The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.35 | Eventful Eighteenth

Hermione and Ginny had kindly offered to take the remaining gifts up to Margaret's room when she said she needed to get some air. She reluctantly gave them the second unnamed box but asked them not to open it.

Margaret thanked them and, once away from curious eyes, she teleported to the opposite bank of the Black Lake and immediately sat down. Her legs were shaking and she didn't feel so good. The little breakfast she had was lurching up her throat but she forced it back down.

The anxiety she was feeling was the kind she hadn't felt in years. It felt as though all the piled-up stress and tension were trying to burst out of her, and not in form of her powers.

She wanted to weep until she ran out of tears. She wanted to scream until she didn't have a voice anymore.

Perhaps then she would find the quiet she desired in her chaotic mind. The kind of quiet where it felt as though nothing would happen ever again.

However, the chaos remained contained within her. She couldn't bring herself to cry, she couldn't release the anxiety, the pain, the grief even if she wanted to. She didn't know how, and if she tried she felt the horrible guilt and shame for showing weakness.

On the contrary, her surroundings were still.

From here, she could see the surrounding valley, painted in hues of orange and yellow of the fall, and the entire castle standing tall in the distance. The water of the lake touched the shore in gentle waves, and the breeze rustled the autumn leaves above, causing them to fall to the ground.

At that moment, raven landed smoothly on the ground next to Margaret, sending a ripple through the stillness before becoming a part of it.

Margaret dug into her pocket and took out the small box.

Though some words were covered by the lettering and drops of blood here and there, the sender had left much of the articles unmarked. Margaret read through each of them:

Gellert Grindelwald's 'No-Maj' Follower

Alfréd Xenakis To Stand In Muggle German Local Elections

RECHERCHÉ: Alfréd Xenakis - pour crimes contre Le Monde No-Magique et Le Monde Wizarding(WANTED : Alfréd Xenakis - for crimes against the Non-magical World and the Wizarding World)

Grindelwald's Acolyte Xenakis Seen With Friend & Muggle Politician Adolf Hitler

Xenakis: A Seer? Suggest Conspiracy Theorists of New York Ghost

Every story was worse than the last. Every story was a punch in the gut. Every story further violated the image that Margaret had of her father.

This was the man who woke her up with tickles every morning, who carried her and her brother in his arms when they were little so that they could watch the sunrise, who taught them German, who took them shopping and picked out frilly dresses for Margaret, who helped her get back on her feet after she was struck by lightning.

This was the man who had pulled the plug on her brother's life, who had never been emotionally supportive or understanding when he asked her to 'get over' her twin's death, who had not stopped his wife from leaving them.

And this was the man who appeared heartbroken when Margaret had tried to take her own life because she blamed herself for her twin's death.

He knew that. He knew she could have stopped Markus from leaving the night he died. She was the last to see him. She should have stopped him.