✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

74 | U N C O N D I T I O N A L L Y

•••
He brought out the worst in me,
and was the best thing that         
                     ever happened to me.
•••

   "How could she even makeit into the  safety zone of our spells?"

   "I don't know, and to be honest, I don't even care. Can you fix her, Mum?"

   "She's on her best way back to health. But her face ... Well, we'll have to see, if the scar will remain."

   Lynnea tried to sort the voices around me. Well aware she knew every single one of them, her brain took a lot of time to find the matching faces. Her eyelids felt heavy and her head ached. She tried to move it, but a sharp pain shot through the left half of her face, so she decided to just do the most necessary move: breathe.

   "We still need to find out, how she was able to get here", a male voice calmly said."Don't get me wrong, son, I'm glad she's here, but if she's able to get through the spells, then a Death Eater would also be."

   "Maybe if we redo them", another male voice, a much younger one, replied.

   "I don't want to imagine, what would have happened, if she wouldn't have landed inside the shield", a female voice muttered and Lynnea felt a soft hand stroke her hair back, but still felt unable to move even the tiniest muscle.

   "Me neither", the younger male voice said.

   "What do you think happened to Ron, Harry and Hermione?", the woman whispered.

   "Nothing, I guess",said the elder man. "It would be in the news the second they'd get a catch of Harry."

   Harry ... Why didn't he, Ron and Hermione came back to Grimmauld Place? Lynnea just hoped the man was right and nothing happened to them. She just hoped, they didn't return to Sirius' old house to look for her. They'd run straight into the arms of the Death Eaters ...

   She heard a door snap in its lock.

   "Is she okay?", another man asked. "How did she get here?"

   "She is", the woman said.

   "We have no idea, maybe the charms didn't work properly. I'll check them." Someone left the room.

   Lynnea was sure the new voice belonged to Remus. She needed to tell him, what happened. She needed to stop him from returning to Grimmauld Place! With all force she could afford, she opened her eyes, staring up at the pale faces of Mrs Weasley, Fred, George and Remus.

   "Lynnie!", George gasped. "Are you alright?"

   "Definitely had had better days", Lynnea muttered.

   "What happened? Where are the others?", Remus asked, kneeling down next to his goddaughter. She was laying on the Weasleys' couch, where months ago George was suffering from his off-cut ear.

   "I don't know, I was waiting for Harry, Ron and Hermione to return from – well, from wherever they were", she stopped herself from blurting out what the three had been up to. Remus threw her a suspicious gaze Lynnea ignored."But instead of them, a Death Eater was standing in the hallway of Grimmauld Place. If there weren't that dusty figure, I'd be having a date with Vol-"

    "NO!", all four ofthem yelled, then Fred said: "Don't use his name! There's a taboo on it. They jinxed it, for they know the only ones using it were Harry, you and a few of Order People. It breaks all the protecting charms that had been put up."

   "But we used his name atGrimmauld Place ...", Lynnea said, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing happened. I didn't call his name, when the Death Eater appeared."

   "The Fiddelius Charm can't be broken", Remus explained. "We all put one up. But they'd know we did, when someone of us would say his name. They'd still appear here, find nothing, and know what spell has been cast. That would make us seem fishy. And we're all observed anyway."

   Looking at her godfather, Lynnea felt guilty for what she said weeks ago. "Remus, I -"

   He raised his hand to interrupt her. "Don't apologize, Lynn", he said and smiled tiredly. "That was exactly what I needed. I panicked. And you and Harry were right. I should have never even thought about leaving my family."

  Lynnea nodded, glad he wasn't angry with her, or worse. "How's Tonks?"

   "She's fine", Remus replied, beaming. "It'll be a boy."

   "That's great!" She smiled and sat up. "So ... what happened to me? Why am I lying here? Last one who did, is holy now. Am I holy, too?"

   "Not exactly", Fred said with a sad smile. "You splinched. Your face ... Well, it's matching your throat now. You girls love matching things, aren't you?"

   Lynnea froze, thinking of the right side of her throat where now, three months after Greyback's attack, a big ugly scar was marking her skin; not like the petite line on her neck. You could see where Greybacks teeth had buried into her flesh, still red and sore. By the pure imagination of having something in the middle of her face, she shivered.

"It's not that bad", Fred said when he saw his girlfriend's facial expression drop. "It's just ...Well, have a look at it yourself." He flicked his wand and a small mirror appeared in his hand. He gave it to her, while everyone was watching her with a strange look upon their faces.

"Oh my ...", she muttered, her eyes widened. From her left temple over her eye down to her jaw was a large white jagged scar adorning the girl's face. "I look like Mad-Eye ..."

   "Well, you still have your nose, love", Fred said with a smirk.

   "Fred!", Mrs Weasley snapped, then she looked at me. "It's not that bad, dear. I can't make it disappear completely, therefore we would have to bring you to St. Mungo's, but as you're Great Britain's most wanted woman, that won't be the best idea ..."

   "It's okay", Lynnea sighed, putting the mirror aside. "So, no wedding for us, huh?" She refused to look at Fred, the image of her destroyed face still burnt into her vision. The scar on her throat was burning, as if it wanted to emphasize the fact, that she was looking like a walking car crash.

   "What do you mean?",Fred asked dazzled. "Of course there'll be a wedding."

   "Oh, come on, just look at me, this can't be what you want to spent your whole life with", Lynnea muttered, frowning and her eyes narrowed.

   "Has she some serious damage on her brain, too, Mum?", Fred asked, looking at his mother, who smiled with flashing eyes at her son, before she shook her head chuckling. Then his gaze fell on Lynnea, her green eyes locked with his caramel brown ones, expecting the worst was yet to come out of his mouth now. "Lynnea, even if a Chimera would have treated your face and there'd be nothing left of it, I'd still marry you! You're themost beautiful girl in this whole word to me -"

   "Merlin, I'm getting diabetes", George muttered, rolling his eyes.

   "- and the only reason not to marry you, would be my own death", he finished, ignoring his twin. "Or if your face would transform into Snape's. But lets be honest, you understand that, don't you?"

   Lynnea stared at him bug-eyed. She knew, he loved her, but still this was Fred Weasley; the guy that dated every beautiful girl in Hogwarts; Lynnea never thought of herself as being beautiful, but she wasn't bad-looking on the other hand. Somewhere hidden in her mind always was the thought that her character alone wasn't that loveable, that it has to be her looks Fred was mostly interested in. But now this guy was standing in front of her, staring at her damaged face,telling her she was beautiful, telling her he still wanted her to be his wife ... She would have never thought, Fred Weasley would love her this much.

   "Yeah, unbelievable, I know", George sighed. "Freddie has grown up. Who'd ever thought this could happen?"