The Beginning of the End

By the time Christmas rolled around, the Burrow had been saved. A few articles of clothing had been burned and the furniture singed but nothing that a simple repairing charm couldn't fix. Effie's bag of clothes and other things had miraculously survived. That was rather surprising considering the bag was upstairs and that was where the fire started.

The whole situation was pretty traumatizing of course, but everyone was all smiles and laughs as they sat around the kitchen table, eating Christmas dinner. Effie had received the package from her mother, just as she had promised. Inside was a gold hourglass necklace, a red floral dress, a Cinderella snow globe, and a black Never Say Never shirt.

Things between Harry and Effie were completely awkward, he had definitely seen her and Fred. He saw when they kissed, when they were holding hands, he saw it all. Effie of course knew that none of that meant anything. But still, she was starting to think that making him jealous wasn't such a good idea.

"Have you heard from you father lately?" Mr. Weasley asked, taking a bite out of mashed potatoes. Effie frowned and shook her head.

"No, I actually haven't. My mum said that he was going on a business trip. Probably Auror stuff so that's why he can't write." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, not everyone else.

"Well, I'm sure he's fine." Mrs. Weasley said, nudging her husband sharply. Effie kept quiet and ate her food. Harry, who was sitting beside her, put his hand under the table and placed it on her thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. Effie went wide eyed for a moment but then recovered. That was a gesture that she wasn't expecting. It didn't mean anything more than comfort.

She licked over her red stained lips and sighed. She really hoped that her father was okay. Giving everything that was going on, she would be surprised if he actually was okay. She knew that was a horrible thing to think but face it, no one would last more than 10 minutes on their own in this new world.

"You're going to continue being excellent students when you return to school, right?" Mrs. Weasley asked, giving Effie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione a stern look. Effie chuckled and nodded her head, so did the other three.

"Good. I still can't believe that Fred and George dropped out. They made excellent grades when they actually chose to focus." Mrs. Weasley said giving the twins a look.

"In their defense, Mrs. Weasley, they are quite successful now." Effie stated, grabbing another dinner roll.

"Gits." Ron muttered. Effie bit her lip to contain her smile and pushed her food around with her fork. Obviously Ron was jealous of his twin brothers' success in the joke shop. Mrs. Weasley smack Ron upside the head. This caused everyone to start laughing, except Ron, whose ears just turned bright red.

Effie looked up and caught a glimpse of Ginny who was sitting across the table, glaring daggers at Effie.

Effie wasn't exactly sure why Ginny was glaring at her. She couldn't think of anything she might of done wrong. Maybe it was just the simple matter of Effie being in love with Harry. She knew deep down that she really shouldn't have told Ginny that. But she was doing what she thought was right and now she's apparently being punished for it.

***

Effie had finished her dinner and went upstairs to be alone until Hermione and Ginny finished. She was laying on her little mattress, playing with her skeleton key necklace when there was a tap at the door. Before Effie could respond, the door opened and Hermione walked in. Effie relaxed and kept playing with her necklace.

"I noticed the looks that Ginny was giving you at dinner. Are you okay?" Hermione asked sympathetically as she sat down next to Effie.

"I don't know what I did." Effie mumbled, glancing up at Hermione.

"I only told her I was in love with Harry because I thought she needed to know. I haven't done anything to get in her way, I've done nothing but be a good friend to her and this is what she does. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Well, it might have something to do with you and Fred. I know, I know, nothing's going on but she doesn't know that does she? Maybe she's just mad because it seems like you're bouncing from Harry to Fred." Hermione suggested softly. Hermione knew to tread carefully with Effie when she was like this.

"Yeah, I've thought about that but, you'd think she'd come talk to me about it." Effie sighed and ran her hands over her face.

"Maybe she will. Give it some time and if she doesn't come to you, you go to her."

Effie didn't really like the idea of going to Ginny for this. She was too stubborn. Ginny needed to talk to Effie, not the other way around. Hermione patted Effie's leg and then left the room. Effie groaned, she knew Hermione was right.

She got off of her bed and changed quickly into her pajamas. After she changed, she walked out of the room. She saw Harry about to walk down the stairs so she jumped on his back yelling "Surprise!"

"Bloody hell, Effie!" Harry exclaimed, wrapping his arms under her legs to keep her on. Effie giggled and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"What?" She asked, plastering an innocent smile on her lips. Harry chuckled and shook his head.

"You scared me." He said, walking down the stairs. Effie missed this, she missed being able to play around with Harry without having the tension. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she slid off of his back. Harry turned to face her and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.

"I miss you." He whispered sadly. Effie furrowed her eyebrows and frowned.

"What do you mean?" She whispered back.

"I mean, I miss you. I miss how you used to be around me. I miss how happy and hyper you were. Where'd that go?" He asked, his blue/green eyes searching hers for an answer. Effie let out a guilty sigh and ran her hand across her forehead.

"You have to understand that I've been having a hard time lately. After you kissed me, you said you didn't feel anything, ran off, and then told me that you needed some space. Yet you've been trying to talk to me like nothing ever happened. I'm just a little confused." She whispered so that nobody in the other room would hear.

Harry sighed and abruptly walked off. Effie scoffed and rolled her eyes. This was exactly what she was talking about. She shook her head and walked back into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was handing out slices of cheesecake. Effie took a plate and sat in between Fred and George.

"Issues with Harry again?" George asked as he ate his desert.

"Yep." Was all Effie said.