Already at chapter 20! Let's see how Audrey's declaration from the last chapter goes down...
20. When Death Calls
Percy gaped slightly at Audrey as he stood before her, a mug of tea in each hand. Perhaps he had misheard.
"To me? What are you doing to me?" he asked. "Are you all right?"
Percy's tone was a strange mix of nervousness and forced amusement. He hoped to Merlin and Morgana that he had misheard, misunderstood, but Percy was slowly realizing that the chance of that being the case was slim. Audrey's thinly red-rimmed eyes possessed a glazed look and her hands fidgeted nervously with some papers in her hands. Something was very wrong with her.
"I - I'm fine," she stuttered out, her voice rising on the last word in a forced attempt to exude confidence. "I've realized that I've been unfair and - and I can't continue doing this to you."
Percy shook his head, hoping that the motion would clear up the situation. No luck in that respect. "Audrey, come inside and let's talk. I have tea, we'll sit - "
"No!" Audrey exclaimed. Percy raised his eyebrows in surprise at her sudden outburst and she took a deep breath. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. I can't - I can't just make you carry around my problems for me. It's selfish and rather egotistic, and I'm not that person." Anymore, Audrey added to herself.
As Percy tried to make sense of her words, his eyebrows met in a frown. "I'm not carrying anything for you," he said calmly. "I thought you felt better when we talked. I did, anyways."
"I do feel better, but it's not your problem, not your responsibility to worry about my mess of a life. I mean, Merlin knows you have your own life to sort out," Audrey argued. "It's selfish and I'd rather not be that way."
"To sort - ? You've got to be kidding - I - " Percy stammered angrily. Her words made absolutely no sense to him and he felt himself fuming and just about ready to slam the mugs in his hands on the ground. He didn't want to get angry. That never kept his thoughts clear.
But it was happening.
"You know something? You are selfish," Percy suddenly said. "For you to think that all of this - all of us, whatever the hell we are - is all about you - that is egotistic, so yes, you're quite right. Damn, to think you ever could have changed."
"Changed? What are you - ?" Audrey cut herself off with a huff and simply said, "Fine! I'm glad you see it my way."
Audrey stormed off and down the hallway of the apartment building and Percy slammed the door shut with his foot. He set down the mugs on the first table he saw and angrily slammed his fist on the wall next to it.
He didn't understand it. How in Merlin's name did they go from last night to having this stupid, out-of-the-blue fight? What could have possibly happened in the last eight hours that changed Audrey so much that she -
The file. The damn Ministry file, you big dolt.
Percy's eyes widened and his fingers slowly relaxed from their tightly-formed fists. Audrey had resolved to retrieve her brother's Ministry file that day.
And her eyes...
Percy groaned and leaned his forehead against the wall. Whatever was in that file, it couldn't have been good.
Telling Erin had been the hardest. She had collapsed into Audrey's arms like a rag doll, and it was all Audrey could do not to start crying herself.
Eventually, Audrey had managed to get her to settle down, and in that moment, Erin was sitting on the couch with a blank look on her tear-stained face and a steaming mug of tea in her hands. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, and her jaw was moving back and forth, grinding her teeth. Every once in a while, as Audrey would look up from the parchment resting on her book, she would see Erin leaning her head back to stop more tears from leaving her eyes.
Audrey looked back down at the parchment with a shaky sigh and fidgeted with the quill in her hand.
Dear Daphne,
I promised that I would update you if I found out anything about Brady, so here it is. He died a few hours after the final battle from Dark Magic injuries, and he is buried in the memorial cemetery in Hogsmeade - the one dedicated to the people that died fighting in the war. I hate that I have to owl you for the first time in years on these terms, but please know that you are always welcome to contact me.
Sincerely,
Audrey
That was as good as it was going to get, Audrey decided. To the point, pragmatic, and as much consideration as one could show through parchment. Audrey always hated flowery letters, but now that she had to write about her own brother's demise, it seemed a struggle to keep herself from romanticizing everything.
Audrey silently stood from the armchair she was sitting in and walked over to the owl perch in the living room. She sent her and Erin's owl, Agrona, on its way after giving it a treat and turned to sit next to Erin.
