magnolia ~ h. potter

forty-four

CHAPTER 44

[ WISH YOU WERE HERE ]

____________________

KATE GARNER WAS NOT A BIG FAN OF COLD WEATHER.

She much preferred hot summer nights, even when it was so hot you could feel the sweat trickling down your back. Yet, here she was, in the middle of nowhere, standing on the edge of the road leading into Little Hangleton, half-hidden in the shadow of the trees of the nearby forest. She was waiting for Violetta to return, and her hands had frozen half numb.

They had resolved not to go out in a twosome in any wizarding towns, as word of the fiasco in Hogsmeade had surely got out and there would probably be someone looking for them somewhere, and wizarding towns were always crawling with snatchers who would spot them immediately.

Her mind flashed back to two nights ago. After watching helplessly as Greyback had disapparated with Emily, she and Violetta had been unable to return to Aberforth's without giving him away, and the house had surely been compromised. Instead, they had disapparated on the spot, ending up in a small town called Chipping Campden, in the northern part of the Cotswolds. It was a place Kate used to go with her parents as a child, and she was sure nobody would have followed them to the small muggle village. They had spent the evening in an inn, before disapparating to Little Hangleton in the late morning to try and get their hands on a copy of the Daily Prophet, hopeful for some information on Emily. Violetta had pointed out the grim fact that if she truly had been captured and killed, they would've put it in the Prophet for everyone, especially Harry, to see.

Before her thoughts could wander any further, there was a pop, and suddenly Violetta was standing next to her, a Prophet clutched tightly in her fist.

"Christ!" Kate exclaimed, pressing a hand to her thundering heart, "Did you have to apparate right next to me?"

Violetta rolled her eyes. "You're such a scaredy-cat. We shouldn't stay too long, I did spot some snatchers that looked at me funny,"

She unfolded the prophet, and Kate peered into the paper over her shoulder.

"Anything?" she asked anxiously.

"Give me a second, woman," Violetta said with a frustrated huff, her eyes scanning over the pages, running down the prophet's usual list of deceased and disappeared.

There was no Emily Poole on the list. Violetta let out a relieved breath.

"No Emily," she said with a smile, her grip loosening on the prophet, "Which means she must've gotten away!"

"Let me see," Kate said with a frown, and Violetta shoved the paper in her hands. Kate's eyes were still glued to the list of names.

"Where do you think she is?! We would always try sending a patronus, or maybe–"

"Vi,"

Kate's voice was small, quiet.

"–maybe she went to an order safehouse? What about Grimmauld Place, or your shed–"

"Violetta!" Kate said, louder this time.

Violetta looked at her friend, whose eyes were fixated on the list of names in the prophet.

"What?" she asked, annoyed that Kate didn't seem to be sharing her excitement, "She isn't on the list, Kate! Which means there's a high chance she survived this!"

Kate said nothing, and instead, her eyes finally tore away from the paper and looked up at Violetta. Her face had gone very pale and her eyes glistened with tears, the expression on her face one of pure pain.