Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Green-Eyed Orphan ❯ Chapter 6

Chapter Six

 

A smatter of chuckling and applause rippled over the crowd, but Ginny and her mother looked unhappy to say the least. Molly raised an eyebrow at George whose grin was about as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. It faded the moment he saw his mother's face. Ginny rubbed her forehead to ease away the oncoming headache. She touched her mother's arm to gain her attention.

“I'll go to her. Please stall Charlie as long as you can. You know he'll be coming as soon as he can get away and she doesn't need that right now.” Molly nodded in agreement. She wondered briefly when her daughter had become so wise. Harry was jovially clapping Charlie on the back in a congratulatory way and Ginny gave him a look that would dry up the wettest day on her way out the door. Speaking of wet, it had begun raining a bit outdoors and Ginny pulled the hood on her sweater up over her head as she rounded the shop into the alleyway that led to the stairs to the flat overhead. She darted up them and in the flat as quickly as possible.

Christiana was absolutely appalled at her inability to control what had escaped her lips. That was to be absolutely secret along with the fact that she was Harry Potter's half-sister. At least she had not blurted that fact, which had been her fear all along once realizing what the product did. If this was the Weasley's idea of inducting her to working for them, she decided she would rather jump off a cliff somewhere quiet. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she sank onto her bed. She picked up a picture of her father standing next to her and let her grief overtake her once again. She was really beginning to believe that she was not cut out for this life. She began to sob audibly and did not hear the door to the flat open and close. She did, however, see her door pushed open and was relieved to find it was only Ginny standing there. Ginny shut the door.

“Oh, good, it's only you,” Christiana sighed through her tears, swiping at them with the back of her free hand, still holding in her other hand the picture of her with her father. Ginny sank onto the bed beside her. Without any prompting on Ginny's part, Christiana relayed the morning's events not sparing any details as to why she saw Charlie in the shower. She felt she owed some kind of explanation to his sister. His brothers might find it comical, but she could tell that Ginny had not come up to laugh at her. Ginny put a comforting arm around her shoulders about halfway through the story and listened without interrupting. In all honesty, she didn't really know what to say to make Christiana feel any better. After Christiana finished the story, silence ensued. The rain pounded harder than ever on the roof overhead, and there was still quite a commotion downstairs as people eagerly made their purchases and left the shop.

“I think,” Ginny said after a few moments of quiet had passed, “that you have a crush on Charlie. Please don't get mad. It's only an outsider's observation. I'm sure that you have deeper and darker secrets than that. That potion is designed to make you tell something that no one else knows, and honestly I believe that you're not that shallow.” Christiana raised her eyebrows. She had never thought of it in that way. She was thinking it was the end of the world over a stupid, shallow confession brought on by a joke product. She smiled a watery smile at Ginny.

“You're right,” she confessed to Ginny, “but I don't think I will ever be able to look at your mother in the eye again.”

“Oh, you will. She was quite unhappy with George's new product. I'm sure she's down there harping on him right this instant. Now, what's this picture you've been clinging too since the moment I arrived?” Before Christiana realized what had happened, Ginny had the picture in her hands and was peering at it. Her mouth formed a speechless O. She looked at Christiana then back at the picture. Christiana began to wring her hands as awkward seconds of stillness that seemed to stretch into eternity passed. It seemed as if an hour had gone by before Ginny spoke again, almost in a whisper. “So, Snape was—I mean is—your father?” Her voice ended the question in a disbelieving squeak.

“Yes,” Christiana whispered in return. She offered no more information, so Ginny pressed onward.

“Then, who is your mother?” Ginny looked up from the picture finally.

“It doesn't matter. She died a long time ago.” Christiana turned away.

“It does so matter,” Ginny replied insistently. “I want to know who Snape could have loved so passionately—oh no!” Her exclamation spoke volumes about what she already knew. “Snape must have gotten Lily pregnant before Harry was born—memories must have had to have been cleaned—I'll bet no one but Snape and Dumbledore knew—oh but do you realize what this means?! We're sisters!” She gasped suddenly. “Does Harry know? Of course he doesn't. He would have told his own wife. Wouldn't he?” Ginny was now up and pacing. She stopped dead center in front of Christiana. Christiana's eyes pleaded with Ginny.

