Using the prompt 'A meeting place'

Chapter Nineteen

Hugo blinked. Where was he? What had just happened? Just a moment ago he had been opening a box his uncle had sent him and the next thing he was... in the hospital wing?

With a quick look around, he saw four familiar faces. To the right side of his bed was Professor Longbottom – the Head of Gryffindor House. At the end of his bed stood both of his parents and then Rose sat in a chair on his left. All were watching him, concerned.

"Well, at least he's awake," he heard his dad's muffled voice say. "I'm going to kill George when I get back!"

Sucking in a deep breath, Hugo looked around the room properly. "What happened?" he mumbled.

"Uncle George sent you some of his new products, but I don't think he tested one of them properly," Rose replied cheerfully. "It kind of exploded when you opened it."

Hugo remembered now. George would always send him the brand new products, but normally they were tested for safety. He only wanted Hugo's opinion.

"It was quite scary, actually," Rose admitted. "One moment we were all watching you, seeing what Weasleys Wizard Wheezes had in store for us and the next, we're all covered in purple smoke and you're lying unconscious on the ground. We thought you were dead."

Hugo blinked again. "It was probably supposed to do that," he said. Only Uncle George would think something that could potentially kill them to be amusing.

"I don't think so, mate," Ron said. "I think he sent you a dodgy product... which I will kill him for," he added.

"Don't do that, he might stop sending me things!" Hugo argued. Getting the products before anyone else made him almost popular at Hogwarts. Without it, he would go unnoticed. He would be considered just another Weasley.

"Hugo, he needs to stop sending you things," Hermione said. "He almost killed you. You're not getting anything from that shop again unless it's been thoroughly tested beforehand. I still haven't forgotten the time those shoes he gave you for Christmas sent you up a tree and then dropped you. He swore it would never happen again..."

"No! I'm fine!" Hugo cried.

"It was kind of funny too," Rose confessed, grinning.

"We send you to school for two weeks and already you land yourself in trouble," Ron added, humour in his voice.

"You can't blame him for that," Professor Longbottom said. "It's not his fault he was born a Weasley. And, Madam Pomfrey fixed him up quickly..."

"That's not the point," Hermione said, coming to stand by her son. "George should have tested them for safety before he sent them to Hugo."

"I'll be having words with him," Ron said. "Trust me, but Neville's right. There's not really any harm done, I suppose. He's still not sending you anything anymore, though."

Hugo opened his mouth to argue, but Hermione shook her head.

"No buts, Hugo. You're buying them from the shop just like everyone else from now on."

"That's not fair!" Hugo cried.

"It's that or nothing at all," Hermione said. "Take it or leave it."

Hugo frowned. He didn't like that agreement one bit. Without the products, he was going to become invisible. "This sucks," he mumbled. "You suck!"

"When you don't end up dead, you'll thank them one day," Professor Longbottom said. "I've seen what some of your uncle's products can do."

Hermione's hand brushed over Hugo's forehead and she smiled down at him. "Madam Pomfrey said you will be fine in a few hours," she said. "We just had to come and make sure you actually were okay. Rose said she'd wait with you, if you wanted."

Hugo nodded. "Just don't be angry at Uncle George."

"He'll be angrier with himself once he finds out what happened," Ron promised.

Hermione kissed her son's forehead. "I hope this is the first and last time we have to come here to see you in the hospital wing," she said. "Try to stay out of trouble, Hugo."

Hugo smiled weakly. "Okay."

Hermione kissed him again and soon the three adults were gone.

Hugo sighed. He remembered that day clearly now. And the many times after that he had woken up in the hospital wing for one thing or another. His parents had always been there. Every time.

They were never happy about it, but they always came. It was strange to think that if another accident occurred, it would be Harry and Ginny coming. And would they come at all? He thought they would. But it wouldn't be the same.

"Hugo?"

Hugo looked up from the book he hadn't been reading. Ginny stood in front of him. She smiled.

"Do you have a moment?" she asked.

Hugo nodded and Ginny sat opposite him at the table. There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the room. If she wanted to talk to him, then why wasn't she saying anything?

"Um... Harry and I were just wondering if you and Rose had thought about the house yet? Rose hasn't said anything and..."

"We haven't talked about it," Hugo told her. "Rose refuses to discuss it. I don't think she wants to sell it."

