Chapter 22
Nearly twenty-four hours after the third task had started, Rebecca stirred. She tried to rouse herself from the darkness her mind had dropped down into, finding it hard to put together the sight of the Hospital Wing around her as where she was--where she had been taken afterwards.
"Mr Diggory!" Madam Pomfrey cried. "I think not! Get back into-" Cedric ignored the healer, abandoning his bed to cross the room despite the weakness his body was still reeling from.
Rebecca was in the middle of movement and noise, everyone speaking at once and everyone asking her so many overlapping questions the sound washed over her ears without meaning. The only respite, one that everyone in attendance was thankful for as well, was that Fred snoozed on--His head resting against Rebecca's leg and his hand still in hers.
"Rebecca," Cedric began, his hand grabbing onto the foot of her bed and holding himself up. "Rebecca, I was gone." He took a breath and closed his eyes a moment, remembering the darkness and the pull towards something further. "I was moving on and y-you stopped it. You brought me back." Amos wiped at his face as Cedric so blatantly talked about what had happened. "And now I'm here. I'm alive again--because of you."
Rebecca's head lay back slightly on her pillow, it required more effort than she had to hold it up much further. "I didn't know it would work, honestly."
"How do I even begin to thank you?" Cedric asked as honest as she had been. "You gave me my life back. I'm alive, that's not something that can just be thank-you-ed about."
Rebecca's eyes moved slowly from Cedric as he was led back to his bed by Madam Pomfrey, pausing over the concerned faces of Molly, Sirius, and McGonagall. Between her friends, Harry raised her hand to his cheek and closed his eyes. "I am, too. Alive, I mean."
Rebecca looked down to Fred, brushing her hand over the top of his sleeping head gently so that his hair didn't cover his face. The adults were swept into conversation with Madam Pomfrey and the children around the bed gave them a feigned-privacy. Fred moved slightly, thinking it was Molly trying to comfort him again. "Fred?" Rebecca asked softly.
His eyes shot open at the sound of her voice, the sound he had been trying to hold onto. Fred stood up and looked at Rebecca carefully, his eyes flitting over her face in its entirety. He leaned forward and kissed her quickly, pulling back only to kiss her again a second after.
Sirius and Molly shared a small smile that disappeared moments later.
"What the hell did you do?" Fred demanded, his tone angry. The sweetness that had flooded him alongside his relief at seeing her awake was running from the fear that was growing in Fred and making itself known. "W-why would you do that? You-"
"Are you okay?" Rebecca asked Harry, turning her head away from Fred and giving him a chance to placate himself.
Harry's jaw dropped. "Am I okay?" Harry stood from his chair and wrapped his arms around Rebecca, laying his muddy, dirty self beside her because any distance between them was too much. "If you are, then I am."
Rebecca nodded and closed her eyes as a relief of her own covered her. Her body hurt and her exhaustion was so extreme she had to muster her strength to just raise her hand--which she did to cup Fred's cheek.
Cedric let his head finally fall against his pillow as his mother had been wishing he would. His body hurt as hers did, moreso perhaps. But he didn't dare complain. With every muscle, ligament, and fibre of his being protesting even the slightest of movements, he was reminded that he was alive.
Harry spoke quietly and quickly, wanting to tell Rebecca everything before she ended up asleep again. "It was Barty Crouch Junior, and Moody wasn't really Moody." Harry continued when Rebecca's hand rubbed on his back, prompting him forward. "It was Polyjuice he'd used, Crouch I mean. He's back to Azkaban now."
"He is being dealt with as we speak." Professor McGonagall said, making her way through her students to get to the two twins that now lie in the bed. "But I am afraid to say that not everything of last night went over so discreetly." George sighed and took the copy of Witch Weekly McGonagall offered for any who wanted to read.
"What's it say now?" Ron asked, curious.
Fred watched as George's eyes skimmed the article quickly, George's anger showing only in the ways a twin could recognise.
"Same old, same old." George answered cooly. "Harry, looks like you're deranged and dangerous."
