Take These Broken Wings and Learn to Fly

“I told you, Bill obviously likes you,” Ginny whispered as I changed into my pajamas. I rolled my eyes. She laughed at the gesture. “Don’t even begin to pretend you don’t like him too. I saw the way you turned crimson when he held your hand!” she scolded as she plopped down on her bed.

I froze where I was and turned to her. “Is it that obvious?” I groaned. She smiled and looked away. I sighed and pulled a sweatshirt over my head.

“Oh, bloody hell. That’s Bill’s sweatshirt!” she whispered, pointing to the oversized clothing I had on. I laughed and then she rolled her eyes.

“Alright, I give it two weeks,” she said seriously, crossing her arms as I folded my day clothes and placed them in my trunk.

“Two weeks until what?” I asked, turning back around to face her.

“Until you two are finally together! Duh!”

“What do you mean, finally?!” I shrieked like a girl. She laughed and got up, about to head back into the large sitting area where everybody else was eating the baked goods Molly packed for us.

Just as she was about to pull the curtain aside, she looked over her shoulder. “Two weeks,” she mouthed with a smirk and I just laughed. I closed my trunk and followed her back out to the group. Everybody was laughing as Fred and George set off some of their trick fireworks in the center of the room. I started giggling as George sent one off in my face and then went to sit next to Ginny.

“Be careful with those!” Bill scolded as he walked in from one of the boys’ rooms. The ‘tent’ we were staying in had several rooms. One had three beds for me, Ginny, and Hermione. Two were bunked and the other was just next to them. There were three rooms for the boys: one for Arthur, Mr. Diggory, and another with three bunks for Cedric, Ron, Harry, Fred, George, and Bill.

George rolled his eyes at Bill’s comment and sent a knowing look my way. Bill came and sat next to me on the arm of the large couch as I ate one of the wonderful muffins we had packed. “Alright, kids. It’s getting pretty late. I’m headed off to bed, along with Mr. Diggory. Bill, keep an eye on things, alright?” Arthur said as he and Mr. Diggory walked into the tent. Bill nodded as we all said a wave of ‘goodnight’s to the men.

Once George and Fred were out of fireworks, we all sat in the comfortable silence, watching the fire crackle in the pit that was in the center of our circle. “How was the ceremony?” Cedric asked after a moment, directing the question at Ginny, Bill, and I. Bill grunted.

“Oi, what happened, Bill?” Fred asked as he popped some chocolate into his mouth.

“Just a bunch of bloody idiots. Some drunk tried to pick up Li,” he muttered. I rolled my eyes, looking up at him.

“Bill, stop making a big deal out of it. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. I’m a big girl, you know? I’ve worked alongside men my whole life,” I retorted, crossing my arms. I was beginning to feel a little smothered by Bill’s overprotective talk.

“Speaking of work, I heard you’re a curse breaker?” Cedric asked, seemingly intrigued. I grinned back at him.

“Yes sir! Got a job with Gringotts after graduation,” I replied.

“That’s a hard job to get, right? I mean, it’s brilliant seeing that you’re a girl in that position!” Hermione exclaimed, beaming right at me. I sent a shy smile back.

“Well, thank you. I guess I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was,” I laughed. Ron raised his eyebrows.

“Are you kidding? I’m sure you’re just as clever and strong as Bill, I suppose,” he piped in. Bill laughed.

“Yeah, okay,” Bill said, hitting my shoulder. I sent a scowl his way playfully and then went back to eating my muffin.

“Where did you go to school?” Cedric asked.

“Beauxbaton,” I replied.

“Beauxbaton? Why not Hogwarts?” Harry asked. It was the first time he’d spoken; he seemed lost in thought.

“Well, it’s kind of complicated…my family story I mean,” I shrugged. “I lived here my whole life, both of my parents were muggles. They had no clue what Hogwarts was when I got the letter. It’s kind of all a blur now,” I said with a frown, placing the remnants of my muffin on the coffee table next to me.

“What’s a blur?” George asked. I sighed.

