Khgirl08: Howdy! Here's the next chapter…
Ellie: And here's the recipients of our delicious cupcakes for today:
Danielle and VampireEmo7S
Hope it makes you happy! =)
Khgirl08: Let's get this show on the road, because I've been falling quite far behind recently.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Ellie and all of the other Maple Brook residents. I won't even lay claim to Sky, Hope, Deni, and David, because I only half created them. Please don't shove a copyright under my nose…
"Dory?" Ellie tugged on the back of Tonks' T-shirt, pulling the Auror back to her. She was still kind of in shock.
"What's the matter, Ellie?" Tonks and Ginny looked at her in concern, and she swallowed nervously, still staring at the nearest corner.
"I know that man. His name is Porter, and he's a Muggle Death Eater."
"A Muggle Death Eater?!" Tonks' eyes flitted to the bald head of Porter and back to Ellie before she set her jaw. "How do you know him, Ellie?"
"I met him on the Destiny Islands. He and his friends tried to force me off of their turf but I beat them in a fight, and then he showed up again later, alone, and broke Sora's daughter's arm before fighting me again. He's a creepy jerk, albeit a really strong creepy jerk, and he's obsessed with me. I saw him once more the night Disney Castle was attacked, and that was when he told me that he had become a Death Eater. He was so much stronger that time…"
"So you even have your own pet Death Eater… That's fantastic." Tonks quickly ducked down between Ellie and Ginny, looking as if she were just adjusting her shoelaces. When she stood, however, she looked identical to Ellie, minus the hair streaks. "Look, you two get down to the shop ASAP. I'll just change again after I get him properly distracted, and I'll send a message if I need any help. Ginny, if you notice that someone is tracking you two do not go into the twins' shop. Just keep wandering around until they leave. Good luck," she finished before sweeping off towards the corner where Porter was standing.
"Let's not stand around and watch," said Ginny. The taller red-head took off at a normal pace, but Ellie noticed that the path she was taking wove in and out of the crowd a little more than necessary. Just as Ellie spotted a brightly colored shop that she might have wanted to explore if she wasn't so worried, however, Ginny took a sharp turn to the right and slipped between two buildings.
"Where are we going?" asked Ellie.
"The back entrance to the shop," answered Ginny. "I figured that no one would be able to spot us jumping back here." She stopped at the fourth door they came to and knocked loudly. "Open up!"
The door was opened thirty seconds later by yet another red head. This one was about the same height as Ginny but a little thicker, and he was sporting a broad grin and a merry twinkle in his brown eyes. His magenta robes clashed severely with his hair and skin tone, but it somehow seemed to fit him. "I thought I heard my ickle sister at the door! And, if I'm not mistaken…" The man stared at Ellie for a moment, his grin turning into a look of serious contemplation before he snapped his fingers, removed the hat from Ellie's head, setting her hair free, and beaming at her. "Yes, there's no doubt about it! Gin-Gin's gotten herself a twin, too! Although I will admit, your new doppelganger does look a little better…" he said, laughing quietly.
Actually, he was quiet the whole time. I wonder if something's wrong.
"Oh, shut up Fred!" Ginny pushed her way past her older brother with a giggle. Ellie also laughed and followed Ginny into what looked like a store room. Boxes were piled haphazardly everywhere she turned, some of which seemed to be emitting loud noises, and a broom was busying itself by sweeping out the corners. Fred shut the door behind him and led the way across to a set of stairs that were covered in plush purple carpet. "Fred, this is-"
"Oh, I know, your owl this morning was such a surprise! You never come visit us here, Angelina! Or you, Alicia." Fred's face, which had been cheerful and relaxed, suddenly tensed up, and instead of being quiet he was talking much louder than necessary. He held a finger to his lips and gave them a meaningful look before gesturing them up the stairs. "Honestly, I don't know if either of you've actually been here before, even, because we always come see you. Here, take a look upstairs while I go have a word with George. He'll be thrilled to see you two again. We'll be closing for lunch in fifteen minutes or so, and we'll be able to talk then."
