I lay on my bed in Ginnys room trying to get at least a bit of sleep. Ginny and Hermione are fast asleep and have been for a few hours. I decide to go get a drink and see if that helps. As I reach the kitchen I notice Charlie sat at the table.
"Shouldn't you be asleep" I ask him as I grab a glass to get a drink.
"Shouldn't you"
"I'm just getting a drink quick"
"Why won't you talk to me Nova" His eyes meet mine.
"I am" I answer glancing down at the floor before realising I've got a tank top on so I move my hair to cover my neck as he stands up walking over to me.
"Stop doing that" he says as he reaches for my hair moving it out of the way "Stop hiding it. It doesn't change anything about you"
"Charlie you don't get it. I hate it"
"Talk to me, help me get it. What's the real reason you're awake right now"
"It's stupid"
"What is?"
"I'm scared to be alone" I whisper looking down at the ground "Every time I close my eyes I see the werewolf Charlie and it terrifies me. I'm terrified it's going to happen again" I admit barely above a whisper but he heard. He pushes me towards a chair crouching in front of me, taking my hands in his.
"It's going to be okay. You're safe you know that. No one's going to hurt you again. It was a freak accident Nova" I feel the tears fall down my cheeks as he looks at me.
"Charlie" I whisper as he rubs his fingers over my knuckles.
"You need sleep Nova. Tomorrow you can apparate with me"
"I haven't been able to sleep in weeks Charlie I'm lucky if I manage an hour without a nightmare" Before he replies we hear someone walk into the kitchen.
"Hello dears what are you both doing up" Mrs Weasley walks in the kitchen. Charlie looks at me then at his mum.
"Hey mum. Rory couldn't sleep"
"Charlie go grab a sleeping draught from the cupboard"
"Mum do you have one for a dreamless sleep" she looks between us finally noticing the tears on my face.
"Yes Charlie of course it's the purple one" he walks off to grab the potion as Mrs Weasley walks to sit beside me. "It's okay, after what happened to you I'd be surprised if you didn't get nightmares. This is the first time I've actually seen it, you don't need to hide it especially from us you know that dear. You're family" She wraps an arm around me pulling me to her as Charlie walks back in.
"This one?" He holds up the bottle for Mrs Weasley to see.
"Yes dear that's the one" she smiles at me before walking over to her son.
"I'm going to apparate her with me tomorrow mum so she can get some sleep. She can come sleep in with me and Bill that way she can get some proper sleep without being woken up by the others in the morning" she smiles at him.
"I'll put her bed in there for you"
"Mum it's fine I can do it you go get some sleep, you've got a couple of hours until you need to wake them"
"Okay dear. Get some rest and I'll see you both in the morning"
"Night mum" Charlie kisses her on the cheek.
"Night Mrs Weasley"
"Goodnight you two" she leaves as Charlie walks over to me again with the potion in his hand.
"Come on let's get you to bed" he holds out his hand pulling me up as I place my hand in his.
"What about Bill, he never agreed to me sleeping in your room" Charlie laughs slightly.
"Bill won't care trust me. If it makes you feel any better I'll wake him up to ask him"
"Who you going to wake up" someone says suddenly making me jump whilst Charlie laughs. I turn to face Bill as Charlie speaks.
"Funnily enough you Bill"
"Why" he raises an eyebrow at us.
"Novas coming in our room. Mum's given her some dreamless sleeping potion and she's going to be apparating with me tomorrow" they send each other a quick look.
"You know don't you Bill" I ask catching the look in his eyes as he scratches the back of his neck.
"Charlie told me some of what's going on after your little chat yesterday when you arrived, sorry"
"It's fine"
"Anyway you can take my bed Rory, I'll crash on the floor or on the sofa I don't mind"
"It's fine Bill you keep your bed I'll be fine"
"If anything she can have my bed Bill and I'll bring up a spare bed" Bill nods at Charlie before grabbing a drink and disappearing back upstairs. "Right come on let's go get some sleep" I follow Charlie up to his and Bill's room. With a quick wave of his wand Charlie makes my bed from Ginnys room appear beside his "You take my bed and I'll take yours. Mine will be more comfortable for you"
"Mines fine Charlie you keep yours"
"Nova just get your arse in my bed now and stop arguing" I roll my eyes but do as he says knowing I won't win. He hands me the sleeping potion in his hand.
