The Journey Back to Hogwarts
We waited for what felt like weeks, but it was probably only a couple days. It only felt like so long because I needed help with everything. But I was getting better! I didn't need help walking around anymore, but I couldn't go too quickly. And someone always had to be with me when I went up or down stairs, because once I had gotten very dizzy and almost fell down. If I was with anyone else during those few days, it would've been extremely boring. But as I had always known, life with the Weasleys was anything but boring. Fred and George made everything exciting, and I had been aching for a good home-cooked meal from Molly for almost a year and a half.
"So, what exactly are we waiting for, anyway?" I asked no one in particular, when we were all sitting around the table, waiting for supper.
"Well, my dear, we're waiting for the signal on our Potter Watch radio station." Arthur answered me but I was still confused,
"Signal for what?" I said, looking around. I was the only one asking, but I could tell that my sister and parents were equally as curious.
"For the final showdown." Fred said, making his voice more dramatic. I laughed at him, as did everyone else, but we were all uneasy.
"How do we know where to go?" I asked.
"It will be at Hogwarts." Arthur said.
"But isn't that dangerous?"
"Oh, of course. But it's going to be dangerous no matter where it happens. Why not make it on our own turf?" He said. He had a point. I had another question.
"Why did you guys all come here? To Shell Cottage?" Molly was the one to answer this question.
"For a couple of reasons. First, this is the official safe house for the Order. And second, we all wanted to be together when we leave. I know it sounds grim, but this could very well be the last time we're together as a family. Even if we're missing a couple." She turned her head, trying to hide the tears that had formed there, and Arthur jumped up to comfort his wife.
"Well I'm glad we're all here together. And now, I have both of my families with me." I said, smiling. "And I think we'll get through this. I have a good feeling." I wasn't so sure, though. And judging from the look that Fred was giving me, he wasn't either. He got up and went over to his mother.
"Mum, how long do you think supper will be?" He asked her.
"Oh, probably about twenty minutes or so." He nodded, and turned to me.
"Want to go for a walk, Tal? Being a cripple and all, a little exercise would be good for you." He was making his words light, but I could tell he just wanted a chance to talk alone with me.
"Ha ha, very funny. And yes, I actually would like a walk." I got up and went over to him, and we linked arms. As he led me outside, I was met by a familiar rush of fresh air and salty ocean. I took in a huge breath, loving it. It made my head slightly fuzzy, but in a good way. Fred led me down to the beach, and we took off our shoes and walked through the water. It was nice. We hadn't been alone in a long time.
"I really missed you, Fred." I said. He patted my arm.
"I missed you, too. A lot." He said, and I rested my head on his arm. "What's going on, Tal?"
"I'm afraid." I said, in a quiet voice.
"Of what?"
"I don't know. I just have this feeling that something is about to go down. I've been getting these headaches…" I trailed off.
"Headaches? Like your psychic headaches?"
"Yeah. It's different than usual, though. Usually they're sharp, throbbing pains. But this is a dull ache, like it's… waiting. And I don't know what's going to happen. I never do. But this time, it scares me." He stopped to turn to me, and put his arms on mine and started rubbing them, because I was shivering. He looked like he was going to say something, but then stopped himself and laughed. "What?" I asked, laughing a little bit myself.
"I was just going to say that no matter what, I'd keep you safe. But, who am I kidding? You're the one who keeps me safe." He said, and I laughed at him.
"And don't you forget it, ginger." I said.
"Oh, that's a low blow." He said, but he still laughed. The conversation stayed light for a few minutes, but neither of us could keep our minds off of the important stuff for very long.
"I just wish that whatever is going to happen would just happen already! I can't take this waiting! I wish I could've gone with Harry." I said. Fred wrapped his arm around me.
"I know, Tal. We all feel the same way. You don't think we all don't hate being cooped up here, do you? And anyway, we've all had to make sacrifices…" He said, and I picked up the implication in his voice.
"Fred," I said warningly, "What do you mean by 'sacrifices'?" I asked. Fred's cheeks turned a little red.
"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you…" He said, and I stopped and jumped in front of him so he couldn't keep walking.
