The first thing I am aware of is an ache running through my entire body, a new pain, not like what I was used to before in my prison. Opening my eyes I spend some time focusing on the room I am in. a hospital room, looking down I see Charlie asleep in a chair beside me and suddenly it all comes back to me, the party, the argument and the pub. The man and sending my patronus, I must have moved because Charlie suddenly stirs beside me and then sits up blinking a couple of times before seeing that I am awake and staring at him, his face crumpling in relief and anguish at the same time.
"You're awake," he mutters,
"You got my patronus," I say, wanting to be angry at him but unable to be anything other than guilty.
"I did," he says and I can't take it anymore, tears suddenly spring to my eyes and start to escape rapidly pooling at the base of my neck.
"I'm so sorry Charlie, I shouldn't have gone off on my own," I stutter. I find myself very suddenly gathered into his arms and I melt instantly into his embrace, I have missed the feel of his arms around me so much.
"Shh," he whispers, "this is my fault, I've been so stupid Mya, this is all my fault will you please forgive me?" he is saying over and over again.
"Forgive you?" I gasp eventually pulling back slightly to look at him, "For what?"
"For everything. For not keeping my promises, for stringing you along and then bringing Nicole around, for letting her treat you that way and not saying anything sooner, I have broken up with her by the way, I told her where to go, so did the others. But most of all for not telling you straight away that I am in love with you," he says in a rush and I stare at him for a long time.
"You… you love me," I manage to say at last,
"Since the moment I saw you chatting to my dragon," he smiles and I smile back.
"He spoke to me first," I say back.
"You don't even realise how incredible you are do you?" he asks smiling at me again and I can feel myself blushing.
"I love you too you know," I whisper eventually still unable to look him in the eye until I feel his fingers gently grasp my chin and tilt my face towards his and then feel his lips on mine and I feel like I have gone to heaven. "Wow," I say when we break apart and he rests his forehead against mine.
"Ditto," he whispers back, his breath ghosting across my lips making my own breath hitch.
"So did you really tell her where to go?" I ask quietly after a while when I have settled back down on the bed and he is sitting beside me holding my hand in his.
"Yes," he laughs, "you should have seen her face, I think Harry had already had his say and was physically restraining Ginny when I got back down there, she turned to me for me to defend her and I told her that she needed to go. I said that if I ever saw her again not only would I let the rest of my family do what they were threatening to do but I would feed her to my dragons," I laugh a little and he smiles at me before leaning forward and kissing me gently again, "sleep baby, I'll be right here I promise," he says and I can already feel my eyes getting heavy.
I gasp in pain as I wake up, trying to sit up as my nightmare grips me and I forget about the attack.
"Shh, Mya, I'm right here, it's okay I'm here," he whispers to me his arms already around me and I sigh slightly as my breathing returns to normal and he helps me lie down again. "They never went away did they? The nightmares?" he mutters.
"No," I whisper, "but I couldn't say anything, you were the only one that knew and you were… distracted," I whisper and he ducks his head immediately in shame.
"I'm sorry Mya, I'm so sorry," he says quietly.
"Don't say it anymore just swear that you will never do it again, that you'll stay with me this time," I say looking at where our hands are joined.
"Never again, I will be by your side forever I promise… I know I've promised before and let you down but I will stick to it this time. Besides I think the others might kill me if I ever hurt you again,"
"Correction… we will kill you," Harry says from the doorway making us both look up at him.
"Harry," I breathe as he walks towards me and kisses me on the head before taking my head in his hands and inspecting me closely.
"Are you okay?" he asks eventually and I nod and only then does he smile with relief and flop into a chair on the opposite side of the bed from Charlie, "glad to see you finally came to your senses and told her how you feel," he says to Charlie who grins sheepishly.
"What's the plan Harry?" he says after a while.
"We can't rule out a death eater sending a warning," he sighs, I shudder as I have heard about the death eaters and Charlie's hand grips mine tighter straight away.
"Right, you know who?" Charlie is talking for me as I'm not sure I can.
"It looks like Dolohov, he… he is a fan of using his fists as well as his wand," Harry mutters whilst looking at me.
