A Dream For Hope
"Jack." She whispered.
"Sammy?" His eyes bulged and he sent a little ball of light into a lantern beside him.
They stood in a pregnant silence, almost as if neither knew what else to say. Just breathing in the moonlight. She had waited for this moment forever. She wanted to run into his arms and let him pick her up like when they were kids.
She strongly broke the silence. Instead of just her hands, her whole body fell into quakes and shivers. "I'm here to take you home Jack."
"What?" He asked, still looking her over.
"You were recognized, on Kai Jones' ranch, he helped me find you. I'm here, to take you home." She restated.
"I can't go home Sammy." He shook his head. "Not with who I was. They will cart me off to Askaban."
"You will have a chance to redeem yourself. I worked it out with Kingsley." Samantha exclaimed.
Jack stopped pacing, "The Minister of Magic?"
Samantha shrugged, "Yes."
"You think because you've done so well for yourself that they will just let my crimes slide?" He asked. "Because I'm the brother of someone in a high position. Because my bloody sister is the damned Editor-In-Chief of some newspaper they will forget my crimes?"
"I'm not even really sure what crimes you've done." She continued.
Jack yelled, "Bullshit! I was a Death Eater, I'm sure you can work that out on your own."
"You will have a chance to plead your case." She argued shaking her head and grimacing. "I've worked out a chance for you to come home."
He sat silently looking at her.
"What do you want, a Gold Medal or something?" Jack asked with a roll of his eyes. "I didn't ask you to do all of this. Why would you even attempt this?"
Samantha shook her head. "You didn't hear mum cry for you."
Jack looked at her, she could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek like he used to.
"You didn't see dad crumble every time your name was mentioned." Samantha continued. "You didn't feel the absolute guilt that I felt when I was the only child who came home. Do you know what that's like? You can't imagine what it's like to see them constantly pretending to still be happy for you, while they still mourn your sibling."
"I wouldn't have let it bother me, like you have." He said nonchalantly.
Samantha shook her head and crossed her arms. "I guess I was wrong."
"You were." He grimaced and she could see him reach for his wand. "I don't want to hurt you Sammy, but you need to leave."
She stood and opened the door to leave. "I hope you either enjoy Askaban or live a nice long life on the run Jack." She slammed the door behind her as she left.
Her twitching hands returned as she Apparated back to the alleyway with Kai.
"I'm assuming by the string of words flowing through your mind, that things went badly." Kai said following her.
"I forgot how much I hated that gormless git." Samantha exclaimed, her hands shaking. Even the black Onyx couldn't hold it back this time.
Kai just looked at her with a sullen expression. "You don't hate him. You wouldn't have come all this way for someone you hated."
She didn't respond.
"Did you see Freya or my eggs?" He asked.
"No Jones, I didn't. Do your dirty work some other time. I was here for my damned brother." She side eyed him, her mind was yelling every curse word she knew. "You came here for some vendetta against some old lover, not to help me. You can't be shocked I wouldn't want to help you! If you get to be in everyone else's mind all the live long day Jones, then maybe you should let other people in too."
She growled. "Or at least make some information available to the rest of us."
He stood silently before grabbing her shaking hand. "We should get back to the ranch. Your yelling is making quite the scene."
They Apparated back to the ranch. It was quiet besides the dragons.
Queenie and Kai both left Samantha alone to cry on the sofa in the sitting room. She could see Queenie rocking on the front porch out the front window. She stared her Grandson down aggressively as he went to attend to his dragons.
Samantha planned to leave the next morning. Everything she'd ever done was for nothing.
She eventually fell asleep through her tears sometime in the afternoon. She dreamed about coming home. She told Harry to send the Auror department. Her brother was being shackled in chains and dragged to Askaban. She dreamed of her mother and father's pain when he was sentenced. She dreamed of her friend's pity as they found out everything, of the shame they wouldn't afford her to her face. She dreamed of Neville's face full of disappointment when he learned she had given up what they could have been, just for nothing.
She awoke with a start. It was pitch black outside. She still had hot tears in her eyes. She sat up and found herself breathing heavily. Her dream felt like a real reality now.
She'd have to live her whole life in shame knowing she gave up everything she ever wanted, for a child's dream of hope. Hope he wanted to come home. Hope he still loved his family. Hope he was still the same young man who she remembered having a soft spot for his baby sister.
"Hey." Kai was standing in the kitchen doorway behind her. She turned to see him, holding glasses of his grandmother's tea in his hands. "Hell of a dream Fyre."
She wiped her tears and refused to speak to him. He looked handsome in the moonlight, his scars etched on his skin and his blue eyes pierced the darkness.
"No one's life is for nothing." He said sitting beside her now.
She felt his hand on her back.
"Get out of my head Jones." Samantha said coldly. "I mean it."
Every experience, every heartache regarding her brother just kept flooding through her system.
"Hey, I'm actually sorry." He said taking his hand off of her back. "About your brother, I mean."
She nodded.
"I can be an ass." He admitted.
"Yes, you can." She grunted back.
"You are right, it wasn't just about the eggs. I didn't tell you about my connection with Freya because it is very much like your brother." He admitted and put his arms behind his head, "I thought it would hit too close to home."
Samantha nodded, sort of understanding. "Is she the person you loved? The one you lost in the war."
He nodded. "Many years ago, she was apart of Charlie and I's Romanian crew. We were in love with each other and our dragons. We were going to open this place together. She betrayed us and she betrayed me, the moment she found out Voldemort had risen to power."
