A/N: Wow, did you guys have a lot to say about Amy and Charlie! I hope this chapter meets your expectations. If not, at least tell me why, okay? For those of you who asked, Ginny's birthday party is in chapter twelve.

Also, this story is getting close to 100 reviews (at least closer than any of my other fics), so I've decided to give you all a little incentive. There are three or four chapters after this; break the 100 mark, and I'll update early :D This means lurkers, you can make a difference! I promise not to bite, and if you've followed the story this far, I'd really like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading :)

Chapter 11

Sharm el-Sheikh, Gulf of Aqaba Coast, Sinai

Bill looked up as a short- eared owl flew in the window of his and Charlie's hotel room. It settled on Charlie's bed with a soft hoot, and he freed the letter from its leg.

″Who is it from?″

Charlie read the letter through, then passed it to him.

Dear Charlie,

I know you've had a thorough tour of the main wizarding attractions, but no trip to Egypt is truly complete without a Muggle sound and light show at one of the monuments. Tonight, seven p.m.? Consider it a thank you for the ice cream.

Amy

Bill passed the letter back and returned to unpacking. What ice cream?

″What do you think?″ Charlie said.

″About what?″

″About this.″ He rattled the parchment.

″Sounded straightforward to me.″ Everything was put away, but Bill busied himself moving things around.

Charlie was reading the note again, frowning. ″If it's such a tourist attraction, why didn't she invite all of us?″

Bill slammed his new pants and socks drawer closed. ″Has it really been that long since a witch asked you out?″

″Of course not, but— why is she asking me out when you and she. . . .″

Bill moved the blue shirt to the top of the pile and scooted the stack to the other side of the drawer. ″How the hell should I know?″

Charlie looked up from his third reading. ″Do you mind if I go?″

He shrugged, avoiding Charlie's gaze. Of course Bill minded, but what right did he have to say so? ″Do what you want.″

″That's not an answer.″

He looked across the room at his brother and sighed. ″Do you think we will ever stop liking the same witches?″

Charlie leaned back against the other dresser and grinned. ″What can I say? You have great taste.″

Bill hesitated. ″She is a friend of mine. I don't care if you go tonight, but—″

″Don't worry, I'm not going to sleep with her.″ Charlie finally set down the note and unpacked by dumping the contents of his rucksack into a single drawer. ″That would make me an even bigger arse than you.″

()()()()

Cairo

Amy unlocked the door of her apartment and led Charlie inside. ″He did not,″ she said, laughing.

″Yes, he did. Dad stuck his head out their window and yelled 'She's here!' and Bill turned round. Ron hit him in the back and fell at his feet. Completely forgot to catch him. Explains a lot about Ron, getting dropped on his head at such an early age.″

She smacked his arm. ″Don't be mean.″ She had made a wistful comment that it must be nice to have such a big family, and Charlie had spent the last hour regaling her with stories about the hazards of life with siblings, most of which pictured Bill in a negative light. ″Have a seat. I'll get drinks.″

Ginny had been right; Charlie was good boyfriend material. He had been polite and charming, funny and interesting, teasing and flirty, toying with the line of friendship but never definitively crossing it. It was a marked change from the openly sexual behavior he'd displayed previously, and Amy wasn't sure how to take it. Maybe she had underestimated what was happening between the two brothers. But he was here, wasn't he?

″You like movies.″

″Sure, but I'm not a big movie buff. I brought them with me because they remind me of home, and of my parents. It was something we all could do together, even after we found out I was a witch.″ Amy handed him a glass of wine and curled up on one end of the sofa. She took a hasty gulp from her own glass, relieved when Charlie let the comment slide.

Charlie propped an elbow on one shelf and leaned closer to read the titles. ″Which one is your favorite?″

″ 'The Princess Bride.' ″

He searched the videos (Bill had re- alphabetized them) and pulled it out. ″Let's watch it.″

″You don't have to do that.″

″Of course I do. Percy will be insanely jealous. He's been wanting to see one for ages.″

Amy rolled her eyes and got up to put the tape in the VCR, then returned to her seat in the corner.

″Come here.″ Charlie raised one arm and beckoned her closer.

She smiled and complied, scooting next to him. He brushed her hair over her shoulder so it wasn't caught between them and wrapped his arm around her waist. Amy let herself relax against him. This was much, much better.

Buttercup went overboard. ″I should pop popcorn.″ Amy had never liked the shrieking eels.

″Don't move.″ Charlie's right hand had been playing with her hair, but now he pinned her against him, letting his hand come to rest on her lower abdomen instead of the more neutral zone of her waist. ″Is this okay?″

It wasn't until he spoke again that she realized she had tensed up. ″I like it better when you play with my hair,″ she said truthfully.

″Yeah?″ He set his half- full wineglass, which had been dangling from his other hand, on the end table and turned to face her, shifting so she was sitting up with his arm around her back. He raised his free hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, tracing its shape, then combed his fingers through the length of her hair, all the way to where the ends rested against the swell of her breast.

