Stolen Years: The Flower Reborn as a Tree

Chapter 11: Breaking the News

Felicis quietly sat on the couch and stared straight ahead. She felt the couch dip as Arthur sat beside her, but refused to acknowledge his presence. His words were muffled against the background static in her mind. The scene in front of her was an unfamiliar blur that her eyes refused to focus upon. Her face remained blank, devoid of emotion. The hollowness eating away inside of her was quickly growing into a festering storm of emotions she was unsure of how to process. She couldn't let Molly or Arthur know that everything that had just happened had hurt her deeply. She would just have this conversation with the two of them and move on. Felicis returned from the empty void she had placed herself as Molly came into the room and stood in front of her. The return of her senses was as seamless to her as if she had just turned a switched in mind back on.
"Molly, this is completely ridiculous," Arthur said. A frown fell across Molly's face and she opened her mouth to speak. Felicis raised a hand to silence her. She didn't want to hear anything else that Molly had to say. She just wanted to say what need to be said and put all of this behind her. "Arthur," Felicis calmly began. "Molly is right. I am dangerous."
"Felicis-" Arthur began.
"No." Felicis replied sternly. "There is little known about people with partial infections of Lycanthropy. The fact that my case is severe makes this even worse. By the end of this I will be less than human, my claws and fang are merely a testament to that-" Felicis sent a pointed look towards Molly, who quickly looked away and began fiddling with her wedding band- "I will be a highly irritable and aggitated creature with a high protein diet that can only be met by the consumption of raw meat. And for the record, I never had the itentions to attack anyone or to be rude. I know Arthur more than I do you, Molly, so it appropriate to call him by his first name. Considering I know you less and you were rather upset with me at the time, the polite thing to do would've been to refer to you as ma'am or misses-" Felicis watched as Molly flushed in embarrassment- "But none of that really matters now considering I won't be staying."
"Felicis, I-" Molly said, her voice laced with guild.
"Stop," Felicis softly demanded, her voice wavered. "You saw a potential threat to your family, Molly, and you acted accordingly. I get it. But I'm not going to stand by and allow myself to ruin your happy little marriage or you perfect little family." Felicis' eyes stung with tears she rufused to shed, poorly attempting to swallow the disdain she had let coat her words.
"You are our family too, Felicis," Arthur said, placing on hand on her shoulder.
"Damnit Arthur!" Felicis snapped as she hastily rose from the couch and turned to face him.
"I am the child your father had with another woman! I am a mistake that your father wish had never happened! I shouldn't exist, and yet I do! I changed your parents' marriage for the worst! You should hate me! You should be angry with my existence! Why are you so adamant on keeping me here?! Why do you even want to acknowledge me as your family?!"
Felicis glared at Arthur, her chest heaving as she futily attempted to wipe the tears that were streaming down her face. Arthur glanced over at Molly in concern and then returned his focus onto Felicis.
"Our father wanted to raise you alongside the rest our brothers, but he couldn't for...certain reasons," Arthur said calmly.
Felicis scoffed, "The reason being that your mother didn't want to have to raise the child her husband had with another woman that he cheated on her with."
"Felicis, that isn't...your mother-"
"Arthur, don't," Molly said.
"Don't what?" Felicis snapped, "What aren't you telling me?"
"Molly," Arthur pleaded with his wife.
"No, the last thing I need is another reason for Minerva and Albus to be upset with me," Molly replied. Felicis looked back and forth between the two, trying to understand what she they were hiding and what it had to do with her mother. It only took a few seconds for her to connect the dots. "My mother used her metamorphmagus abilities to trick your father," Felicis said. Molly's and Arthur's stunned silence was only further confirmation that her assumption was correct.
"Has she...done that before?" Molly hesitantly asked.
Felicis stared at an unfixed point behind Arthur and returned to the void where her emotions were dulled and her senses were muffled.
"Multiple times. It's a form of entertainment for her," she blankly replied. "She finds men at bars, typically Muggles, and approaches them using the form of a woman they were there with or who they were flirting with. Then she gets them incredibly drunk or drugs them with this muggle drug and makes them and their partner think she slept with them. Or she'll kill them. My mother knew it bothered me so she would constantly tell me about it so that I would get use to such violence."
Molly and Arthur stared at Felicis in horror. The tension was broken by a knock at the door that Molly went to answer.
"Minerva," Molly said. "Is it just you?"
"Albus and Filius are removing the Fidelius Charm," Minerva replied. "Albus will join us once they're done."
Felicis turned her attention to the door, "Why was there a Fidelius Charm being used on the house?"
Minerva looked over at Felicis, a frown settled upon her face as she briskly walked into the house towards her. Minerva gently placed her hand on Felicis' shoulder. "Felicis, dear, what happened?" Felicis looked at Minerva in confusion, wondering how her godmother knew something had occured. It dawned on her that after all the screaming and crying that she had done, she probably looked like an absolute wreck.
"I'm fine, Minerva. It was just a misunderstanding," Felicis replied.
Minerva looked at Arthur and Molly, who now stood beside the couch her husband was sat in,  with a stony gaze, "What happened? What did you say to her?"
"It's fine. It's already been resolved," Felicis said.
"I hardly call this resolved. The tension between the three of you is palpable. I want to know what made you so upset."
Felicis remained silent as Minerva's gaze bore into her. Minerva turned her gaze onto Arthur and Molly. "Well?" she questioned, every part of exuding an intimidating authority. Arthur and Molly remained silent. They looked like guilty school children, anxiously fiddling and adjusting themselves as they refused to make eye contact with Minerva.