"Fred Gideon Weasley, you tell me what's going on right now!" I said, slapping his shoulder, apparently too hard, as he winced and grabbed the spot.
"Well, George sort of… um… maybe… got his ear cursed off, "that last part was said so fast, it was almost one word, "a little." He finished. He then started cowering when he saw my reaction.
"A little?!" I yelled, and immediately started running up to the cottage. Well, sort of power-walking, really. I wasn't up for running just yet.
"Really, Talia, he's fine. His ears almost all grown back, you didn't even notice anything was wrong in the first place! Don't make a big deal out of this, Tal." Fred said, trying to keep up with me and reason with me at the same time. Only the former was working.
"Dear God, Fred, just shut up." I said, trying to go even faster. When I burst through the door, I must have startled everyone, because they all dropped what they were doing. My mum dropped the spoon she was stirring her tea with, Bill dropped the book he was reading, and Arthur dropped a little Muggle contraption he was attempting to disassemble. All heads turned toward me. I hurried over to George, and I think he might have guessed what was coming.
"Bloody hell, Fred, I told you not to tell her!" George whined, as I reached him and knelt down to his level.
"Sorry, man, it slipped." Fred said, coming to sit next to us.
"Oh, Georgie, what happened to you?" I said. I was inspecting his ear, and he was trying to swat me away.
"It was nothing, really. We were in the process of moving Harry to a safer place after he came of age, and we were ambushed."
"Yeah, Draco told me about that. He wasn't one of the Death Eaters that attacked you, but he learned how it went from some others. I can't believe it's you that got hurt, George. I was joking about how funny you two would find it that someone got their ear blown off." I said, giving them a small smile. They gave me bigger smiles back.
"Oh, we did. Especially Fred." George said, looking at his brother.
"You should hear the first thing he said to me when he woke up. You're going to die." Fred said, which totally interested me.
"What was it?" I said, looking between them. It was Fred that answered me.
"Well, here I am, leaning over my brother's lifeless body, hoping that he'd wake up. I talked to him, coaxed him, and when he finally opened his eyes, I asked him how he was feeling. And all he said, was, 'Saint-like'." There was a long pause.
"Saint-like? What the hell does that mean?" I asked him, and he started to laugh. So, I turned my questioning eyes to George, who looked a little embarrassed.
"Well, you know… I was holey." He said, and I immediately put my head in my hand and shook it back and forth.
"Oh, George. Why?" I said, not able to contain my laughter. Pretty soon, both me and Fred were lying on the floor, laughing our asses off. As I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked around the room, I could see that everyone else was enjoying this moment, also. But pretty soon, we all calmed down, and my mind started to wander. All of a sudden, I started to get angry. Why were these stupid Death Eaters always targeting my family? Why? And what was with this sudden anger spike? I didn't understand it, but that didn't stop it. Both of the twins sensed the sudden change. They even understood it, as they had witnessed it for years, and always were the ones to calm me down. They immediately jumped to attention.
"Tal, you're eyes," George said.
"Maybe you should go outside." Fred said, and they grabbed my arms and dragged me outside before I could do any damage inside. The minute we stepped foot outside, they let me go, and I ran toward the edge of the trees. I took in a huge breath, and screamed. The scream split the trees in half, and made sand fly up in the air. I think I may have even killed a bird, but I'd push feeling bad back for later. The scream went on for what felt like forever, but I suspected it was only a couple minutes. When I finally cut it off, I found myself on my knees, gripping handfuls of sand and grass and whatever else was on the ground beneath me. I hoped there wasn't any poop. I looked to make sure, and relieved, I let the dirt fall to the ground once more. I was exhausted. I sagged back, expecting to fall to the ground. But two pairs of strong arms caught me and held me upright.
"Holy shit, Tal, that was amazing." Fred said.
"Since when can you do that?" George asked.
"I've been practicing." I said, quietly. It was quiet for a few minutes, and we were all just breathing, and watching the waves on the beach. After a while, Fred wiped a tear from my cheek, and I realized that I had been crying.
"You wanna talk?" Asked George, and I looked down.
