Trade Mistakes

The rest of the winter holiday for Trinity was spent at her aunt and uncle’s home with Oliver and their mother. They would often help Amelia with tedious tasks, like cleaning, cooking, and laundry. Amos (and sometimes Oliver) would be working throughout the day and coming home at late hours in the night. On Christmas day, however, Amos and Oliver were off and spent the day with them.

It was clear that Amos and Amelia missed Cedric during holidays like Christmas. They both kept themselves busy throughout the holiday, not stopping much to think of their deceased son. Amos used to boast about his son; now he doesn’t talk about him at all. Amelia used to make Cedric’s favorite meals and desserts but rarely ever made anything that reminded her of him.

It was depressing to Trinity. Her aunt and uncle used to be lively people before their son’s death. She was still saddened by Cedric not being there anymore but was feeling better about it than before.

When she told Oliver that it was fine to mention Cedric around her, she meant it. Two years had passed and she was now able to speak of him without getting upset.

For Christmas, the presents were sparse but nonetheless filled with love. Trinity received new sweaters from her mother and Amelia while Amos gave her some chocolate from Honeydukes and some Hershey chocolate bars. He received a huge hug from her for that along with a new scarf and gloves she had knitted with much help from Amelia. Oliver was given a hat along with a scarf as well from Trinity along with Honeydukes chocolate.

Later on that day, they all sat around the fire and were able to talk about anything and everything. Amos and Oliver reported what they knew about Miles Diggory’s disappearance, causing Grace to go white in the face. Once they saw her, they decided to change the subject. Trinity was disappointed though.

She had been wondering about the memory for days after her mother revealed what she had suspected was true. Her father had done something that was unforgiveable in her mother’s eyes and Trinity wanted to find out. If she had been hurt by him, she wanted to know. She also had another theory about why she had stung both Madam Pomfrey and Oliver.

Trinity began to think that maybe it was anger toward her father, pent up anger that caused her to sting. Maybe he did hurt her and though she couldn’t on the spot remember it, maybe her mind did remember.
~#~

The train whistle blew, signaling that it was almost time to leave. Trinity, along with Oliver (who was disguised as a muggle man with black short hair and light brown eyes), trudged to Platform 9 ¾, making sure to not attract too much attention to them. Trinity had her blond hair concealed in a blue knitted hat to throw people off. They didn’t want anyone to attack them again.

“How did you do this last year?” Oliver asked in irritation when they stopped in front of the brick wall where they would enter to go to the actual Platform 9 ¾. When she told him that they had to go through it, he just stared at her in disbelief, “You have got to joking. There’s no way we’re getting through there.” Trinity rolled her eyes, waited until no one was watching them and dragged him into the wall. He protested at first but was instantly amazed when they were standing on the train platform.

“Whoa,” was all he could say as he walked over scarlet and gold train. Trinity was reminded of the younger boy that was fascinated with everything trains. A smile appeared on her face but was soon removed when she caught sight of someone with black hair standing near the back of the station, watching her brother. The man’s eyes flicked to her and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

It was her father.

“Are you okay?” Oliver turned when he heard her gasp, concern etched in the face of the stranger. Trinity continued to stare at her father, many different emotions coming forth before finally deciding she was angry. She was angry because he left them without a word, angry that he made their mother a blubbering mess, angry that he had been an ass to her all these years, and angry that he thought he could go without being seen at the platform.

“Is that who I think it is?” Oliver asked her quietly, not looking at their father directly but with his peripheral vision. She nodded slightly, not giving much away, “Get on the train; I’ll handle this myself.” He then added, pushing her lightly to the nearest train car. She glanced up at him, startled.

“You expect me to go to Hogwarts without saying anything to that asshole?!” Trinity whispered harshly. Oliver paused for a moment but when he went to reply, the train whistle blew. Trinity realized that she would have to leave anyway and turned to Oliver, “Ok then…just don’t get hurt, alright?” Oliver nodded before hugging his sister. He then turned around and headed to where their father was standing…except he wasn’t there anymore.

~#~

On the train, it took Trinity two minutes to find Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. Ron, she suspected, was still with Lavender. Harry and Hermione were talking amongst themselves while Ginny and Luna were discussing something. Neville, the one person she had been wanting to see since they left Hogwarts, was staring down at one of his books with a deep frown.

“What took you so long to get here?” Ginny asked immediately, causing everyone to glance at their new arrival. Trinity didn’t respond but sent a simple shrug her way. Ginny furrowed her eyebrows, silently asking what was wrong. The others went back to what they were doing, ignoring them. Trinity shook her head and sat next to the window.

“Who were you with on the platform?” Luna asked innocently once everyone was settled in once again. Ginny and Neville’s heads shot up at this. Trinity couldn’t help but feel her stomach twist when she saw Neville staring at her with his hazel eyes. She thought her face was beginning to heat up but still answered without becoming flustered, something she thought she could never do.

“Yeah, now that I think about it, I did see you with someone. Who was it?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, that was my brother…except in disguise. I’ll have to tell you all later about why but he’s been using Polyjuice Potion when going out in public lately.” Trinity told them. Ginny and Luna nodded, understanding her. Neville, meanwhile, kept staring at her though his frown was gone.

After a while of sitting in the compartment and talking about their holiday, Hermione left for Prefect duty so it left Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Trinity. Ginny began to talk to Harry about Quidditch, which Trinity half-listened to, but she made sure her and Neville caught up.

His holiday had been boring, from what he had told her. His gran had him doing chores almost every day and on the holidays, his relatives berated him on his wizarding skills. Trinity couldn’t help but be reminded of her father’s cruel words to her over the years. Then the image of his blue eyes piercing into her made her shudder.

