At a quarter past eight Wednesday morning, Ginny emerged from King's Cross station.
"Charlie!"
She pelted gleefully toward her brother as soon as she caught sight of him, and attacked him with the same flying leap of a hug she used to give him when she was a wee girl and he a Hogwarts student home for the Christmas holiday.
Now that she was full grown, it felt a bit more like a bludger to the chest.
Charlie, who had been leaning against a wall outside the station, had been on the lookout for his sister. When he saw her coming he smiled and opened his arms for the hug that he knew was coming.
The last time he had seen Ginny, she was still in school and much shorter than she was now. She was a full grown woman, and he was happy to see her.
"Ginny!" He smiled as he let her go. "You're looking great."
"So're you," Ginny replied, returning the smile. "Cripes, it feels like lifetimes since last I saw you. How are you?"
Charlie forced a smile. I'm feeling like crap, I'm not sleeping, and I'm afraid that it is only going to get worse... "I've been better."
"But I'm hungry and I think we'll be more comfortable talking while we eat." He held his arm out, "After you."
Ginny shot her brother a probing look that would've done their Mum proud. Thankfully, unlike Molly's, Ginny's came with less fussing and shrieking.
"With me," she said, and linked her arm around his. "It's just this way."
She directed her brother diagonally across the street and through a door painted grimy, peeling yellow, wherein they were greeted with the scents of bacon and fresh coffee. The little shop held dozen or so mismatched tables and chairs, perhaps a third of them occupied.
"Sunny window or murky corner?" Ginny asked.
Charlie looked around. "Window, if its alright with you. This isn't a place for business. Besides, I want to catch up a little before we get on with the work we have waiting for us."
He led Ginny to an open seat and a waitress came up to them quickly. "Pancakes with..." he almost said eggs, but after the talk with Remus the idea made him a little sick, "bacon. I'll have some tea to drink."
"Ooh, that sounds really good. I'll have the same, but with coffee instead of tea. Black."
Ginny watched the waitress depart and then settled into a comfortable sprawl in her chair. She gave Charlie a concerned look. "So, what's got you down, big brother? Or would you rather talk of pleasanter things first?"
He smiled. He knew that if he needed to tell anyone his problems, she would be there to listen, but not right now. "More pleasant things, please. I've had a lot of time to think about my problems over the past few days that I need a break from them myself."
He paused as their drinks were delivered. "I must say that I was proud of you when I heard that you got the Defence Against the Dark Arts post at school; and you've had if for years now. I really am proud of you."
Ginny shrugged, but her smile betrayed her delight. "Curse is lifted, I s'pose. And it really is the best job in the world. Crazymaking sometimes, but worth it."
She leaned in conspiratorially. "Have I told you how I ended up with the job in the first place?"
"No, that's a story I haven't heard actually." He smiled, sipping his tea. "Something tells me that you're itchin' to tell me."
"Only because it comes with such an important warning," Ginny replied, eyes widening in mock-gravity. "And that is: Owling the headmistress after one pint too many may result in unexpected career changes."
She gave a little nod and took a sip of her coffee, barely hiding a grin.
"In my less-confident moments, I do wonder whether McG brought me on mostly because she thought I needed looking after," she confesses after a moment. "But it does seem to have worked out."
"I can see where that would be a problem," he laughed. "And for whatever McG's reasons, you are more than qualified. I mean, who could do the Bat-Bogey Hex better than you?"
"And the students do seem to like learning that one. Anything bogey-related, really. I've considered, actually, re-designing Defence around an entirely snot-based curriculum. It wouldn't be quite the preparation our students would need to pass their OWLs, but oh, wouldn't it be fun to watch them try...." Ginny smiled sweetly at Charlie over her coffee cup, perhaps imagining the Ministry's examination authority members covered in the fruits of her students' spellwork.
Charlie smiled. He loved the way his sister's mind worked. "No, I don't suppose they would... though I wouldn't object to seeing that happen!
"I hear that you're going to be helping Remus during camp Hogwarts." He stops for a moment as the waitress returns with their food. After she walked away he resumed. "I'm going to be helping out at the end of the month. I've met with Hannah Abbott and Remus, and sent owl post to Hermione."
"Oh, I'm so glad you'll be joining us," Ginny said, reaching across the table to give her brother's hand a grateful squeeze. "The kids will love hearing you talk about dragons. I daresay we'll get an uptick next year in students wanting to follow in your footsteps."
