Sorry for the wait but I think this is going to be worth it. It starts out a bit slow, but it definitely picks up. I want to keep this short so you can get to reading but I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the people who offered their condolences. While I may not know any of you on a personal level, it is still greatly appreciated. Also, a quick thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or alerted this story. You are all wonderful! Now please enjoy the next chapter of ABAWS: B4.
"Elyse!" The moment Elyse had walked in the front door of her home she was instantly swept into an embrace. Pat tightened his grip and spun her around a few times before setting her back on her feet and quickly giving her a kiss. "Yeh've no idea 'ow much I've missed yeh."
Elyse laughed and simply leaned into his embrace, "I've a pretty good idea."
Pat gently cupped her face and looked at her as if he was trying to memorize every single one of her features. "I kept on thinkin' aboot yeh these last few weeks 'n 'ow I'm gonna be meetin' yer friends. Ask me mam, I was in a panic. I was freakin' oot. But fer teh life o' me, I couldn't figure oot why I was so nervous. They're just me girlfriend's friends I've never properly met. Then I realized somethin." Pat moved his arms to wrap around her waist, pulling her to him.
"I realized I was so nervous because they're a huge part o' yeh life. If they don't like me, I'm not in a major part o' yer life. Yer life's me life, 'n I just needed ter tell yeh this."
She giggled and kissed him. "Kin I at least put me stuff away?" She motioned to her trunk right behind her.
He immediately released her, his face flushing red in embarrassment. "Let me get it." He said. Pat quickly moved and picked up the trunk. "Jeez, woot teh heck do yeh have in here? Bodies?"
"Not full ones, just teh limbs."
"Ah, makes sense. Feet?"
"Arms 'n legs mostly."
"And teh heads?"
"Wit Ursula in 'er magic bag."
"How magic?"
"It's like Mary Poppins's'."
"Woot aboot teh torsos?"
"Gave 'em ter me werewolf friend ter snack on during teh last full moon."
Pat nodded appreciatively. "Nice. Just wonderin', how many?"
"At Pete's last count, seven boot wit 'is countin' skills, we might be lookin at more."
"You've been busy then."
"It's a bit o' a stress reliever during exams."
"I kin imagine."
The two of them simply looked at each other with semi-serious, semi-amused faces before they burst out laughing. While she knew that Pat thought she was just messing around, a small part of her wished that Pat would somehow be able to see it, somehow be able to know.
Once Pat stopped laughing, he asked, "Where does this go?"
"Where does this go?" A much older Pat shouted back over his shoulder. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, based on the lines on his face and the grey just starting to mix in with his natural sandy blonde hair.
"Just put it in the living room!" A voice from a back room responded.
Pat set down the trunk near the front door. He traced the name 'Seamus' written on the cover slowly, looking at the trunk but not seeing it. "Just up teh stairs, second door on teh right." He muttered to himself, not seeming to be aware of where he was.
"What was that Dad?" A young boy asked as leaned over the railing of the stairs.
Pat jumped and spun around. He smiled happily when he saw his son, "Seamus!
"Elyse?" Pat was waving his hand in front of her face. "Where should I put this?"
She jumped, startled out of her vision, and shook her head, trying to regain her bearings, before muttering, "Just up teh stairs, second door on teh right."
"Got it," Pat said as he carried her trunk up the stairs to her room. Before she could ponder anymore about the odd and completely unexpected vision, two sets of feet pounded on the upstairs floor and the stormed down the stairs. Elyse smiled widely when her two little brothers practically threw themselves at her. It had been far too long since she had last seen them.
"Lysie!" Sean shouted joyously. At the age of five, he had just started muggle school and often wrote to her about it. He particularly loved to tell the story when he was playing hide and seek and somehow managed to change places when he was about to be found.
"Where's everybody else?" Jack questioned, eager to see his older sister's cool friends. He had met them a few Christmases ago and had become completely enamored by all of them.
"Mam made us clean up teh house fer 'em." Sean told her glumly, frowning as he thought of all the cleaning he had been forced to do.
Elyse smiled at her younger brothers' enthusiasm. "They had ter go ter their homes first."
"But I want 'em here now," Sean whinned.
"They'll be here soon enough," Elyse chastised gently, "Until then, yeh's just got ter wait."
"Do yeh think 'ey'll teach me magic?" He asked eagerly, his wide baby blues shining up at her.
