Chapter Ninety-One: I'm (Not) Fine
When Mr Weasley walked into the girl's tent early the next morning to get them up he was shocked to see Lina awake, already dressed and sitting at the dining table her hands folded together as best as they could be as she still held her wand.
He tried to talk to Lina to see how she was but Lina refused to talk. She stayed in silence as Mr Weasley used magic to pack up the campsite and she stayed at the back of the group as they left the field passing a very confused Mr Roberts.
They heard urgent voices as they approached the spot where the Portkeys were, the found a large number of witches and wizards surrounding Basil, they all wanted the same thing. To leave.
Mr Weasley had a rushed conversation with Basil and they joined the queue for a Portkey. After some time waiting they got an old rubbery tyre back to Stoatshed Hill before the sun had even fully risen.
They walked back through Ottery St Catchpole towards The Burrow, as they rounded the corner in the land, and The Burrow came into view a cry echoed along the lane.
"Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!" Mrs Weasley came running forward still in her pyjamas and a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand. "Arthur - I've been so worried - so worried."
She flung her arms around Arthur and the paper dropped to the floor, Lina looked down and saw a black and white picture of the Dark Mark and saw the caption that read. "SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP." Lina briefly closed her eyes and looked away.
"You're all right" Mrs Weasley muttered releasing Mr Weasley, she looked at them all with red eyes "you're alive...oh boys" she sized Fred and George and pulled them into such a tight hug there heads banged together.
"Ouch! Mum - you're strangling us-"
"I shouted at you before you left," Mrs Weasley said starting to sob "it'd all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh, Fred...George..."
"Come on now Molly we're all perfectly ok," Mr Weasley said prying his wife off the twins.
Mrs Weasley nodded and then looked at them again, her eyes settled on Lina, she was pale, her hair messy and her eyes were slightly wider than usual with dark purple bags underneath them. "Oh, Lina dear," Mrs Weasley said and took Lina in her arms "you're as pale as a ghost. Let's get you inside."
They all crammed around the kitchen table, Lina pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Hermione made Mrs Weasley a cup of tea and Mr Weasley poured a shot of fire whiskey into it.
Bill handed Mr Weasley the newspaper before sitting down next to Lina. Mr Weasley scanned the paper with Percy looking at it over his father's shoulders. "I knew it," Mr Weasley said heavily "ministry blunders...culprits not apprehended...lax security...dark wizards running unchecked...national disgrace...who wrote this? Ah, of course, Rita Skeeter."
"That women's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy said furiously "last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non - Wizard Part Humans-"
'Do us a favour Perce" Bill said yawning "and shut up."
"I'm mentioned," Mr Weasley said his eyes widening slightly.
"Where?" Mrs Wesley asked choking on her tea and whiskey "if I'd see that, I'd have known you were alive."
"Not by name. Listen to this. 'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged sometime after the appearance of the Dark Mark, alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.' Mr Weasley sighed and handed the paper to Percy "Oh really. Nobody was hurt, what was I suppose to say? Rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods...well, there certainly will be rumours now she's printed that."
Dead bodies, one that could have been hers, Lina thought. She abruptly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor, everyone looked at her.
"Lee, you alright?" Charlie asked.
Er, ye, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just em, I just. I think I'm tired erm, I think I'm going to lay down." Lina grabbed her bag and ran upstairs shutting the door behind her as she collapsed down in her bed. She hugged her pillow to her chest and buried her head into it as Demeter curled up into her chest. Why hadn't that Death Eater killed her, in their eyes, she was a blood traitor, just as bad a Muggle borne and why were those terrifying eyes so familiar. Lina let out a shaky breath and clutched the pillow tighter to her chest.
Lina didn't sleep, her eyes felt heavier and heavier as time passed but she didn't sleep and she didn't move, not even when Ron and Harry stood at her door asking if she wanted to play a game of Quidditch or when Mrs Weasley asked Lina about dinner.
"This isn't you" Lina mumbled to herself. It was dark out, the middle of the night she guessed and Ginny and Hermione were asleep as was the rest of the house she assumed. Lina pushed herself up and ran a hand through her knotted hair "pull yourself together" she looked at the plate of food Mrs Weasley had left on the bedside table, she grabbed it and placed it on her lap. She picked up a bit of chicken and ate it, she didn't think she was hungry but once she started she couldn't stop until the whole plate was gone.
Lina sighed now feeling thirsty, she stretched feeling her bones pop in an oddly satisfying way and stood up taking the empty plate downstairs to the kitchen, leaving Demeter to sleep on her bed. She placed the plate in the sink and filled up a glass with water, she thought about going back upstairs but the thought of lying in bed refusing to sleep made her visible wince. Instead, she settled down in the sofa underneath the window, her legs pulled to her chest, the water resting on her knees. She stayed there for a while lost in the beauty of the night sky blocking out the world and for a moment she felt utterly fine.
