The Outtakes

Liz West: Forgiveness and abandonment

Ages: Liz - 18

Elizabeth "Liz" West sighed as she set a box onto the floor of her bedroom. Then she took a moment to look around, trying to decide if there was anything else that she could pack up now. It had only been a month since her graduation from Hogwarts, and she was already mostly packed. She and Courtney Derrick had decided that they would find a place and be roommates. They had already looked at a few places, so it all came down to picking which one worked best for them.

A knock sounded at her door. "Lizzie?"

Liz turned to see her father standing in her open doorway. The sight made her smile. She was close with her father. His thin hair was already white, but his blue eyes were bright, almost making him look younger than he was. His smile was soft and small, like always.

"Hi, Daddy," Liz greeted as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Did you need something?" Liz was close to her father, even more than her other siblings were. It'd been like that since she was young.

Her father stepped into her room and came to sit next to her. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Need any help?"

"No, not yet. The rest of my things are things I'll need until I actually move," she told him. "I already packed the small things, and the stuff I don't use daily."

Her father placed his arm around her, his hand lightly resting on her shoulder as he hugged her to him. "My little baby is moving out soon," he sighed.

Liz smiled. "Don't be like that. Stacy visits with Roland at least three times a week," she reminded.

He ran a hand through her hair as he brushed it off of her shoulder. "I know." But then he sighed a bit heavily. "You've got some mail." Then he pulled a folded letter out from his pocket.

Liz took it, but looked at him with confusion. He didn't seem at all happy about the letter, but she didn't get why. There wasn't even a name on the envelope. Just hers. "Who's it from?"

"Just open it," he whispered. Then he placed a kiss on her forehead. "And be open-minded." Then with a pat on the leg, he left her alone, feeling confused and curious. Liz tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. But when she read it, she couldn't believe it.

"Dear Elizabeth,

I hope that one day you will understand why I did what I did. I know you're young now, but one day you'll grow up, and things will change.

Love, Your Mother"

The letter crumbled in Liz's hand as she formed a fist, her muscles tensed and shaking. Anger. That was what was rushing through her right now. She threw the paper at the wall, wishing that it would explode. And that the writer would explode right along with it.

"She wrote us all a letter." Liz had gone to Stacy and Raven's place the next day, needing to talk to one of her siblings. But to her surprise, their brothers Kurt and Eli were there too. It seems they'd been expecting this.

"Yeah, only we were all in school when we got ours," Kurt muttered. Kurt was the youngest twin by two minutes. He was big enough that you'd think he was a Beater for some professional Quidditch team. But actually, he hated the sport. His size was due to his work. His job was training and reigning in the dragons that protected the vaults in Gringotts Bank. It also contributed to the permanent pink patches of skin that were scarred from burns and scratches. His blonde hair fell close to his green eyes in waves, and his usual smile was subdued in their current conversation.

"Third year. I remember that horrid day all too well," Eli mumbled as he removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. Eli, the older twin, was the only one of the West kids with glasses. But like his twin, it was because of his job. He worked for the Ministry's Beast Division, and during his time working for the sub-department dealing with dragons, a close call with fire had slightly damaged his eyes. So now he worked for another sub-department, and had decided on glasses instead of a risky spell to fix his eyes. But honestly, the glasses were the only way to tell the twins apart. He too was big in size, and his hair was the same length and natural style.