reunion pt. 1

December 25th, 1995

DAISY COULDN'T BREATHE.

Her vision was tunneling and she was swimming in and out of consciousness. She could hear her heart beat and blood rushing in her ears, incessant loud ringing, and the echoing sound of her father screaming "How could you?! And in front of so many others, not talking to me first! And Vincent DeVere! That woman —Sloan, what did she brainwash you with?!" were imprinted in her mind.

Also, she couldn't breathe. Had she already say that?

Or hadn't she?

She heard something or someone breaking down the door, and her eyes closed... She wanted to sleep, just for a moment here.

But then she felt, faintly, her shoulder shaken by force. Her ears caught something like 'By God, what have you done?' and 'Young Miss Jane! Daisy!' but it was completely muffled, like she was six feet deep underwater.

She saw a hint of red and she smiled, thinking it was definitely one of the Weasleys. Fred, maybe, being her wizard in shining armor. Saving her.

'Hang on, I'm calling the police.'

'Vincent, this is not what you—'

'Sir, I'm calling the police! And an ambulance!'

Daisy felt like flying... Like she was back, mounted on Fred's old broom while apples were thrown around in place of Quaffles, and she felt free... She felt free, but she couldn't breathe. She couldn't— she couldn't breathe...

Jane...

JANE.

"JANE!"

She took a sharp intake of breath and saw her two best friends, looking down at her. Lucy was crying, while Vincent seemed frightened and pale, a phone stuck to his ear. Something gave a loud pop sound and Lucy screamed, whimpering.

And Daisy fell asleep.

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December 26th, 1995

"THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!"

Vincent kicked the nearest can of trash, sending it toppling down and spilling its content everywhere.

"Stop kicking trash cans and giving me more work," Lucy muttered into her hands.

"Sorry—" Vincent grunted, "I'm sorry."

Taylor interjected from New York over the speaker phone, "Where are the others? What about Mari, Atlas, and Dominic?"

Vincent replied, "They're holding their own forts, planting sense into their parents. The police has talked them into silence, though. Dad's right. He does have connections in high places. Even the social workers we called didn't come."

"What about you, Vince?"

He shrugged, "My parents let me go. I got into HBS, I can get away with anything."

"How's her condition? Is she getting better?"

"Not really, no," Lucy managed to croak before crying, "I— I should just— ugh, that nasty old man!"

"The doctor Mr. Allen called to her room said he only could do so much at homecare. She needs better resources, and that git won't let her."

"There must be something we can do..."

Dodging all the roadblocks in her mind, an idea suddenly popped into Lucy's head. It was a really, really long shot, but it was worth a try. Anything was worth a try at this critical moment. She jumped onto her feet and said, "I have something."

"What?" Vincent's head turned so quickly.

"I'll tell you later," Lucy said, brushing the dust off her servant uniform, "It probably won't work, so would you please think of other options?"

Less than ten minutes later, Lucy found herself panting from all the running, a mile away from home. She contemplated on leaning against the Burrow's wall for support while catching her breath, but it looked so frail, so she decided against it.

She first saw this abstract building many years ago, on the car that brought her and her mother to the Allen's Residence. This was the first time she saw it up close, though, and it really looked like... Like... Like a tough work of engineering, it did.

Something very small and grey suddenly flew in and perched on the window sill in front of her.

It was an owl so small, looking at Lucy with its disproportionally huge eyes.

"Oh, hey, you," Lucy cooed. She stretched out her hand and stroke the tiny owl's head with her index finger, and the bird purred and hooted happily at her touch.

All of a sudden, the owl grabbed the letter Lucy had in her hand and flew away.

"Hey! Come back here!" Lucy exclaimed, looking helplessly at the retreating figure of the bird. It went higher and further away until it became one tiny dot in the blue, December sky, and then disappeared for good.

"Ah, well," she shrugged, "I guess I better write it all over again."

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December 26th, 1995

RON WAS IN his room with his two best friends, chatting about Umbridge in foul words, Quidditch, school, Ginny's boyfriend, and Hermione's ongoing correspondence with Viktor Krum, when Pig suddenly zoomed into view.

"Wh— What are you doing?" The youngest Weasley sat up on his knees and swatted his hand around, trying to catch the rogue baby owl. "How did you get loose?"

Pig went around the room, hitting every wall and every furniture like it was a pinball, before landing on Hermione's hand.

"I swear, if it's one of Fred and George's order form again—" Ron snatched the paper and unfolded it. His eyes swiftly moved as he read down the lines. Hermione and Harry were casually watching him, but as he read on, his face turned paler and he sat up straighter, and the two teens turned tense along.

"What is it, Ron?" Hermione called out in concern.

"I gotta—" Ron fell out of his bed and scrambled up quickly, clutching the letter tighter in his hand, "Uh— I gotta— I have to tell— MUM!"

Hermione and Harry exchanged glances and they, too, ran after him.

"MUM! MUM! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

Ron clambered downstairs and barged into the tea slash discussion time between Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, and Moody. The former had just returned from her shift at St. Mungo's and they were talking in low voices. Probably something to do with the Order.

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, startled, "That is so rude!"

