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Man of secrets, two lives that he’s been living in
Stolen identity, stolen dreaming
Who is he if he just go and tell it like it is?
I bet he’s dying to know
But how dare you want more?
- The Bleachers
~`~
Angelina knew something was wrong when her tea turned to ice.
It wasn’t often that someone came into the spell damage ward that she actually knew. Even less often was it someone that she went to school with. And even less often than that was it family.
Her mother had one sister and one brother, both who had married and got divorced. Her Auntie Mary had one son, her cousin Cassius Warrington, and because of a bad home check, he had lived with his father most of his life. Her Uncle Eric had also had one son, her cousin Graham Montague, he had grown up with his mother, but that was more because of racism than ability to care for a child.
So Angelina didn’t know either of her cousins that well, but Cassius was coming around more and more. He got along well with her father and he was the older brother that David deserved to have, more than George was, despite all he tried to do for David. It probably helped a bit more that Cassius looked like them, and despite growing up in the wizarding world and having a witch and a wizard for parents, he could navigate the Muggle world really well.
Angelina was sure it was more thanks to Cassius’ new boyfriend than anything, but it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that her tea was a block of ice now and her twins were kicking her like crazy as she walked over to the newest patient in the ward. She had always hated the overnight shifts, more than anything else in the world did she hate these late nights.
They were either boring, or too exciting to want to deal with.
“Johnson,” sneered Montague as Angelina started looking at his chart. Every hair on the back of her neck was raised, but she wasn’t sure if it was nerves or just how cold she felt with Graham so close to her.
“It’s Weasley now,” Angelina told him quietly, ignoring the ice in his tone, in his voice. She pressed a hand to her stomach as she got a particularly hard kick to her side. “What happened to you?”
Graham’s face tightened and Angelina was ready to tell him that she was the only free Healer on the ward, she had sent the other three off for a break as it was a quiet night. He was the first patient they had had in over an hour.
“I’m not having a stupid half-blood treat me,” growled Montague, and Angelina could faintly hear their Grandmamma Bethany’s accent on the words ‘treat me’. It was just the slight tang of the hard ‘T’.
“Well then you won’t have anyone to help you,” said Angelina, grimacing as she got another hard kick to her side. “Everyone else is on break, and they’re all Muggleborns.”
It was a lie, but Angelina had to admit that she liked the little look of horror and annoyance on Graham’s face. The fact that both of her cousins grew up so ignorant and arrogant of the sacrifices their family had gone through, their grandparents and aunts and uncles, of Angelina and Roxie and David, it was disgusting. They were all normal people, they were all the same in so many ways.
They had all lost someone in the war, Cassius had lost his mother, the only real parent that cared about him, that had given him hope and loved him unconditionally. She had supported him when he came out, given him the home he always deserved when his father had abandoned him, had loved him and hid him when the Death Eaters had come to kill them. Graham had lost his little brother Alvin, he had died the summer the war really took off, had been killed while out with the Death Eaters. He had been fifteen, the same age as Roxie, but he was tall and smart and clever, it had also been his downfall. And Angelina had lost Roxie, when Death Eaters came to raid their home, she had been the only one home.
Angelina had found her and with Roxie’s death it felt like the whole world had fallen apart.
“Fine then,” grumbled Montague, and Angelina listened carefully as he told her about a spell gone wrong. A combination of a freezing charm and a disbursement spell and now everything around him started freezing.
“You really shouldn’t be playing around with spells,” Angelina told him as she handed him a dose of Pepperup Potion. Graham rolled his eyes, and glared at the little cup Angelina had given him.
“What is this? Poison?”
“Yes,” snapped Angelina, glaring back at him. All of the good memories she had of Graham were very far and few, but one that she could never forget was the first time he had taken her flying out on the grandparents property.
He was three years older than her, so he had a proper broom before Angelina. He had just plucked her up and told her to hold on, it had been so magical, like what Muggles thought of the word. The wind in her hair, the sunlight glowing on her skin, the rush of going so fast and so high, it was a feeling she chased after for years and years.
And for years after she chased the feeling of being free, of being five years old again and on a real broom.
But it was ruined now, flying was out of the question with her current state, in less than two weeks she would have newborn twins. One little boy and one little girl, a new little Freddie and a new little Roxanne.
She hoped that one day they would get that feeling, they would get to feel the wind in their hair and sunshine on their skin, that they would go chasing after the joy Angelina had felt. The joy that Graham, her annoyingly bad tempered older cousin had given her.
It had been the last good memory they had.
“This feels better,” said Montague, the as his cheeks started to turn red and steam came out of his ears. “Thank you Angie.”
The frost in his hair was starting to melt and even the air around them was warming up. Angelina would still need to make a new cup of tea though.
But it was worth it as Graham smiled at her, something she hadn’t seen in years, since his mother took him away from them. Angelina nodded and smiled at him, resting a hand on her stomach, George wasn’t going to believe her when she got home and told him about this night, about Graham, but it didn’t matter.
She would remember.
“I want you take a dose twice a day, every day, for the next week,” Angelina told him, pulling a small prescription pad from her robes pocket. “If you get cold again or frostbite, come back in, I’ll make a note in your chart.”
“You’ll be here right?” asked Graham, his voice softer than Angelina had heard in years.
“My maternity leave is starting soon,” Angelina told him, patting her stomach. “And these two are going to keep me pretty busy.”
“Yeah, Cassius told me that you were having twins,” said Graham, his eyes slipping away from Angelina’s face to her stomach. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” said Angelina, before she handed over the prescription slip and got to her feet.
She needed a new cup of tea.