Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot everything else belongs to
the queen of literature J.K.Rowling. I am making no profit from this story.
AN: Hey I'm done chapter 11. Yay. And I like where it's going. Hope you guys like my fic so far and I'm hoping you guys will help me reach a goal of 100 reviews before I end this fic (that means more than 3 reviews a chapter otherwise there will hafta be like 100 chapters and that would just get boring). Oh and I know this is kinda slow but I need a couple more chapter before I skip ahead through the year. Oh and could you guys tell me how many chapters you'd like this fic to be. I want to know how long I should make it. I hope you people like this chapter cause as far as I remember it's mainly Ron Hermione. Oh and I actually went to read the 8th chapter and it sucked, I can see why I don't have that many reviews, the grammar was horrible even to me. So sorry about that I hope this chapter is better.
-Shortstuff
NoName: Ya you're right it wouldn't have been as exciting or sad if it wasn't Bill who died but that's not the reason I killed Bill.
Arwentheelf: sorry it had to be Bill you'll see why later. But I hated doing it Bill is my fav out of Ron's brothers to.
HOBOrules: so your name is Katie, kewl. Like I said above it had to be Bill. And I found it quite easy to kill of bill once I figured out that it was him who was going to die, though like I said I hated doing it. TBC stands for 'to be continued'. So if you don't see TBC it means I have either ended the fic (though I'll have a huge THE END if that's the case) or me being the stupid person I am I've forgotten to add the TBC.
Jess K.:Yay a new reviewer, happy, happy, happy (hope I haven't scared you off). Ya I guess Harry is kinda moody but I think I have decided to torture Harry in this particular fic. So if you like Harry review lots telling me I shouldn't torture Harry and maybe I'll lay off. No guarantees though.
AN2: Here are my reasons for killing of Bill. First of all I know you guys think Percy would have been a better choice, but in the fic the characters have to be sad about the death. And also I think I subconsciously knew I would need Percy later (He makes his appearance in the 10th chapter). I must admit I was having a hard time deciding whether to kill Bill or Charlie but in the end I figured it would be sadder if it was Bill him being the oldest and all. Neways enough with my explanations here's chapter 9.
Ron woke early the next morning. The pale lights of dawn could be seen, though barely, on the horizon. Ron felt horrible and wished he could forget why. Miserably he threw on his old pair of worn trousers that were inches to short for him and a brown tee shirt, which was so faded you could hardly tell what colour it was. After running an uncaring hand through his hair he headed silently out the door and down the steps of the dormitory. He made his way through a bit of the common room to the door of the girls' dormitory. He knew it would be useless to try and make his way up because an alarm set of and the stairs became a ramp, that was impossible to climb, the moment a guy touched it.
Instead of waking the whole house by trying to climb it he decided he would wait at the foot of the stairs. After last night he really felt he needed Hermione, not to talk to but to have someone comforting. He understood how she must of felt about losing her brother and he knew that she would understand how he was feeling. Afraid that resting against the handrail on the stairs would set of the alarm he lay on the hard stone floor trying hard not to cry. He hadn't cried since he was seven now and didn't want to start again when he was sixteen nearly seventeen.
He lay there looking up at the high ceiling of the room. He saw a large black spider spinning busily in a corner and shuddered. This brought back another series of young childhood memories that he had long forgotten about. He remembered the time Fred had turned his favorite teddy bear into a giant eight-legged spider. He had screamed as loud as his small lungs would allow him. It was Bill who had come rushing into the room and turned his bear back to its original form. Although after that incident he had never touched the bear, since then he had really looked up to his oldest brother.
Without realization Ron drifted into an untroubled sleep and didn't wake for another couple hours or so. He only woke when he felt a cool hand brush the stray hair from his face. He opened his eyes blinking to see Hermione crouching over him with a sad smile on her face. Ron sat up and leant against her. She put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his. Quietly they sat there for a long time not saying anything. Ron was comforted by just her presence and soon his mind drifted into his memories again. After what seemed like an hour Hermione gently eased him of her and got up. Reaching down she pulled him up and then with his hand still in hers they walked towards the exit.
