Confrontation

There was a strange energy about the place. Excitement was bubbling throughout Hallie and having her Father return home, to be under the same room as her and her Mother again felt like a dream. The fairy tale revival of her Father that a little blonde girl had always wanted was about to come true, even if they didn't work it out (Hallie was sure that they would) would be true even for a final conversation. Even the fact that it was starting to rain and the water droplets were adding a frizz to the hair Hallie had scrapped back into a ponytail that morning couldn't steal the energy Hallie felt inside of her. This was real.

'Dad,' Hallie said, a weird tingle passing through her stomach as she said that word, 'Trust me, she'll be over the moon to see you.'

Taking her Father's word that he would wait Hallie opened the gate and began to walk down the flagged stone path to the cottage door, each step she took another excited bubble formed inside of the auror.

'Are you sure you don't want to wait here?' Hallie called back as she reached the small canopy that sheltered the front door from the rain that was beginning to grow heavier and heavier. Already he looked slightly tatty did her Father really want to look as if he'd just swam the English Channel?

Getting out her key Hallie pressed it into the lock and turned, closing the door quickly behind her as to not let any cold air into the house. Not that she cared too much, they had a hole forest to collect wood to fuel the fire for but Amelia had always nagged Hallie, as Mothers do, to not dawdle when closing the front door - especially on a day like today. Hallie never understood the logic in this but there was no arguing against Amelia Cooper.

'Mum!' Hallie called out, taking her coat off and hanging it on one of the hooks that lined the wall besides the front door. 'Mum?' She cried out again, this time a little more pressing as she tried to fight the grin on her face.

'In the study.'

Of course, why did I even ask?

'Mum! Guess what?' Hallie gasped, pushing open the door to the study where there sat a large desk the width of the room that was littered with parchment, ink bottles, quills and at least three empty glasses of water.

'Nice to see you too.' Amelia replied not looking up from the book she was currently taking notes on. 'Aren't you supposed to be in work?' The witch suddenly realised, glancing at the clock and noticing that it was only five to twelve in the morning, then again her daughter could have taken an early lunch break but still she never came home for lunch?

'I took the day off, but when you know why you'll-'

'Why?' Amelia interjected, turning around on her chair to face the doorway where Hallie resided.

'I went to see someone.' Hallie replied sweetly, her lips pressing together into an irresistibly cheerful smile as the auror swayed from tip-toed foot to tip-toed foot.

Amelia removed her reading glasses, the impressions from her nose pads showing how long she had been reading through her entire library for.

'And who was this?' She asked, a curious smile forming on her face as her daughter continued to bounce on her toes before gliding into the study.

'I don't really know how to say.' Hallie replied as she began to pace the short study, rain now hammering hard against the window that overlooked the daffodils back garden. 'It's a long story, well, I found out that, umm. Okay I'll just say it.' Hallie paused.

'I saw Dad.'

Whoever Amelia was expecting Hallie to have met up with it wasn't that person. Her Father was never somebody Hallie mentioned, at least not to Amelia anyway. It was painful enough having to explain to Hallie where he had gone, that heaven wasn't somewhere you can visit whenever you like. Sure his name came up once a year at Christmas time when the pair would lay a wreath by his gravestone but 'Dad' was someone who was best left unmentioned. He was somewhat of a taboo. Whenever Hallie had brought up Rick Amelia would always have gone quiet, froze for a moment, allowed a stony silence to brew before briskly answering her question and moving on. Losing a husband when you're not even thirty leaves scars.

'Hallie.' Amelia slowly exhaled. 'Your Father passed-'

'Is dead yeah I get it.'

A knife ran through Amelia's chest at the sound of those words, at the ease of which they fell from Hallie's lips, how she continued to speak with a smile on her face as though the whole thing was some amusing joke.

'Apart from the fact is that he isn't dead!'

