Disclaimer: Your wonderful, amazing, beautiful, smart, funny, and talented authoress (that'd be me) is still not as wonderful, beautiful, smart, funny, and talented as the absolutely awesome J.K. Rowling, so I still do not own Harry Potter or anything of his world. I just want to write fanfiction! Please don't sue me!
A/N: Okay! You should all be amazingly proud of me because I finally wrote a chapter with major plot development AND I actually got it out before an entire month had flown by without update! Yay me! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers thus far! You're all amazing! Happy reading!
Chapter Five: Keira's Big Mistake
Sean's POV
The rain pouring down outside is depressing. It's been doing that since noon, and Mum has forbidden us all from going outside until it lets up. By the looks of the huge storm clouds outside, it doesn't look like it's going to do that anytime soon. And it's only three o'clock.
Uncle Harry is still here, but he's mostly playing with Abby and Henry now. The minute they found out he was here they latched onto him like little leeches.
Aria has been sitting on the loveseat under the window for over an hour, staring at the rain pelting the glass with a forlorn expression on her face. She looks trapped.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice Mum glance at her and sigh heavily to herself before going back to wiping up the juice Henry spilled earlier. I look back and forth between her and Aria a few times before getting up from the couch and walking into the kitchen.
"She's wallowing," Mum says quietly when she sees me.
"She's sad," I answer simply, going to the cupboard. I open the door and peer at the assorted food curiously.
"You don't need any of that," Mum sighs, shutting the door in my face. I turn to her to protest, only to see a plate of brownies staring me in the face. Mum smiles at me.
"Thanks," I say, taking two – one for me, and one for Aria. Mum just smiles and sets the plate in the center of the table.
"Hey," I say, plopping down on the loveseat beside Aria. She turns to look at me.
"Hi."
"Brownie?" I ask, holding one out to her. She shakes her head and goes back to staring at the rain.
"Mum loved the rain," she whispers, so quietly I almost don't catch it. I look at her sad smile, and I wish there was something I could do to make her feel better.
"We should do something fun," I say. Aria doesn't even grace me with a look. She just sighs and continues to stare at the rain.
"We could play chess," I suggest.
"No thanks," Aria sighs, resting her chin on her folded arms. "You could ask Jake though. I'm sure he would."
"Aria, come on," I groan. "I'm bored."
"Go ask Jake," she repeats tersely. "I don't want to play chess."
"Please? I'll let you win," I say, trying to make her smile. She just glares at me. She really doesn't want to play chess.
I roll my eyes at her as I stand up. "Be that way," I mutter, starting toward the stairs to find Jake.
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Keira's POV
Seeing Sean practically begging Aria to do something with him was just about as much as I could take from that girl. I understand she's mourning and everything, but really. My son shouldn't have to beg to spend time with someone who was, up until about three weeks ago, one of his best friends.
"Aria," I say, walking over to her. She turns to look at me briefly before going back to staring out the window.
"Do you need me for something?" she asks tonelessly. I hold back a sigh.
"Don't you think you should go do something? Go have fun with the boys?" I ask, trying not to sound as angry as I feel.
"Why?" she asks, still not looking at me.
"Because, you can't just sit in front of the window all afternoon," I say, exasperation working its way into my voice.
"Why not?" she asks, her eyebrows raising in the exact same way Ron's do whenever he thinks I've made a stupid suggestion. It's infuriating.
"Aria, really. Why don't you get up off that couch and go find Jake and Sean? Staring at the rain all day can't be that interesting."
Aria finally turns to look at me, and the look she gives me would be downright frightening coming from someone older than almost twelve.
"It's none of your business if I want to sit and stare at the rain all day, is it?" she snaps, her blue eyes icy. For maybe half a second I consider backing off, but then I realize who I'm talking to. My eleven-year-old step-daughter just told me off!
"You will not speak to me this way in my house," I say, grabbing her roughly by the arm as she tries to turn away from me, a look of disgust on her face. Her head snaps around instantly at my touch.
"Last time I checked," she snarls, her voice dangerously low, "I lived here too." She jerks out of my grip and jumps up.
