As she and Ariana approached Nurmengard Prison, currently inside a special carriage that was taking them there, Susan asked Ariana, "so what are you going to do to get him to talk?"
It was a question she had been wondering for some time, but so far Ariana had refused to answer, which didn't make her feel anymore comfortable.
After getting this far only to be stonewalled by someone who really had no reason to help them was not something she would be happy to have happen.
Finally she decided to risk asking, "are you maybe going to do the same thing you did to that guy at the Eastern Ministry?"
"No, I'm never going to do that again.," Ariana answered immediately, her teeth clenched.
They'd had a long conversation about that, and Ariana was still feeling pretty horrible about the whole thing.
She could understand feeling guilt for causing somebody pain but for Ariana it was different. She did not delight in anything evil, despite her knowledge of it.
It once again struck her just how amazing Ariana was, having so much power and potential for darkness, but totally rejecting it.
They continued to ride in silence, not really having anything to do since there were no windows to look out of.
She was tempted to maybe check just how thick the carriage walls were but she and Ariana had unfortunately had to leave their wands behind.
However if it was a trick Ariana had assured them she could get them out even without one...although she hadn't mentioned exactly how.
Finally she opted just to go hold Ariana's hand, partially to provide her reassurance as well as provide some to her as well.
Finally the carriage stopped and the door was opened a minute later.
They both got out as they were instantly swarmed by a dozen guards, each of them armed to the teeth with both magical and muggle weapons.
No doubt heavy background checks and training had also been administered to each of them. She had absolutely no doubt these men would kill them with just a single command, but at the very least she suspected that they had much more discipline than the guards they had dealt with at the Ministry.
However just as she was starting to feel nervous, the head of the guard approached them and said grimly, "Welcome to Nurmengard, I am Comrade Volkov, warden of this prison."
He sounded very professional and disciplined in addressing her, sounding very much like a soldier.
"I'm Ms. Bones," She addressed him in a tone she hoped was equal professional as she handed him the letter they'd gotten from the Head of Eastern German Magical Law Enforcement. "
Volkov read it over before announcing, very well, I believe we'll just skip pleasantries then and take you to see your prisoner so you can get what you came for and leave as soon as possible."
"I'd appreciate it," Susan agreed, wanting this as well.
Volkov started to lead them with the other guards assuming positions as they surrounded them.
If he had questions for them, he didn't ask them. He seemed determined to simply carry out his objective of helping them and that was all he needed to know.
"So...has Grindelwald gotten any other visitors?" Ariana asked Volkov.
"Not while I've been working here no," Volkov answered.
"How long have you been working here?" Ariana queried.
"Ten years," He admitted grimly.
It made sense, Grindelwald having received no company. Probably in the beginning just after his incarceration he got a lot more, likely various people coming to gloat over his downfall, but for quite some time not many would feel so inclined, and those who would would likely have had trouble even getting in here."
They went down several flights of stairs and several hallways, the walls, ceiling, and floors all solid black metal with absolutely no decoration. She'd been to Azkaban a couple times with her aunt and she had to admit...this place had it beat as far as how forbidding it was.
A few times they passed hallways with inmates' quarters in them but most were empty. The few that were occupied had its occupants mostly sleeping or sitting in corners, not even seeming to recognize their presence as they passed.
Finally, they reached which she supposed was their destination: a single huge black metal door now lay in their way.
The door contained no less than 6 different padlocks, which she considered a bit overkill considering all of the keys for them were on a ring in Volkov's hands.
Nevertheless, he unlocked each of them and spent a few minutes removing various spells on the door before he opened it.
"He's in there," Volkov announced, "you can go right in and we'll allow you your privacy."
"You trust us to be left alone with him?" Susan asked incredulously.
"I see no reason why not," He informed them, "even if you two teenage girls were planning to help him escape, you'd only be wasting your time. If he hasn't managed to escape by now he's never going to, especially in the state he's now in. Last time I checked he was just about dead anyway."
She was now curious just what state he was in and if his mind was even good enough to be able to help them, but she rejected such thoughts.
This idea, in truth was a bit of a long shot anyway.
As soon as they stepped inside the doorway, the door was shut and probably locked behind them.
She turned her attention to what lay ahead.
A single cell now was just in front of them, metal bars lining the cell, with some sort of magical shield shimmering between each bar.
