Secrets and Masks

61. It's called therapy, darling. Look it up

TW; graphic descriptions of rape and torture.

2nd April

True to their words, they gave Romy the best funeral they could.

It was sweet, but heartfelt. Short, but emotional. Small, but filled with his closest friends and the people who cared for him.

Just before 9 o'clock in the evening, they gathered around the soil patch that Quinzel had already picked out, all dressed in black, and they buried him together. They used magic to lower his body into the ground, they laid seeds and trinkets beside him, they laid soil around him and flowers on top of him, and afterwards, they all raised their wands, and beautiful, luscious green vines started to sprout from the ground.

Quinzel had been right, it was a perfect place to plant potatoes. Romy would have loved it.

Hermione had promised Angel and Chester that she'd start work on taking the charms off their voice boxes in the morning, so after Romy's burial, the two girls decided to retreat to bed and get their rest and leave the people who knew Romy best to grieve over him together.

Quinzel didn't attend the wake either. She had a shot of whiskey with the group to honour Romy - which was twice as large as anyone else's - and then hiccupped her way up the stairs and took herself to bed. She said she was too upset and she didn't want to ruin Romy's funeral with her sadness. Said she'd rather be on her own, and although Astoria had tried to persuade her otherwise, she wasn't having any of it.

Once they'd laid the tiny elf to rest, those who remained sat around the kitchen table, opened a bottle of whiskey - or two - and told as many stories about Romy as they could remember.

Astoria kicked off the laughs when she retold how Romy had walked in on her and Blaise once when they were having sex. "The poor little sod didn't know what to do or where to look!" Astoria had cried with laughter. "He just apologised and then ran away! He was mortified, bless him! He was so concerned that he'd embarrassed me that he covered his eyes straight away, but then he couldn't see where he was going and ran straight into the wall!"

Whiskey had almost spilt out of Blaise's nose when Daphne told the story of how Romy had almost given Nagini poison instead of feed once. "It wouldn't have actually killed her though, would it?" Blaise had asked. "She's a Horcrux. Surely she'd have been fine?"

"Who knows?" Daphne had shrugged. "All I know is that for weeks afterwards, he was twiddling his thumbs and every time the front door burst open he'd shriek and hide!"

"Can you imagine if it'd worked and she'd died?!" Astoria had laughed. "The darkest wizard of all time, brought down by a teeny tiny house elf?!"

Those stories were wonderful but there were other stories shared too, ones that spoke of Romy's bravery and his enormous heart.

Astoria teared up when Blaise told everyone how Romy had helped him pick out Astoria's engagement ring.

Hermione told everyone how sweet and kind Romy had been to her when she'd first been captured. How, even though she was supposed to be his enemy, he'd done everything within his power to try and make her feel safe and at home.

And there wasn't a dry eye in the room when Malfoy told everyone how much Romy had helped him after Voldemort had killed his parents, even though it meant putting himself at great risk.

"After he killed them, he sent Greyback to come and collect their bodies," Malfoy said, eyes on the almost drained whiskey glass on the table. "They tore my mother's body out of my arms. I was so out of it, I don't remember what happened very clearly. I just remember that I hadn't taken their wedding rings off yet and Greyback was trying to take their bodies away." He lightly wrapped his fingers around the glass and started to rotate it slightly, swirling the liquid inside. "I tried to tell them that I just wanted their wedding rings but they just laughed and mocked me. I remember feeling desperate and just wanting to get their rings off their fingers and then Romy ... he did the most selfless, bravest thing I'd ever seen. He attacked Greyback. Sent a bloody book soaring across the room so that it hit the back of Greyback's head, and I was able to slip both their rings off while he was distracted." He scoffed lightly under his breath. "I thought Greyback was going to skin him alive but Romy managed to convince him it was Nargles that did it."