Without realizing how he got there Ron found himself seated in the gradually filling great hall. He felt the sadness ebbing away ever so slightly and he recognized his stomach growling in hunger as his mind processed the food in front of him. Finally he snapped out of his thoughts and began to put some food on his plate. He ate slowly and didn't eat very much at all. After a while he got up and decided to go to the Griffendor common room.
Hermione followed Ron silently, not bothering to question where he was going. She was worried about him but she understood that he needed his time and space. Though Ron was one to bottle up his feelings and thoughts. When she figured out that Ron was going to the common room she caught up to him slightly and grabbed his hand stroking it gently with her thumb. She looked at his face and saw in his eyes the tears that he was holding back. She was about to speak when she realized that they were at the fat lady's portrait.
She quickly mumbled the password and they climbed in. Slowly they made they're way to the worn old chairs by the fire. Ron sat down and Hermione came to sit beside him in the large chair in front of the fire. Ron sat down and Hermione did too. He placed his head on her shoulder and she put her hands comfortingly around him and placed her head on top of his.
Suddenly his head jerked up and Hermione sat up and looked at him. "Will you come with me to the funeral, you don't have to but I'd appreciate it."
"Of course I will." She was positive that Dumbledore wouldn't mind and she knew she should be there for Ron.
Nearly a week had gone by since news of Bill had reached them. Ginny, Ron and Hermione had gone to the funeral. Hermione had accompanied the Weasley siblings to provide Ron with some moral support. Like whenever Harry was left alone he fell back to brooding on the grim future that awaited him. One he couldn't avoid. Trying to take his mind of he topic he grabbed a book of his dresser from his bed where he was laying. It was an old one but reading about Quiditch always took his mind of things for a while. But soon he decided it would be pointless to avoid it that way because he had read the book so many times. Instead he pulled out some homework that he had over for weekend. He had realized that what he needed was to keep busy. Maybe make some memorable thoughts for his mind to fall back on. But for the past three months nothing had happened that could take his mind of the recent depressing events. Sometimes he would think back to the first three years at Hogwarts but that seemed such a long time ago that he couldn't imagine him having that much fun with everything that was going on now.
Looking back down at his homework he stared blankly at what he had done. Reading it and rereading it several times before he figured out what the essay was supposed to be about in the first place. Why did Snape always give them pointless essays? Not like he learned anything from them. The only way he and Ron learned was through experience or by Hermione drilling it into them through forced revision (well there was the odd time when they listened to Snape but you could hardly call that a regular event). He grabbed his advanced book of potions, which was a thick book with a black velvet cover, its title in loopy cursive writing and flipped it open to the page of the contents.
Scanning the contents briefly he found a chapter that looked relatively related to his potions essay. The essay was about the theory behind potions that had a healing purpose to them. Such as skelegrow (a horrible potion which he had had the misfortune of taking in his second year when he had lost all the bones in one arm.) In fact he had chosen the skelegrow potion because he had had some experience with it but he was having a hard time understanding a lot of the key factors which was written in a confusing manner. What was more he couldn't find a lot of information on the potion in his resources.
Reading the first paragraph on the page of the chapter he had chosen he began to take some notes that he hoped would help him understand what Snape was talking about. After what must have been an hour of work he had found one piece of important information. This was about the key ingredients that were a part of potions with healing properties. But after struggling to find the information he found himself hungry and bored. Potion essays weren't his favorite pastime and he hadn't had much of a breakfast. He decided he would see if it was too early for lunch and headed down to the great hall.
Hermione fell though the stone fireplace at the Weasley's house. She got up and brushed a large quantity of soot of her robes and straightened up as Ron intertwined his fingers with hers. He looked miserable and worn, he had dark shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hair was ruffled and messy as though he hadn't brushed it in days, which she reminded herself, he probably hadn't. At that moment Ginny fell into the Weasley fireplace. Hermione reached down with her free hand to help her up and Ginny after mumbling a barely audible word of thanks walked away up the stairs that lead to the upper floors of the house.