"What do you think you're doing?" I ask her. She stops mid-stride.
"Leaving. Apparently, this is your house. Tell that to my father when he asks me where I am," she yells, whirling around. She strides out the sliding glass door and disappears into the pouring rain.
"Aria!" I yell, running to the door. I stop abruptly as raindrops splash onto my face. "Aria, come back here!" I scream into the rain. "You're being crazy!" No response. I peer into the dark gray afternoon storm, but I don't see any sign of her. Where in hell has that girl gone?
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Aria's POV
I run through the rain and into the forest, and I keep running. The rain isn't as hard in the woods, with all the tree coverage and everything, but every time I run through a clearing it's like getting a bucket of cold water dumped on my head. But I can't stop.
I look behind me just in case she actually followed me out here. There's no one in sight. With a hollow laugh, I keep going. In a couple hours I'll go back and walk in, and she'll smother me in gratefulness that I'm okay. I should probably go back before my father gets home of course. Otherwise I'll get yelled at. Keira wouldn't dare yell at me or tell my father because then I'll tell him why I left in the first place, and she wouldn't want that.
Slowing my pace to a quick jog, I look around me. Where am I? Am I anywhere near the swimming hole. Confused, I stop for just a second, but I start up again immediately because my legs start cramping up instantly. Where am I? A twig snapping somewhere nearby scares me into running harder. Seriously, where am I?
I take a sudden turn when I hear another twig snap. I glance over my shoulder. Is something following me? I see a flash of something brown or black. I jump and push myself to run faster, taking another turn. Suddenly a searing pain goes up my right ankle and I fall, scraping up my already scratched and sore feet and knees. My hands sting as they catch my weight and my right arm collapses from the impact, sending my head crashing right into a very hard rock. And then everything goes black.
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Ron's POV
When I get home at eight o'clock, the house is unusually quiet. Feeling slightly unnerved, I look around just to make sure my family hasn't decided to stage a surprise party or something. But the kitchen is completely empty. That's strange…
I walk into the living room cautiously, and I'm absolutely shocked to see the entire family – minus Aria, plus Harry – sitting there silently. Keira is sitting on the couch, her head in her hands, looking absolutely distraught. Sean and Jake are sitting on the loveseat sullenly, glancing at each other and shrugging every now and then. Abby and Henry are sitting on the floor near the fireless fireplace, playing with some of Henry's blocks. Harry is sitting on the other end of the couch from Keira, looking like he's going to tear his hair out.
I open my mouth, but close it quickly, rethinking my original choice of words. I was almost ready to say 'where's the funeral' but the sentence brings back a sharp pang somewhere in the region of my stomach.
"Is everything alright?" I ask. Keira's head snaps up and any color left in her already pale face is gone instantly.
"Ron!" she squeaks, jumping up. "You're late."
"I know," I sigh. "I'm sorry. They kept me there longer than I thought they would." I wait for her to give me a look or roll her eyes, but she doesn't. She just nods distractedly. Something must be seriously wrong.
"What's going on?" I ask, starting to feel worried.
"Is it still raining?" Keira asks, her voice still unnaturally high. I give her a puzzled look.
"Yes…" I look around at all the solemn faces, and something inside of me clenches painfully. "Where's … where's Aria?" I ask, looking around. Keira moans and sinks back onto the couch.
"Oh, Ron," she groans. "I messed up this time. I really messed up." She buried her head in her hands.
"What happened?" I ask.
"You might want to sit down first," Harry sighs, standing up and guiding me over to the couch.
Great. I get to hear about another screaming match between my wife and daughter that ended up in Aria isolating herself from the rest of her family and refusing to come out of her room.
Keira stands up and paces back and forth in front of me for about half a minute before sitting down on the coffee table and looking at me.
"We had a bit of a row," she starts, taking a deep breath.
"Okay," I say.