"What do we do then? Why did he hurt me?" I ask quietly,
"You're as famous as any of us now, more so. The mysterious Black heiress is suddenly found alive and is found to be an extremely powerful witch and the only living relative of the boy who killed Voldermort, we should have realised," Harry sighs, "we might as well have painted a bloody bullseye on your back, we should have taught you to protect yourself, it's not safe, I was so stupid,"
"Hey, hey stop it, Harry you have helped make my life better than I ever thought possible. Because of you, all of you I have a family and somewhere to belong where I can be happy. Let's just focus on what to do now," I say and he gives me a weak smile.
"The healers have agreed that you are okay to be moved as long as you have complete rest once at home and we don't think it's safe here, the whole auror office is on high alert looking for anyone after the family and the wards on the house have been doubled. We're going to move you by broom tonight,"
"But I can't fly," I say in shock,
"You'll be on Charlie's broom with him," he pauses and turns to Charlie, "same formation as the night I came to the burrow before the war started," he says and Charlie nods the seriousness of everything making me have to fight not to shake.
"You think it was them that kept me prisoner, don't you?" I say quietly after a while,
"Yes," Harry says, "it makes sense, wizards would be able to hide you and keep you alive but in pain, I don't know why other than, because they hoped to use you for something," he says and I nod. "Right I'm going to check in and get everything sorted I'll be back in an hour, we leave then," he says and we both nod silence filling the room long after he has left.
"It's going to be okay isn't it?" I ask after a while
"I promised didn't I?" he smiles and I nod smiling back, we sit with each other a while longer before he helps me get dressed and we wait for Harry to return. When he does Charlie carries me with him to the meeting point and wraps a scarf around me before passing me over to Harry as he mounts his broom, who then places me on the broom in front of Charlie and he instantly wraps his arm around me securing me to him. "Hold on baby," he murmurs in my ear and I do.
"Right everyone ready?" Harry says and receiving grunts and nods we are off. The flight is fairly uneventful until we are over a stretch of water when suddenly a huge jet of fire flies past us and there are shouts as I see a huge dragon rearing up behind us he opens his mouth to issue another jet of fire and I know it will kill us all so I scream at him to stop at the same time as casting a shield big enough to protect us all. The dragon stops in its tracks and looks straight at me.
"Please don't," I say, "none of us would hurt you, Charlie here has spent his life looking after dragons and protecting them, we just want to get home," I continue.
"You are a strange little witch," the dragon says after a while and I notice that everyone has stopped flying they are all watching my interaction with the dragon as they realise I am talking to it and still holding a shield over them.
"I know," I say after a while not knowing what else to say the dragon laughs at that,
"What's your name?" he asks after a while,
"Persephone, what's yours?"
"Draxious," he replies and I smile at him,
"I like that name, it suits you, why are you here Draxious?" I can feel the pressure of talking and holding the shield wavering sweat beading on my forehead.
"I was herded this way by some evil little wizards, they threw curses and hexes at me until I was mad as hell and flying this way,"
"I think they did it because they wanted you to kill us, I'm sorry that happened to you Draxious," I say seriously and he stares at me for a long while.
"Where are you headed?"
"Little Willows, a few miles south of here in the countryside,"
"Is there anywhere I can rest there?" he asks hopefully,
"Charlie, can Draxious rest in our woods for a while, the death eaters have tortured him and he is tired and I think he might be hurt?"
"Of course,"
"Yes Draxious we have woods you can rest in and Charlie will check over your wounds too,"
"Thank you Persephone, I will guide you safely to your destination,"
"Thank you," I sigh before turning to the others who are all staring at me in open shock, "it's okay he won't hurt us, he'll guide us home," I say finally lowering the shield and feeling my body fail me as I go limp against Charlie's chest. The next thing I know I am on the ground when I open my eyes, everyone including Draxious around me. "Hi everyone, hi Draxious," I smile and they stare at me like I'm crazy, all except Charlie whose seem it before.
"Are you okay little one?" the dragon asks and everyone looks at me to see if I can understand him which makes me giggle.
"Yes, thank you Drake, I just got a bit tired, you can go to the woods now, Charlie and I will come to look at your wounds later I promise," I say and he nods leaning down to nuzzle me very briefly before turning and walking into the woods,"
"I thought it was weird that Harry could talk to snakes but now you can talk to dragons what is it with your family?" Ron exhales which releases the tension and everyone starts to chuckle.
"How you could have thought anyone but Seph was perfect for you is beyond me," Fred laughs and Charlie mock scowls before helping me stand and then lifting me into his arms the second I start swaying on my feet.