"What's she said about me?" Rebecca asked, her voice frighteningly small compared to the usual person-of-usual.
Ginny grabbed the paper from her older brother and read it over, doing what she would have done for any of her family members. "It says you must be the reason Harry entered the contest, since he called for you first."
"That doesn't even make sense." Rebecca said, her curiosity quenched as a pang rang out in her head.
Sirius listened to the children as they began to speak quietly, picking up the copy of the paper that George had put far out of Rebecca's sight and reach when they weren't paying attention to him. He saw how deeply they protected each other, loved each other. But he also knew that he had to know what was going to be thrown at his godchildren.
Rebecca Potter--Attention-seeker and lesser-twin?
Yes, it would seem that way. Potter was dragged from the scene of the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament limp and unresponsive, appearing to have fainted. Weakness is a trait that runs strong in our Potter-not-Harry, how progressive.
Arthur threw the doors to the Hospital Wing open and ran in as Sirius finished skimming the article of lies. "I'm sorry." He panted, stopping beside Fred to lay his hand on Harry's shoulder and a kiss on top of Rebecca's head. "I came as quickly as I could."
Dumbledore entered as well, far calmer than Arthur had. "The Ministry has gone into lockdown." The headmaster announced. "Fudge is silencing all talk of Voldemort's return and claiming that Harry was simply confused."
"That's madness!" Harry said loudly, sitting up and not noticing how his voice startled Rebecca's eyes open wide again. "Cedric was there, too! He can-"
"It doesn't matter," Dumbledore shook his head. "He's written you off, Harry, because of the words of the Prophet and Rita Skeeter. He's written you off, Cedric, because you came back 'unconscious.' The Minister will not listen to such accounts."
Dumbledore began to outline what Arthur was supposed to do when he returned to the Ministry, begin gathering those who would listen to sense. Sirius was told that it was time for the Order to begin again--the Order of the Phoenix. The adults began to talk about how important it was to keep Cedric's resurrection underwraps, how no one could know anything.
"If Voldemort hears of this, hears of how you did this, his hunting of you two will only increase." Dumbledore told Rebecca gravely, sending worry through them all. This only sped up the conversations taking place, the amount of questions being asked.
Rebecca quickly found that they were talking too fast for her to follow. Her head felt as if it had been filled with cotton, that it was taking her thoughts far too long to make sense. She turned her head to Fred as he was one of the few not actively taking place in the debriefing and discussions going on.
"What?" Fred asked quickly. "Do you need something? Is there something I can get you?"
Rebecca shook her head. "I don't need anything, I'm just-" She interrupted herself with a yawn almost--in any other situation--comically too-big.
"Exhausted? Yes. You were last time." Fred said shortly.
"Fred, don't be cross with me." Rebecca spoke softly, trying to not only keep their conversation from the ears around them, but also because even just gathering what she wanted to say to him was hard. "You can't be." Rebecca knew she sounded pathetic, but she couldn't stop the quality from creeping into her voice.
"I can." Fred said, growing more angry. Who was she to tell him how he could and could not feel? "I will. I am!" Fred turned towards her, facing her completely. "You had no idea what would happen! For all you knew, you could have been giving up your life for his!"
Rebecca laid her hand on his, squeezing it gently. "But I didn't. Look," If Fred had resisted, she wouldn't have been able to move his hand. Not then. But, he didn't fight because somewhere deep down he knew that, just as he knew how it would hurt her to show how weak she felt. Rebecca put her hand on the outside of his at her chest, holding his palm against her beating heart. "It beats, I breathe. I'm alive and I'm right here."
Fred shook his head. "But-"
"But nothing, Fred." Rebecca was trying to ignore the glittering bits along the outside of her vision. "Why argue about what 'could have' and not just be happy about what did. Cedric's alive. Harry's alive. The tournament is over!"
Fred wished he could be happy with what she said, but he was still too upset at how reckless she had acted. "And what was I supposed to do if you couldn't come back?"