"I'm just… angry. I'm so, so angry. Never for a second do I ever regret being friends with Harry Potter. But all this crap that's happened to me, to all of us, just plain sucks. And I can't do anything about it." I said. I was starting to feel a little embarrassed about my blowup. "I'm sorry, you guys. That was stupid of me."
"Don't apologize. Losing control is something that happens to everybody once in a while." Fred said.
"And anyway, those trees were pretty annoying. I'd been meaning to rip them to shreds for days now. Thanks Tal!" George said, mocking.
"And I'm positive that that was the bird that's been keeping me up all night! Way to go, girl!" Fred said, and I laughed. I could always count on my brothers. All of them. I stood up, and saw the sky begin to turn the dark pink color of the setting sun. I started walking back to the cottage, and I felt both Fred and George grab my hands. We walked in silence, enjoying the breeze. I had always loved coming here as a child. I hoped that someday, I could bring my own children here. We walked inside, only to find that everyone was gathered around a small, fuzzy-sounding radio.
"What the hell is everyone doing?" I asked.
"Shh!" Everyone said at once, so I stayed quiet, listening to what they were.
"… Has struck. I repeat, lightning has struck." The little radio said, and everyone immediately jumped up into action. Even Fred and George started moving with everyone, apparently in on whatever was going on.
"What's going on?" I said loudly, hoping someone would hear me. Someone did.
"That was the signal we've been waiting for! It's time to go!" Arthur said to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them enthusiastically. My face lit up. This was it! No one grabbed anything, but some of us changed into something more comfortable. I ran upstairs and made sure to wear an outfit I didn't care about getting messed up (the jeans were already pretty ripped up, anyway) and some pretty heavy duty combat boots. I didn't bother putting on any jewelry, but I did leave on the necklace that I always wore, the one Draco gave me. I pulled my hair up into a quick ponytail, and grabbed my lucky bracelet just in case. Okay, so maybe I had no reason to think it was lucky, but I grabbed it anyway.
When I made it downstairs just minutes later, we all headed outside and started hurrying across the beach.
"Why are we walking? Can't we apparate?" I asked.
"We can't apparate until we're off the property." Bill said.
"Oh. Gotcha." I said, hurrying a little faster. I knew this wasn't something to be excited about, but I couldn't help it. I was excited to finally be able to be a part of all this. I looked over at Fred and George and saw that they were having similar feelings, and we all fist-bumped. When we finally made it to the edge of the property, we all grabbed hands and apparated off the beach. When we landed, me gripping Fred's hand a little more fiercely than before, I found that we were in Hogsmeade. Not only that, but we were standing in front of the Hog's Head, a pub that no one went to. Bill knocked on the door, quickly and quietly, and a man with fierce blue eyes and an enormous grey beard opened it and ushered us all in. Looking at him gave me quite a shock, for he was the spitting image of Albus Dumbledore. I turned to Fred.
"Fred, is that…?" I started, but I didn't know how to phrase the question delicately. Thankfully, Fred knew what I meant. He shook his head.
"It's not. It's his brother, Aberforth."
"I didn't know he had a brother." I said carefully, not wanting him to overhear us talking about him.
"Neither did anyone else."
"This is so crazy." I said, my head reeling. Fred smiled.
"Just wait. It gets even crazier." I gave him a questioning look, but stayed quiet, because something was happening in the other room. We walked in to see everyone gathered around a portrait of a little girl, and it was opening. Everyone climbed in and started walking, but I hesitated. Fred, from behind me, gently urged me on. "Don't worry, it will be okay. If anything happens, I'll save your ass." I scoffed.
"Oh, please. I think we both know that if anything happens, it will be me that saves your ass." I said, and climbed through with him.
"I have to side with Talia on this one, Freddie." George said from ahead, and I laughed. When I heard Aberforth speak behind us, I jumped at how much his voice sounded like Dumbledore's.
"Just follow this tunnel through to the end, it will take you straight there." And with that, he closed the painting.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll see." Fred and George said together, and I frowned.
"You know how much I hate surprises." I said.
"We know." They said, again at the same time. I sighed.
"Oh, how I missed you two." I said, sarcastically. They laughed. We walked for a while, sometimes speaking to each other, but for the most part it was a very quiet trip. Except for once, when I stepped on something that squealed and then ran away, which made me squeal in return and jump back into Fred.
