Living Muggley

A Visit Long Past Due

"Yeah... She's been in the same place for a while."

"Thank you!" I waved as I went down the corridor that lead to her room. Once there, I lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in." Auntie's voice seemed almost chipper. That was a good sign. I opened the door and found her sitting in the pink chair in front of the fireplace and reading a book. I glanced at the book just in time to see that it was one that Eleanor had written shortly after she had gotten out of Mungo's right after the battle. Her face lit up when she saw me.

"Sarah Beth!" She seemed almost overjoyed.

"Hi, Auntie!" I put Triangle-Face down he scampered around the room, making the bell on his tri-force color jingle. I went towards her.

"It's been so long." She hugged me, a dent showing in her happiness.

"I know. I'm sorry. I've been busy."

"To busy to see me?"

"Well... I was sick for a bit."

"Good heavens! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I had the Flue. But then because I missed work, I got fired from the coffee shop, even; though Ashley worked my shift for me.

"Hm." She let out a disapproving hm. I ignored her and continued.

"We still haven't found new jobs. We are working on it. But anyway, then Ellie stayed a few days because she was mad at Draco. Then when I found out Mr. Bernard lost the Fudge Shop, I didn't want to go anywhere. Then I babysat Ellie's son. And I went on a double date yesterday. We saw a movie. It stirred up some, uh, bad memories." I shivered. She laid a hand on mine.

"That's what Muggle things will do to you, hrm?" There it was, the 'I'm always right' hrm. I shook my head.

"No, Auntie. Muggles are my escape." A tear slid down my cheek, but I blinked back the rest. Auntie wasn't as emotional as Ellie, but I didn't want to cause a relapse. She forced a small smile nad wiped the tear off of my cheek.

"What kind of bad memories?" She asked sweetly. I opened my mouth, then closed it back. Should I reall tell her what it was? Another shiver went up my back.

"The main character in the movie made himself immortal, , by sticking part of his soul into a portrait." Her eyes widened. "And it made me think of, well..." I closed my eyes and pushed myself to say it. Ashley had told me last night that the best way to get over my fear was to cope with it and confront it. "Voldemorrt>"

I cast my eyes down. Auntie gasped and let go of my hand She glanced nervously around the room. IT seemed all sound had been sucked from the room.

"Sarah Beth..." She whispered, putting a hand against my cheek. "You just said-"

"I know. Ashley told me that-"

"You're letting a MUGGLE tell you about You-Know-Who?!" She suddenly yelled, quickly pulling her hand away again.

"He wasn't telling me about him! He was telling me about how to stop worrying." I tried to explain . I t didn't look like it helped much. She looked above her, as if she were trying to hold back a comment. "He's really nice, Auntie. He really is."

"Sarah Beth, you know how I feel about this and muggles." She almost hissed. Why was she so stubborn? Ashley was so nice, and she just couldn't look past her stubornness.

"You know how I feel about the ministry." I used the same tone she had, "But you still push for me to work for them."

"That's different! You aren't in a relationship with the Ministry!"