A/N: Starting on some new characters tell me what you think!

Plus I had a reviewer ask me about the number erection mentioned in this story and I'd just like to explain that healthy post adolescent males experience eleven to twenty erections a day. So… I'm just being medically correct. Anyway they're teenage boys. Teenage boys get erections it's just a fact.

Chapter Thirteen

As It Shouldn't Be

Hugo Weasley huffed and looked over at his forlorn sister. She was waiting for a letter from Stephen Wood, her ex-boyfriend. He'd told her he'd write everyday and so far he had. Having stolen a few of the letters she received, Hugo was stunned to find out that all Stephen wrote about was how his day had been, what books he was reading, how Quidditch practice with the professional team that had recruited him was going. It was all so mundane. So normal. Like nothing between the two of them had changed, but everyone knew it had.

They'd broken up. The only reason Wood was still alive was because Rose had broken up with him. But Hugo thought the family should band together and hex the crap out of him anyway. Rose was positively miserable and the only reason Hugo could think of for her misery was Wood. She'd been perfectly fine before they started going out, she'd been happy while they'd been going out, happier then he'd ever seen her. And now that they weren't together anymore it was like she was fading away.

All she did was sit around waiting for his letter, then she'd spend hours reading it over and over again and then she'd spend all night writing back. Hugo'd never managed to get his hands on a letter she wrote to Wood but he had a feeling it took her so long to write back because she was trying not to sound desperately miserable in her letters she was trying to sound just as normal. She read his letters so many times looking for some glimmer of hope that he was feeling something similar to what she was feeling.

Mum had tried to talk to her but she wouldn't open up about the depth of her sadness and she barely spoke to Dad period. Hugo was sure that she blamed him in part for the break up. Hugo was also sure that the whole family was at least partially to blame for Rose's sad state of affairs. Hugo just wished she'd open up about it so that they might help her out. But Rose was stubborn and she wouldn't admit she needed anyone's help, let alone help from her family, until she hit rock bottom.

Unfortunately it seemed rock bottom wasn't that far off.

Hugo just hated to see his sister so unhappy. He had it in his head to write his own letter to Wood. To tell him what his complete casual letters were doing to his sister. He was one more night waking up to her crying in the next room away from doing just that. It was for her own good finding for sure how Wood actually felt. He'd avoided her for two weeks after they broke up and then suddenly he was back to following her all over the place. Except he didn't touch her or kiss her or call her by endearments Hugo knew she liked. And if it was possible she seemed more stricken then she had immediately after they broken up.

It was maddening because Hugo understood exactly why he was doing it. Or at least he assumed he knew. Wood was attempting to keep Rose in his life in someway. Which said that Wood still wanted to be with her. But his casual letters spoke only of a friendship. So Hugo was as confused as Rose, but significantly less miserable.

He still had his happiness in the form of a Muggle girl who lived a few houses down from them. She'd lived there was long as Hugo could remember. They'd played as children and shared their first kisses with each other when they were but twelve years old. They'd been together ever since almost unreasonably faithful to each other considering the fact that they only saw each other a few months a year. But they wrote all the time and she'd given him a nifty little device called a cell phone. It was like a telephone but they could write instantly through something called texting. They could only do it on Hogsmeade weekends but it was better then nothing. It was better then not talking to his Ruby at all.

Hugo had broken down last year, broke the one rule his parents had placed on his friendship with Ruby and told her the truth. He'd shown her his wand, his broom, everything. He'd even barrowed Uncle Harry's Invisibility Cloak from James so he could sneak Ruby into his house and show her his parents performing magic. She'd been so astounding, so impressed and so honored that he trusted her with his secret that she'd finally let him do a bit more then just kiss her. She had graciously explained herself while fixing her hair.

"By trusting me with such a huge secret, with something so important to you, you've proven that you respect me. And if you respect and trust me then I guess I aught to respect and trust you. You're just lucky I do," she's said with laughter in her voice.

She always had laughter in her voice and a smile on her face. Ruby even smiled when she cried. When she was ten, she tripped knocking out one of her front teeth, she cried out right away. Hugo had known he needed to get her parents but he hadn't wanted to leave her there crying, so he told her he still thought she looked pretty. She stopped crying and ever since then whenever she cried she'd smile and ask him if he still thought she looked pretty. He always said, 'yes.'

