HI guys! sorry I'm so so so so late! University is eating my soul alive! Read and Enjoy!!!!

Dislcaimer: I own nothing not even the song!


Chapter 8: I Walk the Line

"You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line"~ Johnny Cash, "I Walk the Line"

Charlie awoke suddenly to muted light trickling in the window along with the distinct sound of rain pattering on the roof and strangely he was in the twins' room. He sat up a little and ran his hand through his hair, confused. The dream he'd woken from had seemed so real….Allie was running through the woods, he wasn't sure which woods they were but he was following after her as quickly as he could. Every so often he would catch a glimpse of her through the trees. But when he looked down, he found a trail of blood leading him on ward to Allie… he shuddered and ran his hands over his face, trying to wipe the images from behind his eyes.

What time was it? How had he gotten to the twins' room? He squinted toward the window, it was afternoon light maybe? Afternoon? He thought to himself. "Afternoon?" he whispered and glanced around.

Strange, he remembered falling asleep next to her, his arm around her waist and settling his face into in her hair and breathing in that subtle mix of warm brown sugar and chocolate that clung to her. He could remember her muttering something just before he went to sleep, it wasn't really coherent but she had a smile on her lips. And for a while they slept in peace. Until she slipped into deep sleep and started flailing around. He winced as he ran a tired hand over his cheek: she twisted and turned and even had hit him once or twice it felt like. But he couldn't figure out when she'd stopped moving or even when she left. Hell, he couldn't even figure out what time it was.

Charlie stretched and finally glanced at the clock. It was one o'clock in the afternoon and Allie was nowhere to be found. So he finally accumulated the will to get up and went to the door. Cautiously, he stuck his head out, only to be met with low murmurings, shuffling feet downstairs, and Bill's soft snoring from the next room over. As he walked down the hall, he passed Ginny's room and it was full of suitcases and boxes; she and Ron were home.

He took the stairs two at a time as he held tight to the railing, hopping over the creaky steps, and stepping in the same spots that he did when he was a child. He walked into the kitchen where he found his mother, father and Lupin gathered around the kitchen table.

"There you are, Charlie-Bear! We thought you maybe you'd slipped into a coma," she patted his cheek as she passed.

"Still running on Romanian time," he told her with yawn as he began to reset his watch.

"So, Charlie," Lupin began as he walked over for a handshake. "What's this I hear about you bringing home a pretty Healer from Romania?"

Charlie felt blood rushing to his cheeks. Stupid Tonks! He hadn't seen her in years and the first time he saw her, she had to go blabbing. "Where is Allie anyway?" Charlie glanced around, half expecting to see her come barreling around the nearest corner.

"She accompanied Kingsley, Tonks, Mad-eye, Arthur and I to get Ron and Ginny from London." Charlie felt the excess blood drain from his face. So that hadn't been a dream, then? "From there, she and Tonks headed to St. Mungo's," Lupin replied as he checked his own watch. "They should be back soon, actually. Any time now." Now he sounded like he was trying to reassure himself instead of Charlie.

Molly placed her hand over Charlie's tightening fist. "She'll be fine, dear. Nymphadora's with her."

Charlie glanced back at his mother and for the first time noticed just how old she looked with the lines around her eyes and along her laugh lines. A few iron colored strands of her hair whipped through her curls and she moved a little slower than she used to. And these little things made him sad. Sadder than he could say because it was too sudden. He'd missed her gracefully falling into her age. Her hand appeared and stroked his cheek. "You worry too much. You're too young to worry."

"I have good reason," Charlie insisted.

Molly only smiled and sighed. "I know. But everything will be alright."

"However, the question remains," Arthur picked up a question that alluded to a conversation that might have been going on all night. "Are we going to allow this girl into the Order?" he looked to Lupin.

"She's bright and clever, no doubt about that. An excellent Healer," Lupin listed off. "But I don't know. Charlie?"

Charlie looked down at his hands. "I've already done enough; I let her come when I should have locked her in her room. I shouldn't have given in. Now she's all ready to join, to lay her life down for a cause she doesn't understand."

"Then, we'll give her some time." Lupin reasoned. "After the wedding we can talk further."

Charlie was about to agree when, suddenly, a red blur flew into the kitchen and attached itself to his arm with a cry of: "CHARLIE!"

"Hi Gin," Charlie grinned and swung his arm around his sister. But when she finally tipped her chin up to him, she wasn't the gap-toothed, pig-tailed eight year old he'd left behind. She was nearly sixteen now and she looked it. No wonder she hated being at school with Ron, no wonder she was so popular.

"What?" She asked.

Charlie shook his head. "It's nothing really. You're just all grown-up."

She pulled away to roll her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "It's not like I've got a third eye or horns or anything."

"No, but…you're just different, is all."

Ginny shrugged and took the seat next to him. "So you up for some Quidditch? I was thinking me and you against Ron and George or-" But she never got the chance to finish as Tonks and Allie came giggling through the kitchen door that Arthur held open.

