Charlie with a little help from Ginny
Charlie was awoken by something pawing at his face and completely startled found Hermione's cat glaring at him. Still sleepy he asked, "What's going on?"
The cat jumped back on the bed and started to lick her face, trying to offer comfort to the trembling girl with her huge eyes. "Hermione, are you ok?"
She shook her head, curling closer to where Bill was still sleeping, completely unaware of a cat sitting on him. Good, he'd been given enough dreamless sleep. "Story."
Ok, this Charlie could do, Ginny used to have nightmares too. He sat up on his cot bed, going to sit on the bed next to her, tentatively stroking her hair the same way he had Ginny's when she'd been small and come into their room looking for anyone awake.
He just started rambling at her. "Hermione, I'm told you've been very much misled by my brothers about a gnome tossing contest when Mum had her Day of Reckoning." Charlie went on, trying to keep the competitive streak out of his voice and make it soothing instead, "Well, George and I absolutely did not lose the contest. It was interrupted and never finished. Fred told you a flat out, likely highly embellished lie."
Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her. "I imagined you all running around the garden trying to catch them and throw them."
"We probably would have, but Ginny had this weird thing with the gnomes." Charlie said, watching her peer up at him. "Gin had gotten the gnomes to line up.."
Ginny's sleepy voice was defensive from her own cot, "Don't talk about my gnomes, Charlie."
For once he was indeed not trying to insult the garden gnomes Ginny loved and was loved in return by. "I'm not thrashing on your gnomes, Gin. Just telling Hermione about how I didn't lose the gnome tossing contest. Go back to sleep or come help comfort your friend."
Ginny sleepily climbed out of her cot and came to the bed, simply grabbing the firewhiskey, 'What? Bill said she's allowed to have it. It's on his rules poster."
"Ginny-" He decided it was best to just keep talking, watching Hermione shake and Ginny pull her up and wrap her in a hug. Now was not the time to try and teach his sister anything.
"Oh, I'll tell it if you're going to be a baby, Charlie. I promised the gnomes a garden tea party if they let you all toss them without the chasing part, which they find very fun. Nobody but Mum ever wanted to have tea parties with me." Ginny sounded wistful about it and Charlie fought down the urge to glare, they had played tea party so much with Ginny he started drinking coffee as soon as he got to Hogwarts.
"Hermione, Ginny is like Fred, a little liar. She constantly had tea parties." Ginny had Hermione take a sip of the firewhiskey and she laid back against Bill after.
"Mum had to make you all, though, you didn't want to and I kept hoping you'd all start to like it as much as I did. Only Ron and George ever offered to play it." She sighed. "Go on with your story, freckle face." Ginny did pass him the bottle after taking her own sip, shoving his hand away and taking over hair stroking duty from where she'd crawled onto the other side of Hermione and Bill.
"Fine. Anyway, we didn't lose because Ron and Ginny were having an incredibly stupid argument about flying with Ginny taunting him from the broomstick."
"I wasn't taunting him." Ginny's voice came back, still sleepy sounding, but soothing.
Charlie tried for cheery, "You were whizzing around on his reading broom telling him you were such a better flyer than him and you could beat him in any race."
Charlie took a sip, then passed the bottle back. Bill seemed to be starting to stir, maybe he and Ginny and should get off the bed in case he was all riled up, he didn't him to accidentally hit Ginny if the moon flare was bad enough. "My youngest brother got so upset, Hermione, that he started yelling at Ginny about how he didn't need a broom to fly. He was so adamant about it he begged George and I to throw him."
Ginny gave a giggle and Hermione seemed to be intensely listening as she sat up and took a very long sip of the firewhiskey, before tucking back down. Bill definitely was stirring, one of his arms coming to wrap securely around her as she resettled. Charlie made a small motion for Ginny to move away, but Ginny shook her head and stayed put.