As they moved forward she spotted a figure in a grey prison uniform in the furthest corner, curled up into a ball on the thin excuse of a mattress.
Their loud footsteps seemed to get his attention however as he arose to see who it was visiting him.
He got up slowly, no doubt wondering if it was just one of the guards or something, but it allowed her the chance to look at his appearance.
Grindelwald was haggard and gaunt his eyes sunken and nearly all of his teeth were gone.
His body was extremely thin and bony, resembling more a skeleton than a living person. Prison had clearly taken an enormous toll upon him.
Yet as his eyes adjusted to seeing them, when he looked upon Ariana he seemed if anything only more close to death, suddenly getting, if it were possible even more pale.
A ghost couldn't even get that pale, she thought.
"Are you...Death?" He asked her in a hoarse voice.
She could see why he might make that mistake. Out of all the deaths that he had been at least partially responsible for, Ariana's just might be the one he was most haunted by.
Despite how truly awful Dumbledore was, one good thing that could be said about him is he had ultimately decided against joining Grindelwald in trying for world domination and instead put him in this place: and that was all because of Ariana's death.
It was however a poignant moment, she realized. When they last met in another lifetime for Ariana, Ariana had not only died but she had been the prisoner, trapped in her own mind and he had been the one that was free. Now the roles were reversed.
Yet if she was worried that Ariana might not be able to handle this conversation between them, she was clearly wrong.
"I'll let you try to guess who and what I am," Ariana said coldly.
"Are you here to kill me?" Grindelwald demanded of her, "if so please do so."
"You don't want death," Ariana claimed with certainty.
Grindelwald looked surprised but then commented, "what is it you think I want then?"
"To escape and get your revenge," Ariana calmly replied, "that's why you still cling to life isn't it? Upon that hope?"
Grindelwald gestured at his emaciated state and said, "you don't think I would try to escape if I could?"
"Magic and prison walls aren't what is keeping you here," Ariana said, once again showing an uncanny and downright scary knowledge of just how Grindelwald felt, "it's Dumbledore, you know if you were to escape he would hunt you down and simply kill you or more likely subject you to far worse abuse than any you have faced here."
"How did you know?" Grindelwald asked in surprise.
"Oh I know everything there is to know about you," Ariana claimed.
Grindelwald continued to stare at her with his lifeless eyes before admitting, "only one person would know all that about me and you clearly aren't him, which means he told you and there is only one reason he would do that..."
To Susan's shock, Grindelwald laughed, a soulless evil laugh that emanated around the room.
"So he finally did it then?" He said in glee, "he finally gained power over death and here he sends you to be the one to prove it to me! Well played Albus, well played."
She noted that Grindelwald, while clearly hating Dumbledore, was still appreciative of the message he appeared to be sending to him, almost like Dumbledore was taunting him with how he had succeeded where he had failed.
"I come of my own volition and Albus no longer has any power over me," Ariana claimed, "in fact I have come for your aid in helping to defeat him."
Grindelwald seemed to mull this over before laughing again as he said, "ah, really this is even more poetic than I thought. He finally does it and his creation turns against him and no less his own sister."
"You don't seem surprised," Susan observed.
"Of course, I'm not surprised," Grindelwald informed them, "Albus' greatest weakness was always his own arrogance, believing he would always be better than those he manipulated. He would never admit it, but he nearly lost to me, he had trouble with that Voldemort, and now it appears that he's having trouble with his own sister, it just took a lot longer than I would have guessed."
"It's long overdue," Susan agreed.
"I warned him about you, you know," Grindelwald confessed to Ariana, "I could sense your power, see what you could do if your mind were ever your own. You were born with the same magical strength he did, only you had no control over it. I suspect deep down he even felt threatened by you."
It struck her that Grindelwald did have a point. It might have even been one reason why Dumbledore had chosen Ariana in the first place to be his first clone and the one he gifted all his knowledge too...he had known she had the magical potential to be able to use it.
Ariana responded in a language that she didn't understand, but which Grindelwald seemed to as he responded to her in the same language.
She wanted to ask them what exactly they were discussing, but evidently Ariana didn't want her hearing this part of the conversation.
Finally however Ariana nodded before turning to her and saying, "I got what we came for, let's go."
She noted that she had a very grim expression on her face and she wondered just her conversation with Grindelwald had entailed...or what she had given him in exchange for getting the information so easily.
