Weasley Charm | Fred Weasley

Chapter 5-23: Worries of Moving On

Grief,
One of the most powerful monsters under Death himself.
You see, Grief reveals herself under different masks,
Never letting her true identity be known.

This is what makes her dangerous.
The never knowing when or how she will come,
Until she does.

She lingers for unspecified amounts of time.
For some, she can stay a lifetime.
For others, she can stay as long as they need her.

But perhaps, she means not to be a monster.
Perhaps, she hopes to bring healing in her partner's wake.
Perhaps, the only monstrosity is denying her.

- d. h.

It sounded terrible, but Delaney knew the pain she had been feeling over the past three days was only a fraction of what she would feel if it had been Remus who had died instead of Sirius. Delaney hated herself for still being angry with him. Angry with him for still running to Harry in his final moments. Angry with him for not even trying. Angry with him for making it so obvious that Bellatrix Lestrange pointed it out.

Yet under all of the anger, lay a whirlwind of hurt. The hurt of being left behind and completely forgotten by her biological father. But most of all, the hurt of knowing she had seen yet another death that she wasn't able to prevent.

"Miss McKinnon, Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with you," McGonagall called in a faint voice, slowly peering into her room.

"Oh, alright," Delaney muttered, slowly standing from her bed. She wasn't surprised he wanted to see her.

The walk to Dumbledore's office was silent, just as it had been in times past, with the only noise being the quiet murmurs of students walking on the lower floors of the castle. The gargoyle leaped to the side to the same password it had in the past.

"Come in," Dumbledore said before Delaney could even knock on the door. "Ah, Miss McKinnon, it's nice to finally be able to speak to you. Please, have a seat. I wanted to see how you're doing with everything."

"I would say I'm doing better than most would expect with what happened," Delaney nodded. She felt terrible for saying it but it was the truth.

"Miss McKinnon, I have found that over the years I have grown to read people quite well. I can tell that you're not lying when you tell me that but you also find yourself hating that you feel that way," Dumbledore's eyes peered over his spectacles in a knowing stare.

"Then you really are good at reading people," Delaney admitted.

"I want you to know that just because you feel this way does not make you a bad person. It merely means that you know when and how much to feel toward people who have wronged you. But I think you were already processing what was going to happen before it did. That is why it didn't come as much of a shock as it did for Harry. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not," Delaney swallowed the lump in her throat. "Professor Dumbledore, forgive me if I come off as aggressive, but I need to learn how I can prevent these things from happening if I'm going to continue seeing the ill fate of those around me."

"That, my dear, is something I believe you will have to learn to do on your own. But I want you to know this—Sirius' death—was something that couldn't have been prevented if you had gone to the Ministry," Dumbledore gave her a look that told her everything she needed to know.

"So what you're saying is, that because we went to the Ministry, Sirius died. So, if we would have stayed as I said, he would still be alive," Delaney surmised but deep down she already knew that.

Dumbledore stayed silent for a moment, "It appears you have already started your journey to learning how to change some of your visions."

Delaney sat silent, taking in what he had just told her, "Thank you, sir."

"Oh, and Miss McKinnon," Dumbledore paused as Delaney grabbed hold of the door.

"Yes sir?" She turned her head to face him.

"Be sure to check up on your father. This loss might take a toll on him," his eyes peered over his half-moon spectacles once more.

Delaney immediately knew who he was talking about. Remus. "I will sir."

With this Delaney made her way back to the common room and back up to her room so she could pack her things. Tomorrow, everyone would be going back home for summer holiday. This year was one of the craziest she had yet.

But now, she found that all she could think about was Remus. How was he handling all of this? Was Tonks with him? Delaney didn't know. The one thing Delaney did know was that after her, Tonks was the one person that would make sure he was alright. Tonks would be there when she couldn't. Delaney admired Tonks for that, for her honesty, her kindness, and her fierceness.

The next morning Delaney awoke with just enough time to get ready and bring her trunk downstairs before she met Hermione in the entrance hall.

"Wow, you're early," Hermione said in slight surprise.

"Yeah well, the sooner we get on the train the sooner it will be that we get back and I can make sure Remus is alright. I'm worried about him, Hermione," Delaney sighed, looking at her friend.

"I'm sure you are, but Delaney, he's going to be fine. He has you in his corner and whether he knows it or not he has Tonks in his corner as well. Now come on, let's get to the train."

"You see it too then? You see that there's something there?" Delaney asked as the two girls began walking to the Hogwarts Express.

"I think it's obvious they have an unspoken love," Hermione grinned, shrugging her shoulders.

"I just hope they don't wait until it's too late to do something about it," Delaney admitted, now walking into the compartment where Harry and Ron were already sitting.

"Do what too late? Who are we talking about?" Ron asked, his brows furrowing.

"Someone's a bit nosey today," Delaney giggled. "We're talking about Remus and Tonks."

"Lupin and Tonks? Why are we talking about them?" he asked.

"Boys," the girls said in unison, looking at each other and laughing.

The rest of the ride passed by quite quickly for the group. Their conversations took Delaney's mind off of her worry for Remus and to Delaney's conclusion, Harry's mind off of Sirius.

As the train pulled into the station and everyone began to exit the train, Delaney's eyes were met with the distant view of fiery red hair.

"Fred!" Her arms wrapped around his body with a sudden relief. Though her worries were still there, they seemed to ease a bit as she stood in his embrace. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be busy trying to buy that property in Diagon Alley."

"I wanted to surprise you and to tell you in person, before anyone else did, that we got it. George and I, we got the property," he smiled excitedly.

"Oh Fred, this is wonderful!" She hugged his neck. She slowly began to look around only to realize someone was missing, "Wait, where's Remus?"

Fred's face began to show reluctance, "He- he wasn't able to come today."

Delaney's worry clawed at her. This had been what she worried about all along. She twirled her fingers together nervously.

"Hey, look at me," Fred's hand began to graze her cheek. "Everything's going to be alright. Now that you're home everything will be alright. Come on, I'll take you to him."

Delaney took a deep breath and nodded. As she walked hand in hand with Fred out of King's Cross Stations, she only hoped that Fred's words held truth in them.