Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part One.
Azalea and Harry are stronger than ever, but when their paths split in two different directions, how will they survive without seeing one another for months? How will they survive as war finally breaks...
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When Ron's eyes landed in Azalea Hogwarts for the first time in months, his features morphed into one of horror to match the expressions of everyone else. Somehow, in the time that they had been away, Azalea had gotten more beaten up from being at school. Than Ron had from being on the run from the Death Eaters.
Azalea couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, his hair having grown long, along with his facial hair. He looked older, more rugged than she remembered but strangely, they felt the need to rush to one another and pull them into a tight hug. For two people who never really felt too close, they had missed each other.
"Blimey. What happened to you?" He laughed, pulling back to scan her face. "If Harry could see you now, he'd go absolutely barmy" the boy chuckled, clearly noticing the way her eyes lit up at the name of the boy, just as Harry's did whenever they said 'Azalea'.
"How is he? How are you? Where have you been? Did you find any? How's Hermione?" She fired a million questions at him without even stopping to take a break and he blinked at her in silent shock before chuckling.
"Right, well... I think Lea and I need a chat so..."
"So you're getting away from us nosey sods." Fred cackled.
"We see how it is." George completed.
"Run along then"- Fred. Azalea and Ron exchanged glances for a moment before exiting together, heading up the stairs to Harry's room where they had- as a quartet- spent many days chatting and joking with one another. Those days were long over.
"I won't lie to you Lea, I'm a twat. I left them. It had been months and all we'd found was one horcrux. We were as close to finding the next one as we were to destroying the first and I just... i chickened out. Every day. All I could think about was my family and I was weak and I left. The second I left I wanted to go back but it's hard, finding them. You know Hermione, she's got all her bloody enchantments and whatnot, she could be right in front of me and I wouldn't know." He huffed.
"You'll find your way back to them Ron, I'm certain of it. And don't call yourself weak for leaving, you had your reasons. Everyone faces their own challenges and you can't always understand how difficult those challenges are for people, people are all different" she smiled softly, shifting on the bed and he couldn't help but be happy that she had forgiven him, maybe that was just the type of person she was, but it gave him hope that Harry and Hermione would forgive him too.
"And to answer your other questions" he continued, feeling incredibly comfortable sat beside the girl. It was something they never really much considered, how they considered one another but they supposed that after everything, they were great friends now. "Hermione is great." He sighed dreamily. "We were... well I wanted to her closer to her. I'm sure you get that" he smiled timidly.
"But?" She presses softly.
"But I was like the outsider Lea. Harry was the one with all the horcrux knowledge and that and you know Mione, she had her books and I just felt completely bloody useless, just handling around." He huffed. "And Blimey, with Harry being how he is, he needed her I guess."
"The way he is?"
"Oh, yeah" Ron chuckled, realising that he hadn't spoken about the one person she was most excited to hear from. "Harry is the strongest guy I know, truly. I'm pretty sure I've hardly ever even seen him cry. But blimey, he was a blubbering mess! When he apparated out of the wedding, we ended up in London someplace, and he was just crying instantly. Like full on waterworks and all. Quite funny if you think about it. He was ready to turn right around and come get you, any excuse to come back. But obviously, he knew he couldn't. S'pose actually leaving you behind was a lot harder than he first thought. Turned into just a miserable mess really, talking about you all hours of the bloody night. No offence Lea but I have grown so damn tired of hearing your name. And how you smell like roses." He snorted and she couldn't help but smile softly through her tears. "He's getting there now thought of course, knows we have a mission, that there's a whole plan and you're bad ass enough to look after yourself." He chuckled before turning to her. "Which leads me to ask again, what the hell happened to you?"
Azalea smiled, wiping the rogue tears from her face as she thought about Harry and she prepared herself to tell Ron what happened all over again. For the second time that day, she recalled what had happened over the past few months, knowing that Ron would inevitably join Harry once again and tell him. The ginger boy was somehow even angrier that Molly, demanding that they shouldn't go back but of course, they knew they had to...
Azalea knew, as she sat beside Ron throughout their meek Christmas celebrations, that she had to be at Hogwarts. As much as she wanted to spend time with Harry once more, and knew that by following Ron she would get back to Harry, she knew that her place was in the castle protecting the students, keeping them safe as best she could alongside the other seventh years. The war was far from over, and Christmas Day- although a break from all the sadness and misery- was not even half as joyous as it had once been.