"See, she was just sitting there, staring out at the rain, and she'd been sitting there for over an hour. Sean was asking – begging practically – her to do something with him because he was so bored, but she didn't want to do anything except sit in front of the window staring at the rain, and Sean went upstairs looking rather sad and everything, and I just kind of snapped. I mean, she completely blew him off for the rain!"
Keira stands up again and paces back and forth for a little bit. She looks at me and sighs, sitting back down on the table, barely on the edge of it.
"And then?" I ask.
"And then I kind of blew up at her. I went off on her about how she shouldn't waste the afternoon sitting in front of a window, just watching the weather, and she said something about how it was none of my business if she wanted to stare at the rain all day…"
"And what did you say?" I sigh.
"I told her not to talk to me like that in my house, and she kind of … freaked," she says, biting her lip and looking at me uncertainly.
"So should I go talk to her now?" I ask, standing up.
"I'm not done," Keira says, standing up as well. I look at her warily.
"What else happened?"
"She … um … she kind of screamed that the last time she checked, this was her house too, and then she … she… well, Ron the thing is…"
"What did she do?" I ask, preparing for her to tell me that she broke her bedroom door or something from slamming it so hard.
"She kind of … ran out of the house into the rain, and hasn't come back yet?" she squeaks, backing away from me quickly.
"WHAT?" I scream. "Are you telling me that my daughter is out there right now in the RAIN and you have NO IDEA where she is?!"
"Yes?" Keira looks at me pleadingly. I glare at her.
"I can't believe you Keira. I trusted you with her," I say softly, grabbing the heaviest coat I could find on the way out the door. "I'll be back after I find my daughter," I add cruelly. I see the hurt on her face as if I'd slapped her, but right now, I could honestly care less.
I head out into the storm, all but slamming the glass door behind me. The rain is still beating down, and I run to the cover of the trees. Where would Aria have gone? In the dark, it's nearly impossible to see anything more than a few feet in front of me.
"Aria!" I yell, hoping she might be able to hear me over the roar of the rain. "Aria, where are you? Aria!"
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I walk through the forest pretty much aimlessly, hoarsely calling Aria's name over and over in hope that she might just hear me. The rain is still pouring down through the trees, soaking me and everything else. Wherever Aria is, I hope she's at least somewhat dry.
"Aria!" I call. "Aria!"
I glance at my watch – it's a muggle watch Harry got me for my birthday, and it lights up – it's been three hours. I've been walking around in the forest in the dark for three hours. I'm cold and wet and probably catching a horrible cold, but I can't just leave her out here. Not like Keira did.
"Aria!"
And then I hear something. I halt instantly, trying to quiet my rapid breathing.
"Aria?"
There it is again: a quiet, almost inaudible whimper. "Aria!" The sound doesn't come again. No.
"Aria! Where are you? It's me," I shout desperately. She has to make noise! How am I going to find her otherwise? "Aria, it's me!" I yell again. "It's Dad."
Standing there breathlessly, straining desperately to hear anything other than the rain and my own breathing, I realize something. Aria's never called me Dad. She doesn't call me anything. What does she think of me as? Does she think of me as 'Dad'? Or am I just her father? Or am I still Mr. Weasley to her? I shudder at the last one. The first time she called me that I wanted to cry.
"Aria?" I question, no longer shouting. My voice is hoarse and scratchy.
I turn my head in all directions trying to hear something – anything that might lead me to her. "Aria?"
Suddenly I hear a new noise. A tiny, soft moan. "Aria! Aria, where are you?" I yell. The groaning noise comes again. I start toward it. "Aria?"
Nothing. No more noise. I keep going in that direction. It's pitch black, and I can't even see my own hand when I wave it in front of my face. I start taking smaller steps.
"Aria?" I ask, stepping lightly and carefully now in case I accidentally run into her. "Aria, where are you?"
It finally occurs to me, after three hours in the dark forest, that I have a wand in my back pocket. I feel like a complete idiot as I pull it out.
"Lumos," I whisper. The pinpoint of light that my wand emits is just enough for me to see my feet and about a meter in front of me. Better than nothing.
"Aria?" I ask again, straining my eyes to see something other than the ground. My foot touches something soft and I jump. I look to my right to see a large huddled mass on the ground. Aria!
