Elizabeth took the train home in a daze. It could not have happened, her father could not be dead. A fog had grown up inside her, muffling feelings that would have made her condition worse. The fog also blocked out good feelings as well, like the fact that she had not failed her OWLs, and that Nathan had kissed her goodbye at the end of term. All were only tiny events in the gloom of her life.
Maria sat beside her the whole way home. Elizabeth could tell that Maria knew something was wrong with her friend, but she would not share her grief, it was her own, and Maria need not feel what she felt.
When the train arrived at platform 9 3/4, Elizabeth's eyes were drawn to a stack of Prophets on a small table. Snatching one up, she scanned the headline. The Hallowed Strike In Canada. Elizabeth hurriedly stuffed the paper into her coat pocket and tried to stifle the burning sensation in her throat as she walked away toward the magical doorway to the muggle world.
"Hey!" A man's voice yelled behind her. Thinking it was directed at someone else, Elizabeth ignored the cry and kept walking.
It soon became clear that that had been a bad idea.
"Hey! Missy! You haven't paid for that paper, don't go stealing on me, or I'll call the security!"
Elizabeth gulped. She hadn't meant to steal the paper. She forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat and sound like she wasn't about to cry before she answered. "I- I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to- I-" Her fingered fumbled around in her pocket for a moment before drawing out the small purse that Maria had given her for her thirteenth birthday. "How much is the paper? I'm so sorry..."
The man's face softened, (she obviously hadn't sounded normal enough) and he said in a kinder voice. "Did you," he gestured at the paper in her hand, "Did you lose someone in the attack?"
Elizabeth wasn't sure what to say. Or if she should respond at all. "What do you mean?" She forced out.
"Was someone... you know..." He let his hands fall limp at his sides.
"Yes." The answer came before she could stop it, and so did the tears, just two of them, sliding down her cheeks.
The man's eyes looked at her once more, and then at the paper. "No charge," was all he said, and then he was gone. and the fog swirled around her once more.
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Uncle Jacob picked her up from the station. He had heard the news and was thankfully quiet for the entire drive back to the house. It was comforting to have him around, to grieve together, and Elizabeth wrapped herself in the fog like a blanket on a cold night.
Her aunt's eyes were full of tears as she opened the door, and Elizabeth knew that she was reading the turmoil in her mind. She threw herself into a hug, and let the tears fall down her cheeks. William and Thomas looked on with eyes glazed over with sadness, William's arm on his brother's shoulders, Thomas's head resting on William's shoulder. Elizabeth let out a choked little sob, and hurried up the stairs to the room she used during the summer.
The picture frame on the wall, the one Thomas had given her all those years ago, held her father and mother on their wedding day, as happy are two people could possibly be.
Collapsing on her bed, Elizabeth fell into darkness, and that was all she knew for what seemed to be a very long time...
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The Underground
FanfictionElizabeth Scamander, daughter of Newt and Tina Scamander, entered the world as her mother began to leave it. She grew up mostly oblivious to this fact until her father was forced into hiding because of an uprising of Grindlewald's supporters, The Ha...