Ariana took one last look at him before saying, "Goodbye Grindelwald."
"You aren't going to kill me?" Grindelwald questioned, "how merciful of you."
"Some things are worse than death," Ariana told him.
Finally without another word, they departed, knocking on the door to get the guards' attention.
As soon as they were on the other side of the door however, Susan commented, "he gave us that information way too easily. What did you even promise him in return?"
"Nothing of value," Ariana claimed, choosing not to say exactly what, "at least nothing I couldn't afford to lose."
"Care to explain exactly what then?" Susan pressed.
Ariana looked around at the assembled guards before promising, "later. As for now, we have a mother to save."
DUELDUELDUEL
Su wanted to bind and gag Hazel, but Pansy managed to convince her not to.
Instead they were currently hiding in the janitor's closet so that they could talk to her.
Pansy was still trying to size up Hazel and figure out if she was really a witch.
If she had had her wand, she could have found out in a second, but unfortunately she was still lacking it.
"Would either of you please explain to me what is going on?" Hazel demanded, sounding a bit scared.
"Shh...try to keep your voice down," Su urged.
Pansy decided to start by interrogating her with, "haven't you ever had incidents like what just happened? Things that were strange or unusual when you were scared or angry, that you couldn't explain?"
Hazel thought about it for a moment before saying, "No, not that I can think of."
"She really should have noticed something before now if she was really a witch," Su pointed out
"She could be a squib," Pansy suggested, "they can very rarely use small bits of magic, unfortunately I don't have my wand to find out."
That didn't seem to deter Su however.
"We don't need a wand," Su replied, "they actually used a different method to figure out if you were a witch or not when I lived in China."
"Witches?" Hazel asked in surprise, having zeroed in on that word, "like in movies?"
"Most of them are grossly inaccurate, we usually don't get warts for example," Pansy explained.
"You're talking as if you are one," Hazel observed.
"Well duh, of course I am," Su answered, as if this was obvious.
She winced at that. For either of them admitting that they were witches was like admitting they were British which is why Su thought it a stupid question, but for Muggles it was probably a lot more surprising that there even was such a thing as magic.
"Don't be rude Su, for you you've always known you were a witch and you've always been around other magicals, for her this is all new and foreign to her, she's probably just scared right now," Pansy urged, "now try your method to find out if she's a witch or not."
"All right, but if she's not, I'm wiping her memory," Su replied.
"Wipe my memory!" Hazel exclaimed in alarm.
"I'm only joking," Su answered, "we'd have the Obliviators come and do that instead."
"Su!" Pansy exclaimed, even if she was probably right about the Obliviators.
"Sorry," Su apologized, "being in this place has really tested my nerve."
She reached forward and then yanked on one of Hazel's hairs, pulling it off before she could react.
"What are you doing?" Hazel asked her.
"It'll just take a second," Su replied as she ran her fingers over it and mumbled a few words in Chinese.
Finally the hair began to glow a bright gold color.
"Well congratulations, you're a witch," Su declared to Hazel.
"That's ridiculous," Hazel argued.
"It's not really all that bad, being a witch can actually be a lot of fun," Pansy told her.
"More fun than being a Muggle at least," Su added.
Su seriously needed to use magic and have sex soon, not particularly in that order, Pansy thought, going without really wasn't doing much good for her mood.
Still she couldn't worry about that right now.
"We'll have to talk to Tonks about this and probably someone from Hogwarts," Pansy pointed out, "she'll be quite behind in classes, but maybe...well we'll get to that later."
Admittedly while this might mess up their mission a bit, she also felt obligated to help Hazel. She was sure Su wanted to help as well even if she wasn't showing it at the moment.
No doubt things would be rather weird and unfamiliar to Hazel for awhile, but she promised herself that she would try and help her through it.
There was a slight concern that something that Hazel might do would cause their mission to go awry, but that would have to be something that they talked to Tonks about.
Fortunately they still had a way of communicating with her and while she tried her best to explain some things to Hazel, Su went to go talk to Tonks.
By the time Su came back, Hazel had already learned all about Hogwarts and magic wands, but she was still looking skeptical...that is until Tonks showed up, still in her mother disguise.
"So where's the witch you found?" Tonks asked them, trying to sound authoritative.
"This is Hazel," Pansy introduced to her.