Ginny nodded mutely before continuing up the stairs, Ellie on her heels. Ginny opened a door at the top, let Ellie through, and slammed it shut before putting her head in her hands. "This can't be good… Something had Fred really scared. Why didn't he want anyone to know who we were?"
"Ginny, is that you?" asked a whispering voice A tall black woman with braids all over her head walked into the small hall they were in. Another woman, considerably shorter and with tan skin, soon followed her. They both looked to be about the same age as Fred. "It is! It's been a while!"
"Angelina, Alicia!" Ginny ran down the hall to embrace the two girls, also whispering. Ellie followed her hesitantly. "What are you two doing here?"
"We just popped in for a visit about fifteen minutes ago, and your brothers invited us to lunch." The second girl smiled brightly at Ellie. "I don't know your name, but hello!"
"Hello. I'm Ellie Mason. It's nice to meet you."
"Sir, you can't come up here! This our private residence, and you said that you just needed to check the shop!" A loud voice that could have been Fred drifted from the storeroom down below, and Ginny, Angelina, and Alicia all tensed once more. "I must insist that you get back into the main store at once."
"That's George," whispered Ginny to Ellie. "We have to hide, now."
"Right. In here, if you would." The black woman led the two younger girls into the room from whence she had just come. She whipped out a wand and waved it at the sofa, causing it to levitate away from the wall. "Alicia?"
The other girl drew her own wand as another, rougher voice shouted up the stairs. "I can do what I want to, Weasley. I'm with the Ministry, so unless you want me to drop some information about your dear father that may or may not be true, you need to move."
By this time Alicia had managed to open a secret door behind the couch. "Hurry up, you two! That monster will be here any second!"
"Is that a threat, sir?!" asked George indignantly.
Ellie nodded and crawled through the small door as quietly as she could and sat down. Ginny had a little trouble getting inside, wincing as she cracked the top of her head on the doorway as she crawled through. Alicia shut the door behind them, and it was suddenly pitch black. Meanwhile, the man with the rough voice was shouting again. "Yeah, I'd say it is. Now move unless you want your entire family thrown into Azkaban!"
The soft thump of the couch falling back to the floor on the other side of the wall was masked by the sound of the door to the twins' apartment being thrown open. Ellie heard Angelina and Alicia walk into the hallway as heavy footsteps came towards them. "What? Who are you?"
"I… Uh… I'm Avery. That's all you need to know." Ellie took in a sharp breath.
Avery! That's the Robert impersonator! Ow! For Ginny had just elbowed her in the side, reminding her not to make any noise.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I'm looking for one, maybe two fugitives. Ellie Mason and possibly an unnamed girl. We've received intelligence that they have been seeing the owners of this shop quite frequently, and we believe that one of the owners is… dating Miss Mason."
Ellie felt Ginny shift next to her and shake with silent laughter. Angelina and Alicia, however, both gasped loudly. "Which one?! Which one is cheating?!"
"I- I beg pardon?" Avery took another step, as if he was stepping away from the two women.
"Is it Fred or George? If it's Fred, you don't have to worry about her ever coming back here, because I'll make him dump her, the bloody runaround!" Angelina was quite a good actress, and Alicia seemed to be just as adept.
"And the same goes for George! I can't believe that one of them is cheating on us, Angelina!"
"I know!'
"Just the same, I need to take a look around up here, just to make sure the Mason girl isn't hiding somewhere."
"Oh, by all means, take a look around, and if she's here I'll-"
"I will take her straight to Azkaban, where she belongs, and unfortunately your boyfriends will come, as well. However, I don't know if I have the authority to take them in if the girls aren't in here." Avery began stomping around the apartment, and Angelina and Alicia's softer footsteps followed him. After five minutes full of crashes, bangs, and many loud expletives, Avery's footsteps finally disappeared back down the stairs, and Ellie and Ginny both heaved sighs of relief.
