Secrets Can Kill {Charlie Weasley}

eight - of explanations and regrets

  I actually only have a few chapters left in this book which is weird to think about but anyways, here we go with the next one :) 

a big thank you to irwinthegod for the banner on the side, it looks amazing so thank you so much!

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 We had arrived at the Weasley's house and I was slowly starting to get more and more nervous. As my worries heightened, I began to regret my decision of coming here and deciding to tell everyone I am still very much alive and well. 

But I knew there was no way of backing out of it. There wasn't a chance Charlie was just going to let me go back all of a sudden after I'd finally agreed to it and everything. So I decided to get any thought of leaving out of my head as that was not a possibility. 

"Charlie! When is the last time you got a hair cut, bloody hell, look at how long your hair is. You look more like me than your father! Don't tell me you're going to start doing your hair like Bill's. Oh please don't get one of them weird earrings," Mrs Weasley fussed as Charlie opened the front door. I laugh at her comment about him looking like her and her eyes suddenly widen as she notices there's someone behind Charlie. 

"Charlie, what on earth... who's behind you? Did you finally get a girlfriend? You're very good looking, I always thought you really should have one but you were all dragons in the brain and I guess no girl in Hogwarts wanted to go near a guy that could list more types of dragons than they could shops in Diagon Alley," Mrs Weasley rambles on again, not giving Charlie a chance to put a word in about anything that she was saying. He laughs as he puts his arm on her shoulder, calming her down. 

"Mum, calm down. She isn't my girlfriend, this is my friend. She's going to be spending Christmas with us and then afterwards she's going back to her family," Charlie tells her as he lets me walk into the house so everyone could see me (everyone being Mrs. Weasley, George, Bill, Fleur and a little blonde toddler). "This is Talia Barnes, you may know her."

"Holy mother of..." Mrs. Weasley looks at me in shock and then looks to Charlie and then looks back to me again. "Charlie Weasley, only you would get moved to a new part of Romania for your job looking after dragons and bring back a dead girl."

"What can I say," Charlie said with a smirk. He didn't seem at all surprised by his mother's reaction nor did he really seem to calm her down. "It's a talent."

"Charlie Weasley, don't give me that cheek or I'll send you right back to Romania and you can spend Christmas with your damned dragons," Mrs. Weasley scolded him, holding up her towel threateningly as Charlie stepped back a bit, obviously trying to contain his fear for his mother in front of me. I didn't blame him, Mrs. Weasley was a scary woman. 

"Dear, take a seat and if you don't mind me asking you to explain, then it would be nice if you could explain," Mrs. Weasley said in a much nicer tone. I nodded my head as I took the empty seat at the table next to George. I felt slightly uncomfortable sitting next to Fred's twin and all but I didn't really have another choice. 

Just as I was about to start talking and explaining what exactly happened, Fleur got up, taking the small girl out of the room. 

"Um, well after I finished at Hogwarts I got in with the wrong crowd. I didn't really notice, it was actually fun, adrenaline-pumping being more of the word, that was until of course Cedric died. I guess that's the point I realised what I was doing was stupid and so I began to try and get out but there's no real way out of what I got into other than death. 

"I guess I should have mentioned that by now I hadn't seen my parents in ages and they probably presumed I was dead at this point. I wonder if they still think I'm just missing or if they listened to everyone else saying that I'm dead. 

"Anyways, after the war I knew it was my last chance to get away. And so I did, I got away and found a cottage in a little woods in the middle of Romania. No one else came there until eventually Charlie and his work colleagues came and started living in the cottage with me. And of course Charlie recognised me.

"After that we began talking and we became friends once again and I explained what happened to him. Eventually it got to nearing Christmas and he begged me to come and spend Christmas with you guys and after a while I agreed. I'm going to go to my parents and tell them everything and apologise before we go back. I would like it if you guys didn't mention anything to them in the time between," I said with a small smile.

"Of course, honey. Now, you two must be famished, let me put on some food for the both of you. Bill, George, do you want any more?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she noticed her other two boys sitting with empty plates in front of them. Bill nodded as George shook his head. 

"Can't mum, sorry. I have some stuff to sort with the shop and I'll probably stay at my place tonight but I am officially done as of tomorrow so I'll be back then. See you later," he said as he put on his jacket, kissing her on the cheek and giving her a smile before pushing in his chair and closing the door after him. 

And I finally felt like I could breath again. 

"Do you want anything to drink, hun?" Mrs. Weasley asked me as she began to flick her wand and make pots and pans fly all around the kitchen. 

"Waters fine, thank you," I say with a polite smile as Charlie sits himself down in the seat George had been sat in a few minutes ago. He gives me a small smile as I smile back at him. 

"Sorry about her, she tends to fuss. It's natural to her, she would go insane of someone wouldn't let her fuss over them. Dad has to deal with her suddenly fussing over him all the time now that all of the children have officially moved out," Charlie told me with a chuckle. I chuckle as well as I look to Mrs. Weasley. She was definitely a lovely woman, no doubt about it or else she wouldn't have been so accepting of my story. 

I mean, if some people could, half of them would have me sent to Azkaban the moment they found out I was alive and the reason why I'd been pretending that I was dead. 

"It's fine, your mum's lovely, I wouldn't be sorry about her at all. Hopefully my own mother responds that nicely whenever I tell her, I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't," I mutter, looking down to my shoes as I begin to fidget with my fingers.

"MUM! GINNY AND HARRY ARE BEING GROSS!" And suddenly there are two more gingers in the room, along with a frizzy haired brunette and a very hard-to-forget face. 

"Ron, would you stop yelling. We have guests. Now what did Harry and Ginny do," Mrs. Weasley asked, not looking to him or the other three as she continued to move her wand. 

"They were talking about the baby and how many the plan to have and then they kissed and it was gross," Ron complained. Harry and Ginny both went slightly red but gave his each other a smile. Hermione hit Ron over the head as she rolled her eyes. 

"It's not gross, Ron, in fact, it's cute. Very cute. We're going to have kids sometime too, you know, and when that happens you'd be annoyed if Ginny ran off to your mum and started calling us gross.Now grow up and stop acting five," Hermione scolded the boy whom I could only assume was her husband from the ring on her finger and the talk of having children. 

"Thank you Hermione, now all of you sit down if you want some of this food," Mrs. Weasley said as she used her wand to pull out some plates and put the food on it. "Oh, and this is Charlie's friend from Romania. Her name is Talia Barnes, say hello."

"Talia Barnes as in...?" Ron trails off as his eyes widen. "Bloody hell, you're dead!"

"Well actually, I'm not," I say with a light chuckle. I find everyone's reaction kind of funny but I know I'm going to have to explain now and leaving out the part about his brother always makes me feel so guilty. 

"Can we ask how you're not and what happened?" Hermione asked politely after telling Ron to stop being so rude.

"Um, okay, sure. Well..."

I was starting to regret coming here more and more.