Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Green-Eyed Orphan ❯ Chapter 4

Chapter Four

 

Christiana was seated with Harry on one side of her and Charlie on the other. On the other side of Harry was his new wife, Ginny. The two that had been making out on the couch entered the dining room looking ruffled and flushed, as if they had put their clothes on in a hurry. Christiana smiled to herself, thinking about the pleasures of being married. She wondered what it must be like to be a newlywed couple. She had never even had so much as a boyfriend, but she entertained the thoughts nonetheless.

When everyone was finally seated (Christiana could hardly remember all of their names!), the father cleared his throat for their attention. The table slowly quieted. “Let's say grace, shall we?” he said jovially. Everyone bowed their heads respectfully. “Harry would you?” the father asked. Harry nodded. After grace had been said, dishes began clattering all around. Charlie saw to it that every dish passed by Christiana. She couldn't believe the wealth of good food coming her way. Everything looked and tasted so savory. The wonderful smells from earlier didn't do the food justice. She ate contentedly in silence and listened to the hum of conversation around her. She listened as her own story was retold by George and Percy, and grinned as Charlie brushed off the recognition given him about saving her. The conversation turned to recent weddings, and a round of congratulations for the two newest couples was passed around the table. They just rolled their eyes, and Christiana assumed they had been hearing it for quite some time. Finally, several different conversations broke off at once, and Christiana was unable to keep up with one conversation for very long.

“Mum,” she heard Ginny say to her mother, “Harry and I have an announcement…”

“…and it wasn't really as great as Percy made it sound…” she heard Charlie overtone beside her, speaking to his father across the table.

“…and we didn't get a chance to even get them off, Ron!” Hermione finished the trail of thoughts that didn't even string together. Suddenly, however, a dinging on the side of a cup with a fork brought semi-silence to the table. It was Molly's doing.

“Harry and Ginny have an announcement they would like to make.” She smiled and nodded in their direction. They both stood.

“Oh, this must be big,” she heard Ron whisper across to Charlie, who shushed him.

“Ginny and I,” Harry began, but stopped to clear his throat. Ginny clasped his hand in hers, because he was obviously nervous. “That is to say…” he trailed off, and looked helplessly at his wife.

“Oh good grief,” Ginny groaned. “We're having a baby is what he's trying to say!” she cried exasperatedly. A great deal of noise ensued this announcement, and Christiana suddenly felt she was horning in on something that was not meant for her. In all of the excitement, she got up from the table and slipped out into the garden. She leaned against a fencepost in the pale moonlight, and looked out across the field she and Charlie had Apparated into earlier. She sighed. She wished she could be a part of such a group as the Weasleys. They were such a fun group, but they were so tight-knit. She had never been anywhere near such a group, at least, not one that wanted her to belong.

“Hey, I wondered where you'd gone,” she heard a familiar voice call from the door.

“Hey, Charlie,” she said softly, when he stood close enough to hear her.

“What's the matter?” he asked a concerned look in his eyes. She wanted to tell him so badly about her relation to Harry, and thus his whole family. But she was also afraid of how he would react. What if he hated her afterwards? She would probably be left without a place to work or stay.

“Everything that's happened recently is just getting to me,” she replied, lying smoothly, and hating herself for it. She would have to tell him about it all eventually. Or maybe she didn't. It just dawned on her! She didn't have to tell anyone anything. No one knew except her, and how would they find out if she didn't tell them? She smiled, suddenly deciding what to do. She wouldn't tell anyone, at least not anytime in the near future. She would keep it secret like she had all these years. After all, it's easier to do what is habit than to break your old routine. She would continue to write about it in her diary and keep it inside until she felt the time was right, or it was possible that she would never tell. “I think I'm just tired, Charlie,” she said honestly. “Can we go soon?”

“We can go now, if you like,” he replied. “I'll just tell Mum I'm going to take you back. I'll go down to the Leaky Cauldron and have a few drinks after I drop you off. Unless you'd like to join me for a nightcap?” he asked.

“Sure, I'd like that. I need to get my coat…” She walked toward the door, Charlie close behind her. He informed his mother that they needed to be going, and she raised her eyebrows at this. She decided she had better step back out the door, because she sensed a quick lecture coming that she wanted no part of. She didn't feel like having to defend herself, although Charlie would probably wind up defending himself as well as her. She turned quietly to go out the door, but bumped into an older woman holding a one-year-old with neon green hair. The baby was giggling, and the woman looked harried. Molly, upon seeing this woman, grabbed hold of Charlie's arm hard and whispered something in his ear. She gave him a stern look, and then turned to take the toddler from the woman. When Christiana turned to look at the baby again, his hair was flaming red.