'Hallie, please, we've been through all of this-'

'No, Mum you're not listening! He's alive! I've spoken to him! He's stood outside the house right now! Hes-'

'He's not with us anymore!' Amelia interrupted, raising her voice and standing from the seat. 'If this is some idea of a practical joke then you're mistaken, Hallie.'

Amelia was never one to lose her temper, even now if Hallie were in her Mothers shoes she'd be screaming but the witch knew how to gain attention, keep people in check and command a situation without screaming at the top of her lungs - a skill she'd learnt being a student under Minerva McGonagall.

'It's not! I saw him! I spoke to him! He's-' Hallie objected, suddenly feeling shattered to why her Mother wasn't believing her. All of a sudden the excited bubbles were sinking back down, not even a pop.

'Hallie Cooper don't back chat to me. You and I both saw your Father's body,' Amelia edged closer, a hand finding Hallie's arm to Motherly stroke. 'There was the funeral. He's not with us and I don't know what has made you think that he's here but sweetie he isn't.'

Hallie was now pulled into an affection hug.

'Come on.' Amelia soothed, not that Hallie was appreciating this at all. How could her Mother think she'd make something like this us? That she'd take time out of work to play such a lame practical joke? Hallie had seen how much it had hurt her Mother, did Amelia not think her daughter had a heart?

'No!' Hallie barked, pushing herself from her Mother and storming from the study only to return with a folded piece of paper that she'd left in her coat that was hung up by the door.

'If you don't believe me then believe this!' She cried, thrusting the folded piece of paper into her Mothers hand.

'Hallie what is this?' Amelia replied not taking any notice of whatever Hallie had handed to her.

'Dad told me to give it to you.'

Amelia's eyes narrowed before looking down at the parchment and unfolding it to find thirteen red rose petals and a message: IOU 13 smudges -- and one lifetime.

Hallie watched as her Mother's eyes widened, as her chest began to rise and fall rapidly. Her vacant expression, her thinning lips and the tremble of her fingers as her face poured over the message Hallie handed hear clearly mean't that she understood the meaning behind the roses, just as her Father had said. However, the trembling fingers turned into a stormy shake. The grey, sad eyes narrowed and Amelia's jaw clenched.

'What is this?' She asked her daughter, her eyes slowly lifting into a leer as they found Hallie's. 'WHAT IS THIS?' She bellowed, throwing the message onto the floor and advancing upon her daughter.

'I have raised you, comforted you, helped you with your homework, cooked your meals, kept a roof over our heads, helped care for you was abducted, tried to help keep your marriage together, I even resigned from Hogwarts, a job that had finally made me me again, to save you from Azkaban. I even moved across the world for you and this is how you repay me?'

The rage Amelia was exerting was like nothing Hallie had ever seen before. Hallie herself had always wondered where she'd gotten her temper from and now she was starting to find out. The sweet, reserved woman she knew to be her Mother was sprouting poisonous spikes, turning green and becoming a fully fledged monster... Or at least in Hallie's imagination.

'You don't go to work, instead waltz in here with this practical joke acting like it is the most hilarious thing in the world and throw all of that back in my face? Do you know how I felt? Do you know what it's like to lose a husband? To know you'll never see the man you love ever again? To know you'll never see the Father of your children one last time?'

Had Hallie not been disarmed in shock at how angry her Mother had become, at how negatively she'd taken to the information Hallie had provided her with then she'd have shot down her Mothers words. Told her that she too had lost that night, reminded her of the fact that Hallie had grew up without a Father but those words had escaped her.

'Never.' Amelia cried so loud Robert Cooper himself would be able to hear outside. 'Never would I have expected you to repay me like this! I can't - I'

Amelia couldn't even look at her daughter.

He hadn't planned on going in unless Amelia was ready to see him.  On the other hand, he wasn't going to let Hallie take the brunt of Amelia's hostility or the blame for it.  He didn't know why he hadn't calculated that Amelia might think Hallie would make up the whole business.  It had never actually crossed his mind.  And now that it was going sideways, he wasn't going to let Hallie go unprotected.


