the atmosphere had changed from the once lighthearted one: reunions and fred and george's jokes — to everybody looking tense, biting the inside of their cheeks. the only sound to break the silence was that of hagrid hiccuping from behind his handkerchief.
"well," remus turned away. "there's work to do. kingsley's already left back to the prime minister. i can ask him whether—"
"no," perseus said at once. "i'll come."
"where are you going?" mrs weasley asked.
"mad eye's body. we need to recover it. not unless you'd rather the death eaters take it." nobody replied, and lupin and perseus left swiftly.
still nobody spoke after that, and they all dropped into chairs — except for harry, who remained standing. the suddenness and completeness of death with them.
"i've got to go too," said harry suddenly, and thirteen pairs of startled eyes stared at him.
"don't be stupid, harry. what are you talking about?" maeve scoffed.
"i can't stay here." he rubbed his forehead, where his scar was. "you're all in danger while i'm here— i don't want anythin—"
"don't be so silly! the whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness we did." mrs weasley stepped in. "and fleur's agreed to get married here rather than in france. we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you—"
"if voldemort finds out i'm here—"
"but why would he?" said mr weasley. "there are a dozen places you might be now, harry. he's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."
"it's not me i'm worried for!"
"we know that. but it would make out efforts tonight seem rather pointless if you left."
saiorse nodded. "arthur is right. it's best for us all to turn in now and prepare for the wedding tomorrow morning."
"MY MUM'S BEEN TRYING TO GET IT OUT OF ME," maeve explained quietly as she and hermione sat side by side on the floor of ginny's bedroom, backs pressed against the guest bed set up for them. "asking me about what we're off to do — why we aren't returning to hogwarts this year." she paused. "...it's the most she's talked in a while."
hermione didn't say anything and just let the blonde girl talk, facing forward to the wall, which was decorated with ginny's holyhead harpies posters.
"i'm glad she's here, actually." maeve hummed. "it's good for her. my mum and mrs weasley were good friends while they were at school. same with my dad and mr weasley. it's nice for them to be around their friends. it helps." she swallowed. "it helped me. you helped me."
"i miss him, too. everyday." hermione interlaced their hands. "and i know i always act like i know everything, but i can't and never will understand what you're going through. but i want to try."
"he was the best brother ever." maeve whispered, her lips curling into a small smile. "i wish i told him that more often, that's all."
"he knows," hermione assured quietly, and the freckled-girl leaned over, resting her head on her shoulder. "levi knows."
a silver tear rolled down both of their cheeks, dripping onto the floorboards. "do you think we'll — die out there..?"
"no. i've been packing for days, so we're ready to leave at a moment's notice. which for your information, has included doing some pretty difficult magic, not to mention smuggling mad-eye's whole stock of polyjuice potion right under ron's mum's nose." hermione said. "i've prepared alot for this."
"whatever happens, promise me that we'll never leave each other. ever."
"i promise."
"pinky promise?" maeve urged, holding out her pinky finger.
hermione chuckled lightly, connecting their pinkies and nodding happily. "pinky promise." she cupped her girlfriend's cheeks, pressing a soft kiss to her nose. "i'm so in love with you."
"—alright, i'm coming in!" ginny called from outside the door. "put your clothes back on, please!"
"we weren't doing anything—!"
"too right! those are clean sheets!"
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
lara speaks currently editing this book, so if u get any notifications, it's just me editing
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