"So, did you find anything?" George's loud voice echoed up through the floor boards, still sounding as indignant as it had earlier.
"I found your girlfriends, and they aren't too happy with you and your brother." Avery sounded very frustrated, and Ellie grinned smugly. "Other than that, there was nothing of interest."
"Well, then, I think that you need to leave," said Fred. "We're closing for lunch, and if Angelina and Alicia are upset with us then we prefer to be yelled at without company. I'll show you out."
"No, Fred, I'll show him out."
"Oh, but George, I insist!"
"No, no, you can go and spend time with our ladies before I get up there. I'm willing to sacrifice at least that much for my dear brother." George sounded rather gleeful as a pair of footsteps came upstairs. Ellie heard the sounds of the couch taking flight once more as the door closed, and Fred whispered something as Alicia opened the trapdoor once more.
"Ellie, how dare you make eyes at one of our 'boyfriends?'" whispered Alicia harshly, although she was grinning.
"Yes, really, I don't know how on earth a girl so nice as you could end up going for sloppy seconds!" Angelina wasn't even trying to pretend that she was angry; rather, she was nearly doubled over with all but silent laughter as she held the couch aloft. "What are we going to do with you? Not that we're actually dating them, but…" At these last words a twinge of regret passed over her face, as if she didn't want them to be true.
"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Ellie joined the quiet laughter as she crawled out behind Ginny. Fred joined them in the living room just as Angelina replaced the couch, and he grabbed the darker girl's hands and pulled her close to him, a completely serious expression playing across his face.
"I'm so sorry that I cheated on you, Angelina, darling," he whispered. "I won't do it again, I swear."
"You had better not, my sweet, or I will leave and never return!" Angelina mimicked his serious expression, and Fred didn't hesitate to surprise everyone by bending Angelina over and kissing her passionately. Ellie, Ginny, and Alicia all giggled as the kiss deepened, and when Fred finally let Angelina stand straight again both of them were breathing heavily but grinning. "Then again, with kisses like that I might come back no matter what!"
Fred laughed barked with laughter. "Well, maybe I should give them to you more often."
Ellie was in the process of trying to figure out if Fred had been kidding or not when George entered the room, his eyes blazing with anger. "That filthy Death Eater had no right to do that! I don't care if he works for the Ministry or not, nobody threatens my family like that. If the Ministry wasn't as corrupt as it is right now-"
"Then Avery wouldn't even work there," finished Alicia calmly, crossing to him and placing an arm around his shoulders. "I'm just worried about how they knew Ellie was coming here. Thank goodness you showed Angelina and I the secret room last time we were here, or else they would have been caught red-handed."
"Yeah, no kidding." Ginny plopped down on the couch, heaving a heavy sigh. "So, what's up with him, anyhow? How did he know Ellie was here?"
"I have no idea." Ellie sat next to her, trying to keep her thoughts under reign. I'm sure that he was the Robert impersonator.
"Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot! Ellie, why did you gasp so loudly when Avery came up here? You nearly gave us away," said Ginny, staring hard at her friend.
"I know him. At least, I kind of know him," she added quickly, for everyone had gaped at her as soon as the words came out. "He very nearly caught me on another planet, because he had used some potion or something to disguise himself as my best friend. If he hadn't thought that Robert and I were dating, he probably would have been successful in his capture." Ellie smiled sadly. "I've decided that Robert is dead, and Avery and his Death Eater friends probably realize that, so they dropped the act and just started following me."
"Ellie, what potion did he use? Do you remember?" Fred sat down on a puffy armchair and pulled Angelina into his lap as he spoke. George and Alicia mirrored them in another armchair while Ellie scrunched her forehead in thought.
"Polyjuice, maybe? I also remember him saying that Lucius Malfoy was the one who collected some hairs from Robert and they used them in the potion. Why?"
