Enchanted by freckles - Garreth Weasley & Sebastian Sallow x female MC

34th chapter

After a while Garreth calmed down again. We all ate together. I didn't recognize any of the dishes, but everything was delicious.

I enjoyed the evening as best I could. I had the feeling that I wasn't the person for such events. Even at Hogwarts, when everyone was celebrating in the common room, when we won a Quidditch match, I preferred to retreat to the astronomy tower and watch the stars.

It usually didn't take long for Garreth to follow me and show me more constellations when the cloud cover allowed. While astronomy wasn't his favorite subject, he found stargazing relaxing.

Today he gave me the best possible motivation not to run away, but to spend time with him and his family. There was loud music playing in one corner of the room, so we spent most of the evening dancing a little. We weren't really born dancers, but following an explanation from Garreth's distant aunt, we managed to dance for a few minutes without stepping on each other's toes.

We said our goodbyes late in the evening and went back to our room. We fell asleep quickly.

The next morning was very relaxed. We slept in, had breakfast and then walked off together to Adaliz's house. When we were standing in front of the house, Garreth knocked and Adaliz opened the door for us, beaming.

"I'm sorry for being so cryptic yesterday and when we last met. Have a seat first, I'll get you some coffee," she said kindly. Garreth and I sat on the couch. Apparently Gawain wasn't there either, so we were completely alone.

Adaliz placed coffee with milk on the table for us and placed a bowl of Christmas cookies next to it.

"Caelie, may I ask you a few questions?" she asked. I nodded.

"How are your parents? Do you know anything about them?" she asked carefully. "Aunt Adaliz, why do you want to know that?" Garreth asked confused. "Wait Garreth, you're actually only here for emotional support.", Adaliz said calmly.

"I don't know anything about my parents. All I know is that they gave me up to my godmother when I was 3 or 4. I don't even know their names. They never got in touch with me, they probably just didn't want me. " I said quietly.

Adaliz nodded. "And what happened to your godmother? After all, you certainly don't live with Yvain and Gwen for no reason."

I swallowed. "She was murdered." I said as my voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. "Do you know by whom, or why?" she asked. "I don't know, I was at school. Hogwarts is far from our house," I said, feeling a single tear slide down my cheek. Adaliz nodded again, silently.

"Adaliz, please stop squeezing Caelie like that. It's tormenting her. Please tell me why you're asking all of this." Garreth said, slightly angry.

"Garreth, stay calm. I just didn't want to give her hope by confronting her prematurely," she said calmly. "Hope for what?" Garreth asked confused.

"I think I know Caelie's parents." Garreth's mouth dropped. "Why should you know Caelie's parents?" Garreth asked. "It's very simple. We were in our seventh year at Hogwarts. At the Triwizard Tournament. Wait a minute, I have a picture of the woman I believe is Caelie's mother." Adaliz jumped up and searched a closet drawer .

"Caelie, are you ready for this?" Garreth asked cautiously. I nodded. I wanted to know where I came from and I wanted to know why my parents brought a child into the world that they simply gave up. Adaliz returned and held out a small canvas. The person in this picture had the same face as me. Her hair was lighter than mine and her eyes were a rich, bright purple. But apart from that, we looked the same.

"This is Fayette. Fayette de la Lune. She was my best friend until she fled to England when she left school and became engaged to Edvin Lewis. You look exactly like her. Except the eyes and hair color aren't. But they are identical to Edvin's colors. But that's why I was staring at you like that when we first met.", Adaliz said a bit melancholy.

Garreth and I gaped at that. Garreth rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the picture we found at Marlee's house. He placed it on the table. "Yes, exactly. That's Edvin. Where did you get this picture from?" she asked confused. "This picture was in my godmother's house... and my last name is Lewis too," I said quietly.

"I would like to tell you her story, maybe that will clear up a secret or two. Is that okay with you?" Adaliz asked emotionally.

I wanted to cry, I wanted to go, but the question about my parents finally had to be answered, so I nodded.

"We only have three houses. Unicorn, Phoenix and Dragon. Fayette and I were both put into the House of the Phoenix. That's the closest I'd say to a mixture of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. We're always two people per room. And Fayette and I were put in a room together. Some kind of magic is used to determine who is most compatible with whom, I can't really explain it to you either, after all it's been a while years ago.

But Fayette and I spent every day together from then on, unless we were on vacation. So far everything was fine. She was an extraordinary witch, with a really strong will. She wasn't that great at theory, but when there was a useful spell she could master it.

After the holidays she usually looked a bit battered. For the first few weeks after vacation, she would lie with her head on my lap most of the time and cry. Her family was terrible. Noble pureblood fanatics of the worst kind. They wanted to strengthen her and her blood by giving her to seven grown men when she was twelve years old, so they could make her a 'woman'. We were just kids." Her voice trailed off and she wiped tears from her face.

"They stubbed out cigars on her chest, indiscriminately cut her deeply, or just kicked her down a flight of stairs. Anything to strengthen the Sacred Blood of the royal family. She was an only child, so they could focus entirely on abusing this poor girl. Her wand was taken from her over the holidays. Every year it got worse. And the school didn't protect her. Most of the time she was safe at school, but sometimes when his father's cronies felt like it, they caught up to her weekends and abused her over and over again and there was nothing I could do for her except be there for her when she was at school.