"There's no such thing as magic, Sean," Pat said when he got to the landing of the stairs, "It's just a bunch o' smoke 'n mirrors."
Sean crossed his arms and glared comically at the older boy, "No, Lysie 'n her friends're magic 'n so am I!"
Panic started to set in Elyse's chest. Pat couldn't find out; he was just a muggle. Thinking quick on her feet, Elyse came up with a lie that one could only think of after spending years with James and Sirius, "Me friends showed 'im some magic tricks 'n now he thinks they're wizards. Just go wit it." Elyse muttered to last part under her breath as she gave Pat a glare.
Pat nodded in a placated manner, "Got it," he murmured back in agreement. "Sean, do yeh know when yer magic friends're comin'?"
Sean nodded begrudgingly, still not liking Pat because he said that magic wasn't real. Jack was the one who answered the question, "They's comin' teh after Christmas."
Pat smiled brightly, "Can't wait." And he really couldn't.
The first impression Ursula and Sirius had of Kiltimagh was that it was quiet. They traveled the muggle way with the Potters so they had to walk from the train station to the village. Because of it being completely muggle, the Potters thought it would be best to not magically appear out of thin air. Considering there were only two adults and three children, apparation was a slight challenge. Besides, the scenic views of the Irish countryside were too beautiful to miss.
"Ursula! Sirius!" Elyse shouted happily when she saw them walking down the street with James. She took a running start and tackled Ursula into a nearby snow bank. "Woot do yeh think o' me home?" Elyse asked excidedly.
"I would answer but I can't really see it," Ursula wheezed from under her friend.
Elyse simply laughed and got off Ursula. Ursula wanted to be annoyed at being tackled into the snow, but seeing Elyse's genuinely excited and anxious face chased all the annoyance away.
"Sirius," Elyse moved on to the other twin. "Have yeh grown?" She questioned when she pulled away from the hug. She could have sworn she didn't need to look that high to see his face.
He chuckled, "Nah, you've just shrunk."
Elyse shoved him half heartedly and rolled her eyes, "Haha, very funny."
"Oi, what about me?" James asked from behind the twins. "Care to give your favorite Marauder a little bit of love?" He opened his arms wide and with that infectious, cocky smirk on his face, Elyse laughed and threw herself into his hug. He tightened his grip on her and spun her around in circles before placing her back on the ground.
"So has the rest of our motley crew shown up yet?"
"Remus's back at teh house talkin ter Pat 'n Peter should be 'ere any minute."
"What about Ben?" Ursula asked.
Elyse hesitated when she saw James and Sirius's reaction at the mention of the boy they still greatly disliked. Ursula saw their faces and rolled her eyes, "oh, get over yourselves."
"Can't help that we hate the bloke." Sirius defended his and James's reaction.
"Don't say hate; it's a strong word," Mrs. Potter chided her sons.
"Just say 'prefer if they fell into a pit full of Blasted-End Skrewts' or 'sacrificed to a horde of bitter centaurs' or Alphard's personal favorite 'drink polyjuice potion with Walburga's toenails in it'."
"Harold!" Mrs. Potter gently slapped her husband's shoulder in shock. "That's a horrible thing to say!"
The four teens on the other hand were snickering. It was only when Mrs. Potter turned her 'look' at them they stopped laughing. She huffed before saying, "I trust you'll get back to the house as soon as possible?" When they nodded, Mrs. Potter grabbed onto the arm of her husband and after a quick goodbye, turned down a nearby alley. The crack of them apparating was the only thing that signaled that they had left.
"Any idea what is up with her?" Sirius muttered to James.
"I've never seen her jump to the defense of your mother before," James replied just as quietly. "I have no idea."
Ursula simply shrugged when the two boys looked to her for an answer. "I'm just as confused as you are."
"Well, we'll figure it oot later," Elyse said as she too started walking back towards her house, "teh rest o' 'em're waiting back at teh house."
"Is Pat there?" Ursula questioned, wanting to finally meet the person her best friend had been dating for the last three years.
"Yeah, is Patty there?" James asked with a devilish smirk.
Elyse groaned, "Oh me God, woot teh hell are yeh gonna do ter him?"
"Nothing," Sirius answered, not convincingly at all. He threw his arm around Elyse's shoulders and hunched down so he was level with her. "We just want to make sure this bloke is up to our requirements. We can't have our Lucky dating a complete wanker, can we?"
"I'm friends wit yeh 'n Potter so me wanker quota is filled."
