keegan delaney has always been a part of george weasley's life. they were never close, though they both were always there for the important moments. it's only after hogwarts when keegan gets a job in a cafè right across from weasley's wizard wheezes...
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CHAPTER ONE: HOME SWEET HOME
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WHEN KEEGAN DELANEY FIRST sat her family down and told them she was moving to London, the world seemed like it was going to end. Eleanor and Genevieve Easton hadn't had much to say, having only been part of Keegan's life for three years, but Vivian Delaney immediately protested against it, convinced that her baby girl was too young to face the world alone. She and Keegan had argued for hours on end. The two usually peaceful women who rarely had a bad thing to say about someone were right at each other's throats as they stomped about the house, trying and failing to get the other to see their point.
"We're living in dangerous times, Keegan," Vivian exclaimed, lips pursed as she glared at her daughter's retreating figure. "You can't just leave!"
"I'm not a baby, mum!" Keegan had snapped after an hour of back and forth. She was standing at the top of the stairs, one of the sweaters she'd been packing into her trunk slung over her right arm. "I don't need you to take care of me anymore."
Whatever argument Vivian had ready died in her throat, her face falling at her only daughter's anger-fuelled words. Keegan immediately knew she said the wrong thing, her own furious expression dropping as her mother backed away from the stairs slowly.
"Mum, I didn't mean it like that."
But Vivian was already turning away, leaving the room without another word. Keegan sighed, eyes meeting her step-mother's pleadingly. She hadn't meant to make out like her mother wasn't important, but she needed to do this. She needed to get out there, make a name for herself, and she just couldn't do that out in the countryside with her muggle stepmother and step-sister, and a mother who was content with giving up magic. Keegan loved them to pieces, but she wanted to live closer to the wizarding world, wanted to get a job as a healer. Something she wished Vivian would just understand.
"Let me speak to her," Eleanor Easton told her step-daughter, placing a comforting hand on Keegan's arm as she moved to make her way downstairs. "You know she's just scared to lose you, hon."
"But she doesn't have to lose me," Keegan muttered, soft and resigned. "She just has to accept it."
"Just give her some time. You and I both know she'll come around."
True to Eleanor's words, Vivian came up to Keegan's room later that night. Keegan was just about finished putting her clothes in her trunk and was eyeing up her bookshelf full to the brim with novels from her school days. A soft knock came from the open doorway, forcing Keegan to turn away in search of the sound.
"Mum," Keegan blinked, surprised to see the woman standing there.
"Need some help?" Vivian asked, hesitant but determined.
Keegan nodded wordlessly. Vivian joined her a moment later, reaching for a cardboard box and a novel. The mother and daughter worked side-by-side in silence, neither knowing quite what to say at first.
