Wisps of Beth Black ϟ Fred Weasley [2] (ON HOLD)

1

'...and I truly hope you agree to come with us. I know you hate me a lot right now, you might always hate me, but I hope that I can change that. I know you hate Quidditch as well, but this will be different to what we play at Hogwarts, it'll be even bigger and better. Dad got an extra ticket for Mum but she doesn't want to go, so I instantly thought of you. Please write back by Wednesday.

Love, Fred.'

"Ew," Beth Black lied through her lips, feeling regret and hurt as she scrunched up Fred Weasley's fifth letter and tossed it in the little trash can by her desk.

It was hard convincing herself that she hated him and that she didn't miss him, but it just wasn't true. Deep down, she knew. But forcing herself to openly loathe him wasn't too difficult, she had done it before...just a little less. But, the sad truth was, she missed him so much.

Why oh why did he have to fool her like that? Why him of all people? She wanted to go with him, anything to leave this awful place. There was a loud thud that interrupted Beth's train of thought and she knew it was her mother stumbling all over the place downstairs, drunk out of her mind with, surely, a male companion. There was usually someone new every week and the stranger and her mother would make so much noise and Beth barely got any sleep.

Her mother called for her.

Beth sat frozen for a moment. She did love her mother. Her true mother was hidden in that shell of a person, somewhere deep down, but when she drank, or put even worse things in her body, she wasn't the kindest. She was...bitter. Cruel.

The girl sighed and left her desk chair, but not before grabbing her wand just in case the person her mother brought home was a creep. Walking slowly down the stairs with her wand in her pocket, she could hear the giggling of her mother and the hoarse whispering of a male.

When Mandy Hildebrant swung around with a bottle of whiskey in her hand, she pointed to her daughter and giggled childishly, then facing her new boyfriend. A man who was tall with a dark complexion...so tall he probably had to duck when walking through a door.

"This is my daughter, the one I was telling you about," she said in a loud whisper, as though she didn't expect Beth to be able to hear her at all. Mandy's blonde locks bounced as she turned her head back and forth from her daughter to the stranger. "She's not much a talker. Beth, this is Baldwin, he goes by Barry though 'cause he feels Baldwin is an insult to his bald head."

Her mother burst into fits of laughter along with the man, who looked like he had already made himself home as he leaned against a wall and crossing his arms. Mandy walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his middle as he did the same to her.

"Can I go now?" Beth said monotonously, blinking slowly. Her mother usually did this -- introduced her to men she never ended up seeing again.

"Barry, this one's the devil I tell you. 'Cause she's a -- here, I'll tell you in secret, come closer -- she's a witch!" Her mother burst into a fit of giggles again as Barry's shoulders bobbed back and forth with his laughter. He must have thought it was an insult to Beth, not understanding that she was truly a witch. But Beth's mother calling her the devil did hurt. "Not kidding, she even goes to a school and all!"

"What do they learn there, how to do rituals? Any of them human sacrifices, girl?" The man's deep voice rumbled, before he himself laughed until he coughed.

"Why don't you come and find out?" Beth said, narrowing her eyes at the man.

Mandy didn't seem to like the sound of this, as she turned around with a scoff and staggered towards the railing of the stairs that Beth hadn't bothered to descend fully from. Mandy's brown eyes went small and beady as she glared at her daughter. Beth could smell the liquor on her mother's breath and she hated it, but she was so used to it that her nose didn't even recoil on it's own.

Mandy pointed a finger in her daughters face. "Don't you dare talk to him like that, girly. You're the devil! The devil! The devil, I tell you!" she bellowed.

Barry didn't seem to care that Mandy was furious at her daughter, only swooped over and lifted Mandy off her feet before spinning her around, causing the woman to giggle and clutch around the back of his neck.

Beth fought against her tears and ran back up the stairs into her bedroom where she slammed her door shut. She hated being called that by her mother. Hated it. But she couldn't help but to forgive her mother every night when she would come in, thinking Beth was asleep, stroke Beth's hair and whisper about how sorry she was. That was about the only time Mandy was sober, right before she went to bed if there wasn't anybody staying the night.

She didn't let her tears fall down her face, only took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let them wash away.

Mandy had her good days, but she also had her bad days. Beth was just glad she had a lock on her bedroom door.

On her bad days when nobody was over and it was just her and Beth, she would convince Beth that the outside world was cruel. True, Beth thought every time, but it's not as bad as you make it out to be. People did suck and they did get to Beth, but only if she let them.

On Mandy's bad days she would sob about Regulus Black, whimpering his name, clutching a photograph of him. After sixteen years she was still so miserable about him, and it scared Beth to death. She didn't want to love someone so much, so very much, just to have them ripped away from her, leading to her never getting over the misery, the heartache. It was terrifying seeing her mother behave this way because she was afraid of it happening to her.

No wonder she pushed Fred away.

But she found herself writing a letter to him anyway.