"Come on you let's get you up to bed for a bit," he says but I shake my head,
"No just the living room, I need to come with you later when you look at Drake's wounds, I'm scared he'll hurt you if I'm not there," I mutter and he realises that I'm not going to back down and so nods and carries me into the living room sitting down with me in his lap.
Waking up I am aware of a solid mass against my side and a steady heartbeat beneath my ear and then the murmuring of voices and so I decide to settle again and listen to what people were saying for a little while, still too tired to open my eyes.
"So she can talk to dragons," that's Ron's voice,
"Yes, we established that about two hours ago," Ginny sighs in exasperation almost making me giggle.
"You knew?" someone is clearly asking Charlie now.
"I knew," Charlie's voice rumbles through his chest almost making me shiver, "The first time I met her she was talking to one of the dragons on the reserve,"
"And the shield?" Harry is asking,
"She cast one on that first day, saved my life that's how I knew she was a witch," he says and there is an almost tense silence in the room for a while.
"What does it mean?"
"That she's powerful, but we knew that anyway,"
"About the dragons though,"
"It means that she will be a bigger target for dark wizards," Mr Weasley says after a while, "Being able to talk to dragons is a rare gift, one that I have heard before was passed along the Black line. I along with most of the ministry thought it had dies out generations ago, if the death eaters figure out she has the gift she'll be in danger," he sighs
"Why?" Harry asks and I can sense his fear,
"There are rumours, legends if you will that this gift can… can be used to create a new dark lord. If they catch her there are torture spells that can be cast over several weeks to extract the gift and her magical ability,"
"What would happen to her," Hermione asks in almost a whisper,
"She wouldn't survive," he replies and I can feel Charlie's grip on me tighten so much I stir a little,
"We won't let it happen Charlie," George says and I can hear the others muttering things along the same lines.
"So she's the one then?" Mrs Weasley says quietly and the room becomes still as they all listen.
"Yes," he replies after a while and I can feel him shifting me in his arms slightly to stroke the hair back from my face.
"Well it took you long enough to figure out, you very nearly ruined it all didn't you," she says sternly and I feel him wince.
"I know, I was an idiot, but she's forgiven me and I will never let her down again I promised her and all of you can hold me to it too, I know that she's already family so I know you'll all be quite willing to do that," he says and I hear them chuckle.
A few hours later Charlie and I return from the woods where we have tended to our new dragons wounds and he has promised to keep from harming any of us, but would do his best to destroy any dark wizards that came our way.
"Right bed time I think," he announces as we reach the kitchen and I nod, although I do suddenly pause when we reach the landing of our bedrooms.
"Charlie," I whisper and he turns to me,
"Yes Mya?"
"Will you stay with me?" I ask in a whisper.
"Well I wasn't planning on going anywhere," he chuckles,
"No, I… I mean tonight, at night, will you stay with me incase… so that when my nightmares, what I mean is, I… I need you there with me, not over the hall in another room," I stutter feeling myself flush and look down at my feet.
"Baby, I promised, and I meant it, I will be right by your side every night for the rest of my life, okay," he says and I look up at him and nod slightly before reaching up and kissing him gently.
"Come on lets go to sleep," he whispers as we break apart and he pulls me gently into his room, where we then quickly get changed and climb into bed and he pulls me to him as I settle down and sigh.
"Morning beautiful," a voice mumbles in my ear as I stir the next day and I let out a giggle as I turn to bury my head in his chest.
"Morning," I whisper, smiling when he starts smiling.
"Ready to face the day and learn some new magic?" he asks making me almost jump out of bed grinning like an idiot, before I wince in pain and sink back down. "But," he says immediately as he examines me and makes sure I am not still in pain. "You need to rest, it will be theory work the next couple of days, you can get some fresh air when we visit Drake but other than that it's rest, you need to get better okay," he says and I stare at him for a while before sighing huffily and letting him kiss me lightly before he gets up and pulls on some trousers.
The next few days are tense around the house, I am being kept in the dark, although of course I know what it is they're hiding from me as I was awake while they were discussing it, they just don't know I was. Now that I am back on my feet they have started teaching me defensive spells and Harry has insisted on teaching me some attack spells too and Hermione has fully educated me on all the curses and there effects.
I know that they are worried about another attack and I overhear them talking in hushed tones about this being like it was before and my heart clenches for them slightly. This waiting is killing everyone. I quickly heal and am learning quickly, showing them how powerful I can be to try and alleviate their worries slightly.