A/N-

Hello to everyone! I am very extremely so very sorry! I've been so busy these past couple of weeks I just haven't had time to update! I really hope you can understand as I have been doing homework and revision for my December mock exams. I shall try to be more regular with my updates now :)

Hope you all enjoy! :)

Chapter 45 (Fred)

The only sound in the Hospital Wing was the soft murmurs of people’s conversations. They were mostly discussing Dumbledore’s death, and the events of the evening.

I was almost glad that Ava was asleep on one of the beds, simply because it meant that she couldn’t hear the topic of the death of Professor Dumbledore being constantly discussed.

Ava looked peaceful with her red hair splayed out across the pillow, but there was no ignoring of the deep shadows underneath her eyes, her pale skin and her thin face. Looking at her was hard, because I couldn’t control the waves of guilt that crushed me when I did. She had gone through so much within the past year, and all of it had been alone. I wished things could have been different.

Remus walked over to where I was leaning against the wall with my arms crossed. He leant on the doorframe beside me,

“How did you and George know to come to Hogwarts tonight?”

I looked up, surprised by the question. I shook my head and cleared my throat,

“Ava sent me a letter. She asked me to come.”

Remus glanced over at Ava, asleep on the bed,

“How did she…?”

“How did she know that it would happen tonight? I think you ought to talk to her about it. I know you have some idea, but you need to hear it from her.” I realised with a jolt that I was staring at Ava, watching her sleep, and I looked away sheepishly.

“She trusts you.” Remus’ voice was quiet, “And I think that’s good- she needs someone to trust.”

I glanced up at him,

“She trusts more people than me. You, Harry-”

“You know what I mean.” Remus interrupted, looking at me meaningfully.

I frowned, and shook my head slightly. I wasn’t sure what he meant at all- Remus could be so mysterious sometimes, leaving things unspoken when it would really be much easier if he just said what he meant.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ava’s head move, and her eyes fluttered open. Remus smiled at me,

“You'd better go and talk to her.”

I nodded silently and walked over to the chair beside her bed, landing down onto it with a thud. Ava glanced up at me and the corners of her lips twitched into a smile.

“Pleasant sleep?” I leant back onto the chair.

“I-” She paused, “I didn’t mean to go to sleep… it’s just been a really tiring evening…”

I nodded,

“You’re lucky Remus caught you when you passed out. Otherwise you would have dropped to the floor.”

“You wouldn’t have caught me? How rude.” Ava asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged,

“Well, we’re only just acquainted, you see. I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to catch you when you fell.”

Ava’s shoulders dropped slightly, and she looked like she felt guilty. I leant forwards slightly, my face softening,

“Hey, only kidding. You’re my friend.”

She glanced up, her eyes brightening for a split second. Slowly, I reached out and took hold of her hand. I felt something- a spark of electricity- as our skin touched, and my hand froze for the shortest of moments before it wrapped around hers.

“How’s Bill?” Ava’s voice was quiet, and she was staring down at her lap.

I glanced over at my brother’s bed for a moment and sighed,

“The same as before. There’s not much Madam Pomfrey can do for the scars. Nothing will heal them- they’ll just have to do that on their own.”

“Fenrir Greyback is repulsive. I can’t believe he did that to Bill…” Ava shuddered, “He makes me sick.”

I frowned at the harshness in Ava’s words. Had she had an encounter with Fenrir in the Astronomy Tower? What had he said?

“I could tell Dumbledore was repulsed by him as well. He looked disgusted when he’d heard what Fenrir had been doing. So did Dra-”

Ava stopped speaking, her mouth slamming shut, and turned her face away. I felt my heart ache for her, for everything that Ava had gone through.

“I could have stopped this from the beginning-”

“No.” I cut her off, my voice soft, “Don’t blame yourself for this, Ava. What happened tonight, it wasn’t your fault. Snape killed Dumbledore- no one suspected that of him. It was not your fault.”

Ava bit her lip and looked up at me, her wide green eyes filling with tears,

“Do you really believe that?”

I cocked my head to one side and grinned,

“Would I be sitting here if I didn’t?”