"Aw, you're just saying that."
Elyse laughed and shrugged Sirius's arm off her shoulder. She turned and grabbed Ursula's hand and started dragging her up the hill towards her house.
Back up at the house, Ben was standing in the kitchen getting a drink of butterbeer. Elyse had smuggled some home and told them to tell anyone who was muggle that it was a school drink that one of their professors sold. It wasn't exactly in the line of the law but Ben didn't particularly care. Footsteps joined him a few minutes later and he turned to see Pat walk in.
Ben had to admit that he genuinely liked Pat. He was a nice enough bloke and from the brief conversation he had with him when they met, he care a great deal about Elyse and, by extension, getting in the good graces of her friends.
"Oi, mate, woot's that?" Pat asked pointing to the bottle of butterbeer.
"Butterbeer. It's a drink they sell at our school."
Pat nodded appreciatively, "Some fancy boardin' school drink then?" He picked the bottle up and looked at the bubbling amber liquid.
Ben shook his head, "It's a common drink where we go to school. Want to try some?" Out of curiosity, he wondered if a muggle would have the same reaction to butterbeer. It was obviously made by wizards, for wizards, so he had to entertain the possibility of the drink tasting different to someone of nonmagical blood.
"Sure. Woot teh hell."
Ben poured him a glass and watched as Pat swirled it in his glass. He took a gulp of it and spit it out almost immediately, gagging. He tried to catch his breath, "Dear God, that's disgustin'!"
Ben merely took another sip of his drink, "Eh, to each his own."
Pat shuddered when he saw Ben willingly swallow the vile liquid. "Do yer teachers hate yeh o' something? Woot's in that?"
"I don't really know. And while our teachers may not always be our greatest fans, I doubt they hate us. At least, I hope they don't hate us." He swallowed hard, thinking of all the times teachers had lost their cool with the seven of them.
"Isn't yer Pop teh governor or something like that at teh school?" Pat asked as they walked back into the living room to wait for the Blacks and Potters to show up.
"Something like that," Ben agreed, not knowing the exact story Elyse had to used to explain Hogwarts and the magical world right underneath Pat's (and all muggle's) nose.
They fell into a comfortable silence while Remus and Peter were off showing card tricks and other 'magic' tricks to Elyse's brothers. Remus had just pulled a coin out from behind Sean's ear, causing both boys to burst into laughter.
"Yeh know Sean tried ter tell me yeh were all wizards. He thinks yer magic."
Ben laughed but internally was panicking. This was an extremely fine and blurred line Elyse was dealing with and if Pat found out about wizards and magic and Hogwarts…he would be oblivated of all memories involving that, possibly including his memories of Elyse.
"Boot I've got ter say, Remus 'n Peter are good wit it; fakin' magic I mean."
"Yeah, they are. You should see James and Sirius go at it though. You wouldn't think it but those two are incredible."
Pat suddenly got a nervous look about him when Ben mentioned the two missing males. "Woot're they like?" Pat asked apprehensively.
"Sirius and James?"
""N Ursula. Yeh all mean a lot ter Elyse, don't git me wrong, boot Ursula's teh closest one ter 'er. She's teh most important. I need ter make sure they don't hate me o' somethin."
Ben nodded, understanding Pat rational. "With James and Sirius you can't back down. Match them shot for shot and don't get annoyed at their horsing around. They're…special…you know? Thicker then thieves and closer than brothers. If one likes you, the other does. If one doesn't, the same goes. Show no fear and roll with their punches and show them how much you care for Elyse. They may seem like heartless bastards sometimes but they love the girls so much. They only want the best for them, savy?"
Pat gulped, more nervous than ever to meet the pair. "Woot aboot Ursula?"
"Ursula," Ben said slowly with a fond and regretful smile on his face. "Ursula is one of a kind. She's passionate, loyal, intelligent, brave, proud, and the absolute best person you will ever have the pleasure of meeting in your entire life. If you let her, she'll change your entire world. She has possibly the most compassionate person I've met and she loves her friends, especially Elyse. Elyse is the sister she's never had. If you let her know how much you like Elyse, Ursula will undoubtedly accept you. Her heart has an endless capacity to love and forgive. She'll never give up on you even when you've given up on yourself. She's like this light that guides you back home through all the darkness."
Pat simply stared at the other boy who was staring out the window with unfocused eyes as he obviously got lost in his thought. Pat chuckled, shaking his head. The noise brought Ben back to the present and he turned a bright red.