I kneel down beside her to see her head lying against a large rock with what looks like a little bit of dried blood on it. I wipe her stringy wet hair out of her face. She's out cold.
"Oh, Merlin," I sigh, feeling for a pulse on her neck. There's one there, and it's fairly strong. Just hit her head a little too hard I guess. I look over her body carefully in case she's hurt too seriously to move her. Her right ankle is twisted in what looks like a very painful position, but it doesn't look broken. Her breathing is shallow, but at least she's breathing.
She's wearing nothing but a pair of completely soaked shorts and a thin and equally wet tank top. She must be freezing. Quickly I slip out of my heavy coat and lay it over her. I lay my hand against her forehead, but she doesn't feel like she has a fever. Yet. If I don't get her out of here, she's going to get sick very quickly. If she's not already sick.
I roll her over onto her back very carefully, my hand cupping her head just in case there are more rocks over there. She groans as I do this, and I pause.
"Aria?"
Her eyelids flutter open, and for just a moment, those beautiful blue eyes of hers stare at me, filled with understanding and gratefulness and … trust. Then she sighs and passes out again, going limp in my arms.
I stand up very slowly with Aria in my arms. It shocks me how light she is, even with her body as a dead weight. She hardly weighs a thing. I hold her carefully, cradling her protectively against the rain. For a moment I wonder which way the house is, but I decide against walking all the way there. I have no idea if I've gone in circles for three hours or not, but if it took me three hours to get here, it might take me even longer to get back. Holding Aria tightly, I apparate to the back door.
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Harry's POV
Keira won't stop pacing. She's been doing that since Ron left over three hours ago, and she still hasn't stopped. And she refuses to go into the kitchen as well, afraid of what she'll see on that clock of hers. I've been through the kitchen numerous times over the last few hours, but I can't bring myself to look at the clock either.
I had Jake and Sean put the little kids to bed at nine, and I sent them to bed around ten, much to their displeasure. I heard them muttering angrily the whole way up the stairs. But it's just easier to talk to Keira if they're not around. Easier to assure her that everything's fine.
"Keira, why don't you have a cup of tea?" I ask from the kitchen. She just glares at me. I take a long drink from my own tea, wishing it was something stronger, but glad that it isn't because tomorrow would be horrible if it was.
"I'm sure he'll be back soon," I say for what feels like the millionth time. I started saying it about half an hour after Ron left.
"Shut up, Harry," she sighs, sinking onto the couch. "I can't believe this happened. Why can't Aria and I get along, Harry?" she asks, her voice watery.
"Because she's exactly like her mum?" I question, an unbidden smile making its way across my face. When Keira gives me an inquiring look I laugh. "Hermione loved to argue too," I tell her. "Especially with Ron," I add as an afterthought.
"If they fought all the time, how did they ever fall in love?" she asks, more to herself than to me.
"Beats me," I reply to her mostly rhetorical question. She just sighs.
"He really did love her, didn't he?" she asks. She looks at me. I sigh back.
"Yeah. He really did," I answer sadly. I hate that Hermione is tearing apart Keira and Ron's relationship, and she's not even here anymore. Part of me wonders what would have happened this summer if she hadn't died. The other part of me warns me that I probably don't want to know.
Keira gasps and jumps up suddenly, running to the back door. She slides open the glass door quickly, and Ron steps through, Aria in his arms. I hurry over to them.
"Let me take her," I say, reaching for her. Ron needs to rest. He needs warm, dry clothes and a hot shower. But he backs away from me.
"No," he says hoarsely. He gives me a look that tells me to drop it, and he starts toward the stairs. Keira glances at me before hurrying after him. I follow as well.
"Ron," I say as we reach the second floor, "seriously, mate. You need to get out of those clothes."
"Aria needs me," is his reply. He starts up to the third floor.
"Yes, but she needs you to be healthy," I insist, right on his heels. He turns to glare at me.
"Just stop," he says, turning around again. He takes her to her bedroom and lays her on her bed.