"Pleased to meet you," Tonks answered, extending a hand.
"I'm not a witch," Hazel claimed, refusing the proffered hand, "and I'm pretty sure all 3 of you just might be crazy."
"Well allow me to prove you wrong," Tonks answered as she began to morph her body into her regular form.
Hazel leaped back in shock.
"You were saying?" Tonks asked with a grin.
Her amazed onlooker stammered for a bit.
"You are enjoying this way too much Tonks," Pansy pointed out.
"Well it's not everyday I get to prove everything that a person thought was impossible wrong," She answered, "usually I'm the one covering that all up."
"So what are we going to do with her?" Su asked.
"We are not going to do anything actually," Tonks admitted, "I contacted Amelia just before I came over here and she's talking with the right people in the Ministry to decide what is to be done with her. As for the investigation, it's still on, although we may have to figure out what we'll do with Hazel and if she'll even be coming back here or not...at least until we get things done here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Hazel said defensively.
Tonks sighed and said, "you know it really would be easier if you just cooperated. That's what I always tell the criminals I catch."
"You're a police officer?" Hazel questioned.
"Of a sort," Tonk admitted, "I guess I'd be the magical police then."
Hazel seemed to consider that. At the very least, she did have a respect for police officers...and she probably was wondering if she might get arrested if she didn't agree to go with her.
"All right fine, I'll go then," She finally answered, although sounding displeased, "lead me to your patrol car."
"Oh, we'll be going just a bit faster than that," Tonks replied as she grabbed Hazel's arm, deciding that it was probably best not to tell her what she was about to do.
In a flash, both of them disapparated.
After a moment's pause, Su commented, "well that was fun."
DUELDUELDUEL
After only a few hours after the departure of Hazel however and Su was already getting bored.
Probably because she was having to do her math homework.
What could Muggles possibly need all this for, it was all totally useless information.
It didn't help that her mind wasn't exactly working properly. Evidently not even being around magic was taking its toll on her and she was starting to go crazy and feel more and more like an addict needing their fix.
She had to admit she probably wasn't the nicest person to be around right now. She'd even been getting a snippy with Pansy, who she usually got along famously well with.
Just as she was considering turning her homework into a paper airplane so she could at least make a real use of it, she heard a knock on her dorm door.
Pansy was currently out at the moment, having gone to go get a snack from the vending machine, so she figured it was her.
"Did you forget your key again Pansy?" She asked as she opened the door.
Pansy had admittedly forgotten that the doors locked automatically behind them several times now and forgotten her key so this wasn't too unlikely.
It wasn't Pansy however.
Instead there stood Jason much to her dismay.
Great, she thought, rather annoyed, this guy again.
While she usually appreciated someone who wouldn't give up, she really wished he would get a clue.
He simply couldn't hold a candle to Harry in really anything. It was like having a choice between half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an all you can eat buffet.
Even his precious running record that she had broken with ease she was pretty sure Harry could beat.
Still even so, Jason was still here, trying once again to win her over.
"I noticed your sister over by the vending machines looking kind of tired so I guessed maybe you were still struggling with your homework, I could look it over if you'd like," He offered.
It sounded like he was certainly reaching based only off of noting Pansy was tired even if he was right, but she chose to ignore it.
"Jason I'm just not interested," Su answered exasperatedly.
"I know you've said that," He told her, "but I think it only makes me want you more. See I'm a runner and I'm willing to chase after the things I want, and what I want is you."
"I'm sure you're pretty popular," Su concluded, "you could probably have any girl you want. Why me?"
"Well I do like Asians for one," Jason answered her, "but that's not really the reason. I just love how fiery and hard to get you seem to be."
"Gee thanks," Su said glumly as she struggled with what to say.
"Well I've always believed you've got to take risks," Jason concluded, "which is why I'm going to take one now."
He leaned in and kissed her.
As soon as he had however, she kneed him right in the crotch, causing him to double over in pain.
He let out a few swear words.
"Just leave me alone please," Su said, not having the heart to be actually angry at him since he was still so obviously in pain.
She could have easily persisted and beaten him up, but she'd rather not have to.
Jason appeared to be turning almost black in pain...and then she realized it was only getting worse.
His entire body began to turn black as he was clearly still in pain.
Magic, she thought.
Yet it clearly wasn't her who was doing that and so she turned to Jason, who if he was using magic, clearly had no control over it.