Ginny nodded as if Hugo was confirming something. "And what about you?"

"Well, we don't really need it, do we? And I always thought that house was a bit too small. I mean, I'm only thirteen, I don't know much about all that – especially with the Muggle side of things – but I think we should sell it."

Ginny nodded again. "That would be the wise thing to do, Hugo. Though, perhaps you should talk to Rose about it? Tell her what you think?"

Hugo nodded. He'd be the only one able to convince her. "Not now, though. I don't really care about that now. I really just want this woman to be found. I want her to be punished for what she did. That's all I care about."

Ginny nodded for a third time. A smile formed on her lips. "Well, I'll have you know that about half an hour ago, Harry got called into the Ministry. They said there was something to do with the case and it must be something big, because they've been trying their best to keep him away from it."

Hugo's heart pounded against his chest. "Really?"

"I just hope it's some good news. We all want to know, Hugo. We all want her to be punished."

Hugo looked at his aunt. She tried to hide it, but he could see the pain talking about it caused her. She missed his parents as well. "You loved them too, didn't you?"

"Of course I loved them, Hugo. Your dad was my brother. It's not easy losing one brother, but to lose two, as well as someone who meant a lot to me... They were family."

"How come they never told us about it? Didn't they trust us?"

"That wasn't it, Hugo," Ginny said, shaking her head. "They didn't want to scare you. How would you have felt if you knew someone was out to get you? You would have been looking over your shoulder everywhere you went. That's no life for children to have."

"You had it," Hugo answered bluntly. "All of you did. I know the stories."

"All the more reason why they didn't want that for you."

"You know, I spent most of my life thinking they cared about Rose more than me."

"That wasn't true."

Hugo grimaced. "I know that now. Now that they're gone, I can look back and see that they cared about us both. They loved us both. I was just too selfish to see that then."

Ginny smiled. "You amaze me, Hugo. Do you know that? Two months ago, you were nothing but a twelve year old boy who was devastated by the loss of his parents. You wouldn't talk to anyone and we were all really worried about you. But now... you are handling this really well, Hugo. I'm proud of you, and your mum and dad would be too. You're handling this better than any thirteen-year-old should be."

Hugo was surprised by his aunt's words. He didn't feel like he was handling it well at all. In fact, he felt as if it was slowly destroying him. "Well... they're gone," he said. "They're not coming back. We all have to accept that eventually."

Ginny shook her head. "You're handling this better than any of us," she said. "On the outside, anyway."

"And Rose isn't..." Hugo finished, knowing what she wanted to say.

Ginny was prevented from replying when there was a crash in the hallway. She jumped to her feet, her wand drawn. Hugo followed.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Ginny cried once they reached it. Hugo's stomach turned at the sight he was greeted with. His sister hadn't been well since the funeral, but this had to be the worst he had ever seen her. She was dragging her trunk along, destroying everything in her path.

"Leaving," she replied coldly.

"Rose, get back here right now!" Ginny's voice was fiercer than Hugo had ever heard it – even when she yelled at James and Albus to stop fighting.

Rose's only response was to hesitate a moment before throwing open the door and stepping outside. Ginny hurried after her, but she was too late. Rose had called the Knight Bus. It pulled up right in front of them and Rose hurled her trunk into it and was up the steps before Ginny could stop her.

"Rose, come back this instant!" she cried. "We can talk about it. Running away is not an option. Do you think your parents would want this?"

This time Rose did turn around while she was on the last step of the bus. "They're not here, are they? No offence, Aunt Ginny, but I don't want to be here. I want to be home. I want my mum and dad back, but they won't come back to get me, so I'm going home myself. You can go there if you want, but you won't convince me to come back here. It's my home. I know you all think the house should be sold, but it's not going to be. I won't let it. I'm two years off being seventeen. Once I reach that age, I can have the house. I can live there and no one can stop me."

"Okay," Ginny said, and she was obviously struggling to remain calm. "Okay, you don't want to sell the house. That's okay, but Rose, you're not seventeen yet. You need to stay here."

"Why? For all of you to feel sorry for me? I see it, you know. 'Poor Rose isn't coping'. Well, of course I'm not coping. Would you if your mum and dad were killed by some woman you've never met and they never bothered to tell you about?"

"Rose, this isn't the answer," Ginny replied weakly.

Rose shook her head. "I don't care. I don't want you and Uncle Harry pretending to be my parents. You're not!"

