Chapter Ten

Charlotte paced the room. Every once and a while she would stop to look out of the window to see the sun shining brightly on the snow. The room she was standing in, or rather pacing in, was flooded with the light from outside, which was made brighter by the reflection off of the snow. Her heart was beating faster than usual, but she figured that wasn’t anything more than her mind working her up and scaring herself.

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Bill sat on a bench outside of the train station. He’d been there for about an hour and she still hadn’t shown up. He stared at the passing muggles as the same thought kept running through his head; he must not have patched everything up with her and therefore she had stood him up. He sighed deeply and rose from his seat and looked around. The London street side was bustling with muggles going about their business as the cars swiftly drove past him. He jumped when someone walked up behind him and whispered. "You weren’t planning on leaving without me, were you now?" Bill let out the breath he was holding and turned around to hug the rebel he knew all too well.

"Took you long enough."

"Yes, well when you leave a decision to the last five minutes you have to make it and still have to pack, it tends to run on a bit late."

"I don’t mind. So, ready to suffer a few weeks in the hell I live in right now?"

"Well, no, but I’ll live."

"So, you weren’t going to come?" Bill asked as he opened the door to her car that he had gotten from Chris.

"Well, no, not really. I wanted to come, but I didn’t know if I could actually will myself to come. Then I really looked at the situation. Either I stay by myself and end up killing innocent people for no reason or come with you and see people who kill innocent people for no reason. The latter was the best in my eyes." Bill smiled warmly as he shut his door.

"Here, look at this." Bill tossed her an issue of the Quibbler. She looked at it with confusion. "There is an article in there about you." Charlotte set it down.

"Billy, there is always an article about me." Bill picked it up off of the dashboard and gave it back to her.

"Just check it out."

Charlotte sighed and picked up the Quibbler. She flipped through it until what she was sure she had landed on the article that Bill was getting at. She looked at the Article summary and read it aloud.

"It is easy to see that the wizarding world’s famous new comer, Silver Flare’s Charlotte Malfoy has never shown any resemblance to her family. Read on to see the facts." Charlotte laughed at that. She read on for a minute before she through it down in disgust. "That’s bullshit. Every piece of it."

"I know, I just found it quite amusing." Both fell into an eerie silence that just couldn’t be broken. Charlotte sat staring out of the window until Bill stopped the car. "Well, come on. We have to walk a bit." Bill unbuckled himself, opened the door, and started to walk down the abandoned street, not even really waiting for Charlotte. She didn’t mind though. She took her time getting out of the car and walked, behind Bill, on the wet sidewalk. Bill finally led her to a very inky looking neighborhood. She laughed silently to herself at a thought that had flitted into her head. Lucius would die if he saw her here. He had always told her, No Malfoy should be caught dead, let alone alive, in a place that look like someone died in it. It would just ruin the reputation we have tried hard to keep. Charlotte laughed again. She had destroyed that reputation by just being born. That thought alone made her very happy. She had based her whole childhood around pissing them off and she succeeded.

"Charlotte, hurry up."

"Hold your fucking horses."

"I don’t have any, but I have a jackass." She rolled her eyes and slowed her pace just to aggravate him more. She smiled wickedly when he turned around and found her further away.

"Oh you know you think it’s funny. Besides what is your problem anyway? Uncomfortable being around me? Well, buddy, I didn’t do anything to you remember?"

"I know." Bill grabbed her hand and paused. She stood there staring at him not knowing what was going on with him. Bill snapped back to reality and pulled her up to the empty lot. He handed her a piece of paper and told her to read it. When she looked back up she was slightly in awe. She had never seen anything like this before. She watched as the walls of the house looked like they were growing out of the ground. It seriously looked like the house was rebuilding itself. It was pretty damned wicked in her opinion. Bill pulled her up the old antique looking stairs onto the porch. Everything looked unkempt and rotten; she loved it. Though she loved the look she hated the house. That house brought back so many bad memories, though she had told Bill and everyone else differently, ten years before she had been taken into that house and disowned. Bill tapped her shoulder and pointed to the door. She nodded and Bill opened it and led Charlotte into the house first. She looked around for a second. The house was cold to her. She pulled her black robes tighter to her body. Bill only followed her inside to find Charlotte looking around the house.