“Andromeda! Teddy! We weren't expecting you! Come on in!” Molly warmly welcomed them, and walked back towards the dining room.

“Let's go before she changes her mind,” Charlie stated and pulled Christiana out the door.

“What was that all about?” Christiana asked, fearing the worst.

“Mum's afraid that I'm going to—you know…” he trailed off, and Christiana was sure the darkness was hiding the color of red his face was turning. “She just doesn't want either of us to get hurt…emotionally, I mean,” he added quickly. “I would never hurt you physically or emotionally, at least not on purpose,” he rushed on, revealing a little of his emotional side to her without realizing it. He grasped her arm before she had time to respond, and they Disapparated, appearing outside the shop in Diagon Alley. They stood there for a very awkward moment, and Christiana decided to take the reigns.

“On to the Leaky Cauldron, then?” she asked, her voice quavering slightly.

“Yes,” he replied, seemingly relieved that she had changed the subject without any questions. She liked him, probably more than she should after just meeting him, but their personalities just clicked together. She felt as if she could talk to him openly, and she didn't have to hide her true self from him—except the whole Harry Potter thing.

*

It was two hours later, and both Charlie and Christiana were both leaning towards the drunker side of things. They were talking freely and openly about each other's lives, asking open-ended questions and having a quite good conversation that probably would not have happened without the influence of so much butterbeer and firewhiskey. Charlie took another shot of firewhiskey as Christiana, who had just taken the last sip of who knew how many butterbeers, asked him an unexpected question.

“So, Charlie, do you have any deep dark secrets? Like something you would never tell anyone even if your life depended on it?” She hiccupped half way through the word “depended.” She giggled when she'd finished talking. He didn't seem to notice, though, because he hiccupped before he began talking.

“Oh, sure, loads of them. What about you?” He looked expectantly at her. She grinned.

“Of course I do, but I'll never tell!” she exclaimed loudly. Other patrons of the bar looked over at her, but turned away smiling when Charlie reached across the table and clapped a hand over her mouth.

“You're too loud,” he told her equally as loudly as she had just yelled to him.

“So are you,” she retorted in a quieter tone, but she was grinning and laughing all the same. “So back to the secrets we're not telling…”

“Yes, but I suppose mine isn't all that bad,” Charlie replied. “It's bad for my kind of business, though.”

“What did you do? Steal a dragon from someone or something?” Christiana asked in a hushed voice.

“That's exactly what I did,” Charlie replied in a whisper. “I was working for this man, and he had a whole batch of dragon eggs. We were going to have to raise them before trying to set them free or put them on a reserve. Well, I wanted to send home some extra money, so I stole one of the eggs and sold it to a stranger in a hood. He was more than happy to pay my asking price. I know now that it was Voldemort, though. He tricked me, because he needed the dragon egg to sell to Hagrid to get past Fluffy, the three-headed dog.” Christiana looked immensely confused. Charlie launched into Harry's entire story that Christiana only had known bits and pieces of. When he had told her as much as he knew, she had drunk three more butterbeers and her eyes were very bloodshot. He ordered another shot of firewhiskey, both of them getting drunker by the minute. The bartender asked Christiana if she would like another drink, but she declined for the moment. “So what's your secret?” Charlie asked her when the bartender had returned to wiping down the bar. They were the only two left in the bar, but Tom seemed fine with allowing them to stay as long as they needed. It was well after three in the morning.

“I can't tell you,” Christiana mumbled, her eyes half-closed with exhaustion and too much butterbeer. “That's why it's a…secret…” she yawned loudly.

“Come on, I told you mine,” Charlie whined. He wasn't normally a whiner, but he had had a lot of shots of firewhiskey. Before she could reply her head fell down onto her folded arms on the table. She was fast asleep. He shook her awake enough to get her to walk back to the flat above the store. It took them fifteen minutes to get up the stairs. They were a bit clumsy, and knocked a lamp onto the floor upon entering the small apartment. Charlie pulled out his wand and repaired it. When he turned around, Christiana had collapsed on the couch where he normally slept. He covered her, not wanting to have to move her again. He went into her bedroom and fell into bed, but found himself lying awake in the darkness. He turned on a lamp by the bedside and saw a small leather-bound book lying on the bedside table. He picked it up. It said Diary on the front, and he knew he shouldn't read it, but it was too tempting. He opened it, and flipped through to see that there was only one entry. It must be new, he thought. He went back to the first entry.

