Untouchable: a Fred Weasley fanfiction

Ready or Not

Mum looks like she's seen a ghost.

She turns to fully face me, and the silence sits between us for a long moment before she manages to say, "your... father?"

"Yes," I say. "My father. My father, as in, my Professor. Professor Lupin."

I watch her stare at me, then blink a couple of times, then sigh and slowly move toward the couch.

"Will you come sit?"

I swallow, feeling my heartbeat pumping through me. She waits patiently as I hesitate, then walk to the chair directly across from the loveseat, lowering into it.

She folds her hands in her lap. The only sound between us for a long moment is the crackling fire behind me. I just stare at her, waiting. She stares at the carpet for a little while, then looks up at me, breathing in.

I don't know what to feel yet. I just want to hear what exactly she has to say.

"How did you find out?" she asks me.

My jaw feels tight when I answer with, "I overheard him talking to the Headmistress. I left before he could speak to me."

She nods, looking nervous at that.

"We did not think that you would find out this way."

"I'm sure you didn't," I say.

"I understand," she says next, "that you probably have a lot of questions."

"Yeah," I hear myself say. "Yeah, I do."

"I know," she says quietly, "and I will explain everything. Okay? Everything."

"Please." My voice is sharp- blunt.

I think the emotions are finally hitting. What I'm supposed to be feeling right now as I stare at my mum, waiting for that explanation. That 17-year-long explanation.

"Jo," she starts. "Your father never intended to leave us."

Then why did he? And why are you just explaining everything to me now, Mum?

My jaw remains tight.

"I wish I could have told you where he was," she continues slowly, "who he was... but there is a reason for all of that."

"Get to the point, Mum," I say. "I'm a bit impatient after seventeen years."

"I know that."

"So go on," I say, motioning to her. I'm angry. I think I'm angry. "Tell me. Why exactly were you hiding this from me? And why did he leave us, if he never intended to, huh? Why did he never come back? Why did you send me there?"

She takes another breath.

"I met Rem- your father- 7 years before we had you," she explains. "It was when I was at Beauxbatons... he, at Hogwarts. In our last year of schooling, it was a year of the tournament."

"What tournament?"

"The Triwizard Tournament," she answers. "Something that is held every five years. Our schools came together, and that's when we met. It being our last year, and hence, being seventeen, he wanted to enter... he was always a bit of a troublemaker."

She smiles a little. I don't.

"We began seeing each other, and we were very much in love, past graduation," she goes on. "He proposed to me when we were both twenty-three. We lived together. We had each other. We were happy."

"Then what happened?" I demand. "You had me, and things weren't so happy anymore?"

"No," she responds quickly, "not at all. Something... something happened."