Golden Children and the Others

Faryn almost didn’t hear Adalia knocking on her door. The Hufflepuff had fallen into a fitful sleep, clutching her DA coin. James had assured her that she would be fine, that losing her sister’s trust was not the end of the world. It was, though, to Faryn. Addy was her other half, so to speak. It really was like they were almost twins, not even noticing the age different sometimes. Even if they did get on each other’s nerves sometimes, they were each other’s best friends. 

But Faryn really thought she had blown it when she let Ava’s  secret slip to her friends. Ava wasn’t mad at her, just Adalia, for being hypocritical. So she was astonished to hear a knock at her door. She dared to hope that it was Adalia, but it could very well be Ava, or one of their parents. She looked up, unable to move. The door swung open and Faryn’d heart almost burst at seeing her sister. Adalia gave her a small smile. Faryn, in one swift, emotion driven move, stumbled off of her bed and into a standing position, and Adalia raced into her sister’s arms. The two of them hugged fiercely, as though they had thought they might never see each other again, or they had been parted for a long amount of time. Faryn started crying, her reserve broken again. Even without hearing it from her sister she knew that Adalia had forgiven her.

“Addy, Addy, I’m so sorry,” Faryn said as she clung to her sister, a wet, heartfelt mess. Adalia hugged her older sister close, patting her hair as she spoke.

“Shh, Faryn, it’s okay,” she assured her. All of the anger seemed to have left her. 
Faryn pulled away and assessed her sister and this seemingly sudden change of heart. ”Someone talked to you, didn’t they?” she questioned.

Adalia smiled.”Al. He said he heard James talking to you and figured that I’d need some company.”

Faryn nodded, also smiling. ”Those two boys know you so well.”

Addy furrowed her brow. ”Al and James?”

Faryn shook her head. ”No, Al and Scorpius.”

Adalia grinned.”Yeah, I guess they do.” She then snuck a smile at her older sister. ”James really seems to get you.”

Her sister blushed. Hadn’t they been over this enough? Or, at least, she had. Fred had hinted at this at least once, though thankfully not in the presence of the other guys. Had anyone else noticed? Especially James? She still hoped that Lysander didn’t find out before anything came of it. and maybe nothing would. Even if James noticed her affection for him, she couldn’t expect him to dump Dawn for her. 

Faryn sighed and nodded. She lowered herself down to sit on the floor by her bed, so she could lean against its frame. Adalia sat down next to her.

“You like him, don’t you?” She asked. Faryn nodded. There was no sense in denying it. She didn’t know or even expect anything to come out of it, but denial wouldn’t do anything for her case.

“So … ?” Adalia prompted her. Faryn sighed.

“Adalia, he’s dating someone else. Dawn Cain. He’s probably happy with her, at least enough not to notice me. Faryn is always the friend, not the girlfriend.” Faryn told her sister. She was rambling now. She just had to get her thoughts out, out of her head, and shove them into someone else’s. She went on about Lysander and how bad she still felt about him, and how Fred and probably Lorcan had noticed- and would Lorcan tell his brother? It seemed as though everyone could see her desperation, not that she wanted to be desperate- everyone but James. Everyone but the person she didn’t know if she wanted to know. 

Adalia nodded to her sister, being patient and affectionate for the first time in her life as she waited for Faryn’s ramblings to subside.

“Hey, you deserve a great guy like James- and you know I go around giving compliments like that to boys. One of these days he’ll see how perfect you are and how much he really does love you. I bet it’s more than he loves Dawn. And I bet you love him more than she does.” Faryn hugged her sister once more, tightly.

“That may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Adalia,”She said. 
Adalia grinned.

“Would you like me to lock her in a closet, while I have the boys tell James the pros and cons of dating you vs. Dawn, and hit him if he doesn’t get it and until he does?” She offered. Faryn just burst out laughing. 

[x]

Adalia felt good. Warm. Safe.

Things were right in the world, at least for now. Her safety bubble, the people she loved the most…it was all okay. She was still kinda miffed about everything, but it wasn’t as monumental now. Faryn wasn’t crying, which was always a good thing in the young Ravenclaw’s book. No one was upset.

Well, not entirely true, but whatever. Close enough.

Besides all that, though, she felt a lot better. Curled up in an armchair in her room, in front of the fireplace, reading a book and petting her cat. Sophie purred, intertwining herself among Addy’s arms and her book.

