Harley Lupin is a curse-breaker working for Gringotts bank in Egypt. After many years, a boy- or should I say- man, she went to school with get's transferred from the base in England to Egypt. The two catch up after many years, and what will happen...
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"Will, can we talk?"
That dreaded question. Bill froze at the doorway to the living room, his hair half in a ponytail, and his fingers wrapped in it. Harley sat boot upright on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other and her fingers playing together like little children.
Bill's heart began to race. Endless possibilities, all bad, game to mind and he felt sick to the stomach as he slowly edged his way towards his fiancée. Like he had just been summoned to the headmasters office, Bill perched on the edge of the sofa and looked, rather scared, towards Harley.
"Sure..." replied Bill, his voice quiet and highly confused.
Harley sighed, "I've been thinking. A lot actually. About us. And what we have done whilst being together."
"Right. And is everything okay?"
Harley reaches out and took hold of one of his hands, "I love you and I want to still marry you but-"
"A but? There's always a but and when there's a but there's a bad thing!" Bill stammered, his eyes softening and he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes.
"Will, I don't think I want any kids."
Bill blinked slowly, his eyes readjusting from being blurred. "No kids? None at all?"
She shook her head. "After everything that has happened and I just... I don't think I could ever be a mum and I don't want to risk losing another baby. I'm sorry."
The man rubbed his chin in deep thought. No kids? Was that okay with him? Bill loved growing up with younger siblings. He absolutely adored looking after them, teaching them games and how to sneak food out of the kitchen without his mother knowing it.
"Harley, are you sure?" He asked her, "that's a big decision and you might still be grieving and saying this."
"Of course I'm still bloody grieving!" Harley shouted standing up, "we lost a child, Bill! I was carrying a child which died inside of me! I'm not just going to get over it! Do you really think I want to go through that again?!"
Bill was taken back. Harley's voice had never been so harsh and her teeth never gritted they way they did. Her eyes glazed over with anger and her nostrils flared. She was a dragon. A furious dragon whose eggs had been destroyed. He would be lying if he said she wasn't scary, or at least in that moment she wasn't.
"NO! Bloody hell, Bill, my life has been ripped apart by this and I am not prepared to ever go through that again. To believe that I could ever be a mum, a good mum at that, was stupid! Obviously that was foolish of me to do so because whatever supernatural force there is clearly thinks otherwise. So yes. Yes I'm bloody sure that I will never want a child. Not now. Not ever."
"At least think—"
"I'm done thinking about it! Merlin's beard, understand that, Bill!"
Bill didn't respond, he looked down at the floor shaking his head trying to fathom and get to grips with everything. Harley took his silence as a 'no' and stormed out of the flat. She was raging. She would at least have thought Bill would try to understand. But clearly not.
Harley let her legs lead her. With just her wand in her pocket, no money, nothing else she didn't exactly have a plan but she needed space. God forbid that flat would not be far enough from Bill if she was to have stayed in there.
The streets of London were busy for a late evening and the loud traffic distracted Harley from her thoughts which pounded against her skull. Her heart was heavy and she so wanted to break down and cry but she didn't. She was done crying.
Entering a pub she pushed through different punters to the back where she used the entrance to Diagon Alley. She practically ran down the cobbled streets, earning strange looks from shopkeepers who were just shutting up as the young blonde woman, hurried along past their establishments.
Nearing the end of one passage, Harley collapsed onto a bench where she let the entertainment flow out of her like a soul leaving a body. Looking, highly unlady-like with her legs wide open like her arms, replicating that of a starfish the young woman breathed heavily into the cold night's air watching her breath barrel out of her lips.
"It's natural for him to feel differently, you know."
Harley sighed, "please don't read my thoughts, Orlando."
"I can't help it. It's not everyday I see my sister bolting down Diagon Alley with about sixty different thoughts buzzing around. It's awfully noisy but also very concerning." The man sat down, placing his arm around Harley. "But like I said. Bill might want kids, Harley, and he can't help it if you don't feel the same. But he is also right, you might change your mind later on. So don't worry about it too much now, if you want different things. One day you'll agree."
Harley groaned, "he just doesn't understand—"
"I'm sure he does, you're his fiancée, he wouldn't want to marry you if he didn't."
"I s'pose so."
Orlando chuckled, "trust me, Harley, I'm you're brother and also a man. So I can offer some sort of idea as to what he is thinking."
"Thank you. Ugh, I know it's a big ask, but I couldn't stay with you tonight? I don't want to go back just yet. I'm so embarrassed I've just yelled at him for not understanding and having a different opinion. I'm such a bitch!" Harley Exclaimed, her hands covering her face as her cheeks grew redder.
"Of course you can, Harley, call it returning the favour. And, for your information, you're not being a bitch. You're being a woman who has had a miscarriage and has feelings that are all over the place. It's fine." Orlando rubbed her back, "now come on, it's getting cold and you are freezing."
"I'm fine."
Orlando shrugged off his jacket and placed it over Harley's shoulders, "better?" She wnated to deny it. Say that she was okay and it didn't change anything but Orlando was annoyingly right.
