✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

03 | B I R T H D A Y

please give away the end.
tell me it's us.

   THE MORNING OF her birthday, Ember awoke with a headache made in hell. The plank she had slept on in Ginny's room arched under the weight of her body as she shifted to her right side, away from the burning sunlight shining through the window. Ginny and Hermione were already up, and a gaze on her watch told Ember, that it was close to twelve p.m., so with a groan she pulled the blanket over her head, closing her eyes. But being awake now, she couldn't overhear the voices and the noise coming from the first floor. Wedding preparations were already buzzing, and even though Ember and Harry had assured Mrs Weasley to not do anything for the twins' birthday, Ember was sure that the woman had properly ignored that advice.

   Immediately regretting it, Ember sat up, her back was protesting with a loud cracking noise, and she felt more like seventyone than seventeen. But as she opened the door to the staircase, the smell of coffee kicked in and the wish to fall back asleep vanished without another mourn the further she climbed down the steps.

   "Emmie!"

   The second she entered the kitchen, her sight was taken by a bunch of blonde hair to her left and red to her right, almost being thrown of her feet as two squealing girls flung their arms around Ember.

   "W—what are you doing here?", Ember gasped, as her two best friends let go of her.

   "Oh, Mrs Weasley thought you might be happy to have us here on your birthday", Hannah said, grinning from ear to ear.

    "And by that look upon your face I sure was right", Mrs Weasley beamed, pulling Ember into a bonecrushing hug. "Happy birthday, my dear!"

   Ember wrapped her arms as tight as she could around Mrs Weasley, trying to put every unspoken emotion and all the gratefulness she held for the woman in this one embrace.

·

   "He's about to leave, isn't he?"

   Her and Harry's birthday also was the last evening before the wedding, and Ember found herself degnoming the garden with Ron. She watched one of the gnomes flying high against the setting sun, before it ungracefully fell and hit the ground behind the fence.

   "What?", Ron asked, acting as if he had been all fixated on the gnome, but the red shade covering his ears told Ember otherwise.

   "Oh, you got me right", Ember scoffed, pursing her lips. "He's about to leave. Harry. And obviously you and Hermione are coming with him."

   "Don't know what you're talking about", Ron muttered, his eyebrows furrowed.

   "Well, then why's the ghoul wearing a red wig? And why's your mother so busy keeping the three of you apart during all the wedding preparation? Hermione is always wearing this bag with her ... C'mon, Ronald", said Ember, rolling her eyes at the defiant look upon Ron's face. "I'm not stupid. I know I can't come with you, for no one knows if or when I'll snap. But don't you lie to me."

   Ron grunted, scrunching his nose. "He doesn't want you to know", he plainly said, grabbing another gnome that was passing his feet.

   "Well, unlucky bloke he is, because I already know", Ember growled, but with a light shake of her head, she banned the growing anger out of her head and sighed. "You'll look after him, don't you? You and Hermione will take care of him."

   Ron stopped in his motion, the gnome dangling from his fingers. "Emmie, I can't — where we will go — I can't tell that — ouch!"

   The tiny creature had bitten Ron's slender fingers and fell to the ground; hastily it fled into one of the many holes the lawn withheld, but Ron didn't pay attention.

   "You can't tell that nothing will go wrong?"

   There was a burning sensation stining in the corners of her eyes and she quickly turned around, wiping them in a quick motion.

   "It'll be dangerous", Ron said, "I guess you know that without me telling you what we're up to."

   "That doesn't sound like you're going into hiding ..."

   "Did you expect us to?"

   "I had a faint hope."

   Ron moved next to her, both of them staring at the Burrow's enlightened windows. Still everyone was busy working; Ember watched Harry talking to Ginny, both of them peeling potatoes in the kitchen. Ginny's face was a pale mask, dark shadows beneath her eyes.

   "She doesn't look that happy, huh?", Ember mumbled, watching the younger girl cracking a weak smile at something Harry had said.

   "Well, she loves him", Ron replied. "How'd you feel knowing the guy you love was up to risking his neck for the ridiculously tiny chance to save the world?"

   Like in slow motion, Ember turned towards Ron, finding him already looking down upon her. His red hair was glowing in the light of the setting sun, but his face was as pale as his sister's, having the tiny freckles be even more prominent than usual on this light skin. But his sapphire blue eyes withheld the same warmness they used to do for all those years Ember had stared into them without being able to catch that feeling relentlessly growing inside her, and the scent of applepie and cotton wool filled her nose, almost choking her.

   In that moment, Ember didn't care that Harry could see them if he'd just take his eyes off of Ginny and have a look out of the window; she didn't care that any of the Weasleys, or Remus, or Tonks, even Fred and George could walk through the backdoor and run into them any given second.

   Her arms were around his neck before anyone could stop her, and caught off guard, she pulled Ron's face onto hers, his lips onto hers, but though he gasped in surprise, one of his hands found the small of her back,  while the other got entangled in long black hair, as he pulled her closer against his toned chest.

   Her eyes still closed as the kiss stopped, Ember leaned her head against his shoulder, and his arms tightly wrapped around her, as she whispered, "I'd feel like dying inside."

—