Steady and soft droplets fell from a sky made of white velvet.
The rain came to the earth altogether, and yet, each drop came as a pioneer. Fiona felt like the rain. Constantly joined by another, but still, perpetually and depressingly alone as she made her way through the world.
It was all pitifully unfair when Fiona actually thought about it. England had been in a drought for weeks, and yet, on the first day she left her house, it poured.
She felt a twinge of pity for each raindrop as she trudged through the muddy hillside alongside her babysitter.
"Be a lot easier if we could just apparate," Charlie shouted, but he sounded distant, as if he were already at the Burrow, instead of beside her with his hand on her back. His voice was silenced by the sound of droplets pelting against the grassy hill.
"I don't like side along!" Fiona yelled back to him. She could feel the rain drops splash against Charlie and splatter onto her as he leaned closer. The mud that splashed beneath his feat painted her legs as they walked.
"What did you say?" He yelled into her ear, far louder than necessary.
It had been sweltering for weeks, and now, the day she finally left the comfort of her home, the sky wept. As she shivered she bitterly lamented on how underprepared she was for the change in weather.
"How much further?" Fiona shouted as she leaned away from his booming voice.
"It's just there! I can see it now!" Charlie declared with his arm outstretched, pointing at their destination.
After a short, but truly grueling walk, the pair made it to the Burrow. Charlie quickly thrust the door open and pushed Fiona into their dry sanctuary.
"Try not to drip..." Charlie hesitated as he looked at the ring of water that was already forming at Fiona's feet. "Nevermind. Mum won't notice."
Charlie pulled out his wand and pointed it at his sopping clothing, but before he began performing a drying charm he glanced at Fiona. "Got your wand on ya?"
Fiona reached into her back pocket. "Yeah," she mumbled. Taking his less than subtle cue, she pointed her wand at herself and muttered the drying enchantment.
As they began the tedious task of drying off, Charlie watched as Fiona leaned into the stream of air coming from her wand, rather than directly pointing her wand at the places that needed drying the most. Subtly, he pointed his wand at her and allowed the charm to fully dry her off before he finished drying himself off. Fiona remained none the wiser to his assistance.
"C'mon, just sit down here," Charlie instructed as he guided Fiona into the living room. He took her hand and placed it on a faded blue loveseat. "I just gotta check all the watering charms are still working for mum's plants," he said as the sound of his footsteps faded away and made their way up the staircase.
The Burrow smelled earthy, with hints of hay and ever so faintly of Fred. It made Fiona wonder exactly how many times something had unexpectedly exploded in that room.
Fiona sighed as she rested her head on her palm. She knew this would happen. It was why she had protested when Charlie told her they had to go to the Burrow. She knew, inevitably, her mind would wander to him.
For most of the holiday, Fiona had successfully ignored any thought of Fred Weasley. But now she was in his home, surrounded by the smell of him, and she began to realize how much she missed him. But Fred Weasley was not there. Fred Weasley was not a part of her life anymore. And that was for the best.
Fiona listened as Charlie rummaged around on the floor above. She could hear his feet shuffling around and the creaking of doors as he checked the rooms of the house. Fiona listened to Charlie's movements with dedication, it seemed to be the only way to ignore the constant reminder of Fred.
She listened as his movements became slower, cautious even, and then a door squeaked open. the squeaking lasted longer than any other door he had opened before as he slowly made his way into the new room...and then 'BANG!'
Fiona lept from the chair with her wand tightly clutched in her hand. "Charlie?!" She shouted as her wand hand began to tremble.
Charlie didn't reply, but he coughed. "Charlie?!" Fiona shouted again, louder this time. Her grip on her wand grew tighter with each racing heartbeat.
Charlie gave her no reply, but she could hear his muffled voice above her.
A moment later, Fiona could hear someone stomping down the stairs into the living room. The smell of decay followed the footsteps. Her mind was racing, and the destination was The Worst Case Scenario.
"Stupefy!" Fiona shouted with her wand pointed towards the sound of the footsteps. There was a crashing sound as pictures of the Weasley family fell from the wall.
"Merlin! It's just me!" Charlie exclaimed with his hands over his head defensively. "Bloody good thing your aim is off!"
