Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

97.

"You can always just bury it if you can't do it."

"No. I won't be able to have a clear conscience if it's not completely gone."

Sophia and Fred stood up on the hill with their hair blowing with the strong wind. The cottage was only a few paces down and small patches of sand divided the grass area. Fred was sitting with his legs crossed on the sand while Sophia stood with her wand pointing downwards. Her Sky map was unraveled and spread out in front of her, just waiting to be completely destroyed. But no hexes or curses emitted from Sophia's wand, and it seemed that she was struggling mentally.

Fred watched as she fiddled with the handle of her wand and looked down at the map on the sand. He couldn't make out any of the dots and constellations but he could tell that their voices were flowing into Sophia's ear. He didn't like seeing her so conflicted but it wouldn't be right to try to intervene and do it for her. It was her mother's map after all and it was a considered sacred object to her.

She sighed loudly and let her arm fall from its strong posture, turning around and started to pace back and forth. Fred held back his own sigh and waited patiently for her to pace out all her troubles. He hadn't brought his own wand outside in order to have no temptations to do the job himself. And he understood her struggle, but he didn't have the same attachments she had with the map. He saw it as too much trouble for what it was worth and that was it.

"Okay," Sophia stopped and brought her wand back up again. "Okay. Okay..."

Fred watched hopefully as she hyped herself up to finally finish it, only to deflate again when she turned on her heel and started to pace once more. Running a hand down his face, he followed her pointless walking with his eyes. He was starting to get cold as the sea breeze was getting stronger because of the evening drawing nearer, but he still didn't rush her.

"Bombarda," she muttered and a flame shot out from her wand, hitting the grass patch next to the map. Fred jumped in surprise and looked in anticipation at the scorched greenery and back at Sophia, hoping for another curse. But she only stood there while chewing on her bottom lip, glaring down at the map.

"Look love-" Fred stood up from the sand. "-I know this is hard but I'm getting a little chilly. And I know that you are too. We can do this another day when you're more prepared-"

"No," she stopped him. "I'm doing this now."

"Are you?"

She looked over her shoulder and shot him a half-hearted glare, knowing full well that he was right. She hated how indecisive she was considering how much she's gone through in order to have this map in her hands again. She started to feel frustrated and felt angry tears spring to her eyes. Was she betraying her mother? Should she consult with her father first?

"Come on Soph, let's just go inside," Fred softly said and placed his hands on her sides, ready to guide her back down to the cottage. "We can do this tomorrow-"

"Bombarda maxima."

The map burst into flames and immediately began to crackle from the heat. The parchment blackened as the flame spread to its wooden handles, the wind helping it to burn in a matter of seconds. Fred flinched back and kept his hands on Sophia's hips, eyes wide at the sudden explosion of fire. Swallowing dryly, he tried to appear like he wasn't affected by the spell and stood up straight while watching the map burn. He leaned his head forward in order to catch a glimpse of Sophia's expression and was surprised to see that she wasn't crying. She refused to let herself shed any tears for the damn thing, but she did look mildly upset.

Fred wrapped his long arms around her middle and leaned his chin on her shoulder, hoping to give her some sort of comfort. The fire eventually burned itself out and left a shriveled up ball of blackness in the sand. But Sophia didn't seem to be satisfied and she raised her wand again, pointing it at the helpless ball.