"Geez, yer really far gone, aren't yeh?"
"I'm not even sure which way is up at this point," Ben admitted.
Just then, the door opened as Elyse loudly entered her house, dragging Ursula behind her. Ben gulped as his breath caught in his chest. Ursula looked stunning. Her hair was down from its usual braid, cascading around her face in violently black curls, making her silver eyes look even more striking. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, giving her a beautiful glow. It took him back to last Christmas after their Quidditch game when they snogged in the broom shed at Annabelle's house. She shrugged out of her coat to reveal a Gryffindor red, fitted jumper. It was a v neck cut and it showed off her beautifully elegant neck. Hanging from her neck was a familiar locket, the one that Ben had given her last Christmas.
"Hot damn," Pat muttered from next to Ben.
One second later, a pair of dark haired boy stumbled into the living room, practically covered in snow. Sirius shook his head like a dog, shaking the snow over everyone near him. James shoved him quite hard, sending him stumbling towards the stairs. Once he regained his footing, he and James quickly ran around the girls and accosted Pat.
"You must be Pat."
"You're dating our Lucky."
"Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to threaten you with as much damage as we can actually do."
"But we can still strike fear in your little Irish heart."
"You see, we really like Lucky."
"She's very important to us."
"You you hurt her in any way—"
"We are not responsible for what we will do to you."
"What may happen might be illegal in eight countries."
"And be against the laws of different governments."
"But we don't particularly care."
"Understand?"
Pat, for what it was worth, didn't falter at all. He calmly nodded. "Understood."
"Wonderful. I'm James Potter."
"And I'm Sirius Black."
"Nice to meet you," They said together as they both simultaneously grabbed Pat's hand. The second their hands connected, Pat jumped and let out a startled yelp.
"WOOT TEH HELL!" He shouted as he ripped his hands out of their grasps.
They smirked and held up their hands to reveal little hand buzzer.
"We should look into getting more of these muggle pranks. I didn't think it would work so well." James commented as he carefully took off the buzzer and put it in his coat pocket.
Elyse, who was now standing right behind the two boys, reached up and smacked them both painfully on the back of their heads.
"Ow! What was that for? You said we couldn't hurt him that bad!" Sirius complained, rubbing the back of his head.
Elyse simply gave him a look and gestured towards Pat, who was looking at the pair curiously. "Woot's a 'muggle prank'?"
Sirius's face paled slightly as he realized his slip. "Oops," he apologized to Elyse.
Ursula quickly replied with a save, "It's a shop near our school, it's called Muggle. The owner is a bit odd and is known for being a little unreliable with his goods."
Pat nodded, thankfully accepting the answer. "Yeh must be Ursula." He held out his hand for her to shake.
She smiled, "I am Ursula Black. It's nice to finally meet you." She put her slender hand in his. He smiled in return and squeezed her hand gently before letting it go.
"So which one's yer brother again? I know someone told me," he said gesturing towards Sirius and James who had gone off to talk to Remus and Peter. Every so often, they would look over and glare at Ben, not happy with his proximity to Ursula.
"Sirius is my twin but James is my brother in all but blood."
"Twin? Whose older?" Pat questioned.
"Sirius likes to think he's the older brother but I'm older than him."
"Elyse tells me almost all o' yeh're on teh school football team. Me 'n me friends play too. We should git a game together tomorrow o somethin." Pat offered, wanting to get to try to mix the group of friends up together.
Ursula shook her head, "I would love to but most of us are leaving tonight or tomorrow morning. Our families want us home for the holidays."
"Some other time then."
"Sounds wonderful," Ursula said brightly, looking forward to spending time with Pat. She may have just met him but she had heard Elyse speak about him for the last three years. He'd done nothing but treat Elyse right and he seemed like a sincerely good person who cared a great deal for her friend. Throughout the entire time they had been talking, she had noticed that every so often he would look towards Elyse.
"Ursula!" Elyse called from upstairs. "Kin yeh come here fer a second!"
"Excuse me," Ursula said as she stepped between Pat and Ben and disappeared up the stairs. Ben felt shivers go down his back when Ursula brushed past him, her achingly familiar vanilla fragrance filled his senses.
Pat shook his head in astonishment, "Yeh really messed up, didn't yeh."
"How do you know about that?" Ben questioned, his brow scrunching up in confusion.
