Songbird ; Fred Weasley

Seventy-six

I have an oral exam In psychology next month, and one in biology, so I'm currently studying.

I need to get through four months worth of homework in one month, in two different classes and I'm dying.

-

I sunk onto the sofa, running my hands through my hair out of frustration.

"You're not his children." I said, earning the attention of my siblings. "I don't know why he would think that, but I read the letters between him and mum. I'm his first child, and I believe mum when she told me I'm the only one she didn't have with dad."

"What letters?" Daniel asked and walked closer. "You realise he's mad, right? He's madly in love with mum, and he convinces himself that they had an affair and had children."

I shook my head.

"No. The affair is true." I said. "When I was eighteen, I found secret letters between him and mum. He got her pregnant the year before I was born. I'm Eric's biological daughter, but I'm also the only one of mum's children that she had with him."

Daniel inhaled sharply as he stared at me. Then he ran a hand over his face.

"Daniel, you have a way out of this house." Reuben said. "You know how to leave. Open the door and let us leave."

Daniel turned to him, a pained expression on his face. I noticed how he clenched his hands, unclenched them and then clenched them again.

"I— he'll kill me. I can't just— I need to lay a plan so it won't look like I helped you."

"What are you talking about?!" Reuben snapped. "You're coming with us!"

Daniel stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.

"I can't."

"What?" It was my turn to snap at him, standing up so quickly he was forced to take a step away.

"I can't just leave him. He's our uncle..."

"He kidnapped you!" I yelled. "He snatched you off that playground!"

"Mavis—"

"Don't you remember?" I asked, wiping away the tears from my cheeks. "You were pushing me on the swing. You know what I remember? I remember your hands on the swing suddenly disappearing. I remember turning to try and see you, but then I fell and I landed on the ground. I couldn't find you anywhere and I was hurting from the fall. I ran to the playhouse and I hid for hours until..."

I paused, realising that Eric had been the one to find me.

"Eric found me there." I said quietly. "But he knew I'd been there all along. He planned it. He—"

I inhaled sharply.

"This is insane. What did dad ever do to him? What did we ever do to him? Daniel, we need to leave. Reuben is married and has a child on its way in a few months. Spencer wants to travel the world. Eliza is about to finish her fifth year of school, and I have a fiancé and two children."

Daniel shut his eyes for a second before he looked at the floor.

"I was six years old when you were taken, Daniel." I said. "That experience was so traumatic for such a little girl. I went and forget about you. The day after it happened, my brain had suppressed it. My memories didn't come back until December twenty-fifth and you know what I felt then? Guilt. We need to leave and so do you, Daniel."

"I want to go home." Eliza said quietly, but then a door opened again.

It had been less than fifteen minutes since Eric left.