"Harry's falling apart and I don't know what's wrong with him," Susan sighed, flopping in Luna's bed sideways. "He screamed at me, Lue, at me! Can you believe it?"
"Yes, he's very broken right now," Luna said calmly. "The nargles and I have been trying to come up with ways to repair him, but I'm afraid he's going to have to do it himself."
"Blah, blah, blah," Susan said with a dramatic hand to her forehead. She missed her best friend, she missed her friends at Hogwarts, she missed Hermione so bad it was like losing Auntie Amelia all over again.
"I feel so bloody useless, Lue," Susan said genuinely. "Harry's carrying the war on his shoulders and the boys are gone and I just want to help."
It was maddening watching Harry work himself to the bone while she sat around and offered advice and assistance. Both of which were being ignored recently. Thankfully, Charlie was around rather frequently for Susan to work off her never-ending frustration at the whole terrible situation, but Susan needed to do something for the war, something for Harry.
It was times like then that Susan missed Johnny. She swore not think about him, but she missed having him around and sometimes when she couldn't sleep, she wondered if he hated her- wherever he was.
He probably did.
It was probably why when Susan slept sometimes, she saw blue eyes and accusing whispers.
"Bitch."
"You could help me with the Quibbler," Luna offered. She turned to lay beside Susan and held her hand with a grin that would always be eleven years old and adorable to Susan. "Harry's given me a list of things he wants to write about and they're very boring, but he's very bossy lately."
"He's soo bossy," Susan agreed with a groan. "I adore him, don't get me wrong, but I can't wait for this to be over so Harry can get laid, sleep for twenty-four hours, eat, and come back to us."
Luna giggled, her cheeks turning a shade of pink and Susan's crass statement, and Susan decided to poke at Luna a bit.
"Of course, maybe Harry isn't the only one who needs to get laid," Susan said sweetly. She rolled on her side and smirked at Luna. "How's darling Draco?"
"Darling," Luna responded immediately, her smile increasing in brightness. It was adorable seeing Luna and Draco so- so childishly in love.
Susan wondered why she'd never looked so fresh faced and innocent; so… so pure… but perhaps she and Luna were just built differently.
"He says Hogwarts is terrible though," Luna said sadly. "It's gotten better since Sirius became Headmaster, but I've got the worst feeling in my stomach about it all."
"In your stomach?" Susan asked, rather surprised. "The nargles haven't helped you any?"
Luna scrunched her face up in a very un-Luna-like expression of distaste.
"We're having creative differences," she said airily. "Some days I wish they'd leave me alone."
Susan rubbed her shoulder, offering a small smile. "This will all be over soon," she said, an empty promise. "There's no way Harry doesn't win."
Luna's eyes went hazy for a moment, her muscles relaxing. "At what cost?" she whispered.
Susan thought of her aunt… Luna's dad… Trent… Hermione…
Johnny.
The cost was already high, but Susan knew the price of losing would be worse.
"Let's do something," Susan told Luna firmly, banishing their miserable thoughts. Everyone had been miserable so long it was as if they invited dementors to move in their chaotic home with them. "Let me see what Harry wants you to write about."
Luna sat up and wandlessly summoned a parchment from her dresser, earning a polite clap from Susan, and she began reading it.
"Expose the Minister as You-Know-Who," she read, causing Susan to roll her eyes at the daft moniker.
"Write about warehouse activity. Write about missing muggle babies. Write about—"
"Boring," Susan declared, agreeing wholeheartedly with Luna's earlier description. Honestly, how Harry expected Luna Lovegood to write such things was beyond her.
Luna perked up at Susan's declaration and she began to get a familiar and sorely missed spark in her wide silver eyes. "What should we write about then?" she asked slowly, her lips stretching out in a smile.
Susan considered all she knew about the Minister, all she knew about the war, and a plan began to slowly take place in her mind.
"Come on," she said, jumping off the bed eagerly, finally seeing a way she could contribute. "Luna Lovegood and Susan Bones, future award winning journalists, have stories to expose!"
Luna, ever the most loyal of friends, simply summoned a jumper (one that Susan was rather sure belonged to Fred… they truly all were mixing up their clothes quite terribly… only that morning Susan had found one of Neville's pairs of boxers in her underwear drawer) and happily followed behind Susan to go find the supplies they needed.
It didn't take long, really.
Susan had a stash of Felix Felicis under her bed in a box that she warded. Considering that Susan stole it in the first place, she was rather paranoid it would be stolen from her.
"In the bag it goes," Susan said cheerfully, taking out two of the carefully measured vials for herself and Luna. Luna took them and gently put them in her extended purse; it was a cute purse, all colorful and sparkly, probably a gift from Narcissa if it was as expensive as it looked.
"What else?" Luna asked, bouncing on the balls of her pink trainers.
Susan considered it for a moment and then grimaced. "And now we have to rob Snape."
"Oh, good," Luna said brightly. "I haven't done anything terribly dangerous since we blew up the prison."
