Seven Devils ★ T.M.R ★

Chapter Thirty-Six

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THE WHOLE WORLD WRONG
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MARINA PULLED HERSELF up onto the fence and sat with a huff, feet dangling as she looked out over the winter morning. It hadn't snowed, but the frost was so intense that the world looked to have been crystalised, and her breath was coming in thick clouds, her face cold and tingly. She pulled her chin down into the neck of her Weasley jumper and tugged her sleeves over her fingers.

Nine days. Nothing from Tom.

A flurry of birds leapt from the trees in the distance and flit across the sky with loud chirps. Marina stared at the rising sun and the hazy morning sky. Her mind travelled – as it often did – to Greece, to the long nights in the archives and Tom gently shaking her awake when it was time to leave, to that one weird tavern they'd stayed at in Argos that had been run by harpies and had human bones decorating the walls, to Tom's hand brushing her back in the busy crowd –

Marina pulled in a harsh breath and let it go sharply, distracting herself by watching the cloud of her sigh plume before her. She'd originally thought that his absence would help her stop thinking about him, but she'd been grimly disappointed - if anything, it had only gotten worse. The unknowing was tearing her apart. Charlie was right, of course, Tom was probably completely fine... but the thought that perhaps he had been discovered always haunted her. Not for the first time, Marina's mind spat out the horrible image of Tom in the cellar of Malfoy Manor looking much like how she had upon her rescue, gaunt and pale, covered in blood and dirt and grime, eyes sunken and skin pallid –

Her shiver ripped through her aggressively, not the least to do with the morning chill.

"Cold?"

She nearly fell off the fence.

"God, Charlie," Marina grumbled, glaring at him. "You scared me half to death."

"Sorry," he grinned, not looking it in the slightest. "Mum's just left by the way."

"Early," she frowned, curious.

Charlie shrugged, pulling himself up onto the fence next to her. "She doesn't want Ginny waiting around at the station by herself."

Marina nodded. "And what's my cover story again?"

Charlie snickered. "You're my Muggle girlfriend from France who I've brought home for the holidays to avoid the Death Eater supporters in Romania."

She fake retched.

"I know, but we can hardly tell everyone the truth, can we?" Charlie rolled his eyes. "The fact that Fred and George know will be hard enough to manage already."

"Why'd you even tell them about me in the first place?" she snickered.

"They would never have bought it," he shrugged. "They're a lot smarter than people give them credit for."

"Fair," she said, remembering the way they'd deduced Tom's identity. She watched a long stream of smoke run lazily across the sky from the Burrow behind them and mingle with the morning fog in the air. "Who else is coming, then? I've never had a big family Christmas like this before."

Charlie heaved a sigh and pretended to think very hard. "Well Fred and George are coming back with mum and Ginny, Bill and Fleur should be here tomorrow morning, Aunt Muriel, Tonks, and her parents are arriving on Christmas Eve, and dad's brothers are coming the day before."

"Aren't people... worried?" Marina asked slowly. "About having such a big party during..."

Charlie gave her an uncharacteristically serious look. "I think we need it," he said quietly, "now more than ever." After a second, he broke back into a grin. "But honestly the scariest thing about it will be mum – she's already losing it trying to sort a dinner for that many people."