Rebecca sighed, releasing Fred's hand so that hers could lie on the bed next to her. "What was I supposed to do? Sit there and do nothing while another person dies because of Voldemort? Another person who I could have tried to help?" Rebecca felt her heart beating in her ears, though she wasn't sure if it was because he was steadily upsetting her or because she was so tired she wasn't sure if she could feel her feet. "How could I have lived with myself?"
Just like before, Fred's shouts were so loud they silenced all conversation in the Hospital Wing. "You're supposed to live with me! You're supposed to stay with me!" His voice broke, but the only tear that escaped was wiped away immediately. It was easier to be angry and he was making it so that his sadness couldn't be felt by letting his anger fill him entirely. "Bollocks to Cedric! Bollocks to everyone else!"
Rebecca shook her head and, while Molly beckoned for Madam Pomfrey to intervene as the other adults resumed their conversations quietly and the children scattered from the bedside, Rebecca tried to turn her thoughts to her mouth and managed, at first, only one word. "No."
"No?"
"No." Rebecca repeated, her eyes aching with the effort it took to keep them open. "If I were to do nothing...I wouldn't be me. I won't watch and not help, not when I have this ability--an ability to help." Her head was swimming and the conflict was not helping at all. "That's me, Fred. Now either stop shouting or-I don't know. Figure out who it is you say you-figure out who you love. The real me o-or the one that lives in your head because I'm tired and I'm sore and..." She chewed on her bottom lip before continuing, trying to make her words coherent. "And I love you. I know I love you. But if you can't handle t-that I won't watch and do nothing--Well, then you're-"
"Out!" Madam Pomfrey called from behind Sirius, appearing with a vial in hand before Rebecca could finish which was probably a good thing considering her head had already dropped and startled her back awake once. "Everyone who is not yet an adult needs to leave, you may come back later. You're not doing anything helpful by staying." Madam Pomfrey laid her hand on Rebecca's forehead and tutted, her words soft enough to get Rebecca to drink the potion she had finished without a fight.
Harry watched Ginny and Ron try to argue to stay while George pulled Fred to his feet and led him towards the door. George was speaking to Fred quickly with a concerned, but disappointed look on his face while Fred's face pale and void of emotion as Rebecca's words continued to echo in his head.
Hermione saw the fear that crept into Harry's eyes at the idea of leaving Rebecca. "Gee Harry, that arm sure looks like it still hurts."
Harry looked down at the shadow of his cut and saw what Hermione was doing, how one of his best mates was helping him. "You know, it does. Smarts horribly. I should stay a little longer, make sure it doesn't fall off or anything."
Madam Pomfrey grabbed the back of Harry's head and pushed him towards the bed beside Rebecca's. "Your own bed, Mr Potter. That is not to be argued."
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George quickly realised that Fred wasn't listening to a single word he was saying, despite how true they were. George wanted Fred to see how his behaviour hadn't helped anything, how Rebecca hardly needed him mad at her the second she opened her eyes, but Fred's continued silence and stare at the ground passing underneath them showed George his words were wasted.
The Gryffindor students immediately inside the common room all fell silent at the their return, Angelina and Katie rushing forward for an update while Fred went straight to his room.
Ron and Hermione fielded questions with George and Ginny's support, explaining that Harry, Rebecca, and Cedric were all fine but as Dumbledore had already announced, they weren't supposed to discuss this.
Upstairs, oblivious to everything happening below, Fred turned the shower as hot as he could and stripped angrily until he was sitting under the scalding water and the heat quieted his thoughts enough to think clearer than he could before.
George knew that this was where he would find his brother as it always was where Fred retreated when he was stuck on a prank issue or done with the world and in need of a think. It helped that as question after question was thrown at them, George realised that as angry as Fred acted, he was really just scared.
"Fred?" George asked, knocking on the door and sitting on the closed toilet when Fred didn't answer. "Do you want to talk?" George asked after a long while, letting Fred gather his thoughts.
"What's there to talk about?" Fred spat.
