Story: [31] Harry Potter and the Powers of the Pentagram [Seventh Year Spin-o...

By the time Hermione and Ginny made it to the Department of Mysteries, the fight was all but over. The Order were rounding up the remaining few Death Eaters who hadn't managed to run, many people just standing around, nursing their battle wounds.

It was Margrit who first noticed the soggy and dishevelled girls hovering in the doorway. She didn't go to them, instead getting Arthur's attention by grabbing his shoulder, pointing him in the direction of his daughter.

Hermione smiled at the look of joy on Arthur Weasley's face as he saw Ginny. The youngest Weasley ran to her father who threw his arms wide open and caught her, spinning her round in pure happiness. Hermione wondered if her parents even knew she was missing.

Lauren was still sat with Neville, her face paler than usual. It had taken what little energy she had to even walk over to Bellatrix and all the adrenaline she could muster to kill her. Now she was completely drained and struggling to even catch her breath.

"Do you want me to find Erin?" Neville asked, a timidness in his voice.

Lauren looked at him and wondered if he was as frightened of her as she was sometimes.

"Please," she said.

Neville left her, though he looked reluctant to, like if he took his eyes off her for a moment she would vanish again. When he could look over his shoulder no more without running the risk of crashing into someone, he focused his eyes and his energy on finding Erin.

"You are an idiot, you know," Erin said when she came over to Lauren, holding out her hand to help her stand.

"How so?" Lauren asked, grimacing as she put her weight on her leg, but feeling Erin's unique magic spreading through her body already.

"Well first you go and get yourself disappeared, then you come back with a hole in your leg," Erin said, catching Lauren by the elbow to steady her.

"I didn't do either on purpose," she said.

"I suppose I'll let you off then," Erin said.

Lauren caught her eye and both girls laughed and hugged, drawing everyone's attention to the fact that they were there.

"Where on Earth have you been anyway?" Erin asked, as people started crowding round, Hermione and Ginny joining the general crowd to find their friends and family.

"I'll explain later," Lauren said, turning her attention to her Mother, who hugged her fiercely.

"Lauren, I'm so glad to see you," Carla all but sobbed as she petted her daughter's hair and checked she wasn't too beaten up, "where have you been?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and reaffirmed that she would explain later.

~:~

Hermione was sat a little way away from everyone else when Ron found her. He looked nervous, but it didn't mask the intense joy he was feeling at her safe return. Hermione stood up when she saw him approach, a little nervous herself. They hadn't parted on good terms and they had had six weeks to fester their ill feelings towards one another.

Hermione's experience with Derek had only made her certain that Ron was the guy she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and she hoped the nerves he was displaying were because he feared she wouldn't feel that way, not because he didn't anymore.

"Hermione," he said.

"Ron," she said.

They stared at each other for a very long moment longer, then before either knew what they were doing they were in each other's arms and kissing like their lives depended on it.

"Hermione I'm so sorry, it's all my fault," Ron said, stroking her face with his hands, when they finally surfaced for air.

"It's not your fault, Ron," Hermione said, "I should never have lost my temper."

"No really, I should never have made you lose in the first place."

It was an argument that could have gone on forever, which wouldn't have been too awful as it was one of those sweet arguments that people don't really mind having, but before they could get too in their stride they were both enveloped in one mass group hug, probably instigated by Erin.

The Gryffindors were escorted back to Hogwarts and sent straight to bed. Dumbledore insisted that any explanations could wait until the morning to be told. He left the Order cleaning up the mess of the battle.

Lauren knew she would have to face up to her actions eventually, for even the great civil service of killing Bellatrix Lestrange didn't come without a quiet 'talk', but she was grateful that she could put it off for another few hours. There was one thing though, that couldn't be put off that long.

All during the joyous reunions between Ron and Hermione, Hermione, Ginny and their family and friends, she and Charlie had been involved in an intricate avoidance dance. Every time they got within arms reach of each other, they had allowed themselves to be swept off in the opposite direction. Lauren thought they had done a very good job of avoiding each other without making it look as though they were.

It couldn't go on forever though, and she knew she would get no sleep tonight if things weren't resolved.

When everyone else had drifted off to sleep, Lauren snuck out of the Gryffindor common room. It was very late at night, but she reasoned that if Charlie needed to talk to her as much as she needed to talk to him then he wouldn't be asleep. And if he was asleep, it would indicate that he had no need or desire to talk to her at all, in which case she wouldn't feel bad about waking him up.

Lauren's spiteful side rather liked win-win situations like that.

...
Charlie was still awake and still dressed when he heard a knock on his door. He had waited up on the small chance that she would like to see him. He knew that if she wanted to talk to him, she would come, as he couldn't go to her. He only hoped she knew that if it would have been practical to go to her he would have done so in an instant.

He hoped, as he walked to the door, that she wasn't too angry at him. He hoped that the six weeks spent apart hadn't made the bitterness she must have felt towards him that night intensify.

The last six weeks had been double hell for him - worrying whether she was alright, and worrying whether she would ever forgive him. Every day made him more anxious to make things right, to undo the damage caused, because each day had made him more certain that she was the only one for him.

With trepidation, he opened the door, gritting his teeth slightly as he prepared to face the worst.

She was stood there in her pyjamas, long black hair falling about her shoulders in that casually elegant way. Her skin seemed extra pale and she looked thin and weary. Charlie wanted to scoop her up in his arms and protect her, but he restrained himself.

"Hi," she said, "sorry it's late but I needed to talk to you."

"Well, it wasn't like I was asleep or anything..." Charlie said, stepping aside to let her in.

He had tried to sound casual, but was acutely aware that he sounded strained and uncomfortable.

" Where have you been?" he asked, when he could think of nothing else to say.

"1974," Lauren replied with a hint of a wry smile.

"Right," Charlie said, sitting back in his chair, "Ok... Good year, did you send me a postcard?"

"I would have if I thought you would have done anything other than chew on it," Lauren replied.

They fell into an awkward silence, both not quite able to look at the other, but wanting to more than anything.

In the end, Charlie stood up and walked over to her.

"Lauren..." he began, but she raised her hand to his lips, silencing him.

"Listen," she said, "I'm not going to lie and say I have never wished it was all over. I don't think there is anyone who hasn't got down sometimes and hoped for the easy way out. But if fear and sadness were the only factors in our lives then we would have all killed ourselves ages ago. Everyone has something or someone that makes their lives worth living. You are that someone for me."

Charlie didn't speak. He couldn't. All the words he had intended to speak suddenly seemed inadequate. He had waited six weeks for this moment and now it had come he had nothing to say.

Instead he walked up to her, gently brushing her long hair back with his hands, and kissed her. It wasn't passionate like the kiss Hermione and Ron had shared, but heartfelt and reassuring.

His hands still on her face, he rested his forehead against hers. Her hands rested at his waist, gripping his jumper. Charlie kissed her again, his hands moving from her face as he picked her up and span her around.

Lauren laughed, her arms around his neck to steady herself. As he lowered her to the floor she didn't let go, pulling him into a hug.

As they held each other, a single tear squeezed from between Lauren's eyelashes, and though it broke his heart to see her unhappiness, it also made Charlie the happiest he had ever felt. For in that solitary tear was proof of something Charlie would never have otherwise believed. Proof that she loved him.

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