Obliviate ; Fred Weasley

Twenty-nine

I stared at the small Nokia phone in my hand, Carter's number shown on the display.

I wanted to call him and ask him about Martha, but I was scared she was gonna be there.

"He drank veritaserum, didn't he?" Fred asked from the kitchen where he was making me tea. "He can't have lied to you."

"Yes he can. Some people can resist veritaserum." I said. "He might be one of them. That's why they don't use it in investigations. Some witches and wizards can resist it so it's not always reliable."

"You think Carter is able to resist truth serum? Even the most powerful one?"

"I don't know."

I chewed on my nails while staring down at the phone. I really needed to fucking call him but I needed to gain the courage first.

I heard the sound of a cup being put down, and a moment later, Fred was in front of me, gently grabbing my hand and moving it away from my mouth.

I looked up at him.

"Just call him." He said softly. "Ask if Martha's there. If she's not, talk to him. If she is, ask him to come over and not tell her."

"What if he tells her anyway? Fred, what if she's dangerous? What if this person we know, isn't actually who we thought she was?"

Fred took a moment to answer that. He stroke my knuckles with his thumb, then sat down on the edge of the sofa table.

"One step at a time, pretty girl." He said softly. "Go on. Call him."

I sighed and looked at the phone before I pressed his numbers, holding the phone up to my ear as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Carter!" I breathed, relieved that he picked up.

"Kai? What— are you okay? Why are you calling me?"

He sounded confused, obviously.

"Is Martha there?"

"Uh... no, not right now. She went shopping for the baby. Why? You've got her number, haven't you?"

"I don't want to speak to her. I want to speak to you, but I— I needed to make sure she wasn't there."

There was some shuffling on the other side and then Carter let out a sigh as if he had just gotten himself comfortable.

"What's up? I thought you'd never speak to me again..."

"You're able to resist veritaserum, aren't you?" I asked, looking down at Fred's hand that held mine.

He was still brushing his thumb over my knuckles, letting me know he was right there.

"Veritaserum? Kai, what are you on about?"

"Just tell me yes or no."

He sighed.

"Is this about what happened to Kwan? You think I lied? I couldn't have. You know that."

"No, what I know is that some witches and wizards can resist veritaserum and that I don't believe you killed Kwan."

"No? Then who did you believe did it?"

"Martha."

There was no response on the other side of the line. A few seconds went by and all I could hear was his breathing before he hung up.

"What the..." I removed the phone from my ear and looked at it. "...he hung up."

Fred grabbed the phone from my hands, put it next to him and then grabbed both of my hands as I teared up.