Briar ⋆ Fred Weasley (2)

━ thirty-eight: "ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!"

     Working at a nice little café a couple of streets away from where Diagon Alley hid sounded nice. It sounded rather peaceful, when Briar thought about it, walking out of one exam and immediately hearing people talking about the next.

     The only problem was that every time she saw someone she knew was going to die on May the second, a patch of skin would sting. And, every time she saw them worrying about exams, she wished that she could tell them, to smile and hug them supportively and say, "Don't worry about it, we happen to die on the same die as Voldy, so you won't even get the chance to use these results to find a job in the future."

     But, then, when she worded it like that, her stomach sank.

     None of them would get the chance to live.

     Briar was surprised she was taking the prediction of her own death so well. Most people would cry longer than she had done. She wasn't sure if it was Laurel's talking-to, or if Briar loved being under pressure so much that two years left, get everything done was the best deadline she could be given. Also, it was a massive fucking secret. It would be liberating if it wasn't tied onto the deaths of multiple others — including her father, and her best friend, and a lot of children — and her family would have to mourn with it afterwards.

     Well, the remains of it.

     If anything, Briar was worried about Laurel and Livvy. Livvy had, since Christmas, confided in Briar, saying that Laurel hugged Remus for about twenty minutes when he returned from the Wendy House-turned-mini cottage from the bottom of the garden, disguised to make the muggle neighbours believe it was just a derelict out-house.

     (Pushing him out of the house on full moons was not Laurel's idea. When Remus learnt about the potion to control the attacking as a werewolf, he felt wrong about staying in the house with them, and therefore, Laurel tried to make the old Wendy House as nice as possible for his stays.)

     Livvy, on the other hand, didn't even know what was going to happen. Briar didn't think that telling him about possibly becoming a Death Eater, and his dad and sister being killed on the same would sit well.

     To be honest, Briar only managed to digest it because of Cedric, and every other death she had unwillingly predicted. She didn't predict deaths to stop them; she predicted them to prepare. And it hurt knowing that, but she was almost eighteen. Soon to be deceased. It was better she realised this before her death, than in the afterlife. If that was real. Ooh. Finding out about that's going to be exciting.

     The girls in the seventh year dorm had been discussing exams when a loud BANG! sounded from outside. The window next to Alicia bed was closest to where the bang came from, and the girls in the room exchanged looks and clambered over to the window.

     Angelina and Briar were peering over the other girls' heads. Briar frowned. In the distance, Hagrid's cabin was lit up, the only light in the grounds. "REASONABLE BE DAMNED, YEH WON' TAKE ME LIKE THIS, DAWLISH!"

     Sergeant, upon noticing the commotion, began to bark. Briar hugged him, trying her best to distract him from the lights of Stunning Spells coming from the grounds. He was as magical as a rock. The lights would be like fireworks. Briar wanted to watch, but she didn't want her dog, her son, to be scared, and that ruled over. She could still hear. Her brain whispered when to make Sergeant look at something else, which helped.

     "HOW DARE YOU!" shouted a familiar voice. Briar had never felt so grateful to hear McGonagall's voice. "HOW DARE YOU!"

     "Bless Minnie," muttered Briar.