On the fifth day of September, also the day of Jacob's eighteenth birthday, nothing changed.
The last few days moved slowly with no progress being made on anything the four wanted to accomplish. While they remained in the same area, among the trees and away from civilization, the fear of being seen was still there.
Which was why Eliza suggested putting up protective enchantments, and the others agreed to this idea, wondering why they hadn't thought of it sooner.
At times, all Mary could think about was Blaise, despite every intention of not wanting to do just that. She found it difficult to move on, even though that was exactly what she wanted and needed to do. But every now and then, she looked over at Oliver, and their conversation from the other day replayed in her head. In a way, that was her reassurance that she would move on and be happy eventually. All she needed was time.
That afternoon, Mary was setting up the fire for tonight when she noticed Oliver engrossing himself in books as he sat against a large tree not too far from the tent. She watched as his eyes were focused on the pages, scanning the words with such concentration that caused him to form wrinkles in his forehead.
She walked towards him, her footsteps still delaying a reaction from him. When she was close to standing over him, his head snapped up. "Hey," she said. "It looks like your eyes are about to burn through that book."
He chuckled, setting it down in his lap. "Yeah, well, I'm definitely into it."
"Do you mind if I sit down and take a look at what you're reading?"
He motioned his hand next to the empty spot beside him, to which she accepted his offer, taking a seat next to him. "It's one I've gone over a couple of times already."
She scooted a little bit closer to him, leaning her head over the book. "What exactly are you looking for?"
He huffed a sigh, his hands fiddling with the corner of the pages. "It's personal."
"Oh." She paused, lifting her head up to face him. "Still, is it something I can help you with?"
Oliver pressed his lips together, staring down at the book for a moment before looking up at Mary. "You would do that for me?"
Mary nodded her head. "Of course. I mean, I'm not trying to get into your business or anything..."
"No, it's..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath. "Well, I guess I could tell you, especially because...well, you'd understand."
"Understand what?" she asked.
"What it's like to lose a sibling."
The feeling of hurt and sympathy came over Mary as she shot him a sorrowful look with her eyes. Of course she understood very well. The pain of a sibling leaving this world right before their eyes was a trauma that neither of them would be able to get rid of, lingering constantly and buried deep within their minds.
Everyday would be a reminder that they weren't alive anymore.
Mary's breath hitched as she shifted in her spot. "You had a sibling?"
He nodded. "A younger sister. Her name was Fiona."
"What happened?"
"That's the thing. I have no idea what happened. She died when she was seven." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing on. "I've tried figuring it out for almost two years now. Jake's been helping me with some leads, but I've haven't had much luck with them."
Mary observed his face as it turned into a frustrated expression, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Before she knew it, her hand was on top of his. He looked up surprised, but didn't move his hand away, letting her fingers fall gently over his own. The feeling became a comfort, a warm atmosphere hovering over the two as they merely exchanged glances.
But she finally pulled her hand off, blinking furiously and shaking her head to get out of the trance. "So, um...what do you have so far in your research?"
Oliver cleared his throat and handed her some more books from his rucksack, along with a few pieces of parchment. "This is what we've collected so far. You'd think it would all be straight forward, but that's not the case, unfortunately."
She pressed her lips together, staring down at the parchment and books she was given. She even turned at the one he still had in his lap, trying to figure out where to even start with all of this information. Still, she was ready to try for him.
"Is it okay if I look at all of this?" she asked, facing him.
He shrugged. "Sure, I guess." He grabbed the book he had and gave that to her as well. "Maybe you'll have better luck than Jake and I."
Mary sighed, gathering and organizing everything into one pile. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, Mary," he replied, his eyes filled with gratitude and his voice almost sounding relieved and hopeful all at once.
She nodded in response, giving him a small smile. "You're welcome, Oliver." With that, she stood up and carried herself back towards the tent with an eager attitude and curiosity that she was itching to deal with.
*******
It was nightfall when Mary found herself still engrossed in the research that was provided to her. It was all she could think about, letting the words from every resource she had dig into her mind and stay there for as long as she needed. She wondered how long it would take until she finally got the answer she and Oliver wanted.
From what she knew about Oliver, he was a Muggle-born, which meant there was a chance his sister was a witch. However, he never mentioned her having any magic, so maybe she wasn't one after all. Still, even at such a young age, maybe she would've shown some signs of magic in her.
That was when Mary had a breakthrough, the answer to her death, and she felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner.
She was finishing the rabbit Jacob caught earlier that evening when she read over her findings. Then, walked past Jacob and Eliza in the tent and headed outside, finding Oliver sitting by the fire by himself. She sat beside him, doing her best to get warm and comfortable as she placed the one book with the information she found in her lap. He was in deep thought as his eyes were fixated on the fire in front of him.
"Was your sister a Muggle like your parents?" she spoke up, to which Oliver lifted his eyes to meet hers.
"She had to be," he answered. "From what I remember, she never showed any indication that she was a witch." He paused, clasping his hands together.
"What exactly happened? I mean, how did she die?" Mary questioned, hoping she didn't cross a boundary.
