Emotional Connection

talk

It had somehow become a regular thing for Ashley to stop by for dinner after her shift if her dad wasn't home, not that Charlie ever seemed to mind. Occasionally, Ashley would cook instead, when he looked too run down, or when she felt like it was probably her turn and he didn't try and argue too much, but she wasn't as good as he was. He had more Order of the Phoenix stuff to do these days, so she seemed to be cooking more, which was ok, but she could see the worry in his face some days and that unnerved her; Charlie hardly ever let his worry or anxiety show, so it concerned her when she could see it. Especially considering he often wouldn't talk about it to her, or anyone else as far as she knew.

Until one day he threw a stack of letters on the table, glaring at them as though he could set them on fire with his mind.

Mila, who was sat beside him, growled at the letters as though they'd caused harm to her or Charlie, and Charlie tried to settle her but was too pissed himself to have any real effect on her, so Ashley cast a few charms over the meal prep she was doing, and sat beside Mila, moving her to the other side of her with Mango to try and distract her from burning down the house.

"Talk to me." She spoke softly, trying not to annoy or cause him any more upset.

He sighed, turning to her with a look of pure exhaustion that made her heart ache. "The Ministry has taken over Hogwarts and forced Dumbledore out. I knew it was getting worse over, there, I didn't think this would happen. They tried to take him to Azkaban so he's had to go into hiding."

Ashley was a little shocked at the news, but it didn't really surprise her that the Ministry was essentially trying to take over Hogwarts and wizarding Britain considering their refusal to admit Voldemort had returned. "Ok, well, Dumbledore is one of the greatest wizards ever known, he'll be fine. The Ministry is just scared, the best thing we can do is to just keep going. As long as one person is fighting, there's still something to fight for." She wasn't entirely sure if what she was saying was helping, but she had no idea what to say in a situation like this. "We'll have dinner and you can tell me all about everything that's on your mind. You'll feel better after."

Charlie nodded, sitting back and staring at the letters.

"And let's get these out of the way." She carefully collected them all and placed them on the shelf above him, having to stand on the sofa to reach which made him laugh. "Shush, your house was clearly built for someone way above my height."

Charlie laughed still, letting Mila come back to sit with him, chewing on a chicken leg bone. "Thank you."

"For what?" She glanced over, but not wanting to burn their dinner she didn't want to get too distracted.

"Letting me talk about it all to you."

Shaking her head, Ashley smiled to him, "you're my friend, Charl, that's kind of what friends do." She turned back, trying to ignore the strange look that came across his face when she said that, getting on with dinner before plating and sitting on the sofa with him, handing him his plate and cutlery. "Here. So, tell me about it."