DAZED & CONFUSED [rhian & lily]

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Rhian! Lily!

I have so much to tell you. I still can't believe it. I'm sorry if it's hard to read what I'm writing. I've been crying for the last few hours I admit. You see... well, I was talking to Octavius and he told me that I died!

He told me that you died too Lily. And I couldn't-

It's just all too horrible to believe! Do you think that it's really true? I don't think that Octavius would lie to me, but I don't even know if I know my brother anymore. I just... I need you two.

Iasa

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

Iasa!

Please forgive how long it took me to get back to your owl. I'm living with Severus at the moment and I've been having to gather my bearings. It's been so difficult with the culture shock and all... You understand. I've had a little while to think about this... It's still really hard to take in.

Your brother wasn't lying about me. I did die. I died shortly after I had my first child (can you imagine?! And with James Potter too! I ended up marrying him?!)... The Dark Lord came into my home and murdered me after I refused to step aside so he could kill my son. I don't really know what to make of it yet. Apparently I'm really well known as well? When I was at the Ministry, it was almost as if everyone knew who I was.

I don't know what to do either. I miss you both. Rhia, I'm trying to see if I can convince Severus to bring you here to live with us. While I was at the Ministry I heard that you had no place to go, so... Hopefully he says yes? I don't want you to be alone.

I hope to hear from you both soon.

Much love,
Lily

[/font]

[RHIANNON MNEMOSYNE HEATHCOTE]

[words are lightly distorted in places as if by tears falling on drying ink]

Iasa--

YOU WHAT!?
[scribbles, lots of scribbled out something]
Isi, is there any way for us to meet up? I don't think I can deal with this just by owl. It's all too much. I miss you so much and right now I'm just--
My parents died. I didn't, but they did and you did and-- I'm just really lost right now.
Write me back soon?

Lily--

Oh, Merlin, not you too... [inkblot]
I need to see you guys. This is just-- I can't handle this. Not alone. I don't have anywhere but the Ministry and it's just too alien. I can't--
[smeary smudge; tear distorted letters no longer appear]
You guys are NOT dying. I won't let you. It isn't going to happen this time no matter what.
I need to see you soon. Both of you. I need to get the hell out of here. If you can convince Severus I'll be eternally grateful.

All my love to you both, Rhian

[huge ink blot in bottom left of page]

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Lily,

It's too horrible. I don't want to believe it. that you could ever die! It just doesn't seem real to me. I just, I don't want to believe it. Please, can't this all just be some kind of terrible nightmare? I would like that so much more. It would make so much more sense. And it would mean that I wouldn't have to lose you. That we wouldn't have to lose each other.

I miss you Lily. What are we going to do?

Iasa

Rhian,

I'll try, but I don't know. Octavius seems so cold and hard. It's like he doesn't want me to leave. Like he's afraid because I'm back. I think it might be because I was dead this whole time. So many years Rhian and now he has to face me. Maybe they were wrong to make me stay with him. It seems cruel. I wish I could just see you and Lily. Maybe you both could help everything make sense.

Iasa

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

Iasa, Rhia,

I'm sending you both copies of the same letter. Just pretend I'm there talking to you both at the same time. Maybe it'll help. I don't know - you know how my ideas usually are. But both of you need to breathe, okay? I went through the same motions as you, Iasa, when I found out I died. It's all too hard to believe -- to even fathom, to even have to face your mortality... But that's not our fate. Not right now. From what it seems, history has been rewritten. I don't know how and I don't know what it means, but it has. Iasa, you and I are going to be okay alright?

Where did you two wake up? Iasa, how are you handling being at home with Octavius? As for myself, I woke up outside of London. Hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Cokeworth... I was so scared. When the Ministry intercepted me, I didn't know what to think. I still don't know what to think. I really want to go home... but I'm sort of scared to now, you know? They told me I was twenty one when it happened.

Twenty one. I died four years after...

I don't want to think about it.

Rhia, Severus is coming home tonight. I'll have a discussion about with him then. We can see if the three of us can try to meet up somewhere. It's a bit hard because the Ministry told me I need to be hidden until they figure out how to tell the public about all of this... I guess I'm easy to recognize? I really want to see you both, so badly. I don't know what to do.

I'm so scared.
[This phrase is scribbled out to the point of being illegible]

Please write back soon.

Much love,
Lily

[/font]

[RHIANNON MNEMOSYNE HEATHCOTE]

[parchment is slightly ink splattered]

I will send your brother a howler if I have to, Isi. [scribbled out lines]
I don't think anything is going to make sense any time soon. I mean this whole mess is just impossible but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth since it means that you two are alive. Yes, Lily, I am breathing. I'm just--

I'm completely out of my depth and everything is just so messed up. NEITHER OF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE THIS TIME. NOT NOW. NOT AT 21. YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE OF OLD AGE. [furious scribbles]


I woke up in the Ministry-- No one was any help at all. [small inksplat] Still no help, really but being able to at least correspond with you two is helping. Hopefully Severus will take pity and we can meet up at his house? I'm not going to be able to do this alone. Hope I can see you guys soon.

--Rhian

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Lily & Rhian

It just, it feels so strange. He's not the Octavius that I know. He's a man. I barely even recognized him when he came to pick me up. He looks a little like father. Or like my father DID.

I woke up outside of my grandparent's home. Not my mum's parents, but my da's. At least, it was there home. I didn't get to see if they were there. They found me before I could go up to the door and knock.