Of course, again, it was Ms. Granger-Weasley’s.

A Tale of Two Wars was good. It was informative in a way that the people around her weren’t. They would never tell her how bad everything had gone. How many people they had really lost. How much Al’s dad and everyone suffered. How Mr. Potter had died to save them.

How she had lost so much, and not even known it. There was a list in the back of the book, like on the memorial at the Ministry, of all the names of the deceased.

There was a Katz listed.

She searched through other books in the house, eventually finding out that her Daddy went through the same thing as Mr. George – he lost his sister, his twin, his best friend, in the fighting.

She couldn’t tell Faryn, though.

Faryn would cry and angst and add more sorrow to her life than what was already there.
What with Ava and everything, Addy couldn’t do that to her sister. Couldn’t bear to be the cause of any more pain.

Shutting the book, she fell down against her pillows, staring around her at her Ravenclaw decorations. Only a bit longer, she thought. Only a bit longer, and I won’t have time to worry about this any more…

[x]

Ava and Teddy had gone to bed together. They were, for the longest time, nothing more than a tumble of arms, legs, mouths, hands, tongues, and tears. Ava hated to cry, but it came naturally the moment she was back in his arms. Teddy was crying too, Teddy who was the kindest person she knew, but also the most solid, the most adamant figure in her life. She might lose everyone, the Order of the Phoenix could come and go, Voldemort himself could rise and fall again and if she had Teddy she could survive. He was her rock.

Their minds and hearts and bodies had missed each other, and Ava knew as they tumbled into their familiar bedroom that she was home, that she could be anywhere with him. Their minds and hearts combined as their bodies took over, and Ava's heart swelled with love for him, unconditional love, and she was so glad that they were having a baby. Together.

The next morning Ava woke up and rolled over to see her alarm clock. it was seven AM, and she closed her eyes with a smile. It was like old times, as though she had never even left. She kissed Teddy on the nose, but she knew it wouldn't wake him up. He always slept later than she did. Ava wrapped the bed sheet around her body and slipped quietly out of the room. She walked quietly to her office, pushing the door open. Nothing had changed, it all looked just like it had been before they'd left for that fatal Order meeting. She sat down at her desk and reached for the drawer she knew contained her firewhiskey.

Ava was surprised to nice that there were quite a few bottles missing- five or maybe six of them. She took a full bottle in her hand, weighing it in her palm. Six bottles of firewhiskey gone . . . the only explanation she could think of was quite disconcerting. Had Teddy taken them? Had he been drinking while she was gone? Ava had only seen teddy drunk once, on one of the anniversaries of his parents' deaths, shortly after they'd joined the Order. "I don't know if I can handle it," He had told her when she found him. "I don't think I can handle their burden," He slurred. "Ava, I just want to forget . . . Ava, help me forget, please . . ." Just befrore he had passed out in her lap. She had cried then. She hadn't known what to do. And now she wondered if she'd hurt him so much that he had wanted to forget her too.

Ava felt tears pricking at her eyes. She opened the firewhiskey and took a long swig. It burned, but she liked it. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her thin, flat stomach. "Revealio," she whispered. Under the crisp, white sheet her belly, wide and pregnant, bulged. Ava slid a hand under the sheet and caressed the skin, under which she knew lay a baby. She stayed like that, drinking firewhiskey and stroking her baby.

She heard Teddy come up behind her but neither of them said a word. She sensed that he was wary, waiting and watching for a sign from her. He hugged her from behind and felt her exposed stomach. Teddy slipped his fingers over hers, softly stroking the skin there. "We never talked about names," Ava said quietly, breaking the silence.

"I want to name him after someone. Someone important, like . . ." Names popped into Ava's head. Teddy's father? His grandfather? His godfather? Someone close to both of them? ". . . . Sirius Black. He was my father's best friend. They were all alone after Harry's dad and pettigrew were gone. Everyone else thought he was a murderer. We were the only ones who knew the truth." He said softly. Ava could tell he had thought a lot about this. She turned and kissed him softly. "I've always liked star names," She whispered, still so close to him. He gently kissed her forehead.

A name came to her. Her uncle, Faryn and Adalia's father, used to take the three of them stargazing when they were so much younger. "Rigel." she whispered. She remembered liking that name. "Rigel Sirius." Teddy kissed her again and ran his hand over her stomach. He spoke around both of their lips.

"Rigel Sirius Lupin."