George sighed and crossed his arms. "Fred..."
"Don't 'Fred' me!" Fred raised his voice, the sharp pain in his chest heightening as he repeated what he couldn't stop thinking about. "She thinks I don't love her, the real her! How can she say that? How haven't I shown that I love her entirely? Every-"
"Listen to yourself!" George interrupted loudly before lowering his voice. He really did hate to shout, especially at his family. "If you truly loved--truly, truly love her as entirely as you say--then you knew that she was going to save Cedric no matter what, no matter the cost and no matter the risk."
Fred put his head to his knees and cried, well and truly let his emotions be felt. "Why? Why does she have to?"
George shook his head, wishing that Fred hadn't chosen the shower to break down if only so that he could hug him. "I don't know. Really, I don't. But what I do know is that you had better pull your head out of your arse before you wreck everything. When you're with Rebecca...you're the happiest you'll ever be, Fred. I see that." Standing and stopping only at the door for a final scolding, George rolled his eyes. "And turn the bloody water down! You've made a sauna in here and that can't be good for your skin!"
Fred stayed under the water longer, ignoring George's command about the temperature. George's words and Rebecca's mixed in his head, leaving his stomach turning at his actions. He'd just been so terrified that Rebecca had leapt head first into something she couldn't return from, that she was going to leave him to face every day without her.
George began to make more sense and, when he eventually stood and turned the water off, Fred's thoughts weren't as jumbled as they were. "To love someone as selfless, to love her as deeply as I do...I have to know that she'll never stop fighting for those who need it, never stop defending--Never stand by. Maybe I have something to learn..."
Fred kept thinking and thinking and, eventually, the world made a little more sense and he knew what he had to do.
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The potion Madam Pomfrey had given Rebecca put her back to sleep--a restful sleep that she needed as her body worked to refill the stores of magic that had been wiped out in the course of a single evening. Harry, despite his wanting to be awake if Rebecca was to somehow wake hours before the potion even had a chance of wearing off, was soon snoring in the bed of his own.
Molly sunk into the chair beside Sirius, Arthur long gone having chased Dumbledore on his way to his office with questions.
Sirius glanced at Molly and sighed. "Do you think Lily and James every could have imagine this life for them fourteen years ago?"
"No, I don't think so." Molly frowned. "I don't think anyone could have. I can't believe he's..."
Sirius laid his hand on Molly's arm and spared her the sympathetic look she would have hated. "And he will fall again."
"I wish I had your optimism." Molly cleared her throat. "We tried, so you know."
"Tried what?"
Molly elaborated, her tone tinged with sadness. "After we became Rebecca's guardians, we tried for Harry, too. The Ministry said there was no point in taking him from three family members to place him with one. I wanted you to know that we didn't just leave him."
Sirius smiled. "I never thought you did." He shook his head in surprise, he had had no idea Molly would even consider the thought of someone thinking she would not do her best for a child. "Look at what you and Arthur have done: A whole clan of smart, caring, loving children. Don't think for a moment I, or Harry, would think you left him behind."
"Those two, they're almost hard to watch." Molly said with a wry chuckle. "They literally only fight because their love is so strong and runs so deeply."
"And they're so sappy." Sirius mimed a gag before growing somber. "They're lucky. Love like that is hard to find. Some never do."
"And some find it taken too early." Molly added, turning her head to look at how Amos and his wife held on to each other as they sat next to their sleeping child who's mortality had been made all too clear.
"She's right." Sirius said after a long while. "She would never be able to do nothing."
"With this ability," Molly argued. "Could anyone?"
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Fred pulled on fresh clothes and combed his hair for once, looking at himself in the mirror and trying to sift out what he wanted to say from his thoughts. George was lying on his bed and tossing a pair of socks up and down as he had waited for Fred to emerge from the bathroom, hopefully far more sensible than he had entered.