After a long moment of silence, Erin finally spoke. "All this time... and we didn't even know."
"They notified Valerie when he died," Audrey supplied, her voice barely above a whisper. "Lots of help that was."
"Speaking of, you should probably Floo call Camille," Erin reminded.
"We don't have - "
Audrey was silenced as Erin dropped an opened envelope into her lap. The sender address in the corner was clearly the Ministry of Magic seal.
"I figured you were up to something when I read that, but I didn't want to think..." Erin trailed off and brought the large mug to her face.
"That he might be alive, or that he might be dead?"
"That you would keep this from me. That you would keep anything from me. Merde, Audrey, what's wrong with you?"
Audrey felt her heart break at those words and turned to give Erin an apologetic look, but her friend wouldn't meet her eyes. With a sigh, she turned to the envelope and gingerly pulled out the letter. Sure enough, the Floo connection had been approved.
When she looked up at Erin again, her friend's face was still hidden by the mug and her shoulders were shaking lightly. Audrey felt horrible for keeping Erin in the dark, but she knew that her friend would have taken the news even worse if it had crushed the false hope that Brady could actually be alive.
I made the right choice, Audrey told herself. Right?
With a deep breath to steady her nerves, Audrey stood up and walked over to the small fireplace in the living room. She grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the bag hanging on the mantle and threw it into the hearth as she declared, "Carver Manor, Sassnitz, Germany."
The fireplace was filled with green flames, and Audrey stuck her head in.
In the blink of an eye, she was looking into a twilit study, directly facing the person sitting at the desk. It was a man, her Uncle Daveth, and he appeared far too engrossed in the newspaper in his hands to have even noticed the head floating in the flames of his fireplace. His light brown hair was greying, Audrey noted with a hint of sadness, and he looked tired.
"Uncle Daveth!"
Daveth looked up, startled by the sudden exclamation, but his features relaxed into a grin when he noticed Audrey's face in the green flames. "Audrey! What a surprise - I'd heard something about you setting up a connection with us. I'll go get Camille."
After a few minutes, Daveth re-entered the study with Camille in tow. Audrey's aunt looked every bit like her mother - the same dark brown hair, soft brown eyes, and pale, lightly freckled skin. The only difference was that Camille wore her brown hair, now sporting grey flecks, quite short, and she was skinnier than her younger sister - if only due to the fact that she never had any children.
"Audrey, we haven't heard from you in ages!" Camille exclaimed happily.
That was when Audrey realized the horridness of her call. The last time Audrey had been with her aunt was at her parents' funeral. Now, just over a year later, she was calling to tell her of her nephew's death.
"Oh - uh - I... I have some news," Audrey stuttered out. Camille's smile faltered. "It's about Brady."
"Oh, Merlin..." Daveth muttered.
"He died," Audrey choked out. "A few hours after the final battle - the one at Hogwarts. He - he had some horrible injuries, and he couldn't get to St. Mungo's in time for them to treat him properly."
Camille's jaw dropped slightly, a confused frown on her face. Daveth placed his hands firmly on her arms, ready to hold her up if her stance weakened, but he looked just as broken.
"We'll come to the grave with you," Camille replied in a low, quiet voice. "Where is he buried?"
"Hogsmeade, in that cem - "
"Yes, I heard," Camille interrupted, as if the last word she wanted to hear was 'cemetery.' "We'll see you there tomorrow at eleven in the morning. It was about time we came home."
"I, uh, sold the Callaghan Estate," Audrey muttered. "Back in July."
"That's fine - we'll stay at my grandparents' cottage in Cornwall," Daveth offered.
"Do you want me to meet you at the Ministry?" Audrey offered. "You'll probably have to go through the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
"No need," Camille said. Audrey winced at her aunt's quick reply. She couldn't help but take that a little personally, even if it wasn't intended that way. "We'll just meet you in Hogsmeade. Oh, and one more question, dear."
"What is it?" Audrey asked.
"How come we didn't know sooner?" Camille asked, a pained look on her face.
