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BOOK FOUR: CHAPTER NINE

As Veronica sat beneath the tree and listened to the waves crashing against the shore, she felt at peace for the first time in a long time. She had forgotten how much she loved this place; it had been months since she had been there, and the last few times had been miserable. But now, she felt happy and serene. Unfortunately, this didn't last long.

With her eyes closed, Veronica could hear fast footsteps approaching and her eyes shot open immediately, thinking it was Archie. However, the sight before her made her wish it was. Charlie had a huge smile on his face as Tonks trailed behind him, sulking. Veronica could not believe what she was seeing. It couldn't possibly be true. There was no way Charlie was stupid enough to bring her with him. Had he really not figured out why she had been avoiding him? Bill had clearly kept at least one of his promises; while he had told his brother where to find her, he obviously hadn't told him why she was upset. That much was clear. However, this knowledge did nothing to lessen the anger and rage flowing through her and flooding her veins all at once. This had once been her happy place. Somewhere that held so many fond memories. Somewhere she could go to escape the pressures of reality and be alone. Or be with Charlie. It had been their place. Their special place. But now, he'd brought her with him. After he hadn't seen or spoken to her in five months, he finally got a tip on where to find her and he brought her with him. Why is she so adamant on ruining my life? What did I ever do to her? Veronica was fuming.

Quickly, Veronica stood and grabbed her bag, throwing it over her shoulder, and marched angrily up the path towards the couple. Charlie's eyes widened and his smile grew as he watched her walk towards him. However, his smile was wiped completely off his face when she wordlessly marched right past him and made her way towards the castle without even sparing him a second glance. Charlie reacted quickly by turning, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face him, but before he could say anything, he immediately noticed the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and he knew right away that this was much more serious than he ever thought. He knew how much she hated to cry, especially in front of people that weren't him, so for her to be tearing up in front of Tonks meant something was really hurting her.

Charlie wasted no time as he jumped into action, cupping her face in his hands and giving her no choice but to look into his eyes. Wiping the few stragglers that managed to escape the confines of her eyelids, Charlie never took his eyes off her as he spoke to his girlfriend. "Give us a minute alone, please, Tonks."

Despite throwing a 'please' in there, Tonks knew it wasn't a question, but she also knew that if she left them alone, everything she had done up until that point to break up their friendship would be ruined. She had to do something to stop this. Besides, she really didn't like the way he was touching her. "But-"

At that, Charlie turned and glared at her. "I wasn't asking. Give us a minute." Dejectedly, she turned without another word and made her way down to the lakeshore and out of earshot. She knew a lost battle when she saw one. Charlie didn't waste another second on her as he turned back to look at his best friend, whose tears were flowing freely now that the Hufflepuff had left. "Veronica... Darling, please tell me what's the matter."

Veronica shook her head and tried her best to get out of his grip, but his hold on her was too tight. "Nothing Charlie, I'm fine." The sniffles at the end of her statement begged to differ. "I just have something I need to go do. I-"

"Oh, come on, love. Don't lie to me. You're forgetting who you're talking to; I know you better than anyone. Please tell me why you're crying."

That was Veronica's final straw. She couldn't help the words flying out of her mouth as she sobbed, "Oh? Do you know me better than anyone? Is that really what you think? Clearly you don't know me very well at all because if you did, you would already know what was wrong. This is our place! This is the one place we never invite anyone else because it's OUR SPECIAL PLACE! JUST THE TWO OF US! But now you've brought her here... without even asking me if I was okay with that. And I would have said no anyway... but you should have known that without having to ask."