He had forgotten how strong Amelia's opinions could be, and how fierce her temper could be when she was pushed to it.  He wasn't going to let Amelia fire all that surprise and rage at Hallie. She could vent all of it she liked, but not on Hallie.  That was for him to take.


He invited himself in, hearing the shouting. It wasn't hard to find them. Anybody in the same block could find them.  Once inside, he closed the front door and knocked loudly on it from the inside to cue them that there was someone else there.

He cleared his throat loudly on purpose to try to make his presence known.  Then he went into the room. His heart ached for them both. He couldn't hide that, and he wasn't going to try.


"Amelia," he said slowly and calmly, "she's telling the truth.  She did see me. Its a long story, but the people who lied to you are dead--but I'm not.  I don't know how to begin to make this right.  I am so sorry.  This isn't what I wanted for any of us."


He put his arm around Hallie's shoulder and kissed her forehead, putting himself just slightly in front of Hallie to allow Amelia to take whatever verbal vomit she was feeling to fly at him and not his daughter.  "Sorry, Sweetheart.  I should have come in with you.  I'll take it from here, though," he said gently to Hallie. 


He was surprised at how calm and collected he was coming across.  For someone who had felt like a boy on his first date just a moment ago, he had just immediately stepped up when he'd heard Hallie being verbally attacked.


He'd never been a bad dad.  His fatherhood had just been interrupted--for thirteen years. That hadn't changed his desire to be a good dad, though.  Or to try to be again the man that Amelia had fallen in love with and had committed to. And seeing her again, being able to look in her eyes, all he saw was how gorgeous she was.  Thirteen years, and the only change he saw was that she was even more beautiful than ever.  This wasn't the moment to lay all that cheesy stuff on her, though. God, but she was stunning. She took his breath away. He wanted to say all sorts of things to her, but if she weren't ready to hear them, then he was going to try to resist saying them.

He paused, wanting to give them all just a moment.  He didn't take his eyes off Amelia.  "Sorry if it seems I just barged in.  I did knock, though," he said

A knock distracted Amelia momentarily from throwing more words she would later come to regret. Amelia had believed to have raised Hallie well. It had been tough being a single parent but Hallie had turned out fine, granted she'd developed her Father's thirst for danger but besides that she'd done well. She'd graduated Hogwarts in one piece, become an auror and was fiercly passionate and protective. Amelia had even stopped herself from overly Mothering Hallie after her Father passed and yet Hallie was toying with her Mother's weakness: Robert Cooper.

The door opened and whatever Amelia had been thinking a moment ago suddenly vanished from her mind along with any other thought. The tired blue eyes that had crinkled around the edges after chasing Hallie around for thirteen years were wide open, paralysed in shock at the sight before her. No words. Amelia couldn't even think up a single thought to try and comprehend the fact Robert Cooper was standing before her. She was a blank page. Amelia's eyes didn't wander. They didn't notice Hallie leaving, nor did they take in the transformation that thirteen years had placed upon the love of her life. She was frozen in time.

After a minute Amelia finally collected her thoughts, an audible swallow accompanying them. Hallie had spoken the truth, she had seen her Father and heck she'd brought him home. He looked well, slightly defeated looking, somewhat tired, but well. His voice hadn't changed, it still had that tone that had had Amelia weak at the knees and... That familiar scent of cigarette smoke. The witch always knew her efforts into making him pack up the bad habit were futile.

She fell into the chair at the desk. A hand quickly clutching at her chest whilst she attempted to keep her breathing under control.

All those years of looking out of the front window half expecting her husband to walk up the path after a hard days work. The months of wanting to see him once more just to let him know how appreciative she was of his love. The days and nights she saw his face only in her mind upon waking up and going to sleep. Here was his face, at last, in the flesh.