Hugo protected the happiness he had with Ruby fiercely. No on in his family know they were more then just friends. No one in his family knew when he went out during the summer he wasn't bumming around town, like he told his parents, more often then not he was hidden in some corner of the world with Ruby.

In fact he was supposed to be with her in fifteen minutes but had been so preoccupied by his sister's unhappiness that he'd lingered at home longer then he should have. Thankfully as long as he explained, Ruby would understand.

Hugo sighed and got up. He'd have to ask Ruby if she thought writing to Wood on his sister's behalf was a good idea. She'd give him a much needed feminine perspective and probably a good chewing out for interfering with his sister's relationship. He would admit that he'd been being stupid and for his admittance she'd drag him back to her house for a good long snog that would last until her parents got home at 6.

Hugo walked over to where Rose was staring out the window waiting for Wood's owl. "You need to get out to the house," he said. Rose didn't even look at him.

"Why? Are you expecting someone?" Usually Hugo would have thought she was being a smartass but the hopelessness in her voice suggested otherwise. Her voice told him that if he kicked her out she would sit on the front lawn waiting for Wood's owl.

"No, I'm going out and you should too," Hugo said, gently.

"You mean find someone else? Don't you? Don't you?"

Great now she's mad, Hugo thought.

"No, I want you to socialize, for the love of Merlin!" He figured that as long as she was already pissed there was no point in beating around the bush.

"I'm perfectly happy, Hugo," Rose said.

"No you're not, Rose."

For a long moment she was quiet and Hugo knew that was her way of agreeing with him. "Just go."

Hugo sighed again and left. He wouldn't be able to do the right thing until he'd talked to Ruby. If anyone could tell him how to get Rose out of her funk it was Ruby.

---

Ruby Christopher hated her job but kept it for one reason. And that reason was five minutes late. She couldn't very well expect Hugo to pay for his own cell phone, especially sine he barely knew what it was or how to use it. He knew how to text and call her on the contraption and not to let it get wet, but when it came to all the special features that had made the phone so expensive he was completely lost. Even if he learned how to listen to music on it he'd probably hate all the music available to be bought.

Ruby couldn't say she was all that upset about Hugo not using his cell phone as a music player. The stupid thing cost her enough money as it was. She had to buy several back up batteries because Hugo had no way of recharging the batteries while at school. So Ruby stayed in a job she hated all so she could afford the cell phone that was her only connection to her boyfriend/ best friend during the school year. Every once and while (usually during eight hour shifts at the grocery store from hell) she'd curse the fact that Hugo was a wizard and so often so far out of reach.

She had to fight feelings of abandonment every time he went off to school. But he wrote her everyday and would call and text on seeming random weekends. It helped but it wasn't the same as having him close. She always kicked herself when thoughts like that took hold. They did the best they could under the circumstances and Ruby would rather have Hugo in her life in the limited way she got him then not at all. Truly the only negative Ruby would attribute to her relationship with Hugo was how needy he made her feel.

Most nights she'd lay awake waiting for the tap of his owl's beak on her window. That quiet scratching told her he was as desperate as she was for some contact. She'd been scared to death the first time Hugo's owl came to her window, but her fear was quickly replaced with joy. Over the years she had had to be content with the few months they got together during the summer and the few weeks during the holidays. It had never been quite enough.

She had never really understood why he'd been able to write to her but she'd never been able to write back. And writing letters seemed so archaic. That was when she got the bright idea of getting him a cell phone, but he'd balked at the very idea for years, absolutely refusing. It wasn't until he'd told her the truth that she'd understood why and pocked and prodded him into getting the phone. Of course that had created more problems then it solved. It was easier to communicate with him but her parents, for all their money, refused to pay for her boyfriend's cell phone.

So, Ruby'd gotten the job from hell to pay for the cell phone bill and all the replacement batteries.