"Elyse wrote ter me about everythin that 'appened. I know it's not teh same, boot I know woot yeh's been goin through. Me best mate Seamus was killed in a train accident three years back, right before I started datin Elyse. It's rough 'n I know I said some thins that were wrong. Elyse probably should've dumped me. I was being a right prat; I wouldn't've blamed her. Boot she stuck by me 'n I love her fer that. If a mess up like me could git a second chance, you've got one hell o' a shot."
Ben didn't know what to make of Pat's advise, seeing as he was a muggle and didn't know about the entire situation surrounding everything. Added with everything else that had happened lately…
Then everything Pat said registered and Ben stared at him in shock. "You love her?"
Pat turned an admirable shade of red and nodded. "I know I never git ter see her much boot…I love her."
"Good for you," Ben said, clapping his hand down on Pat's shoulder. "You've done the easy part; you've admitted it to yourself. Now you just have to tell her."
The pair looked over when they saw Ursula and Elyse descending from the upstairs carrying a bunch of wrapped packages. They walked across the room, tactfully avoiding James and Sirius who tried to steal their presents, to put them down by the tree. Ursula squatted down to make sure she wouldn't drop anything. By doing that, the back of her shirt rode up slightly, revealing still painful looking scars marring her back. Ben winced as a horrible tidal wave of guilt crashed over him. He had been plagued by the guilt ever since it happened. He should have been there. He had been able to make his transformation for months; he simply was too stubborn to apologize to them and because of that, James and Ursula were almost killed.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to see the injury. Pat sucked in a quick breath out of shock when he saw it. "Woot teh hell happened to her?" He quietly questioned, still in mild shock for the severity of the injury.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw James trying to subtly lean against the arm of the sofa, taking the pressure off his still not completely healed leg. Deciding that the truth (or at least mostly the truth) was the best way to go, Ben said, "There was an accident. She and James were the ones who got it the worst. Saved Remus's and another classmate's life."
"Damn. Beautiful, powerful, charming, 'n brave. You've got yerself one hell o' a girl, Ben."
"I know. I know," Ben said as he watched her. She was laughing at something Elyse said. She picked up some tinsel that had fallen to the floor and threw it at Elyse. Lost in his own thoughts about Ursula, he didn't notice when Elyse suddenly stilled, having a vision, before quickly recovering.
"Ben?" Pat asked hesitantly. "Kin I ask yeh somethin?"
"Sure why not."
"It's aboot Elyse."
"What about Elyse?" James asked as he and Remus walked over.
Pat seemed more hesitant as the pair joined up. He cleared his throat nervously. "Have yeh ever noticed that she's not…there…all teh time? Like she's somewhere o' sometime else?"
All three of them stiffened as Pat described her visions. Pat, unaware of their concern, continued. "'N lately, it looks likes she looked inter teh eyes o' teh Devil himself, like she's haunted by somethin. Her eyes get sad 'n she just knows somethin yeh don't know, somethin yeh don't want ter know."
Ben, James, and Remus all stared at each other, each trying to think of a logical explanation. James had just opened his mouth when something undoubtedly ridiculous was about to spew from his mouth when the phone rang in the kitchen.
"That's me mam. She said she'd call when she needed me home." Pat said. He turned and walked to the kitchen to pick up the phone. The three of them sagged in relief.
"That," James said in a hushed, serious voice, "was too damn close."
"He's going to figure out something is up," Remus added.
"Until then, we just cover our tracks and be extremely careful." Ben said.
James surprisingly didn't snap at Ben. He simply nodded. "Not a single slip." He confirmed. With that, he walked over to talk to Peter and Sirius.
Remus looked at Ben and additionally said, "Pat was telling me that Sean is going around saying we are all wizards like him and we can do magic. That's why Pete and I were doing those tricks for him. He doesn't understand that Pat is getting too close to all of this and soon will start connecting dots."
"You really think he'll figure it out?" Ben questioned skeptically.
Remus nodded gravely, "He's not an idiot. He's already started to figure out Elyse has visions and I overheard him calling Ursula powerful. I think he already subconsciously realizes it. Besides, would it be that bad if he found out? Is there anything your father could do to allow him to keep his memories?"
Ben shook his head, "My dad may be Minister but he knows the law. He can't just make exceptions for his son's friends. Plus with the war building up fire, is a muggle knowing all about the magical world the safest thing for anyone involved?"
Before Remus could answer, Pat walked back up to them.
