* * *

"Hattie come on, you don't deserve to listen to her anymore," said Dallin, tugging his girlfriend's arm.

Hattie stayed put, her eyes glowered at her mother and her jaw tightened. She could feel Dallin but didn't move an inch. Her eyes darted to the girl - her so called sister - but returned back to Caroline right away.

"I hope you're a better mother to her than you ever were to me."

With that, Hattie let Dallin pull her away. It was only when they were down a side alley that her strong demeanour crumbled and she fell into his arms. Tears trickled down her cheeks, dropping onto Dallin's shirt but she was silent.

"You don't need her, Tee, you've got so many more people in your life. They're your real family."

She nodded, pulling away from him and wiping h her eyes. Her lips curled into a small toothless smile and she lead the way back out onto the street.

"You should get back to work," said Hattie.

"Mum can manage."

"No, it's your shift, Dallin. Go on, I'll be fine."

"Oh, alright. You can floo from ours."

"Dallin, I'll be fine. I'll go and see the twins for a bit then I'll floo from there."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

He kissed her, hugged her once more and left, heading back to the Bric and Brac shop. Hattie rubbed the back of her neck, letting out a big breath and sludged her way to the joke shop.

As usual, it was busy. Verity was chasing through people's purchases quickly and Hattie had to push her way through to even get close to Lee Jordan who was working a shift that day.

"Where's Fred? George?" Hattie called to the boy from a few shelves away. She couldn't even get right to him.

"George is in the office, Fred's..." he looked around, "somewhere!"

Hattie nodded, shuffling past more kids and their parents, climbing the spiralled stairs up to the top floor where the boys' office and door to their flat was.

She knocked on the office door, half expecting to have to shout for George to hear her over the loud noise of the shop but he opened the door instantly.

"Hattie? You okay?" He ushered her in to the quiet and once the door clicked shut, she was amazed that it was deathly silent inside.

There were two desks both covered in papers and plans for different products, some products were scattered around and they each had a beaters bat mounted to the wall behind their desks.

"I'm not relapsing, George, don't fret."

She could see it in his eyes. It was obvious as his gaze stayed transfixed on her wrists. He smiled, offering her a seat at what she assumed was Fred's desk as he kicked back at his own.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, sweet, sweet, Harriet."

"Don't call me that."

He raised his hands in defence, a twinkle in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. "I need to floo to Charlie."

"And you couldn't do that from home?"

"I wasn't at home. I was here im Diagon Alley."

"Dallins?"

"I don't want him knowing I'm going to Charlie's. He will worry."

"And does he need to be worried?"

Hattie bit her lip, looking down at the floor. She shrugged and instead of asking any more questions George stood up and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll apparate you there," he said and kissed the top of her head. "It'll be quicker."

"Shouldn't you be downstairs helping? It's very busy."

"It's busy?" She nodded.  "Shit. You can't hear anything from in here. Right, I'll let you in to the flat, floo from there."

Hattie thanked him and followed him out of the office. He unlocked the flat and then rushed down to the shop floor to do his job.

The twins' flat was just as expected. Messy. Not disgusting but just chaotic. No doubt if Molly saw she would run around and clean it for them. She's good like that. She chuckled to herself and headed to the fire place. Taking a handful of green powder from the pot she stepped in and said Charlie's address. In a flash of green flames she slipped through the system, it took forever, which was expected as she was going to a totally different country, but took the right exit when she saw Charlie's house.

There was a loud bang and a string of cursing when she stopped out of the fireplace and dusted herself off. Charlie appeared from the kitchen and relaxed when he saw Hattie.

"What are you doing here?"

Her eyes met his and, for the second time that day, she crumbled, except this time she wasn't so silent. Heart-wrenching sobs escaped from her and her knees buckled.

Charlie caught her and lifted her up, carrying her to the sofa. He sat down with her in his lap and ran his fingers across her scalp.

"It's okay. Whatever it is, it'll be okay. You'll be okay," he said.

Hattie shook her head, clinging to him. "She lied to me. My whole life. She never wanted me."

Charlie already knew it was about Caroline. He had never liked her, right from when Sirius and Caroline first had Hattie. Caroline always rubbed him the wrong way even when he was just a child. The way she neglected Hattie made it even worse. So whatever she had done now, he wasn't surprised, or so he thought.

"I've even got a stupid sister!"