Requested by: Edward_Gluskin
Being named after a fruit wasn't enough to set Peach apart from everyone else, she had to be born a witch. Capable of magic, things she'd grown up thinking were only part of story books.
Wizards had their own story books. There was a line that they drew between their seemingly impossible magic, and what was actually impossible. So Peach ended up a story book character in three books. The book of abnormal names, the book of magic, and the book of psychics. She was the only person she knew who fell into all of those books. Sure you could find someone with a name in two of them, but never three. And never, never, the third book. Never ever did she meet anyone else that was clairvoyant. It was supposedly genetic, and supposedly her distant aunt was burned at the stake for predicting, successfully, the future.
Her skill wasn't of much use, and it wasn't one that could be honed. All she could do was get used to the occasional vision. Maybe a face or a single word or even a memory of an entire day that has yet to happen. They were never as ambiguous as she expected. The connection was always apparent, as visions were triggered by a similar occurrence happening in the present. A reverse deja vu, so to say. What they were triggered by was usually what lead her to her predictions.
On her down time she even learned to read palms, it wasn't as reliable as her own visions, but sometimes even the mention or sight of the lines on someones hands could trigger something. Learning which line meant what was more homework for a class she didn't quite understand yet, mainly because there was no teacher.
Lily never doubted Peach's skills, but preferred not to know about the future. So Peach didn't tell her that the Love Line on her palm perfectly matched James's, or that she'd lose her favorite nail polish in the house she owned with James in the future.
It was that bottle of nail polish that triggered Peach. It was at a party with just a few friends. Remus had invited her, but she had ended up spending the entire time with Lily. They were at the other side of the boys and Lily had stood up to grab her bag. She hopped over the mess that belonged to the boys to get to her purse hanging from the wall. She pulled the bottle from the bag and waved it with a bright smile at Peach. Remus had been looking at Peach then, just by chance. Sirius was chugging a glass of beer.
Peach didn't move. Her eyes fell into darkness and her limbs went limp. Remus's voice was distant in her ears, and the crash of the glass in Sirius's hand set her off again. Two visions happened simultaneously. She could not long keep herself on the chair and fell over onto the floor. She had never felt two visions at once.
An image flashed like static of the nail polish on the floor. It's glass bottle broken, it's contents seeping quietly against the wooden floorboards. It was as though she were watching from the ground, as though she'd fallen over and the bottle landed next to her.
The first vision ended and the second began. Glass was breaking again, but this time she could hear it in her ears like it was the only thing left in the world. Like the echoing in a small box where the echoes have echoes. She was standing this time, looking at a dark silhouette that was standing behind a thick stained glass door. She felt an unexplainable fear and her breath shivered in her throat, her friends could no doubt hear her terrified breathing as she was laying unmoving in the present. Hands raised in front of her face as the glass burst forward. She turned around quickly, unable to stop herself from doing otherwise. She saw the eyes of Lily for only a brief moment before she was covered by the person who's eyes she was seeing through. Lily buried her face into their chest, screaming.
The first vision was back, no different than the last time she saw it but this time more terrifying. She couldn't move her head. The nail polish inched towards her eye. There was no sound, just a silent house. A house that looked like it had been in a hurricane, objects broken and the glowing light of lingering spells. Spells powerful enough to kill. She frantically looked around to find her bearings but the only new thing she could see froze her heart. Hands, splayed out against the floor. Sitting in blood, pale from death. James's hands.
Peach woke up crying. She jolted awake and instantly tried to sit up but it was as though the message in her brain did not reach her body. She stayed still, unable to even process the faces above her. Remus's was closest, looking over the top of her head as though her head were laying on his lap. Lily looked close to tears, the same fear she saw in her vision. The same fear that you have when someone you love might die. James reached towards her with hands that had more color than in her vision and picked her up. As soon as she was on her feet she stepped away from his hands. She turned around to face them all, crying uncontrollably as she looked at their shocked and scared eyes. No one dared to touch her, to even make a move towards her.
"That looked scary," Lily said finally. Her mouth looked separate from her face. As though her words didn't match the rest of her face.
Peach nodded, quick and small, but enough to be seen. "Y-Yeah," She stuttered frantically against her breath. She was trying to stop crying, and it was all building up in shaky hiccups. She couldn't even finish her word. She felt it coming. She covered her mouth to try to cover the blubbering noises that were coming uncontrollably from her throat.