Ginny was another person Hermione was worried about, she hardly ever appeared at meals the past week and usually spent her time in her dormitory refusing to talk to anyone and never sleeping. According to what she had heard from the other girls in Ginny's dormitory she'd sit at night on the windowsill staring out for hours until she dropped of to sleep in the early morning light. Hermione knew that Ron and her were miserable but hurting themselves by refusing help and depriving themselves of food and sleep wouldn't help. She was worried to say the least but she also knew that they would eventually get over it, both off them were strong people and they needed their time. Death was a hard thing to deal with, she knew.
Hermione and Ron who was in a mild state of depression walked over to the couch that placed at the far end of the room. It was a love seat but they hardly took up any space seeing as Ron was cuddled up against Hermione for comfort. Ron had been getting better, talking to people more often, especially herself and Harry but the funeral had pulled his feelings back into the dumps again. Hermione ran a soothing hand through his flaming red hair and he looked up into her eyes. He saw the sadness in them, but also the resolute look that at least told her he was beginning to accept Bill's death.
Mrs.Weasley came into the room. She managed a weak smile and a soft hello before letting her real emotions show. The red rimmed eyes and the tear stained cheeks spoke for themselves but when she spoke it was in a trembling hoarse voice. "Is Ginny here?"
Hermione answered seeing as Ron didn't look in the mood to speak. "Yes I think she went upstairs, just a moment ago."
Mrs.Weasley nodded and asked them to let Ginny know to come down to the backyard because the funeral was about to begin.
Hermione and Ron got up and Ron let go of Hermione hand that he had been holding until then and he began to lead the way upstairs, though Hermione knew the way quite well herself, after spending the summer at the burrow. Ron gently rapped his knuckles against the closed door. No one answered and so Ron called out in a somewhat distant voice.
"I'm in here," came Ginny's faint shaking voice. Ron walked toward the closed door of Bill's old room.
He reached out with a shaking and slowly grasped it, turning the handle slowly and thoughtfully as one who is just exploring his boundaries. The door swung open and Hermione and Ron saw Ginny kneeling on the dusty floor. Almost everything looked untouched and had a thin layer of dust on it. Ginny was holding a small rag doll, which Ron recognized, as the one Ginny had proudly sown for Bill when she was seven.
Hermione felt awkward and out of place as Ron walked over to Ginny who was crying silently and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Hermione silently backed away letting the siblings have their moment of comfort and grief. Deciding to go down to the funeral so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't worry she scuttled away as quietly as she could. When she reached the garden she saw Arthur Weasley who was holding Molly while peering anxiously over his shoulder at the house, probably to see if Ron, Ginny and herself were coming.
Hermione made her way across the yard to where roughly 3 dozen chairs and a stand was set up, presently Charlie was making a small speech concerning Bill. He seemed very shaken at his brother's death and was barely managing to get the words out. Hermione walked over to Mr.Weasley and quietly told him that Ron and Ginny would be there shortly and that they were just having a little talk. Mr.Weasley nodded knowingly and turned his attention to his son who was struggling to talk with an even voice.
In a minute or so Charlie had said all he had to say and began to walk back to his seat. Then Fred and George got up and started to walk to the stand. As they walked past her Hermione saw that they were both ashen faced and there wasn't a hint of happiness in either of their expressions. This was the saddest she had ever seen them and nothing in her memory of the twins came close to it, seeing as she hadn't been with them the night Mr.Weasley had been attacked last year. Her gaze followed them up to the stand and then she heard a faint shuffling behind her and turned around to see Ron and Ginny walking towards the empty seats to her right. Ginny's head was hung and she was looking at her feet as she walking. Ron was walking stiffly and still had a comforting hand around Ginny. When they reached the seating area Ron plumped down next to Hermione and Ginny sat down beside him. Ron took his arm from around Ginny and gently rested his head on Hermione's shoulder. Sighing lightly he turned his attention to the stand where Fred and George were about halfway through their speech.
Hermione knew he was waiting for his turn. She had helped him write the speech because at that time he was at a complete loss for words. When Fred and George finished Ron got up and began to walk toward the stand, Hermione's eyes followed him and when he got to the stand he glanced for a moment at her, she gave him a sympathetic look and a reassuring glance. He took a deep breath and began. Everyone was listening patiently and every once in a while someone would sob out loud.