Susan snorted and put her box back under the bed. "That's what I like about you, your never ending optimism," she said. "Do the nargles have any advice on how to steal some journals from Snape?"
Luna hummed while the two of them walked downstairs, arm in arm. "If you distract him, I'll steal them."
Susan raised an interested brow at her best friend. "Do you already know what journals I need?"
"Yup."
"And you know where they are?"
"Mhmm."
Susan laughed gaily and pecked Luna on the cheek with a fond kiss. "Excellent. I'll go distract Snape then."
"Have fuuuun," Luna sang airily, turning around to go right back upstairs. "Be dramatic, Sue."
Susan flipped her hair over her shoulder and smirked confidently. "I always am."
"I'm pregnant."
Snape was sitting behind the desk in his office and stared up at Susan with nothing other than pure horror in every line of his face.
"Did you learn nothing?" he hissed at her as he slapped his hands on the top of his desk and stood in a bent position. "How could you possibly be so foolish?!"
"The worst part is…" Susan lowered her voice and hoped that her eyes looked wet from an upset and not from her repressed laughter. "I'm not quite sure who the father is."
Snape truly looked apoplectic and Susan only wished that Tonks was there to see how his eyes bulged from their sockets and a vein just above his left eyebrow began twitching.
Susan had never seen him look so horrified, it was delightful.
"There are tests that you will be able to take to establish paternity," Snape finally said. It must have been difficult to speak, given the way his jaw was clenched. "Would you like to discuss your options?"
Susan looked over her shoulder at a quiet cough, grinning when she saw that Luna had already finished her very minor theft.
"On second thought, I think I'm cramping now," Susan told Snape with her most dazzling smile. "It must be the stress, ta!"
Susan twirled around and walked gracefully from the office, only letting her peals of laughter escape once the door was closed behind her.
"You're terrible," Luna said fondly. The two of them huddled in front of one of the windows of the sitting room and Luna pulled a black journal from her bag. "There should be three, but I could only find two."
Susan took the journal from Luna and flipped it open, scanning the cramped handwriting on the first few pages quickly.
"This is the one I needed anyway," Susan said confidently. She gave the journal back to Luna and grinned. "Let's see if Harry will loan us his cloak and camera and then we'll go."
"Where are we going?" Luna asked as she followed Susan up the stairs. Susan was practically bouncing up the stairs, pleased to finally have something to do.
"We're going to write the most informative editorial to ever exist," Susan told Luna airily, teasing her just a bit. "Do they give Pulitzer Prizes to witches?"
"Hmm… I don't think so, no."
Susan flicked her hair off her shoulder with her golden arm, flashing Luna a grin as she did. "Then we'll be the first ones, won't we?"
Luna smiled at her and Susan felt for a moment as if everything would be okay, just for the day.
Just for one day, Susan could find her role in the war and feel as if she were doing something to take some of the weight from Harry's shoulders and bring them one step closer to ending it.
Hermione once told Susan about muggle history and their wars that lasted for years and years. Susan had been naive back then, just a third year listening to her friend chatter on about it, and got starry eyed imagining spending her entire life just going from fight to fight, defending her friends and family alike.
But then Susan grew up, Hermione died, and war had lost its glory to the harsh reality.
Susan went to knock on Harry's bedroom door, as everyone knew not to barge in on him if they didn't want a knife in their throat, but the shouting match happening inside of it was too loud for her knock to be heard.
"ALL YOU'RE DOING IS PISSING EVERYONE OFF!" Theo was shouting. "YOU HAVE GOT TO GET A HANDLE ON YOURSELF BEFORE THIS WHOLE BLOODY THING CRUMBLES!"
"I. CANNOT. STOP!" Harry shouted right back, viciously enough that Luna slid her hand in Susan's, squeezing the metal tightly. "EVERYTHING IS GONE, THEO! IT'S LIKE I'M NUMB!"
Susan looked over at Luna and saw her own sadness echoed right back at her. Their Harry was truly shattering under everyone's expectations.
And why should everyone expect Harry to do everything, anyway? Because of a silly prophecy? Because of his magic? Harry was seventeen, he wasn't meant to be responsible for so much.
Harry hardly remembered to feed Sevvie and Stevie, honestly.
Theo murmured something to Harry, something too quiet for Susan to hear through the door, but Harry's cold laughter was clear as could be.
"HAVEN'T I GIVEN ENOUGH?!" Harry screamed. "WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME? MY FUCKIN' LIFE? TAKE IT! I'M DONE!"
Susan clenched Luna's hand like a life raft in familiar waters that suddenly turned violent when Harry threw the door open and barely stopped before running straight into them.
"May we borrow your cloak and camera?" Luna asked Harry while Susan looked in his eyes and felt like weeping for this boy who had grown so much since they were eleven.
Susan wished she could go back to the day they met and just hug Harry, even if it did get a knife to her stomach. Life was turning out to be horribly unfair to him.
"Take them," Harry said shortly, waving his hand and summoning them from wherever he hid his things to his hands. Harry thrust the cloak and camera at Luna, no longer meeting their eyes. "I'm going to Moon Lodge, I need to see Sirius."
