A/N: Thanks again you guys for another fantastic round of reviews! I'm so glad you all seem to be enjoying this chapter so far!
Just to clear up a bit of confusion about the D/G and N/G: All the D/G is in flashback form in a later chapter of this story. It'll be chapter 9 most likely.
This is another bit of a filler chapter- just to get in the character's heads and move the plot along. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Ron didn't talk much as the three guys tackled the stables. Neville raked out all the stale, mouldy hay from the stalls while Harry began to scrub the floors. Ron worked at the windows.
"This doesn't feel like we did anything!" Harry sighed several hours later. His arms and knees ached from being on the floor and it actually didn't look much better than when he started.
"Tell me about it." Ron frowned at the three windows he'd managed to clean. They were sparkling but the six left around the room were still caked with grime. "And it bloody smells in here!"
Neville rolled his eyes. "That would be the hay Ron. I don't see you offering to pull it out of the stalls." He wore a kerchief over his nose.
"Isn't it almost lunch now?" Ron ignored Neville's comment.
"Probably," Harry stretched his sore back. "When we start cleaning again one of you is doing floor duty. I'm done with this!" he tossed his now black sponge into the now black pail of water.
"Works for me." Ron replied. They left the stable, all three of them breathing in as much clean air as possible.
"You three smell awful," Ginny said, crinkling her nose. Harry, Neville and Ron had just appeared in the dining room.
Luna laughed while Hermione hid her smile with her hand.
"Well how about you go clean the sodding stables while Harry, Neville and I work upstairs?" Ron shot back, his eyes narrowing at his sister. "Or do you just sit up in the attic and dream of your nights with Malfoy while Hermione and Luna do all the work?"
Ginny glared at her brother. "You need to get over what happened between Malfoy and me Ron. It was none of your business to begin with and it STILL isn't your business!" she slapped him hard before turning on her heel and heading upstairs.
"Ron that was really uncalled for," Harry said quietly. "I thought you said you were going to stop bothering her about that."
Hermione frowned at him. "She's right Ron. That situation had to do with her and Malfoy, and only her and Malfoy."
Luna simply stared at him before heading out of the room as well, Hermione following closely behind her.
Harry only shook his head before taking a place at the table and grabbing a sandwich off the tray. "Come on Neville, let's just eat and get back outside."
"Right," Neville said. He took a sandwich and bit into it, his eyes glaring angrily at the redhead. "You know, I think I'll just eat this on my way back to the stables." He left, slamming the door behind him.
Harry remained where he was. "Ron… sit down."
"Why?" Ron spat. "All you're going to do is lecture me about Ginny again."
"That's right," Harry said evenly. "So sit down and we can get it over with."
Ron rolled his eyes but sat quite gracelessly in one of the heavy antique chairs.
"First," Harry began. "Ginny is your sister. She's not blood related to me, but I feel closer to her than you do. There's something wrong with that. Second, we've all made mistakes. Do I even need to bring up the long list of them that one Ronald Bilius Weasley has trailing behind him?"
"Sod off Harry," Ron snapped. "Just because you're all saintly in everyone's eyes doesn't mean I have to be!"
"That's just IT Ron!" Harry suddenly shouted. "This isn't about me! This is about you and you pushing Ginny further and further away because of your stupid ego!" He got up from his chair. "Think about that before you start making everyone else think you're a stupid git as well." He left in the same manner that Neville did.
Ron sighed as he sat down again, picking a sandwich out of the pile. He nibbled at it for a few minutes before shoving the chair back and heading for the stairwell. He climbed up until he reached the attic stairway.
"I don't know what his PROBLEM is!" he could hear Ginny sniffle.
"I know," Hermione was now saying. "He'll come around sooner or later Gin. In the meantime, just ignore what he says all right?"
"All right," Ginny replied. "I'm going to use the loo; I'll be back in a few minutes all right?" she headed down the stairs and saw Ron just standing to the right of the door. "What do you want?" she asked.
"To talk to you," Ron replied. "Come here," he pulled her into one of the spare bedrooms.
"What about? To tell me what a whore I am?" Ginny asked bitterly. "No need, you've already done it several times."
"Look…" Ron looked at his shoes for a minute. "I'm sorry all right?" he muttered. "You're not a whore. I shouldn't have said that to you."
Ginny could hardly believe her ears. "Wait… you're apologising?"
"Yeah." Ron said. "I was wrong to say those things… and I shouldn't be shoving what happened in your face. I know… it was a mistake."
"A big one," Ginny admitted. "No one cares anymore but you."
Ron pushed his red hair out of his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said again. "Gin… it's just that it was Malfoy… of all people. I don't understand and I won't likely ever understand. But you're my sister and I love you all right?"
Ginny looked at him pensively for a moment. "Do you really mean that? You're not just saying it because Harry and Hermione are mad at you?"
"I mean it," Ron said honestly.
Ginny's lips twitched and then she came forward and hugged him tightly. "Thanks Ron. That means a lot to me."
Ron pulled her close and rested his chin on her head. He actually felt a lot better about himself now too. Ginny pulled away after a few moments.
"I forgot how bad you smell right now," she said, laughing.
"Oh go on with you," Ron grinned and pushed her away. "Before I take you to the stables and throw you in the mouldy hay that Neville's pushing out of the stalls."
Ginny gave a squeal and raced out of the room; both Weasleys' felt much better than they had just a quarter of an hour earlier.
*** Several Days Later ***
Hermione carefully lifted another old, crumbling photo album from the box and gingerly opened it. She had looked through several of these old albums over the past couple of days; her interest in the old pictures quite apparent.
