Closest To Heaven That I'll Ever Be. *Complete*

2. Calm Down

[This scene starts when Narcissa dropped me off at the door after the Manor incident]

Suffice to say when I opened the door and entered my grandfather's house, he was shocked to see me...to say the least. 

"Addalie?" He asked looking over the bar he was cleaning. 

"Hi Grandfather," I said weakly stepping further in to the pub. 

"My Addalie," he sniffed approaching me and lifting me off the ground, pulling me into a hug. "I have been so worried about you. I...when...are you OK?" He looked me up and down taking in my skinnier than usual appearance and bruises on my body. He hugged me again and I gasped. Apparently I had managed to receive a broken rib during my trip to Malfoy Manor.

"That sounds...painful...baby girl what happened?"

Everything at that moment seemed to completely take over me and I broke down there, right in the middle of The Hog's Head pub. My grandfather looked horrified for the briefest of moments before kneeling down and pulling me onto his knee. 

"My sweet little girl. What have you been doing?" he sniffed. "You're nothing but skin and bones."

My grandfather was never one for being emotional or knowing what to do with me. I was a girl, and he had raised two sons. Alexis, my father and Credence...the son he never even knew he had until he was grown up. That doesn't mean he didn't try. He just...never understood me. My uncle Albus was the one who suggested I move to the castle. A pub was not exactly the best place to raise a kid. My grandfather visited every weekend, but we spent our time with him helping me with homework or spending time with Albus. 

But he sat there and let me cry as he held me. And boy did I cry, sob even. I have no idea how long we sat there but when I was cried out, probably now suffering dehydration, he helped me up. "Let's get you a good meal, and we can...I don't know...talk."

Now my grandfather was a plain cook. He maybe had three or four dishes he could make. But let me tell you that his stew and homemade bread were amazing. Well after months on the run, living off fish and berries, anything would taste incredible. 

"Good?" He asked when I had finished my food. I nodded as I sat waiting. I was sure he had a million questions for me. "Addalie, where have you been?"

"It's a very long story grandfather," I said not really knowing who to answer. 

"Well there is only you and me here and with this curfew, we have all evening. Start at the beginning. I haven't seen you since about a week after Albus' funeral."

I took his hand in mine as I took a deep breath. 'Time for the truth,' I thought.

So I told him everything. From getting an invitation to Bill's and Fleur's wedding, surprising the trio who had not thought to contact me, from apparating the four of us out of the burning reception tent to London city to Grimauld Place, breaking into the Ministry and then heading on the run, living in a tent while hunting Horcruxes. 

I finished with telling him about being caught by snatchers. 

"So where did the bastards take you?" He asked angrily. 

"To Malfoy Manor. One of them had a hunch that it was Harry, but he had to be sure. So they brought us to Malfoy's in the hopes that Draco Malfoy would be able to recognise and identify us."

"And did he?" Grandfather asked.

"He knew it was us...but he lied to them. To his own aunt and father." 

"He did?" Grandfather asked shocked. I nodded. "Well at least the boy takes more after his mother than he does that imbecile he has for a father. Then what happened?"