"Minerva, please just drop it. Molly's obviously feeling guilty about what happened. Allowing her to let that guilt eat away at her is punishment enough," Felicis.
"Letting her guilt eat away at her is not going to solve anything," Minerva admonished. "If you are going to stay here, the two of you need to be able to get along and come to an understanding."
"I am not going to stay here and endanger their children," Felicis said.
Minerva flicked her gaze back towards Molly, "Is that what you told her? That she was a danger to your children?"
"And she's not wrong," Felicis snipped. "Practically nothing is known about partial infections of Lycanthropy, let alone severe partial infections. No mother who actually cares for her childrens' safety would allow someone like me, whose has a potentially dangerous condition with little knowledge of it, to be anywhere near her children. I just want to put this all behind me and go back to Hogwarts."
A somber look fell upon Minerva's face as she returned her attention back to Felicis. "You're not going back to Hogwarts, dear," Minerva said in a soft tone.
"What? Why not? I get that there are children of Death Eaters there, but we can take the necessary precautions to keep me safe. I can't fall behind in my education," Felicis said, a hint of desperation in her voice.
Minerva let out a heavy sigh as she sat in an armchair, "I think it'd be best if we wait for Albus."
Felicis studied her godmother with furrowed brows, worry settling in her gut as she watched tears begin to swim in Minerva's eyes.
"What's going on?" Felicis cautiously asked,
"What aren't you telling me?"
Minerva drew her lips into a thin line as she took a shaky breath, she didn't respond.
Felicis jolted as a hand touched her shoulder, she whirled around to find Albus standing stoically before her.
"Albus, what is going on?" Felicis asked. "Why can't I go back to Hogwarts? Why do I have to stay here?"
Albus silently studied her, she noticed that he looked rather drained of energy, "None of the other people that I trust agreed to take you in."
"That doesn't explain why I can't go back to Hogwarts," Felics snapped.
Albus sighed, "The day you were attacked your attatchment to the Trace broke, there has been no reconnection since. The Ministry officially declared you as dead six days after the attack because of this."
Felicis furrowed her brows in contemplation, opening and closing her mouth to speak but stopping as none of her words felt right. She gave her self a little bit longer, digesting the information Albus had given to her and carefully choosing what her first response would be.
"That spell I was hit with," Felicis slowly said, "It broke my attatchment to the Trace?"
Albus nodded in reply.
"And the Ministry believes me to be dead? They're not involved in hiding me?"
Albus shook his head, "As far as the Ministry and the majority of the wizarding world are aware, you are dead."
"Has the spell done anything else to me?" Felicis cautiously asked.
"Besides leaving behind that faint pearlescense to your skin, it has stopped your aging," Albus replied.
"That's not possible, there has to be a mistake," Felicis said.
Albus took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh, "I had Madam Pomfrey visit and take a look at you. Her analysis said you were both dead and comatose. Her magic analyzing you as being dead is likely why your attatchment to the Trace broke and has yet to reconnect itself. Considering your heart is still beating, the most likely explanation is that you're not aging."
A heavy silence filled the room, Felicis unsure of how to proceed.
"That doesn't mean you can't continue your education," Arthur chimed in. "I'm sure there are textbooks you can read and assigments you can do here while a counter-curse is being searched for."
Felicis paled at Arthur's words. "I was hit with a curse?" She said in horror. Arthur shrunk back at the sigh of Felicis' stricken expression. An overwhelming fear overtook for a moment before she found herself unintentionally returning to the void. This time she was blanketed in numbness, floating in a complete nothingness just behind the fabric of time and reality. She happily embraced the loss of all sensation as she detatched herself from her body that stood in time and reality. It ended all to abruptly as she was pulled back by the voice of Minerva calling her name. Felicis found herself wrapped in the arms of Minerva, somewhat disoriented.
"Albus and I are doing everything that we can to find that counter-curse," Minerva reassured her.  Minerva released her, but Felicis clutched onto her robes for reassurance as a multitude of sensations spilled from her soul deep within her chest. Numbness, hollowness, a painful aching of unknown reason made her feel small and helpless. Minerva wrapped her arms around her once more and Felicis clung tightly to her, burying her face into Minerva's side. She was embarassed by her childish behavior but found herself unable to stop.
"We know that the curse can likely be linked to the House of Black," Albus said.
"Your intuition was correct about Sirius. We couldn't get you out of that dome, but he was able to. He somehow knew about the curse, but the Potters won't let us speak with him about it. Can you tell us anything that happened during the attack that might help."
Felicis remained silent, she didn't want to speak. Speaking when she felt like this became such a gargantuan task, it felt exhausting.
"Albus, you know it's hard for Felicis to speak when she shuts in on herself like this," Minerva quietly admonished.
"I understand that," Albus replied. "May I take the memory to look at later instead, Felicis?"
Thinking back to the attack, Felicis felt somewhat ashamed for her cruel actions and uncaring emotions. But she felt so tired and just wanted to get this done with and forget all about it. She couldn't care less about Albus' judgement at the moment. Felicis hesitantly nodded, face still pressed into Minerva's side. Minerva nodded in confirmation and Albus immediately pulled out his wand, summoning a small glass vial. Felicis grimaced as bits and pieces of the memory flashed in her mind as Albus removed a copy of it. Once finished, Minerva guided Felicis towards the couch and sat down beside her. "I think it would be best to continue the rest of this conversation later," Minerva said. "But I do believe Arthur made a good point in having Felicis continue her studies here. It will be something for her to focus on."
Felicis began to zone out once more as the conversation continued. Throughout its entirety she slipped in and out of the void, catching bits and pieces of the plans for the continuation of her education.