Remus was the first to move. He enveloped her in a hug, and she melted into it. Her knees buckled but he showed no signs of struggling to keep her upright. He was an unwavering force, like the floor of a house that keeps your feet flat against the ground even on a mountain edge.
"What was it about?" Peter said stupidly, earning a glare from Remus over the top of your head.
Her eyes grew wide. She couldn't tell them. She couldn't frighten them like that. Lily would be so angry at her for telling her. She never wanted to know. No matter what it was, no matter how little or how important. Peach couldn't not tell them though. She couldn't stand by and watch her friends die.
"Nothing important," She said, trying to keep a steady voice. "It was just jolting, having two at once."
"So, does that mean you can tell us what they were about?" Peter asked, seeming oddly happy. She knew he'd never been there for one of her visions, but this was overkill.
"Just that Lily is going to break her bottle of nail polish and James is gonna break a door," She said with a light laugh, hoping it didn't sound too faked. She tried to ignore the suspicious look from Remus. He always knew what was really going on in her heart.
Lily gaped and beat her lightly on the shoulder. "I told you I don't want you to tell me my future!"
"He wanted to know!" She protested.
"Can we get back to the door please?" Sirius interrupted. "How'd James manage to break a door of all things?"
"It was glass."
"That's a stupid way to make a door," Sirius said. "James! Never buy a house with a glass door. Not just cause of girli's voodoo vision, but it's good life advice."
"I'd love a glass door," Lily pouted. "It makes the whole house feel more open."
"Of course you would," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Then it's your fault if you and James break your door after you guys get married."
Lily blushed furiously. "Speaking of which..."
~Over a decade later~
Peach went by her last name now. It was a lot easier to be taken seriously that way. Besides, now that she was working at Hogwarts being addressed by her last name by students became a norm. Not even Dumbledore called her Peach, at her request of course. It wasn't until there was an opening the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position that she was called by that long forgotten name.
"Peach," Remus said fondly when they saw one another for the first time in over a decade. He looked slightly saddened, as though the staff party was the last place he expected to see her.
"Remus," She said, resisting the urge to bit her lip. "Now I see why I didn't get the teaching job."
He cringed slightly. "I wasn't aware you were applying. We all thought you'd.... dissapeared."
"Died is the word you're looking for dear," She said, the pet name feeling natural but cold on his ear. "Unfortunately that rumor is not entirely untrue."
"Then what did happen to you Peach?"
"Please don't call me that. I don't like to think of the last time I was called that." She could still hear it in her ear, the mere idea of it made her want to cry. But she was done with crying. Crying was also something she was doing when she last heard her first name, along with trying to save the lives of her friends. She had spent years planning that day, dreading that day. Through their wedding, through the birth of their child. Everything was perfectly in place, everything was going to be fine, everyone was going to be alive. But that didn't happen.
"Alright," He said cautiously. "Would you like to come back to my office and chat?" The party was ending, everyone was saying their goodbyes.
Peach didn't speak much when they got back to Remus's new office. There were boxes everywhere and she sat in a cramped chair sipping tea. He downed his in a couple chugs. Her hands shook and she had to take small drinks to prevent tipping the cup so far it spilled.
"Did you know Sirius is in Azkaban?" He asked. He was done with trying to be polite. He was looking for answers, looking for a reaction.
She took a sip of her tea and didn't move her face. Tears persisted against her throat. She cleared it and continued on carefully. "I was at his trial."
Remus looked shocked. "They wouldn't let me come."
"That's a good thing, he didn't look to swell," She said. "He seemed very sad. I couldn't help him though. They would not believe to the testament of a clairvoyant." She was openly crying now.
He seemed to sink back a bit, feeling more relaxed. The Peach he knew was still there, quietly waiting for him like when he was late for their meetings in the library. "But you didn't see him directly did you? They would have believed you if you saw it directly."
She shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. She sighed and didn't move her head. "Yes and no. I didn't see where Sirius was, but I saw who did it."
Remus nearly leaped out of his chair. "Who?" He demanded, a bright gleam in his eyes. An angry hope. She wasn't sure that the two could go together. They clashed in his eyes.
She shook her head and drank her tea. "He's dead now, they both are, that's all that matters."
"C'mon Peach, who is it?"
She shook her head and looked down at the mug in her hands, warming her hands and against the sides and rolling it back and forth against them.
He sighed and fell back in his chair. She did not look up. He put his hand over his mouth and looked to the side thoughtfully. "Did you kill them?" He asked without turning. He didn't even look at her. But he didn't have to for her to see the fear in his eyes.