But Oliver let out a shaky breath, his legs bouncing up and down. "We were walking home from school one day. Fiona already seemed off, and when I questioned her, she acted like everything was okay, but I knew deep down that was a lie. Still, I didn't press on about it. Then, some little kids, boys and girls, came by and began to tease and taunt her, and she started crying and rushed home before I could even ask her what that was all about. When I finally got home, she was in her room, and she didn't just look upset. She also looked...well, angry."
"Like she was about to burst," Mary stated.
"Yeah, exactly like that," he agreed, eyeing her. "Anyway, I kept questioning her, trying to figure out why those kids were being mean. She wouldn't tell me, though the answer was obvious that the bullying had been happening for quite some time, right under me and my parents' noses. I know I was only a child like her, but I should've been there for her, protected her."
"Oliver..." Mary began to say, but she decided to let him keep going.
"She was getting more mad with me as I kept pushing her to tell me what was going on. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. Then all of a sudden, there was this explosion of darkness, like smoke, and she was gone." His eyes began to tear up, but he quickly wiped them away. "Which is why, in a way, I blame my magic for her death, like I was getting just as frustrated as she was and I caused something to happen, as if the magic inside me just got out of control or something."
When he was finished, Mary took a moment to the story she just heard. It was obvious that this story, one he had to relive by telling it to her, brought back enough pain that he'd rather not tell it. Of course, she had to know what happened for the purpose of the research, for the sake of being right about her discovery.
She stared at him, sighing. "That's the thing, Oliver. It wasn't your magic that caused Fiona's death. It was hers."
He furrowed his brows. "What?"
"Fiona was an Obscurial," she started. "She possessed magic like you, but it was suppressed. Most likely, from what you just told me, she had suffered from bullying, which is a form of trauma. If she had been dealing with it for a while, then managed to develop an Obscurus over time." She got her evidence from the book and showed it to him, going over what she just explained to him in better detail. From the way he read every word and listened to Mary, it was beginning to make sense, letting the puzzle finally come together into the closure that Oliver longed to have.
"Wow," was all he could say. "This is it. This has to be it. After almost two years, I've got an answer. That's so stupid of me for not even thinking about the possibility of Fiona being an Obscurial."
Mary slowly closed the book and set it aside. "Well, I'm sure you feel a lot better knowing the truth about what happened to her."
He nodded. "Again, thank you for this, Mary. You have no idea how much this means to me."
"Of course," she replied. "I'm just glad you got the closure you needed."
With all the talk about Oliver's sister, Mary's mind began to revert back to her brother. She went back to her final moment with Tobias, seeing the way he dueled her and the way he acted with the Death Eaters around. She remembered his screams, the desperate screams of being saved before he fell to his death...
Mary was starting to get choked up, turning towards the fire.
"Hey, you okay?" Oliver inquired, growing concerned as he shifted his body closer to her own. "Mary, what is it?"
"It's just..." Before she continued, she closed eyes for a short moment to prevent any tears attempting to form. "I thought about Tobias and that night on the Astronomy Tower." She took a deep breath as she briefly paused. "We got into it, shooting spells at each other. I cast a spell his way and his wand fell out of his hand and he fell over the edge of the balcony." A few tears fell down her face, so she used her sleeve to wipe them away. "I regret the way things went. I wished things had gone differently. Maybe he would still be alive."
"Oh, Mary..." With a sad expression, Oliver grabbed her hands. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Still, you can't blame yourself for what happened that night between you and him. If you do, then you'll spend the rest of your life living with regret and pain that will do nothing but bring you down even further. You don't want that for yourself."
She sniffled, turning towards him. "How can I move on from it, Oliver?"
"By starting with getting the idea that you're at fault for what happened to him out of your head," he responded. "You can't change what went down between you two, but you can start to realize that it wasn't your fault."
She responded with a nod and a small chuckle, despite it being the wrong time for it. "Draco told me the same thing, about what happened to him not being my fault. Great minds think alike, I guess."
"Okay, let's not go too far," he said jokingly, to which Mary laughed some more. "But as much as I can't stand him, I will admit that he is right. You'll never get peace from this if you don't accept the fact that it was an accident and move on from there."
Mary looked down at their hands and realized the comfort it brought her, paying attention to the way his thumbs began to move in a circular motion. She let the peace come over her and feeling the weight of guilt rise off her shoulders as she exhaled loudly. "Thank you, Oliver."
He nodded and shot her a reassuring smile. "You're welcome, Mary."
Without thinking, she released his hands and pulled him in for a hug. She wasn't sure if he was caught off guard by the embrace, but given the fact that he didn't freeze up right then and there, nor did he pull away, she took that as a good sign. It was even better when he wrapped his hands and hugged her back.
As they stayed in that moment for a while, they felt safe and content, knowing the closure and peace they desperately needed was something neither of them no longer had to chase after.
A/N: Well, there ya have it. You got the answer to what happened to Fiona. Hopefully, it made sense. And THANK THE LORD WE GOT SOME MORE OLIVER AND MARY SINCE I WAS GETTING IMPATIENT.
Anyway, the song above is Safe in My Hands by Eli Lieb, which I'm glad I picked this one, because the other song I originally had didn't fit the vibe like this song did.
Comment, vote, more soon!
-A