"LOOK! LOOK!" He thrust the letter into Mrs. Weasley's hand, "IT'S PIG, HE SUDDENLY RETURNED WITH A LETTER, AND IT LOOKS GENUINE. I DUNNO, BUT IT LOOKS BAD. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?"

The commotion apparently had attracted the other occupants of the house as well. Fred and George Apparated into the kitchen simultaneously and Ginny came running down the stairs, peeking her head over Harry's shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Is it a letter?"

"From who?"

"Read it out loud, Mum, so we can all hear."

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley opened the letter with a frown and read, "To the Weeslies... Hi. My name is Lucy Wu. I'm a worker in the Allen Residence and Daisy's good friend. Ron, how did you get this?"

"I dunno," Ron shrugged, "Pig flew in with it. I didn't even know he was gone! Tell her, Harry."

"Yeah," Harry nodded along vigorously, "We were just in Ron's room. Hermione, too."

"It's about Daisy?" Fred jumped forward, trying to take a look himself, "Daisy's maid sent us a letter? Were Pig at the Burrow?"

"Mum, read on!" Ginny shouted from the back of the room.

"Sir, ma'am, you may not know about me, but I know you. Fred— get off me, I'm reading! Or at least I feel like I do, because all Daisy talks about is you. I know that you're a family of nine, all good people, brilliant with medical herbs —we've run out of your homemade anti-inflammatory cream, by the way— that you genuinely care about Daisy, and that you've moved away five months ago and I'm pretty sure this letter won't find you."

"But I really, really hope it will. It really needs to. Daisy's—" Mrs. Weasley paused, gasping loudly. "Goodness..."

"What is it— Mum!" Fred took the letter and went to read on himself, "Daisy's... What the bloody hell...?"

He gulped. But he forced himself to continue. "Daisy's an inch away from dying."

The room turned silent and taut. Hermione covered her agape mouth with her hand. Ginny forced her way under Harry's outstretched arm and into the room. The adults looked at each other, not touching their tea.

"Oh, Godric..." George sighed, seemingly close to tears.

"That evil father of hers beat her up so badly, the doctor said she has collapsed lung, fractured ribs, broken arm, broken nose, bruised hip, swollen eye, fractured leg, among other things —and he won't let her get proper treatment in the hospital. Ms. Sloan, her homeschool teacher, was sacked. Young Master DeVere and I tried to sneak her out of the house and called the authorities, but we failed."

"My hands are tied because of my mother, our employment and living state. We can't depend on anybody. I didn't know what else to do except to reach out to you. Please, if you're able to, help her."

"Give it to me," Moody snatched the letter forcefully, "We better check it for jinxes and anything else..."

"Well?" Fred asked impatiently, "Aren't we gonna get her?"

Lupin replied with a sad look in his droopy eyes, "We don't even know if it's genuine, Fred. We have to be careful."

"The letter said she's dying, shouldn't we at least check?" Ginny said.

"And what are you gonna do after checking?" Sirius asked, "Heal her there? Leave again? Bring her here?"

"We should bring her here!" Ron proposed, "With Ms. Sloan sacked, don't that mean she won't have homeschool anymore? She can stay here."

"What if it's Wormtail, trying to lure us out?"

"That's highly unlikely, isn't it? You-Know-Who won't start attracting unwanted attention by targeting Muggles... It's too early."

"How do we trust this Lucy?"

"Dee talked about Lucy from time to time. She is her good friend."

"Yeah, she is. I've seen her," Sirius added, earning a few curious glances. "What? Snuffles paid her a visit once. Or a few times."

"Why aren't Daisy writing to us herself, then?"

"She's dying. How's she supposed to write a letter with a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, broken nose—"

"Stop it!"

"It's Daisy, Mum. We can't just turn a blind eye!"

"Not contacting her for half of this past year was infernal enough. Please."

"Bringing her here isn't safe, alright?" Moody said grouchily, "We had this conversation last Summer, before you lot came to live here. It's not safe!"

"On the contrary," Hermione said, her eyes lighting up. "It'll be safe for everyone!"

"Hermione..."

"No, no. Think about it. If Daisy's here, she'll be safe from her dreadful father. You-Know-Who won't be able to kidnap or get her, and use it as a leverage against us —nearly all of the Weasleys are in the Order and we would choose to save Daisy over any other choices. She'll be completely safe and hidden here. She is smart, disciplined, orderly, helpful. She won't cause any trouble. And— and she'll be a great company to keep! For Sirius!"

That really shut the adults up.

"Look, Mum, I'm coming to get her."

"Frederick—"

"This—" Fred motioned towards the letter, "I don't care if this is bloody real or not, but I'm not gonna risk letting her die. I'm not—"

"Alright, we hear you." Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Lupin, and the entire congregation of kids looked expectantly at Moody. "I'm gonna talk with Dumbledore first. If he says yes— I said, if, I'll go get her myself."

"I'm coming, too," Mrs. Weasley offered, "I know where her room is."

"I'm—"

"No student wizards and witches allowed," Moody raised a finger, "NO BUTS. Or I take back my word."

"FINE!" Fred burst out, stomping his way out of the room.

George cleared his throat and said in a much more coolheaded tone, "What we mean is, we'd like updates every step of the way. Please."