Hermione looked over at Ginny, if anything she looked worse but that was probably because she was still in denial until Ron had spoken to her in Bill's room. It was a good thing that Ginny had come to accept the fact that Bill actually was dead but it seemed at though she was still dealing with it. Hermione felt odd being able to understand all this seeing as she was very young when her brother died and she didn't remember going through much of this. It was though it was instinct to understand the feeling of the Weasleys though. She wasn't sure if it was her experience or her strong connection with Ron, either way she was glad she could help them out.
Almost two hours later she found herself sitting in the Weasley kitchen. Ron was sitting beside her, his hand on top of hers his eyes looking miserably at the Weasley clock where the hand that had Bill's name on it had been removed. "You know," he said suddenly. "I didn't know that Bill was so important to me, I mean he was a cool brother but I guess that sometimes I resented having so many older siblings. Man I didn't know that I'd miss him so much. I mean I barely spent any time with him ad now I feel horrible because he always so nice to me."
"Well Ron I know how you feel but don't be sad, I'm sure Bill wouldn't want you to be."
Ron gave her a reproachful look. "Are you telling me to forget about him?"
"No of course not." Typical Ron always was taking things the wrong way. "No remember him but don't be sad, think off all the happy times you had with him. Be thankful you had him as an older brother at all."
Ron looked at her for a moment thinking about what she had just said, "I guess your right Mione. Sorry I've been a depressed dope for the past while."
"It was expected and acceptable." With that they hooked hands and walked of through the back door and out into the beautiful Weasley lawn. End of Chapter 9 TBC
AN: so what do you think. Please review. Oh and so far I think that chapter 12 is my longest chapter yet. I'm working on it right now and so far it's six and a half pages. I know that's not much but it's pretty good for me. Oh and I'm not done. I think it will be at least eight pages. I need to wrap some things up so I can skip ahead a bit through the year. So far by chapter 12 it's near the end of September. I have to skip at least to the end of October or things will never get going. So I think that chapter thirteen will be near the end of October. Not sure yet though. Just letting you guys know what's going on so far. Oh and if I'm to achieve something with this fic I need an average of 5 review for each chapter that means I need 7 review for this chapter so things will average out.
AN: Hey I'm done chapter 11. Yay. And I like where it's going. Hope you guys like my fic so far and I'm hoping you guys will help me reach a goal of 100 reviews before I end this fic (that means more than 3 reviews a chapter otherwise there will hafta be like 100 chapters and that would just get boring). Oh and I know this is kinda slow but I need a couple more chapter before I skip ahead through the year. Oh and could you guys tell me how many chapters you'd like this fic to be. I want to know how long I should make it. I hope you people like this chapter cause as far as I remember it's mainly Ron Hermione. Oh and I actually went to read the 8th chapter and it sucked, I can see why I don't have that many reviews, the grammar was horrible even to me. So sorry about that I hope this chapter is better.
-Shortstuff
NoName: Ya you're right it wouldn't have been as exciting or sad if it wasn't Bill who died but that's not the reason I killed Bill.
Arwentheelf: sorry it had to be Bill you'll see why later. But I hated doing it Bill is my fav out of Ron's brothers to.
HOBOrules: so your name is Katie, kewl. Like I said above it had to be Bill. And I found it quite easy to kill of bill once I figured out that it was him who was going to die, though like I said I hated doing it. TBC stands for 'to be continued'. So if you don't see TBC it means I have either ended the fic (though I'll have a huge THE END if that's the case) or me being the stupid person I am I've forgotten to add the TBC.
Jess K.:Yay a new reviewer, happy, happy, happy (hope I haven't scared you off). Ya I guess Harry is kinda moody but I think I have decided to torture Harry in this particular fic. So if you like Harry review lots telling me I shouldn't torture Harry and maybe I'll lay off. No guarantees though.
AN2: Here are my reasons for killing of Bill. First of all I know you guys think Percy would have been a better choice, but in the fic the characters have to be sad about the death. And also I think I subconsciously knew I would need Percy later (He makes his appearance in the 10th chapter). I must admit I was having a hard time deciding whether to kill Bill or Charlie but in the end I figured it would be sadder if it was Bill him being the oldest and all. Neways enough with my explanations here's chapter 9.
