The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.48 | Twice the New Year Traditions

Occlumency was a skill much like swimming or cycling. Once you learned it, you could never forget it. It became second nature.

However, Occlumency could be affected if it was employed constantly under immense pressure.

For Margaret, her mind had dealt with so much in the past few days that she felt mentally exhausted even if she had physically recovered. She could not keep up her Occlumency shields for long periods without catching a break, which caused the whispers of everyone's thoughts to flutter in her head.

Margaret loved all of them like a family, but the Weasleys could be extraordinarily loud when they were excited. It was justified, the New Year's celebration was in full swing after all. But that added to their incomprehensible thoughts?

Her head was spinning.

So, she slipped out of the backdoor and into the snowy garden to get a breather; hoping that no one would notice her gone for a few minutes.

Once away from everyone else's thoughts, Margaret realised just how much her own mind was racing. She gripped onto the familiar card in her pocket, taking it out and reading it again.

'Margaret,

For when you are ready, I believe there is a conversation we must have. I apologise for rushing you, but it would be in your best interest to discuss this sooner rather than later.

Wishing you a happy new year,

Albus Dumbledore.'

How soon was sooner in 'sooner than later'?

The holidays were almost at an end, and the new term at Hogwarts began in two days. Once she was back, Margaret would not be able to avoid Dumbledore; that would simply be childish.

Was she truly ready to face her brother? How many things was Dumbledore truly hiding from her all along? Did she even want to know?

"Beware the gnomes!"

Margaret looked up, her lips tugging upwards into a small smile. Fred was trudging his way towards her, hoping on the footsteps she had made in the snow.

"Don't hop on the snow if you value your behind," she jokes.

He hopped up too close to her then backed away with a crooked grin. "Bored of our New Year songs already? We haven't even started on 'O' ye' merry hippogriffs' yet."

"Never, ever! Just needed to step away for a little while."

Fred hummed, glancing thoughtfully in the direction of the house from where a constant string of conversation and singing poured out. "I s'pose we can be loud."

"You'd know, you cause half of it," Margaret says. He gasped in fake offence, eyes softening when she chuckled.

"Something bothering you?" he asks.

Margaret shrugged nonchalantly. "Just... thinking, I guess."

"About the note from Dumbledore?"

"Yes... among other things. Hey, by the way, those were some cool holiday products you and George came up with," she says, more than happy to change the topic. "I really like the mistletoe that tries to bite you if you kiss under it. I'm gonna hold it over Ron and Lavender at mealtimes."

Fred snorted, rolling his eyes. "Or enchant one of our Elf on a Shelf to follow him 'round. Those buggers are tiny but you saw how loudly they can sing. Tell you what, enchant them so they make a lot of... other noises. It won't exactly be handy if they're trying to sneak away into an empty classroom."