I Know The End {Fred Weasley, ACT I}

Chapter 9- Charlie's Story

In retrospect, Eleanor's loss of control that night in Grimmauld Place was the beginning of the end. Hindsight truly is twenty-twenty.

But in the days that followed, she simply regarded the episode as utterly embarrassing. It was the first time she had lost control of her magic in such a public manner. It's one thing to burst a glass from time to time, another to create a small fire, but it is something else entirely when you almost incinerate yourself. She believed half the order thought her insane, the rest dangerous. She couldn't entirely blame them for holding those beliefs.

The burn marks on her arms and legs were healing nicely, and the healers at St. Mungo's hospital believed they would disappear completely before the start of the term. They sent her back to Grimmauld Place with bandages covering the lower most half of her body. The earthy smell of burn healing paste radiating from underneath was inescapable.

She registered the whole thing as problematic, but not with the severity she should have. In all fairness, it hadn't been the first time her powers imploded with such strength. She moved on from such previous accidents. There was no reason to worry herself silly over this singular event. It reminded her strongly of Charlie.

The year was 1984, and Charlie was just beginning his first year at Hogwarts. Fall was settling across the grounds. The air was crisp with the impending cold as the pumpkins in front of Hagrid's hut began to decay. Life outside was falling victim to the chill, but Eleanor was flourishing. She had finally made a friend.

Charlie Weasley was easily the kindest person to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts in the expansive amount of time Eleanor spent at the school. He had nothing to gain from seeking Eleanor out. She was much younger than he was and not exactly a happy child. In later years, she pondered why he had even spoken to her in the first place. She had considered his upbringing, but Bill hadn't reached out to her in the two years prior to Charlie's arrival. Did Charlie see the brother's he had left at home in her? Was he nervous to make friends in the beginning of his time at school? That seemed unlikely, as he was always social and the Gryffindors in his year adored him. Whatever it was, she was grateful for it.

Eleanor had not spoken a single word for about three years at this point. She missed her parents and Harry. She missed Uncle Sirius and Uncle Moony. She missed Aunt Marlene and old Bathilda Bagshot. She missed Grandma and Grandpa Evans. She missed Uncle Peter.

No matter how many times Dumbledore told her that most of the people she missed were gone forever, it was a hard concept to grasp. She did not want to speak to the man who had taken her away from her home. It did not matter how softly Albus Dumbledore spoke to Eleanor or how kindly he looked at her over those half moon spectacles. She couldn't seem to make an utterance. She didn't know the answer to his questions. Mommy and Daddy always answered for her when new adults scared her.

Then there was the big, frightening man who had ripped her out of Uncle Sirius' arms the night her parents died. He seemed friendly, but he had taken her from Uncle Sirius, and she didn't understand why. People told her that her Uncle Sirius was a bad person now, but she didn't believe them. All these new adults were liars.

The other kids were older than her and scary. They gawked at her like she was the main exhibit at a freak show. They asked her questions she didn't understand. They asked her if she saw he-who-must-not-be-named die, and she wasn't sure of the answer. They asked about Harry, but she did not know where Harry was. They asked about her parents and she did not want to answer. She didn't like them very much, those older kids. Eventually they stopped asking her questions entirely, and simply referred to her as "that Potter freak."

Eleanor usually sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table for mealtimes, away from everyone else, and ate slowly until the Great Hall filtered out. After breakfast she was ushered to the library, where Madam Pince would teach her basic skills like reading and writing. After her lesson, she would tag along at the back of the Gryffindor first year's classes so that she could be watched over by the professors. After dinner, she was escorted to her special dormitory, which had been fashioned out of an old classroom situated near the professor's quarters. She lived everyday in exactly the same manner, never breaking schedule, never breaking silence.