Susan brushed Harry's hand as he carefully edged around them and wished she had the words to take some of his pain away. When Harry didn't do much as look back at her, Susan went inside the room to try and get some answers.
"What's wrong with him?" Susan asked, looking from Theo to Fred. Theo was standing in front of the window, his head dropped down, while Fred sat on the foot of the bed, looking truly miserable.
Harry was violent, that was a given, but Harry was always controlled in his violence. Harry was sharp and precise, his cuts always landed exactly where he wanted them to. This Harry? This Harry was out of control and seemed to be in pain that Susan couldn't even comprehend.
This Harry had a hairpin trigger that was ready to explode at any given moment.
"He's not taking his potion," Theo said quickly, a little too quickly for Susan's taste. He picked his head up and looked toward Fred. "He'll be fine. Fred, can you watch Rose for a bit? I'll go make sure Harry doesn't accidentally kill any of the wolves."
"Fred? Are you okay?" Luna asked, going to sit beside Fred and wrapping a willowy arm around his curled up shoulders. Luna tilted her head to rest on Fred's shoulder and Susan took a step back when it seemed as if Fred was going to cry.
Susan could deal with Harry crying, Luna crying, and even that one odd time where Ron had cried over Daphne's betrayal, but Fred crying?
Absolutely not.
Fred's tears were Harry's problem, and Luna's if she wanted that responsibility.
"I'll go," Susan said quietly, her voice hardly heard beneath the sound of Fred crying in Luna's shoulder. Susan carefully reached out and took the cloak and camera from Luna and accepted the bag of supplies before gifting her with an understanding smile.
"It'll get better soon," Susan told Fred, an empty promise. She smoothed down his ruffled red hair just once before turning to leave Luna on 'dealing with Fred's absurd emotions' duty.
Susan wasn't built to handle messy tears and consoling hugs, not when she would never again get those from the person who first gave them to her.
Harry was the only exception, as he was for most things.
Susan knew that Snape and Tonks had enacted some terribly strict 'do not leave the house alone' rule due to most of them being labeled as wanted criminals. It wasn't that Susan didn't understand the rule, it was that Susan chose to ignore it as she would be perfectly safe.
She had Harry's cloak, the lucky potion, and a brilliant plan. Only one more stop to try and salvage her day to something less horrible than it was.
It was meant to be an honor that Bill gave Susan the address of the cottage he shared with Fleur, the one that Susan assumed Charlie would be at. If Charlie wasn't at Invisibility Way, occasionally he would be at Grimmauld Place with his mum, but more often than not he was at his brother's house.
Susan apparated to the cottage and looked around for a moment, soaking in the seaside air and the smells that were a wonderful change to the forest scents that surrounded Harry's house.
All of Susan's memories of the ocean were with her Aunt Amelia, a few of them included Harry as well. If Susan could, if she made it to the elusive finish line, Susan would like a place like Shell Cottage.
It was a quaint cottage, all grey cobbled walls, but it had huge gardens that Susan could just see being filled with flowers in the spring time.
Maybe one day there would be little witches and wizards running in the garden, finding errant seashells. Rosie's hair would be as dark as Hermione's but smooth like Theo's… perhaps there would be a couple fair-skinned blonde's, picking flowers and giggling at fairies only they could see… perhaps even a little one from Harry and Fred… green eyes, freckles, and Harry's horrible hair…
It was a very sweet image. All of Susan's friends, grown and happy, safe and loved.
"You look like you're somewhere else," a low voice said. Susan smiled when she felt Charlie's warm arms wrap around her waist from behind.
"Somewhere happier," Susan said. She turned around in Charlie's loose embrace and looped her arms around his neck. Even when Johnny's cold blue eyes haunted Susan's dreams, it was Charlie's pretty blue eyes that Susan thought of when she was awake. "Are you busy, love?" she asked sweetly. "I have a daring mission that I'd hate to undertake alone."
Charlie laughed, quiet and husky, and then leaned his head down so he could kiss Susan much too briefly.
"For you? I'm never too busy," he winked. "What are your plans today, gorgeous?"
"Mm, it's a very important mission," Susan teased him, sliding closer and holding him tighter. "I'm not quite sure if you're the proper hero to accompany me on such a journey."
Charlie growled playfully and abruptly lifted Susan up so her feet were off the ground. Susan laughed and wrapped her legs around his waist, smiling down at Charlie happily.
"You're just flattering me," Charlie said, grinning up at Susan with a soft look in his eyes. "We both know that if we have trouble, it's you that'll need to protect me."
That was why Susan knew when Charlie proposed - poor dear had told Bill about his plans and Bill was a horrible secret keeper if he had the right brand of scotch - she would accept.
Susan had always been determined not to tie her life to another person too soon, too early, but when Charlie looked so earnestly up at her and acknowledged Susan's strength as well as her beauty? Well, those were the kind of things that could make a girl imagine one more little one running wild… a little girl with red hair that shined in the sun… freckles that painted her skin… and a gap-toothed smile below sparkling blue eyes.