The others exchanged a glance before looking back at Ellie. "Ellie, there's one piece of good news, then. Robert can't have been dead when Avery found you," said Ginny. "The Polyjuice Potion only works when the person you are turning into is still alive. For all we know, Robert is still perfectly fine."
Ellie averted her eyes and nodded. As much as she would have liked to believe her friend, she also couldn't let herself hope that he would be coming back to her at any moment, as whole as he was before everything started. I can't believe it, because the moment I do is the moment we find out that he's dead.
"So, why are you two alone, anyhow?" asked George.
"Yeah, when Lupin spoke to us this morning it sounded as though he and Tonks were going to be your guards for the day," said Fred.
"Lupin is buying everyone's supplies with Neville and Luna. Tonks was with us, but she disguised herself as Ellie to distract a Death Eater. She said that she'd send us a message if something goes wrong." Ginny yawned and stretched. "I wish I had had another hour or two of sleep before Dobby woke us."
Ellie nodded her agreement before pulling her wand out and turning it over in her hand. It was a rich, reddish shade of brown and shone gently in the light from the overhead lamps as the others began talking bout the whereabouts of the others. That guy in the shop said something about using my parents' wands as guides to my own… I wonder if Mother's wand looked anything like this? She absentmindedly twirled it between two of her fingers, and a gust of air so powerful that it caused the flame of the lamps to nearly go out shot from the end of it. Fred looked over Angelina's shoulder and grinned at her.
"Looks like you have a bit of a feisty wand there, Ellie. You just got it today, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Well, as long as you don't pull a Hermione and start doing magic three and four years above you from the get go…" George smiled kindly.
"Actually, that's exactly what's going to happen. She has to play catch up and learn as many defensive spells and jinxes as she can," said Ginny. She stretched once more before standing up and looking down at Ellie. "Might as well get started right now. McGonagall told me that I'm going to be the one teaching you outside of the classroom, and since we're both here and not doing anything… I think I'll try the Patronus Charm."
"Ginny, don't you think that's a wee bit of over confidence?" Alicia smiled her gentle smile towards the young teacher. "It took Angelina and I an entire year of practice to get it, and we were in the seventh year."
"Yeah. I remember Lupin telling us about them in DADA, and he said that it was nearly impossible for somebody to conjure one before their OWL's," added Angelina. "I mean, Harry obviously proved him wrong by doing it his third year and teaching a lot of others who were in younger grades, but to expect someone who has never performed magic before to learn it…"
"But, her family-"
"What is a Patronus, anyhow?" Ellie looked around the room. "I honestly have no idea what any of you are talking about."
"Allow us!" Fred and George pulled seemingly identical wands from their robes and held them towards the center of the room. Looking at the women perched on their laps, they shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" The tips of their wands glowed white, and twin monkeys emerged from them, glowing with the same light. Ellie clapped her hands together in delight as they danced around the room for a few moments before the twins lowered their wands, causing the Patroni to disappear. "The charm creates a sort of guard, a protector against Dementors.
"That was so cool!" Ellie looked down at her wand before giving Ginny a dubious look. "It did look like some really good magic, though… Maybe we should start smaller."
"What happens if you get attacked by Dementors, then? I doubt that your Keyblade will help against them!" Ginny glared around the room. "I think she can do it. For one thing, she's a part of one of the strongest wizarding families in history, the Dumbledores, and little Malfoy had an interesting story for us yesterday evening. During the attack on Radiant Garden, apparently Ellie had a surge of magic that sent the Death Eaters holding her flying. He said that her hair started glowing white and that the magic was so strong that he could literally feel it radiating from her," she explained. Looking around at everyone, she smiled. "Don't you see? If she had that kind of power without a wand, what is she going to be able to do with a wand? The Patronus Charm should be no problem."
Ellie nodded slightly, remembering the event Ginny had just described. "I felt like I could have done anything, because if I didn't get away from those two monsters Draco wouldn't have had a cover story to help Hope out. I had to do it, and I think that it gave me that kind of power."