Fiona fell back into the armchair, ashamed.
"You never said anything...I didn't know," she quickly said, while her body cowered with shame.
"No, you're right...work on that aim though," Charlie said as he came into the room. A putrid smell preceded his approach.
"Dungbombs," Charlie grumbled as he stumbled into the living room. "Boyfriend of yours knows how to welcome me home," he added with agitation. Charlie moved to flop onto the couch across from Fiona but stopped when he realized the smell would remain on the couch long after he left.
"B-boyfriend? No. Fred and I aren-"
"Mind telling him that?" Charlie said with a chuckle. He began walking towards the kitchen, he glanced over his shoulder at Fiona. "He keeps pestering me about ya every time I come back."
"What?" Fiona asked, dumbfounded.
"Oh yeah, every night. 'Is she okay? Do you want me to come?' Really he's a bit annoying about it all."
As Fiona fought against the smile that was forming, she urged herself to remain neutral to the news. "He knows how to reach me," she finally muttered.
"Think he has. Mind giving him a proof of life response? I donno what's going on between you kids, but just throw him a bone, would ya? for my sake?"
To her knowledge, Fiona hadn't received a single letter from Fred, though, now that the thought was in her mind, she realized she hadn't transcribed any of the letters she received that weren't in braille.
A discrete smile crept onto her lips, but not discrete enough to go unnoticed by Charlie. He smirked at her secretive response.
"And work on that aim, would ya?" Charlie said as a grin fell across his lips.
"Sure thing," Fiona grumbled. "And how can I do that when I can't see the target?"
"You heard me, didn't you?" Charlie shot back. "Work on that. It could save your life," he added as his voice became grim.
"Work on that? Did you not hear me? Maybe you didn't notice, I'm blind, I can't just get better with my aim?" Fiona retorted indignantly.
Charlie glanced at the fallen picture frames and then looked back at the girl sitting in the den. "You weren't far off from stunning me. I know those stairs are loud. If you had really thought about the noise, you would have gotten me."
"It's a good thing I didn't hit you," Fiona grumbled.
"Can't guarantee that with every target," Charlie reminded her.
"Fiona," Charlie began, his voice had become serious, and when he spoke her name it came out as a warning. "There is a reason Dumbledore has Order members watching over you. A seer with your ability could determine the outcome of this war. Dumbledore knows that...and you can be sure You-Know-Who knows it too."
Fiona sunk into the loveseat. An enormous pressure felt as if it was pushing her lower by the second. Her prophesied dreams had stopped the night Cedric died, and despite adamantly telling Charlie this fact, it did not mean she was in any less danger from You-Know-Who or his followers.
"There might be a time when you don't have someone to protect you. If that time comes, you need to protect yourself."
Fiona silently nodded.
"Do you want a cup of tea?" Charlie asked after the silence had settled through the house. Fiona could hear him rummaging through the kitchen cupboards and the clanking of teacups. "Please," she muttered.
As Charlie began preparing the tea Fiona made her way into the kitchen. She walked carefully through the room, but each step felt dangerous until she finally surrendered and pulled out her pocket cane. She used magic to enlarge the cane and then proceeded into the kitchen.
Charlie glanced out the window. The sun was setting below the hill, but still, the rain continued. The thought of walking back to the Diggory household did not look the least bit appealing to him. But Charlie had determined to get Fiona out of her house that day, and rain or shine, he was set on that.
"I didn't pass my Apparition test the first time either," Charlie said offhandedly. Fiona's face became twisted. "I didn't fail my test," she stated definitely retorted. Charlie chuckled at her response.
"Course not, me neither, the witch I landed on thought differently though."
"I didn't take the exam," Fiona said with an odd sense of pride as if that was any better. Charlie turned back to her with his eyebrow cocked.
"Didn't think you were one of those," Charlie said mockingly. Fiona grimaced.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing really," Charlie said with a shrug, but by his tone, Fiona could tell there was more coming. "It's just that I spent a couple of years babysitting you." He started, but Fiona quickly cut him off.
"I'm not the same person I was then."
"Obviously," Charlie said with a despairing sigh. "The kid I babysat never would have let a plant die."