Ron woke early the next morning. The pale lights of dawn could be seen, though barely, on the horizon. Ron felt horrible and wished he could forget why. Miserably he threw on his old pair of worn trousers that were inches to short for him and a brown tee shirt, which was so faded you could hardly tell what colour it was. After running an uncaring hand through his hair he headed silently out the door and down the steps of the dormitory. He made his way through a bit of the common room to the door of the girls' dormitory. He knew it would be useless to try and make his way up because an alarm set of and the stairs became a ramp, that was impossible to climb, the moment a guy touched it.
Instead of waking the whole house by trying to climb it he decided he would wait at the foot of the stairs. After last night he really felt he needed Hermione, not to talk to but to have someone comforting. He understood how she must of felt about losing her brother and he knew that she would understand how he was feeling. Afraid that resting against the handrail on the stairs would set of the alarm he lay on the hard stone floor trying hard not to cry. He hadn't cried since he was seven now and didn't want to start again when he was sixteen nearly seventeen.
He lay there looking up at the high ceiling of the room. He saw a large black spider spinning busily in a corner and shuddered. This brought back another series of young childhood memories that he had long forgotten about. He remembered the time Fred had turned his favorite teddy bear into a giant eight-legged spider. He had screamed as loud as his small lungs would allow him. It was Bill who had come rushing into the room and turned his bear back to its original form. Although after that incident he had never touched the bear, since then he had really looked up to his oldest brother.
Without realization Ron drifted into an untroubled sleep and didn't wake for another couple hours or so. He only woke when he felt a cool hand brush the stray hair from his face. He opened his eyes blinking to see Hermione crouching over him with a sad smile on her face. Ron sat up and leant against her. She put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his. Quietly they sat there for a long time not saying anything. Ron was comforted by just her presence and soon his mind drifted into his memories again. After what seemed like an hour Hermione gently eased him of her and got up. Reaching down she pulled him up and then with his hand still in hers they walked towards the exit.
Without realizing how he got there Ron found himself seated in the gradually filling great hall. He felt the sadness ebbing away ever so slightly and he recognized his stomach growling in hunger as his mind processed the food in front of him. Finally he snapped out of his thoughts and began to put some food on his plate. He ate slowly and didn't eat very much at all. After a while he got up and decided to go to the Griffendor common room.
Hermione followed Ron silently, not bothering to question where he was going. She was worried about him but she understood that he needed his time and space. Though Ron was one to bottle up his feelings and thoughts. When she figured out that Ron was going to the common room she caught up to him slightly and grabbed his hand stroking it gently with her thumb. She looked at his face and saw in his eyes the tears that he was holding back. She was about to speak when she realized that they were at the fat lady's portrait.
She quickly mumbled the password and they climbed in. Slowly they made they're way to the worn old chairs by the fire. Ron sat down and Hermione came to sit beside him in the large chair in front of the fire. Ron sat down and Hermione did too. He placed his head on her shoulder and she put her hands comfortingly around him and placed her head on top of his.
Suddenly his head jerked up and Hermione sat up and looked at him. "Will you come with me to the funeral, you don't have to but I'd appreciate it."
"Of course I will." She was positive that Dumbledore wouldn't mind and she knew she should be there for Ron.
Nearly a week had gone by since news of Bill had reached them. Ginny, Ron and Hermione had gone to the funeral. Hermione had accompanied the Weasley siblings to provide Ron with some moral support. Like whenever Harry was left alone he fell back to brooding on the grim future that awaited him. One he couldn't avoid. Trying to take his mind of he topic he grabbed a book of his dresser from his bed where he was laying. It was an old one but reading about Quiditch always took his mind of things for a while. But soon he decided it would be pointless to avoid it that way because he had read the book so many times. Instead he pulled out some homework that he had over for weekend. He had realized that what he needed was to keep busy. Maybe make some memorable thoughts for his mind to fall back on. But for the past three months nothing had happened that could take his mind of the recent depressing events. Sometimes he would think back to the first three years at Hogwarts but that seemed such a long time ago that he couldn't imagine him having that much fun with everything that was going on now.