"Can you lay with me until I fall asleep please" I say quietly.
"Of course I can Nova. Now drink that and lay down" he sits next to me as I quickly drink the potion instantly feeling sleepy. He takes my hand in his rubbing small circles on the back.
"Night Charlie"
"Goodnight Nova" I feel him press a small kiss to my head as I fall asleep without any dreams for the first time in weeks.
When I wake I notice I'm curled into Charlie's side, who's still fast asleep and still holding my hand. As I sit up I notice Bill sat on his bed. He see's me moving as he turns to face Charlies bed he smirks at me.
"Good sleep Rory. You both looked cosy"
"It's not like that Bill and you know it" He winks at me.
"You can try to deny it all you want my dear Rory. I see the way you two look at each other" Charlie starts stirring beside me.
"What are you two talking about" He says still half asleep as he rubs his eyes.
"Nothing" I blurt out quickly.
"Right" He gives me an unconvinced look before looking at Bill who just shrugs as he gets up to leave the room.
"We're apparating in 30 minutes just so you know" He says as he walks out of the room.
"Thank you for last night Charlie" I say getting up to go to Ginny's room to get ready.
"You don't need to thank me Nova. You do need to stop shutting people out though, we can help you. Even if you only speak to me for the moment. It's better than bottling it all up. So from now on you're going to talk to me deal?" He smiles at me as he sits up on his bed, I noticed that he's topless how did I not notice that last night. His body's covered in scars including a nasty looking one that goes slightly on his neck. He notices me looking before smiling at me "You're not the only one with scars Nova"
"I'm going to go get dressed" I say quickly leaving the room and heading to Ginny's. I grab a pair of black leggings, a black hoody and my white converse dressing quickly plaiting my hair down the side of my neck half covering the scars before heading down to the kitchen to find Bill and Mrs Weasley stood by the side. Bill hands me a coffee as I walk over to them. "Thank you" He nods with a smile.
"How did you sleep after the potion dear" Mrs Weasley speaks looking me over in a way only a mother can.
"Amazingly thank you for the potion it really helped"
"I'm glad. I've put a couple in your bag for tonight and if the match lasts a few days"
"Thank you Mrs Weasley you're the best"
"You know you can call me Molly or adopted mum as you seem to call me in your letters" She smiles at me warmly as Charlie and Percy walk in grabbing a coffee each before taking a seat the the table.
"Morning mum" Charlie mumbles.
"Good morning mother" Percy says in his usual snobby tone.
"Good morning you two. Have you all got your stuff ready" She asks as we all nod at her.
"Oh Rory you sure you want to apparate with Charlie, I might be the safer option" Bill says smirking at Charlie who glares at him.
"Why"
"It took me two tries to pass my test. I apparated five miles south of where I meant to, right on top of some poor old woman doing her shopping" I start laughing alone with Bill.
"Don't worry Charlie I'll still come with you although that's still quite funny. That poor old lady" He rolls his eyes at me before laughing as well.
"Right you lot better be off, I told your father I'd send you alone around midday"
"Okay mum, see you later" Bill says kissing his mother on the cheek as Charlie and Percy do the same before she pulls me into a hug kissing my cheek.
"Be good" We all smile as we leave.
"Ready Nova" Charlie asks placing his arm around my waist.
"As I'll every be" He chuckles slightly before we apparate. I resist the urge to puke as we land.
"You good there Nova"
"Shut it Charlie"
"Alright Rory"
"You can shut up as well Bill. Why would anyone enjoy travelling like that" Bill and Charlie both laugh before Charlie grabs my hand pulling me after him to the camp site. As we walk out of the woods Mr Weasleys busy cooking eggs and sausage.
"Just Apparated, Dad," Percy said loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!" Everyone sit's down as Mr Weasley starts handing out food. Fred sit's next to me.
"So" He drags out.
"What Fred" I turn to face him.
"You and my brother" He winks at me.
"Shut up Fred it wasn't like that" He winks at me before turning to George. Halfway through eating Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them.
"Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"Ludo Bagman was easily the most noticeable person I'd seen. He was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black. An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest. He had the look of a powerfully built man gone slightly to seed; the robes were stretched tightly across a large belly he surely had not had in the days when he had played Quidditch for England. His nose was squashed probably broken by a stray Bludger, but his round blue eyes, short blond hair, and rosy complexion made him look like a very overgrown schoolboy.
