Celia I A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Time Off

Six Months Later -
19th July 2004:

I lay back in my chaise, finishing yet another book I had started on our travels. We were nearing the end of our summer holiday and I was dreading going back after finding out how amazing travelling could be.
Ever since Nick and Dean's wedding in January, our lives had been completely different. With the business now having three stores, George was always busy and I couldn't love my job more. I never realised that teaching would be the profession for me, but it made me feel so good.
Our relationship had only strengthened since Christmas. I realised now that last year was a test for us and we had come out of it even better.

"Babe! You'll never guess who I bumped into?" George states, rushing into our room and onto the balcony I was currently residing on.
"Who?" I ask him curiously, taking the tray of breakfast from his hands and placing it onto the end of the seat so he could join me. The sun had risen fully above us now and was beaming down onto the balcony of the villa we would be staying in for the next week.
"Cho Chang! She's on holidays as well." I raise my eyebrows at him and feel the need to groan coming to the surface.
"What a coincidence." I state sarcastically, pushing a warm pastry into my mouth.
"Oh don't be like that Ceils. She was your friend once upon a time." I roll my eyes at him and grab the cup of coffee.
"A friend who decided that her grief over my brother was worth more than mine and was a great excuse to stomp all over our trust... plus she totally bitched about us to Umbridge, you can't like her after that." I snap, anger crossing my mind as the memories came back.
"She was emotional maybe... but you can't blame her about Umbridge, she was tortured for hours and then given veritaserum." He sticks up for her and I frown at him in annoyance.
"We were all tortured George." I tell him, tracing over the bumps the scars had left on my right hand.
"Some more than others." I mumble, the memory of the pain coming back to me.

I could tell he didn't know what to say and I perk back up again, pushing the memories aside as we plan out our day.
"Are we going to the colosseum today?" I excitedly ask, wishing he would let my inner history geek shine.
"If you want. You know I think dad's obsession with muggles is rubbing off too much on you." He states, smirking as I laugh at him.
"Says you and your muggle phone. We could just send the pictures back by post you know. There's no need to have one of these." He acts offended by me and picks the phone up in defence.
"This is ten times faster than any owl can ever be. Why bother with owl post when you can just hit a button and it's sent by email to everyone?" His face glows with the excitement of the device and I leave him alone to finish off my breakfast.

The travelling we had done over the last few weeks was one of the best decisions we had ever made, especially after everything that we had been through this last year. It had given us both a chance to reflect on everything and where we stood after it, both independently and together.
I had soon realised that I had let my Legilimency control my life, including when I thought I was in control. The knowledge of having control over memories and thoughts of not only myself, but of others as well, had consumed me all of these years and instilled a terror within me of losing that control when I already had. Now I had realised this, it was easier to let it go, I didn't have to work hard in order to conceal other's minds from my own anymore. By acknowledging the ability as a gift rather than a curse, I had allowed myself to live my life the way I wanted to.

I decided to walk down into the town ahead of George, as I was desperate to get something I had spotted in a shop the day before.
As I walked down the cobbled streets I took in the sights around me, it truly made me realise how lucky we were to be here and have the opportunities we had during our time away from the busy city. I now realised why the group hadn't shut up for months after they had gotten back from travelling, even being just in Europe was such a blessing.
For years I had wished for anything but the life I had lived. I wanted to be someone else, have a different family, and live a normal life. But I had realised that I needed to go through everything I did in order to appreciate everything around me now.
Thinking about Cedric and my mother still made my heart hurt like nothing else, but I knew that they would want me to live my life and take every opportunity that arose for me throughout it. I had taken a leaf out of George's book and decided to embrace everything around me in a more positive way, instead of focusing on everything I had missed out on.
We had all been through some serious trauma in the last ten years, and as much as I felt it unfair, our lives would be completely different if it had never happened. All of those events we had survived had made us who we were, they made us strong, and resilient, and smart, and most importantly loving.
The family I had were everything to me, and I was glad I had finally remembered to embrace the living instead of holding onto the dead.

