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BOOK TWO: CHAPTER FIVE

Veronica's head was pounding as her senses slowly returned. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she already knew Charlie was by her side. She could smell the familiar scent of vanilla and the outdoors that she'd grown to love so much, and she could feel him squeezing her hand tightly. She could also hear the hushed whispers of voices she couldn't quite hear enough to recognize.

Once her headache receded, she fluttered her eyes open and took in her surroundings. Charlie was sitting on her right and Bill on her left, while Snape, Flitwick and Dumbledore stood at the foot of her bed. No one had noticed yet that she was awake, and she tried to get their attention, but her voice was caught in her throat, and she didn't have the energy to squeeze Charlie's hand.

As he had done frequently over the last 24 hours, Charlie had glanced over at Veronica to make sure she was okay, and gasped loudly when he saw that she was awake. Scrambling to his feet, he held her hand to his heart with one hand and stroked her cheek with the other. "You're awake! Merlin, Veronica, you scared me to death!" Veronica's heart melted at his soft smile and relieved eyes, and Charlie could see the same look reflected back at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I–" Veronica tried to clear her throat, but her voice refused to come out.

Madam Pomfrey was by her side in a heartbeat with a glass of water. "Here sweetheart, you need to drink something." With Charlie and Bill's help, Veronica sat up and took the glass, sipping slowly. She felt awkward with everyone's eyes on her, and she knew from the looks on their faces that they knew what had happened. She had mixed feelings about this; she was glad that she didn't need to relive the experience, but she also didn't want everyone looking at her with sympathy in their eyes. Which was exactly how they were looking at her now.

Once Veronica was satisfied, she put the glass down and looked up at Charlie. "I know the real reason I'm scared of water."

"What do you mean? I thought you said it was because you had almost drowned when you visited the beach with your grandparents when you were 6."

"That's what I thought, but when I was in the lake... I guess the trauma made the real memory come out. I'm not sure how it works, but my grandma, my mom's mom, she used the Obliviate charm on me and changed the memory."

"Okay, what's the real memory?"

As Veronica described what she remembered, she couldn't take her eyes off Charlie. She had never seen that level of fury in his eyes before, but she could tell he was fuming. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his knuckles were white. She could only imagine the things he wanted to do to her parents; it almost made her smile knowing she had nothing to fear anymore. Charlie and Bill would never let anything happen to her.