Looking back down at his homework he stared blankly at what he had done. Reading it and rereading it several times before he figured out what the essay was supposed to be about in the first place. Why did Snape always give them pointless essays? Not like he learned anything from them. The only way he and Ron learned was through experience or by Hermione drilling it into them through forced revision (well there was the odd time when they listened to Snape but you could hardly call that a regular event). He grabbed his advanced book of potions, which was a thick book with a black velvet cover, its title in loopy cursive writing and flipped it open to the page of the contents.
Scanning the contents briefly he found a chapter that looked relatively related to his potions essay. The essay was about the theory behind potions that had a healing purpose to them. Such as skelegrow (a horrible potion which he had had the misfortune of taking in his second year when he had lost all the bones in one arm.) In fact he had chosen the skelegrow potion because he had had some experience with it but he was having a hard time understanding a lot of the key factors which was written in a confusing manner. What was more he couldn't find a lot of information on the potion in his resources.
Reading the first paragraph on the page of the chapter he had chosen he began to take some notes that he hoped would help him understand what Snape was talking about. After what must have been an hour of work he had found one piece of important information. This was about the key ingredients that were a part of potions with healing properties. But after struggling to find the information he found himself hungry and bored. Potion essays weren't his favorite pastime and he hadn't had much of a breakfast. He decided he would see if it was too early for lunch and headed down to the great hall.
Hermione fell though the stone fireplace at the Weasley's house. She got up and brushed a large quantity of soot of her robes and straightened up as Ron intertwined his fingers with hers. He looked miserable and worn, he had dark shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hair was ruffled and messy as though he hadn't brushed it in days, which she reminded herself, he probably hadn't. At that moment Ginny fell into the Weasley fireplace. Hermione reached down with her free hand to help her up and Ginny after mumbling a barely audible word of thanks walked away up the stairs that lead to the upper floors of the house.
Ginny was another person Hermione was worried about, she hardly ever appeared at meals the past week and usually spent her time in her dormitory refusing to talk to anyone and never sleeping. According to what she had heard from the other girls in Ginny's dormitory she'd sit at night on the windowsill staring out for hours until she dropped of to sleep in the early morning light. Hermione knew that Ron and her were miserable but hurting themselves by refusing help and depriving themselves of food and sleep wouldn't help. She was worried to say the least but she also knew that they would eventually get over it, both off them were strong people and they needed their time. Death was a hard thing to deal with, she knew.
Hermione and Ron who was in a mild state of depression walked over to the couch that placed at the far end of the room. It was a love seat but they hardly took up any space seeing as Ron was cuddled up against Hermione for comfort. Ron had been getting better, talking to people more often, especially herself and Harry but the funeral had pulled his feelings back into the dumps again. Hermione ran a soothing hand through his flaming red hair and he looked up into her eyes. He saw the sadness in them, but also the resolute look that at least told her he was beginning to accept Bill's death.
Mrs.Weasley came into the room. She managed a weak smile and a soft hello before letting her real emotions show. The red rimmed eyes and the tear stained cheeks spoke for themselves but when she spoke it was in a trembling hoarse voice. "Is Ginny here?"
Hermione answered seeing as Ron didn't look in the mood to speak. "Yes I think she went upstairs, just a moment ago."
Mrs.Weasley nodded and asked them to let Ginny know to come down to the backyard because the funeral was about to begin.
Hermione and Ron got up and Ron let go of Hermione hand that he had been holding until then and he began to lead the way upstairs, though Hermione knew the way quite well herself, after spending the summer at the burrow. Ron gently rapped his knuckles against the closed door. No one answered and so Ron called out in a somewhat distant voice.
"I'm in here," came Ginny's faint shaking voice. Ron walked toward the closed door of Bill's old room.
He reached out with a shaking and slowly grasped it, turning the handle slowly and thoughtfully as one who is just exploring his boundaries. The door swung open and Hermione and Ron saw Ginny kneeling on the dusty floor. Almost everything looked untouched and had a thin layer of dust on it. Ginny was holding a small rag doll, which Ron recognized, as the one Ginny had proudly sown for Bill when she was seven.