"My god, what the hell happened to this place!?" Charlotte clasped her hand over her mouth the minute that it had slipped. She was mentally beating herself up for it, and no longer than seconds later and a loud screech was heard throughout the house.

"Yoooou!" The woman in the picture screeched. "No matter what we did to help you, you still turned out like him!" Charlotte turned around and smirked at the old woman.

"Oh wow, ugly got even more ugly. I never in my life thought that was manageable." Bill was in awe. Only Sirius ever really had the guts to talk back to her. "But you know I am slightly confused. Every time you’ve seen me you always mention this ‘him’ character."

"Charlotte, she’s insane. No, need to take her seriously."

"Yes, she is, but she has mentioned ‘him’ before."

"Get out of my house you filthy blood traitor." Ron came running down the stairs holding his ears.

"Shut her up!" Ron ordered to anyone that would listen when Lupin came into the room. He was about to grab the curtains when Charlotte stepped forward.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag!" Charlotte grabbed the curtains. The woman continued to screech at the people in front of her. "I said shut up!" Charlotte pulled the curtains until they were closed all by herself and then turned to the others. "Sorry, ‘bout that." Lupin just stood there, staring at the spirited girl in front of him slightly open-mouthed.

"I remember you."

"You do?" Remus said in a still rather shocked manner.

"Yeah, I saw you and your father in Diagon Alley when I was younger. You are Remus Lupin, if I remember correctly. The ones my students said I wouldn’t ever live up to. They really liked you." Remus stared at her in astonishment. "Well, I have never met anyone who has given me that reaction before, but, hey, there is a time and place for everything."

"Dinner is ready, everyone." Mrs. Weasley said walked out of the kitchen. She smiled at everyone and then when Charlotte caught her eye, she glared at the young arrival. After she had managed that she left with everyone following behind her as she lead them through the kitchen doors, but Charlotte just simply grabbed Bill’s arm and pulled him back.

"Why did you ask me to come when you know your mum hates me." She breathed out in her best whisper for the occasion. "I know it has to be about the last name. Doesn’t she see I am not like them? I mean your dad even likes me and he has the biggest problem with Malfoys, except for Ron, but still, I am not like them." This really hurt Charlotte as a person. She hated being hated for something she tried so hard not to be. Bill just simply rubbed her back, partly ushering her to the kitchen and also using this for a little reassurance.

"Charlotte, it’s fine. She’ll get over it." Charlotte nodded, though she was pretty sure this statement was about at true as anything the Quibbler could come up with. Charlotte stepped into the kitchen and sat down next to Bill. Mr. Weasley smiled widely at Charlotte when she and Bill finally entered the room and took their seats.

"So, Charlotte, how are you? It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. You were so little then." Fred and George laughed. "And she still is little now." They whispered.

Arthur ignored his two sons. "Not long after we left, you made a music deal am I right?"

"I’m good, Mr. Weasley and, yes, you would be correct about that."

"That’s interesting. And your three friends, muggle right?"

Charlotte smiled. "Yes, they are muggles."

"What type of muggle things to do you use?"

"Nothing that the Weird Sisters don’t use. Except we may have a microphone at times." Mr. Weasley nodded in great interest. "Now off the stage we play with plenty of muggle things. I adore muggles. Only because they are ten times better then the people I grew up with." At that Remus choked on his drink and coughed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine thank you." He replied after he had managed to control the fit. Charlotte simply smiled at him.

A few hours later, the people were still sitting at the table, laughing and talking. Charlotte was having a conversation with Ginny when her head began to hurt. She winced at the sharp pain that had overtaken her with the feeling that her head was going to burst open with the pressure. Everyone looked over at her with worried eyes as she put her hand up to her head to try and massage the feeling away.

"Are you okay, babe?" Bill asked.

"My head just hurts. I think I’ll go and lie down." Charlotte stood up and Bill followed suit and walked out of the kitchen shortly after her. She led him to one of the many rooms upstairs and sat down on one of the beds. It creaked slightly under the new pressure as she sat on it. It sucked her into its warmth and she closed her eyes and hung her head as she began too make herself comfortable. She took a deep breath and the pain left her. Bill sat down behind her and pulled her back to lean into his chest and while she stared contently out the window.

"Charlotte?" He said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"Hmm?"

"I made a big mistake."

"What do you mean?"

