✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

15 | T R U S T

stars fall and the world goes blind.

"- AND YOU SHOULD finally tell her!"

"She's traumatized, I can't just -"

With a cocked eyebrow, Ember entered the kitchen of Shell Cottage, and immediately, Hermione and Ron fell silent.

"Don't bother me, just in for a coffee", Ember muttered, refusing to look at them.

Bill and Fleur's cottage stood alone on a cliff overlooking the sea, its walls embedded with shells and whitewashed. It was a lonely and beautiful place. Wherever Ember went inside the tiny cottage or its garden, he could hear the constant ebb and flow of the sea, like the breathing of some great, slumbering creature.

Ember grabbed to mugs and with a swish of her wand filled them with damping hot coffee, before she left the house through the backdoor.

Harry spent much of the next few days making excuses to escape the crowded cottage, craving the cliff-top view of open sky and wide, empty sea, and the feel of cold, salty wind on his face. That's were Ember found him.

"Don't worry, I won't bother you", she said with a cracked smile as his head jerked around by the sound of her footsteps. "Just thought you need something to warm up a bit."

She handed him the mug and was about to turn around and leave her brother in his self chosen lonesomeness, when he said, "No, please stay a while. We need to talk."

Slowly, Ember sunk into the sand next to Harry, who kept staring at the horizon.

"It is time", he said after a while of silence, "for me to apologize." Ember's lips parted in surprise. She opened her mouth for an answer, but Harry cut her short by shaking his head, before he went on. "I haven't trusted you for a long while now. Not fully. I didn't even try, and I am sorry for that."

"You had every reason not to trust me", Ember replied. "I never fully trusted myself ever since the darkness appeared either."

"It's not just that, Emmie. I never thought you were strong enough - or capable -" He turned his head to face her. "I tried to keep you out of all of this. I thought you couldn't handle it, I was sure it would be just to much for you. I refused to accept you've grown up as well. I thought you was weak and I wanted to protect you." He snorted and shook his head. "I was wrong."

Ember blinked. "Well, erm ... I'm glad you finally noticed", she tried to crack a joke, but Harry's face remained stern. "Harry, really, it's okay."

"It is not. There are things you do not know", he replied. "But now you will."

·

Emptiness had taken over Ember's mind. Even though she knew now, she felt utterly numb. Harry, Ron and Hermione locked themselves up in a tiny chamber on first floor, busy making plans for the next step. The next Horcrux. One step closer to what could be the end. Harry's end ...

But that wasn't the only thing bothering her. Something had changed. While Harry was much more open towards Ember, it seemed like Ron had decided to make it his main task to keep out of Ember's reach. In those rare occasions, the three of them weren't all locked up in a room, Ron refused to even look at Ember and only spoke to her when he couldn't avoid it.

She quickly shook her head, staring out of the kitchen window, as there was a knock on the front door. Ember's head turned toward it, before she slowly slipped from her chair and made her way to the wooden door.

"Who is it?", she asked in a small voice, not even sure it could be heard on the other side.

"It is I, Remus John Lupin!", called a voice over the howling wind. "I am a werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks, and Bill, the Secret-Keeper of Shell Cottage, told me the address and bade me come in an emergency!"

"Lupin!"

Ember flinched by the sound of Bill's voice behind her, but quickly stepped aside. The kitchen had filled without her note, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Fleur stood by the table.

Bill wrenched the door open and Remus fell over the threshold. He was white-faced, wrapped in a traveling cloak, his graying hair windswept. He straightened up, looked around the room, making sure of who was there, then cried aloud, "It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!"

He strode around the table and hugged Harry. "You'll be godfather?", he said as he released Harry.

"M-me?", stammered Harry.

"You, yes, of course - Dora quite agrees, no one better -"

"I - yeah - blimey -"

"I can't stay long, I must get back", said Remus, beaming around at them all: He looked years younger than Ember had ever seen him. Smiling at every single one standing in the kitchen, his eyes finally landed on Ember, who was still lingering next to the door, half hidden behind Bill's back.

Remus' face lost all of his colour and his smile dropped. The goblet Bill had handed him before hit the floor with a thud, and it seemed like someone had turned off the sound in this place.

"You're alive ..."

And slowly it dawned on Ember. As she got caught at Malfoy Manor, the Death Eater's had announced her death. Everyone for months had lived with the wrong, but devastating knowledge that Ember Potter had been murdered; that Ember Potter was dead. Remus was no exception.

"Ah, yes", she replied in a whisper. "It - it was a trap for Harry. They were sure he would come to check on me. I - oof."

He almost swept her off her feet, as Remus flung his arms around Ember and pulled her into a hug.

"You're alive", he muttered into her ear, a relieved chuckle bursted from his lips. He grabbed her shoulders and stepped back, keeping her an arm length away from him, so he could examine her tired face, the bags under her eyes, the pale skin. "You're alive! Blimey, what a glorious day!"

-