ROMEO [2] ⚡ harry potter

28

GLACIAL
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It had been two weeks since Harry's call, and Charlotte missed him now more than ever. So she distracted herself with TV, and radio and schoolwork she had no obligation to do, Gretel teaching her exam technique one-on-one as if she still had A-Levels to sit. The two of them were doing precisely that when Gretel stood abruptly, and rushed to the bathroom.

This had become routine. Random outbursts of sickness from Gretel, when she was otherwise completely healthy. And she'd hear the woman whispering to her father about some kind of 'progress' that Charlotte wasn't allowed to be a part of.

Charlotte paused the French audio tape and followed Gretel upstairs to the bathroom, where she was heaving her guts out, and Richard was holding back her hair.

"What's going on?" she asked, and her father gestured for her to leave, and close the door behind her. "I'm not going anywhere till somebody explains."

"Just- give us a moment to sort this out," Richard said, quickly. "Just leave it for now."

"I think we need to tell her-" Gretel was cut of by another retch. Charlotte thought for a moment about all of the clues in front of her. Gretel's glowing skin, her father's reminiscent spiels where he spoke of how she was as a baby- and this, constant illness.

"Is there a baby coming?" Charlotte asked, carefully, and the two adults heads both span to look at her. There was a long moment's silence before her father nodded gravely- trying to read her thoughts.

"Yes."

Charlotte felt her face stretch into a smile, as she laughed, and clasped her hands together. "That's wonderful!"

"It is?" Richard asked, in disbelief, standing.

"Of course it is!" Charlotte laughed. "Oh, I can't wait- there'll be so much to do, of course- nothing the three of us can't handle though! This is wonderful!"

"Right, well let's get out of this kitchen and have this conversation in a better setting," Gretel said, her voice tired as she made her way towards the sink.

~

Gretel's pregnancy gave Charlotte something to think about that was not Harry or the war, or her months in prison. At the same time, however, Charlotte held onto the picture frame gift her love had left her, watching the petals float and form words she had recently realised were censored, but words nonetheless.

Currently, she was sitting on her windowsill, legs dangling out in the cold air as she waited, with the picture frame held tightly to her chest, as it read: travelling. Maybe he was coming home. Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed a figure approaching in the mist of the night, and squinted to see. But in the end, it was only Zara Afasy, with someone else trailing behind her.

Zara seemed to have transformed since their time at Malfoy Manor, she'd kept her short raggedy haircut but had gained back her lost weight and walked with a slight spring in her step as she smiled up at Charlotte, waving.

"Charlotte," Zara called from below. "Who are you waiting for?"

"Harry's travelling right now," Charlotte replied, quickly, not wanting to delve into her feelings of loneliness and loss. "Who is that with you? They look quite... faint."

The boy who was trailing behind Zara stepped forward into the light, and lowered his hood. He looked up at her, fair skin and sandy hair, lanky and sort blurred around the edges. Charlotte blinked multiple times as her stomach dropped right out of the window, almost dragging her down with it.