Dear Diary,

So I got a new job today. I'm writing this really fast, because I'm really supposed to be going down to the shop and getting started. I'm working in a joke shop with some nice brothers named Weasley. I just pray I don't run into Harry Potter. Well, I don't really know if I want to meet him or not. He doesn't know that he's my half-brother yet, and I really don't want to tell him. I suppose I eventually need to tell him, though, if and when I do find him. Of course, the possibility of me meeting him right off is probably pretty slim.

I met a guy today. Well, it's one of the Weasley brothers, but he doesn't work in the shop. His name is Charlie, and boy is he a looker! I would NEVER tell him this in person, though. At least not yet. I feel like I can talk to him about anything, yet I must keep my secret at bay. It is my deepest and darkest. I've never had any friends to tell it to anyway, but these Weasleys seem nice. Perhaps I will share it with them in the future. Ugh I've got to go! I'm late for my new job!

-C

Charlie reread the entry three more times, his jaw dropping further each time he read the bit about Harry being her half-brother. He was sobering up quickly after this shocking news. It was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over him each time he read it. But how was he her half-brother? Which parent did they have in common? He was in no doubt that this was the secret she had been so unwilling to relate to him. He wanted to know more, but he didn't want her to know he had betrayed her trust. She didn't want anyone to know yet, so he decided he would keep his mouth shut for as long as it took her to share with him and anyone else. For all Harry knew at this point, he had no other relatives aside from the Dursleys. He decided to have a look through the drawer in the table, though, just to see if there was anything else.

As he reached to pull the drawer open, his eyes fell on a box sitting by the bed with several framed photographs in the top. She must have begun unpacking at some point, although he couldn't figure out when. He supposed when she had been shown the room and decided she would take it. It must have been while he was waiting in the living room earlier today. He picked up the photographs and studied each one closely.

After studying all the photographs but one, he had deduced that Severus Snape was this girl's father. He just couldn't believe that that man had ever even so much as been in love, much less sired and fathered a child. But everything here implied that she loved her father very much. He knew Christiana had attended Beauxbatons, and he could see why with the little information he knew. Being Harry's unknown half-sister would have been hard, even if they had never been at school together. He didn't see how she had borne this secret for so long. After picking up the last photograph, a piece of worn and yellowed paper fell into his hand. He opened it up to read it, and saw that it was a letter from Snape bearing news of Christiana's mother's death. Now, in the top of the box, were all of the newspaper clippings about Harry, beginning with the one about his parents' death and his survival. The letter had stated something to the effect of the fact that Lily knew nothing of Christiana's existence and how regretful that was. Snape had said he would visit soon.

Charlie realized that perhaps this was the real reason Christiana had returned to London. Her father's death…that was Snape's death. She had just found out, even though it had taken place well over a year ago. Voldemort's defeat must have been celebrated there, though. Perhaps she just didn't hear from Snape very often. He couldn't believe what he had just found out. She was connected to them in so many more ways than just being a witch. He made sure to put everything back just as he had found it. Just as he was falling asleep, though, he resolved once again not to say a word about any of it.

*

The next morning, Christiana woke with a splitting headache, and remembered she had to be at work. She had no clue why she was on the couch, and didn't have time to work it out. The apartment door opened just as she finished getting ready. It was George.

“I know I'm late,” she said apologetically. “And on my second day of work! I'm already slacking, and I'm sure you want to fire me!”

“No,” George replied nonchalantly. “It's fine. Does your head hurt?” he asked, grinning.

“Yes, terribly,” she replied.

“You were drinking with Charlie last night, weren't you?”

“I was,” she agreed.

“Go back to sleep for a while. Come on down when your head feels better and you can close the shop. Percy's manning the front right now. It's fine. I'm not going to fire you. You've never had drinks with my brother before.” He grinned again, and walked back to his room. She lay back down on the couch and covered up with the blanket. When George walked back through, she looked up at him.

“Where's Charlie?” she asked, sleep almost having overtaken her again.

“Dunno…he's probably sleeping in your bed since you're in his.” George shrugged, and closed the door behind him, seemingly unconcerned with her lateness or that she had gotten drunk with his brother the evening before. Just before blessed oblivion took her away again, she thought that she should go make him get out of her bed, but it just seemed like too much effort right now.