Until the very End - [Harry Potter xF!Oc]

June 1998

It was her last morning at the Burrow, her mother had been restoring their old house, and now it was time to go. 

Mel didn't have any memories of it, but it sounded cosy: Four bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room and a kitchen. It'd been bought with every saving her parents had acquired in the little time they'd spent out of their childhood homes.

It was right at the outskirts of London, far from everyone else, but at least it had a garden where her mother would be able to have nice plants and study her creatures: she'd mentioned wanting to pursue a career in Magizoology now that her eldest daughter was of age, and could rely on her to look after Reggie.

Mel's body was restless as soon as she stirred awake, she'd grown used to not sleeping for long amounts of time, and she would start to get uncomfortable the longer she insisted on not getting up. Besides, her dreams would make sleep even less appealing, she had no problem with starting her day at dawn.

She tiptoed through the sleeping figures across the drawing-room: Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry were all sleeping in the same room, they needed to feel like they were surrounded by family to fall asleep. 

Mel got to the kitchen, turned on the stove, made coffee, and stood silently in front of the toaster, lost in her thoughts which were often not as happy as she would want.

"I don't understand how you manage to get up so early on your own."

Her shoulders tensed but she did not jump, after a considerable amount of time, Mel had finally learned to control her nerves. Moody's antics now made sense, it was hard not to fear every unexpected noise, every figure lurking in the hallway after the ordeal she and her friends had gone through.

Ginny walked over to the table and started to pour cereal into a bowl, Mel looked at her with a tiny smile.

"I got used to it while we were Horcrux hunting. It's hard to stop."

"I see," Ginny hummed, she sat in front of her, "the nightmares will stop, eventually, things are going to be better now."

Mel nodded silently, her friend was no fool, and she'd gone through her own kind of trauma after what happened during her first year at school, Mel saw no point in pretending she wasn't having a hard time.

"Hey," The girl kicked her foot lightly. "Tomorrow you'll start working, how do you feel?"

"I might throw up," She admitted. "I'm not fond of the memories from that place..."

"Well, at least the Aurors don't work in the Department of Mysteries," Ginny shrugged. "Harry told us they work close to the Minister's office, so at least you'll get a bit of sunlight!"

"You make a lot of noise when you go up and down the stairs, don't you know how to lift your feet?" George said to his sister.

The twins had come home too, it was temporary, but Mel understood, going back to the house where they used to live alone was probably nerve-racking. In addition, their shop had been temporarily closed. The magical world was rebuilding itself little by little, and a joke shop could certainly wait. Erick, Joseph and the twins had opened a welfare organization of sorts, all to help muggle-born families go back to their feet.

"Sorry, thought I'd been careful."

"Doesn't matter, I'd been up for a while anyway."

"Nightmares?" Mel asked.

"Nah, I can't seem to fit in my old mattress. We have these brand new beds back in our flat— really great after spending a whole day standing..." He made a face. "Blimey, I'm sounding like an old man."