Luna and Ginny enjoyed looking through them as well, but their interest was mostly in the old clothes they found. Luna was currently wearing something lacy and ruffled with a moth eaten fur stole around her neck while Ginny was in an old flapper dress that looked dynamite with her red hair.
"Come on Hermione, put the other dress on," Ginny pleaded.
"I will in a bit," Hermione answered. "I want to look at these old albums first."
"That's all you've been doing!" Ginny replied.
"I know…" Hermione paused to turn the page. "But remember how we were all wondering about the person who left Aunt Charlotte this place? I want to see if I can find pictures of them when they were younger. Maybe we can get her to open up about him if we bring it to her."
As open as her Aunt Charlotte was, she remained curiously tight lipped about the man who had willed Crossways to her. That of course made Hermione, Luna and Ginny more determined to find out about him through the old photographs.
Luna pulled another album from the box as she unwound the stole from her neck. "It might go faster if we all look," she said. Ginny smiled at her friends and sat down too.
The next few moments were spent flipping carefully through the old books until Hermione let out a gasp. "I think I found something!"
Luna and Ginny dropped their books and crowded around the brown haired girl. "Richard and Charlotte by Crossways, 1937." She read aloud.
"Wow, Hermione, you look a lot like she did back then." Ginny said.
"Yes you do," Luna twirled her hair around her finger. "Look, there's another one," she pointed to the next page where Charlotte and Richard were holding hands and laughing. The one beneath it had the two of them on a large flat swing; Richard's arms wound tightly around Charlotte's slender shoulders.
"It… looks as if they were more than friends," Ginny said, voicing the opinion the three girls shared.
"It certainly does," Hermione's eyes were wide. "I wonder…" she set the album down and dove into another one of the boxes. "I saw a journal in here when I was packing these away that had the name Richard engraved on the cover. I wonder if it's his…" she dug furiously until she held a small brown leather covered book. "Richard Kensington," Hermione read.
Luna carefully turned the photo album they were looking at to the front cover. "This has the name Kensington written in it," she said in a hushed voice.
Hermione tucked the journal into the waistband of her jeans. "We shouldn't read this now." She said.
"What? Why not?" Ginny asked.
"Let's finish all the work we have to do and tonight we'll read." Hermione replied. Ginny and Luna looked at each other then back at Hermione. "Tonight!" the other girl said firmly.
"Come on Hermione, you know you want to take a peek," Luna teased.
Hermione bit her lower lip. "Fine…" she relented, knowing they were right.
'Today was the start of Father's trial. I know he had nothing to do with that bank robbery. So do most of the townspeople. But the judge insists on going ahead with the trial so we have to be down there every day for the next couple of weeks.
The newspaper reporters were waiting there by the courthouse for us. I saw Charlotte standing off to the side; she gave me a kiss on the cheek as we headed inside. "For luck," she said to me.
That judge isn't a very nice person. He was giving me nasty faces as I sat down with Mother in the front row, just behind where my father was sitting. I don't know why he hates my father so much.'
Hermione reluctantly closed the journal. Ginny and Luna were staring at her with pleading looks but Hermione forced herself to be strong as she tucked the journal back in her waistband. "Later you guys. Come on; let's bring these downstairs so Aunt Charlotte can go through them."
Luna and Ginny both groaned as the three of them started bringing boxes downstairs. Luna purposely kept the picture they'd discovered of Aunt Charlotte out of the piles of albums.
"Are you going to tell her about the journal?" Ginny asked quietly as they piled the boxes outside her office.
"Maybe… once we've read it," Hermione grinned rather mischievously.
*** *** ***
Charlotte pulled one of the boxes the girls had brought down next to her on the sofa. They'd all gone to bed already, talking and laughing amongst themselves as they climbed the stairs.
This would be like a blast from the past for her, she realised. There were bound to be endless photographs of Richard in here.
"Richard," she sighed softly, pushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. It had been years upon years since she'd set eyes on him; at least twenty five give or take a few. They had parted on decent terms, but Charlotte had always wondered what she'd given up the day she left him standing right here on the front porch.
"Enough of that," she said firmly. It wouldn't do her any good to dredge up old memories of things past. With that in mind, she pulled out the first album.
*** *** ***
Neville tossed and turned in his bed. He wasn't sure why- he'd gotten plenty of work that day that should have tired him out but he was wide awake.
It was most likely Ron's snores. Neville figured he should be used to them after spending seven years of his life in the same dormitory as the redhead but it was always hard to get used to them after spending a few weeks at home during the summer holiday.
As he turned on his side and stuffed his pillow over his ears, another redhead drifted to mind. Neville turned on his back and looked over at Harry, whose mouth was slightly open as he slept. He had been lucky to hold her affections for the first three years Ginny Weasley was at Hogwarts.
He had always wondered why she had accepted to be his date to the Yule Ball his fourth year. Neville suspected she had held out for Harry to ask her but he'd gone with Parvati instead. He'd decided to ask her after Hermione had turned him down, as she had already agreed to go with Viktor Krum.
They'd had a nice time, at least when he wasn't stepping on her feet. She'd seemed to enjoy his company but right after the ball she started dating Michael Corner from Ravenclaw.
Then… there was the situation of this past year with her and Draco Malfoy. Neville had literally been floored when he'd heard about it, especially from someone like Pansy Parkinson. He'd admired how she held her head up through it all, even though Malfoy was his normal snivelling self and basically left her to deal with the mess.
He wished she'd turn his way for once. He'd tried to be there for her in the aftermath, only as a friend, but the only people she'd really talk to were Hermione and Luna. After school had finished, he'd sadly left her at Platform 9 ¾ while his Gran dragged him away, talking about how he was to come here and work during the holiday.
Of all the people here this summer it was her he was glad to see the most. And Neville was bound and determined to make Ginny Weasley notice him before they had to leave.