"What? Your hair glowed white?" Angelina raised her brow. "Since when does hair change color like that?"
"Since now, apparently." Ellie tugged on the section of her bangs that had turned green. "I can't do it by will, but it does change."
"Ellie, think about Robert," said Ginny eagerly. "Think about how much you care about him, and…"
Ellie never heard the rest of Ginny's sentence. At the mention of Robert's name, her mind had gone into overdrive. Memories poured through her like waves, punctured with spasms of joy and agony. She only came out of her reverie when someone placed a warm hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. Blinking several times, she realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks, her bottom lip was trembling slightly, and Ginny was staring at her in horror. "Oh no…" Ellie turned to look at the others, who were also staring at her with worry gleaming in their eyes. She quickly wiped her eyes and smiled shakily. "Sorry about that. It's just…"
"You don't need to go into detail, Ellie," said Fred.
"I think you've gone through enough pain with that particular jaunt down memory lane. Besides, you've proven that your hair does change colors," said George. Ellie pulled out her bangs and examined them; the streak was now a dark, purplish navy. Even as she looked at it, the green that normally resided there began stealing back its territory.
"Oh, Ellie, I'm so sorry. I didn't think it would be that bad…" Ginny smiled sadly. "Well, you should get that thought out of your head, because the main idea behind the Patronus Charm is to think a really happy thought."
"What do you mean?"
Ginny shook her head. "I'm not really any good at this, am I? Oh, dear…"
"Good at what, Ginny?" A soft voice made Ellie spin around. A man with a wavy, dusty brown head of hair streaked with gray stood in the doorway, looking exhausted. He had the air of one who had aged far too quickly for his age, and judging from the old scar running the length of his left cheek and the depth of the wrinkles his life hadn't been an easy one. His eyes looked weary, and he needed a shave.
"Teaching." Ginny sounded as if she knew the man well. "Professor McGonagall told me to teach Ellie some magic outside of the classroom, and I want to teach her the Patronus Charm. Would you care to help?"
"Of course." The man smiled at the confused expression on Ellie's face. "It's me, Remus. The Polyjuice I was using wore off just as I got in here, so you're seeing the real me . Neville and Luna will be up in a moment, Luna wanted to point out some of the more useful merchandise. The supplies are all in the back room, if that's alright."
"It's fine," said Fred.
Lupin smiled slightly. "Now, Ellie, think of the happiest memory you have. It doesn't have to be real, necessarily, but it does have to fill you up with happiness. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I guess," she answered.
"Concentrate on that memory." Ellie closed her eyes and tried to think of something happy. After a few seconds of soul searching, the memory that had returned on the world of darkness made a return appearance. Robert was tickling her ruthlessly, and the two of them were laughing hysterically. Ellie felt her lips curl into a grin at the thought, even though she had just been crying about him a few minutes ago. "Now, open your eyes, raise your wand, and repeat after me. Expecto Patronum!"
Ellie raised her wand, still watching the memory play out in her mind's eye, and said the incantation. "Expecto Patronum!"
She knew it had worked before the words had fully escaped her lips. She felt a great rush of power, and she twirled her wand without really thinking. A bright, glowing creature jumped from the end of it, diving and flipping around the room gracefully before it turned and stared at its creator. Ellie grinned at the dolphin as everyone around her gasped. "A dolphin!"
"That's really good, Ellie." Luna drifted through the doorway and smiled brightly at her. "I am surprised that you managed to create them on the first try. You must be very powerful."
"No kidding! It took me much longer to learn it." Neville grinned happily. "Good job!"
"I don't agree." Lupin drew his own wand and pointed it directly at Ellie, who gasped in astonishment. "What is your full name, who is your mother, and how tall was she?"
"What?" said Ellie. "Why would you need to know-"
"Answer me!" Lupin squeezed his wand tightly, causing sparks to shoot from the end of it, and she gaped silently. "Do you know the answers or not?!"