Hermione's cat also seemed to be listening, which was a little disconcerting, Charlie didn't know if he liked that. "So our youngest brother really wanted to prove he can fly, completely convinced that he can do it broomless. He wanted so badly to have Mum shoot numbers out of her wand for him too, so I spun him around and tossed him like a gnome."
Ginny laughed harder, "So he goes whizzing off and is actually flying with his little accidental magic, you know Weasley is Our King is unstoppable if he's actually got his confidence."
Charlie cut her off, it was his story time and Ginny didn't really remember most of it anyway. "Yet, we'd forgotten about Percy, who was just being dragged before going airborne himself. Teeny Ginny-"
"I'm right here, Charlie." She cut off, starting to rub a kink out of one of Hermione's shoulders.
Charlie ignored her outburst, he and Ginny would still be having a long expletive filled talk later about the ruckus she'd caused this week. "Teeny Ginny attempts to go racing after him on the broom, but she didn't really know how to race yet. George and I were running after Ron and trying to grab Percy to stop Ron from hitting the tree with Mum beside us throwing cushioning charms like crazy and in all the confusion Ginny fell off the broom. I guess Bill or Fred caught her."
"The gnomes caught me, they were running under me cheering." Ginny said as if it was the most natural and happy thing in whatever little world she lived in. "Also, if you ever can't tell the twins apart just say 'Roaming Gnomes' to them. Fred will roll his eyes and George will dissolve into giggles like a third year Hufflepuff girl at the sight of a boy in quidditch gear."
"He finds it so hysterical he laughs so hard he cries sometimes, can't even say the phrase." Charlie offered.
"Roaming gnomes?" Hermione asked softly.
"It was a password for the Gryffindor common room, so he couldn't even get himself through the portrait hole. Maybe he saw Ginny get caught by running gnomes and that's got something to do with it." Charlie mused, remembering how he'd found George asleep in the hallway after he'd been put in separate detention from Fred, back before the teachers pretty much gave up on trying to stop their smaller pranks.
He glanced at Bill and grinned, feeling slightly evil at everything Bill was putting him through, "Want to know a secret about Bill? I can embarrass him since he's asleep."
Hermione nodded eagerly, sitting up to listen better, bumping into Ginny. "When Bill was an only child he was an extremely spoiled toddler. Mum and Dad told him so many times that he was getting a baby, he thought I showed up just for him. He would get rather jealous of other people giving me attention because I was his baby and as I got older he was afraid I'd love someone else more. So much so, he learned to read freakishly early, purely so he could read our bedtime story to me."
Hermione glanced down at gave a soft smile at Bill, "That's so sweet."
"One of my first memories is of being really anxious and Bill telling me not worry. He held my hand and we went to find Mum so he could tell her he didn't want another baby, he wasn't trading me for anything. Mum sitting us down and telling him 'Oh sweetie, Charlie isn't going anywhere. We're keeping him.' I felt so relieved by the fact that I wasn't to be traded for a new one. 'This is just a baby for Charlie.' Then I told her I didn't want a baby, because Bill said they're boring at first and Mum told us the baby was coming either way."
Bill's eyes had opened sometime while he was talking, "We decided to dislike the new baby because Mum wasn't listening to our demands and giving it back. They changed tactics for telling us we were getting a new sibling after that. They didn't even tell us the twins were coming, we went to visit Muriel and when we got back there they were. That didn't go over well with Perce at all. He too, did not want babies. Nightmare, love?"
She nodded and let him pull her back down into his arms, settling her head on his chest and Bill made a hand motion for Charlie to keep talking as he rubbed her back soothingly, not realizing most of the soothing had already been accomplished. "So you've heard about gnome tossing and the brutal gnome attack."
"It wasn't brutal, Charlie." Ginny said defensively.
"Ginny, they still effing boo me for all of your perceived childhood injustices, even though they live in my yard and love the dragons." Charlie reprimanded, getting off the bed to go sit on his cot. There wasn't really a reason for all four of them, plus the cat to be piled on the bed and he preferred his space.