"I'll always protect you, love," Susan said truthfully. She dipped her head down and took her time kissing Charlie slowly, thoroughly, until he was panting and his pupils were properly blown.
"Mm, grab a blanket and we'll shag in the most horribly inappropriate place known to man," Susan said, lowering her voice to something sultry. When Charlie lowered her back to the ground and summoned a blanket almost immediately, Susan rewarded him with another kiss, one much quicker as she truly did have work to do.
"What's this inappropriate place that we're making love at?" Charlie asked, tucking a stray curl behind Susan's ear and then tracing her cheek with a light touch that sent shivers down her spine.
Charlie was such a dedicated romantic, it was adorable. 'Making love', tucking her hair away… it was enough to make Susan roll her eyes at him even while she felt a light blush burn her cheeks.
"It's a surprise," Susan teased him. She tucked her arm in Charlie's and grinned. "Ready?"
"Always."
Susan thought of their destination then turned with deliberation- or whatever tosh Theo said was how apparation worked. Susan preferred Harry's method, closing your eyes and hoping very much to arrive where you wanted in one piece.
Susan and Charlie did appear where she wanted, perfectly in one piece.
"Uh…" Charlie looked around at the dilapidated graveyard they appeared in, one that was just downhill from an equally shoddy looking manor. "Susan, where are we?"
"Little Hangleton," Susan told him with a winning smile and a quick kiss to wipe his confusion off his face. "Come on, let's get our photos quick."
Susan dropped Charlie's arm so she could dig in the bag, quickly finding the camera.
"What are— Susan," Charlie sighed when he saw the grave that Susan went to take photos of. "Honey, have you recently turned suicidal?"
"Not recently, no," Susan hummed as she began to take photographs of Tom Riddle's tombstone, complete with the bloodstains on the marble, the ones that she imagined had stained before the rain could wash them away, and the way the ground was still split.
It certainly felt as if some horrible act of dark magic had happened there. The air was cold, a type of cold that went clear to Susan's bones and made her crave hot chocolate and a cozy fire.
Charlie's rough hands rubbing Susan's arms while she quickly snapped some photos were a decent consolation prize though.
"You're not planning on taunting the Minister of Magic with pictures of the place he resurrected from, right?" he asked.
"Not quite, no," Susan said.
"Mm, I really hope this isn't the romantic area you want to spend our time at," Charlie whispered in her ear before biting her lobe hard. "Because it's creepy, Susan," he added flatly.
Susan laughed as she finished taking the last of the photos. She looped the camera around her neck and then entwined her golden fingers with Charlie's, never failing to marvel at the way the cold metal didn't bother Charlie in the slightest.
"Of course not," Susan told him. "We're going to go take photos of that manor and then I have the perfect spot."
Charlie looked skeptical about Susan's idea of a 'perfect spot', which was just insulting truly. She warned him that it would be inappropriate, but it was also just private enough to be proper without losing the thrill of it being public.
It was perfect.
Charlie dutifully walked up the hill with Susan, his wand held tight in his hand once they broke into the abandoned house on the hilltop.
"Whose house is this?" Charlie asked while they wandered through the manor, pausing occasionally for Susan to snap a photo.
"According to Barty? The Riddles, T- the Minister's father and his parents," Susan said, rolling her eyes internally at the daft taboo in place.
Timmy must truly despise Harry calling him that to taboo the name. Susan felt pity for any unlucky magical soul with the bad luck to share the name.
"And we're here to…?" Charlie asked, looking around a once-grand dining room that was covered in dust and grime.
"We're documenting the story of You-Know-Who," Susan grinned. "It's an interest piece, you see. Inform the public of the bigot's half-blooded background."
Charlie laughed then and he squeezed Susan's hand.
"You're mad," he said affectionately. "If he finds you, he'll kill your in your sleep."
Susan lowered her eyes, looking at Charlie coyly through her lashes. "Maybe I should keep a big, strong, and brave dragon tamer in my bed," she said as she ran a finger down Charlie's chest, enjoying the shimmy he did at the move. "You don't know anyone up to the job, do you?"
"Oh, baby girl, I can find someone," Charlie said. He pulled Susan flush against him by her waist in one smooth move. "Please tell me this is the horribly inappropriate and wildly disturbing place where you want me to lay you down and pull you apart until you're the one begging?"
Susan bit back a groan at the sexy rasp in Charlie's voice and it took quite a bit of her determination to not give in.
"Almost," Susan breathed. She pressed a long kiss to Charlie's lips and then pulled back and winked in his face. "Patience, my love."
"Oi, that's my line," Charlie said with faux-indication. He groaned when Susan stepped out of his arms and was quick to reclaim her hand in his. "Fine, are we done here?"
"Almost," Susan said, merely as a way to tease Charlie more. He made her nearly an entire year after she'd shown him her interest, he could wait another twenty minutes.
Of course, Charlie was being 'proper' and 'a gentleman' while Susan was simply being a tease, but those were just semantics.