“Are you okay?” Neville asked, noticing how she had shivered. She nodded though the image in her mind was not going away, “What happened? Over the break I mean…something obviously did.” Trinity’s eyes widened, realizing that Neville could see something was wrong. He could see her.

All eyes were on her now and Trinity sighed. She had to tell them now; they could be hearing about it later in the distorted and inappropriate version from the Daily Prophet. She sighed again.

“The night my brother came to get me from the train station, he told me that our father had been followed lately so he had taken Polyjuice potion to disguise himself. We went to an alley to Apparate home when we had curses fired at us.” She paused there, watching their reactions. Everyone was paying attention now. She noticed a few were clenching their fists in rage. Usually when wizards and witches attacked others, it was never good.

“They had been waiting for us but Oliver was able to Apparate us out to my uncle Amos’. We found out that my father ran off so we stayed with them the whole time. Oliver took another vial of Polyjuice potion to avoid another ambush…though I’m still worried about him.”

Trinity finished her story and found that everyone was giving her sympathetic looks. That was why she didn’t want to really tell them to begin with. She didn’t want the sympathetic expressions on their faces. It didn’t make her feel any better.

~#~

The trip back seemed to go by quick and soon the students of Hogwarts found themselves sitting at their respective tables while filling their plates high with food. Trinity sat between Neville and Ginny at the Gryffindor table, listening to Ginny and Harry talk Quidditch while Hermione kept stealing glances down at Ron. Trinity also noticed that Ron would do the same when Lavender and Hermione were not looking, which wasn’t an easy task.

“Why’re you being so quiet?” Neville asked out the blue once the main course disappeared from the table and was replaced with dessert. She shrugged as she spooned out some chocolate pudding, “Is it because your dad?” Trinity stopped to look over at him. His hazel eyes were boring into her brown ones, silently waiting for an answer.

“Sort of,” She replied, realizing that she couldn’t stay quiet, “I’m just worried since those people after us could see through my brother’s disguise. That’s usually not the case unless they know my brother,” She shoved a spoonful of chocolate pudding in her mouth and swallowed before continuing, “And I’m scared that it has something to do with my father’s disappearance.”

Their conversation never continued because Dumbledore excused everyone from the Great Hall. Neville and Trinity walked together up to the Common Room along with the others. They didn’t really talk and Trinity couldn’t help but feel disappointed about this.

Once in the Gryffindor Common Room, many students hovered in the main room while others went to the dormitories. Trinity sat with Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Apparently Ginny and Dean were friends and agreed to never try dating again. Ron joined them once Lavender went up to her dormitory, much to Hermione’s dislike.

During the evening, Ginny pulled Trinity aside. She sent her friend a confused glance before she noticed the smirk on Ginny’s face.

“What’s got you so happy?” Trinity asked jokingly. Ginny’s smirk grew, making Trinity nervous. That smirk usually meant mayhem was about to ensue.

“I just know that someone was jealous earlier.” Ginny replied. Trinity furrowed her brows, confused.

“What are you playing at Ginny?” She asked and Ginny smacked her on the head with a scowl on her freckled face. Trinity just rose an eyebrow at her, even more confused than before.

“Neville was jealous earlier…he thought that your brother was your boyfriend or something.” Ginny told her in a hushed tone. Trinity’s eyebrows rose. What?

She glanced over her shoulder at the group, seeing that Neville was playing Exploding Snap with Seamus and Dean. Trinity wanted to smile at the thought of Neville getting jealous but realized that she could also be getting her hopes up only to be let down in the end.

“I doubt that he did Ginny. He didn't give signs of being jealous and didn't mention him.” Trinity replied. Ginny shot her a glare.

“He saw you hug your brother on the platform and his face practically turned green.” She told Trinity, arms crossed, “He calmed down when you told us he was your brother…didn’t you notice how attentive he was when Luna asked about the man?”

Ginny couldn’t believe it. The evidence was right in front of the girl’s face and yet she still denied everything. She sighed and was about to say how stupid she was for not facing the music but one look at Trinity’s face made her stop. Her brown eyes were soft, letting Ginny see how confused and broken she was. Trinity was doubting herself and Neville’s affections toward her.

“Ginny, I’ve never felt this way before…this is all new to me and I don’t want to screw it up…what if we’ve misinterpreted what he really meant and doesn’t want anything to do with me? What if he actually likes Luna inste-…?” Trinity paused there, realizing what her problem was. Ginny raised her eyebrows in surprise at her friend’s confession.

Deep in her mind, there was always something holding her back. Whenever she would think of Neville, she would tell her mind to shut up, that he didn’t like her the same way. Trinity never understood why she would do that but now that she had said it, Trinity realized that maybe Neville liked Luna. There was something in the back of mind that told her not to get her hopes up, that maybe he didn’t feel the same way, because he liked someone else.

That someone else was Luna.

“You know, I think there was another jealous person in the compartment tonight.” Ginny replied with a determined glint in her eye, a glint that told Trinity that this conversation was not over yet. Trinity couldn’t help but feel appalled that Ginny thought she was jealous…but then as she said moments before, she thought Neville liked Luna.

Without saying another word, Ginny joined their group, sitting next to Harry on the couch. He glanced over at her, small smile on his face that grew wider when she replied to something her brother asked with a snarky comment, and Trinity couldn’t help but smile. The Chosen One (from what everyone was saying) seemed to have a crush on the youngest Weasley.

It made Trinity forget her own problems and realize that she was witnessing something beautiful; the start of young love.