Left Outside Alone

'To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?' - W.H. Auden

The Bones Family home

King's Lynn, England

1971

It was cold that day; in fact she'd awoken to a slight frost licking the edges of the window. It was strange for an early autumn day. The rain had come down in heavy drops that quickly fogged the windows, creating a dank, dreary feeling of sleepiness in the world. She would have much more liked to be in Wales, where they should have been, but her father Francis had fallen ill.

Amelia Bones sat at the family window seat in the living room, where her mother Dorothy sat knitting a new scarf for her father. Her older brother Edgar sat in the corner doing his work at a desk. Though his job was supposed to be in the Magical Creatures department, she noticed that his work never seemed to involve any of them. She chalked it up to Ministry stupidity.

"Mum?" Amelia asked, turning from the window; her mother look up and offered a small smile. Her bright brown eyes glittered at her from the lamplight. "Can I go home now?"

Amelia knew the answer before her mum said a word, the look on her face said everything. "Won't you stay for dinner?" Her mother was hesitant to let her go; Edgar looked up from his work.

"You're not too good for us, are you, Mel?" Edgar grinned at her, his infectious smile like so often leaving her worries behind. Amelia couldn't help but smile at him and shake her head.

"I suppose I could wait until after supper," Amelia consented, turning back to the window. Soft shadows of the trees were splayed on the lawn, and it seemed to her that there were people lurking just outside of her view. "That's strange."

"What was that?" Dorothy asked, looking up from her knitting.

"I just thought I saw something," Amelia muttered, resting her forehead against the cool window.

"What?" Edgar asked sharply, his beautiful brown eyes narrowing at her from his desk. Startled, Amelia gave him a questioning look that he ignored completely.

"I said it was nothing - "

"What did you see?" he demanded, standing up and letting his chair scrape the floor. Dorothy stared at her son with a concerned gaze, her knitting sitting forgotten in her lap.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked softly, slowly rising from her sitting place. Her brother was rarely so emotional. He was always soft smiles and cool laughter, never did his eyes flicker or his gaze become so hard. "You've been acting funny all day."

"You guys need to leave," Edgar said sharply as he pulled the curtains nearest to him back, glancing out the window. Amelia shared a bewildered look with her mother before she sighed.

"Edgar, there's nothing there," Amelia said, half wondering if he'd gotten into their father's wine cabinet. Neither she nor Dorothy moved, instead they stared avidly at him with rising concern.

"Get Father and leave right away. Go see Frank and Alice, I'm sure that'll make Father feel better. Alice always has the best soup." Edgar's words were distant, and his eyes kept flickering around the lawn, and he periodically glanced at Amelia. "Well?"

"Edgar, we're not going anywhere until you explain what you're going on about. There's no one outside." Amelia was getting more than annoyed as her own anger flared.

"Just get out, would you?" Edgar snarled at her. Though his eyes shone with fear, his expression was one of feral anger. "Please?"

"Edgar, darling - "

"Mum!" Edgar snapped, turning to look at her desperately. Dorothy fell back into her chair as if she'd been hit, her eyes were wide with surprise, and Edgar's angry expression softened for a moment. He glanced between the two of them before he sighed heavily and looked back out the window. "It would make me feel better if you just left for a while. Just a little while. An hour or so, maybe."

"Edgar..." It was their father Francis, he stood in the doorway to the living room, his voice raspy with illness.

"Francis!" Dorothy stood and hurried over to him, clutching his elbow and attempting to lead him back into the bedroom. "You need to go back to - "

"What's going on out here?" Francis demanded, jerking his arm from Dorothy, who flustered angrily. "Edgar?"

"You need to leave, Father," Edgar said, looking at his father with remorse. "It's important."

"Ah, expecting a nice young lady, are you?" Francis' eyes gleamed as he winked at Edgar, who stared at him. Amelia felt an immense urge to giggle like a little girl; as if her brother dated girls...

"No, if it were only that," Edgar muttered, brushing a hand through his hair. He glanced worriedly out the window again, his eyes squinting.

"Then what is it?" Francis looked from each person in confusion. His brown hair was flecked with gray, his blue eyes clouded with sleep and confusion.

"There are people out there, and I want you out of this house," Edgar said solidly, and Amelia felt pride for her brother well up despite everything that was happening. Francis was a hard man, and to stand up to him like Edgar just did was something worth commending. It would have been, too, if the situation had been favourable to Amelia in any way.

"You will not order me out of my own house, boy," Francis said sharply, taking a step into the room. Edgar turned to look at him fiercely.

"I'm asking you, Father. Will you please leave for an hour or so?" Edgar ground out, his eyes flicking wildly to the window. Amelia leaned closer to the window, searching their grounds for intruders. There were only blowing trees and rain.

"Most certainly not, I want to know what is going on here," Francis growled, walking further into the room with a hasty glance out the window. "If there are people out there, that's hardly a cause for alarm. They may just be visitors."

