we'll hide til it's over, til it's all over [open]

[Deleted]

june 11, 2025

Rose couldn't be in London right now. In fact, the entirety of England felt too much. She had gotten the paper that morning, and the reality of it all had hit her again, like a bludgeon to the chest. Her mother was dead. Her mother was dead. No matter how many times she repeated the words she couldn't make them seem any more true. Her mum had left the Quidditch box they were in and hadn't ever come back. She was supposed to come back! She wasn't supposed to - she wasn't allowed to leave. Rose hurled a rock off the edge of the cliff she was standing on, but even watching the rock plunge into the ocean below didn't do anything to make her feel any better. Under any other circumstances Rose might've run off - run to America, maybe, or even mainland Europe. Someplace that didn't hold so many memories, someplace that didn't hurt so bad, but because of the damn quarantine she couldn't even leave. The Hebrides were the most breathing room she could get, and it wasn't much breathing room at all.

Rose couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this small. Not even when she was a child, desperately afraid of the dark and the crushing weight of failure, had she ever felt anything like this. Because when she was a child, she'd had her mother. She'd had a hero, she'd had someone who was going to protect her. Of course, she still had her father, but... it wasn't the same. Rose's world was never going to be the same again, and she kept trying to force it through her head, but she couldn't. Rose had never disagreed with reality quite so much as she did now. When she threw another rock into the ocean, she kept expecting something to happen to prove this wasn't real - the rock to float or the sea to freeze, or something. But the rock sank, and the sea kept moving, and Rose's mother was still dead.

[Deleted]

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

he didn't think the world would ever be the same again. the wizarding world had seen death before, it had seen atrocities that could be unmatched by most but as far as teddy was aware, they'd never lost a minister so publicly. the person who for most had been a beacon of hope and change was just gone. in an instant the world had gotten a little darker and there was no coming back from it. it was one of those moments that turned a tide and it would either turn it one way or another. he crossed the ground that over looked the cliffs, his footsteps light on the grass that was squashed beneath his shoes. the ocean wasn't particularly rough but it wasn't calm either.

it was an uneasy middle ground of aggravated and gentle. the wind that blew across it reached the top of the cliffs and brought just the gentlest touch of sea water with it, just enough to cling to the tips of his hair as he walked towards the figure standing on the cliffs. he saw her throw the rock into the ocean, the small object hardly making a noticeable mark on the water as it hit it. "keep throwing them if it helps. i don't think the ocean'll mind." he said softly as he approached rose. she'd just lost her mother, he'd understand if she turned around and told him to clear off. he'd been his fair share of unreceptive to others while he'd been grieving in the past but he wanted to check on her. he'd not ask her if she was okay, he more than most would know how much she wasn't.

[Deleted]

Rose didn’t turn towards the voice when someone spoke; she’d heard Teddy often enough to know what his voice sounded like, and she didn’t want him to see the redness around her eyes. She hadn’t been crying, exactly, but she was constantly on the brink of it and so her eyes were constantly red. “It doesn’t help,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s the worst part.” She sniffled. No amount of stones in the sea would bring her mother back to her. Rose swallowed hard. She knew Teddy didn’t have his parents – they had both died when he was a baby, in the war – but she wasn’t sure how he would take her asking what it was like to live without a mother. It wasn’t a very tactful question, Rose thought bitterly.

Finally, she turned around. “Did someone send you to get me?” she asked, voice small. The strange thing about someone dying was everything that had to be done. The newspapers had covered informing everyone, but planning a funeral, cleaning out her mother’s things… there was so much to do and Rose didn’t want to abandon her family when they needed her most. Even if London was suffocating, she had a duty.

@edward

[Deleted]

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

teddy pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he stood on the edge of the cliff with her. he kept his gaze on the ocean below them, watching the waves crash against the rocks and the outgoing water fought with the incoming waves. he'd always been able to stare at the ocean, from a young age it had fascinated him to no end, standing there he realised it had been too long since he'd seen it. he heard her sniff and pushed his hands deeper into his pockets so he didn't reach out and hug her there and then. he knew people were different, some liked physical comfort, some liked verbal and some liked none at all.

he shook his head a little as she turned to face him. "no, i just wanted to check on you." he said softly, glancing back at the ocean when the wind picked up just a little bit. it had been a hard few days and he didn't blame her for running, he understood the needing to get away to try and take everything in before it all became overwhelming. "wanna sit?" if she didn't want him there he'd leave her alone, he'd seen that she was, at least in one respect, okay and he could take that back to anyone that might ask if he'd seen her. but that wasn't important, what was important was what she needed.