"With you I mean. I never wanted this." Charlotte was quite confused. This was coming out of nowhere and he was making it seem like had he never even wanted her at all and that just didn’t seem to be right.

"Explain."

"Charlotte, I miss you."

"I’m right here, mate." She said as a reply still rather confused by his words.

"No, that’s not what I mean. I love you." Bill was having trouble saying what he meant to, but Charlotte finally realized what he was getting to.

"Billy, you did this. You left me and I don’t think that I could bare something like this again."

"Charlotte, I realized something. I want you back."

"Billy, if I go back that’s the last time. If you do this to me again, there will be no more me coming back to you, anymore." She made a small gesture with her hands to signify ‘the end’ that was made clear in that statement.

"I won’t do it again."

"Okay, now, ask me like you haven’t asked before." She smiled slightly as she turned to look him in the eyes.

"Charlotte, will you be my girlfriend?" Bill was cracking up.

"I don’t know." She said playfully. He nudged her and she laughed as she answered his question. "Yes."

"Good." Charlotte winced again; the pain was coming back. She leaned forward and held her hands to her trying to stop the pain. The pain kept coming back in short intervals in and out, each time coming back harder than the last and she wasn’t sure what it was. She looked at the door and saw Harry walk by with Lupin and the pain grew worse.

"Charlotte, what’s wrong?" She shook her head trying to make like it was nothing and lifted her head up again only to see Lupin and Harry walk back the other way of which they had came from before. She began to massage her head again hoping that might help but the pain was horrible. It felt as if her head were being held in a vice grip, squishing it until it broke like a watermelon on pavement. She began to rock back and forth on the bed to try and keep her mind off the problem at hand, but it wouldn’t cease. "Bill." She cried out. Bill leaned forward and then her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped back into him, shaking.

"Bloody hell." Bill gently laid her down on the bed and got up. She had been known to have fits like this for no reason that was ever apparent, but something was very different about this. She had never had a pain in her head to go along with it before. He quickly walked out of the room and took the stares by three. He reached the bottom of the staircase and ran towards the kitchen and pushed the door open in a panic.

"She seems really nice." Someone said to Bill as he entered but he took no notice to it. Lupin looked over to Bill, who was standing there with his face ashen white, very clearly in a panic.

"Bill, what’s wrong?"

"It’s Charlotte. Something is very wrong with her." Lupin stood from his seat, followed by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and three other concerned Weasleys. They quickly went up the stairs into the room that Charlotte was lying in. They pushed at the open door only to find her lying, no longer shaking, on the bed. Her face was contorted, like she was in some horrible dream. After standing in the doorway for a few moments, Remus walked over to her side and kneeled down by the bed. He grabbed her hand only to find that it was cold, unnaturally cold. Remus instantly realized what was happening and dropped the girl’s hand in shock. He looked back at the group behind him with a worried expression as his eyes fell on Harry.

"Molly, please, take Harry to is room and make sure he stays in there." Harry’s face went instantly red as he opened his mouth to explode at the older man.

"Why am I always sent away? Why can’t I just bloody stay!?" Harry yelled furious that yet again secrets were being kept from him.

"I can’t explain now, Harry, but I promise, that I will explain it to you later."

"Fine!" Harry shouted before he stormed out of the room rather pissed off.

"Why couldn’t he stay?" Ron asked indignantly.

"He just couldn’t. You’ll see what I mean in a minute." Remus said not wanting to deal with teenage mood swings in that moment of time. He looked back at the girl lying uncomfortably before him. Sweat was rolling off of her skin as she tossed slightly under the shock of her dreamland. Then she shocked everyone in the room by doing something that no one had ever seen her do before, at least no one that hadn’t known her at the age of eight, tears began to trail down her sweat covered face.

"She’s crying." Bill said in rather shocked low voice.

"I see."

"I’ve never seen her cry. She looks so helpless, so hurt, I don’t like seeing that on her."

They all watched, in silence, the girl lying there. Remus took hold of her hand yet again as he held on to it tightly. Only when she gripped his hand, did anyone realize that she was waking. She lied there, holding onto Lupin’s hand for a while before she willed herself to open her eyes. She looked around at the people congregated in the doorway rather confused, and sat up slowly. She then surveyed the room again, even more confused than at first. Bill stepped forward to console her, but Remus held out his hand and stopped him.

"Reign, how are you?" Remus asked slowly.


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