"Lee" a voice called out through the darkness.
Lina jumped, whipping around so the glad clattered to the floor, Charlie was standing there, his hair scruffy and pyjamas on, looking half asleep "can't sleep?" She asked rubbing his eyes.
"Can't sleep implies I have been sleeping" Lina replied waving her hand so the mess was cleaned up.
"You haven't slept?"
"No."
Charlie sighed and sat down next to Lina, he lifted his arm up and Lina slid in placing her head on his chest "Lee-"
"I know what you're going to ask" she whispered.
"Why haven't you talked about what happened last night?" He asked glancing down at the girl he considered his sister.
"I was scared, still am a bit."
"What happened?"
Life puffed out her cheeks, the food made her feel a bit better but she wasn't right, maybe talking about it would help and it wasn't like she didn't trust Charlie. "When I got separated, I ran until there was no one around but I saw two Death Eaters coming towards me so I hid till they passed I got up again and turned around straight into a Death Eater. His wand was pointed at my throat" she placed a hand to her throat and tears welled in her eyes slipping over "he only said one thing, he called me a blood traitor and I thought this is it, this is where I die. I was so scared and I was alone" sobs racked through her and Charlie squeezed her tighter, but she continued to speak wanting to get her story out as quickly as possible "and I excepted it, I closed my eyes and thought of the people I love but he didn't kill me, I opened my eyes and he was gone but I was still alone and so scared."
"Oh Lee," Charlie said, he looked at a sobbing Lina, he wanted to take her fear away and he wished none of this had happened to her but it had and there was nothing he could do about it and that hurt him "Lee you're safe now."
Lina took a deep breath and controlled her sobs "but I'm still so scared" she said, "and I hate it."
"You're going to get through this Lee" Charlie paused for a moment thinking what he was going to say next and nodded to himself when he had decided "think of life as stepping stones over a lake, to get from one side to the other you have to cross a stepping stone, in this case, a stepping stone is like different life events, to move forward in life you have to get through different events good or bad like when jumping from one stepping stone to another. Sometimes you might slip or stumble but you'll regain balance and you'll jump onto the next one you'll keep going forward despite the little slips. Like in life there's going to be slips but you keep going."
"Stepping stones," Lina said with a small smile having finally stopped crying "I like that."
"And there's a smile, my work here is done" Charlie leaned off the sofa, for a moment Lina thought he was going to leave but he didn't, he grabbed a blanket and threw it over them "sleep will help and if you're worried about a bad dream I'll be right here."
"Thank you, Charlie."
Charlie just placed a kiss on the top of Lina's head. It took a while but eventually, Lina fell asleep.
***
With her head slumped in her hand Lina struggled to stay awake at the breakfast table the next morning. She was still uncharacteristically quiet but she did feel better after her chat with Charlie.
"Lina dear, a letter came for you," Mrs Weasley said handing Lina an envelope.
"Oh!" Lina said jolting up "thank you" Lina ripped the letter open, she figured it would either be her aunt, Remus or her dad but she wasn't expecting to see Cedric's familiar handwriting.
Eve
I'm worried about you. I need to see you. Please meet me on the hill where we met for the Portkey at around lunch.
Ced.
"Mrs Weasley, would you mind if I went out at lunch to meet a friend?" Lina asked quietly.
"Of course not dear. How long will you be gone for?"
"Not long, my friend, he's just worried about me."
"Diggory?" Fred asked for once not wanting to tease Lina.
Lina hummed and nodded.
***
Lina left just after eleven, she was more awake than when she went for the World Cup, even so, she took a slow walk enjoying being in nature, it allowed her mind to go blank for a couple of minutes she wasn't scared or worried she was calm.
Out of breath, she got to the top of the hill where Cedric was waiting smiling when he saw Lina and holding two ice creams. "Chocolate!" He called.
Lina ran over and snatched the ice cream out of his hand "tak ou" she said with a mouth full of chocolate ice cream.
"No problem" Cedric chuckled and lopped his arm around Lina's, eating his own ice cream.
They walked to a nearby tree and settled down underneath eating in silence, Lina finished first swallowing the last bit of the cone, she turned to Cedric grinning.
"You've got a little something on the corner of your mouth," Cedric said finishing off his ice cream.
"Oh" Lina wiped her mouth but somehow she missed the ice cream "gone?"
"No." Lina wiped her mouth again but still missed. "Let me" Cedric leaned forward and with the pad of his thumb, wiped the corner of her mouth grazing over her lip.
"Thanks" Lina whispered.
"Anytime" Cedric shrugged and leaned against the tree trunk stretching his legs out in front of him "you know were going to have to talk about it right?"