She spread a bit of jam onto her pancakes. "So, end of the month -- does this mean you'll be there on the 31st, then?" She sounded hopeful, almost to the point of pleading.
Charlie retrieved the letter that Hermione had sent him. He had kept it in his pocket as a reminder for when he needed to be in the area.
"I'm scheduled to do my demonstration on the 30th, but I'll be staying at the school through the 31st." He slipped the parchment back into his pocket. "Why? You sound like you really want me there then."
"It's... the anniversary. Of Godric's Hollow." Ginny looked up from her pancake; she suddenly seemed a bit pale. "It's always rather a touchy time of year for me. The thought of getting through it while supervising a bunch of children -- and possibly having to say something meaningful to commemorate the day -- frankly makes me want to start stocking up on firewhiskey. I'm sure I'll pull it together and be the responsible grown-up and get through with my brave face on... but with you there, the task doesn't seem quite so daunting."
Charlie hit himself mentally for forgetting. He didn't really forget what happened, but he had been away when it happened. He only knew Harry a little, but he knew how his sister felt about him. "Of course, you can always count on me."
He swallowed the last few bites of his food without saying another word. He wanted to say that he was sorry for what happened, but he had nothing to apologize for.
He decided that there were no words for the moment, so he just reach his hand over and held hers. He leaned in a whispered in that older brother voice: "I'll send a Hungarian Horntail after anyone who pushes you more than you are willing to be pushed."
"Or if you have trouble rounding up a Horntail on short notice, I'm sure a booted kick to the arse would work well enough." Ginny gave Charlie a small smile; her fingers tightened around his in gratitude.
She held his hand in silence for a long moment while she finished the last few bites of her breakfast. "But I was supposed to be talking of happier things, wasn't I? Sorry 'bout that."
"It's alright. We all have things on our mind that we can't forget about; no matter how hard we try." He gave her a 'big-brother-knows-all' smile and paid the bill when it arrived.
"Now, there was something you wanted my help with?"
Ginny nodded and reached casually into her jacket. Charlie recognized the wrist-flick and mumbled incantation of an obfuscation charm; a moment later, a nearby espresso machine kicked on with a loud drone, protecting their conversation from prying ears.
"The old Order headquarters is just a few blocks from here," she said casually, and just loudly enough for him to hear her. "It's been years since anyone's looked in on it, as far as I know. But with one of its former residents just returned to England, it might be worth checking. Examine the wards for signs of recent manipulation, at the very least, but possibly also go in to look for clues. Will you help?"
Charlie smiled. "Of course. When I heard that Bellatrix had returned I became nervous that her return might have something to do with my return."
Ginny nodded and fixed him with a concerned look. "Which... are we talking about that yet?"
Charlie smiled. "After my talk with Remus I'm not quite up to discussing it." He looked at her and knew that she wouldn't be satisfied with such an answer, so he gave more.
"Let's just say that the only thing to get me out of Romania would be dragons." He frowned. Telling her that much would only push her to get more.
"Someone poached several of the dragons and stole several eggs. I've spoken with Remus and others about the implications of someone bringing enough dragons to England to breed." He sighed. "I didn't want to worry you..."
"Oh, Charlie...." Ginny looked at her brother with concern: for him, for the dragons, for whatever foul plan this poacher had in mind. "That's horrible, but I'm glad you told me. If it is connected to... where we're going, we may be able to find clues there."
As if on cue, the espresso machine quit its droning. Ginny signalled for the bill, which she insisted on paying; Charlie got the impression that it gave her a bit of a thrill to do so for her big brother.
As they emerged from the restaurant, Ginny directed them toward a side street. "It's about six blocks this way." Once she was sure they weren't being followed and couldn't be easily overheard, she added, "I've got an invisibility cloak from Moody in case we need it."
Charlie nodded. He was glad that he hadn't broken down in tears when he was telling her what happened that he almost didn't hear much of what she said.
"I've never seen the old place." He whispered, vaguely aware that she was leading him through a rough-looking neighborhood.
Ginny linked her arm through his, perhaps sensing his mood, or perhaps just wanting to keep him close enough for whispered communication. "The main thing to watch out for if we go inside -- the main known thing, anyway -- is not to make too much noise. One of the portraits, which we never could get un-stuck, is a bit of a screamer. We never saw evidence that she had additional portraits elsewhere to visit -- but if she did, it'd certainly be a good way to keep an eye on the place."