"The Ministry notified Valerie when he died," Audrey said quietly. "She was her official guardian or something."
"Valerie?" Camille bellowed. "That - that - "
"Cam, relax," Daveth said calmly. "It was beyond your control."
Camille's fuming expression went back to her pained look. "So I suppose she is dead, then," she decided.
"Well, she could be alive," Audrey offered. "We would have to retrieve her Identification File from the Bulgarian Ministry, though, to find out."
"No, Audrey," Camille said in a low voice. "She's dead to us. Not even sending word... her own nephew..."
"Cam, please don't let this bother you," Daveth warned, his tone filled with worry.
His wife's frown seemed to soften a bit and she let out a sigh before saying, "We'll see you tomorrow, Audrey."
Audrey nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Goodbye."
She moved out of the flames before she could hear the farewells of her aunt and uncle. Audrey's mum and Aunt Camille always spoke with such disappointment about Aunt Valerie, but Audrey tried to think it was because of typical sibling rivalry. Now, though, she thought differently. If Valerie truly was alive and didn't even bother to send word to the rest of the family about her own nephew dying, then she was as good as dead to Audrey.
In fact, Audrey didn't even feel the need to pursue the woman. Let her have the isolation that she wanted.
"Camille and Daveth want to see the grave tomorrow," Audrey said quietly as she turned towards Erin. "We'll be meeting them there at eleven."
"You'll be meeting them there," Erin snapped as she turned to meet Audrey's eyes.
Audrey frowned and stood to sit next to Erin. "You don't want to come?" she asked.
"Oh, of course I want to visit Brady's grave," Erin corrected. "I just don't want to do it with you. You wanted to look for him without me, you can visit him without me."
Audrey gaped at the blonde witch sitting next to her, who only stonily glared back. "Erin - "
"Don't you 'Erin' me!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me you were looking for him, eh? You think I'm too foutrement lâche to handle death? Not like it hasn't been haunting me, right? Need I remind you that I saw my own father get killed in the middle of Muggle Dublin?"
"Erin, I thought I was protecting you, all right?" Audrey replied. "If - if you had the false hope that he was alive, it would have been worse, and - "
"Oh, and you didn't have that hope, right?" Erin interrupted with a sneer. "Expecting the worst out of everything, as always, I bet."
"Of course I did! But - "
"Audrey, figure-toi que - agh!" Erin cut herself with an angry huff. The angrier she got, the more French she spoke, and Audrey could tell it was taking a lot of energy to keep her mind clear. "Would you believe that I already had the false hope that Brady was alive? Or is that too fucking optimistic for you to understand?"
"That's not true!" Audrey exclaimed. "I didn't think - "
"Non, tu pensais pas du tout! You just think you're so much better at handling cette merde, non?" Erin asked with a scoff. She angrily pushed herself off the couch and stormed off, all the while muttering, "Typical Audrey. All about you."
Audrey gaped as her friend stalked off to her room. Once Erin had left the living room, Audrey limply fell back into the couch.
In that moment, as she heard the door to Erin's room slam shut and echo in the silence of their flat, Audrey couldn't help but think that her so-called bravery was a complete farce. At least, it seemed that every time she tried to be brave, it inevitably turned into selfishness. That big, bad trait that hovered over every Slytherin like their own personal rain cloud.
Me, me, me. Boo hoo hoo. Get a hold of yourself.
Audrey picked up another piece of parchment and her quill from the coffee table, getting ready to write her letter of absence for the next day when a curious thought hit her.
Maybe you need to stop trying so hard. You're not so bad, Callaghan.
For some reason, Audrey struggled to believe that the solution to all of her problems was really that simple, but she also knew that there was one person that could help her tell right from wrong.
Aunt Camille.
Sooo, Audrey's life is kind of falling apart :P
Thanks again to all who have reviewed so far - you are a great help when it comes to helping me put my best writing forward!
ALSO, some updates to the tumblr where I post blurbs about the characters: I have put up a "history of the Callaghans" of sorts, as well as blurbs about Audrey and her brother, and Audrey's mum and aunts :)