Obliviate ; Fred Weasley

Eighty-eight

I stared into the house as Fred shut the door behind us.

I just stared, and when Aaron came running towards me, I broke into a happy sob, happy tears staining my cheeks.

I crouched down before letting myself drop to the floor, and then I pulled Aaron into my arms.

"He's missed you." Fred spoke. "He's been a lot more vocal while you were gone. He's gotten used to falling asleep on your side of the bed."

I looked up at Fred who watched me cuddle Aaron.

"He's the only one who's been allowed to touch your side of the bed." He exhaled, and then my eyes scanned the hallway.

Everything looked the same, except certain pictures on the walls had been taken down.

"Do you want to go see your dad one of the days?" Fred asked, holding Jonas to his chest.

I tensed up, ripping my eyes away from the hallway to look at Aaron instead.

"I don't know."

"Kai... love, he's your dad."

"Who's been dead for nine years. Well, thought he was dead. I don't know how to suddenly have a dad again. It's— I don't know."

"Okay." His voice was soft, and I looked up at him. "I know you need time to process this, but I also know that when you're ready, you'll go see him, because you love him and you have never gotten past the grief."

"He's my dad. Of course I've never gotten past the grief."

"No, that's not... I mean—" he sighed. "Losing someone gets easier with time, but for you, it never did. This is a good thing, Kai. Your dad is alive. You get to have a relationship with him."

I shook my head.

"But one day, he'll actually die. I have to go through that again." I said. "So I can't face that or him right now. I can be there when he finds out my mum died. I can't be there when he finds out what Kwan has done. I can't be there when he finds out that his son went through what he went through in his own marriage. I can't be there when he finds out that he's lost all those years with Myeong. That Myeong is eleven years old and just started Hogwarts. I can't be there when he finds out that his youngest daughter is never around because she doesn't get along with her siblings and because she hates being reminded of her family."

Fred inhaled sharply, making a face of guilt, and then my eyes widened slightly.

"What did you do?" I asked, because I knew that expression too fell.

It was the same expression he wore whenever he had done something without talking to me first.

"Carter might have brought your dad back here." He said, and I felt my heart stop.

Then I looked down the hallway again, suddenly aware that my dad was inside of this house.

"Your dad has nowhere to live, Kai. He doesn't want to go back to Germany now that he knows why he was really there." Fred told me while I just stared down the hallway. "Carter doesn't have the space, but we do. We have two extra bedrooms. One of those will now be a nursery for Jonas, and that leaves the second one. Your father can have it and live with us. I think it will be a good thing. You need a lot of support after what you've gone through, and your father needs support too."

I didn't answer. I stood up, still holding Aaron. Then I pushed off my shoes and slowly made my way down the hallway.

I checked the living room but no one was in there, then I checked the dining room, but he wasn't there either.

The kitchen was empty as well, but then I heard laughter, and that made me walk straight through the kitchen, through the utility room and into the conservatory.

The laughter came from outside.

It was a familiar laughter.

The laughter that always comforted me as a child. The laughter that would always make me laugh along.

I stepped out through the open door that led to the garden, and I walked along the house, my feet on the cold stone in the ground.

I reached the corner of the house, and I pressed a hand to it as I slowly turned the corner, stopping immediately.

A few feet away from me, my dad sat in one of the garden chairs by the small table. Carter was there too, and the two looked so happy.

Carter was laughing silently, but my dads laughter was loud.

He looked the same, but yet he looked older. Only a few years older though.

"How long have they lived here?" My dad asked Carter once the laughter died.

Neither of them had noticed me, even though I stood just a few feet away, staring right at them.

"About a year." Carter said, nodding slowly. "They lived in a flat before this, but they needed a change and to get out of England."

"Shit." My father smiled as he looked up at the house. "I'm so proud of her. Of both of you. The lives you've made for yourself."

And then I couldn't hold it in anymore. A sob broke free from my chest, and I clamped a hand to my mouth, but they had already noticed me.

Carter stayed in his chair, but my dad pulled himself to his feet.

"Kai." He smiled, in disbelief as he looked at me. "I can't believe you're an adult now. You look so grownup."

He let out a small chuckle at his own comment, and I put down Aaron before walking closer to my dad.

"Hey, don't cry. C'mere." He said, opening his arms, and I rushed towards him, wrapping my arms around my dad.

He closed his arms around my shoulders, and I cried against his chest. I was so happy, but at the same time, I was sad because I had lost so many years with him.

One thing was to be told that he was alive, but it was another to actually see him with my own two eyes.

It was overwhelming.

And it was so surreal that after everything that happened in the last nine months, I actually had my dad. So many times, I had needed him but he wasn't there because I thought he was dead, but now he was here, and it felt so surreal.

"It's okay, Kai." Dad said softly, holding a hand against the back of my head. "I heard what happened, and I'm so sorry, honey. I wish I could take away all of your pain."

That only had me cry harder.

I was so scared that I would wake up, and it would all be a dream. While hugging my dad, I was mentally begging for this to be real.

Because I didn't want to wake up and have lost my dad again.