Once Susan finished in the manor, documenting everything down to the dusty photographs of Riddle Senior, who shared an uncanny resemblance to the Minister, she had to consult Barty's journal again.
"This way," she told Charlie confidently, setting off toward their last stop in Little Hangleton. Charlie hummed a song under his breath while they walked.
Susan imagined that to the outside viewer, they made a sweet photo. Susan with her arm tucked in Charlie's, her head tilted close enough to his to occasionally tickle him with her hair. The trees of that surrounded the path they walked were shedding their fall leaves and preparing for winter.
It could be like that all the time, when the war ended.
"Charlie?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you going back to Romania when this is all over?" Susan asked, hiding her vulnerability in a mask of polite curiosity.
"No, I don't think so," Charlie said seriously. "Not right away, anyhow. Mum- Mum needs us around, you know? And…" Charlie stopped walking for a moment and gave Susan a shy smile that made him look like a little boy. "And I'd hate to leave my girl behind."
Susan let out a quiet sigh, always secretly touched by Charlie's simple honesty. It was quite different with him than with the others that Susan used to be with.
Lavender was vain and clingy, Padma had been a prude, and Johnny…
Johnny wasn't worth thinking about if she could help it.
"Bitch."
"Sentimental fool," Susan said quietly. She kissed the tip of Charlie's nose and knew that he knew what she was really saying. "Come on, let's hurry before it gets dark."
The two of them stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, but Susan figured she wasn't the only one lit up inside with the warm kind of contentment that she assumed eventually led to more serious vows and dramatic proclamations of love.
"Now this is ghastly," Charlie chuckled when they did finally find the place that Barty once discovered the horcrux that hid the stone Harry used to talk to his mum. It was ghastly, truthfully.
The little shack, if it could even be called such a thing, was half rotted from weather and almost entirely covered in plants that would make even Neville cringe.
"Welcome to the birth home of the Minister's mother," Susan told Charlie. Barty had outlined the curses and traps that coated the inside of the house, the ones that protected the ring, and Susan had no interest in testing if Barty removed them all or not.
It was enough to snap a few photos, zooming in on the utter destruction of the place, and then tuck the camera away safely in the bag.
"Now, let's get to business," Susan said, turning and wrapping herself around Charlie once more. She smiled at him, her absolutely most stunning smile, the smile that used to be tested in Hogsmeade with Blaise as they competed on pulling.
Charlie's eyebrows rose, and oh Susan adored the little black hoop in one of his brows.
"Susan… this is a very inappropriate place," Charlie said lowly as his muscular arms wrapped around Susan's waist and pulled her even closer to him.
Susan's smile twisted to more of a smirk.
"I know, it's brilliant, isn't it?"
It was brilliant, actually.
With a few warming charms, the front garden of the Gaunt Shack made a brilliant, inappropriate, and lovely place to spend a few hours where Susan could forget all about the war and the fear and the death that felt as if it loomed over their heads.
Susan was briefly irritated by a little silver chameleon interrupting them, asking if Susan was safe, but Susan had plenty of happiness in the moment to send back a rather breathless response with her badger.
And to think, Susan didn't even end up needing the Felix Felicis.
When the sun had set, Susan let Charlie apparate her back to Shell Cottage and send Tonks a quick message, letting her know not to expect Susan home until the next morning.
Even though Susan was an adult, Tonks was terribly clingy and all the more so since Hermione.
Charlie and Susan laid in his bed that night, cuddled up against each other, sharing their fears in the dark.
"Dad's gone, George is- is all messed up… Percy's working for that prick, and Ron and Gin are at the castle," Charlie whispered. He held Susan tightly against his front and buried his face in her hair. "I can't lose anyone else."
Susan closed her eyes and admitted her most shameful wish.
"I wish we didn't have to fight, I wish we could all just leave. We could find a little place like this and just- just be safe and happy."
Susan felt Charlie's lips curl up in a smile, but his voice was sad.
"Why can't we stay here, honey?"
Susan smiled just as sadly and tried to pull Charlie's arm so he would hold her even tighter.
"Because Harry won't give up," she said truthfully. "And I won't leave him."
Ever.
Susan enjoyed a calm breakfast the next morning, exchanging barbs with Bill while Fleur kept pulling the table high with food.
If Bill Weasley thought he could embarrass Susan with a few pointed quips and innuendos, he was quite wrong. Susan spent the last six and a half years with Blaise Zabini.
By the time Fleur scolded them both to 'knock eet off', it was Bill who was sporting a blush.
"Attendre, Susan!"
Susan had just been preparing to leave with Charlie, as he insisted on 'seeing her home safely', when Fleur came rushing to her with a parchment.
"I do not know eef this 'elps, but 'Arry asked me to find out what I could on zis vault," Fleur said, pressing a parchment in Susan's bewildered hands. Fleur smiled, a strained smile that did nothing to diminish her beauty. "I stole eet, and ze goblins do not think 'ighly of theft, non? I 'ope eet eez worth it."