"Of course." He smiled. He gave his sister a quick hug and let her lead the way. He didn't want to disappoint the Order by making a mistake, after all they had worked for after all of those years.
She led the way down narrow streets toward a cobbled square, ducking into a deserted alleyway just before they got there so that they could drape the invisibility cloak over themselves.
As they entered the square, Ginny said in a low voice, "We don't know how many of the old protective enchantments still hold, or whether they've been tampered with in the meantime, so that's the first thing I want to check. That actually makes it a bit of a stroke of luck that you've never been here." Under the cloak, she gestured toward the row of houses in front of them, which started with Number Ten on the left and ended with Number Fifteen on the right. "How d'you read the numbers on these houses?"
Charlie looked to where she indicated. He began to count the numbers on the houses, but he paused. "There's a missing number."
He said it, but didn't believe it. He counted again and again, still no number 12. "There's eleven and thirteen..."
"Ah, that bit still holds, then," Ginny said quietly. "C'mon, I think this will work -- but if at the last second you think you're still running headlong into a wall, let me know...."
Ginny took firm grip of Charlie's hand and led him toward the wall between Number Eleven and Number Thirteen, which continued to look very much like a brick wall -- right up until the point that they were about to run into it. Suddenly, as if Charlie had blinked and found himself someplace slightly different, they were standing on a doorstep before a great wooden door with a small brass '12' beside it.
Ginny stopped walking. "Can you see it now?" She pulled out her wand and began checking the door for signs of hexes or other tampering.
"Yeah," He tilted his head to look towards her. "Number twelve."
"Fidelius Charm?" He asked as he pulled his own wand out.
Ginny nodded. "Dumbledore was Secret-Keeper. I can bring you to see it, but if the charm is still working the way it's supposed to, you still won't be able to find it once we leave."
She spent another few moments studying the door, both magically and mundanely. "Nothing seems obviously out-of-place out here," she said. "Shall we venture inside?"
Charlie smiled. "Yeah, I'm in the mood for some adventure."
Ginny grinned and carefully opened the door.
As they stepped into the dim, dusty front entryway, Ginny gestured toward a black-curtained portrait. "Mother Black," she whispered very close to Charlie's ear. "Let's try not to wake her." She listened for a moment for signs of life other than the two of them, and then slipped off the invisibility cloak.
With a single muttered word, Ginny set the tip of her wand alight and bent down to examine the dusty floor. "Nothing's come this way in a while, I think. Wait---" She held her wand a little higher, revealing spots a few feet away where the dust had been disturbed in a couple of large swirling patterns. "Nothing human, at any rate. I s'pose those could've been made by air currents, or.... You don't happen to know what sorts of tracks boggarts leave, do you?"
"As far as I know," Charlie whispered, "Boggarts leave steps in whatever form they've taken. It looks like it could've been robes twirling around while someone apparated or dissapparated." He frowned.
"But if that's the case, where did they go after arriving? There doesn't look to be steps or drag marks anywhere else."
"It's weird, innit? If the wards all hold, you shouldn't be able to apparate in here from outside, or vice versa. You can apparate from one spot to another inside the house, though. Fred and George used to do that all the time, just because they could."
Ginny frowned at the swirls. "So the wards aren't working like they used to, or someone's been popping around inside the house, or those marks are something else entirely."
She motioned past the marks. "That door just past the second swirl is the sitting room. Perhaps we should go take a peek...."
Charlie followed her, noting how much dust they moved around just by walking slowly through the hall. When Ginny opened the door it became clear that someone had been in the room. Papers littered the floor and drawers were strewn around the room.
"Somebody was looking for something..." He said, pointing out the obvious.
Ginny made an angry sound in the back of her throat. "I'd heard rumours that Mundungus Fletcher -- did you know him? -- anyway, that Dung had looted everything in this place that wasn't nailed down, Permanent-Sticking-Charmed to the wall, or too big to stuff down his trousers. Arse."
Her eyes narrowed in thought. "I wouldn't've guessed him to be quite so obvious as to ransack the place like this, though...." She took a cautious step into the room and began nudging papers with the toe of her boot.
Charlie raised his wand in front of him. "Homenum Revelio" He cast the spell, checking for any other humans in the house.
"No other wizards to worry about, at the very least." He said to Ginny, lowering his wand.
