Disclaimer: Anybody, any place, and anything that sounds familiar probably are. The Harry Potter world is all JK Rowling's.
A/N: I apologize for taking so long to post again. Between two long trips and a death of a pet, it's been a long summer already.
Two Weeks Later
"Hey, miss me?" I heard a familiar voice say and I whirled around. Standing there was Charlie, his broad shoulders looking more relaxed than I had seen him in close to four years.
"Damn right I did!" I said, grinning at him. "I would've already given you a hug, but I'm up to my elbows in lamb at the moment," I said, shrugging my shoulders slightly. Charlie's eyebrows met as he frowned at me.
"Is Gwen not eating now?" he asked. I shook my head. "I'll try to come up with something to entice her."
"So," I started. Charlie glanced over at me as he rolled his sleeves up. "How was the family?"
"Not as good as they've been, but better than they were," he said, focusing on the meat we were preparing. "They'll survive though," he said, never taking his eyes off the job. We worked in comfortable silence for a while before I broke it again.
"How old is Ginny and them now?" I asked curiously. It seemed like ages since I had last seen them.
"Well, Ginny is seventeen, Ron's eighteen, George is twenty, and Percy is twenty-two," he said. I did the math.
"Weren't there seven of you?" I asked, still curious.
"I'm going to go check on the eggs Michael found last month," Charlie said as he walked away, completely ignoring my question. I could see his jaw clenching from where I continued to work.
I did a quick review of the names he'd said. Ginny, the only girl. Ron, the one who was best friends with Harry Potter. Percy, the up-tight one. Of course, Charlie and Bill. That left the twins: Fred and George. I couldn't remember much about them, except that they came here once, yelling and disturbing the semi-peacefulness of the reserve. I remember they fought with Charlie on something before apparating away. Fred was the one that Charlie had left out.
"Excuse me, miss?" I heard behind me. It was a voice that soundly vaguely familiar, so I turned and splattered the tall, gangly redhead with lamb blood.
"I am so, so sorry!" I said, trying hard not to laugh, afraid of insulting the teenager. His friend had no such qualms.
"It's fine, it really is. Wait, Winny?" the boy asked. I froze. Tall, gangly, redhead, so that probably, combined with the fact that he was on the reserve, made him Charlie's brother. Now which one?
"Yes?" I said slowly. I looked at the friend. He was tall and dark headed. Even if I didn't get many newspapers, I recognized him as Harry Potter. So that meant that this particular brother was Ron. "Wow. Ron, you've grown up since I've last seen you!" I said. He grinned at me.
"I would hope so! I wouldn't want to be a midget forever!" he said. Harry cleared his throat, making Ron jump. "Sorry, Winny, I would love to stay and talk, but I need to find Charlie. You seen him?" he asked. I pointed to the where the nest was hidden in a bunch of reeds. "Thanks."
"No problem. And sorry about the blood," I said loudly as he walked away. Harry started chuckling again.
"It could be worse Ron. It could be spiders," he said as they disappeared from view. I giggled, remembering the stories of Ron's arachnophobia.
"Oh, shut up Harry!" I heard the redhead say.
About twenty minutes later, I heard two pops that let me know somebody had disapparated. As I glanced at the reeds, Charlie came storming out.
"Bloody, good for nothing, nosy brothers. Let them save the world once and they think they can do anything they want. Overstepping boundaries, thinking they know better than me," he grumbled as he stomped past me and into his tent.
"Gwen, girlie, I think we have a problem," I said as I turned the bucket into the steel trough where we fed the dragon. I set the bucket down and walked slowly and quietly to the mouth of Charlie's tent.
"Charlie?" I said quietly, trying to figure out what was wrong. As I peeked in, I realized I was at wandpoint.
"Shit, Winny. I almost hexed you," Charlie said, lowering his wand. I nodded, not understanding what was going on. I moved to the foot of his bed and sat down. We sat in silence for a long while. I had questions.
Why did he change so much? Where did he go? What was it that made him always seem so upset?
"Charlie, wanna explain something?" I asked finally. He inclined his head as an answer, never taking his eyes off of me.
"Why are you always so…paranoid?" I asked. He grinned slightly. It wasn't like he was happy, more like reminiscent.
"A wise, old man once told me, 'Constant vigilance.' I've just decided recently that it was for the best to follow his advice."