Susan looked down at the parchment, scanning it over quickly, and then beamed at Fleur once she recognized the information.
"Fleur, your beauty is only matched by your brains," she declared as she pulled Fleur in for a quick hug, only momentarily disappointed that the two of them were more likely to be sister-in-laws rather than ever brief lovers.
Fleur pecked Susan on the cheek, bringing a small blush to the younger woman's face.
"You are too sweet, Susan," Fleur said warmly. "You will be 'ere on Christmas, yes? You will stand by me while Charlie stands beside Bill?" Fleur's face turned sad for just a moment, a shadow passing through her eyes. "Eet will be a small ceremony, just our family 'ere, we will celebrate with my family once- once we are able."
"Of course," Susan said immediately, thrilled to be asked. "You'll let me know what to wear?"
Fleur stuck her nose in their air, her charming haughtiness making itself known.
"Obviously," she drawled before sniffing. "I will send you and Luna dresses, and Bill says I must include Ginevra as well."
"That'll go excellently since Bill's having George and Harry stand with him as well," Charlie chuckled. "Mad bastard just wants a fight to break out."
"Eef Ginevra eez injured, I will pretend to weep just as she pretends I cannot 'ear 'er calling me Phlegm," Fleur said darkly. "Au revoir, Susan. Come visit more often, yes?"
"I think she's lonely there," Charlie said once the two of them were able to escape Fleur's goodbye hugs. "Bill's been spending more time at the Ministry, trying to talk with Perce, and Fleur can't stand being around Mum at Grimmauld by herself."
"She could come to our place more often," Susan pointed out. "Or Moon Lodge, I think Remus gets lonely as well."
Charlie raised a brow at Susan, conveying his disbelief. "With Fred and George bothering him every week and the rest of you little chaotic beasts running to him when you need someone to talk to?"
Susan stopped just outside the wards for Shell Cottage and put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes dangerously at Charlie.
"Did you just call me a beast?" she demanded.
Charlie grinned impishly and quickly kissed Susan right where her eyebrows were furrowing at.
"You're a mad beast, baby, but luckily I'm very well equipped at handling beasts."
Charlie Weasley was lucky that he was rather cute.
And a terribly soppy romantic.
"I love you, Susan Bones," he said before kissing her goodbye on the front step of Invisibility away. He backed away with his hands in his pockets and a silly grin on his face. "This is the part where you say it back," he called to her.
"You're a fool, Charles," she yelled at him, grinning just as ridiculously.
"I'm your fool, baby," Charlie yelled. He blew a couple of ridiculous kisses to her and then turned on the spot, disappearing with a crack and leaving behind an echo of his laugh.
"And I love you," Susan said quietly, thinking again of the future after the war.
One day it would be safe to love openly and give her heart away proudly like Harry and Fred did and Fleur and Bill were planning.
And thanks to the parchment Fleur gave her, perhaps they were one step closer to that day.
Susan went in search of Harry, wanting to give him the information from Fleur before she drafted up the first edition of the newly revised Quibbler with Luna. Luckily, or perhaps not so luckily, Susan found Harry, Luna, Theo, Fred, and George in Theo's room.
"What'd I miss?" Susan whispered to Luna after quietly joining her against the wall, eyeing the boys as they argued.
It was quite clearly Harry losing his temper on George, but Susan was sure that George said something to trigger it.
"George is leaving, going to stay with Molly," Luna whispered. "I'm not sure how it got here though… Harry's very unhappy with George."
Obviously.
"I saved your fuckin' life," Harry snapped at George. He waved his hand toward Fred, flashing the ring he wore on his left hand as he did. "And you're just going to leave Fred here?"
"Saved my life?" George laughed and Susan's heart ached at the hollow sound from what it once was. It was terrible, seeing George force himself to laugh and joke while he moved around in his chair, unable to even see. "You should have let me die, Harry. This isn't a bloody life."
"I could kill you now, fix that mistake, yeah?" Harry said coldly. He barely moved a pinky finger before his favorite gun flew through the door and wound up in his hand.
"Hey, no!" Theo lunged toward Harry to grab the gun when a quiet click was proof that Harry meant what he said. "Your goddaughter is in here!" Theo said hastily when Harry merely held the gun up out of Theo's reach.
"Now's a good time to go, Georgie," Fred whispered to his brother. "Let him calm down."
"I used to wonder what Fred saw in you," George said, a final cutting remark as he began backing his chair out of the room. Susan didn't like the bitter twist of his lips that were uncannily aimed right at Harry. "I guess I'll never really know now, eh?"
"Don't," Luna said, stepping over quickly to block Harry from actually killing George as he looked rather tempted to do. "He's just hurting, Harry, just like you are. You're brothers, this is normal."
Harry stared at Luna for a long moment as something silent and heavy passed between them that had Susan's eyes tearing up.
She hated this. She hated this horrible feeling everyone was carrying around while they wondered who would be there to see the end of the war and who wouldn't.
It was no wonder that Charlie with his kind smiles and sweet words were such an addictive vice, something to make her think of anything other than the war and what it was costing them.
