Blessings ; George Weasley

Fifty-seven

"I didn't like the way you talked to me when you visited me in Azkaban all those years ago."

I had gone on that walk with my dad. He was threatening to hurt my daughters and I'd do anything to prevent that from happening.

"I'm sorry."

My dad let out a small chuckle.

"What are you naming your twins?"

I gulped.

"We don't know." I said quietly. "We haven't talked about names yet."

"The gender?" He asked. "Do you know what you're having?"

"No."

My dad hummed, then stopped walking.

"I think you're lying to me, Dahlia." He said. "You know what I do to people who lie to me."

I stopped walking as well, closing my eyes for a moment while reminding myself to just breathe.

Just breathe and don't cry.

"I'm gonna ask you again. What are you having."

"I don't know." I repeated, my breath shaking a little. "We want to wait until the birth."

"I may not have been in your life since you were twelve, but you still pinch yourself when you lie." He said. "Turn around and face me, Dahlia."

I did, and once he saw my face, he laughed.

"Are you crying?"

I shook my head.

"No."

It felt like being back in my home, a child again, having to face my dad who was trying to decide how to punish me for simply being a child.

"Dahlia, you know what I think about crying."

I nodded.

"Tell me. What is crying?"

I sighed.

"A sign of weakness."

"Precisely." He nodded. "So why are you crying? Have I done anything to upset you?"

"Can I go?" I asked. "I need to be home for dinner."

"No."

I closed my eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked and looked at him, feeling much more bold than just a second ago.

"It's a pity, really. You had such great potential and you had to ruin it, didn't you? Of course, it's my fault for getting locked up in Azkaban. Your mother simply wasn't strong enough to mold you into becoming the woman I needed you to be."

I shook my head.

"No, you did mold me. You molded me into becoming a woman determined to raise her own children the way she should've been raised."

I started to walk away but my dad apparated and was suddenly in front of me, making me stumble back.

"You do not walk away from me!"

My heart was beating like crazy.

If I didn't come home before dinner like promised, George would notice and if he showed up, he'd find out why.

My dad wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone so if George showed up...

I needed to get home before that, but I needed my dad to tell me it would be okay for me to leave, otherwise he could hurt Elsie and Leah.