Maybe time will change this time. Maybe Lily and I won't have to... you know.. DIE. I would like that. Octavius won't even tell me how it happened. Just that it did. I really hope that we can see each other. I just... I need someone who will understand and I know the both of you will. And I want to see my friends.

Iasa

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

Rhia & Isi,

I know how you feel, Isi. Severus is completely changed now. He's not the boy that any of us knew back then. He's so different and I still don't know what to make of it. But he's the only other person I have, besides you two. Isi, it's probably best that you don't know how it happened. I sort of wish that I didn't know... I hope to some higher power that you and Octavius can find your rhythm and connect.

Rhia, we're not going to die. It's going to be alright. God knows that you would have had to have been a million miles away for it have happened the first time. Is the Ministry still interrogating you? How are you handling the shock of things? I'm still a bit dazed. I'm not entirely convinced that I won't just go to sleep and wake up in my own time.

Maybe this is all some sort of weird premonition. Ugh. I'm going crazy, aren't I?

If we can get together at Severus' it would be great... I need to be around something familiar and I miss you guys so badly. I didn't get to see you at the Ministry. I got roomed with Narcissa Black the entire time I was there... Bleh!

Write back soon.

Much love,
Lily

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[RHIANNON MNEMOSYNE HEATHCOTE]

Isi, Lily--

Isi, time will change. I did change. That's why we're here-- when-- whatever. I don't pretend to get it but I'm going to treat it as a second chance. I don't like the idea of what kind of person I must have become if there's literally no one who would take me in now. With my parents dead ["dead" is a little wobbly] and all-- What kind of person must I have been if I had no one? Must have been a right bitch or something [almost illegible] Regardless, you're not dying. Neither of you. Not. Happening. I'll put you both on leashes if I have to.

If Octavian is going to be a twat about all this you can always stomp on his toes for him. Merlin's sake, it's not as if this is our fault. You'd think he'd be happy to have his sister back, even if it's under impossibly weird conditions. I really will send him a howler if he doesn't give you the help and care you need. Just watch me. Same with Severus. He'll get a howler at the Hogwarts breakfast table if that's what it takes to make him treat you right, Lily.

They haven't really been doing anything with me recently. Just check in to make sure I didn't evaporate or anything, but they don't have anywhere else to put me. I asked if they could put me up in am inn or something under a false name but they just sniffed at me and told me I would be staying where I was until, and I quote, "a suitable guardian is found." Twats. It's not like any one would recognize me.[something scribbled to complete unreadability]

I really hope we can see each other soon. I wish I had the spine to actually demand some information or better accommodations or something but bleh-- I'm feeling all shook up and frazzled about the edges and being here isn't helping. They keep looking at me like I'm some exotic kind of bug they want to dissect or pin to a board. I hate this but I wouldn't want things to "return to normal" or anything because-- well-- you know.

I need you guys. All my love, Rhian

[IASA ISRAFEL PEPPER]

Rhian & Lily,

I think that we're all going crazy. Maybe that is why this is happening. It'ls all just some horrid nightmare. I know that it isn't, but I wish that it was. At least it would make the world make sense again.

[hand writing is more scribbles than words] Oh my! Narcissa! She's here too? Who else? Do you know? I was barely out of the room they had me in. [unintelligible].

I would love to see both of you! But I couldn't possibly do that to Ocatvius Rhian. You know me better than that. Besides, he's my brother. He must have a reason for being...for doing what he's been doing. I'll just have to reason with him.

That's awful Rhian! That your parents are gone. It doesn't seem right for you to be alone. I hate ever thinking of it. You are both my friends. I hate thinking of anything happening to or around either of you. We'll work this out. We'll see each other soon. I know it! And then everything will be better... won't it?

Iasa

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

I don't know who else. I think I may have seen Peter but I can't be sure? All I know for sure is that Narcissa is here. I hope it wasn't that many of us -- I wouldn't wish this sort of thing on anyone.

We're going to be fine, alright, Isi? Just hold on a little while longer. It's only a summer until we're at Hogwarts and we can all be near each other again everyday. We all just have to last a summer. Just try to keep calm until then, alright?

Rhia, I discussed things with Severus. He said he would try to collect you at the Ministry. He didn't sound hopeful but at least he'll give it a try...

I love you both dearly. We're all going to be fine.

Much love,
Lily

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[RHIANNON MNEMOSYNE HEATHCOTE]

Peter's here? I wonder if he's still stuck around here. I might have to go bother someone about who else had their timeline turned into a pretzel. It'd be good to know who to look out for and who to watch out for. Besides, I'm curious about how wide spread this all is. Is it just from our time or are people being yanked out of their lives all across time? I'll have to find someone to ask about all this. I'll let you guys know what I've found out.

I know, Isi. You're an angel, but I will send him a howler if he's making you miserable. You need support not more stress. le Fay's tits I wish my parents were here. They'd have you both over in a heartbeat. [ink splot as if nib was resting on the parchment too long then a spatter and a smear]

I'm sure we'll see each other soon though. I hope so anyway.

Thanks, Lily. Hopefully things will work out and I'll have somewhere besides this place. They told me that I had a cat and an owl at my house. Do you think Severus will let them come or should I tell them to find the animals new homes? Do you think they'll even recognize me?

Nothing's going to happen to you guys. You'll definitely be fine.

Love always, Rhian