Hiraeth

Breath.

Breath.

In.

Out.

Breath.

I opened my eyes and the world had stopped spinning the noise rising with each second that passed.

He wasn’t anywhere near me and I took another breath. He is fine. Just like last time he will be along in a few minutes. Breath.

A small hand wrapped around my upper arm and I squealed and moved my left wrist, the white cloth bracelet noticeable now that it was out from under my sleeve. At least it wasn’t skin-on-skin contact.

The hand released me and I took another breath before looking up and finding a Goblin staring at me with what anyone else would assume to be malice. My body trembled as did my voice when I spoke, not sure what language I should pick. “What year is it?”

Gobbledygook was the language that came out, honestly, it should have surprised me as much as it did. Out of the four languages it was bound to fall in front of the unknown Goblin, who stared at me as if I was the one who was speaking a language they didn’t know.

It took a few more moments before they spoke in English unsure if they should, “1991 March 1st.” 

Shortly after that, his composure came back to him. “Now who might you be?”

“Prince, Alizeh Soussan Prince.”

The eyes of the Goblin widened and waved over to another and whispered into their ear before racing off. “Well, that is unexpected.” The new Gobin grumbled in Gobbledygook.

I looked around. He should be around here soon. The tightness in my chest started to constrict. “We should get you out of the entrance hall, it might be three in the morning but we still are open to those who… have different opinions than most.” He continued speaking and waved his hand for me to follow as if he thought I didn’t understand.

I was given a cup of tea and told to do an inheritance test. I shook my head. I wasn’t cutting myself if He wasn’t present. My words come out unsteady but clear nonetheless. “I did on September 5th, 1933 at the Oregon Branch in America.”

The Goblin cackled at this and spoke not too fondly anymore. “Right then where is the illegal time turner, not that we could punish you or want to.”

I didn’t hide my confusion at this. “Naw O Fywydau, do not need any use of a time turner. Fate and Kairos will find a will for us to be where we need to be.” The bowl and dagger he held dropped out of his hands at this information. 

“Heiress Prince, if what you say is true and what your-”#

“Where is Zoi?!” A voice could be heard from outside of the room they were in and my back went still. 

“I know she is here. How could I not know when one of my children disappeared from their room and on their birthday of all days? Did they come into their inheritance early? Did they choose to go through with it? Someone tell me what is going on!”

Unlike the last time when Kairos and Fate joined together to place me somewhere safe, it was a small trickle to answer my questions, false memories moving around. “My public name is Zoi Welig Wheasley. I am aware that my father as long as the rest of my family are in hiding. I have been and will continue to partake in Rite of Anima Mate and my creature inheritance came early that's how I ended up here without flooing. My creature inheritance is something that can not be specifically identified by the tests, some type of seer and I can not have meat it will kill me. The King should be here momentarily with my locket.”

As soon as I stopped speaking, The King came in from the back wall. “Right, you are Alizeh, a very good cover story we came up with back then is still solid all this time later.” He presented the locket to me, “However we do need you to take another inheritance test old friend, we have… misplaced your last one…”

I snorted my confidence that only came out once in a while starting to leave me and my body starting to shake again. “He isn’t coming now is he? When will I see him again?” I reached out with my left hand gently taking the locket and put it on, struggling with the clasp. I felt the effects of the Goblin Glamour wash over me. The Goblin King shook his head, and I took my dagger out and slit my palm letting the blood fall into the bowl before reaching for the quill and looking again at the King. “Which name do you need?”

“Zoi Welig Wheasley is the name you need to write at the top of the page. As you know Fate and Karios will provide the rest of the information you need.” He nodded and I penned the name as the page finished filling out. It was quickly taken away but I saw one thing that shocked me more than not seeing my uncles. 

Twin: Deceased 

“No, please tell me that’s not true, please tell me that it is Fate and Kairos protecting me.” My breath caught in my throat and no matter how much I tried to breathe it wouldn’t happen. 

The King looked as if he was caught in a trap. “Whatever you read is true, the lies are for anyone else to see.” The paper dropped to the floor.