"I just wanted ter say goodbye. I've got ter go. It was nice meetin yeh." He said as he shook both of their hands.
They reciprocated the farewell and smiled as sincerely as possible considering the topic of their previous conversation.
With that, Pat turned and left. Before the Ben and Remus were able to resume their conversation, Elyse's voice rang out over all the chatter.
"Oi! Listen up! I thought we'd do presents now ter make sure we kin do wootever we want later. So find teh gift yeh wrapped 'n give it ter whoever."
They all moved towards the tree and grabbed their gifts. Ben was thankful he didn't have to get a gift for Sirius or James this year; he had randomly drawn Peter's name from the hat three weeks prior when they decided their Christmas plans. Peter was also thankfully easy to buy for. He instantly knew he was getting candy for his friend. When he went to Honey Dukes, he was delightfully surprised to see that they were selling animal shaped chocolates. It was luck that one of the animals was a rat.
From Elyse, he received about a dozen sheets of music, all of them traditional Irish jigs. He thanked her for the thoughtful gift, trying to ignore his heart clenching painfully at the stiff fresh memory of losing his most prized possession. She simply smiled knowingly.
She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially in his ear. "Yeh should really go talk ter Ursula. She'd really like yer present."
Ben's eyes widened, internally panicking at how she knew about the gift that he had wrapped for Ursula but didn't fully intend on giving it to her. Elyse smiled slyly and tapped the side of her head, "She'll love it."
He gulped but then nodded, courage building up in his chest as he reached into his pocket to touch the small box. He walked over to Ursula who was talking to Peter as they munched on his new chocolate. Ben gently placed his hand on Ursula's elbow.
"Can I talk to you? Privately?"
Ursula simply stared at him a minute before nodding. "Sure. We can go out front."
They walked towards the door, Ursula leaving first. Ben looked over his shoulder, wondering when James and Sirius would run forward and curse him to next Thursday, only to find that Elyse was distracting both boys.
Taking his window of opportunity, Ben quickly joined Ursula on the front porch.
"What is it?" Ursula asked right off the bat.
Ben cleared his throat and tried to think of everything he wanted to tell her. Just looking at her staring at him with her wonderfully beautiful eyes that seemed to entrap his entire soul, he was at a loss for words. Finally, he said. "You know, Pat told me earlier that I had one hell of a girl, meaning you of course. He said you were beautiful, powerful, charming, and brave. He was right but he was so, so wrong." He stepped forward and wrapped his hands around her upper arms and held her in place, staring at her face the entire time, his face practically begging for her to just listen to him.
"You're passionate about everything and everyone you love, you're the most loyal person I know, you can be hot-tempered and set off at the smallest of things, you're braver, prouder, more courageous than me, you can be so insecure about how beautiful and how worth it you are, you feel forgotten and lonely and hurt, you're intelligent and absolutely brilliant, and you feel so much and care and love so much but you don't let a lot of people see that. You don't want to be seen as weak or not worth it but let me tell you, Ursula Walburga Black, you are worth everything.
"And Pat was wrong about another thing. He said that I had you. I don't. I did. At one point, maybe. But I made possibly the biggest mistake of my life letting you go and there isn't a moment I don't wish I could go back and fix all the hurt I caused you. But I can't do that. But I can do one thing. I can spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I can't promise you much and I know that my word probably doesn't mean much but I will never stop proving to you that I am so, so sorry."
Ursula throughout his entire speech was silent, staring at him in shock. Her bright silver eyes he loved so much were open wide and simply staring at him. Her jaw was dropped, as if she didn't believe what he had just said. Deciding that he might as well say the rest of it, he let go of her and reached into his pocket.
"Here, this is your Christmas gift." He handed the small box over to her. She looked at him for only a moment longer before she focused on unwrapping the box. She gasped when she saw it, recognizing the gift. She reached in and pulled out the small book that stretched back to normal size once out of the confines of the box.
"Is this…?"
Ben nodded, "That's Anna's Quidditch playbook. Every trick, play, idea, tip, strategy, and maneuver she had is written down in there."
"Ben…" Ursula trailed off in shock as she flipped through the book. Notes and diagrams written in the painfully familiar handwriting flashed past. She looked up from the book and abruptly wrapped her arms around Ben. "You're back," she murmured into his chest.
It took him a moment to react. But the second his brain caught up, he wrapped his arms around her. They stood like that for a moment before she suddenly and violent shot backwards.
