Enchanted

Alex stood next to her bed, furiously stuffing clothes and other things into a bag to bring to Shell Cottage. She couldn’t believe how much her life had change din the last few days and now it seemed as though everywhere she went she was met with turmoil or bad news. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take, but she knew that there was no use fighting it.

“Knock, knock.”

She looked up and saw Arwen standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face. Alex nodded and she came and sat on the bed.

“I’m scared.”

Alex looked at her friend. “Of what?”

Arwen looked at her hands and then back at the older girl. “For you. For Charlie.” she paused. “I am scared I will lose Fred again. I can’t handle that, Alex!” Tears formed in her eyes. “I can’t lose you either! You are my best friend. I am scared that I will lose one of you and I won’t be able to handle it. Not after last time…it would be too much for me.”

Alex put down the shirt she had folded and squatted in front of her friend. “Look…times are looking dismal again. But I promise I am going to fix this, and then we can all live in peace. Okay? I am not going to die and neither is Fred. I will make sure of it.”

“But the prophecy said one of you must die while the other lives. What is she lives?”

Alex paused. “I will not die, do you hear me? I refuse to die. I will win, and I will walk down the aisle to my beloved Charlie and we will live a long life together with our children and our family.”

Alex listened to herself rant to her friend, wondering if she was trying to harder to convince Arwen, or herself of these things.

She nodded. “Please be safe. I don’t know when I will see you again and…I love you, Alex.”

Alex nodded. “I love you too, Arwen. Now please take care of everyone here…lighten things up a bit for me?”

She laughed, and nodded, just as a knock was heard and Charlie came in. “You ready?”

Alex sighed. “No.” But she walked out the door, and down the stairs, not looking back once.

Later that night, after Fleur and the kids went to sleep and Charlie convinced Alex to rest, the two eldest Weasleys sat in the living room, discussing the events of that night.

“I don’t like this.” Charlie said, pacing.

Bill nodded. “Obviously. This isn’t pleasant. I don’t like it any more than you do.”

Charlie sighed. “There has to be another way. I thought we were done with this shit.”

His brother sighed. “I did too. Everyone did. No one could have known this would happen.” he paused. “How could the ministry not have known? How could they not have known that Voldemort had married?”

Charlie didn’t respond as he paced. After a few moments, Bill sighed. “Charlie, pacing isn’t going to help her any more than it is helping you now.”

He looked up at his brother when he got no response and saw that he was shaking slightly. “Charlie…look at me.”

It took a moment, but when he finally turned to face is older brother, the sight broke Bill’s heart. There was his normally smooth, collected younger brother, tears in his eyes and his face contorted in fear and pain. Bill stood, and made his way over to the man.

Surprisingly, Charlie did not reject the hug his brother gave him and he gave into his fears. “I can’t lose her.”

His whole body shook, and thought he would never admit it, it scared Bill a bit. He had never seen his brother show this much emotion in front of anyone before. At Fred funeral, Charlie had stared straight ahead, maybe letting one or two tears fall, but nothing like this. His body shook violently and he seemed to be holding on to his big brother for dear life.

“You won’t lose her.” he said quietly. “You are not going to lose her. None of us are going to let that happen. Not me, not Harry, not any of the Order, nor the DA, and especially not you. You are the strongest and most stable person in her life. You are her world. As long as you are there, she will never die.”

Charlie stopped crying and looked up at him. “I don’t know how to do this. We have no idea what we are going to do…I am not sure how ready I am for this, Bill.”

“Well ready or not, here it comes.” Then he stared his brother in the eye, making sure he would understand these next words. “But you can better believe that you guys are not in this alone. I am not leaving you to do this on your own. She is my best friend and you are my brother. We will all get through this--together. Even if everyone else has fallen, we will stand strong against Demetria and we will win. And you will marry your blushing bride and have many babies, who will love their Uncle Bill.”

Charlie smiled slightly and nodded. “Thank you.

Bill nodded and Charlie left the first floor, ascending the stairs to crawl in next to his fiancé…holding her close, making sure that just in that moment…she was okay and she was his.