"Joe, it's time to get up," Ginny said, shaking her until she stirred.
She felt like she'd just laid down to sleep, only to be awoken again.
She groaned but sat up nonetheless, stretching as she yawned.
"Nice haircut," Ginny grinned widely before gesturing at her hip. "Hey! When'd you get that?"
Josephine looked down, following her line of sight. Her shirt had raised just slightly enough to show a black mark to the left of her hipbone.
Hermione's gasp was so loud and so startling that both girls jumped. She almost expected to see a bloodied murder scene on her bed from the way Hermione was staring.
The two girls shared a look. They both knew what it meant.
Josephine reached down, rubbing the mark, distinctly aware of the chills it sent throughout her body.
"A dog is an interesting tattoo," Ginny said, her head tilted. "Did you have one?"
"No," Josephine answered hesitantly. "Must've got it in Madrid," she lied.
"You don't remember getting it?" Ginny asked, concerned, her face scrunching. "Too drunk?"
Not drunk enough to get a tattoo and not remember it. She didn't have it two days ago or yesterday morning, which meant she got it last night.
Literally last night, a mere few hours ago.
"Must've been," she laughed, but it sounded incredibly forced.
"Okay," Ginny drawled awkwardly, "I'm going to go eat; you should get ready...mum wants you and Mione to wake Harry and Ron," Ginny said and left the room.
"You have to tell him," Hermione rushed, not even giving her a chance to breathe.
Josephine hadn't even made it to the bathroom before the words left Hermione's mouth.
She felt exhausted. "It's not that simple, Hermione," Josephine huffed.
"It is, though," Hermione exclaimed. "It's that simple."
"Someone just broke into my house to look for me. Pettigrew knows I have a soulbond; he just doesn't know it's Ron. If they saw that mark, they'd know that I know who that person is, and then he'd be in danger," Josephine rushed, tears brimming. Her chest was impossibly tight. "I can't risk it...and it's not like I've accepted it-"
"Joe, you know I'm always on your side, but...he's already accepted it, which means it's a matter of time before you do, too." She looked incredibly sympathetic, but her tone was so matter-of-fact.
"It does not mean that!"
Hermione looked at her like she was speaking a different language.
'Let's go wake them up," Josephine deflected, and she didn't wait for Hermione to say something before leaving the room.
Josephine walked up to Ron's bed. She looked at the sleeping boy.
He'd bear'd his soul to her without even knowing he did it. It felt like an invasion of privacy for her to know how he felt when he'd never told her. Maybe he didn't even know himself.
Waves of guilt racked her body so palpable she could feel the pain in her fingers.
Ron slept contently on his back; the covers had been bunched around his waist, revealing his tan, bare torso with traces of abs, light patches of hair, and light freckles from playing Quidditch and doing yard work all summer.
He'd grown a lot, too, over break by at least four inches. He had to be past five-nine for sure, maybe five-eleven. His arms and chest were more filled out than they'd been last term. His nose pointed and his freckles darker from the sun to juxtapose his lighter hair.
YOU ARE READING
No Goodbyes \ Ron Weasley
Fanfiction"You said it was unimportant, Joe! This is monumentally important!" "A foe like she'd never known." "Friendship was going to be the only way to get through this." "He looked at her, actually looked at her, and wondered how anyone who saw her didn't...
