Elusive // The Weasley Twins

52. Gone

Monitoring Harris O'Connor was a lot easier said than done.

Nick stayed out of his way for the most part, not wanting to be mistaken for someone else again which meant that Cosette took on the role as a full time nurse.

If her dad said anything that didn't make any sense, like when he asked if she had spoken to their mom recently, Cosette knew that the best way to go about the conversation was to avoid correcting or arguing with him. She did whatever she could to redirect him onto a different topic.

His health wasn't declining like her and Nick thought it would, which was a good sign. The only thing that really seemed to be affected was his memory.

Cosette had spent years dodging questions about her mom from not only strangers but from people close to her as well, so she knew how to maneuver around the conversation whenever her dad brought her up.

It was only when he asked about Fred did Cosette start to panic.

She didn't think it was necessarily smart to come right and say that he had died but she also wasn't sure how to speak about him as though he was still alive. Cosette had grieved his death for years and she had come to accept that he was in fact gone, so this was a completely new territory for her.

Cosette didn't want to act as if Fred was still alive and well, but for the fourth day in a row, her dad asked about him.

"Dad, I really don't want to talk about Fred right now," Cosette stated, sounding a bit harsher than she intended.

"Did you two get in a fight?" He asked and from where Cosette sat at the kitchen table, she could see her dad washing the dishes from dinner by hand. He pulled out a sponge from under the sink and filled it up with warm water. It was such a mundane act and something that could be done with a simple household charm.

"No, I just don't want to talk about him," she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she watched him clean up. For the past few nights, Cosette had been the one tidying up after dinner but her dad insisted that tonight he would take over.

Cosette pushed her chair away from the table and headed into the kitchen, leaning against the island. Her dad didn't say anything more about Fred, instead choosing to hand Cosette a towel to start drying the dishes as he washed.

After a few minutes of silence between them, Cosette couldn't hold her tongue any longer, "Can we talk about what's going on here?"

"What do you mean?" He chuckled, passing her a bowl to dry. Cosette did so reluctantly before putting it into the cupboards.

"Dad, you're a wizard," Cosette said with a forced laugh. "Why the hell are we washing the dishes by hand?"

Harris gave her a brief look of disbelief, "Do you rely on magic for everything?"

"Not everything, but it's certainly handy," she told him as he handed her a plate. "Since I came back, I've just noticed that you barely use it around the house."

"Well I've never really used magic around the house, Sets," He brushed aside her comment and Cosette had to admit that he was right. She didn't have a lot of memories of him using magic when she was younger.

Cosette wanted to ask why that was the case but she was worried that he either wouldn't remember the answer as to why he prefered living magicless or that it would have something to do with her mother.

They finished cleaning up in silence. Cosette was holding her breath the entire time, waiting for him to say something else that just wasn't right, but it wasn't until he dried his hands and made his way to the staircase did that happen.