“The day I got my letter, my parents and I got in an argument. I wanted to go to Hogwarts, you know? I mean, how could an owl just appear at the window with a letter addressed to me from a school of witchcraft and wizardry? It didn’t make sense…and yet it made complete sense all at the same time. You see…when I was little, things used to happen around me that I couldn’t explain. Sometimes I’d used magic for simple things without even realizing that it was magic. Like, in class one day we were outside on the jungle gym and I was staring at this girl that had been teasing me. She was hanging upside down on the monkey bars and all of a sudden she fell. Everybody saw it, teachers, students…well, after that, she just got angrier.”

“Are you sure she just didn’t fall of the monkey bars?” Fred laughed. I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, I’m sure. She was perfectly fine, had her legs over the bar and her arms holding another. Nobody could explain it. The girl already thought I was a freak because I could make things float, you know? I’d be in class looking at a pencil and suddenly it would float in mid-air. This girl, Mary Jane, made fun of me my whole life,” I said.

“What does this have to do with the letter?” Ron asked impatiently. I giggled.

“Well, Ronald, my parents thought the letter was a prank. They knew about Mary Jane and how she got the other kids to tease me. My mom thought Mary Jane had sent the letter as some cruel joke. It was a Saturday afternoon in the summer and my dad wanted to get to the bottom of it. He didn’t want me continuing school if my classmates were going to tease me still the next school year. When I told my parents about Mary Jane, they accused her of being a liar. Of course, since my parents were muggles, they thought Mary Jane was lying about having things floating without explanation. We got the letter and my parents were furious. We got in the car and headed for Mary Jane’s house. My father worked with her father and seemed to think he could talk his way out of this ordeal.

Well, anyways…my parents were shouting at each other the way there. My mom was thinking about having me switch school districts, maybe to a private school. My dad wouldn’t hear any of it. He was stubborn and wanted me to be stubborn as well; he didn’t want me to give up on school just because some snooty girl had it out for me. So anyways…we were at an intersection, turning, and a car from the other direction was coming at full speed. Mum didn’t see it. It was too busy that afternoon. Everyone was out on the weekend. The car hit the driver’s side, instantly killing my parents,” I finished.

It was kind of quiet as I looked about the room. Everyone was staring at me, as if waiting for more of a story. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Cedric added apologetically. “Sorry I asked, also.”
I smiled slightly. “It’s alright. I figured it’s about time I told someone about my life,” I replied. He smiled back at me.

“So, wait…how did you end up at Beauxbaton then?” Ron asked.
“Well, my parents were both only children. The only family I had was my great aunt, Ethel. I’d only met her once or twice. Ethel, however, was a witch. She knew at a young age that I was a witch as well. After the accident, I was legally put under her care. Ethel was old…I mean, ancient old. Like…I don’t even know how old she was, but she was getting up there in age. She never acted it, though. She took me to live in France with her and because things were still sensitive for me in London, she contacted Beauxbaton and told them of my enrollment at Hogwarts. They agreed to accept me as a student there, and the rest is history.”

“That’s kind of terrible, though, because you and Bill would have met at Hogwarts all those years ago if you hadn’t gone to Beauxbaton!” Fred commented. Bill and I laughed.

“Yes, but who knows if we would have even been friends, then? When we first met we almost hated each other, anyways,” Bill added. I laughed, nodding in agreement.

“So, you met through Gringotts?” Hermione asked as she sipped her hot cocoa. I nodded. It was quiet for a moment, until Harry spoke up.

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m prying, but, curse breakers usually have two magical parents…because of their great strength,” he said quietly. I looked up to meet Harry’s eyes, and I could tell that he knew what I already knew.

Bill cleared his throat. “Well, perhaps Liana is just gifted,” Bill stated firmly.

I never told Bill about my parents. This is the first time he even really got know how they died. I never told anybody but my aunt about the Hogwarts letter, about the teasing, about the reason of the accident. I had no true friend until Bill, and even then he wasn’t finding out until now…almost five years after meeting him.

“It’s alright, Bill,” I said calmly, looking up at him. I turned back to Harry and cleared my throat. “My parents were both muggles, yes, but…my mum was pregnant with me when she met my father. She’d been in a previous relationship with a man, who obviously had magic powers. I don’t know the whole story; all I know was that he kept secrets from her and it didn’t work out.”