"Anyways, you've yet to hear about games with the ghoul and George. Bill and Fred went on a date, but George and I needed to hide from the devious gnomes. So he took me to the spot where he and Fred hid from Mum when she was mad at them. We went up into the attic with a deck of exploding snap and gobstones and I'd never been up there and lo, and behold there's a freaking ghoul. George is real smooth about it and tells me he moved in last week and starts showing the different games to the ghoul. The ghoul picked gobstones."
Hermione was still staring at him, "We had a tournament with George repeatedly explaining the rules to the ghoul, who seemed happy and George telling me the ghoul couldn't really talk so we couldn't play chess with him. When Mum got back to her senses and realized we had a ghoul she wanted to get rid of it. Which Fred and George, and I by proxy, were adamantly against because if Ginny was allowed to have gnomes the twins were allowed to have a game playing ghoul. Dad sided with us and Mum loved her mini-me so much more than the rest of us so she had to let the ghoul stay."
"I'm not Mum's mini-me and she doesn't love me more." Ginny said taking one last sip before returning to her own cot bed, shooting Charlie a glare.
"Ginny, she tried and tried for you and you've never seen Mum duel anyone. It was her second Day of Reckoning and it was terrifying, just like you when you're furious at someone. I still have no idea if she killed the men who tried to take her or us during the First War for leverage against our uncles."
"Don't bring that up, Charlie." Bill scolded, then seeing everyone looking anxious, sighed. "Mum didn't, she turned one over to Uncle Gid and one fled due to her sheer rage at some point. She thinks the third just couldn't hex a pregnant woman so he destroyed the Burrow's kitchen before leaving."
"Mrs. Weasley dueled people?" Hermione asked in slight awe, seeing Ginny looked astounded as well, their eyes meeting.
Bill sighed softly, "Yes, to make sure we all got out. Charlie and I were responsible for flooing the younger ones to safety, before going ourselves, so we heard and saw some of it. Made me appreciate how sweet Mum was when she yelled at us. You do not get between her and her children's safety or you get hexed through a window with most of the cutlery flying after you in attack."
"She was throwing hexes I've still never seen repeated. Right before I flooed she screamed Molly Prewett with a crazy wand wave and one the men's feet caught fire." Charlie added, reaching for the bottle of firewhiskey. His mother got mad at them, but never sounded like an angry nesting dragon in a complete rage or tried to kill them. This was getting heavy, he tried for lightness, "Anyways, when I was playing gobstones against the ghoul George asked me how long it would take for Mum to realize screaming didn't work on him and Fred the way it did the rest of us. I asked him what he meant and little Georgie shrugged, 'We like noise, we don't like it when it's quiet. Anytime something bad happens we have to be quiet.' So part of their sheer exuberance is because they like everything to be loud or exploding because for them it means everything is fine."
"Which is why they're in the perfect line of business and why there is no peace at the Burrow." Ginny said decisively and Charlie could tell she was wondering if she could just create a hex out of own her name as well.
"Yes, now go back to sleep you two. We're fine." Bill said as he attempted to push the cat off of him, only to have claws dig into his shirt.
"We can't." Charlie said.
"You're under chap-er-one." Ginny trilled, "Your lovely posters say that you two can't be left alone during the full moon. Charlie already had to stun you once, Bill, because the rules said so."
Bill grumbled and Hermione sounded defensive, "Don't tease him about making the posters, he didn't want to have to repeat himself to everyone or get upset." She paused, whispering something that had the cat jumping off of Bill so he could carry her blushing into the bathroom, before coming back out.
"Hermione," Charlie said to cover the awkwardness of her needing the loo. "We will always tease Bill about his poster making habits, we've earned the right. Mum was big on arts and crafts and Bill got really into making posters, as did Percy, though he loved pamphlets as well. When I shared a room with them there was a constant barrage of different sets of rules I was supposed to live by and charts to track our rule breaking habits. Just like Ginny will always be teased for her valentines and make-up cards. We think she would do something bad just so she could go play with the glitter."
