*deep breath* Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Gah! It's been months since I've uploaded anything on here. The only excuse I can give is summer and holidays, but basically it was laziness I give you all permission to Gibbs-slap me across the head if you ever meet me (except if your name is Delia) for being a terrible person and uploader. If you're reading all of this, thank you, and I'll stop talking soon, so on with the story! (If there's even anyone reading this anymore…)
Chapter 7:
Across the tower in the boy's dorms, they were also having trouble sleeping. All five of them were sitting around in a tight enough circle. Sitting on the ground were Charlie, Ron and Harry, all in their pyjamas, while George and Percy were both on their beds, fully clothed and wide awake. Charlie was the only one to look sleepy, slumping against the leg of Percy's bed. He yawned and stretched, being the first one to make any noise or movement in a while. The other two on the floor had also been waiting for a moment to break the awkward, dead atmosphere in the room, but couldn't bring themselves to speak.
Charlie had been building up his courage for a while, and had decided that it was time to wake them all up a bit. Although he also grieved for his brother and regretted not being around more, he preferred to grieve in time rather than to let all his emotion out at once.
"Percy, George do you two want to get ready for bed yet? Harry, Ron and me can leave for a while if you want…" He looked hopefully up between the two, but neither moved.
"Later, maybe," George replied quietly, without any emotion in his voice.
"Now, George," Percy stated, not moving either, but still seeming authoritive as usual. Surprisingly to the rest of them, George got up and picked up his pyjamas, drawing the curtains around his bed for privacy. Percy seemed to sense what he was doing, as less than a second after George moved, Percy mimicked his movements almost exactly, without looking over once. The other three retreated to Charlie's bed, and sat on it, Charlie against the headboard, Ron lounged across the middle and Harry at the end. Once again Charlie was the first to speak. Although there were only a few years between them, Charlie seemed to have taken on the mature, adult role.
"Let's talk about something, anything except silence," he muttered, sounding loud in the heavy silence. Ron took up the time with his basic question.
"So, how much did Ginny yell at you before she took you back?" He grinned slightly, temporarily putting the events of the past year to the back of his mind, and having a casual conversation with his best mate.
"Not as much as I expected, actually. She-" At this point he was cut off by Charlie, who was reminded be his earlier vow to find out as much as he could about Harry and Ginny's relationship and history.
"So, you've been with her before, then?" He gave Harry a would-be stern look, but it was ruined by the genuine curiosity in his eyes. Harry wasn't surprised by his questioning; he'd been expecting it eventually.
"We dated for just over a month last year, yes." Charlie nodded, frowning slightly because of not hearing about it before.
"And why did you breakup?" Harry almost winced, knowing that they probably wouldn't understand their reasoning.
"I was leaving; the war was getting bigger; it was just too dangerous for her. You know how she was targeted in her first year with the diary just because she knew me! It wasn't fair on her, and I couldn't see her hurt because of me." Charlie's eyes narrowed, not understanding which kind of hurt Harry meant.
"But that's exactly what you did when you left her! You hurt her then! Do you realise that every time one of those stupid articles came up in the Prophet about you being dead, she cried herself to sleep! You don't know how hard it's been for us, for her!" His rant would probably have gone on for longer, but Ron interrupted.
"How hard it's been for you? We haven't been on a holiday for the past year! If you've had it bad, we've had it worse! Do you realise that we went weeks without food, shelter or anything?" He was furious that Charlie just disregarded the struggle they went through. His statement seemed to shock his brother into silence, but Ron wasn't finished.
"I listened to the radio every single night, dreading to hear any of your names! I lay awake hearing Hermione relive the Crutiatas in her sleep! Hearing Harry screaming from being inside You-Know-Who's mind! Hearing him relive his parent's murders, Sirius's murder, Dumbledore's murder! We were trapped in Death Eater Central for Merlin's sake! You cannot tell me how bad your year's been Charlie, because whatever you've had, we've had worse!"
Ron sighed and got up, walking around the bed, almost bumping into George and Percy who were standing behind the bed, shocked into silence, just like Charlie. They had evidently come over sometime during Ron's rant, dressed and ready for bed. Ron looked around at the startled faces and scratched his head awkwardly, heading over to his own bed.
"Is it true?" asked Charlie suddenly. "All of that, is it true?
"Yeah, all of it," Harry confirmed, looking at the ground.
"Death Eater Central," asked Percy. "What's Death Eater Central?"
"Malfoy Manor. Voldemort used it as his headquarters. All the main Death Eaters were there, Bellatrix, the Malfoys, Greyback, all sorts…"
"And Hermione, the Crutiatas…?"
"Bellatrix," Harry growled angrily. They heard a loud noise which sounded suspiciously like someone punching the wall and growling loudly. Ron wasn't the only one to make noise, Charlie swore quietly to himself under his breath. The tight, tense silence enveloped them once more, until Charlie re-opened their first topic of conversation.
"So, now that there are no crazy psychopaths or evil villains after you, what are your intentions towards our sister?" Harry was slightly taken aback this time, as he had thought their questioning was over.
"Well, I guess for now we're just dating, but I like her. I like her a lot." Apart from a slow nod from Charlie, they hardly took any notice of what he said.
"That'll do for now, but if you hurt her again, we won't just forgive. Prepare for the force of all six Weasley brothers."
"Five," George cut in hoarsely. "There are only five of us now." This brought silence from them all, and the crowd dispersed to their own beds, not wanting to discuss the painful topic anymore.
Harry was back in his own bed nearly asleep, when he heard Ron get up beside him and draw back his curtains.
"I won't even bother giving you a speech about Ginny, for two reasons. One, she can stick up for herself, and two, I know you'd never hurt her."
"Oh really?" Charlie interrupted rudely, standing beside Ron. "What makes you so sure of that second point?" Shaking his head, Ron looked into Charlie's eyes and spoke with an air of finality.
"You didn't hear him. Every night, he used to wish her goodnight, and I could even hear him mention her in his sleep. He reallylikes her, and I reckon she feels the same!" With that, he drew the curtains of Harrys bed, blocking Charlie from view. Harry heard him flop onto his own bed and sigh, settling down.
Charlie trudged back over to his bed soon after, leaving only a note for Harry to get in the morning.
"One chance Potter. Don't blow it."
One last little note. I just noticed that this fic has been added to 2 communities. I went through them, and some of my favourite fan-fics are there. Thank you guys so, so much for putting me up with that standard. I only started this to help my creativity :)