Surviving in Harmony

Chapter Twenty-One | The Burrow, July 31st 2003

Sonia patted the couch beside her and helped him up. “I was just missing my Mamma.” She told him, pointing to a photo in the book. “That’s my Mamma when she was young.”

The same lady from before was dancing in a kitchen, her arms around a tall man with wavy dark hair. Both were laughing, looking up at each other with bright eyes. The lady’s long skirt brushed the ground, her flowing sleeves moving as the couple danced together, hands clasped tightly.

“That’s my godfather,” Sonia said, pointing to the man “He loved my Mamma very much.”

Max tilted his head to the side. “Is that your Daddy?”

“No honey, he’s like my Daddy – like Uncle Bill is your godfather and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are Ella’s godmother and godfather.”

Max knew his Uncle Bill was his Godfather, but he didn’t understand what that meant – other than he sometimes got extra special candy from wherever his Uncle went on business. “What’s a godfather?”

Sonia sighed and hugged Max close. “It’s someone who loves you lots and lots, and if anything were to happen to me or Daddy, you would live with Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur.”

Max stared up at his Mamma, fear in his dark eyes. “What’s going to happen to you?!”

“Nothing babe,” she soothed “It’s just a precaution.”

“What’s a pre-pre –”

“Precaution.” Repeated Sonia. “Just in case.”

“Oh.” Max studied the photo of his Mamma’s godfather and mother. “He looks at your Mamma like Daddy looks at you.”

Sonia sniffed and kissed his curly head. “Yeah babe, he does.”

                                          The stars and crickets have come out, the grandchildren were all passed out on various beds throughout the Burrow and some parents had drifted off as well.

Downstairs in the same kitchen Hazel had sat in and cried for many years was Sonia, looking over the photo albums. Her mother appeared so often, one would think she was a Weasley.

One of her favourites was the one with Charlie, just about Max’s age, sitting on Hazel’s lap. Sonia wasn’t even a twinkle in her mothers eye, a distant dream that Hazel thought she would never achieve.

“You alright dear?” Mrs. Weasley had come downstairs, seeing the kitchen light on after tucking Teddy and Max into Charlie’s old bed.

“Yeah, just reminiscing.” She said, smiling sadly.

“Max looks so much like Charlie,” sighed Mrs. Weasley “You’d think they were twins.”

“He’s such a good Dad.” Sonia said affectionately, turning the crinkled pages gently. “Max adores him.”

Mrs. Weasley sat beside her daughter in law and patted her hand fondly. “Well he had a good father, which made him a good father. You had a wonderful and caring mother, which made you the same.”

“I’m not as good a mother as you are, Mrs. Weasley.” Sonia watched her mother twirl down a path, her long rose dress a swirl of chiffon around her thin legs. “Mamma always aspired to be like you.”

Sniffing, Mrs. Weasley pulled out her handkerchief “Well, she was the bravest woman – no, person – I ever met, Sonia. And she was very, very proud of you.”

“I don’t know how she could have been.” Voice soft, she looked at her mother in law with tears in her eyes. “I was so awful, and all she ever did was try and make my life as safe and normal as possible – tried to keep me away from everything she had to go through, give me all the things she didn’t have.” She sniffed loudly, rubbing her eyes. “And I was awful, awful, awful, and to top it all off I got pregnant young, just like she did – younger.”

“None of that mattered to her, dear.” Urged Mrs. Weasley. “She loved you and was so happy that you and Charlie had Max, didn’t care a bit how young you were really. She knew you would make a good mother, told me so all the time.”

Sonia gave Mrs. Weasley a teary look. “Really? She said that?”

Mrs. Weasley gave her a big hug. “Couldn’t stop. She was so excited to be a grandmother.”

Hugging Mrs. Weasley tightly, Sonia cried. She thought of her son, how he would never know Hazel, the way he’d picked up on the love Sirius had felt for Hazel through only photograph. Her son was so lovely, and it hurt her every day to know that Hazel would never get to know him.

A/N: I have so much hoommmewwwoooorrrrk

Question: What do you think of Max's observations, and Sonia's chat with Mrs. Weasley?

Rose<3