"Says the boy who spent a lot of time making pop-up books." Ginny retorted.
"They were for you little ones, don't be a brat about the fact I loved you enough to spend time making special stories just for your bed time." Charlie scolded his younger sister, still slightly embarrassed that he'd spent quite a bit of time making dragon pop up books or puppets to hear them laugh.
Ginny had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry, Charlie. I always thought it was because you hated make-up cards and did it so you wouldn't have to apologize to us when you lost your temper."
"By the time you could read, Gin, I was too old to be creating make-up cards, I was a big boy off at school. Mum just sort of pretended we had to play by the same rules so you babies wouldn't whine about us getting special treatment. Think about it, did you ever get a make-up card from Bill or I?"
The bathroom door eased open and Charlie winced, seeing Bill immediately darken, "Why didn't you call? You're not supposed to put any weight on your leg yet."
"I hopped, thank you very much." Hermione told him as he lifted her back up.
Bill still frowned at her, but Ginny cut him off. "Bill sent me one from Egypt, after he had to come make sure my hand wouldn't fall off. Remember the pretty bracelet he gave me when I got my Hogwarts letter? I couldn't take it off and he realized he'd missed a curse and had to come home and fix it, then mailed me a make-up card."
"Take that as a lesson, Hermione. Bill Weasley will give you stolen treasure jewelry that's cursed. When the Gryffindor chaser got cursed, the twins were not pleased with him." Charlie said, watching him set her back on the bed and the cat glare at him as if it was his fault she'd hopped.
"Charlie, did anything else fun happen when you were tied to George." Hermione asked, to keep Bill from saying anything and get him to stop frowning at her.
While Bill resettled her in the bed like a nesting mother, propping pillows around her and adding far too many blankets, Charlie thought. "Well, we celebrated Percy's birthday."
Ginny agreed, sounding sleepier. "I helped make the cake."
Charlie looked directly at Bill to find him doing the same and they both grinned at each other. Bill's voice gentle as he passed Hermione the firewhiskey. "Take a long sip, pet, and we'll have no more nightmares tonight. Ginny, I don't know how to break this to you…but you were a toddler. You sat on the counter stirring a bowl of flour, thinking you were helping."
Bill handed Hermione a potion and she held her hand out for a biscuit. He passed it to her and took a sip of the firewhiskey himself before pulling her back to being curled against him, giving Charlie a wave to just keep talking.
"Which you promptly got all over the kitchen when you dropped the bowl in your excitement to give it to Baker Bill, who already had the cake in the oven. The George and Fred decided to be playful little gits and make flour angels on the floor." Charlie expanded.
"I think I made one too." Ginny almost asleep from her pillow.
Hermione seemed to be easing into sleep and Bill kissed her forehead before scolding Hermione's weirdly aware familiar. "No, Crookshanks. You can sleep at the foot of the bed, not on top of us."
The cat just glared at Bill before going down to the end of the bed and Charlie talked softly to cover just how uneasy the damn cat made him. There was no way it was just a cat. "You did, Gin, which is good because it meant Mum found it completely adorable when there was flour all over the kitchen and just waved her wand to get rid of it over make us clean up."
Ginny merely made a noise and Hermione exhaled softly as well, her eyes shut. Charlie looked at Bill, "Are you staying up or do you want a sleep potion?"
Bill glanced at the girl softly exhaling on his chest, "Just hit me with another stunner, I need to be able to wake up if she does. Not have to struggle into consciousness, what if she'd woken up screaming again?"
Charlie sighed, but pulled his wand. "I hate this, Bill."
"Me too, little brother, me too. Hit it." Bill sounded equally as unhappy with the situation, but rather determined.
So Charlie hit him with a non-verbal stunner to his head, got off his cot to rearrange the covers around them, feeling guilty, and remove some of the extra blankets Bill had piled on. He laid back down on his cot and could feel those eyes watching him and felt the need to address them. "Crookshanks, you just keep watch and wake me up again if needed."