THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH | RON WEASLEY [BOOK FIVE]

2. SAINT-LIKE

Gene felt herself blushing madly, catching glimpses of Hermione and Ginny beaming past the twins before she felt Ron's hand let go of hers as he trailed his brothers.

Gene gave his hand a squeeze and he gave her a small nod and a smile as she hung back, standing beside the girls. When the sound of footsteps had faded out and the coast was finally clear, all three squealed, bouncing in place in excitement.

"Oh, Ginny. I can't even begin to thank you enough."

Gene felt her eyes begin to water again as they made their way down the long flights of stairs, her arms interlocked with Ginny and Hermione on either side of her. Ginny brushed her off, smiling knowingly but Gene chose to ignore it, as they made it onto the landing.

She smiled at Lupin, who smiled all the same, bringing her close and pressing a soft kiss to the very top of her head. Tonks had done the same, more or less, with Bill and Fleur following them, then Kingsley and Moody, and finally Mundungus Fletcher, who Gene eyed very warily.

The adults all began to look at one another, as though they all had something of equal importance to say, but they were reluctant in doing so. She glanced at Hermione and then at Ron and then the twins, only to find the exact same look on their faces.

"Aren't we leaving?" she asked, which only brought another round of silence.

"We are leaving, Genevieve, yes." Moody said, causing a series of sighs and groans to sound. "What? I thought someone might have told the girl, by now." he argued.

He glanced at the clock, muttering something under his breath before leaning over to whisper to Aurelia, who nodded seriously. 

"We're?" she repeated, her eyes now narrowing at her aunt.

Ron, Hermione, Fred and George now slowly moved to the opposite side of the room, stood behind the adults for protection. Her eyes widened in realisation.

"No–" she began to charge forward until Aurelia drew her wand.

"Locomotor Mortis!" she quickly casted the spell, a jet of purple light striking Gene.

Gene yelped, feeling her legs go numb before feeling absolutely nothing. Her eyes squeezed shut as she began to fall, holding her arms out in front of her to break it. Gene rolled onto her side, her legs becoming dead weight as they flopped along with her, finally landing on her back.

Aurelia, Moody and Lupin all hovered over her, peering down at her with approval, at the job well done.

A brilliant idea had suddenly struck Gene now, and she quickly shut her eyes to become one with her surroundings, just as McGonagall had taught her last year. Her heart rate began to slow, the image planting itself in her mind until...

"Incarcerous!"

Gene was drawn violently from her peaceful state, even though she was getting nowhere with her transformation anyways, much to her frustration.

"Don't even think about, Genevieve." Moody said, peering down at Gene with his mechanical eye narrowing at her, "I thought you were meant to be as smart as Ophelia?" he remarked.

"If this is meant to be a joke," Gene said, her head tipping back against the floorboards to watch everyone upside down, all lining up behind her. "it isn't very funny." she frowned.

"Not to you, no." George said.

"But up here– it's hilarious." Fred grinned.

Gene refrained from using any language in front of their parents, but the words were on the very tip of her tongue, dying to pass.