Fred hardly glanced at George on his way out of the room, too focused to notice how George jumped to his feet and hurried behind Fred nervously.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all waiting on the couch by the fire in the common room, wondering how the afternoon was to be spent when they all desperately wanted to be back in the Hospital Wing with the others. But, at Hermione's mentioning, they all also agreed that they couldn't even think about returning until their behaviour--only one person's in question--was certain to be fixed.
"Ready to head back?" Fred asked, oblivious to the concerned looks George and Ginny exchanged.
Hermione checked the time and winced. "Fred, it's hardly been ninety minutes. Madam Pomfrey probably won't let us back in and Rebecca's most likely still sleeping."
Fred sat on the chair opposite them with his focus almost entirely inwards. "Another half hour then."
Ron watched how Fred's foot tapped on beat. "Are you counting?"
"No!" Fred said too loudly, stilling his foot. "Don't humour him, George!"
George only rolled his eyes and began to converse with the others, all of them leaving Fred with the opportunity to join or remain as thoughtful as he had been since he had left the shower--since George had brought him back into sense.
"I just-I want to tell her everything. I want her to know what I wasn't angry at her, never. I-I was afraid, so afraid." Fred's hands tightened their hold on his legs. "I've been so close to losing her this year, so close." He couldn't help the images that flashed behind his eyes, the sight of her lifeless body still on the platform after the second event.
Ginny stood from where George had squeezed into her seat beside her and leaned against the armrest of Fred's chair, wrapping her arms around his head tightly. "You'll fix it an everything will be fine between you two, I know it."
"Thank y-"
"Just stop being a fucking idiot."
"Thanks." Fred finished flatly before nodding once. "Thank you, Ginny."
"Any time."
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In the two hours Sirius had meandered around the Infirmary while Rebecca and Harry slept, he could sense that McGonagall was going to end his time in the castle.
"Sirius, it's time." The professor said at last. "Students are going to be making their way to the Great Hall and one thing that has not changed since your time here is that we do not let mangy dogs wander about!" Dumbledore and McGonagall had decided that the schools in the castle had deserved a weekend of recuperation, the final, victory feast that would also mark the end of the school year would take place the next day.
Sirius turned to her from where he had settled at the foot of Rebecca's bed and clasped his hands to his chest in offence. "Mangy? You say I'm mangy? I'll have you know that my coat is a luscious and as silky as all this!" He ran his hand through his hair slowly, chuckling at the look Minerva gave him.
"I-I'm sure it is." Rebecca said, sitting up and nearly toppling over as she reached for her glasses. "McG's just jelly."
"Excuse me?" Professor McGonagall asked before looking for Madam Pomfrey.
"Excused, just like..." Rebecca's head bobbed and she seemed to have forgotten what she was saying.
"Something tells me the potion is having an adverse reaction as it wears off."
"No! You're an a-aberse reaction." Rebecca said, confused what everything was spinning in front of her though she wasn't moving.
Madam Pomfrey tutted and turned on her heel quickly. "I have a wit-sharpening potion in the back that will quicken the exit of this erm-confusion."
"Wit-sharp?" Rebecca repeated. "My wits are sharper than knives for green grass."
Sirius lost his battle to not laugh as a smile threatened to cross McGonagall's face. "What is she even saying?" Sirius gasped.
The Infirmary doors opened again, catching Rebecca's attention. Fred led the charge of students back in just as Harry was woken by Sirius' growing cackles.
"Hey!" Rebecca's eyes were crossing and uncrossing as her eyes refused to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. "M-my favourite to kiss! Such a-soft lips and smells so-smells good."
Molly covered her laugh with her hands at the look on Fred's face as he returned to her bedside and looked to the adults. "What's wrong with her? Why's she...loony?"
"The potion is wearing off slower than expected." Bill answered, called to the commotion by the laughter that he began to share in. "Wonky reaction."
Fred looked over all of the adults and felt his face darken a little, shame brightening his cheeks. "Can I have a moment in-"
"Sure, mate." Sirius put his arm around Molly as the others gave the two the privacy Fred had tried to ask for.
Fred sat down next to her bed and took one of her hands in his gently. "Love, I-" Rebecca laid her head back against her pillow an closed her eyes with a content sigh. "What?"