I turned into the shop and stopped in my steps as I stared at a face I had truly wished I would never see again.
"Celia, how great to see you!" I stared into the eyes of Cho and didn't speak a word; I knew whatever would come out would be nothing nice.
"How are your holidays?" She asked, walking to my side and smiling awkwardly at me. I knew I had to say something, but I just really didn't want to.
"Good." I replied finally, forcing myself to stop frowning.
"Great! George told me you guys had been travelling for a few weeks."
"Yeah." Again I wasn't helping with the awkwardness, but all I wanted to do was slap her.
"I've been here for a couple of days. My girlfriend and I needed a break from life, you know." I raise my eyebrows in response and nod, wondering why she was still talking to me.
"Cool." I say
"Look..." She starts, sighing and releasing the tension in her shoulders. "I just wanted to clear the air between us, you know. I feel like we never really had any closure and I just wanted to say, I'm sorry." I roll my eyes and look away, anger rising within me.
"Oh, I'm glad you want some closure." I snarkily reply
"Yeah... Oh, you don't feel the same?" She suddenly caught onto my feelings and frowned at me, annoying me even more.
"Look it's been years, we really don't need to do this." I state, moving to walk away.
"Wait, no. I truly am sorry." She says to my back, I turn around and stare at her in amusement, did she even know what she needed to apologise for?
"You don't have to be sorry, it doesn't matter anymore." I turn around again and go to walk into the store.
"It does. You all thought I had sold us out, but I truly didn't mean it." She starts again and I stop in anger as I realised she didn't even know why I was so angry.
"You know, I got over you tattling on us years ago, when I realised that was all down to weakness. Yes I know Umbridge used veritaserum on you, but you were never strong enough to go up against her, that's why she chose you in the first place." I start, watching her eyes crumple in confusion.
"They tortured me!" She states, her eyes watering.
"Don't you think we all went through that? Look!" I say, throwing my hand in her face so she could read my scars.
'My brother died in vain.'
The words were faint, but I had been made to write it so many times that it had scarred clearly.

"I didn't know..." She says, tears falling as she read the scripture on my hand.
"Yeah, well now you do." I reply.
"Why are you still angry at me then?" She asks after a moment of silence.
"I'm angry because you only ever thought of yourself, Cho! You were meant to be my friend and instead of supporting me, you constantly cried your eyes out over a boy you barely knew, who was my brother by the way. And then you kissed Harry and you didn't even understand what that did to me! I was angry at you for being a bad friend, I don't like you because you're selfish." She looked taken aback and I sighed.
"I..." She started and I interrupted her.
"I'm not saying I like you, because I don't. But we've come along way since we were fifteen, we've grown up and I've been through a lot worse. We don't need to be friends, you don't need my forgiveness, nor do we ever need to talk to each other again. But, I do hope you enjoy your holiday." I look at her one more time and walk into the store, buying what I needed and heading back to the villa.

As I walked into the room, I headed straight for George and grabbed his hands.
"What's all this about?" He asks, laughing as I pulled him towards me and kissed him.
"I bumped into Cho." I state, sitting down on the bed next to him.
"Oh really..." He says, staring at me.
"It didn't go so great, but I feel better now."
"You weren't mean were you?" He asks.
"Only a little, but I realised that I didn't really care anymore." I reply.
"Why's that?"
"Because I have you and we have an amazing life together." I smile at him as his eyes soften at my cheesiness.
"What were you doing anyway?" He asks me, looking at the bag in my hands.
"I got you this." I state, pulling a purple corduroy jacket out of the bag.
"Oh Ceils..." He grabs the jacket and holds it up, admiring it.
"It reminded me of Fred, he had one just like it." I state, picturing his brother wearing something similar.
"He had great taste..." George states, pulling the jacket on and smiling wide.
"He really did." I reply, taking in the moment of just us.