My Grandmother raced into my room, the person I was supposed to call Mother. The lie that was placed on her, she adopted me and raised me as Ron’s twin gave me the same birthday as him since it was the day the paperwork was finalized. “Zoi, what is wrong?” She looked at me worriedly. It was fine because this is when she finds out she ‘raised’ her Granddaughter. I stared at the paper, the one I could choose to look at, the one tampered with Fate and Kairos.

“I… Grandmother… did you know?” It wasn’t even fake. I hadn’t known I had actual living relatives apart from my father. “I want to go home.” I cried moving my arms and legs closer to my body trying to make myself as small as I could. The paper that was an answer to everything only opened up more questions, it was at this time Molly grabbed the paper and read it. 

She looked heartbroken, “Oh, oh… oh honey I didn’t know who your mother was, just that she had passed during the war… Fate works in mysterious ways… I am so sorry,” She pulled me closer to her and I cried harder, I cried in her arms until I fell asleep.

~~~

The next few months were a blur, I recited Greek, Lain, and Gobbledygook going over memorized lines lying in a bed that could hold up to four people. I only left the room to shower, and every once in a while, I would eat some vegetable broth along with some bread before going back to bed. It wasn’t until the end of June when the twins were back did I realize I had been sleeping in their bed. They came into the room joking and looked concerned once they caught sight of me. “Zo Zo, what’s wrong?” Despite never talking with them I instantly knew it was Fred, George grabbed his brother's trunk after placing it on the left side of the room and Fred’s opposite. I hadn’t spoken since that night in Gringotts, so I shook my head. George crawled into the bed and held me and I cried once more.

“No one told me, it hurts so much.” My voice was raspy and low. Anyone could tell I had probably lost my voice at one point from screaming, I couldn’t tell if it was because of the nightmares that plagued me when I did sleep or if it was out of frustration. It wasn’t like the nightmares were new to me, they finally made sense, and a new wave of pain every time I opened my eyes to them. Molly tried to give me a sleepless draught but I refused knowing I wouldn’t wake up again. It was tempting with the way I was feeling though.

I didn’t even know Fred had left until I heard shouting from downstairs. “What do you mean by that of course you had to have known!” If I had any energy I might have been concerned when I heard glass shatter. “How is it someone else's fault that you choose ignorance, you could have taken Zoi there yourself as early as seven to get an inheritance test before this!” He raced up the stairs, the pounding of his feet, the sound could probably be heard from the next-door neighbours. The door slammed open and I jumped clutching my fists into the soaked shirt my face was buried into. “Hey Zo Zo, I am going to take care of you now and Georgie here is going to go talk with Mum okay?” I could feel George hand me over and gently unlock my fists from his shirt.

“I’ll be right back, maybe grab a cup of tea and some liquorice ropes?”

I didn’t move as Fred held me. This was the longest I had been awake since I found out. I wasn’t surprised that I fell asleep and was gently shaken awake with a cup of warm tea in front of my face. “Come on set up, they said you barely have left bed since everything happened,” George spoke softly and I nodded and wrapped my hands around the cup of tea.

Fred rubbed my back, “Charlie, Bill and maybe Percy knew I was adopted and didn’t say anything. My mother and my twin are dead because of war with You-Know-Who. I have nightmares and I don't know why I keep having the same one over and over again.  I watched a woman with red hair then a mirror image of myself falling and then I was hurting and falling seconds after. Being around Ron doesn't make me feel better like it does when I am around the two of you. You are my uncles, and I have been raised as if you are my brothers, it could have been worse.” It was worse for the first eight years of my life but they didn’t need to know this. Fate and Kairos weren’t wrong with implanting the memory of being closer to the twins than Ron. I sipped on my tea and I felt the air around the three of us thicken and crackle with magic.

I looked up and saw Ron in the doorway. “I must have been the worst uncle then. How could they do that to us? Have you lived as if we both were twins, I never thought we had the same connection as Fred and George did. I tried so hard to find it with you.”

This must have been the first time Ron found out why I hadn’t left the Twin’s room. “Good on you Ron getting mad about the right things now. Nothing as trivial as losing a game of chess.” I didn’t know who spoke but I did feel better as I sipped on my tea. The three of them talked about what happened and what was going to happen. I wasn’t aware of what they spoke, it was as if they were under a muffled spell talking and I wasn’t privy to the conversation.

