfish, back then. I would soon learn my lesson, I just didn't know it yet.
After about five minutes of wallowing in self-pity, I felt Ted's mind get close and heard the knock on the door. Charlie stood to get it, but I gestured for him to sit back down and got it myself.
"State your name and business!" I exclaimed, trying to sound intimidating as I drew my wand.
Harry's voice called back, "Harry James Potter and Ted Remus Lupin. Here to speak to Charles Septimus Weasley, Delilah Abigail Black, and Maggie Grace Wood." He sounded more intimidating than I did, maybe it had something to do with the whole defeating Voldemort thing.
"Prove it!" I didn't realize till after that it was a stupid thing to ask Teddy to prove it was him. I could him lean forward to whisper something in the doorway.
"You still sleep with the two things you have from your parents. A stuffed dog named Padfoot and a scarlet baby blanket."
Crap, I hate that kid. Hate him, hate him, hate him!
I opened the door for my first friend in all his blue haired glory and his raven-headed godfather. Ted and I had always been close, Ginny and Charlie had stuck us together when we were babies because we are only thirteen days apart. Our friendship flourished and we seem to understand each other's decisions, perhaps it in was the unity between two orphans.
Harry immediately spoke to Charlie, not bothering to greet me or Maggie. The three of us decided to go downstairs in the basement which had been transformed into a hang-out since my bedroom only had enough room for a bed and wardrobe.
They thought we were being good little kids and getting out of the way for their private conversation. How stupid were they? When had we ever been good? Instead, we climbed up the laundry shoot and leaned against the opening that lead to the bathroom next our sitting room. Luckily, the bathroom door was open so we could hear every word.
"So, you're restarting the Order of the Phoenix?" came Charlie's deep, rough voice.
"Yes, it was Bill's idea, and everyone else agreed." said Harry's not quite as deep voice.
"I plan to be a bigger part this time around. If I had been there for her last time, Delilah might not be an orphan."
Wait, he blames himself for my being an orphan?! I exclaimed in my head.
He probably feels if he were there to protect your mother, who was like his sister, she wouldn't have made enemies with some one, or gone after who ever killed your dad. That upsets him. He feels that if he were protecting his family, it would've been okay, explained Maggie, like some psychiatrist.
"Charlie, you can't blame yourself, I start thinking like that some times until Gin slaps some sense in to me."
"But if I had been there to protect Amanda and Dora, Teddy and Delilah would have parents! When they were little and I picked them up from muggle school, I would stop and listen, and hear the other kids ridicule them for not having parents. I used to have to sleep in her room at night because she cried herself to sleep. And still there are times as I walk down the hall to bed, I stop by her room, and hear her fall apart. Harry, how can I hear that from my little girl and not blame myself?! I know I shouldn't but…" Charlie trailed off, and I froze. I hadn't known that he heard me, no one knew.
I could feel my friends surprise, then realized the twins were listening in. Crap, crap, crap. I heard Teddy think for every one to shut up, and leave me alone. They weren't laughing, they were worried, pitying me like a four year old. I felt the tears come to my eyes, and looked up at my oldest friend. The two of us slid down the shoot, leaving Maggie to listen to the twins through her mind and Harry and Charlie through her ears.
Once at the bottom, the closest thing I had to a brother wrapped me in a bear hug, tears streaming down his face as well. This, this wasn't pity, this was understanding. The other three, try as they may, couldn't give the same thing; they could only feel sorry for me, consider it my weakness. But Teddy, he knew that it wasn't a weakness, it was a trait, a strength.
"Lilah, it's okay, shh…, its okay," he whispered as I broke down completely in his hug. He rubbed by back in a brotherly way, mumbling about how it's perfectly fine to cry.
"My mum, dad, your mum, your dad, and now Emalee! Teddy, why isn't life fair?" I sobbed, I had never broken down like this. I didn't sob uncontrollably at night, just a few tears now. But here I was crying in my brother with Maggie in the laundry shoot and the twins in our heads. Well, not any more, I think Maggie told them it was best to leave us be.
"I don't know, no one knows, not Dumbledore when he lived, not the Four Founders, not Hermione, not Harry, not any one. I think, that it all leads up to some thing good, maybe it has to happen so something else, some thing else that will help repair that bad thing. At least a little bit." Teddy whispered, and I saw the wisdom in his words. They say that to wise and old you must first be young and stupid. Teddy was wise beyond his years, always had been.
We sat on the couch, but Teddy never let go of his protective embrace. That's when I realized, Teddy was the repair for my parent's death and I was his. No, we weren't there to the love of each other's life, we were there to be the comforter, the best friend, the sibling. Quietly, Teddy told me that I wasn't the only one who cried at night. I was surprised, Bear was always so brave, but then to every one I appeared confident. And I was, but I wasn't immune to the woes of an orphan.
A/N- I am quite proud of this, though it is rather depressing, you get to see a new side of our favorite cocky Gryffindor. I still own nothing, sadly. I about cried writing this, but I am a big softie, like Charlie! PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I only have 2 reviews but like 186 hits. I don't usually ask but it would really lift my spirits to see what you peoplez think about my story, I'm starting to think it kind of stinks.