lonesome

“Actually you told them to leave you alone.” Tori mentioned, gesturing to the people who were bitching about the others attitude as they walked off. “You didn’t tell me anything.” She shrugged. “I was trying to be considerate for once, think about someone other then myself, see if you were okay given you’ve just sort of sat down in a pile of glass. But fuck me I guess, maybe I should continue to be the self absorbed bitch that I normally am.”

“You were in their general vicinity, I figured you were also bitching about me too. It goes with your vibe,” Rose added in defence, though upon the other’s words she looked down to see that she was in fact now sitting in shards of glass and a small pool of her own blood. Rose didn’t even notice the pain from that given the searing aches coming from her belly. “You could or you could help me up and let me sit somewhere that’s not going to harm me any more than I already hurt?”

“Hey, man, back off. She said to leave her alone,” James said, pushing him aside and kneeling down to his cousin, “Rose, hey, come here,” he pulled her into his arms. No point in asking if she was alright because… well, who was right now? “I got you. You want me to beat that guy up, I will,” he said.

Rose heard the familiar voice of her cousin and looked up, a soft smile forming on her lips as he offered his arms to her. “Hey Jamesie,” she replied, hugging him back, the pressure on different parts of her body proving to be a distraction to stop her thinking about her belly. “No playing hero,” Rose told him. “I’m just sick of people thinking that I’m a conduit for mum. Like I know anything that goes on in there? I am purposely kept out of business to protect myself.”

Hugo was already limping, he knew that he was warned that his leg would need some getting used to and it would change. He may have been overworking himself a little too much also, between starting back at work and not giving himself rest to go to the festival. “Honestly, I don’t blame you because me either. It’s kind of weird, y’know? I feel like we were put on pause but no one else was. Which seems pretty accurate though considering we kind of were. What do you say we go find a table somewhere to get lunch? I could use a rest. Do you think you’d feel a bit safer somewhere inside for a bit?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it. The whole world was going on while we were just... not,” Rose echoed back. It’s like they were frozen in time for a while, which she did appreciate but it meant that getting back to normal and being out in public after the attack on her mum felt like a big step. “Inside is good. Maybe grab some food and head to Diagon or somewhere away from the crowds?”

“Mum and I had another conversation about me and going back to work. She thinks that I need more time,” Hugo said with a sigh. “As you know, I’m ready to go back. Plus, I don’t think she can say anything considering she is back in the public eye after someone tried to kill her. Which, that’s a whole other worry there.”

“If you’re ready to go back then you’re ready to go back. End of,” Rose agreed with her brother. “Mum always worried over you, it’s her nature to do that. But you’re absolutely right. She nearly got herself murdered so really it’s her we should be worrying about,” she sighed. It was a lot of extra stress on Rose’s plate, but she didn’t often let on about it. Only around Hugo. “What’s stopping you from just turning up and going to wrangle in some dragons, huh?”

“I uh– sorry I forgot I was making that face out loud,” Dom barked a laugh after being called out on it. “I just cannot remember if I left my straighteners on or not. Maybe I should pop by the apartment or see if Clem’s headed back first, I wouldn’t want to come back and not be able to find the building anymore.”

“You were, kinda sad I didn’t get a picture of it for future birthday cards,” Rose teased. “Do you want to apparate back? I’ll grab your coffee for you and wait here,” she suggested. “Go stop a disaster in waiting, I’m not going anywhere.”