"Remus, what are you-" Lupin threw a sharp look at Neville, who swallowed nervously and fell silent.
"My name is Elizabeth Clarice Mason, Mother's name is Rebecca Marie Swallow Mason, and she is 5'2, as both my grandmother and I are." Ellie looked at Lupin as his face flooded with relief and he took a step back. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, I had to make sure that you were really you. I was not expecting you to learn that charm so quickly, so I believed that you might be in disguise." Lupin shook his head, his long hair swinging gently. "First things first. I assume Dora has gone to find some food?"
"Actually, we were waiting for all of you to get here," said Fred. "Tonks hasn't shown yet, so we-"
"What?!" Lupin was instantly standing straight, turning a burning gaze onto the Weasley twin. "Where is she?"
"I have a Death Eater who loves to stalk me, and he was skulking around when we were on our way here. Tonks was worried that he would see me even though I had a hat on, so she disguised herself as me to distract him," said Ellie. "She said she would send a message if she needed help, and we haven't gotten anything."
"She never should have left!" Lupin, who was looking so bad that he could have collapsed on the spot, put a hand over his eyes and groaned loudly. "This is exactly what I was afraid of! The Death Eaters were probably put on high alert as soon as we walked into Gringotts, they probably know that their number two target is running around Diagon Alley, and they are going to go to any ends to get you, Ellie! Tonks could be dead by now, or worse, she could be-"
"Standing right behind you?" Once again, the room turned their heads to the doorway to see Tonks peering around Neville, looking slightly flushed but smug. She had returned to looking like the bushy-eyebrowed, large-nosed girl from earlier in the day. "Remus, I promise you that I am just fine. That Muggle had no way to contact his friends, and by the time I transformed again and left him in the dust we were so far into Knockturn Alley that he may have a hard time getting out with all of his toenails intact."
Everyone but Lupin smiled at that, but the older man merely glowered at his fiancé. "Dora, why on earth did you leave these two?"
Before Tonks could answer, Ginny stepped in between them, her expression so fierce that Lupin leaned back slightly. Ellie saw Fred and George exchange a brief look filled with glee and wariness, and she scooted over on the couch to get away from the fiery girl. "You listen here, Professor Lupin! I don't care if I'm only sixteen, you cannot deny that I was one of the best Defense students you had in my year. If more Death Eaters had suddenly popped up and attacked, I would have been able to hold them off long enough for Ellie to get out, and that's if you forget that Keyblade that she's supposed to kick butt with. Besides, if Tonks hadn't led that Porter away he would have seen the real Ellie and come over and attacked her again, in the middle of Diagon Alley. Would that have made you happy?"
"Ginny, you don't understand, this wasn't just about you and your abilities. This has to do with me and Tonks."
"I don't understand?!" Ginny tossed her head in sarcastic laughter. "Oh, please, don't even try that! You don't think I know what it's like to have someone you love in danger?"
Lupin turned slightly pink. "My situation is slightly different, Ginny. Dora and I are very, very much in love, and I am not sure that you have experienced the level of emotion that comes with that."
"Oops…" Fred grinned wickedly.
"Not sure that was what you wanted to say, Remus." George's grin was just as foreboding as Fred's.
Luna and Neville cautiously passed by Ginny and Lupin to sit next to Ellie on the couch. Tonks propped herself in the doorway, frowning slightly. Angelina and Alicia both shifted slightly to watch the argument better. Lupin's face was still pink, but his expression was devoid of any true emotion. Ginny brushed her hair out of her face, and Ellie noticed that her ears were quite red, far darker than they had been in the morning. "What did you say?"
"In short, I said that you do not know what the love Dora and I have is like."
