Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 173

"That's brilliant!" I exclaimed in excitement after a few moments of silence.

But hearing a sound behind us, we turned around only to see that Sirius had nearly fallen to the floor, clenching the table to hold himself up, the color draining from his face.

        "Oh, Sirius..." Mrs. Weasley smiled happily, going forward to hug him. But Sirius looked too much in shock to have noticed.

        I frowned in confusion, finding the whole situation weird. But I shook my head off the thought and chuckled.

       "Naughty Crookshanks," I giggled, patting her on the head. "Is that where you've been going when you disappeared? To meet up with your secret guy-cat lovers?"

        Sirius coughed uncomfortably, sitting down on a chair nearby awkwardly, still pale and windswept.

       "Aww, can you imagine that in a few month little kittens would be running around here!" I said, clapping my hands together in glee.

       But by those words, Sirius went even paler, if that was even possible. "Kittens? As in p-plural?"

       "Well, yeah," I shrugged, "cats usually have around six or seven kittens on average."

       Sirius looked like he was having a stroke.

     "Lexi, why don't you go help Fred and George around?" said Mrs. Weasley hastily when she saw the expression on his face. "They do seem to be having slight complications with making their new products, considering the explosion sounds in the backroom."

     "But —"

     "Go on," she said, pushing me out of the kitchen by placing a hand oh my upper back. "Thank you, dear."

     And with that, I left the kitchen to help Fred and George, still confused as to what had just happened

***

The next time we saw Sirius in a week, he looked more cheerful than ever despite all the deaths and disappearances that's been going on.

      But I couldn't say the same for myself.

      We've been reaching the end of the war soon, and I couldn't have been more stressed out. There were days that I even refused to eat anything, because I felt sick each time.

      Everyone thought that it was the after effect of that horrible night which I'd been kidnapped and tortured, but the truth was something else.

     That day, I was sitting around the house with George, changing through the channels so we could tune in to Potterwatch. Fred had gone for the broadcast this time.

     "Evening everybody, this is River!" said Lee's cheerful voice. "I apologize for our temporary absence from the airwaves, which was due to a number of house calls in our area by those charming Death Eaters. But now we've found ourselves another secure location and I'm pleased to tell you that a few of our regular contributors have joined me here this evening. Evening, boys!"

     "Hi."

     "Evening, River."

     "But before we hear from Royal and Romulus," Lee went on, "let's take a moment to report those deaths that the Wizarding Wireless Network News and Daily Prophet don't think important enough to mention. It is with great regret that we inform our listeners of the murders of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell."

     I felt a sick, swooping in my stomach, thinking about what his pregnant daughter was going through after hearing the news of her father's death.