"In this weather?" Edgar asked viciously, gesturing out the window. The entire family glanced at the darkened window, even though it was only noon.

"It's quite possible," Dorothy put in, glancing warily at Francis. "It's happened before with the Longbottoms."

"Yes well, why don't you go visit them then?" Edgar asked, pointing to the pot of Floo powder on the mantle. "Just for a little while?"

Amelia stared at her brother. His voice was higher than usual, his eyes were wide and seemed to hold a fear that had never been there before. His shoulders were hunched, and his hands were shaking.

"Mum, why don't we just go for a while?" Amelia asked tentatively, looking at her brother questioningly. He gave her a grateful sigh, but turned to look at their parents expectantly. "I mean, we can come back in an hour and laugh at Edgar for all of his idiocy, because we all know there's no one out there."

Her parents were silent for a moment, before her mother sighed and nodded.

"You go ahead, we'll be along in a minute. We need to talk to Edgar for a moment," Dorothy said quietly, but Edgar looked even more anxious.

"All right," Amelia stood and went to the fireplace, where she threw in a pinch of Floo powder and called out "The Longbottoms!", and she was off.

"Oh!" was the surprised answer as she stumbled into the Longbottoms' living room. Alice Longbottom sat on the couch, her reading glasses nearly falling off her nose and an open book in her lap. Her surprised expression was quickly replaced with a smile. "Amelia! How good it is to see you. Frank? Frank! Mellie's here to see us! How is your family, dear?"

"They're fine," Amelia answered as Alice gave her an enthusiastic hug and a bright smile. Frank poked his head around the kitchen door.

"I'll be a minute, Alice, I've got to finish this potion before it spoils." And he disappeared back around the door. Alice rolled her eyes and directed her to a seat on the couch.

"Mum and Father will be along in a minute or so," Amelia said as she sat down and smoothed out her skirt. She was nervous for some reason, but the cheery homey setting the Longbottoms had settled with was starting to lift her spirits.

"How is Lewis?" Amelia smiled at her brother's name; he was young and didn't like spending much time with his family at the moment.

"Off with his new love interest, he seems to think that it's serious this time. She's a Hufflepuff though, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out." Amelia allowed herself a small chuckle, though the uneasy feeling for her family presided. Alice laughed brightly.

"Oh, I'm sure he knows what he's doing, Lewis is rather bright for his age. I heard Edgar was visiting; I haven't seen him in ages," Alice asked, taking her reading glasses off and putting them in one of her numerous pockets. Her soft, carefree expression turning more serious than Amelia felt comfortable with. "Is he well?"

Amelia frowned at her question, it seemed as if she knew more than she let on. Alice was looking at her intently, her hands folded in her lap and her lips curved in a small smile.

"Well, actually I'm not sure." Alice immediately seemed to come to life, her eyes widened and her mouth lost its smile. Her hands tightened in her lap, and she leaned forward with a frown.

"What is it?" she whispered, looking intently at Amelia who swallowed the lump in her throat. There was definitely something wrong.

"He thought he saw people out on the lawn, and he told us to leave, but Mum and Father wanted to stay..." Amelia never finished, Alice was out of her seat faster than she could blink. Alice gripped her elbow tightly and led her into the kitchen with a nervous smile.

"Here, here's some tea. I'll only be a minute." And Alice was gone, lifting her skirts with the effort to run. Amelia watched the door she disappeared through, forgetting the cooling cup of tea in front of her. She heard Alice bark a command at a returning Frank, whom she could hear mutter about his potion. Ten minutes went by, and Alice was still gone.

"Alice?" Only the clicking of the grandfather clock in the hallway was answering her, and the soft meow of the family cat that wandered the hallways.

Amelia sank into one of the kitchen chairs and stirred her cold tea mindlessly. What was going on? It was not five minutes later that Alice appeared back into the kitchen, her face covered in ash from the fireplace.

Amelia immediately knew something was wrong, Alice's face seemed old, and her eyes were filled with tears, sympathy, and a desperate sadness that seemed to make the cheery household about as happy as a graveyard on Halloween.

"What - what happened?" Amelia felt her voice crack, and she desperately wanted to hide and not know what happened at all.

"Oh, Mellie," Alice said softly, resting a dirty hand on the crown of Amelia's head. Her voice was filled with sorrow and the tears finally came, they fell from her cheeks as if they were a waterfall. Amelia stared with a dawning horror on her face. "They're - they're gone, honey. I - we were too late. I'm sorry, Mellie. I'm so, so sorry."

Amelia felt her face drain of colour and become cold, not even the heat of the fire under the cauldron to her right dared brush her cheek. The tears wouldn't come, but she felt sudden anger at her parents.

"They - no, they're not, this is a sick joke, Alice. I..." But Alice merely shook her head and gathered Amelia in her arms as she shuddered with fresh tears.

"They left me! They made me leave - I - " Amelia muttered into Alice's shoulder. "They left me alone."