Ginny took a deep breath and exhaled, and Ellie tensed slightly. Neville swallowed deeply to her right, and Luna's dreamy gleam had faded from her eyes. "How dare you say that, Remus?! You don't have a clue about what I have experienced, what emotions I've been through! You and Tonks didn't even meet until two years ago! I have been in love for five years, Lupin, six if you count the first time I saw him and dreamed about him for a full year without knowing him!" Tears were streaming down Ginny's face, but Ellie couldn't tell if they were tears of anger, anguish, or just a jumble of emotions.
"With whom, may I ask, are you in love with?"
"Harry Potter, of course." Ginny, whose eyes were still streaming, took another angry step towards Lupin. "I love him, I've loved him for years! We only went out for a few months, I know, but I still love him, and I know that he still loves me. Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think the most-wanted man at the Ministry of Death Eaters is in slightly more danger than Tonks was walking down the street, being stalked by a stupid Muggle." She was now standing nose to nose with him, or would have been if she were taller. "And that's only Harry. My brother Ron, who I love just as much as the rest of my family, and one of my best friends, Hermione, who I love as much as Harry and Ron, just in a different way, are with him, and they've gone off to another planet and I don't know how to talk to them and I probably won't even know if they get h-hurt or k-k-killed or- or-" Ginny couldn't complete her sentence, but broke off and stumbled onto the arm of the couch by Luna. "Lupin, you can see Tonks any time that you want, you're supposed to get married soon, but I may not ever see Harry, Ron, and Hermione again, and you think that you have the right to tell me what worrying about your loved ones is like?!"
Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity as Ginny sobbed. Finally, Luna put an arm around her weeping friend and smiled. "Ginny, I know that you love Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and we do too, though not quite in the same way that you do. However, you still have Neville, Ellie, and myself to be with, and if I recall what Harry wrote in the letter last night, he and Ellie will probably cross paths quite a bit. You won't be alone."
Ginny looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "But Luna, what if something happens to them? What if one of them is defeated by the Death Eaters and I never got to say goodbye properly? I am crazy with worry for them!"
"We all are, Gin," said Neville. He stood up and walked to her other side, crouching beside her and putting his arm around her. "We're all worried about them. Sitting around and crying about those worries isn't going to accomplish anything, though. We have to do everything here that we can. We have to help them stop V-" Neville paused, closed his eyes, and took a shuddering breath. "Voldemort."
Ginny sniffled slightly before nodding in agreement. "You're right. Both of you, you're absolutely right. We have to help them fight."
There was a silence in the room after that. Fred finally coughed and grinned. "So… Who's hungry? Accio, lunch trays!"
There was a whooshing sound, and Tonks had to duck as several platters of sandwiches and crisps flew into the living room, landing in a neat row in front of Fred and Angelina. Neville caught Ellie's amazed expression and laughed. "Accio. It's the Summoning Charm, and it's kind of obvious what it does."
"Cool!" Ellie pointed her wand at a sandwich and said, "Accio, sandwich!" The top sandwich twitched slightly in her direction, but nothing came flying at her. "Accio, sandwich!" The sandwich trembled, but still didn't fly at her. Ellie took a deep breath, stared at the sandwich, and pointed her wand directly at the center of it, completely oblivious to the watchful stares of her new friends. "Accio, sandwich!"
The sandwich finally obeyed the command. However, it obeyed so quickly that the words had barely come from her mouth before the sandwich hit her in the face. As everyone laughed, Ellie peeled the tomato and turkey from her cheek with disgust. Luna placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Ellie. You'll get it right eventually. Just practice."
Ellie nodded and piled the sandwich back together as the group tore into their luncheon.
Khgirl08: Yeah, well, that's it. I know it's a little shorter than my previous chapter, but I just felt that this would be the best place to end it. I hope you enjoyed it!
Ellie: Click the review button! Clickclickclickclick! You know you want to... ^_^
Khgirl08: Ignore her, I think she had too many cupcakes. Anyhoo, I am currently searching for a beta reader. If you would be interested in the position, please send me a PM ASAP. Of course, you can PM me anyhow, because I love talking to people, but I really do need an editor. Until next time... HAPPY READING! =)