No, it couldn't be. What were the odds of them finding two undiscovered wizards within hours of each other?
Like a trillion to one, she reasoned.
However Jason seemed to still be in pain, no longer clutching his crotch but his heart.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream as he seemed to be struggling to remain upright.
Finally he collapsed just as Pansy ran into the room.
"What did you do?" She demanded glancing first at her and then at Jason.
"Nothing!" Su insisted, but now rather scared.
The color of Jason's skin already appeared to be turning back to normal, but he wasn't moving.
Pansy bent down and checked his pulse before declaring, "he's dead."
Just what was going on? Su thought.
DUELDUELDUEL
Gabrielle was currently hiding near some trees not far from the stadium.
As soon as she had learned she was pregnant she had bolted, ignoring both Harry's and Fleur's protests to stop.
She had ignored them, not because she was mad at them, but because she just didn't trust herself to speak at the moment as she was still trying to figure things out in her head.
Right now she was still pretty much a mess as she was still crying.
It really all boiled down to one indisputable fact she concluded: She was going to have a baby and be a mother in 9 short months.
For some a pregnancy meant that their life was essentially over while for others it was just beginning.
When it came to herself however, she really wasn't sure.
Yes, of course she'd wanted to have children, just not now, not when she was so young and still in school.
Why did this have to happen to her! Gabrielle thought angrily. This wasn't part of the plan for her future.
First she'd start getting sick in the mornings her belly would start to swell up, making it more and more obvious to anyone who saw her to know that she was pregnant.
The first few months before school started she might be okay, but as soon as she went to school, everyone would know.
She'd be labeled the pregnant girl who couldn't manage to keep it inside her pants or at least bother to use protection. It would only get harder when the baby was actually born.
Why hadn't their protection worked anyway?
They'd always been sure to use it, but she supposed that the contraception charm could have been used incorrectly.
Both she and Harry were good spellcasters so that seemed unlikely, but it was certainly possible. They could have just been a bit too eager to get started with the sex to really check to make sure.
Just as she was starting to think about that, Harry surprisingly approached her.
"Hey," He said quietly by way of greeting.
"Hey," She answered, trying to maintain her composure as best she could, "how did you find me?"
"Your slave bond," Harry admitted as he came up and gave her a big hug.
She took the hug, squeezing him back as she said, "I'm sorry Harry."
He shrugged and said, "what's there to be sorry about? It's my fault, I'm the one who knocked you up."
"Don't talk like that Harry," She scolded.
"Exactly my point," He answered, "we both played a part in it so we should share blame...and share the responsibility that comes with it."
She sniffled a bit but then asked, "does that mean you want to keep it?"
Instead of answering however he questioned back, "do you?"
"I don't know," Gabrielle had to admit, "I mean it's our baby, and you know I've always wanted to be a mother to your children, but...the timing is all wrong."
Harry continued to hug her before saying gravely, "I know."
He stopped. He was obviously scared too, but was doing his best to reassure her.
"Well I suppose I have a decision to make then," Gabrielle surmised.
"What your options then?" Harry asked.
"The easiest method would be for me to simply get an abortion," Gabrielle suggested.
A pained look came across Harry's face at that.
"I'd never do that though," Gabrielle added quickly.
There were plenty of things that she could do, but for her that wasn't one of them.
Veela were very pro-life, partially because children were very welcomed and appreciated in their culture but also because unplanned pregnancies for them were almost non-existent for obvious reasons.
When it came to herself, she was no different. She could never harm a child, even a fetus, and especially not her own child and Harry's.
It was clear the way that Harry reacted he didn't like the idea either so that idea was immediately rejected.
Harry seemed relieved but then asked, "so what else?"
"I could have someone adopt her," Gabrielle suggested, "maybe my mom, my dad, the Blacks, someone else who couldn't have a child and wants one, Giselle perhaps."
"Her?" Harry asked, "how do you know they're a girl?"
"All veela children are girls," She clarified for him.
He knew that, she just had to remind him.
Harry then inquired, "is that what you want? To have someone adopt?"
She thought about it for a long moment.
It would be a lot easier yet...she remembered how she'd felt having not had the opportunity to be raised by her own mother. While she was sure she could probably find a good home for her with people who would love her...it would still be hard.
"What do you think?" She finally asked him.