Today, Tonk's hair was somewhat long, wavy and chestnut brown. And with her new petite nose and full lips she looked like she and Allie could have passed for sisters.

When Allie noticed he was sitting there, she trotted over. "Well, hey there sleepy-head," Allie wrapped her arms around Charlie's neck and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Did you just get up?"

"Yeah, I did." He tugged her arm loose so she was next to him instead of behind, remembering that Ginny was next to him. "Allie, this is my sister, Ginny. Gin, this is Allie."

Allie smiled and reached out a hand. "I'm so glad to meet you! Charlie's told me all about you!"

Ginny looked Allie up and down before taking her hand. "Well, he's told me absolutely nothing about you…" she muttered mutinously.

But Charlie had more pressing things to ask then why Ginny was being so odd: "Everything went okay? Nothing happened?" He pressed Allie.

Allie laughed. "It all went according to plan. They accepted me and set me up with housing already. We stopped by and dropped off my bag and everything." She sighed. "You worry too much, you know?"

"I have a good reason to worry," he wound his hands around hers, pulled her close and checked her over; she had the same bright smile, the same tiny fingers, the same curious tilt of the head even when she knew exactly what was going on. She was so beautiful with her windblown curls and nonchalant stance that he realized it would kill him to lose her. "You're not exactly the most careful person I know."

She frowned a little and sighed. "I have to go check on Bill, and then I'll be back." Her hand traced the line of his cheek and down his jaw. And then, just as quickly as she had come she had gone up the stairs.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Ginny accused suddenly.

"I suppose," Charlie shrugged. "She's my date for the wedding."

"Oh," was all Ginny said and left. On her way out, she brushed against Ron, shooting him a particularly nasty look and then vanished.

"What's her problem?" Ron muttered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"I have no idea." He hugged his youngest brother, marveling at how much the kid had shot up. He was almost as tall as Bill or maybe even taller. "How is everything?"
Ron shook his head. "Mad…the world's gone mad."

That shocked Charlie. He'd never heard his brother talk or act like this. Ron was the most oblivious person on the face of the planet. And as he looked at his youngest brother, he saw what this war was doing to his family, to his brother. He reached out and put his hand on Ron's mane of red hair. Ron looked up at his brother through the strands of his hair and there was a small smile on his lips.

"Tell me about school…" Charlie began.

Not too long after Allie had vanished upstairs, she returned, triumphant with Bill and Fleur trailing after her. Charlie and Ron's mother burst into a few tears and hugged all three of them. She lingered for a moment with Allie, cupping her cheek and telling her that she'd done well. Allie blushed and twisted a stray curl around her finger as Molly moved onto fussing over Bill.

When Arthur pulled her away, he called a meeting to order and shooed all the others out, including Allie and Ron. Allie left with a smile and said she would go sit on the porch, to watch the rain. She didn't look back as she left either.

Charlie could hardly pay attention through the whole meeting. His mind kept wandering back to his nightmare of Allie and how she had disappeared leaving only that trail of blood behind. He kept thinking that this was not the life he wanted for her and wondered how in the world Bill allowed Fleur to sit there next to him. When the mercifully short meeting had concluded, Charlie bolted from the room and ran out to the porch to find Allie perched on an old rocking chair.

"You really don't want me in the Order, do you?" Allie asked without looking at him.

He sat next to her. "No, I don't."

"Why not? Why am I not good enough?!" She snapped, turning around.

"It's not that Allie," He insisted as he tried to take her hand "And you know it."

"How do I know you're not lying?!" She crossed her arms over her chest, looking out into the rain.

Instead of responding right away, Charlie stepped around her and cupped her flaming cheeks in his hands. "When have I ever lied to you?"

She shook her head gently. "…no…"

"Then why do you think it's because you're not good enough?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's just an easy way of saying that I don't belong here?" She looked up at him and there he finally found her Achilles' heel. The spot she'd been hiding from him. "Because I don't belong with my parents or in Romania or Nepal or Iceland or-"

"Stop it," he ordered softly, holding his hand over her mouth. "Just stop and listen; I don't want you in the Order because it's a huge risk. That's all."

"Are you sure about that?" One of Allie's eyebrows lifted in accusation. "You're not just trying to get rid of me?"

Charlie smiled at her and slipped his arms around her waist. Still she kept her arms crossed over her chest, stubborn to the last. He leaned down and pressed a kiss under her jaw; that loosened her up some. "Very, very sure…" he told her.

She sighed and leaned into his embrace. "As long as you're sure."

He only laughed and led her back inside. Once they rejoined everyone else in the kitchen, Ginny glanced up at them and left.

"I don't think your sister likes me very much," Allie whispered.

"She just has to adjust," Charlie insisted. "She'll come around."

"You're awfully sure today, aren't you?" she quipped.

"I have my days."


So the plot thickens!!!!!! R AND R!!!!!