"What'd you want, Sue?" Harry asked finally, dropping his hand to his said and aiming the gun at the floor. His eyes flicked to Susan and Susan wished Theo wasn't in the room so she could grab her best friend and hug him so tightly.
"You need to kill Rodolphus Lestrange," she told him simply. "Do you remember Alexander Lestrange?"
Theo and Fred nodded, but Harry shook his head.
"Nope."
Theo sighed and looked fondly over at Harry. "You cut his face, left those ghastly scars down his face?"
Harry shrugged and Susan and Fred exchanged a small grin.
"He cursed Ron," Luna reminded him.
"Oh," Harry clearly remembered then. "Yeah, what about him, Sue?"
Susan smiled and showed Harry the parchment that Fleur managed to steal a copy of.
"See this?" she asked, moving closer to stand by Harry and show him the line of interest. "The Lestrange vault at Gringotts? It goes to Alexander when Rodolphus dies."
"And you think he'll give me the cup in it?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes. "We aren't exactly best mates, are we?"
Susan smiled sweetly at Harry and pulled another parchment from her hoodie pocket, one she took from Ron and Draco's empty room before going to Theo's.
"You might not be best mates, but he did join your side," Susan reminded him. She showed Harry the letter that Lestrange wrote at the beginning of fifth year, the one that all but begged Harry to let him ally himself with the 'true Heir of Slytherin'.
"Oh." Harry took the letter and read it. Susan frowned at the flash of something in Harry's eyes. It was good news, they were one step closer to ending the war, but Harry didn't look pleased at all. But then Harry blinked and his face was perfectly blank, nearly bored looking. "Alright, I'll find Rodolphus then."
"I'll go with you," Susan offered immediately, hastily tucking the parchments back in her pocket. She smiled at Harry hopefully. "We haven't done anything together in ages."
"We just broke in a prison, the ministry before that," Harry reminded her with a smirk. "You stay here with Luna, I'll take…"
"Snape," Theo said quickly when Harry seemed to be deliberating. "And maybe Lucius, he'd know where they're hiding out at."
"Brill," Harry said, accepting the suggestion easily. He flashed a brief smile at Theo, maybe just a little mocking. "D'you wanna come?"
Theo hefted Rose up in his arms from her nearby crib and rolled his eyes at Harry. "And risk leaving my daughter an orphan? No."
"Chicken," Susan teased Theo with a wink. "Come on, Rosie, don't you want to hang out with Auntie Susan? Let Daddy go find bad guys?"
"Stop it," Theo snapped, turning his body away from Susan as if he needed to shield Rose from her. "I'm not going, okay? I- I can't leave her alone."
"Susan was only teasing, Theo," Luna said seriously. "We understand."
And they did, of course.
Susan adored seeing Theo so wrapped up in Rose's orbit, doting on her and keeping her safe. If nothing else, it was Susan's deepest desire to see Theo and Rose escape from the war unscathed.
Susan knew how it felt to lose both your parents to a war and she never wanted Rose to feel that.
… even if Susan would be as excellent of a stand-in parent as Auntie Amelia was for her.
While the boys split up, Harry to go plan an attack with Snape and Malfoy, Fred to go help his brother either move or learn to avoid Harry, and Theo to give Rose a bottle and bath, the girls went to Luna's room to develop the photographs she took.
"I can start writing while you do that," Luna offered. She settled in the middle of her bed and pulled parchment and a quill from beneath her pillow. "We can have a draft ready soon and show it to Harry, perhaps cheer him up some."
Susan didn't think that an article about Timmy was going to cheer Harry up, but she was still content to spend the day in Luna's room, helping draft, edit, and arrange the photographs and accompanying 'front page editorial' on the storyboard Luna needed to print.
"That man won't like this at all," Luna said happily when they were finished and had the first draft of the Quibbler 2.0 in their hands.
Susan grinned at the exposé that outlined Tom Riddle Junior's less than pure beginnings and agreed wholeheartedly.
"No he won't," Susan said. "We should print hundreds of these, Lue. We can send one to everyone at Hogwarts, Ministry employees—"
"The Minister himself," Luna said with a delighted giggle. She handed the draft to Susan and then quickly returned to her bed, summoning new parchment with a wild light in her eyes. "I've got to finish the rest of the paper. If I work fast, I think I can have it done by morning and we can send it out tomorrow night!"
Susan laughed as well, finally feeling as if she were useful in the war.
"Brilliant," she said with a true smile. "I'm going to go show Harry, I'll be back."
"Mm," Luna hummed absently, ink flying as her quill moved across the page, a fire back in her as she too found a role in the war.
Susan would prefer to be on team 'eliminate our enemies' than 'expose them', but as long as she was doing something.
Susan waltzed in Harry and Fred's room after knocking and receiving no response. If Harry was in there and didn't want her in, he would say so. As it was, the bedroom was empty so Susan plopped on Harry's familiar bed and stroked Stevie's scales, murmuring sweet nothings to the snake as it slept on Harry's pillows.