Ruby didn't really blame her parents for not wanting to pay for Hugo's cell phone. He had parents that were far better off then they were (probably because they got paid in gold), why didn't the Weasleys pay for their son's cell phone? Ruby knew it was because only Mrs. Weasley knew what a cell phone was but she didn't know that Hugo was dating Ruby and might want a cell phone so that the two teenagers could converse while Hugo was at school. And even if she did know all of that, Ruby doubted she'd approve of the idea.

One thing Ruby had learned about Mrs. Hermione Weasley was that she was a stickler for rules. Ruby often worried what would happen if either Mr. or Mrs. Weasley found out that she knew they had magical powers. She couldn't imagine it would be good. For all her insistence Hugo had never told her what his parents would do if they did find out. Which did not bode well for her if they did.

Ruby leaned back on the bench outside of the grocery store when she saw the characteristic red of Hugo's hair. Her own white blonde locks twisted in the light wind that swept past the building. He looked stressed and Ruby knew that she'd been right to assume something was wrong and that that was why he was late. Hugo was never late unless there was a very good reason.

"I have a problem, love," he sighed, sitting down next to her. Ruby snuggled up to his side, relishing in these stolen moments of intimacy with her boyfriend. They were so few that she took advantage of them whenever she could.

"I figured as much," she said. "You're ten minutes late," she added when he fixed her with a confused glance. He smiled and laughed a little, before sighing again. "What is it?"

"Rose is miserable. All she does is wait for a letter from her ex. Then once she's got it she reads it over and over before taking forever to write him back. And I've woken up every night this week to her sobbing in the next room. I feel ruddy awful about it because I think some of it might be my fault," he said.

"So, let me get this straight," Ruby said. "Your sister spends her day waiting for a letter, then she spends hours mooning over it because it's the only attention or affections she's getting from this guy and then spends a few more hours writing him back. And she's crying at night because that attention and affection isn't enough," Ruby surmised.

"I don't even know if there is any affection." Ruby looked at him curiously until he explained. "I've nicked a few of the letters he's sent her. To see what was upsetting her so much. There all just about his day and his job and other typical stuff. Stuff I'd write to a mate, you know? Nothing meaningful like what I write to you."

"So he's keeping it casual when she wants something more?"

"Right, but she broke up with him. So I don't know what she's so upset about," Hugo admitted.

"I think that's quite obvious," Ruby said.

"Clearly it isn't," Hugo said. She snorted delicately and he grinned.

"She's acting like a girl desperately in love, soaking up any scrap of affection offered to her, but none of it is enough. She takes so long to write him back because she doesn't want him to know how desperately in love she is."

"Well, why not? If he knew how she felt they might get back together and she'd be happy again."

"It's a matter of pride, Hugo. She doesn't want to admit she made a mistake."

"Well, when you say it like that it does seem quite obvious," Hugo muttered.

"So, now tell me, how do you factor into all of this?"

"Yes, well… my Dad paid me and all my male cousins to keep an eye on her and Stephen," Hugo admitted reluctantly.

"Hugo!" Ruby exclaimed. She pulled away from him and fixed him with a stunned gazed.

"I knew you'd be mad," he mumbled.

"Of course I'm mad, Hugo," she snapped. "What if my Father paid all of my male relatives to spy on us and keep us from experiencing any moments of intimacy? Surely that had something to do with why they broke up. He was getting irritated by your interference. She didn't know what else to do so she dropped him before he could drop her."

"Something like that," he muttered, clearly ashamed at the part he played in his sisters unhappiness.

"Well, do tell what exactly happened."

"Apparently, Lily, my cousin, snapped at Rose saying something about how Stephen would drop her and wouldn't bother with her at all after he graduated. She hasn't been quite the same after that."

"Let me correct myself," Ruby huffed. "Your interference in you sister's relationship made her so insecure that one word from another, slightly more experienced, girl broke what was left of her confidence in her relationship. She didn't know what else to do so she broke up with him! And now she's too proud to tell him how she really feels."

"You're exactly right," Hugo agreed hastily.

"Oh, I know."

"But now I need to know what I should do to make it better. I've made my bed, now I have to lay in it, but Rose doesn't deserve the unhappiness she's suffering through right now. I'll stand against my whole damn family if I have to. If it'll make her happy again," he said solemnly, like the thought of facing his whole family on his own was like facing a death squad.

"There's nothing you can do," Ruby said.