Hugo stepped forward. "Rosie..."

"Shut up, Hugo! You're fine. You don't even care, do you? You don't even cry."

"Ahem."

Everyone turned to the conductor of the Knight Bus.

"Are you planning on boarding this bus or not, Madam? We have others who need us."

Rose gave a short nod and before Ginny or Hugo had anything else to say, she had boarded and the bus had vanished to who knew where.

Ginny closed her eyes, looking defeated.

"She'll be back," Hugo said half-heartedly.

"Somehow, Hugo," Ginny said, shaking her head, "I think the only way to get her to come back will be to drag her."

Any hope Hugo might have been feeling at his sister returning, faded. Deep down, he knew that. Rose had seemed determined; Rose was determined. And she was stubborn and hurting.

So much for them doing this together.

Look after her, Hugo silently begged to his parents, wherever they were. Don't let her do anything stupid. I need her.

OOO

"You just let her go?"

"What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, jump on the bus and drag her off it. What would Ron and Hermione think? We just let their daughter – their daughter who is in a lot of pain right now and isn't thinking straight – go off on her own."

"I couldn't go after her, Harry. Hugo was there."

Hugo rested his head against the cold wall, feeling emptiness he couldn't explain. Even though she rarely left her room anyway, it felt different not having Rose there. It was lonely. And Harry and Ginny were now arguing about it.

Loudly.

He didn't even know what Harry had been called into the Ministry for yet. He hadn't had the chance to tell them.

"Listen, if you want me to, I can go there and bring her home," Ginny continued. "But you didn't see her. And... maybe it will be good for her to be there for a while. Maybe we have been smothering her a little bit."

"What Rose wants doesn't really matter inthis moment!" Harry sounded furious... no, scared. "She's still out there, Ginny. She could still be after the kids. We don't know. It's her safety I'm worried about, and frankly, if she wants to be angry at us for trying to keep her safe, so be it. My best friends were killed by her; I'll be damned if I let her do the same to their children, too."

Hugo's heart hammered against his chest. Rose was all alone, in the place where her parents had been murdered. Harry sounded really scared, as if he thought she might go back there.

"Then what did the Ministry call you in for?" Ginny questioned. "A cup of tea?"

"No, to tell me they have a lead. But that's all... a lead."

"Where?"

"Somewhere in London."

London? Here?

"Then perhaps it's safer for the kids there," Ginny replied softly.

"She knows how to find that house, Ginny. She knows where it is and it can take her less than five seconds to Apparate from London to Huddersfield. Rose is safest here."

"You won't be able to convince her, Harry. You didn't see her. Perhaps you can send an Auror there to... to keep an eye on her?"

"The Aurors have better things to do than follow a fifteen-year-old girl," Harry answered.

"One of the trainees, then?"

There was silence, and although Hugo was only listening from the other side of the door, he knew that Harry was contemplating Ginny's suggestion. It was a good idea. A trainee Auror would be better than no Auror.

"They'd love to do something," Ginny continued. "You say that all the time."

"Yes, but..."

"Make her think she's by herself, but have someone around, just to watch."

Hugo opened the door, startling both his aunt and his uncle. "Please, Uncle Harry?" he begged. "Please keep her safe. She's in a bad way right now."

Harry sighed. "I'll talk to Kingsley. It's the best I can do, alright?"

Hugo nodded. "So, I heard you say you had a lead on her?" he then asked.

"It's rude to eavesdrop, Hugo," Harry said, but there was no accusation in his voice. He nodded. "There have been a few reports that someone matching her description has been seen in the outskirts of London, but... it's hard to catch someone who doesn't want to be found. Especially a witch."

"That's your job," Ginny accused.

"I know..."

"I think Kingsley's an idiot for taking you off the case."

"Hm."

Hugo looked between his aunt and uncle. "Rose?" he reminded them as they just stood there.

Harry nodded. "I'll go now," he said. "I can't promise anything, though."

"Then you may just have to drag her home," Ginny said. "Because there's not a chance in hell that I'm letting her stay there by herself."

Neither was Hugo. I'll go with her if I have to, he thought as he closed the door again.

Thanks to Jo for beta-ing it once again. I hope you liked this chapter. Rose was just a ticking time bomb, and she just snapped.

Your reviews are much appreciated! Thanks for all the support so far!