I See Fire
Written as Isla Weasley (Nee Harper) TW: Selfharm, Suicide, SexualAssaultLeaving Charlie Weasley standing in that field was still one of the most painful memories Isla held in her heart. The look in his eyes when he realised she wouldn’t be coming with him to Romania. The heartbreak she had caused him. It destroyed her. He had been her everything, he was still her everything even all these years later. That day haunted her dreams, making each one painful and her nights long as she tried to avoid cruel dreams which owned her fully. Her mother had always told her not to let a man be the reason she cried. And she had done her mother proud on that. It wasn’t a man who was the reason; it was herself. She had left him. She had chosen to remain in her mother’s past rather than chase her future. A past which lead her mother to her early grave. A past she was now burdened to carry alone.
She often considered following in her mother’s footsteps, allowing the past to consume her and the steel of a blade to silence the pain. But, the memory of him kept her planted on this earth. Praying, hoping for another chance. Maybe, just maybe she would see him again and she could apologise for everything she had done. The pain she had caused and say yes to that question he had asked all those years ago. But she knew better than most. Second chances didn’t exist. She had chosen her path and he…His. And she was sure whatever woman had come after she had made him happier than she ever had. She would be, after all, much less haunted by ghosts than she was.
The only tie the woman had to her old life of happiness was his mother, Molly had refused to let her go. Insisting, promising that one day everything would work out. She had spent plenty of nights at the Weasley house, watching Charlie’s younger siblings grow into men he would have been proud of. His sister carried that same fiery temper he had locked within him. She watched Fred and George fall in love with the same intensity they had. Watched Ron and Hermione bicker over the same conversation topics, standing on the sidelines as the family she could have had grew and refused to make the same mistakes she and Charlie had when it came to that decision...Almost all of them, George would heal and if Ellie had sense she would return before it was too late. She wouldn’t be haunted by the same what-ifs that Isla heard whisper to her in the sombre silence which often followed the Ravenclaw Graduate.
The only reason why Isla had turned up to Hogwarts in the bitter chill of the night was because Molly had called for her. An owl she very rarely saw soaring through the sky and dropping the hastily written note. It was why she had run through the gates of Hogwarts, past the statues which cracked to life with tired scrapes of gravel against one another. Past the students, teachers and others who had come scrambling around to put up defences. Her hands found Molly’s shoulders before pulling her into a comforting, reassuring hug.
“I’m here. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
Isla’s voice carried on the wind; almost becoming lost within the growing choir of fear ricocheting through the stone walls she had once called home. Squeezing ever so gently when Molly gave her that look, one which broke her own heart. One which she had seen her mother carry for so many years before peace. A look of fear.
“I’ll protect them, don’t worry,” was all she spoke, before turning and look up at the sky which seemed to be falling, squeezing Molly’s hand, reassurance.
Then came the onslaught. Deatheaters, Werewolves, armies that had risen from the darkness. Ans she did as she promised. She protected them. She protected Ron when one had tried to ambush him. She protected George as he became distracted by his Mother’s voice. She protected Fred as Katie’s scream helped him avoid his own early grave…She wanted to protect him too. But, she could only pray he had stayed away from it all, remained safe and happy with whoever he had fallen in love in Romania. She prayed he had stayed and let her protect him from this war.
She had hurt so many, she was sure she had even killed a couple. She hadn’t wanted to; but she did. She had tried so hard yet here she was, cornered by Deatheaters as she panted for breath. On her knees. She had always refused to fall on her knees for men, yet here she was. Her ocean eyes glaring at each of them, a defiant look burning inside her. She refused to beg even when death was a mere breath away. They wouldn’t take her dignity from her. Not when it was all she had left. Her eyes closed when she heard a raspy voice start to articulate the two words which would end her life in just a heartbeat. She waited for the cool sensation she often heard described with death.
Yet all she felt was fire.
Her eyes snapped open and her hues widened when she saw the tendrils of fire surrounding her, eradicating anybody who had posed a threat to her. Eyebrows knit together while the sound of beating wings serenaded her. A small smile curled onto her glossed lips as a dragon oh so familiar to her landed just shy of in front of her. Slowly, the woman pushed herself off the ground, closing the distance between her and the creature, hand extended before her soft touch found the dragon’s scaly skin. She knew this dragon. It had been the one she had gifted her boyfriend. The one she had watched him raise in secret from his mother before Molly had it sent away before Charlie followed.
It was funny, how such a simple memory brought tears to Isla’s eyes, followed by a soft sob- then a laugh. He was here, even after finding his place in Romania he had returned for his family. Just like Charlie always did. Oh, she hoped she didn’t run into him. Seeing him with another woman, seeing his smile at his wife the way he used to smile at her..It would destroy her. Stroking the very creature that had them spending long nights in the cornfields surrounding his home, looking up at the stars and planning their future together. A future she had ripped away from him.
“They remember everyone who they deem important. Dragons. Even after we’re gone, he’s likely to remember us. Isn’t that bittersweet?”
She heard his words inside her mind, a voice she missed so much. She let out another sob before lowering her hand, stepping away from the Dragon. Away from the closest she had gotten to the love of her life in years, stepping away from him again in the hopes that he’d be happier without her.
“Keep him safe for me, yeah?”
She whispered to the creature, watching as it returned to the skies; as graceful and handsome as she remembered them to be. As she remembered him being. And in that moment she swore that she saw him, behind the dancing fire; watching her.