"I almost forgot!" She exclaimed as she darted back in the house. Ben was about to follow her but she reappeared, digging frantically though her bag. Giving up on finding whatever she was looking for, she pulled her wand and accio'd something.
She kept it hidden in the bag as she stared him in the eyes.
"You said your piece, now it's my turn. I went into the boys' dorm about two weeks after the funeral. You were already asleep but around your bed was splinters of wood. Well, I fixed it and I kept it to give it back to you when you were back. I wanted the guy who is the calm to my temper, the most honorable man I knew, who can make me laugh and so happy, who is my one solace surrounded by madness. And I think I finally got him back. So, here, this is for you." She pulled the quickly recognizable case and held it towards him.
"No…" Ben breathed in shock as he took the offered case. He opened the case and all the breath left his body when he saw his beloved instrument. "No." he repeated again as he gently ran his fingers down the neck of the violin.
He looked up at her, pure joy shining in his eyes, "No."
She laughed while nodding, "Oh yes."
Ben joined in her laughter. Carefully, he set the violin down on the swing on the front porch. Then, without warning, he grabbed Ursula around the waist, picking her up, and spinning her around. She balanced her hands on his shoulders, laughing genuinely with Ben for what felt like the first time in years.
"Put me down!"
He set her down but didn't let her go. Practically drunk with euphoria, he cupped her face with his hands and kissed her impulsively.
Reality crashed down on Ben. He let her go and both of them jumped back. Ursula stared at him with wide, stunned eyes. Ben was sure he reciprocated her expression. She cleared her throat, "Why don't we go back in?"
He nodded rapidly, "Sounds good." He held the door open and Ursula walked in, offering him a smile in thanks. Ben waited a moment, hitting his head against the side of the door a few times talking to himself, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Not stupid." Ursula said, making Ben jolt back, stunned. "Just…unexpected." She offered him one of her gorgeous smiles before disappearing back into the house. Ben shook his head in exasperation. That girl was going to drive him mad. And he would enjoy every minute of it.
Later that afternoon, the seven teens found themselves sitting around the television watching a movie. Peter, Ursula, and Sirius were sitting on the sofa. Technically, only the boys were sitting; Ursula was lounging. She was resting her back against her brother's shoulder while resting her feet on Peter's lap, a bowl of popcorn resting on her stomach. Every so often she would toss one up and catch it in her mouth. James and Elyse were sitting on the smaller sofa with their own bowl of popcorn. It was only half full because they had fought over it earlier and spilled half of it on the ground. The only two sitting on the ground were Remus and Ben, both of them sitting against the sofa.
"I don't get why they're always singing," Sirius complained.
Ursula rolled her eyes, "Stop being complaining and enjoy the movie."
"How can I enjoy it when they are running around singing all the time?"
Remus rolled his eyes, "It's a good movie about a family in Nazi invaded Austria."
"Yeh can't hate on teh Von Trapps," Elyse affirmed.
Sirius snorted, "I wish they would shut their traps."
Elyse didn't get a chance to respond when she was once again suddenly and unexpectedly pulled into a vision.
James and Sirius were standing side by side, dueling four Death Eaters at the same time. James got a lucky shot that disarmed and incapacitated two of their adversaries.
"Nice one James!" Sirius cheered.
James smirked confidently but focused back on his duel. A little bit off to the side, Remus was bent over a small girl, protecting her from debris from a small explosion. When the rubble finished falling, he grabbed her and ran into a nearby shop and came back out empty handed. Peter was off, using his patronus to ward off Dementors.
Ursula was off on her own, currently fighting off two Death Eaters on her own, barely able to get her own attack in, simply defending herself. Out of nowhere, Ben tackled one of the Death Eaters and quickly incapacitated him or her.
"Are you alright!?" He demanded of her when he joined her in the fight against the remaining Death Eater.
"Yeah, where's Elyse?"
"She was helping Remus get the kids to safety."
A light enveloped the Death Eater and fell to the ground, revealing Elyse standing there. She twirled her wand and blew the top of it like it was a gun in an old American Western film. "Miss me?"
Before they could respond, a look of horror overcame her face and she turned around, seeing Pat looking out from behind a nearby building, his eyes wide and his jaw slack, unable to believe what he was witnessing.
Ursula and Ben followed her gaze and saw him and knew instantly that he had seen what they had done, what all of them had done and were able to do.