"Do we have to?" Lina said even though she knew it was going to make her feel miles better.
"Yes."
"Fine" Lina shifted so her head was resting in Cedric's lap "I ran into a Death Eater, quite literally and I thought I was going to die. It was terrifying Ced and then you found me and I felt safe for a moment until we saw the Dark Mark in the sky, it made me think about my mum, not exactly sure why." Lina could feel the urge to cry but she refused herself to. She was so sick of crying.
"Eve-"
"I shut down, at least that's what it felt like, I couldn't...I didn't feel like myself and I still don't, I spoke to Charlie last night and that made me feel a bit better but somethings still not...right. Am I being stupid, I mean I didn't actually die. I'm fine."
"Physically yes but here" Cedric tapped Lina's forehead "maybe not so much."
"Does that make me broken?"
"No, you are not broken, Eve. You thought you were going to die, that's not going to just go away overnight but shutting down that isn't going to do you any good. People need people, you need people to talk to otherwise all those dark thoughts that you can and will get over will manifest into something that's going to root itself into your brain and it won't let go until it does break you."
Lina thought about his words, she didn't want to shut down but she had no idea on how else to handle everything that she was feeling, she hoped it wouldn't become a default setting. "What would you do if I did die?" Lina eventually asked thinking about how wrong her encounter with the Death Eater could have gone.
"Shut up" Cedric all but growled "don't talk about that, I can't" Cedric shook his head "if you. I don't want to even think about you like that because if you died I don't think I could survive that. Alright?"
"Alright," Lina agreed and grabbed Cedric hand, lacing them together making him relax at her touch "I won't shut down again. I feel better now, here with you but I'm still scared to sleep, anything can happen in dreams."
"Yeah, including good things, you won't know until you're actually asleep, you can't let something that may or may not happen deem what you're going to do because Eve you need sleep and I know how much you love it."
"I do love sleep."
"Oh I know" Cedric chuckled.
Lina suddenly reached up and kissed Cedric's chin, not being able to reach his cheek "I needed this, more than I knew."
"D you want to go back?"
"No, I want to stay here with you." Lina couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she fell asleep but when she woke after a nightmare free nap her head still in his lap, she grinned up at Cedric.
"You feel better?" Cedric asked a small smile on his lips.
"Much" she replied and stretched "sorry for falling asleep on you...literally."
"It's alright," Cedric said placing a hand on the back of his neck "you looked like you needed it."
'Thanks" Lina scoffed and made a face.
"Adorable" he mumbled leaning down.
Lina rolled her eyes playfully and pushed his face away "I should head back" she said after stretching again "I don't want anyone to worry."
Cedric looked down at Lina and pouted slightly "alright" he sighed after Lina gave him puppy dog eyes "up you get."
Lina jumped up and Cedric quickly followed, he then bent down slightly. Lina grinned and jumped onto his back "onwards!"
***
Lina gave Cedric a tight hug when he dropped her back at The Burrow "thanks again for today, I really needed it."
Cedric lent down and placed a lingering kiss on her cheek "anytime" he whispered against her skin.
Lina squeezed his arm and entered The Burrow, there was one person she wanted to talk to and then she could leave this all behind her.
Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Lina came in, she smiled upon seeing the girl and momentarily stopped what she was doing "hello Lina dear, good day?"
"Really good, thanks" Lina replied, "Do you know where Charlie is?"
"I believe he's in his room, well the twin's room - oh you know what I mean," she said waving a hand.
Lina chuckled "thanks Mrs Weasley" she took the stairs two at a time until she got to the bedroom, the door was open and both Bill and Charlie were inside lying on their beds. "Hi," she said leaning against the door, feet crossed.
"Lee, you're back. You've been gone ages" Charlie said sitting up.
"Yeah, I kinda fell asleep" Lina admitted causing the boys to laugh "Hey you can laugh but I really needed it" the boys looked at each other knowingly and then back to Lina "I'm assuming you told Bill, Char."
"Don't be mad at him Lee, I forced it out of him" Bill said, "I was really worried."
"I'm not mad, I knew he would" Lina shrugged speaking truthfully and walked into the room sitting on the end of Bill's bed.
"How you feeling?" Charlie asked.
"Miles better, especially after talking to you and Cedric. What happened it's not going to go away overnight, I've accepted that and that's helped but it's not the end of the world either. I'm alive and that'd what I'm going to focus on, even if I have to put up with the occasional nightmare."
"Wow, listen yo you sounding all mature" Bill said.
"Pfft, Lee mature, never?" Charlie joked.
L8na gasped and grabbed the pillow from under Bill and began hitting him and Charlie with it until the boys grabbed their own pillows and War was ranged until dinner was called.