"What? But-"

"Rose has to learn that sometimes you have to put aside your pride for the sake of your happiness. And that's a lesson she has to learn on her own. You can try to guide her to that conclusion, but you can't simply tell her and hope that she'll listen. She needs to come to the conclusion on her own."

"And when will that happen?"

"When she hits rock bottom."

"I was afraid of that," Hugo admitted.

They sat in silence for awhile. After a bit Ruby snuggled back up to Hugo's side. He kissed her head and Ruby sighed happily sure he'd acted stupidly, but he made up for it by seeing the error of his ways and trying to make it better. It was clear that he cared about his sister and even though she had been peeved at him, she couldn't help thinking that the real reason he'd kept an eye on her hadn't been because of the money his father had given him but because of brotherly worry.

"I know you're regretting it now," she said. "But why did you agree to spy on her for your father in the first place?"

"Because Dad's heart was in the right place," Hugo said.

"Excuse me?"

"It sounds like he was just being nosey and thick, but really he just wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt or make a mistake with Wood that she'd regret later."

"I assume Wood is the ex-boyfriend?"

"Yup." They lapsed into silence again. "Looks like Dad's plan backfired, though. Rose won't even look at him."

"That's something you could talk to her about," Ruby said.

"Really?"

"She'll dismiss anything you say about her relationship, but a family issue that directly affects you would be something she'd listen to you about. Besides I doubt she wants to be miserable, perhaps mending the relationship she has with her father will bring her one step closer to being happy again."

"Thanks, love. I knew you'd know what to do."

Hugo caught her cheek in his hand and brought her lips to his. The kiss started innocent enough, but soon he was pressing her for more. Ruby pulled away laughing.

"Not outside the bawls of hell, Hugo." Ruby got up and started down the sidewalk towards her house.

"Why do you keep this job if it makes you so miserable?" Ruby snorted at his question.

"Someone has to pay your cell phone bill, Hugo. And for all those replacement batteries," she said. Ruby stopped and turned to him. "Plus the phone cost a pretty penny by itself." She smiled up at him and he frowned down at her. Hugo was several feet taller then her and Ruby had always found that very sexy.

"If the phone has cost you so much money why haven't you told me so I could pay you back? I've got money Ruby, it's no problem," Hugo assured her. "How much has it cost you so far?"

"Probably at least a thousand pounds," she guessed.

"And one gallon is about seven pounds, so I owe you around one hundred forty gallons… right?" Hugo asked.

"Wow," Ruby gaped. "You did that in your head?"

"I've always been good with numbers, just like you've always been good with knowing what's really going on in people's heads."

"Huh." Ruby started towards her house again.

"I'm going to pay you back, you know?" Hugo said, coming up next to her. Ruby smiled at him, she couldn't help it. He always made her smile.

"You do realize that the phone company won't accept gallons as a form of payment, don't you?" Hugo thought a moment.

"I'll have the bank convert my gold into pounds then send the pounds to you. That would work, wouldn't it?"

Ruby stopped on the top step of her front porch and turned to Hugo who stood in front of the bottom step. Standing as they were, they were finally the same height. She smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"You'll send me a letter with how much I owe for that month, I'll contact the bank have the funds sent to me, then send them to you. How's that sound?"

"It sounds entirely unnecessary," Ruby laughed.

"But if I pay for the phone, then you can quit the job from hell and we can spend more time together," Hugo reasoned.

"I have to admit it sounds appealing."

"More then appealing," he said. "If you didn't have to go to work, we could snog all day. From when your parents leave for work 'til they get back."

"Don't you worry we'll get tire of it?" she asked, grinning.

"I'll never get tired of it," he smiled. "So, what do you say?"

"Do you have the money for it? And you don't have to pay me back for past bills and what not."

"But I-" Ruby placed a hand over his mouth.

"It was meant as a gift, just let it be, all right?"

He kissed her fingers. "So long as I can pay the bills from now on," he said.

"Okay," she agreed.

"So, you'll quit your job tomorrow?" She nodded. "Brilliant!" Hugo grabbed her about the waist and tugged her into her house. Ruby laughed the whole way up to her room, where Hugo silenced her with a kiss.