Eleven
God defend me from my friends; from my enemies I can defend myself. ~ Proverb
The silence in the house was deafening in the wake of his brother and sisters' sudden, yet not entirely unexpected appearance.
Charlie willed himself to calm down, to think of the near naked witch in his arms that probably wouldn't know how to calm down. She was shaking and clinging to him so tightly he was beginning to loose circulation to his fingers and he worried that this may compromise what trust she had in him when she realized she was standing with a naked man.
"Luna," he said softly, trying to move away from her so he could capture he gaze. Luna shook her head against his back vehemently, her hands gripping him tighter against the now long gone danger.
"Luna, please. They're gone," he tried to reassure her. She clung tighter, her arms moving to wrap around his torso with a strength he was surprised she still had.
This left his hands free, and after a few moments of struggling he managed to turn around in her arms so he could see her, his abused fingers reached over to turn the water back on. Instantly the goose flesh that had sprung up all over his body in the last few tense minutes melted away and with it some of the tension in Luna's body.
It was a case of actions speaking louder than words. The water coming back on seemed to reassure her that the danger was gone, but she still would not let go of his body. With cautious fingers, he slowly raised his hand to the back of her head, hugging back with a sigh of relief that they weren't discovered. Luna was far from ready to face the world; he just needed a few more weeks to work out what to do once that had to happen.
They mindlessly stood under the water for long minutes; Charlie's fingers began sifting through her matted hair slowly, gently working out the worst of the tangles. After a while he reached out for the shampoo, showing her the bottle before tipping some of it into his palm. She didn't protest or try to run, so he took this rare moment of closeness to run his fingers along her scalp, forming a rich lather to rinse away months of neglect.
Her deep sigh was like music to his ears when he urged her to tip her head back into the steady stream of hot water. When she stood up straight it was her hand that reached for the bottle again, handing it to him with an expectant look.
Charlie grinned, gripping her shoulders and turning her so her back was to him, applying the sweet smelling gel to her head for the second time. She let him scrub her hair clean like he'd wanted to do since he'd come across in the meadow.
When it came to conditioning her hair, he massaged her scalp and neck, feeling the last of the horrendous tangles slip apart under his fingers. The once matted mousy blonde hair was once again it's true white blonde mane.
He was almost certain Luna would have spent the rest of the day in the shower with him if he hadn't reached over to turn the tap off after an hour. He led her by the hand onto the cold tiles of the bathroom floor and wrapped her in the fluffy towel he had conjured earlier from a pair of socks.
He noticed the way her eyes still followed all of his movements, and warily plotted his next move with her. He wanted her out of the ratty dress she'd been wearing since her terrible ordeal, but he knew it was going to be a battle that would most likely end badly. He'd seen the wardrobe full of clothes on his wanderings around the house and knew they could have only ever belonged to her. It would be tragic for her to have survived so much during the war only to die from something as human as frostbite or pneumonia.
Leaving the bathroom, he casually walked toward her room while wrapping the towel around his hips, tucking the wand he had picked on the sly into the front of the knot where she would see it until it was too late. He resisted the urge to look back when he heard her small, hesitant footsteps behind him, instead making his way directly to the wardrobe as if it were his house and not hers.
He opened the wardrobe and assessed the array of Muggle and Wizard clothing that hung neatly on wire hangers, untouched for who knew how long. He sifted through the jewel toned robes, took note of strangely embroidered jackets and finally settled on a pair of jeans, an almost threadbare white shirt and a jumper that looked like one of his mothers rare failed knitting attempts but would be warm nonetheless. He wondered if he could manage to get a robe on her too before she decided it would be too much.
Glancing over his shoulder, he caught her eye briefly before turning back to the clothes, stealing himself for what was to come. She watched him with curiosity from the doorway, but wouldn't come any closer. He picked up the clothes he'd chosen, thought about wrestling her into them, but decided that would probably end off worse than what he knew he had to do.
"You're going to hate me for this," he sighed, pulling his wand from the front of his towel, closing his eyes before saying the spell.
The clothes vanished from his hands and the soggy, shredded slip she had been wearing for weeks appeared in their place. She didn't make a sound behind him, so he turned to see her standing there; looking down at her fully clothed self in horror. Her giant blue eyes looked up at him with such terror that he wished for an instant he could take back what he had just done.
"I'm sorry," he said sadly, watching as she turned and fled from the house once again.
But the damage was done; now all he could do was wait. He knew this time she would come back, that they had had a breakthrough that afternoon and she now trusted him, even just a little. That was all Charlie needed to help her, just a little trust – from there they could work the rest out.
Thanks for reading!
A note to my readers: I am not a quick updater, as you may well have noticed. When my work/life balance is back under control, things will be complete.
If I ever do decide to 'abandon' a fic - as some have come to recently accuse me - I will not be leaving it up on this site because I don't think that would be fair. At present time I am slowly working toward completing the fics I sill have posted here &I am sorry if I have upset anyone with my recent lack of progress. A full time job & a household that doesn't run itself mean I am constantly surrounded by distractions & writing comes out of what little spare time I have.
Your reviews, private messages and the fact that you still come back when I do have time to update are incredibly encouraging.
The minority who seem to take it personally when a fic has not been updated for a while however, are not. I am not a high school student, a stay-at-home mum or a millionaire who has people do things for them. So the next time you feel the urge to reprimand a FF writer anonymously, ask yourself if that is going to get a chapter posted anytime soon - because it certainly doesn't motivate me.
~Amy