Amy didn't move, just traced his expression with her eyes. It was there again, the warm interest and the sexual heat. She closed her eyes and raised her face.

″I'm not my brother.″

Amy opened her eyes again. ″I know that.″

″And I'm leaving next Sunday. For Romania.″

″I know that too. It's one of the things I like about you.″ She could be honest with Charlie.

″Let me show you more,″ he murmured, twisting her hair around his wrist and pulling her that last little bit closer.

This was different. A tiny part of her had worried that kissing Charlie would remind her of Bill, but this was different, hot and insistent, almost frantic in intensity. She let her head fall back under the pressure of his mouth, and Charlie angled himself over her, deepening the kiss. Her hands were scrambling, tracing his back, his shoulders, his chest, but Charlie's were still, one hand cupping the back of her neck, the other wrapped around her body, holding her firmly against him. Long moments later, he broke the kiss, scraping her bottom lip gently with his teeth before turning his back to the sofa again and lifting her onto his lap.

Charlie seemed content to hold her, but Amy leaned forward to kiss him again. Twisting like this put a crick in her neck, and she shifted to face him directly, long legs folded on either side of his. His hands were low on her hips, thumbs tracing her hipbones, and though he let her dominate the kiss this time, there was something wild, something just barely leashed in his response. But when Amy tried to move closer, he resisted.

She sat back. ″What's the matter?″

He raised one hand, brushing her hair out of her face. ″This isn't what you really want.″

Her mouth dropped open, but before she could protest his presumption, Charlie slipped his other hand just under the waistband of both her skirt and panties, and Amy stiffened at the feel of his fingertips on her bare stomach.

He raised one eyebrow and removed his hand. ″It doesn't help.″

She crossed her arms and looked away. The movie was still playing; it sounded like the swordfight. ″What doesn't help?″

″Sleeping with someone else. It doesn't help you forget.″

He was slightly breathless, and Amy took some satisfaction in that. She looked at him again. ″That sounds like the voice of experience.″

He nodded, brown eyes warm and sympathetic.

″Then why—″ She gestured between them.

He grinned at her, and just like that, the rogue was back. ″Would you have believed me if I had told you?″

She looked up from underneath her lashes this time. ″Probably not. But you could have tried.″

″Where's the fun in that, love?″

Amy allowed herself a smile, and when her eyes met Charlie's again, she laughed. ″You,″ she said, standing up, ″are incorrigible.″

″Just one of the many things you like about me.″

″I've changed my mind.″

″Uh- huh. You said something about popcorn?″

()()()()

Ginny leaned over the railing, and Bill had to resist the urge to pull her back. He had left Gringotts at lunch and picked up Ginny to bring her here, to the training grounds of the Egyptian national Quidditch team. Her mouth had not closed once since she had seen the sign. If she wasn't chattering about the brooms or the players or the facilities, she was gaping in awe. Bill didn't think it had even sunk in yet that he had chosen to bring her alone as her birthday present. Charlie was going to kill him.

"Are you going to eat that?"

Ginny passed him her nearly whole lamb falafel sandwich without looking at him. "Which one is your friend?"

Bill scanned the pitch as he chewed. "Masud is on the far side, underneath the flying carpet advert."

Ginny leaned still further for a better look.

"You do know you need a broomstick to fly, right, sprite?"

"Oh, could I?" She turned so eagerly her plaits flew from behind her back to over her shoulder. "I had lessons with Madam Hooch last year, and I was good, I promise I was! Please, Bill?"

She grabbed his forearm with both hands, tilted her head, and smiled. It was the same expression she had used to get the last slice of chocolate gateau from Percy last night. At the time, Bill had felt smugly superior, but really, how did you turn down a face as cute as that?

He smiled back. "Today is open fly." Few places in Cairo were private enough for broomsticks, but this stadium had been standing, complete with Disillusionment and Muggle- repelling charms, since before the city expanded across the Nile. As such, the team management opened the stadium to the wizarding public three times a week in the off- season.

Ginny bounced out of her seat. "Let's go, let's go!"

Even with his nearly two- foot height advantage, Bill was hard pressed to keep up as Ginny descended the stairs of the stands and circled round the pitch towards Masud. She waited to be introduced, then promptly asked for a broomstick.

Masud stared down at her, arms crossed. "You have been on a broomstick before?"

"Oh, yes, sir."

"You know how to stop and how to land safely?"

"Yes, sir."

"You will not fly off into the wind with the gods?"

She hesitated, and Bill bit back a grin. As equipment manager, Masud was very serious about his broomsticks.

"No, sir."

Masud turned and lifted two broomsticks from the racks behind him. "Very well then." He handed each of them a Nimbus Two Thousand.

Ginny stared at hers, floating in the air before her. "Harry has one of these," she whispered, then blushed scarlet. "Thank you," she added, then threw her leg over and gave Bill a shove. "Tag, you're it!"

()()()()

"Where did you learn to fly like that?" They were walking across the grounds to the Apparition point. Bill had ten minutes to get Ginny back to the cottage and himself back to work.

