Chapter Thirteen

"It was at the end of Hogwarts," said Romy, "when I left the wizarding world. I had just recently graduated." She could remember her seventh year as though it was yesterday. She wanted to leave in her sixth year and stay with her parents when the war seemed to get a lot more real than it had been.

When the newspaper had more and more deaths each day during summer than she could remember, and when she would attend funerals of her parents family friends. Mostly muggles who did not even know there was a war going on, but she knew and so did her parents.

Her parents were fascinated with her world, so much so that every summer they would steal her textbooks just so they could better understand the world that she lived in. They loved to read the magical newspapers that her owl delivered to her, they found it fascinating to hear of such news as though it was normal.

It was in her fifth year that the first death showed up on the front page, they questioned Romy who had been bullied sometimes at school for her blood status. She dismissed them the first time but then the week after had a section on four new deaths that had happened since in a town only two hours from where they lived.

It was terrifying. Mostly muggles and muggleborn's but some half-bloods had taken centre as the top news story when it was found out they risked their lives to protect some muggleborn's. It became harder and harder for Romy to hide the horrors that were ransacking the Wizarding World, and so she finally told them.

She told them in her sixth year she wished to leave Hogwarts, she felt like she was sitting back and letting the world fight for her whilst she was doing nothing to help the world. Her parents refused, practically begged her to stay, to be safe for one more year and then if she still felt the same way then she could pick her fate.

She agreed, it was the worst decision she had made to agree to their pleads.

"You have to realise something...my parents were the most supportive parents this world has ever seen." She smiled at the memories, they stabbed her in the heart but the memories they had would always be with her, "my home was engrossed with magic because they were fascinated with it. They were not the type of muggles to ignore my world, it was entirely the opposite. They would steal my textbooks and read them in their spare time."

"They seem amazing!"

"They were," her eyes glazed with fresh tears, "oh they were so amazing."

He had noted her use of the word were and reached for her hand once more. His other hand was occupied with the warm tea that she had made and instead of sitting on the couch she sat on her kitchen counter and he leaned against her fridge, "I'm sorry."

She forced the smile that took over her lips, "we had argued in a series of letters towards the end of my seventh year, it was painful, and they were my people. They were the ones that kept me sane amongst everything else that happened, no matter how stressful exams were...I would always have them.

I had told them I still wished to fight, and although they had said I could make up my own mind they instantly disagreed. They said they had been keeping up with the news any way they could, saw that my world was getting more and more dangerous by the second and that they wanted for me to come home and be safe with them.

They wanted us to flee England when I graduated because they were scared. I was young and angry; I was barely eighteen when I graduated and all I wanted was to fight. I think looking back I wanted to fight for the wrong reasons, I knew that it was needed of me, but I wanted to do it to prove myself and to prove that just because I was a muggleborn did not mean that I wasn't powerful." Remus leaned closer to where she sat atop her kitchen counter, and for the second time that night, he wiped her tears.

"Well, not soon after did the letters from them stop. I had been given them the silent treatment and well so had they. It was only days until graduation, and I figured I would explain my reasoning to them when I saw them again. It hurt a lot that they didn't realise my side of the story but looking back on it I can see their reasoning more than I can explain why I wanted to fight so badly." She shook her head, stopping to breathe.

"Graduation rolls around, I'm sure you can remember that day. I felt happy, I think it was the one day I didn't think of the war and no matter what I was happy for the most part. Seven years at Hogwarts and it was like a great big send off to those shitty exams.

Well, my parents didn't show up for it. I was so angry, I would see them again in a few days but for them not to show up to my graduation, I knew they did it to anger me. It was punishment for the silent treatment."

"I can't imagine how that would feel, Romy, I'm sorry-" she shook her head, cutting off his words. She didn't want him to say another word until she finished her story.

"I had planned out everything I wanted to say to them on the train home. I didn't expect them to pick me up at Kings Cross, I knew that if they missed my graduation it would be hard for them, but they would be doing it to get their point across that if I gave them the silent treatment then they would give it back.

But then...well everything changed. I had to get the train home to my town, it was an hour away from London which is fine, I had gotten that train before and I didn't mind. It gave me more time to think of what I was going to say. My family's home was very secluded, and my town was very small. We lived atop a hill in the countryside, it was quaint and quiet and there was a long winding road that took you to the main door.

It was lovely, especially in summer.

Something was off, though. I felt as though I was missing something and had a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I tried to shake it but the further I walked up that pathway that took me to my front door the more and more dread I felt. Perhaps it was nerves, knowing I was ready to receive an earful from my parents...I'm not sure.

Well, I round the corner. I remember it clear as day. It was so warm, the trunk I was carrying did not make it any easier and that's when I saw it. My front door was open. That never happened, especially not with their paranoia.

I dropped my trunk, wand in my hand at this point and went inside." She covered her mouth to contain her sobs and Remus could feel that exact sinking feeling at what would come next.

"I found my dad first," she choked on her words, "he was lying in the hall, I almost tripped over him. I didn't see him at first but when I did, I could have been sick. His eyes were wide, and he had a knife in his hand as though that would have helped them fend off the death eaters.

The home had been ransacked to pieces, furniture ruined, and books torn to shreds. They had written notes on the walls for me to find. They somehow knew; I'm not sure how, but they knew a muggleborn lived there and that they were my parents. They wrote slurs, the word mudblood sprawled in big red letters on the side of my home.

My mother was in bed, they killed her in her sleep. I believe they thought it could be some sort of intruder and my mother was none the wiser that my dad had been killed. I suppose in some horrid sort of way I'm happy she was killed in her sleep. Perhaps that meant she didn't feel any pain."

She could barely get the words out, she felt like she was reliving the trauma that the dark lord had put her through, "I felt hopeless after that. I had lost my parents and the last interactions we had was a fight, how could I live with myself?"

"Romy..." Remus tried to speak but she cut him off again.

"After that, I could barely live with myself. I tried to fight...I did, for a year of the war I fought as hard as I could, but I knew deep down it wasn't what my parents wanted. I was desensitised to pain, to the suffering that the war put me through. I tried to live in their home, it didn't work.

I worked closely with a woman named Molly, oh she was lovely, and to see her again would be a gift. My parents were wealthy in some sense, and they had been wise to write out their will early. With most of the money I bought a small home in a secluded area in Scotland, I found muggleborn's who had no family left and helped them hide there. Molly would find families for me and help me keep them safe.

She made them clothes and helped me feed them. It was a quiet operation but it kept my mind busy so I couldn't think of my family. The war was tough, Molly had told me of an organisation that was fighting in the war. The order...she called it. She wasn't in it because of her children but her brothers fought in it-"

"Molly Weasley," Remus didn't mean to interrupt her, but she had brought back such fond memories of the woman and Romy nodded furiously, "It was the Order of The Phoenix."

"Did you know about it?" asked Romy.

"I was in it."

Her eyes widened, "...oh."

"So were James and Lily and Peter. We believed Sirius was too, but he betrayed us." Romy touched his arm, and he covered his hand over hers.

"I'm sorry, Remus."

"Trust me, Romy, I think if anyone of us were to be sorry about what the other went through, it should be me." He turned so he was facing her, "I am so fucking sorry."