It was a pleasant evening in midsummer, and almost the whole Weasley clan was sat down for dinner. The noise was as it always was — incredibly loud. Charlie Weasley even dropped in unexpectedly the day before, on break from his job in Romania. He'd be staying for a week or so. The only one missing was Bill, who was much too dedicated to his job in some of his siblings' opinion. One of Charlie's old friends from Hogwarts had dropped by this evening and that...just made everything louder. Percy obviously didn't like that.

Her name was Rowan and she was the nicest Slytherin the family had ever known. As far as Ron, Ginny, Fred and George knew that was. She actually dropped in to see if Bill had come, still holding on to her crush on him. Charlie was the only one to realise that and he had simply shook his head at the fact. As they were reminiscing with Rowan, Ron jokingly mentioned that she shouldn't have been sorted into Slytherin. She was the only nice one in that house, in his opinion. Of course, Charlie sat up a bit straighter in his chair and said, "They're not all bad you know. Just misunderstood."

Ron, Ginny and the twins had absolutely no idea why the mood at the table suddenly turned solemn until Fred whispered something to George. "Hey, wasn't Y/N a Slytherin? She was nice, gave us a whole notebook filled with ideas for pranks," George decided to break the
silence.

Molly and Arthur froze and even Percy looked up from his book. Rowan suddenly found her plate extremely interesting.

"I think I remember her a bit...she liked braiding Ginny's hair..." Ron mused.

"Why hasn't she visited in a long time?" Ginny asked quietly.

Charlie sighed and picked up his plate silently and brought it to the kitchen sink. He said as he walked out the door, "I'm full, I think I'll call my boss and see if the new hatchlings are alright."

Rowan shyly said as she got up, "I think I better be going too, I have to grade more papers tonight. Thank you so much for the food."

"Alright then, dear," Was all Molly Weasley could say.

Soon all trace of the two were gone and Percy asked if he could be excused to study as well. His parents were too preoccupied to protest. He knew everything that happened, of course, he was the one to help Bill drag Charlie from her corpse. It really was quite a tragedy, but he wasn't that close with her. It didn't bother him quite that much and it was a long time ago. He settled into his chair and continued studying. Time passed slowly but comfortably until a small head popped up from behind his door.

"Percy? What was that all about? Why was Charlie so...bothered?" Ron asked with a furrow of his brow.

"Ask Mum and Dad, I'm studying!"

"But they won't tell me! And if you don't tell me Fred and George will ask you too and then when you tell them to shove off they'll make all of our lives hell! At least if you tell me, they can ask me instead!"

Percy sighed a deep sigh and reluctantly conceded, "I'll tell it to you, but don't bother me again. I have to study for my N.E.W.T.S. Yes, even if it's still summer break!"

The story began.

She staggered out and promptly collapsed with a gasp, clutching the ghastly wound in her abdomen. "That-whatever that was-it wasn't-was not Jacob-not-not anymore, anyway..." she managed to get out as Charlie rushed to her side.

The rest of her friends stood frozen in place and all Rowan could think about was how glad she was she skipped breakfast to make more time to study for her N.E.W.T.S.

"Don't talk, you'll make it worse! I'll cast Episkey! Penny do you have Wiggenweld on you?" Charlie frantically asked as he took out his wand.

"Sorry, I don't have the ingredients either! I'll go get Madam Pomfrey right now! Better expelled than dead!" Penny replied as she rushed out despite the pleas of her wounded friend. (I'm sure some would disagree)

"Episkey!" Charlie yelled through tears, waving his wand carefully to make sure nothing would go wrong.

Of course, something did. "Why didn't it work? Godric, why didn't it work?" He sobbed out.

"H-hey it's okay. It wasn't your fault. The thing in there probably did something irreversible...I was so stupid...Thinking that I could fix my life just by opening a damn vault. Of course, nothing ever goes right, huh? Salazar, it seems like I've got an-an excuse not to take my N.E.W.T.S. now! Tell me how yours goes no matter what happens, alright?" she tried to appease him. He nodded while wiping away a few tears.

"Don't leave...we still have to go to Romania...you haven't even seen a real live Norwegian Ridgeback yet. They're your favourite..." Charlie murmured.

The others looked away.

"I-I think I love you...Merlin that sounded pathetic...I never would've admitted it but this is sort of a-a speak now or forever hold your-your peace thi-" she started to get out but was interrupted by her own sharp gasp.

She went limp in his arms. He barely had time to register what she said before a new wave of grief took him over. "No! Wake up! Please wake up! I love you too, just wake up!" He pleaded as he looked for a pulse.

He felt one, incredibly weak, though. He prayed to every god known she would be alright and so did her other friends. Though nobody can be sure Barnaby fully understood what was happening. If life was a cliche movie, this is the part where she wakes up and smiles and they all live happily ever after. But it isn't. She passed silently a few minutes before the arrival of Penny and Madam Pomfrey, though she had a slight smile on her face, as though Charlie's words gave her peace. Perhaps she did hear it, perhaps it did. Charlie hopes so. He needs to hope so.

"And that was what happened three years ago, Ickle Roniekins. So please don't mention her or it to Charlie ever again, and let me study in peace!"