Ginny nodded. "But there could still be non-humans -- which reminds me, there used to be a house-elf that lived here. His hidey-hole is worth checking, I'd say. It's in the kitchen, just this way...."
She pushed open a door at the far end of the room. She was halfway through when her face went white. She whipped her wand around to point at something on the floor and shouted, "RIDDIKULUS!"
Behind her, Charlie just had time to see what she saw -- the man on the floor, lifeless, with his arm over his face and his throat a bloody mess, brutally ripped open as if by a wild animal -- before it morphed into a grey puppy tripping over its too-big feet. "Oi," said Ginny with a relieved sigh, "help me corner it, will you?"
Charlie moved up to the puppy as it turned towards him. The clumsy dog's big paws expanded into leathery wings and the body exploded into scales. The small dragon's head was ripped open and blood poured everywhere.
"Riddikulus!" He pointed his wand towards the boggart and the dragon turned into a silvery blue dragon with its mouth wrapped shut with unicorn hair.
Ginny's own first glimpse of the boggart had rattled her; but seeing what her brother saw steeled her resolve: she'd be damned if he had to see that again. Her jaw set in that way that made clear her resemblance to the twins. "NOT FUNNY ENOUGH," she proclaimed, levelling her wand at the boggart. "Riddikulus. Riddikulus! RIDDIKULUS! RIDDIKULUS!!!"
Her spells shot out hard and fast, transforming the beast with each blow: from a silvery-blue dragon to a blue-footed booby, waddling frantically around the room; then, still waddling, a loudly flatulent wombat; then the brown ball of fur grew and expanded and became Hagrid, in an undershirt and boxers with great red hearts on them, dancing a jig; and then he shrunk as if the air had been let out of him and became Filch, tap-dancing grumpily in an ill-fitting ballerina tutu, Mrs. Norris tucked under his arm and meowing just as grumpliy. Ginny's own motions with the wand had become comically antic; she was determined to get her brother to laugh.
Seeing the dancing Hagrid made Charlie smile, but when the boggart became Filch he couldn't contain himself any longer. He let out a loud laugh that surprised even him. He hadn't laughed like that, really laughed like that, for months.
Both relieved and encouraged at the sound of Charlie's laughter, Ginny directed the not-Filch into a series of less-and-less-dignified poses until she, too, was laughing so hard her gut hurt. Under the onslaught of hilarity, the Boggart quivered gelatin-like for a moment and then popped, dispelled, in a puff of smoke and shredded tulle.
"Right," Ginny said, wiping her eyes as she caught her breath between giggles, "what were we doing, again?"
He turned to his sister and grabbed her in a big hug. He was thankful, but had no words to express it. In such times, all he could so was smile, and so he did. "Exploring, I think; though I can't be sure after seeing the boggart-Filch doing what it just did!" He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and released her.
"He's distracting in staff meetings, too -- but perhaps not quite in that way." Ginny grinned up at her adored big brother.
"So... oh, right. House-elf hidey-hole. Should be just in here...." She gestured toward a low cupboard door.
Charlie steadied his wand, whispering the words to a door-opening charm. A stream of sparks flew from the tip of his wand, hidding the cupboard door. The door swung open revealing a tiny hollow. It looked as if there were small trinkets mixed in with the piles of blankets.
"It looks like the house-elf in question has been... stealing things?"
Ginny frowned thoughtfully. "The old elf here was known to hoard things -- but he was sent to work at Hogwarts ages ago. I might've thought he'd take his stash with him. I wonder has he returned since then?"
She set her wand tip aglow with a word and pointed it toward the opening. "Can you tell how recently it was last disturbed?"
Pointing his wand away from the opening, Charlie leaned down and slowly moved so that he sat directly in front of the cupboard opening. He knew that if something were to attack now, there would be nothing that Ginny could do to save him. He steadied himself, ready to use his wand if neccessary.
As he got closer to the blankets, he noticed how much dust had settled. Cobwebs crisscrossed the inside, covering both trinket and blanket. As he stuck his hand in to inspect the things inside, something black scurried quickly from under the blanket through a hole in the back wall. It gave him such a fright that he jumped.
"Either, it was a rat or small acromantula!"
"Well, it's good Ron's not here, then, he'd've wet himself." Ginny tried to sound casual, but she'd jumped almost as hard as Charlie had. "If it'd been a ferret, I'd think maybe it was the one hoarding the shiny things."