"Aw, is little Talia afraid of a little mouse?" Fred said.
"Don't worry, Tal, I'm sure it's more scared of you than you are of it." George said.
"Shut up, you dumb shits." I said, making them snigger. As we made our way closer to wherever we were going, I started to get anxious. And, yes, I did start to get a headache, but at least I knew why this time. Well, at least, I had an idea. I didn't know exactly what was about to go down, I just knew that all this shit that's been happening was about to hit the fan. Well, at least I could finally walk on my own. I had gotten so frustrated with having to be pushed and carried around like a little baby. Ever since my family was torn apart ten years ago, I had taken care of myself. And that would never change.
I could tell we were getting near, because the passage way became smaller, and everyone became a little tenser. I pulled out my wand, ready for anything, but no one else did. When we came to the end of the passage way, I realized that it wasn't necessary. The door flung open, everyone jumped out, and we found ourselves in the Room of Requirement. It was different than when Draco and I snuck away here, though, as there were hammocks everywhere. It seemed that people had been sleeping here instead of their dormitories. I looked around and saw familiar faces, like Cho Chang, Lavender Brown, Cormac McLaggen (ugh), Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnigan.
"Seamus!" I said, and he turned to me, smiling.
"Talia! We've really missed you around here. Ron and Hermione filled us in about what happened to you." He said, coming over to me, and we hugged. When he pulled away, I looked at his face, and saw that it was pretty badly beaten up. I poked at his face, making him laugh.
"Oh, Seamus. This looks pretty bad. I'm a little jealous that I wasn't the one to do it to you. This time."
"Trust me, I'd rather take a beating from you any day than where I got this." He said, gesturing to his face. I knew that he meant the Carrows, and I got a little angry. They were abusing students, and it wasn't right.
"Talia!" A few people said at once, and I turned around to find Ron, Hermione, and Neville rushing towards me.
"Whoa, you guys, you just saw me a couple days ago." I told them.
"But not me, though." Neville said.
"True." I said, and hugged him. But then I broke down and hugged the other two, also. I looked around for a specific person, and grinned when I saw Ginny standing a little distance away.
"Talia?" She asked, as if unsure, and we ran to each other. It would have been a perfect one of those slow motion, dramatic running towards each other sequence, if we weren't so damn clumsy and eager. It was more like we were hurrying for the last piece of food on the planet. We hugged, and I was so happy to have my sister back. This reminded me of my actual sister, so I pulled away.
"Ginny, I have to show you something. You are not going to believe this." I said. She looked confused, but her face lit up when I stepped aside and revealed Kayla to her.
"Hey, Ginny." Kay said, and then they both ran to each other dramatically. There was a lot of love in this place right now.
"I thought you were dead!" Ginny said.
"Join the club." Kay said, and they hugged again. Those two had been pretty close before Kay was "killed", so it was nice to see them together again. I looked around for another one of my friends, but was disappointed when Harry was nowhere to be found.
"Where's Harry?" I asked Ron and Hermione.
"Down making his big entrance." Ron said.
"Speaking of that, we should all really be going. Where are Remus and Tonks and Kingsley?" Hermione said, right when they walked through the portrait hole.
"Don't worry, we're here. Sorry we're late." Remus said. I went over to hug them all, and Remus smiled at me. But then his eyes found Kayla. He was about to ask about it, but then he smelled her, and gave a nod of understanding. Werewolves could smell each other. Kay smiled a little sheepishly.
"I hear you and me have a lot in common." She said, and we all laughed.
"Okay, we have to go now!" Hermione said, urgently trying to hurry us all out of the room.
"Calm down, Hermione. It's not like it's the end of the world or anything." Ron said.
"That's debatable, Ronald." I said, and a few people laughed. We left the Room of Requirement, exposing ourselves to the unknown, and I sent a quick prayer to no one that we'd make it out of this alive. All of us.
A.N. I'm sorry it's taking so long to finish this story. I know exactly how I want to end it, but it's hard to get down, you know? So, just stay patient and I'll do my best. And thank you so much for your amazing reviews! They make me happy to read! Thank you for loving my story!