Fayette lived in constant fear. In our senior year I thought if she had to go home again, she would die. Most recently, she came to school after all her fingernails were ripped out. She was so terribly tormented. Over the years, the sparkle in her eyes has diminished. She didn't want to live anymore. She finally wanted to escape this terrible agony. And then our rescue came." She said, smiling slightly.

"Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament and Fayette and I were invited to travel to England. After her father once again abused her himself, the day finally came when she was safe. Nobody was just allowed in at Hogwarts. The parents had to first announce themselves. And immediately I spoke to the headmaster to protect Fayette.

On the very first evening she met a Gryffindor boy. A beautiful young seventh grader with a small birthmark, golden eyes and dark curly hair. His name was Edvin Lewis. She blossomed again. Finally she laughed again. I had missed her laughter so much.

She and Edvin didn't understand each other verbally. Fayette couldn't speak English and he couldn't speak French. With effort and sign language, they made appointments, and for the first time in her life, Fayette had a taste of what it was like to be free.

With the help of his Potions teacher, he made pastes that he applied to her countless scars so she wouldn't be constantly reminded of everything that had happened. He didn't know what had happened to her, but it didn't matter to him either. He just wanted to protect her and be there for her.

He wasn't a good student or a magician, but he was an absolutely wonderful human being. He kept taking Fayette to his parents. There, for the first time in her life, she experienced parental love.

They needed no words to understand each other. They understood each on other ways. The more time passed at Hogwarts, the stronger their bond became. Most of the time they sat in the Gryffindor common room, leaning against each other. Like that they even slept a good part of the time. While sitting on a sofa. Nothing mattered, the main thing was that they had each other.

After attending Yuleball together, it was time to get used to the idea that we had to return to France to take our exams. They were still enjoying the last few months together and promising each other with Fayette's poor English that they would one day meet again to get married.

I painted this picture of her a few days before our departure. I wanted her to always remember how happy she was. Of course I could have painted him, but I didn't want Fayette's family to know anything about Edvin.

Their tearful farewell broke my heart. I still remember Edvin's farewell words to Fayette: My heart will beat as long as yours beats. I'm waiting for you. And then we'll be happy. He said it in French. He had secretly learned a little French.

Back in Beauxbaton, she was met by her father, who stubbed out his cigar on her collarbone as a greeting.

A few days later we find out that there had been a mass murder at the de la Lune estate. Fayette had murdered her father and his eight friends who were present while they were trying to rape her. I understood immediately. She didn't want to be abused by them anymore. She was Edvin's. I still don't know how she managed to kill all the magicians at once, but it didn't matter as long as they were dead. These creatures had no right to live.

Fayette owled me a week later explaining what had happened and that she had fled to England to finally live a loving life in peace with Edvin. Her parents tried to force her to marry her cousin, but Fayette's heart belonged to Edvin. I burned the letter. I didn't want anyone to know where she was. Her father and his friends only got what they deserved, so I didn't feel bad about keeping this information to myself.

A few years later, when Louis was a slightly older boy, I received another letter. She wrote me that she and Edvin lived a wonderful life and had a three year old daughter. They lived with Edvin's parents in northern Scotland and had both found small, inconspicuous jobs that enabled them to make a comfortable living. I burst into tears when I received this letter. She deserved this life so much. It hurt that we didn't see each other anymore, but I was happy that she was finally able to live a life of peace and love.

A few months later, I held her final letter in my hands. She wrote to me that her mother's and rejected cousin's new henchmen found her. She thanked me for all the years I was there for her and wrote that she won't be in touch again as the henchmen murdered Edvin's parents in cold blood due to the connection to her and she doesn't want my family to be targeted. The last sentence was 'We just wish we could see our daughter grow up, but with me she will always be in danger. It's better she grow up somewhere else. Somewhere, far away from any trace to us. I hope her life will be better than mine was. If I have to, I will give my own life to ensure her a beautiful life.'"

"So that's probably the same people who killed my godmother, too," I said. Adaliz nodded, we both cried. My head felt like it was about to explode.

"And I was so shocked when you walked into my house in the fall, your whole presence felt just like Fayette's, but I didn't mean to invade you either," Adaliz said softly. You could clearly see how much the thought hurt her.

"But how were they able to track down Marlee but not Mum and Dad?" Garreth asked. "I don't know. But maybe they tracked her down but didn't kill her because they knew if they harmed one of the Weasleys' hairs, they wouldn't be able to survive the onslaught that followed.Our family is larger and certainly stronger due to the absence of incest.

Like I said, they're total blood fanatics. They are descendants of the brother of the Sun King. Hence 'de la Lune'. While the king symbolized the sun, his brother was the moon. At least that's what Fayette told me.

Her parents were cousins too, but she didn't want that. She wanted to be free. Even before our time at Hogwarts, she told me that one day she would choose her own husband. And that's exactly what happened. Edvin also comes from a pure-blood family as far as I understood at the time. But pure blood just wasn't enough for Fayette's family." Adaliz said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Caelie I don't know what you think about your parents but please believe me. They love you and just wanted to protect you. Your mother has never wanted anything more than to have a peaceful life with her own little family. ", Adaliz said and looked me deeply in the eyes. I could barely see. My eyes were swollen shut, and Garreth's hand was constantly rubbing up and down my back.

"Thank you Adaliz. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." I said while still crying. I tried to concentrate on my breathing to calm myself down.

"Do you know where they could be?" I asked softly.