Ginny took careful aim at the hole with her wand and spoke a word. A greyish substance roughly the consistency of old porridge shot forth and plastered itself over the hole. "That won't hold it back forever if it's determined, but it'll at least keep it out of our way for now...."
Charlie nodded and moved back in, breaking apart the webs and shuffling through the dust. A thick cloud erupted in his face, forcing him to cough. "I don't think much of anything bigger than that...thing has been in here for years." He managed to pick up one of the items littering the bottom.
Turning it over in his hand he brushed off enough dust to see faces staring back up at him. It was a framed picture with the Black family crest on it.
Ginny watched from a safe distance, keeping her ears open for sounds of danger or disturbance elsewhere in the house. But when she saw what Charlie had found, she stepped up and peeked curiously over his shoulder. "Who's in it?" she asked.
"I'm not sure." He brushed the dust off from the front of the glass, which the group inside seemed to appreciate. "This one looks like Remus, only a lot younger. And this one looks a lot like..." he paused, tilting the picture so that she couldn't see, "Harry..."
Ginny scowled in frustration. "Let me see!" she demanded, and tried to reach around him to get at the picture. "Is Sirius in it? Did you ever meet him?"
Charlie frowned a little, but relented. He handed the picture over. "I only saw pictures of him when he escaped Azkaban. That could be him, there." He released the frame into Ginny's hands, stepping back. He looked back into the cupboard, but everything else looked like broken bits of jewelry, so fragmented that he couldn't be sure what it had once been.
Ginny wiped her thumb over the glass. "Yeah, that's him. God, he looks young. And--- yeah, that would be James...."
She stared at the picture. Without looking up, she said, "We should probably check upstairs, too."
He nodded and moved towards the hall. He froze when he realised that she was not echoing his footsteps.
"Ginny... are you alright?" He had an idea about what she was thinking, but he didn't want to say it.
"Um. Yeah." She blinked and lifted her eyes from the picture, meeting his gaze with a slight frown. "D'you suppose it would be all right if I... kept this?"
"I don't see why not..." he replied. "I doubt that Moody will care much about the photo, and if Bellatrix found it I'm sure she'd destroy it." He walked out of the room and started walking slowly and quietly up the stairs. He could hear Ginny coming up behind him as he reached the first landing.
She finished tucking the picture carefully into her bag and -- knowing they were within earshot of Mrs. Black's portrait -- came up close to speak to Charlie in a low voice. "It's mostly bedrooms and baths from here up," she said. "The summer we all stayed here, Hermione and I were just there---" she gestured down the hall, "and the boys were a floor up on the other side, and the twins the floor above that. And Buckbeak."
She muttered an incantation and three small balls of heatless blue flame popped from the end of her wand and floated slowly down the hall. Ginny stared after them, on the lookout for any clues they revealed -- or creatures they startled.
Charlie looked at his sister, silently observing her features. He realised that there was a lot of pressure on her being here, so many emotions. He could relate.
"No weird prints up here," Ginny observed: the floor appeared to be covered with a uniform, undisturbed layer of dust. When nothing jumped, scurried or scuttled in the wake of Ginny's magelights, she recalled them back down the hall and sent them through the nearest door, which stood ajar a few feet away on their right. She took a few steps, nudged it cautiously open with the tip of her wand, and peered in, curious.
"Oh, shite," she muttered under her breath.
The door opened onto a small sitting room. Three sleeping bags were laid out in the middle of the floor, one of them atop the cushions that had been stripped from the sofa. The corner of one of the sleeping bags appeared to have been gnawed open by some small animal; little bits of fluff poked out of it. The room appeared otherwise untouched by anything but dust.
"I - I'd forgot they stayed here," Ginny said. She forced a weak smile. Charlie put his hand on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her. "Aside from the boggart, the place seems pretty secure." He said, his eyes scanning the room. He turned to look at her, "Upstairs?"
"Yeah, I think you're right." She laid a hand over his, there on her shoulder, squeezed his fingers, and gave him a grateful smile. "Upstairs," she agreed.
He once again led the way to the next landing, nearly freezing when one of the stairs sqeaked. He had heard about the painting downstairs, but thankfully all was quiet. He stopped at the next landing and opened the door to find an abandoned bedroom.
Ginny, perhaps aware she'd come dangerously close to moping for a moment there, began narrating in a stage whisper as they reached the landing:
"The house seems deserted.... Dust covers every surface.... The weight of a thousand empty days hangs about the place like a damp teatowel. Our intrepid hero reaches for the door... pushes it open to reveal... a nest of horny nargles in a frantic mating dance!"