“Wait, what? You never told me this?” Bill inquired, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“I’ve never told anybody,” I said with a shrug. I began to eat my muffin again and watched as conversation returned to normal. Fred and George were fighting about the tournament, once again, as Ginny and Hermione talked about the upcoming school year. Bill was quiet, kind of just staring off. I sighed and got up, heading back to my room. I hadn’t told anybody about my life because it was mainly too painful to think about. It was nice that everybody knew now, so it wouldn’t have to come up again. You can’t keep secrets forever…eventually it starts to kill you, slowly.

I had my back turned to the curtain as I stared into my trunk, trying to figure out what to wear the following day; but my mind wasn’t completely there. A tear slipped out as I sat alone. It was an all-too-familiar feeling. I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I jumped, placing a hand over my heart.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bill asked quietly, but I could hear the hurt in his voice. I sighed, placing the sweater I was holding up on my bed.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to, alright? I don’t tell anybody. The past isn’t something I like to dwell on. I like to think of bigger and better things to move on to,” I replied sharply. Bill groaned.

“But I’m your best friend, Liana! I know you think you’re strong and that you can take on everything on your own, but sometimes you have to let other people in,” he shot back. I sighed, letting a few more tears fall. I didn’t want Bill to be upset with me, and I sure as hell didn’t want him feeling sorry for me.

“Bill, I didn’t mean to upset you by keeping things from you. It’s just that whenever I think about the past, I huge wave of pity comes over me. I don’t think you get it, honestly. I don’t want to think about my parents or whoever the guy was that impregnated my mom. I was a mistake in the first place, and once I realized that, I’ve been trying to make myself believe that I wasn’t,” I stated, raising my voice a bit.

Bill frowned, walking over to the bed and kneeling in front of it. I looked away, not wanting to cry in front of him, but he placed his hands on both sides of my face and turned my head to look down at him. “Liana Rose, don’t you dare ever think that you were a mistake. Why on earth would you believe that?” he asked, a soft tone taking over his voice. I sighed as his thumbs began wiping away tears.

“Look, Ethel told me that she knew of my real father. He was bad news, and my mom just happened to fall for him. She didn’t know she was pregnant until she met my dad, and they weren’t ready for a kid that soon. I’ve had it in my mind ever since Ethel told me that my real dad was the biggest mistake of my mum’s life.”

Bill sighed and shook his head. “Just because your mum made a mistake in no way makes you a mistake,” he whispered. I sniffed a bit as he just stared at me.

“I think I drove my parents insane. My dad always wanted to meet my real dad, wanted to pound him in for leaving my mum. My dad was always mad at my mum too, for not giving me his last name. I kept my mum’s surname when I was born, and that drove him mad. It was like she was trying to reiterate that I wasn’t his, well, that’s how it made him feel. But I loved them both the same. I don’t know; I guess I just never felt…good enough. Like I was the source of all their problems,” I said with a big shrug. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ginny about to enter the room, but she quickly closed the curtain and walked away.

“Li, I’m certain your parents loved you very much. And I know for a fact that there are plenty of people that love you today, alright? I don’t want you to ever think that you’re a mistake, bird. And stop acting like nothing can penetrate you. I know those little girls back in grade school made you the tough woman I love today, but it’s alright to let go,” he spoke softly. I felt a grin play upon my lips.

“You love me?” I asked jokingly. He laughed that deep chuckle I’d grown to love so dearly before he tucked a few strands of my messy hair behind my ear.

“I’ve never told you before?” he asked, just above a whisper. My heart was beating like a bunch of drums being played simultaneously. I shook my head ‘no’ slowly before a smile broke out on his face.

“Bird, you had me at hello,” he whispered before his face slowly inched toward mine. I froze in my place, replaying all the thoughts I’d ever dreamed of Bill kissing me.

As his lips brushed against mine, I came to the conclusion that all those dreams were terrible and wasted, because for once, reality was beyond imaginably better than my dreams.