"You sweet boy," Susan cooed. "Are you keeping our Harry safe, hmm? Hissing at Blippy when she gets too annoying?"
Stevie opened one eye and flicked his tongue out, as much of a confirmation as Susan figured she could understand.
"Good boy," Susan praised him. She laid her head on the pillow beside Stevie, still clutching the draft of the Quibbler 2.0 in one hand. Susan let her eyes drift around the room, grinning at the group photos from the Hogwarts Express that Harry had stuck to his wardrobe door.
It wasn't until Susan got up to inspect the photos that she noticed one of the doors was open and just inside the door was something distinctly purple.
"I knew Harry stole this!" Susan cried victoriously with only Stevie as a witness. She pulled her favorite purple scarf from the wardrobe and threw it over her shoulder. "Hermione made this," she said, defending her theft to the snake. "And Harry doesn't even use scarves, he's ridiculous," she sniffed.
When Stevie didn't seem inclined to bite Susan for the rightful theft of her own stolen property, Susan began digging through Harry's clothes. Perhaps he had more of Susan's clothes or something of his own that would look better on her…
"What the fuck?" Susan whispered. She had been digging in the back of Harry's wardrobe and instead of any cute tops or warm jumpers, her fingers found a hard box.
"To spy or not to spy…" Susan deliberated aloud, looking over at Stevie as if he'd give an opinion. She tugged the box out of the wardrobe and frowned at its weight, clearly it had charms on it if it carried as much as it felt as if it did.
Susan sat the heavy box on Harry's bed and stared at it, squinting one eye closed, then the other.
"Spy," she decided immediately. She and Harry never kept secrets from each other, not really. If anything, Susan was probably about to find some horribly embarrassing sentimental things of Fred's or maybe even sex toys.
Ugh.
That second choice was almost enough to squash Susan's curiosity, but Auntie Amelia hadn't called her 'Nosy Nellie' for nothing.
Susan carefully removed the lid of the box, rather surprised that it wasn't warded, which reinforced her belief that it was Fred's belongings. There was a little shelf built in the top of the box, one that was lined with envelopes.
When Susan grabbed one of the envelopes to glance at it, it wasn't Fred's elegant scrawl on it but Harry's cramped scribble.
'Mavis', it said…
Why would Harry have an envelope for Mavis tucked in a box hidden in his wardrobe?
Susan's fingers were trembling when she flicked through the other envelopes—
'Theo's Baby'
'Sirius'
'Tonks'
'Draco'
'Blaise'
'Susan'
Harry would be furious, but Susan ripped open the envelope and pulled the letter with her name at the top with a sick feeling in her stomach.
Susan,
You are the greatest friend I could ever wish for.
You were my first friend, actually. I've never been able to trust anyone like I have you.
I can't put in words what you mean to me, what you've always meant to me, but I don't think I have to anyway, you just get it.
I'm leaving you my sword I killed the basilisk with. It's all soaked in basilisk blood and I want you to use it to kill Timmy after Sev kills me. It's priceless, which means it's worth a fortune, and it'll be worth more after you kill Timmy.
Take care of our gang, they're going to need a new leader.
Take all my love, it's yours.
-Harry
Susan released a heavy breath she'd held while she read Harry's letter and heard how raspy and shaking it was.
All the letters… they were goodbyes.
Harry wasn't planning on surviving the war- he didn't think he could.
The price of winning the war had shot up to a cost that Susan wasn't willing to pay.
Susan waited patiently on Harry's bed, letting herself cry in the privacy of his bed. By the time Harry returned home and entered his room, Susan had read every letter he wrote and had cried out every tear in her reservoir.
"Susan…" Harry froze at the foot of his bed and his face drained of all color as he looked at the letters scattered around Susan. "What the fuck did you do?"
"What did I do?" Susan asked, waving one of the letters at Harry. "What did you do, Harry?"
Harry's eyes moved past Susan to the box that was sitting behind her. The box that was full of items he was bequeathing to everyone.
"I didn't do it, it was Dumbledore," Harry said, relaxing some when he saw that Susan hadn't taken any of the items from the box, only the letters. "The wand doesn't work for me, Sue. He- it just doesn't work."
"So your option is to die?!" Susan demanded. She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Harry, pulling him close so she could tell herself he was there, he was alive, he wasn't dead.
"There's not a lot of other choices, are there?" Harry asked as his arms slowly came up and he held Susan nearly as tight as she held him. "I'm sorry, Sue. I'm so fuckin' sorry."
"Don't do it, please," Susan begged as she held her favorite person in the world in her arms. "Do anything else, love, please just live."
Harry pulled out of Susan's hug then and twisted his lips to the side in what would have been a smirk if his eyes weren't red-rimmed and wet.
"And let him win?" Harry clicked his tongue. "You know I can't."
"I don't care if he wins!" Susan snapped furiously. "Timmy can have the whole bloody world as long as I have—"
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
For a second, just one split-second, Harry stared in Susan's eyes, horrified.
"What the fuck did you do?" he breathed.