"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement. "Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements. Not much for me to do!"Behind him, a group of haggard-looking Ministry wizards rushed past, pointing at the distant evidence of some sort of a magical fire that was sending violet sparks twenty feet into the air. Percy hurried forward with his hand outstretched. Apparently his disapproval of the way Ludo Bagman ran his department did not prevent him from wanting to make a good impression.
"Ah - yes," said Mr. Weasley, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry -and this is Fred - no, George, sorry - that's Fred - Bill, Charlie, Ron - my daughter, Ginny, the twins friend Aurora Potter and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter." Bagman did the smallest of double takes when he heard Harry's name, and his eyes performed the familiar flick upward to the scar on Harry's forehead before quickly glancing at me. "Everyone," Mr. Weasley continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets" Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say it had been nothing.
"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he said eagerly, jingling what seemed to be a large amount of gold in the pockets of his yellow-and-black robes. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a weeklong match."
"Oh... go on then," said Mr. Weasley. "Let's see... a Galleon on Ireland to win?"
"A Galleon?" Ludo Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well any other takers?"
"They're a bit young to be gambling," said Mr. Weasley. "Molly wouldn't like -"
"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," Fred said as he and George quickly pooled all their money, "that Ireland wins but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand."
"You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that," Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the wand was rubbish at all; on the contrary, his boyish face shone with excitement as he took it from Fred, and when the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter.
"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"Percy froze in an attitude of stunned disapproval.
"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting. That's all your savings. Your mother"
"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo Bagman, rattling his pockets excitedly. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance. I'll give you excellent odds on that one. We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we."Mr. Weasley looked on helplessly as Ludo Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill and began jotting down the twins' names.
"Cheers," said George, taking the slip of parchment Bagman handed him and tucking it away into the front of his robes. Bagman turned most cheerfully back to Mr. Weasley.
"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."
"Mr. Crouch?" said Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll"
"Anyone can speak Troll," Fred said dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt."Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil.
"Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Mr. Weasley asked as Bagman settled himself down on the grass beside them all.
"Not a dicky bird," said Bagman comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."
"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Mr. Weasley suggested tentatively as Percy handed Bagman his tea.
"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Bagman, his round eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh talk of the devil! Barty!"A wizard had just Apparated at their fireside, and he could not have made more of a contrast with Ludo Bagman, sprawled on the grass in his old Wasp robes. Barty Crouch was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short grey hair was almost unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule. His shoes were very highly polished. Everyone could see at once why Percy idolized him. Percy was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule about Muggle dressing so thoroughly that he could have passed for a bank manager; I doubted even Vernon would have spotted him for what he really was. "Pull up a bit of grass, Barry," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him.
"No thank you, Ludo," said Crouch, and there was a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."
"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."
"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of half bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Oh," said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes - thank you, Weatherby." Fred and George choked into their own cups as I let out a small giggle making Charlie look at me. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.
"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," Mr. Crouch said, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr. Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."Mr. Weasley heaved a deep sigh.
"I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"
"I doubt it," said Mr. Crouch, accepting a cup from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."
"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Bagman.
"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," said Mr. Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve - but that was before carpets were banned, of course." He spoke as though he wanted to leave nobody in any doubt that all his ancestors had abided strictly by the law.
"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" Bagman said breezily.
"Fairly," Mr. Crouch answered dryly. "Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."
"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" Mr. Weasley said. Ludo Bagman looked shocked.
"Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun. Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to took forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?" Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman.
"We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details"
"Oh details!" said Bagman, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts -"
"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman's remarks short. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby." He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.
"See you all later!" he said. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me. I'm commentating!" He waved, Barty Crouch nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated.
"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" Fred said at once. "What were they talking about?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Mr Weasley said smiling.
"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."
"Oh shut up, Weatherby," Fred said.
"Do you know" I turned and asked Charlie.
"I do" He smirked at me.
"Can you tell me"
"Nope"
"Please"
"Nope"
"Fine don't tell me Charles Weatherby" He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're being boring like Percy so you can share his name" I say sticking my tongue out at him as he laughs.