Fiona knew he was talking about the shelves of dead plants on her bookshelves in her room, but the comment meant more to her than just plants. They weren't the only thing she had let die.
"I'm just sayin-"
"My parents didn't want me to take the exam," Fiona spat as her agitation grew. She had become so quick to anger over the summer months. "Something about 'what if you apparate on the edge of a cliff and walk off?'" Fiona resentfully muttered. At her statement, Charlie let out a howling laugh.
"It's not that funny," Fiona winced. Charlie's laughing only grew louder, it filled the small kitchen.
"It's not that," He snickered as his laughter began to die out. "My mum said about the same thing to me when I told her I was going to work with dragons."
"But isn't that what you do?" Fiona gawked. Charlie looked back at her and shrugged.
"It is," he chuckled. "She said I'd be a skewer, said they'd burn me to a crisp. Parents are like that. They always think the worst."
"But you still wanted to do it...after everything they said?" Fiona asked, there was slight desperation in her words.
"Well, yeah, it's what I wanted to do," Charlie shrugged.
"But what if they were right?" Fiona poised. Charlie again glanced back at her with a peculiar expression.
"Then they were right, I suppose. It was still what I wanted to do." He said. "It's my life, after all."
The privilege he spoke with infuriated Fiona.
As dark as it was, and as much as she hated that her mind went down this alley...To her knowledge, the Weasley family knew nothing of the sorrow of losing a member. Fiona was the only connection her parents had for their grief. They were the only three who could truly understand what losing Cedric meant.
Charlie had the insurance of six other siblings and two loving parents. That allowed him the freedom of recklessness that Fiona could never have, and she resented him because of that.
Charlie slid a cup of tea across the table at Fiona. Her outstretched hands found it quickly as she pulled the cup closer.
"Oh!" Charlie said as he sat up abruptly and leaned close to Fiona. "Is this what you wanted?" He asked as he reached into his back pocket to pull out a stem with purple flowers.
Fiona leaned towards his voice and held out her hand. Charlie took her hand and carefully closed her fist around the stem of the plant.
Fiona examined the plant. Her fingers lightly caressed the hooded flower as she brought it closer to her face, smelling the absent fragrance. "Purple petals?" She asked. Charlie nodded.
There was a long silence between the two. "Are the petals of the flower purple? Or blue maybe?" Fiona finally asked.
Charlie stood up straighter. "Yeah, purple petals," he said sheepishly.
"I think this is it," Fiona said as she carefully ran her fingers along the petals of the flower.
"Ginny's been growing a lot of weird things in her room," Charlie commented offhandedly. "So what do you need that for?" Charlie asked coyly. He had his suspicions.
"I wanted to practice some different potions," Fiona said as she took a sip of tea. "Any potion in particular?" Charlie asked with a mischievous grin that would have reminded Fiona of Fred, had she seen it. "Remind me, what potions call for Wolfsbane?"
"I thought I'd see if I can brew Wolfsbane...we don't learn how to brew it in school. I just wanted to see if I could," Fiona carefully slipped the plant into her knapsack. A small and knowing smile flowered onto Charlie's face as he nodded to himself.
Fiona and Charlie continued sipping on their tea long after the sun had settled behind the hilly horizon of Ottery St Catchpole. Amos Diggory had made a habit of returning late, cloaked with the stench of the pub since Charlie had begun watch duties, so the two felt no rush in returning back while the rain continued.
Charlie and Fiona spoke about her upcoming 7th year, and as they discussed, a gleaming silver creature entered the kitchen and landed at the table where they sat.
"Return to the headquarters at once. Bring Fiona. Amos will be informed." The ghostly silver phoenix said with the words of Albus Dumbledore.
***
A/N
Hey sorry it's been a while! In my defense, I adopted an absolutely crazy and perfect Husky mix.
Most people don't know this, but I started this story about three years ago when I had to put my dog down. It was really a way for me to cope with my grief. I know he was just a dog, but he was my best friend (he was without a doubt my soul creature), and losing him was incredibly difficult, so I created a story where the main character would lose her brother...it was a way to express the absolute heartbreak of losing someone so important.
I started this story as a way to cope, and express the grief I felt at the time. It's just a little ironic that by the time Fiona gets to that point...I have healed from my loss.