This is a Songfic to Josh Groban's Home to Stay. It is the 3rd in what I have dubbed the Awake Songfic Series. This is the sequel to To Where You Are. I do not own these song lyrics, nor these characters. J K Rowling has that.
Enjoy.
I know you're gone
I watched you leave
Ginny had watched from the shadows as Charlie threw himself off of the Astronomy tower. Her heart stuck in her throat as she rush out from her hiding spot, and over to where Charlie landed.
I always thought
That it was me
Ginny had thought she could have tried harder to get Charlie out of his shell. But after Harry's death, nothing helped.
You made it clear
With that last kiss
She had seen Charlie earlier that evening. They had been sitting next to each other in the Great Hall, watching everyone else play cards. He got up at one point said goodbye to everyone with such sincerity, thinking back, it broke her heart. Charlie had given Ginny a quick hug and kiss on the forehead and left.
You couldn't live a life
With maybe's and whatif's
Everything had become so uncertain for Charlie in the past five years. He had been set on living a life with Harry. He never thought something would come between them.
When every boat
Has sailed away
And every path
Is marked and paved
When every road
Has had its say
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay
She saw now that Charlie felt he had no other choice that was what he had to do. Ginny had seen so much death. She was just shy of twenty and had been to more funerals than some people twice her age. If she knew that Charlie, one of her closest brothers, would be driven to this…
I have the cards you sent to me
You wrote of trains and Paris galleries
Charlie used to love to travel. He'd always send her gifts. She kept the long, long letters she had from him. Charlie was always so excited to visit new places.
This spring you'll draw
Canals, and frescoed walls
Look how far your dreaming's gone
Charlie stopped dreaming after he lost Harry. Ginny was the only one of the Weasleys, surviving or not, that knew Charlie and Harry had been soul mates.
When every town looks just the same
Charlie lived his life in black and white during the past years. Seeing him plummet was proof there was no color.
When every choice gets hard to make
He had been living in a place where he couldn't begin to think of the choices ahead, he didn't want to.
When every map is put away
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay
Charlie had long stopped looking for some sign of direction. He drifted. Ginny tried, tried for all those years, to bring him back.
And now I know why you had to go alone
Ginny understood that deep inside, this might have been what Charlie wanted. She couldn't accept though that she had one less member of her family.
Isn't there a place between
Was there nothing she could have done?
When every boat
Has sailed away
It seemed Charlie had missed the boat to somewhere. He had lived staring on the dock.
And every path
Is marked and paved
Ginny tried to steer him onto a path, tried to help him choose. She couldn't live for him.
When every road
Has had its say
It looked like he found the road.
Then I'll be bringing you back
Home to stay
She would do anything to get him back.
Reach out to me
Call out my name
Ginny struggled to get Charlie to just see what he was doing to himself.
She got closer to his form on the ground. Ginny called the name of her brother in a carrying whisper, knowing he wouldn't answer
And I would bring you back again
Today
She reached his body. He was spread eagled and lifeless. His eyes were shut, his face relieved of any creases, though, and he had a slight smile. As Ginny brushed a tear out of her eye, ready to turn back and tell everyone in the Great Hall Charlie was dead, she knew he found Harry again.