~~~

I was dragged out of bed the next day and forced to eat a small bowl of fruit by the twins and Ron. They all ignored the parents who were looking upset at the four of us. Ginny slid into her seat and looked at me as if I was back from the dead. “Gee, the way you came back from Gringotts you would have thought someone died instead of getting your creature inheritance.” She scoffed and took a few pieces of bacon and wiggled it in front of me.

I didn’t respond and stood from my seat taking the bowl of fruit back up to the bedroom. “Nice going Ginny,” Ron snarled as I started to climb the stairs.

Molly gasped, “Ronald! Do not hit your sister!”

“Are you sure she is my sister?” He snarled again and I could hear him make his way up now that I had opened the bedroom door.

I hummed and ate a piece of pineapple as he came through the door. “Merlin, I am surprised Percy isn’t up already. He is always an early riser.”

I shrugged my shoulders and looked out the window as I put a grape into my mouth.

“Maybe we should get the twins to let us practice some Quidditch. You always wanted to ride a broom.” 

I nodded softly and placed another grape into my mouth. “Maybe tomorrow,” I whispered and looked at the rest of the fruit in my bowl. It shouldn’t be a lot but it was. I looked away from the window seeing Percy already reading under a tree. I waved my hand at the glass and pulled a strawberry out of the bowl.

“Oh, I see, upset with him?” Ron asked softly, looking pained.

I shook my head and put the bowl on the floor, still half full of fruit. “I am going back to bed.” The words came out muffled as my head buried into a pillow and I pulled a soft blanket that I had been using since March. 

“You are going to use a different blanket at the least. I’ll go wash the one you are using.” He tried to pull the blanket away from me. Fred and George walked into the room and I clung to the blanket as if my life depended on it.

“Okay Zo Zo, get out of bed and take a shower, Fred and I will change the sheets,” Fred spoke, trying to cheer me up.

“Mom said you haven’t let her in here to change them,” George continued.

“Clean clothes and clean sheets will feel better,” both twins spoke at the same time. Both gave an impressive glare that would have anyone else six feet under.

I nodded and went to the bathroom across the hall and took a warm shower. I couldn’t get warm no matter how hard I tried. I only knew the first time I had taken a shower after finding out that I had almost burned enough to go to get treatment. Since then I have worn a jumper and sweatpants. A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughts.  “There are clean clothes just inside the door for you. Sorry for earlier, I didn’t know Zoi.” Ginny’s voice was pained as if this had happened to her.

I sat on the floor of the shower and just stared at the wall until there was another knock at the door. “Zo Zo, You okay?” One of the twins spoke. I turned the water off and opened the shower. I didn’t want to talk about anything. I pulled myself out of the tub and quickly dried off. Jeans and a T-shirt were what I was given. I sighed knowing someone had talked Ginny out of getting me sweatpants and a jumper. I dressed slowly as if I was stuck at a turtle's pace.

I slowly opened the door and went to my shared room with Ron and looked around for socks and a jumper or jacket. I found socks easier than I did a jumper or jacket. I slid the socks on my feet and I cursed Kairos. I made my way back to the twins’ room and looked for one of their jumpers. I found one and slid it on over the short sleeves. I sighed as it was warming me up. It was the first time it had been warm. Well apart from the time when I stole his jacket.

I didn’t realize I was crying until someone's arms wrapped around me.

“Zoi, it is fine. We will find your dad, maybe he doesn’t know about you. He didn’t sign off on the papers. What if you have an older sibling? We love you no matter what, we are family after all.” Ron mumbled, trying to comfort me. At that moment, I wanted to tell him everything, but my throat wouldn’t let me. It was too dry, and possibly influenced by Kairos. So I did the only thing I could. I nodded and cried into his shirt.