'Ouch.' Amelia gasped upon pinching herself. So she wasn't dreaming. This really was happening, this might miracle. It was a dream come true to see her husband again but confusion was overriding her desire to fall lovingly in his arms and live happily ever after. How was this happening? Was this really her husband or an imposter? No it had to be him for nobody else knew about his annual anniversary gift. But why was he here? He had died. Amelia had buried his body... Hadn't she? Yes she most certainly had, an image that had haunted her for years on end, unless, that hadn't been his body? But she'd hid with the children in the closet whilst the death eaters came knocking. She'd heard her husband's body fall to the ground.

Then it dawned on her. She'd never seen the death eaters leave, they were already gone before she emerged from the closet to find what appeared to be her husbands corpse on the bedroom floor. Had that been a lie? Had it been an act? Surely not. If it was an act why did Rick need to carry it out? What would make him fake his own death? No. He wouldn't do that would he? Robert Cooper wouldn't have faked his own death at the cost of breaking his family's heart, yet, that seemed the only explanation behind all this for no spell can reawaken the dead or at least no magic that isn't dark.

'You're dripping all over the carpet.' Amelia replied somewhat automatically as though telling her husband to take his coat and shoes off as she had done it each day for the past thirteen years.

Her eyes still wide, her mouth opened again uttering the words: 'I don't understand.' Words that Amelia rarely ever used.

Rick watched Amelia sink into a chair and try to gather herself. Well, she was entitled to that much--and more.  He made no move to interfere.  It didn't look like a medical emergency.  Looked like she'd seen a bloody ghost, and she had.  


And then, as he'd done so many times in the past, he'd automatically kicked off his shoes when she mentioned they were wet.  Yeah, that was one of those things that hadn't changed. He still tracked water on the carpet, still didn't much care of the carpet got wet or not, and still found himself being reminded for it.  

His feet seemed to react out of imprinting in a quirky gesture all his own practiced til time immemorial.  He didn't even remember where he'd gotten his weird way of kicking off his shoes, but it was part of him. Slipped his right foot out of his shoe and stepped forward. Slipped his left foot out of the other shoe, bringing the left foot forward, and then swung his right foot behind him in a low roundhouse, kicking his shoes off, out of the way, behind him to the left.  He'd forgotten the gesture, but it had come back as quickly as the proverbial bike riding.  That was something one supposedly never forgot either. He frowned slightly for a second trying to remember whether he'd done that in the years he had been away, but all of a sudden, he couldn't remember.  

"I know you don't understand," he said gently. He sighed heavily. "I don't get a lot of it either. I wish I did.  There's no explanation I could give you that would make a modicum of sense right at this moment. I could tell you that I was young and stupid--and, yeah, I was--but that doesn't begin to cover this. It was so much deeper.  I didn't leave here willingly.  Not like you might think.


"I...uh...feel about as awkward about this as you look like you do. Didn't plan to go, didn't feel I had a choice, and...well, my being back here is a surprise to me too.  It's a ridiculously long story, and it hasn't made any more sense in my head any time I've told it."

He was grappling for words, struggling to find a way to say something that wasn't going to confuse her more, something that was logical in a situation that felt entirely illogical.  But the words weren't coming. Anything he could say felt lame and scripted in advance.


"I could say I'm sorry," he said quietly "but that doesn't remotely cover it.  Its not enough.  Not sure which one of us our daughter got her tenacious streak from, but she managed to find me before I'd had my first decent cup of English tea in 13 years.  I should have expected it, I suppose, but I didn't.  I know this is starting endwise, but when Hallie found me today,...Amelia, you've been all she had while I was gone.  I wasn't going to give this time to grow into a wedge between you and her.  


"She's a beautiful young woman, no thanks to me, I know.  She didn't have me for a lot of years.  I refused any chance that, because of me, she might not have you either."  And that really was the truth. He had been afraid that the two women he loved the most would tear themselves apart if one knew he was alive and the other still believed he was not. And from what he'd just heard, he had been right to suspect it as a real possibility.


"Are you sure you really want to know how this all happened?" he asked her. He knew she would want to know, but he would have perhaps been more accurate if he had asked her if she were ready to hear it.