"You honestly believe I'm capable of killing someone Remus?" She asked as loudly as she dared.
He turned slowly. "You are Peach, and we both know it."
She put her tea on the desk, grabbed her coat, stood up and left the office. She stopped briefly in the doorway to look back and say, "I wish I did."
Remus was crying the next time she saw him. She didn't even knock at the door, she swung it open just enough to fit through and closed it quietly behind her. She did sit down and instead walked across the room to the kettle. She didn't look at him and he didn't look at her. He just continued to cry silently, staring at old pictures.
Peach didn't look at the photos as she set a cup of tea in front of Remus, even though she really wanted to. But she knew if she did she'd remember everything. Not only the happy memories in the photos but also the terrifying, heart stopping moment when she couldn't save them. It only took those few seconds to ruin whole years. Both past and future.
"Did you know their son goes to school here?" Remus asked quietly to no one in general.
She nodded but then realized he couldn't see her face, his hands covered his eyes and his bent over towards his desk. "Yes. Severus is here as well."
"I noticed," Remus laughed darkly. "Poor Harry, he didn't do anything to deserve Severus's hatred."
"I think he's more mad at me." He looked up and the look in his eyes urged her to continue. "The first year I worked here he had this huge burst at me, nearly hexed me on the spot. Stopped talking to me all together after that, nearly lost his job. Dumbledore was furious."
He nodded. "Even Dumbledore misses them, but he seems to be handling it better than any of us."
Peach set down her cup of tea forcefully. "Speak for yourself. I moved on. The rest of you keep dwelling in the past!"
He rose from his seat. "That's the problem! You gave up! You stopped thinking about them, stopped talking to anyone who reminded you of them. I haven't spoken to you in a decade and a half. Sirius has seen you more often than me and he's currently having his happiness sucked out of him."
She put her head down, her breathing getting shallow. She held her voice steady and said, "Dementors are better than this fate Remus. They take away everything. Not just happiness. Everything. You never have to feel again. No sadness, no anger, no guilt. Just delusion. Sirius got off easy."
Remus slammed his hand on he table, tea poured onto the carpet. "He's my best friend. He's been locked away from everyone he loves, convicted of a crime he has not committed! His own godchild thinks he wants to kill him. All of his friends are either dead or dissapeared."
"Which are you Remus? Dead or dissapeared?"
"Neither, but we both know which one you are," He spat.
"Dead," She said, gritting her teeth. Her hair whipped around as she retreated out of his office.
~
"What are you doing here Peach?" Sirius and Remus demanded in almost perfect unison.
"Clairvoyant, remember?" She grit her teeth. She was too angry to savor the moment of seeing Sirius's face again or their forgetfulness.
She looked over the room, her face softening at the sight of the three terrified teenagers on the bed with their injured friend. Sirius, she thought to herself. She'd seen it happen in her vision, but it was still predictable nonetheless. But then her eyes fell on Peter.
"Peter!" She yelled out angrily, he shrunk away, desperately looking anywhere but her eyes. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"That's what I've been saying!" Sirius exclaimed then interrupted himself, "Wait, shouldn't you know this, you have voodoo magic."
She would have rolled her eyes and laughed as she corrected him, if only this were a different situation. "You bastard!" She screamed, all her rage boiling over it's edge. Hot tears streamed down her face and the sight of her dead friends reached her eyes again.
"I watched them die." She said quietly in his shivering ear. She had him pinned to the ground in seconds, her weak arms unable to push her off. "Twice. I had to watch it happen in my head for years as I waited for it to happen. But when it did happen I couldn't save them. I watched them die, Peter. Do you know what it's like to see through the eyes of a dead person? To feel their warmth draining as they bleed out."
Peter twitched and shivered in fear, trying to cover his face with his hands. "Well, do you?" She demanded, ripping his hands away from his face.
"N-No." He stuttered.
"Oh you will." She said and pulled out her wand before anyone could stop her.
Harry cast a spell, sending her wand across the room and Remus ran forward to pull her off, but it was too late. Sirius rushed forward, running straight pasted Peach and Remus to go after Peter. He was bleeding from his gut but was still scurrying away as fast as he could.
"He deserved it," Peach said defiantly, expecting Remus to scold her.
"I know," He said, picking her up and hugging her as tight as he could. He never wanted to let go. "I'm so sorry. For everything. I'm sorry, so sorry."
(A/N What's with me and doing long, sad oneshots these days?? I just hope you guys like them anyway.)