I Can\'t Sleep Without My Angel

*Woo Hoo! Hermione and Harry enter the story. Sorry, this chapter is slow, but I need Harry for the next chapter. (I have evil plans for him, he he ha ha!) The next few chapters will include Hogwarts and the prophesy, so hang on tight!!

*Thanks to my lovely beta, who is my \"angel\" (he he!)

*Thanks to my reviewers!

*So, I don\'t update on a regular schedule, I pretty much update when I don\'t have a big test or paper coming up, so if you would like me to e-mail you when I update, just leave your e-mail addy on my review page. Thanks!

*HP and his world belong to Ms. JK Rowling!




Chapter 8: The Last Few Precious Nights

Ron woke up the next morning and quietly stumbled over to the closet, trying
not to wake up Ashley. He went over and set his clothes on George’s bed (George
had decided that Ashley’s bed was good for him, and he would sleep there for
awhile). Ron sleepily got dressed as he contemplated the day ahead.

He was going to Diagon Alley for his last pre-Hogwarts shopping trip with Harry
and Hermione. After the school supplies trip, Harry and Hermione were going to
spend the remaining days of summer at the Burrow. The family had thought about
cancelling it, because of Ashley, but had decided in the end that Harry and
Hermione were like family, and they would not breathe a word of her existence
if they were asked not too. Ron was going to tell them about Ashley, and he
wasn’t even sure where to s!
!

Ron then kissed her on her forehead, trying
not to think about what happened the night before, and what it might lead to.
Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Ron headed downstairs, pulling Ginny away
from the mirror quickly, telling her it was time to floo to the Leaky Cauldron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, had tired themselves out from running around
Diagon Alley all day, and were now sitting down in the middle of all the
excitement, eating ice cream.

“Can you believe it is our 7th year, boys?” Hermione exclaimed, a smile
lighting up her face. “And only one more year for you, Ginny.”

“It is incredible,” Harry replied, pushing the dark hair out of his eyes. “We
are going to be leaving Hogwarts in a year. A year away from being on our own.”

The trio looked at each other with sad eyes, while Ginny laughed.

“Come on you three! It won’t be that bad! No more Snape!”

With that, the whole group laughed. It didn’t matter how many confrontations
with the Dark Lord they had managed to escape from, they were still not brave
enough to deal with Professor Snape. Ginny then gave Ron a look, and he knew it
was time he told Harry and Hermione.

\"Uhh.ere ere is something I need to tell you, mates, before we go back to the
Burrow.”

“Yes,” Hermione replied in an expectant tone.

“There is someone else living at the Burrow now. She...she...”

“She was brought to us, through some sad circumstances.” Ginny finished for
him.

“Her name is Ashley, and my dad found her near the Burrow. She was badly
beaten.” Ron looked up from the table at his two best friends, who had the same
look of concern and shock on their faces, so he took a shallow breath and
hurried through the rest of the story: telling them about Ashley’s arrival, the
men in black robes, and the man with the red eyes, and how she had been doing
so much better since she had been at the Burrow. He carefully left out the part
about being her angel and their weird relationship. He wasn’t ready to let them
know and he wasn’t sure why.

Hermione nervously gripped Ron’s robes as they got ready to floo back to the
Burrow with all their luggage.

“What is with the death grip, Hermione?”

“The girl...I won’t know what to say to her.”

“She is just a girl like you, Hermione, but without powers,” Ron laughed.

“But with all she has been through…”

“Don’t you dare mention it though, she is finally feeling better!”

“We won’t say anthing,” Harry said, joining the conversation.
With that the three of them stepped into the fireplace and flooed to the Burrow.

Ashley sat anxiously on the couch twirling her hair over and over again. Mrs.
Weasley had sat her down earlier in the day, and had told her about the guests
that were going to be staying with them for the next few days. They sounded
nice to Ashley, and she knew she should not be feeling the way she was she was
feeling. She was terribly guilty about feeling terrbily jealous.
She now had to share Ron with his two best friends.
What if he treated her different when his friends were around; she
didn’t know what she would do.


The butterflies rose higher in her stomach when she heard the swishing
sound that she had grown used to. She looked up and there was Ron and Ginny
with the two people that must be H and and Hermione. The boy was tall and
handsome with dark hair and beautiful green eyes, and the girl was quite pretty
herself with curly brown ringlets and a friendly smile. Ron came over to her
and helped her up off the couch and led her over to the two new people in her
life.

“Ashley, this is Harry and Hermione.”

“Hello.” They said in unison, not with the pity that Ashley expected but what
looked like sincerity to meet her. She had a better feeling about these two
now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The rest of the night went well. The conversation around the dinner table was
friendly and comfortable, and Ashley laughed more than she had since she had
been ripped from her life, but she was still nervous about the night. Hermione
would be sleeping in Ginny’s room, and Harry in George’s bed, while George took
the couch. Ashley was nervous that she would be banished somewhere, until Ron
left for Hogwarts (which Molly had explained to her earlier) and that meant her
last few precious nights with Ron in the house would be spent without him, so
while everyone was getting ready for bed, she stood against the wall rigid.

“Ashley,” Ron said quietly, pulling her into a hug. “Let’s go to bed.”
Ashely’s grimace turned into a smile and she followed her angel up to their bed.