3 Nov: Loss: Girl’s Dorm: Charlotte

[Daisy Hookum]

3 Nov 1978

Seated on her trunk in her dorm room, Daisy was staring at the floor while she blinked back tears. Tomorrow was one week since her world had come tumbling apart around her, one week since the Halloween Masquerade. That day had started off so good, a trip into Hogsmeade where her and Peter worked things out, and yet had ended with her in near hysterics. Because Elizabeth Hookum was gone - just like that. One spell in a house that was supposed to be safe to the chest of the woman that was supposed to be safe, and a piece of her heart ceased to exist. Her mother was young, and full of life - she’d just started dating again - it wasn’t supposed to just be over. Peter had checked on her mother, he’d seen her just hours before it happened. Her mum had been alive, happy to hear her and Peter had worked things out. Not once in all of her seventeen years of life had Daisy stopped to consider she would have to live without her mother. Life without her father had been her normal, she’d been four when he had died, and while his death had been a tragic loss for her family, the only memories she had of him where pictures on a shelf. A shelf in the house that was now hers, because she was alone now.

The thought made her chest ache, and she tried to choke back a sob at the sudden tears that sparked. She would have to go to her mother's funeral, something she was at least grateful that she didn’t have to handle. Her mother’s coworkers at Mungos, bless them, had stepped up to help her in this past week, as she sat in an empty house surrounded by her mother’s things. So many people coming by, bringing food. Offering their apologies for what happened, making her want to scream. None of the people apologizing had stopped it, her mother didn’t have to die. Someone should have known this was coming, someone should have done something to save her mother. But blaming those just trying to help was useless, pointless anger. It had been Death Eaters that had taken her mother from her, another parent lost due to the minds of people with distorted views of good and evil. She’d never been bitter for the loss of her father, perhaps because she had no relationship with him that she could recall. But her mother? Oh, the anger was brewing in her heart, the bitterness sinking in as she felt like her soul was being ripped apart. She had so many emotions, all conflicting and overwhelming, and she didn’t know how she was supposed to go on.

Here she was, first night back at school, and she was already just sitting in her dorm and crying. She’d arrived during dinner, but food had sounded less than appealing. She wasn’t ready to face everyone, not all at once. Peter had been with her during the week, and that had helped. But he wasn’t with her here at school, where prying eyes and kinda were going to be upon her. A week away from the school, with the war as bad as it was? Everyone would know something had happened, even if they didn’t know what. Her mother had had good connections, and one in the prophet who wasn’t going to let the name or exact location of the latest Dark Mark victim be released until the holidays, when Daisy could be away from the school and the rumors that would certainly follow. The noise of the dorm door opening startled her, and she stood abruptly and opened her trunk, hoping the rummaging would help hide the tears.

[Charlotte Fudge]

The long walk up to Gryffindor Tower after dinner seemed to stretch as Charlotte’s tired legs carried her there. This last week had taken its toll on her, she could selfishly realize; she wasn’t sleeping well with Daisy gone, with her dearest friend dealing with the loss of her mother and, with that, the loss of so much more. The security that Daisy had felt, knowing that her mother was waiting for her at home with that unconditional love rare to good mothers, was gone. And beyond the personal loss, Mrs. Hookum being attacked at home, a senseless murder at the hands of the Death Eaters…could any of them who knew the truth look at the world the same again? Who were these people that thought they could play muggle God? That Remus and the Order were going to actively fight against sooner rather than later? The thoughts were terrifying, for if the Hookum house wasn’t safe, was any place they knew out of bounds?

They wouldn’t come to Hogwarts, would they? Remus thinks it’s the safest space to be, but if even he’s not sure...shouldn’t we be doing something more? she thought for the umpteenth time as she entered the common room, mind wandering as she passed through on her way to the stairs. An attack had happened in her third year on Hogsmeade, to be fair, but the wizarding village lacked the constant presence of their professors and headmaster, many of which she was confident would be able to hold their own during a confrontation. While in Hogsmeade the shop owners and visitors were less likely to be prepared, they were an easier target…

Charlotte had no personal experience to draw from to support her friend now, only second-hand experiences from observing Remus and the others after the loss of the Potters, and worried that she’d be useless to help upon Daisy’s return. She’d written, of course, letting her know that she didn’t need to worry about classes, that she’d fill her in on the content when she was back, that she’d make sure that she was given extensions or exemptions on the work, that she loved her and was thinking of her and knew that this was impossible… Word hadn’t yet gotten to The Prophet, although Charlotte read closely daily for mention of the tragedy, but curiosity was spreading through the school. She’d been questioned about Daisy’s whereabouts by people she hadn’t ever spoken with, and did her best to deflect them. It wasn’t her story to tell, especially not to these information-hungry vultures who wanted the gossip.