Ava shrugged,

“I don’t know, you might just feel sorry for me.”

I raised my eyebrows,

“Nah. It’s more than that.”

Ava didn’t say anything, just kept her green eyes on me.

Slowly, I leant forwards on my chair and reached my free hand out towards her neck.

“What’s that scratch from? The one under your chin?”

She winced at the thought of it,

“Alecto scratched me with her wand in an attempt to shut me up.”

I tried to hide the anger on my face as I studied the scratch, my face just below Ava’s. It wasn’t that deep, but the fact that Alecto had scratched her with the tip of her wand must have meant that she’d done it with a certain amount of force.

I turned Ava’s head slightly so that I could see it more closely,

“Madam Pomfrey can probably fix that one up.”

Ava turned back to face me, and her eyes were level with mine. I realised how close we were when I felt the heat of her skin from beneath my fingers.

My heartbeat faltered for a moment and I froze as her green eyes searched mine. I felt the overwhelming urge to just lean forwards and kiss her, to brush my lips against hers and to feel her hot skin against mine.

But I knew that was wrong. Not now, not after everything that had happened. What had Ava said? We were starting again.

Especially because she wasn’t the same person she had been a year and a half ago. She had lost that spark in her personality, and it was so clear whenever I looked at her. She had gone through so much, and I didn’t want to confuse her with unnecessary kisses.

Even though I found it hard, I looked away from her deep green eyes and pulled back slowly. The electricity jumping between our skin tugged at my hands, my fingers, telling me to move even closer to her.

I didn’t. I sat back down and gulped,

“Ava, I’m so sorry for everything that’s happened to you. You didn’t deserve it.”

She nodded her head to say thank you, but she couldn’t say anything else as her eyes filled with tears. I squeezed her hand before standing up,

“I’ll let someone else talk to you for a while, shall I? Even though I know you adore my company, I’m sure you probably need to talk to other people.”

I started to walk away, but I heard her small voice,

“Thank you.”

I leant on the wall again by the doorway and closed my eyes for a brief moment to compose myself.

When I opened them, I spotted Neville getting up out of his bed and making his way over to Ava. The moment he reached her, I noticed Ava’s shoulders slump slightly as if she were breaking inside. I realised that maybe Neville didn’t know about Ava’s involvement with Voldemort. Would she tell him?

Ava sat up more and threw her arms around Neville, dragging him down towards her. Her shoulders were shaking slightly, and he looked awkward for a moment as if he didn’t know how to comfort her.

He glanced up at me for a moment and I smiled encouragingly.

And then Neville wrapped his arms tightly around Ava and held her like a friend should. I realised with a smile that she had made friends over the past year. She hadn’t been completely alone.

George walked over to me,

“I’m going to get some drinks from the kitchen. Want anything?”
I forced a grin,

“I’m sure you can find something to my liking.”

“Hmm,” George raised his eyebrows, “What's your favourite drink again? Herbal tea?"

I pulled a face,

“Perhaps hot chocolate? After all, you’ve seen me drink it since birth.”

“Ah! How could I have forgotten?” George grinned and turned away. I could tell he had been trying to distract me from my thoughts, and I was grateful.

But the moment George was gone, I turned back to look at Ava. Neville was walking back to his bed with Madam Pomfrey behind him, a stern expression on her face. Neville had apparently disobeyed the rule to stay in bed.

Remus walked over slowly to Ava’s bed, and sat down beside her with a kind expression on his face.

Ava glanced at him and sat up straighter, immediately knowing why he had come over. Remus started to speak but Ava cut him off,

“I- I’m going to tell you everything. From the beginning. I’m sorry for keeping it from you. But I had to.”

Remus nodded his head, and Ava sobbed,

“I had to.”

Remus reached out and took hold of Ava’s hand,
“It’s okay, Ava. It’s okay. Now come on, like you said- start from the beginning.”

I turned away, walking towards Bill’s bed to sit beside him. I couldn’t hear Ava’s story again, not when it made me feel so guilty for everything that had happened to her.

I didn’t want to see Ava in pain.