Chapter Fifteen – Consequences
October2022
I blink as the blackness fades from my vision. I can feel the hard wooden planks of the floor beneath me. A breeze caresses my cheek as the door swings open. Someone is standing, silhouetted, in the doorway. He lifts his arm and a red light flashes towards me. It does not hit me but goes over my head. Something thuds to the ground behind me. The figure in the doorway does not move.
Turning my head, I look at what made the sound. My father's body is slumped, stunned, against the wall. Behind him is another figure, her face paler than I have ever seen it. She is lying on the floor, her eyes open but glazed over, unseeing. I do not understand. A wand rolls across the carpet: my father's.
I push myself off the ground so I am sitting on my knees. The figure in the door way slumps against the frame as I move. He tries to mutter something, waving his wand but nothing happens. He looks up at me and large emerald eyes stare into my own. Albus.
He holds out his arm to me and I take his out stretched hand. He pulls me to my feet and into his arms before murmuring again, this time a slivery substance fills the room, taking the form of an eagle before disappearing out of the door. Albus just holds me in his arms. I do not understand. I do not know how long we stand there.
"Al-" a man's voice comes from somewhere to my right. "Your Patronus… it said to come quickly…" the voice trails off as he reaches us. Albus lets go of me without a word.
"I just came through the door, I was too late…" he indicated at the woman on the floor. The man – he looks like Albus –moves passed us and towards the woman. He kneels down beside her and reaches for her wrist. He shakes his head.
"Take her to Ginny," the man says, brushing a hand over the woman's face before reaching out and taking the wand from the carpet. My father's wand. I see the man moving towards the stunned figure of my father just before a tugging sensation pulls at my stomach and I feel like I am being forced through an opening much smaller than I am.
I blink as the world reforms around me. Albus has one arm around my waist – it feels right, like it belongs there – and leads me up a path. A woman with red hair opens the door and ushers us inside.
"What happened?" she whispers.
"I don't know, I just turned up and he had one hand on her neck and the other was pointed at… well," Albus seems unsure how to finish but the woman understands and leads us down the hall to a door. I vaguely recall being here… a very long time ago. I remember Albus' brother. I remember his sister. His mother. That is who the woman is: Albus' mother. She makes us sit at the kitchen table and begins pulling out mugs from a cupboard. She is making coco again. She made coco last time.
Suddenly, I feel a tingling sensation in my fingertips. It spreads up my arms and through my body. I begin to shake. The world blurs before me again. I hear a scream. I think it is mine. Then another one. Why am I screaming? The screams go on and on. I am still shaking. Violently. There are arms around me. They try to hold me still. The screams are hurting my ears. The arms pull me closer to a chest. They wrap around me, attempting to hold me still. I am still shaking. Still screaming. I do not understand. A hand on the back of my head. My face comes into contact with the soft fabric of someone's robes. They smell familiar. They smell safe. They muffle my screams. The hand moves in my hair. Stroking. They are trying to calm me.
I feel calm inside. Numb.
My body is still shaking and trying to scream into the person's robes. Terror.
Then the emotions come. I am not so numb now. It hurts. It really hurts. Why won't it stop? Why am I hurting? I do not understand. My heart is aching. Loss. That is what I feel. It is like when Albus left me at the end of the summer. But different. I have lost something that has always been mine… I just cannot remember what it is. I just know it hurts. And I am scared.
Something horrible. Something wrong. So very wrong. I remember pain. Not being able to breath. I remember a man. And that man's wand… Rolling across the floor. A woman. There was a woman there too. Who was she? I remember her eyes. What could she see?
The arms are still around me. A hand stroking my hair. A voice murmuring in my ear. They cannot take the pain away. It hurts. It hurts badly. I wish I knew why it hurt. Something is wrong. So very wrong. I want them to take the pain away. Why won't they take it away?
I am still tingling. I still cannot see. I am shaking. Worse than before. Panic. I am never panicked. I am always calm. Always collected. Why am I panicking? What is happening. Somebody help me. Please.
The arms pull away slightly. I feel something cool touch my lips. A cup I think. But not coco. Coco is warm. This is cool. Not cold. Cool. It tastes sweet. Calming. The shaking stops. So does the tingling. But not the pain. The pain is still there. Why is the pain still there? Why can't it go away? Why does it still hurt?
The arms are still around me. They could not make the pain go away. They failed. I push them away. I turn my back. I find a chair. I sit down. The pain is hurting. Why does pain hurt? Why am I feeling pain? What is wrong? What has happened?
"I don't understand?" I choke out. I stare at the table. I follow the lines in the wood.
"Vivian," a calm voice murmurs. A woman's voice. "Vivian, your mother is dead."
So... sorry? I totally understand if you feel like punching me in the face but maybe leaving you anger in a review would be a better option. Thanks.
GirlOnTheSidelines.