“Please, don't tell him!” Christiana stood to face Ginny. “No one else knows. At least, I'm pretty sure they don't. I don't want him to hear it from anyone but me. But I'm not ready to tell him yet.”

“You ask me—his wife, mind you—to keep a secret this big from him?! Impossible!” Ginny looked angry and sad and happy all at the same time. A knock on the door hushed the both of them. Ginny opened it and Charlie tried to come in. Ginny, however, pushed him out and shut the door behind them leaving Christiana to wonder if she was going to relay her secret to him. She jumped up off her bed, only to sink back down onto it. Ginny was probably berating him about what happened that morning.

Out in the hallway, Ginny gave Charlie a searing look before speaking. “How long? How long have you known who she is?” Ginny hissed at him, trying to keep her voice at a whisper.

“I don't know what you mean,” Charlie answered, trying to stick to his promise to himself the other night that he wouldn't tell anyone. Only, it seemed Ginny knew more than he did and had had it directly from Christiana.

“Of course you do!” Ginny replied vehemently. “You know that she's Harry's half-sister. I only want to know how long you've known. If you hadn't known, I believe you would have made a pass at her long before now.”

“Oh, so you believe me dishonorable?” Charlie raised his eyebrows. “You honestly think that just because I haven't asked her out that I know something I shouldn't? Well fine; yes, I do know. But she didn't tell me and she doesn't know that I know.”

“She didn't tell you? I would have thought that was why there was so much tension between the two of you besides the obvious crush you have on each other. I'm not finished!” She raised a hand to stop Charlie's interruption to protest. “How did you find out then?”

“The other night when we went for drinks at the Leaky Cauldron, we were talking about secrets. Even when she was drunk she wouldn't tell me. She passed out on the couch and I slept in her room. Only, I couldn't sleep once I got in there so I looked in her diary.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, his brow furrowed.

Unable to remain at a whisper, Ginny bellowed, “YOU DID WHAT?!?!?!”

“Hush! I don't want her—” Charlie began, but Christiana pushed her door open.

“What is going on out here?” she asked. Charlie noticed her face was tear-streaked but she was no longer crying. She looked disheveled and he felt bad for it.

“He read your diary! And he knows that you're Harry's half-sister!” Ginny cried indignantly. She was aghast that her own brother would have the audacity to do such a thing. Christiana just raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, really? And tell me, Charlie, when exactly did you find time to snoop through my things?” She felt so violated at this point that someone reading her diary didn't even begin to compare to what happened earlier in the shop.

“It was when you passed out on the couch after all those drinks the other night. And I didn't mean to!”

“You didn't mean to? Really? How do you not mean to read something but read it anyway? How long did you have to read before you realized it was my diary?” Christiana was outraged at his response. Ginny still looked angry, but she sensed that she was not supposed to be part of this argument, even if she had started it.

“I'm just going to leave…” She stepped over to the door.

“Yeah, Ginny, go on and leave now that you've started all this,” Charlie retorted sarcastically. Ginny shook her head and closed the door behind her. She met George on her way down the stairs.

“I wouldn't go up there right now if I were you,” she said and pulled him back to the shop. Back upstairs, things were only getting started.

“You didn't answer my question. How long did it take you to realize it was my diary you were reading and not some novel? Was it the fact that it had dates at the top? Or was it that there were only a few entries and when you came to the end? Oh! The book wasn't complete?!” Christiana was bordering on hysteria.

“I'm just glad I didn't have to read about how perfect you thought my butt was!” Charlie yelled back, not really knowing what else to say. He should never have read it, but he wasn't going to admit to her that he was wrong.

“That was before I saw it! And that's beside the point. If your stupid brothers hadn't insisted on testing that stupid potion on me, no one would have been the wiser and none of this would be happening!”

“Don't call my brothers stupid.” Charlie's voice held an edge bordering on dangerous. “So you're saying that this is my brothers' faults?”

“No, this is your fault!” Christiana cried.

“How is it my fault?” Charlie asked desperately.

“FOR READING MY DIARY, DAMMIT!” Christiana walked into her room and slammed the door. She was about to lock it but she wasn't quick enough. Charlie pushed it open with such force that it knocked her backward onto the bed.