Hermione felt awkward and out of place as Ron walked over to Ginny who was crying silently and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Hermione silently backed away letting the siblings have their moment of comfort and grief. Deciding to go down to the funeral so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't worry she scuttled away as quietly as she could. When she reached the garden she saw Arthur Weasley who was holding Molly while peering anxiously over his shoulder at the house, probably to see if Ron, Ginny and herself were coming.
Hermione made her way across the yard to where roughly 3 dozen chairs and a stand was set up, presently Charlie was making a small speech concerning Bill. He seemed very shaken at his brother's death and was barely managing to get the words out. Hermione walked over to Mr.Weasley and quietly told him that Ron and Ginny would be there shortly and that they were just having a little talk. Mr.Weasley nodded knowingly and turned his attention to his son who was struggling to talk with an even voice.
In a minute or so Charlie had said all he had to say and began to walk back to his seat. Then Fred and George got up and started to walk to the stand. As they walked past her Hermione saw that they were both ashen faced and there wasn't a hint of happiness in either of their expressions. This was the saddest she had ever seen them and nothing in her memory of the twins came close to it, seeing as she hadn't been with them the night Mr.Weasley had been attacked last year. Her gaze followed them up to the stand and then she heard a faint shuffling behind her and turned around to see Ron and Ginny walking towards the empty seats to her right. Ginny's head was hung and she was looking at her feet as she walking. Ron was walking stiffly and still had a comforting hand around Ginny. When they reached the seating area Ron plumped down next to Hermione and Ginny sat down beside him. Ron took his arm from around Ginny and gently rested his head on Hermione's shoulder. Sighing lightly he turned his attention to the stand where Fred and George were about halfway through their speech.
Hermione knew he was waiting for his turn. She had helped him write the speech because at that time he was at a complete loss for words. When Fred and George finished Ron got up and began to walk toward the stand, Hermione's eyes followed him and when he got to the stand he glanced for a moment at her, she gave him a sympathetic look and a reassuring glance. He took a deep breath and began. Everyone was listening patiently and every once in a while someone would sob out loud.
Hermione looked over at Ginny, if anything she looked worse but that was probably because she was still in denial until Ron had spoken to her in Bill's room. It was a good thing that Ginny had come to accept the fact that Bill actually was dead but it seemed at though she was still dealing with it. Hermione felt odd being able to understand all this seeing as she was very young when her brother died and she didn't remember going through much of this. It was though it was instinct to understand the feeling of the Weasleys though. She wasn't sure if it was her experience or her strong connection with Ron, either way she was glad she could help them out.
Almost two hours later she found herself sitting in the Weasley kitchen. Ron was sitting beside her, his hand on top of hers his eyes looking miserably at the Weasley clock where the hand that had Bill's name on it had been removed. "You know," he said suddenly. "I didn't know that Bill was so important to me, I mean he was a cool brother but I guess that sometimes I resented having so many older siblings. Man I didn't know that I'd miss him so much. I mean I barely spent any time with him ad now I feel horrible because he always so nice to me."
"Well Ron I know how you feel but don't be sad, I'm sure Bill wouldn't want you to be."
Ron gave her a reproachful look. "Are you telling me to forget about him?"
"No of course not." Typical Ron always was taking things the wrong way. "No remember him but don't be sad, think off all the happy times you had with him. Be thankful you had him as an older brother at all."
Ron looked at her for a moment thinking about what she had just said, "I guess your right Mione. Sorry I've been a depressed dope for the past while."
"It was expected and acceptable." With that they hooked hands and walked of through the back door and out into the beautiful Weasley lawn. End of Chapter 9 TBC
AN: so what do you think. Please review. Oh and so far I think that chapter 12 is my longest chapter yet. I'm working on it right now and so far it's six and a half pages. I know that's not much but it's pretty good for me. Oh and I'm not done. I think it will be at least eight pages. I need to wrap some things up so I can skip ahead a bit through the year. So far by chapter 12 it's near the end of September. I have to skip at least to the end of October or things will never get going. So I think that chapter thirteen will be near the end of October. Not sure yet though. Just letting you guys know what's going on so far. Oh and if I'm to achieve something with this fic I need an average of 5 review for each chapter that means I need 7 review for this chapter so things will average out.