"I love it when you call me that." Rebecca giggled at her own pun.
Fred couldn't help but smile. "Oh goodness, you are absolutely-"
"No, no." Rebecca interrupted again, taking her hand from his to reach for his mouth. Confused at how heavy her arm felt, Rebecca only managed to silence the top of Fred's shoulder. "No more yelling, my ears work fine."
"I know your ears work fine, love." Fred lowered his head, leaving a peck on the side of her wrist before guiding her arm back to her side. "I am sorry I shouted, really."
"You scare me."
Fred felt his heart stop and his blood run colder than ice. "W-what?"
"You scare me!" Rebecca said louder, loud enough for those closest to the pair to hear. Her head lolled forward before she giggled and reached for Fred again. "I don't know how-what I-" Fred held his arm out in front of her to keep her from falling out of the bed. "I don't get this, not you. I'm going to ruin-"
"How do I scare you, RJ?" Fred's eyes were filled with tears as he repeated her. Whatever it was, whatever her had done to cross this line, he would never do it again--not ever.
"You're going to leave? I-I love you so much and you're-" Rebecca brought her hand to the side of his face and held his cheek, albeit a little rougher than usual. "Sometimes you're all I can think about, did you know that?" She whispered loudly.
"My love..." Fred took Rebecca's hand from his cheek and kissed the back of her fingers before moving forward and wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Rebecca, I am not going to leave. Not for real. You can't let that scare you!"
"So you didn't get scared when I-"
"That's far from the point." Fred interrupted, sitting back on the edge of his seat and sniffling. "Surely you know by now that you will always be the example I follow."
"Oh no!" Rebecca said loudly, making contact with his mouth to shush him this time. "You know things! Skin gets dry for fuck's-"
"I have the potion!" Madam Pomfrey called from her storeroom, hurrying.
"If you don't remember any of this later, I'll tell you again," Fred looked into Rebecca's eyes and spoke more honestly than he ever had before. "But about what you said earlier, you're right: I know exactly who I love."
"Who?" Rebecca asked curious and confused.
"I love you, you nutter." Fred smiled and shook his head. "I love you, all of you. Even the part of you that has to save everyone." His smile faded a degree, but his honesty didn't waver at all. "I just have to learn to be as good as you are, love. Easy peasy."
"No peas." Rebecca said with a face.
"Rebecca?" Madam Pomfrey called kindly, trying to get her inebriated attention away from Fred. "Rebecca, why don't you have a drink."
"A drink?" Rebecca shook her head. "Not thirsty, Madam P. I am-"
"You seem parched, love." Fred would find humour in the situation when he knew that Rebecca was back to normal--until then, he couldn't laugh like the others. "Have a drink."
"Oh, bugger me." Rebecca grumbled, taking the offered potion without another complaint. "This better taste better than the poison!"
"Poison?" Molly's head shot up. "Did she just say poison?"
The warmth that told of the potion's effect spread through Rebecca quickly, clearing the haze that her mind had been laden with and forcing her to realise just how gone her control had been. Her face burnt and she covered her face while Fred stood up and wrapped his arms around her to not only block her from the others, but to block his words from them.
"Did you hear anything I said, RJ?"
Rebecca nodded. "I heard everything."
"Do you know how deeply I meant it all?"
"Yes, Fred." Rebecca looked up at him and frowned. "I wouldn't have-That's not what I meant. You don't scare me-scare me. It's-"
"It's just like I said." Fred interrupted. "I'm not going anywhere and apparently I know lots of things so there's no need to waste another thought on it.
"Are they still laughing?" Rebecca asked, knowing that they were.
"Should we laugh with them?" Fred asked, sitting back enough so that he could look at her face. "Love--my love, that is--I love you."
"I love you, too." Rebecca closed her eyes as Fred left a kiss on her cheek before letting herself smile and then laugh at the renditions of things she had said in the last half-hour going on around the room. In that moment, all was well.
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