Circi | 2

TWO

"The Letter"

August 1993, 2 months later

Serenity apparates into the shadows of an average neighbourhood in an average town on the British coast. The smell of salt and the sound of the sea is in the air and, under yellow streetlights, she hobbled down the street.

Glancing over her shoulder as she walks, pulling the shoulder of her torn shirt over her bleeding shoulder where she had been splinched on her way out of Azkaban, she attempts to locate the right cottage. The front door to a cottage she had just passed opens, and when a tall man walks out, appearing to wield a wand, she turns into the nearest front garden and ducks behind the picketed fence.

She peeks between the fence panels and watches him stab the 'wand' through the air. It extends, revealing a broom-end, and a cat hisses and runs from the porch.

The porch-light of the cottage she was sheltering by turned on and, now seeing the postbox attached to the wall by the front door, she could see the black letters that spelled out 'TONKS'. With a weak smile, Serenity pushed herself up, falling to her knees as her wounded arm gave out on her.

Crawling along the stone path and up the stairs, she uses the door handle to pull herself up and knocks on the door. She waits in the moonlight, leaning against the house, even when the porch light flickered out. After five minutes, she gave a weak knock once again and sat down. Perhaps they sleep deeply, and she'll have to wait until the morning. That is, until the light behind the stained-glass window in the door brightened up the grimy hospital scrubs she wasn't allowed to change for eleven years.

The door opened, and she dragged her eyes from the hardwood floor to the white socks and up at a woman with light brown hair in a silver robe.

"Uh, hello?" Holding out her hand for help standing up, Serenity seemed to deflate at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Andy?" She croaked, grabbing at the air. A silence passed between them.

"Oh my-" Andromeda crouched down and searched her face, eyebrows drawn tight together. "Serenity?" As soon as she registered the presence of her old friend, Andromeda was gripping her and practically dragging her over the threshold. With the door shut and the two woman lying on the hardwood floor of the front hallway in each other's arms. For a long time the silence of the night filled the house and the faint snores of Ted, Andromeda's husband. And, then, Serenity began to cry- no, she began to wail. She clung onto Andromeda's robe as if her life depended on it, shaking like the last leaf of autumn. Andromeda raised her hand up from behind Serenity's shoulder to see the blood covering it. "Ren, you're bleeding." Pulling away, she inspects her wounded arm.

Footsteps come down the hall and, dressed in only a pair of boxer shorts, Ted Tonks rubs his eyes and looks down at his wife in bewilderment.

"Dromeda," he mumbles and shuffles forward.

"Ted! Help me get her into the lounge." As Andromeda hoists Serenity up by her good arm, she guides the wailing woman away from the front door. Confused and embarrassed to be in his underwear around guests, Ted opens the door to their left and follows the two women into the small, rustic lounge. Serenity sits on a wicker-framed sofa and slumps over, crying into her hands. "Don't just stand there, dear," Andromeda gently turns her husband back to the door, "can you get one of my nightgowns, please? And a glass of water."

"Wait, is that-" before he had the chance to say anymore, he was in the hallway and the door was shut.

Serenity mumbles 'water' under her breath and then begins to clutch her throat and whine again. In reality, she hadn't drunk clean, cold water in a very long time and the soft cushions and the red throw with tasselled corners that hung over the top of the couch provided her the most comfort in such a long time.