But upon opening the door to their dormitory, figuring her night would entail reaching out to Daisy and Remus again, she was surprised to see the redhead bent over her trunk. "Daisy?" Charlotte sped up, taking her friend into her arms. "Daisy, oh - I’m glad you’re here."

[Daisy Hookum]

While she wasn’t sure which one of her dorm mates had come up from dinner, Daisy was relieved when she realized it was Charlotte. Daisy hugged her friend tightly, not bothering to stop the tears that were already falling. Being away from her best friend during all of this had been trying. A sob escaped her, and Daisy clung to Charlotte tighter, not bothering to stop the tears that were falling. While she’d mourned the loss of the Potter’s over the summer, it hadn’t hurt like this. Maybe it was because she didn’t know them as well as she would have liked, or maybe it was just because it wasn’t her parents that had died. She’d cried with all of them, and they’d gotten through it. But now she understood, more than she had ever wanted to, just how James and Sirius had felt this summer. Taking a deep breath, she took a step back from Charlotte, doing her best to calm herself down.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she said as she sat down on her bed, wiping the lingering tears from her eyes. She’d appreciated the letters she had received from her best friend, as well as the ones Remus was sending to check in on her. But it wasn’t the same as being in the school, the place that had been her second home for so many years now. While it may have seemed strange to come back to school so soon, being in her dorm was easier than sitting alone in her bedroom at the house that was so cold and empty without her mother “I’ve got to have so much homework to catch up on, I know the teachers will probably give me extra time considering but…” she trailed off, giving a sigh and shrug of her shoulders. Schoolwork didn’t seem important to her on the best of days, but now? Missing one day was bad enough, but she’d been gone for the entire week. There wouldn’t be any catching up, not when the only consistent thought that kept floating through her mind was why? Why did it have to be her mother who died, why did she have to go through this. Why hadn’t her mother told Peter something was wrong, because surely her mother had known that she was a target. Otherwise she wouldn’t have written her such an odd letter before she died.

“What’s the rumor that’s been started about me being gone? And don’t tell me there isn’t one, I know there is.”

[Charlotte Fudge]

Charlotte held the slighter girl in her arms, her friend's sadness unfathomable, her own ineptitude of assistance coming all the more to light in the moment of reunion. For while she could try and provide this comfort, they weren't a pair who minced truths. She would not make promises she did not feel confident in keeping, however much she would like to tell Daisy that all was well, or would be well soon. This was the unknown. But however unsure she was at how to handle the situation, at how to see her friend through this time and beyond it, she felt she could assure her that she was, at the very least, not alone. And so she leaned her head to Daisy's, arms tight as she held the sobbing girl, and stayed close even as Daisy pulled back, following her to the bed. "I've missed you as well," she said with a sad smile, tucking her skirt under her legs and reaching for Daisy's hand to hold as she listened to her worries. She gave a huff of a sigh at Daisy's last, her annoyance with meddlers clear. But, first things first.

"I’ll speak with Professor McGonagall in the morning, first thing," Charlotte promised, quiet but steady. "You and I can go through my notes together so you've got the content before exams. But as far as assignments go, I'm certain that I can convince her to forgive the week and make the other professors fall into line. So don't even think on that now, please." While their Head of House tended towards strictness, the woman was fair in her judgement, and an advocate for those under her care. Surely she would see that insisting that Daisy complete everything was excessive, considering the circumstances. And if she did not believe that Daisy would learn under her own tutelage, then perhaps Charlotte could negotiate an independent session with each professor. But the weight of schoolwork was not needed on her dearest friend's shoulders, not now. The girl wasn't particularly academically inclined when her life hadn’t just imploded - keeping her head afloat, knowing that she was being treated with equity, feeling supported by her school, that was what was needed at present, not an overwhelming list of tasks that, frankly, would just be items to check off, not learning opportunities.

"And...people are talking, you're right. Even with the medusas graduated, others are taking up the mantle in their stead." While Daisy had started her time at Hogwarts with a shy presence, she was such a likable girl that she was hardly unknown to the general populace in her seventh year. Granted, she had dated someone within a rather loud group for the majority of that time, which hardly helped one keep a low profile. Her absence was noticed, felt, and stories abounded. "There's talk of something having happened to Peter, mostly, since that's who people know you're connected to. I didn't - er - I didn't know quite what you'd want me to say, so we mainly have been trying to shut the conversation down. It hasn't - it hasn't been supremely effective. I'm sorry." She and the other girls in their dormitory had been doing what they could to squash the rumors, but the mill was determined to run with any tangent it could grasp.