She looked over Charlie's shoulder and into the room, grinning. "How'd I do?"
Charlie paused, an evil grin on his face. He turned back to Ginny, smile gone but now speaking in whispers.
"The hero seems undaunted... but its the valiant Heroine who stands at the foot of the next set of stairs... a darkened void only steps away."
He teased as he closed the door to the visibly empty room.
Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, but she was still grinning. She made her way quietly up the last set of stairs to the small door that opened into the attic.
She paused and pressed her ear to the door, listening as she waited for Charlie to catch up. As he drew up beside her, she pointed at the door and then made a scurrying motion with her right hand against her left arm. She then held her hands close together to indicate "small".
He nodded, keeping his wand ready as she moved into the small attic. He didn't say anything, just kept quiet and ready in case she needed his help; otherwise he wouldn't bother squeezing into the small space beside her.
Ginny lit her wand dimly and opened the attic door a crack, ready to slam it shut if whatever lurked on the other side turned out to be hostile. She peeked inside....
"Merlin's pants," she swore under her breath, although Charlie could hear the undercurrent of amusement in her voice. "That's unexpected."
She pulled the door open so Charlie could see. A fist-sized ball of fur pulsed along the dusty floor toward the light, cooing happily. It looked like a Puffskein -- except instead of the native custard colour of most of that breed, this one appeared to be an unfortunate mottled greenish colour eerily reminiscent of vomited spinach.
"Whaddaya wanna bet that's the result of one of Fred and George's early experiments? Or the descendent of one, anyway. They hinted they'd had a lot of less-successful early attempts while they were working on Pygmy Puffs." She increased the light of her wand and shone it around the attic: a few more furry puffballs, dead and desiccated -- parents or siblings of this one -- lay in corners and under discarded furniture. The vomity green fellow seemed to be the only living one.
A moth, drawn by the light, flitted across the room. As it drew near, the puffskein flicked out its long tongue and caught it. It warbled happily as it crunched its snack.
"C'mere, little fellow," Ginny coaxed, and tapped the floor in front of her to attract it toward her. "So, Charlie, you don't need a fluffy companion in that flat of yours, do you?"
Charlie smiled happily. Despite the color, it was sort of cute.
"While I could use company sometimes, I think Dracul would think of it more as a feast than as a flat mate." He looked at the puff. "When I got him a few years ago in Romania, he hunted and ate so much that he forced many other owls to finding new hunting ground... I doubt he'd find it difficult to eat a puff like this."
He looked up at his sister. "You could always keep it at the school... though Hagrid might not find it as interesting unless Fred or George managed to make it breathe fire."
"Oh, right -- I'm afraid I'm more in tune with the Pigwidgeonish 'more a danger to himself than others' school of owlery than to the usual, competent sort," Ginny said, and grinned.
"I think maybe I will take him to school," she decided as the puff wriggled onto her outstretched palm. She shook a finger at it, mock-sternly. "No breathing fire, though, all right?"
It cooed. Ginny grinned. "I think I'll call him 'Chunder'."
She pushed the attic door carefully shut again. "Shall we head back downstairs and set some wards?"
He nodded, leading the way. He kept his eye out for anything suspicious that they might have missed, but he knew that they were as thorough as possible. When he reached the 1st floor, he looked at the curtain blocking Miss Black from view. He was sorely tempted to look, but Ginny's presence right behind him kept him in line.
He raised his wand and followed Ginny around, casting several protective wards to do all they could to protect the place and the secrets it still held. He supposed that if Bellatrix could get in, Miss Black would have a lot to say.
"This has been a good day," he said, turning to his sister. "I've missed being able to walk and talk with you and the others." He paused. "Romania is so far away."
"I know. My favorite brother's been living there for years." Ginny smiled in rueful affection.
"I'm glad you were here to back me up. Okay, I'm just glad you're here, period. I don't think I'd realized how much I've missed having a proper face-to-face conversation with you. Not to mention a proper face-to-face breakfast-almost-upchucking laugh."
He smiled, giving her a quick hug. "Well, I'm glad to have spent time with you; I've really missed you too." He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Anytime you need me, just shout; I'm sure I'll hear you."
"Same to you, big brother," Ginny replied with an affectionate smile. "All of it."
Last modified: 14 January 2008