Life After Death - An Erica Black Continuation (4)

Nineteen

Willow had spent the best part of an hour scrubbing every inch of her body under scalding water when she finally stepped out of the shower, her skin red against the soft white towel as she dried herself, pulling on pyjamas and  braided her hair back tightly. She wandered into the living room, pulled back the duvet cover and crawled in beside her sister.
"What took you so long Will?" Charlotte mumbled sleepily into the darkness,
"Felt dirty.." she whispered back
"Again..?" she finally turned over to look at her twin through the thick black of the night-time, "What caused it this time, do you know?" she shook her head silently.
"I can't see you Will..." she trailed off with a soft chuckle "Ah, okay... I get you" she smiled as she felt her sisters fingers intertwine with her own under the covers and squeeze lightly, a small gesture that she didn't hesitate to return. after a few seconds their grips loosened and the Black twins fell asleep with their pinkie fingers linked. 

"Girls, I'm heading out to work, help yourselves to the kitchen and the bathroom, I doubt Teddy or Dominique will be up any time soon. I just wanted the two of you to know before you woke up all disoriented" Victoire chuckled as she rummaged through her purse on her way out the front door. 
"Okay, Thank you Victoire. Have a good day" Willow chimed, sitting up to wave her off as her sister groaned, her face buried deep in her pillow
"Lottie... Can we get up?" Willow whispered, reaching out to shake her sister's shoulder once Victoire had left. 
"Get off me Willa, It's too early for this" she groaned, shoving her away blindly. Her twin huffed indignantly and  turned away to fish a book from her trunk.

She finally looked up from the pages of 'Bridge to Terabithia' when Teddy wandered in to the kitchen with his hair, bright pink and sticking up all over the place.
"Good morning Teddy" she smiled brightly, he jumped
"Willow! you scared me, there's not normally God-daughters on my sofa" he laughed, his hand resting over his heart.
"Oh, sorry.." she faltered for a moment but quickly recovered.
"So... I was thinking about heading into Diagon Alley for the afternoon, what do you think?" He pondered.
"But... Lottie isn't even up yet.." she replied, tilting her head questioningly at the man.
"Well then I guess it'll be just the two of us, unless you don't want to? Which is fine! of course... I just thought it might be nice is all" He mumbled.
"Okay! no, yeah that sounds like fun! I'll just get dressed" she grinned, leaning over to reciprocate the high-five her God-father offered. 

Willow spent twenty minutes pulling on her clothes; a white, three quarter length sleeve shirt underneath a dark, navy blue, almost black corduroy pinafore embroidered with small, delicate  daisies. She pulled a matching alice band into her hair and slipped a pair of black ballet flats on her feet as Teddy met her at the front door, "Alright, let's get going!" He grins.

"Do you have money, or do you need to stop at Gringotts?"
"no, no I think I'm okay thank you"
"Good! So, where do you want to go first?"
"I'm not sure... What time is it?"
"hmm... about 10:30" he replies, checking his watch
"Okay, how about we go to George's shop, Flourish and Blotts and then maybe The Leaky Cauldron for lunch... then I think  it would be nice to stop by the magical menagerie before finishing with Sugarplum's?"
"Woah" The man chuckles "For someone who isn't sure where to go first, you sure seem to know exactly what you want to do today"
"I don't like not having a plan. A schedule defends against chaos and whim, like a net catching spare minutes and hours, which add up over time until you've saved an entire other lifetime"
"Is that so?" he smiles, tilting his head inquisitively.
"I think so, yeah"
"makes sense" he nods his agreement "So, what was first?"
"I made a list if you'd like to see"
"sure?" He takes the small slip of parchment from the girl and glances at it "Oh... Merlin" he mumbles, his eyes widening a little as they scan his God-daughters list "Okay then, let's get going to- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes" he paused for a moment to check the list before continuing, wrapping an arm around Willow Black and lead the way to the end of the cobbled street to their first destination.

"Hey check it out Wills!" exclaims Teddy from across the table "Matching!" the girl looks up at him and giggle at his hair, now a dark blue colour with small white spots that vaguely resembled daisies, not dissimilar to her dress. Returning to her Pea soup, she smiles down at the bowl "Teddy...?"
"yes?" he grins at her
"Why did you want to go out with just me?"
"well because I don't want you to think of yourself as half of a pair, you are willow and Charlotte is Charlotte. The two of you are separate individuals, even if you are twins. I think I get you, both of you I mean, in different ways of course, but I do think that I understand you Willow" he explains, a muddle of word vomit that, although confusing seemed to come from good intentions.
"You do..?"
"I do.." he pulls out the lists she'd handed him earlier "and I want you to know that you can always trust me , with anything.. I want you to feel like you can tell me anything"
"I know I can trust you Teddy..." she smiles up at him
"good... Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" he pries a little further,
"I.. don't think so, not at the moment but perhaps that will change" she shrugs nonchalantly, looking back down and avoiding his eyes.  

"um... Teddy..?" Willow Black  asked casually as they peruse the aisles of 'Sugarplum's sweets shop' comparing the prices of Sugar Quills and debating the pros and cons of Liquorish Wands. He hummed his response, picking out a few particularly plump Jelly Slugs from the jar. 
"Sometimes..." she took a deep breath before continuing, "Sometimes I feel a certain way and I'm not sure why.."
"Well whoever you love I-"
"Oh! No no, I'm coming out to you!" she laughed, grateful for the shift of tone, "I just... sometimes I just kinda want to scream at the top of my lungs.. Everything feels too much and when everything gets that tiniest bit too loud and bright and uncontrollable I just have this... this irrepressible urge to cry or throw up or... I don't know- break something? I need things to go right.. To make sense.. To be okay... and when they don't.. when they aren't...  I have this compulsive need to fix them..." breathing heavily for a moment, suddenly realising that she hadn't been at all for a few minutes. Finally, she looks up to meet her Godfather's eyes, blushing a rosy red colour.
"I can understand that Wills... It makes sense. Hey, how about we head back over to 'Flourish and Blotts' to get something and then... Oh I don't know... Fortescue's?"

"Thank you Teddy, for today! I really enjoyed it" Willow Black grinned at her God-father over her Strawberry and peanut butter ice-cream- her favourite. His own chocolate and raspberry was slowly melting as he flicked through the brand new pair of enchanted note-books he had purchased to share with his eldest God-daughter before handing one over to her.