Samantha nodded and had no answer. Her mind was still racing with the memory of the night her brother had left. She just wanted her thoughts to stop racing.
"Accio Whiskey." Kai called and a bottle flew into his hand. Kai reached the bottle to her. She waved it away.
"The bottom of a bottle doesn't help one forget, no matter how much you try." Samantha said, now remembering when Remus had given her that advice.
"Speaking from experience Fyre?" He asked before taking a drink.
"Not my own." Samantha said, partially lying. "Besides, it doesn't stop the shaking."
"What does stop it? Your mind is racing at a hundred miles a minute and it's hard not to hear the people who are in pain." Kai pleaded putting the bottle back onto the ground.
Samantha didn't think about it, didn't even consider her other options. She knew one solid way of quieting her mind briefly. It was one she had on rare occasion turned to. She wasn't proud of it, and she regretted that the only man in close enough proximity to her was Kai. She knew she couldn't be with who she really wanted to, and she doubted she could ever have the chance now.
She pulled Kai's face to her's and began aggressively kissing him, practically knocking him back onto the sofa.
Samantha hated herself as she kept kissing him. It just felt really good and she was so lonely. She wanted to have a few moments where she didn't completely regret her entire existence and life.
Kai knew what he was doing, kissing her back rather intently and holding her tightly against him. He obviously didn't mind that in the moment, she was using him simply for physical reasons. It was all simply to block out the demons pressing against the temples of her brain.
In the moment, she didn't mind his obsessions over dragons in that moment. She didn't mind that he had lied to her about Freya. She didn't mind the mood swings and ill temper. She wouldn't mind any of his negative attributes if his lips continued to feel like that. She could kiss him forever and ever. He lowered her onto the floor playing with the curls in her hair.
"That's a way to do it." He whispered into her lips, "Your mind has gone completely quiet."
Three knocks at the door interrupted their tryst. They laid in silence, as if Kai was listening to thoughts.
"It's your brother."
She pushed Kai off of her body with a bit of real force. She'd never stood up faster. She fixed the fallen strap of her shirt before running to the door.
Jack was standing there uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry Sammy." He sobbed out to her, before walking over and picking his sister up into his arms in a giant hug. Her feet barely scraped the floor he was holding her up so high. He sobbed for a few moments on her shoulder.
He kept repeating the words, "I want to go home."
She felt her hand begin to shake, it reminded her of when they had both witnessed the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, when Cedric Diggory had died. Her brother had held her in a similar way that night.
"Let's get you home then Jack." She whispered.
He put her down, "I only said those things because I thought they could be listening."
"Who?" Samantha asked.
"Freya and her gang. They didn't hire me Sammy. It's difficult to explain, but I couldn't just outright tell you everything there." He admitted.
"How do you know you weren't followed?" Kai asked, leaning against the mantle, still looking disheveled.
"Freya won't come back here, she didn't know you ran the place. If she had known, she wouldn't have tried to rob you." Her brother admitted to Kai. "I'm sorry Jones, I'm sorry about the eggs too. I didn't want to take them."
Kai nodded to him, "I believe you."
Jack nodded a grateful nod at him before looking back to his sister.
"You look so grown up." Jack said looking her over. "Where's my little Sammy?"
"She's right here." Samantha admitted with a shrug. "Jack, I don't want to ask this question but did you ever ki-"
Her words were interrupted from behind, Kai was smiling, "No he's never killed anyone. You weren't the only one he pulled punches for."
"I never wanted to kill anyone. I joined Hilda, because I thought that was how I could keep my family safe. I was promised you would all be safe in exchange for my dedication. I was wrong."
"Well, you are free now." She said with a joyful beat of her heart and holding her brother tightly.
"You're wrong, I'm not." He shook his head.
"I'll kill that bitch." Kai exclaimed, his smile after seeing their reunion, now gone. "How would she even have something like that?"
"When I came to America to hide, I found myself in a group of people like myself. I thought I could trust them." He shook his head. "I was wrong. When I decided I wanted to go home, they stole it. It's been passed from person to person in their group, each using it as blackmail to keep me doing their bidding."
"I'm confused, would you both like to share?"
"A memory, they tampered with it. It shows me killing someone during the battle. I didn't kill them, Hilda did." Tears had begun to flow from his eyes and he held her closely again, "I couldn't stop her Sammy. She killed Colin. I watched her, he was so small, so young and I knew he was your friend. I couldn't stop her."
Samantha's hands began shaking with anger. That bitch had killed Colin. Colin was like a little brother to her. The memory of his dead body lying on the floor of the Great Hall made it's way into her mind. She couldn't help but suddenly feel proud that she had killed the woman who had stolen both of her brothers. Guilt creeped back again as she blurted out into his chest. "I killed Hilda."
She wasn't sure what to expect when she informed her brother. His reaction wasn't what she expected.
"I know." He whispered holding her tighter, "I read your article."
"Do you hate me?" She asked.
Her bother shook his head. "She tried to kill my baby sister. I'm not mad at you. She promised she wouldn't hurt you."
"Can we go home now?" She asked, feeling the tears leave her eyes again.
"I can't go home." He said strongly. "If I permanently run away, they will release that memory. Then there will always be suspicion."
Her brother revealed. "I can come and go as I please from my flat, but if I'm called for, I must go to them."
Samantha nodded before reaching for her cloak and satchel. "Do you know where they are tonight?"
He nodded, "Of course I do."
"We're getting that memory and securing your freedom." Samantha insisted.