"I told you. I had lessons with Madame Hooch."

"You don't fly like a first year."

Ginny turned, walking backwards to face him and waving her hands in the air. "It's magic."

"Ha- ha."

She shrugged and turned forward again. He was coming to really hate that gesture, but she could keep that secret. It wasn't the one he wanted to know, anyway.

"Well, happy birthday, Gin- Gin."

She scowled. "I'm twelve. Don't you think it's time to drop the nickname? I already have a nickname."

"I know, Ginevra." Her scowl deepened, and Bill felt a deep sense of satisfaction. "Besides, you're not twelve yet."

"I am too! My birthday is August 11th, and today—"

"You were born in the late afternoon. In England it isn't even lunchtime yet."

"Bollocks," Ginny muttered.

Bill laughed. Much to their mother's horror (and no small amount of punishment), he and Charlie had encouraged Ginny's dirty mouth from the time she could talk.

"Listen, there is something I want to ask you." They had reached the Apparition point, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Ron told me about the Chamber and your nightmares." She went still and rigid. "He also said he thought you would have aced your exams if you hadn't been so stressed last year. I thought you two might like to come down to the training course this weekend and practice a bit."

She shifted, crossing her arms. "The curse breaker's training course? At Gringotts?"

"Uh- huh." Thank goodness she wasn't looking at him. He had kept his voice casual, but he felt the tension in his shoulders and knew he couldn't hide how much he wanted her to say yes.

″Why?″

Why? Why did everyone keep asking that? ″Because I think it will help you. Practice recognizing dark objects, gain some confidence in your magic.″

Ginny glared. ″There is nothing wrong with my magic.″

″Of course there isn't anything wrong with your magic.″

″You think there's something wrong with me.″

″You're scared of the dark, and you're waking up the whole house with your screaming nightmares. Pardon me for thinking there is something wrong with that.″

″I am not scared of the dark,″ she said, but her voice was shaking. With anger or fear, Bill couldn't tell.

″You are too,″ he said ruthlessly. ″Ron isn't the only one who knows about the nightmares— Percy, Fred, and George have heard you too. Amy actually dosed you with Dreamless Sleep potion when you stayed with her. Did you know that?″ From the way her freckles stood out in sharp relief against her pale skin, he guessed not. ″She has only ever heard me talk about you, and even she knew something was wrong. What are you going to do in a month when you're back at school, and Ron is in another dormitory? Crawl in bed with a girl who doesn't like you?″

Ginny's face crumpled, but she didn't cry. ″They're getting better.″

″They are not.″ Bill had no way of knowing that, but considering the shadows under her eyes, it was a pretty safe bet. ″And they will get worse when you get back to Hogwarts, where it all happened. The nightmares are going to get worse, and you're probably going to have flashbacks too. You have to actually do something if you want to recover from this. I can help you, Ginny. Please, let me help you.″

She was glaring at him again, little fists clenched by her sides. ″I do not need your help.″

Bill softened his voice. ″I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. I swear it on my magic.″

She turned away from him and stuck her nose in the air, crossing her arms again. ″No. I don't want to go.″

Bill crossed his own arms and stepped forward to tower over her. ″You need to go. You need to learn how to recognize dark objects and neutralize or contain them, and the only way I know to do that safely is to take you to the training course.″

″That's what Defense Against the Dark Arts is for. I'm not going. Besides, I'm too young to do magic outside of school.″

Bill spoke through gritted teeth. ″You are two thousand miles from the Ministry of Magic, and the training center is undetectable.″

″I'll tell. I'll tell Mum you want to take me to the curse breaker's course, and I'll tell Ron and Charlie you're trying to make me do something I don't want to do. I mean it, Bill.″

He glared back at her. He could probably— maybe— convince Charlie, but if Ginny kissed up to Ron, he would take her side and never give up. Not to mention Mum was a serious threat. Bill had no doubts that his mother could still find a variety of ways to make his life miserable. He took a deep breath and unclenched his jaw.

″I've already made arrangements with the goblins.″

″Then un- arrange them.″

She was so stubborn! ″You can't back out of a deal with a goblin, Ginny. Half my next bonus— maybe more, depending on how much it is— is Donerk's, whether you go or not.″ Not to mention Amy's offer.

Her expression flickered briefly, then hardened. ″You should have asked me first.″

No, he shouldn't have asked her at all. He should have just shown up at the cottage on Sunday morning, but he needed her help to keep what they were doing hidden from Mum and Dad. Stubborn, obnoxious, obstinate witch! He was tempted to leave her here and let her make her own way home, but Bill had enough experience with his little sister's antics to know he would definitely come out the loser in that scenario.

″Grab hold.″ He stuck his hand in her face.

Her brown eyes were cold, and she had her arms crossed and her nose in the air again. ″I'm not going anywhere with you.″

″For Merlin's sake, Ginny, all I have to do is hold onto you, and you'll come with me anyway. Grab hold.″

He would just have to get to Ron first.