It's only a goodbye
“I’m coming with you”
Without even looking at her, Will could guess the horror on her best friend’s face. But she only had eyes for the surprise on her newly discovered godfather’s, which quickly gave way to a very fond expression that matched the one which M. Weasley addressed to his children. She could feel herself blushing, it was the first time such an expression had been aimed at her. It was embarrassing but she couldn’t help the warm feeling that washed her over.
“You can’t do that, Will, not only it would change the timeline but, what would you do about Professor Dumbledore, besides the term is not even finished yet!” She knew that Hermione would react that way, so she didn’t bother to answer her. She was trying to express to Sirius as much as possible her determination to accompany him. She would not let something as insignificant as the law of time and space rob her of the opportunity to have a family. Unfortunately, said family seemed to agree with the young witch.
“You know you can’t come with me Pup” He said visibly reluctant. She frowned in response, in a way that could only make Sirius smile. It was the exact replica of the expression her mother made when she was about to hex the Marauders for one of their umpteenth pranks.
“Of course, I can!” Will reply, taking a step toward the hippogriff who was waiting patiently for his fellow fugitive. But before she knew it, she found herself trapped in the arms of her godfather. She stiffens at first at the action that was still so foreign to her before relaxing into his embrace. It wasn’t the first time she had received a hug, but it was so different from those of Ms. Weasley or even Hermione. It was like a feeling her mind would have forgotten but her body would remember. She had never felt safest in her life. She realized she was hugging him back when he tried to pull away, because she tightened her grip on him, not ready to let him go. She felt herself shaking slightly, almost panicked at the thought of seeing him disappear. Sirius must have sensed her fear as he just tightened an arm around her waist, stroking her hair in a soothing motion.
“I don’t want you to go. It’s not fair, you are innocent. We…we were supposed to stay together from now on. It’s so unfair! I don’t want you to go!” Will hated to hear her own voice so shaky, it sounded like a whiny little girl. She was feeling so vulnerable, but she couldn’t help it. Sirius had offered her so much more than just living with him. He was going to save her from the hell that was Little Whining, they were about to form a family, only for that filthy little rat to take it away from them. As if he hadn’t already ruined their lives enough.
“It’s true Pup, it’s not fair, but it would but even more unfair of me to let you come with me and put you in danger. Until now I couldn’t do anything to protect you but now the best I can do for you, is to leave. Even though it breaks my heart to do so.” Will felt tear welling up in her eyes, she was furious at the injustice of this situation, and even the tender kiss of her godfather on her temple wasn’t enough to calm her down. Will knew that Hermione and herself just had a brief time left for them to return to the infirmary, but she had on last thing to confirm before deciding to let Sirius go.
Hiding her face in the wizard’s neck, she whispered hesitantly “Did you…When you said you wanted me to live with you, that we could be a family, you meant it?”
If she had to let him disappear from her life for who knows how long, she, at least, needed that assurance. Because of the Dursley, all she had ever heard was that she should have died along with her parents, that she was useless, a waste of space, and that nobody would ever want of such an ungrateful brat as herself. Logically she learned years ago that she was not to believe any of the words they said but sometimes, Will could hear the voice of her whale of an uncle in her mind, trying to mess with her.
She could feel Sirius tightening his embrace again “There nothing I want more in this life than us being a family, Pup, nothing!” The traitorous tears were again rolling down her cheek, how was it possible for that man she didn’t even remember, to care so much about her. Will was determined to make it happened but she would need time and preparation. And she knew exactly who could help her.
“I believe you, and I want it too, more than anything, I promise I will find a solution, so you must promise me to be careful. Do you…Maybe we could stay in contact; I want to know you better, we are going to be a family after all, right?!”
She didnt try to contain the tears that now flowed freely down her cheeks; she didn’t know exactly how yet but Will swore to herself that she would find a way to fee him.
With one last promise to stay in touch, she lets him go and watched Buck disappear for a few moments in the night. Hermione then catched her attention, urging her to move on. They only had a few minutes before their double disappeared from the infirmary.
Ten minutes, a cryptic discussion with Dumbledore, and a confused Ron later, the two girls were on their way back to the common room. Hermione hadn't said anything yet about Will's runaway attempt, but she knew she would soon. As she thought, she had barely taken the step from the entrance to the common room, when the lecture began.
“You really would have gone with him if he had agreed? But you hardly know him, I know he's innocent but he's still a stranger. And what about school? And what about Professor Dumbledore? And I'm not even talking to you about what could have happened if you hadn't come back to the infirmary with me, and…”
Will didn’t let her finish; she loved the other girl to bits, but she was in no mood for on of her impersonations of Mrs Weasley. “Mione, please, can we discuss this another time, I know it was irresponsible, and dangerous and whatever you say but it's been a really long night.”
But Hermione was nothing if not tenacious. “But…” she began.
Will cut her off “You don’t understand! He is my only link to my family; he was supposed to raise me and now he’s gone, and I don’t even know when I’ll see him again. He was my only chance and now…”
Her voice cracked on the last word; she was emotionally drained. She turned away to hide her tears from Hermione, and when her gaze fell on the students chatting in front of the fireplace, her previous idea came back into her mind. Her best friend sighed before dropping the subject.
“Okay, we’ll talk about it later, I’m going to sleep, you are coming?”
“Maybe later, I’m not sleepy yet” She was clearly lying, and she knew that Hermione was aware of that as well. b But thankfully, she didn’t pick it up, and just nodded before going up to bed.
Will honestly felt a little bad about not wanting to include her best friends in her plan, even a barely formed one, but the trio hadn’t really been on good terms this year. Between the incessant fights over their pets, their anger at her for not choosing sides and Hermione’s secretiveness and mood swings which, she now knew, were due to the time turner. But even though there were still a lot of problems to solve between them, she had something more pressing in mind. First of all, she had to find a way to exonerate her godfather.
She knew that Hermione would have immediately advised her to go to Dumbledore and wait for the adults to manage the situation; except that Will, unlike her, had never been able to count on them. She had thought for a moment that things would be different in Hogwarts but when the young witch went to ask for help, they quickly proved to her that things were exactly the same. Will had asked Dumbledore and McGonagall for help and neither of them had lifted a finger.
And the events of the evening had just served to reinforce her belief that she could not count on adults. But she wasn’t naive enough to believe that she could deal with it on her own. Even if she did not intend, for the moment anyway, to involve Ron and Hermione, she knew she couldn't manage this situation on her own.
Even after three years in the Wizard World, Will barely knew anything that could be useful, and more importantly she knew nothing about law. Fortunately, she had spotted those who could help her. Taking a deep breath to calm down, she went to stand in front of them, waiting for them to notice her, seeming as surprised by the interruption as by her serious air.
"Fred, George, I need your help. "