“You know, you started all this,” he began. “You asked me for a secret in the bar that night and then refused to tell me one. You got me all curious. I just wanted an inkling of who you were and what you were like beyond work and drinking since those were the only places I really got a look at you. That's no way to get to know someone—work and drinking, that is. I wanted to get to know you as a person, and you just wouldn't allow it. You wanted to be mysterious. So I found out the only other way I knew how. But have I breathed a word about it to anyone? No. I swore I wouldn't tell your secret. I don't run around telling things to other people that they shouldn't know.” He took a breath.

“Are you finished?” she asked, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Because if you are, I'd prefer it if you would leave.”

Without a word, Charlie stormed out of the room only to storm back in seconds later. Christiana thought to herself that the next time he left she was locking the door.

“Who do you think you are? You think you can tell me to leave my own house? I'm the reason you even live here. You know, if you want me to, I'll be more than happy to tell George to kick you out. I wouldn't mind having that bed back. I never slept on the couch before you came along. I only told you that to be nice, because I wanted you to live here, because dammit, Christiana, I liked you from the moment I saw you. You're not the only one who has been hurt in life, so quit acting like no one else has ever been hurt. Hell, take Harry. He's been hurt so badly—he never had parents. At least you had your father. He almost died saving the world because of a stupid prophecy. Tell me what you've done to save the world lately.” Christiana was speechless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was comparing her to her own brother.

“How would you like it if I compared you to your brothers?” she asked. “Because that is what you're doing to me—comparing me to my brother. That's one reason I didn't want anyone to know. Now, everyone who knows is going to look at me and say what a shame it is that he turned out to be such a hero and I turned out to be nothing more than a clerk at a joke shop. You are an arrogant, selfish pig.” She sniffed.

“Arrogant, maybe,” Charlie conceded, “but selfish? I got you a job and a place to live and gave up my bed for you. I've kept your secret for reasons beyond my own comprehension. Please tell me how I'm selfish. If anyone is selfish, it's you. You've denied Harry the only living family of wizarding kind that he has. I'm sure he would accept you, even if he didn't previously know you existed. You've got all the proof you need in that box. He's not so bad a person as you may think.”

“Who said I thought he was a bad person? He's a fine person. He did save the world from Voldemort, after all. But that doesn't mean I want the whole world that has just been saved knowing that I'm his sister who has done nothing worthy of a hero. I'll tell him eventually. I'm not ready.”

“You're not ready? It's all about you, isn't it? Don't you think he's ready to know that he has a sister? I think he would absolutely love it if he knew. You can be angry with me all you want over reading your diary, but all I can say is that I'm sorry. I regret doing so. I would never hurt you intentionally. And I can also tell you that your secret will go with me to the grave if that's how long it takes you to be ready to tell him. However, I do feel that it is unfair to him. He is my friend as you are and I feel that it is only right that I tell you this.”

Christiana rose from the bed. “You still think I want to be your friend after this?” Her eyebrows were raised, and he detected a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Well, perhaps not,” he replied and turned to leave.

“I wasn't finished.” He turned back. “You know my deepest secret. You admitted to liking me, which is more than I could have hoped for considering this morning's actions and the fact that I was rather disgusted with you. Despite that, when you were helping George and Percy get that sign down earlier, I couldn't be mad, and I couldn't take my eyes off you. I know you've caught me staring more than once.” She blushed crimson and turned away from him.

“Are you always this forward?” Charlie asked.

“I don't know. I suppose when I have something important to say, I am. I know I'm blunt and to the point when need be.” Christiana now shoved her hands into her pockets and stared out the window. She turned back to look at him only to find him looking at her. She blushed again and they stood their gazing at each other in awkward silence, neither sure what to make of the other or the situation they found themselves in. They both knew the other's feelings, and that made it quite uncomfortable for what seemed like an infinite amount of time. Finally, Charlie walked toward her. When he stood within a few inches of her, he stopped.

“Do you want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss you?” he whispered. He didn't need a response. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her like he'd wanted to since he had taken her to eat with his family that first night. A few moments later, he reached over and closed the door.