"Well to be honest I can't help but think of myself," Harry admitted, "my greatest desire as a kid was the opportunity to have my parents back. I'm sure we'd never leave our child with someone like the Dursleys but I just don't think..."
Harry wiped a tear away from each eye, unable to finish.
Her heart broke at that, realizing how hard this was on him, and it made her decision much easier, despite it being hard.
She didn't need the days, weeks, or months she had thought she might need in order to make a decision.
"Then I think there's only one thing for us to do then," Gabrielle claimed, "we'll keep her."
"We will?" He questioned, hardly daring to believe it.
She put her hands into his and said, "we will, if that's okay with you."
Harry managed to smile before saying, "it is. I...want to have and raise this baby with you Gabby."
"Good because I can't do it without you," Gabrielle answered honestly.
He laughed at that, before deciding to add a little honesty of his own.
"It will be hard raising a child while still in school," He commented.
"Yeah," She agreed, well aware of that fact.
"At least we'll have plenty of help," Harry said, "the other girls, the Blacks, etc."
"True," Gabrielle said, "we'll get through it somehow."
Harry then turned to her and said with love in his eyes, "I love you Gabby, I realize the circumstances aren't ideal but...I'm glad you'll be the mother to my child."
"Me too," She agreed, glad they were finally starting to feel some joy about the whole thing. At any rate having a baby with Harry had always been a dream of hers.
She just supposed she'd be having her dream become a reality a bit sooner than planned, she thought.
They stood there for quite awhile, continuing to discuss the future: for themselves, for their child, and just how they would figure it all out.
Not everything was resolved however and they were both still terrified but...she still felt better and somehow knew it was the right thing to do.
That faith that it was the right thing to do however was immediately challenged when they finally headed back to their room.
Fleur, Giselle, and her mother were currently standing in front of it arguing.
"I really think that's a decision that Gabby should make!" Fleur insisted loudly.
"I'm the Queen and her mother, I know what's best for her!" Her mother countered.
As soon as they realized they'd showed up however, they turned their attention on them.
"Gabrielle don't worry it's all settled," Her mother claimed, "Giselle here has just agreed to be surrogate mother to your child. She can then raised here in the palace where I can watch her and make sure she gets all the care she needs."
"What!" Harry exclaimed.
"Well surely she can't keep her, not at her age," Her mother answered, "this is the best option for everyone."
"Best option for you," Fleur argued, "you just want to feel good about yourself by raising your granddaughter the way you didn't raise us!"
Gabrielle winced. That was admittedly a low move on Fleur's part, even if she was angry and if it was quite possibly true.
Their mother looked highly offended as she claimed, "I could have you executed over such impertinence."
"Did you at least think about what I might want?" Gabrielle asked her.
"You're simply too young to be making big decisions like this Gabrielle and way too young to be having a child," Her mother replied.
"I'm keeping her," Gabrielle answered her firmly.
"No, you aren't," The Queen reacted with equal conviction, "as Queen, this is my ruling."
Fleur stepped between her and their mother and said, "if that's what Gabrielle wants to do then I'll support her. She won't lack any help as long as I'm able to provide it, but if you won't accept her decision then that leaves us with only one decision."
She was worried it might escalate further. There was a chance their mother could end up casting them out and rejecting them entirely...but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.
In order to avoid it, she went up to her mother around Fleur and looked into her eyes as she said, "please mother, I need you to accept this. I don't want...I don't want to have choose between you and my unborn child."
That was really tough to say. Her desire to even have this child was still very new and unproven and she wasn't sure if she would have the strength to argue any further, especially considering the emotional roller coaster ride she had endured over the past several hours since finding out she was pregnant.
Fortunately her mother's eyes softened before declaring, "I'll have to think about this first."
It was not a total acceptance or acceptance at all, but it was at least a start.
"Thank you," Gabrielle said appreciatively.
Her mother strode out with Giselle following behind her.
Giselle was probably deeply disappointed, but she just couldn't worry about her right now.
Fleur however went and gave her a huge hug.
"I love you Gabby," Fleur said, "I just want you to know I'm here for you. No matter what."
"Thanks," She answered, allowing tears to freely flow again, "I'm glad you're my sister."
Well all right her mother wasn't on board yet, and frankly she really couldn't call herself okay with it either but...at least she had a sister and a future husband who'd already agreed to help her.
She was somehow going to be alright.