"Pat—" Elyse began, pleading with him to listen to her.
But her explanation was cut short when Ben suddenly shoved Ursula to the side, only to be hit by a spell himself, the force of it sending him flying back into the side of a building.
"NO!"
Elyse was suddenly brought back to the present and she looked in horror at her friends. They were all wearing the same clothes as in her vision.
"Elyse?" Peter questioned when she suddenly became very panicked. "What's wrong?"
"Turn off teh telly," she demanded.
"What?" James said.
"Turn off teh telly!" She shouted this time, fear and anger filling her usually calm voice.
Remus reached forward and turned off the television. They sat in silence for a moment before Sirius questioned, "Why are we sitting here in silence? Not that I'm complaining, that singing was getting bloody annoying." He got a slap on the stomach courtesy of Ursula for his comment.
"There's gonna be Death Eaters 'ere." Elyse admitted.
All of them instantly stiffened and reached for their cleverly concealed wands.
"What? How do you know?" Ben questioned.
"I just saw it. We're wearin' teh same clothes 'n it was daylight."
Peter shook his head slowly in denial, "You're not supposed to tell us your visions. You'll make the future happen or something like that."
Elyse snapped, "It's gonna happen soon so yeh might as well know aboot it!"
Right as she said that multiple, distinct, faint cracks were heard coming from the village. The first scream had barely hit their ears before the seven Gryffindors were sprinting out of the house, their wands in their hands. They made it in record time.
James led the charge, not even slowing down as he ran right into the middle of the slaughter, stunning one of the Death Eaters without any hesitation. From then on, they split up. Elyse looked at Remus for a moment and said, "Teh children."
He nodded and ran forward with her, casting shield charms and other protective charms as they ran towards were a group of five to seven year older sat huddled together underneath a slide in the park. There was an old building nearby that was the strongest building in town so Elyse directed Remus towards it.
"They'll be safer there," she quickly explained as they each grabbed two kids; either picking them up or grabbing their hands and pulling them away. Remus nodded and cast as many protective charms as he could quickly remember on the doors and windows.
The blood rushed through Elyse's veins as she quickly surveyed the scene, trying to make sure there weren't any children involved. She knew the Death Eaters would have no qualms about killing a defenseless muggle child and she would never be able to live with herself if she accidentally forgot one of them. Added on top of her fear was the safety of her friends. She'd seen far enough into the vision to know that they would be able to hold their own (plus, she had seen them as full grown adults in the past so she knew they survived past this) but she didn't want any harm to come to them.
A cry caught her attention but before she could react, Remus was running, dodging, and reflecting spell after spell to get to the child hiding under an obviously unstable awning. An explosion hid them from her view for a moment but he soon was running back with the little girl. Elyse saw one more boy hiding in a tree and prompted him to get down. Once he was on his feet, she goaded him into the safe building before hearing Ursula asking about her whereabouts.
Elyse ran up behind the Death Eater and petrified him before smirking at her mildly stunned friends, "Miss me?"
It was then that she had realized that her vision had come true. She had hope in some corner of her mind that she would have been able to stop it before it happened but it all happened so quickly that she was unable to avoid Pat seeing it. She turned to see Pat staring at her with something she had hoped to never see in his eyes. Fear. And not just simple fear. Fear of her.
"Pat—" She began, trying to find the word to comfort him, to tell him that she was still the Elyse he knew and loved. She simply stared at him, trying to convey all of that simply with her eyes, hoping he could see that she was still her.
It was when Ben violently shoved Ursula to the side and flew backwards was she snapped out of her daze. She heard Ursula cry out, her voice haunting and so distraught.
Before anything else happened, before anyone was able to move, more people apparated in. This time, instead of cloaked and masked figures, Aurors, along with the Minister and the Potters, appeared. Quickly, the adults moved in and subdued the murderers.
Elyse nearly sagged with relief, that is, until she saw Pat still staring at the scene. His mouth had dropped open and he pointed to where the wizards and witches had just apparated in.
"They—appeared—magic—thin air—real?" His chest started to rise and fall rapidly as he began to panic. His eyes started to roll up to the back of his head and Elyse barely ran forward in time to catch him before he hit his head on the ground.
This was not good. Not good at all, for anyone involved. And the worst part was that for the second time in the past month, her visions failed to tell her what to do. And for the very first time, she truly knew what it felt like not to be able to see the future.
It was terrifying.