"Keira, I need your help," he says, speaking to her for the first time since he arrived. She nods mutely and follows him into Aria's bedroom. I stand in the doorway.
Ron and Keira work together to get Aria out of her soaked clothes and into thick flannel pajamas that look as though they've never been worn. I step out of the room politely to wait.
As I wait, I hear a sudden scrabbling and hushed whispers coming from Sean's bedroom. I glance toward Aria's room to make sure Ron and Keira aren't killing each other yet before making my way over there. I push the door open and one of the boys groans loudly.
"That was my foot," Jake says as I let the door swing open all the way. Sean jumps up instantly.
"How's Aria?" he asks. I look at the two of them.
"I'm not sure. Your mum and dad are trying to get her into some dry clothes. She's completely soaked. Other than that, I don't know anything yet," I tell them. They nod.
"Do we have to go to bed?" Jake asks. "I'm not even tired."
"Me neither," Sean says, looking like he's ready to drop dead from exhaustion. He turns away to hide a yawn. I shake my head at the two of them.
"Just stay in here," I tell them. "If we need your help, I'll come get you."
I leave the door open and go back to Aria's room. Keira waves her wand over Aria's hair, drying it instantly. She picks up a brush and starts gently brushing out Aria's hair while Ron struggles to get thick socks onto her feet. Hacking coughs make him double over in pain, making his task even harder. I go to the foot of Aria's bed.
"Ron, go to bed. We can take care of Aria," I tell him firmly, taking the socks away from him and guiding him out of the room. He resists feebly.
"Aria needs me," he insists, another coughing spell starting up. He leans on me as the coughs rack his entire body.
"You need sleep. Let Keira and me worry about Aria. You need to get out of these wet clothes. Take a hot shower. Go to bed," I tell him, leading him down the stairs. He follows me somewhat listlessly.
I walk into his bedroom and take out a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I hand them to him and push him into the bathroom. "Take a hot shower and go to bed," I repeat, calling through the door. "Keira and I will take care of Aria."
I hear a faint mumbling of thanks as I leave. Poor Ron. He's in for a rough night.
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Keira's POV
After getting every single knot out of Aria's hair, I take over the task of putting her socks on. I'm grateful to Harry for being here. I don't know how I would have handled this otherwise. And to think, this morning I was mad at Ron for suggesting he come check up on me.
Just as I'm slipping the second sock onto Aria's freezing cold foot, Harry walks back into the room. He looks at me and sighs.
"Oh, Keira," he says, tucking the covers around Aria tightly. She shivers suddenly.
"I'll never hear the end of this," I mutter, sitting carefully on the end of the bed. Ron told me he thought she sprained her ankle, but we haven't done anything about it yet. He wants to wait until he can get a Healer to come look at her. I think bitterly that Aria's mum was one of the best Healers at St. Mungo's. She wouldn't have had any problem with this.
"You might not hear anything from Ron over the next few days," Harry tells me. "I think his voice is going on vacation. And I'm sure he's almost as sick as Aria is from being out in that rain. He'll be in bed for awhile."
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," I snarl. Harry just smiles.
"We should let her sleep," he says, nodding at Aria's sleeping form. "Come on. I'll make hot chocolate for the boys."
"Aren't they asleep?" I ask, surprised. Harry sent them to bed almost two hours ago.
"Are you kidding me? They're best friend – not to mention Sean's sister – has been out in the rain for how many hours, and I tell them to go to sleep?" I laugh at the absurdity. "Like that would ever happen. They've both been sitting in Sean's room for two hours, waiting for Ron to get home."
"That makes sense," I sigh. "Yes," I add in answer to his offer. "Let's have some hot chocolate."
A/N: Yay for plot development! Please review with any and all questions, comments, and general silliness. (Okay, I'd appreciate if you kept the general silliness to a minimum.) I greatly appreciate constructive criticism. The next chapter will be a lot of Harry and Keira's points of view seeing as Aria and Ron are both currently bedridden (or Ron will be as soon as he finishes that nice hot shower). Okay, thanks for reading! Please review! Toodles!