A/N: Finally, the requested chapter of this fic is completed. Like I stated before, I had intended this piece to be a oneshot, but since many of you reviewed for a sequal… well, below is the result. Hope you like it.


Chapter 2 - Morning News

Morning at the Grimmauld Place was a quiet affair, mostly perhaps the ‘children’ were still asleep in their beds; everyone except Ginny Weasley that was.

Having finally had her morning bath, Ginny trudged down the old staircase only to bump into her brother, Charlie Weasley.

“Ow! Charlie, that hurts!”

Her overtly freckled brother merely grinned down at his younger sister, with a quick ruffle of her hair, greeting her to the new day, before skipping down to the kitchen. She rolled her eyes before heading down to the kitchen herself. Upon meeting Charlie again, she sarcastically asserted, “Your concern touches me.”

Their mother soon appeared from the back of the kitchen, carrying a basket full of eggs. “Ah! Ginny! Glad to see you up. Do go and wake Ron and Harry, dear.”

“Mom, I just got down!” she whined.

“Now, Ginevra!” Molly Weasley screeched, earning a snicker from Charlie.

Grudgingly, she climbed up the old stairs again. The corridors were dark despite the bright sun shining outside, and as she stroll along, figures in the portraits up the walls were greeting each other a ‘good morning’.

Finally reaching the room in the far corner, she peered in the slightly ajar door. Snores could be heard from the two occupants. Heaving a sigh, she marched in as loudly as she could, hoping that that itself would wake the boys up.

The trick somehow only worked on the raven haired boy, Harry James Potter. But his roommate, otherwise her unfortunate sibling, Ronald Weasley, was still in a deep slumber, snoring loudly with his mouth agape.

“Morning, Harry.”

“Morning, Ginny,” he replied, not quite meeting her eyes as he fetched his pair of spectacles from the bedside table.

“Help me wake this oaf,” she pointed at Ron. “Aye, Ron! Wake up, you big dope,” she nudged her brother, but it only made the Weasley lad stir. Sighing, she turned to face Harry and said, “Watch this. RON! A BIG, HAIRY SPIDER’S UP YOUR LEG!”

Instantly, her redhead brother sprung out of bed, panic on his face as he slapped his own body everywhere, trying to get rid of the inexistent creature.

“Ha! Works all the time. Get up. Mom wants you boys down for breakfast.”

With that, she headed back down to the kitchen, leaving a scowling Ronald Weasley. She was surprised to see almost everybody in the house already seated at the dining table; Remus, Charlie, Bill, Fluer, Tonks, the twins and her parents. “Ron and Harry will be down soon.”

By the next hour, everyone was digging into Molly’s delicious breakfast. Harry, Ron and Ginny found it strange however since nobody ever stayed put for breakfast that long. Moreover, everybody except them three were not speaking much. Perhaps the absence of Mrs Black’s portrait was one of the factors – They found a way to eliminate her, except the frame since it was stuck with the Permanent Sticking charm. But since Sirius was long gone, they felt it was alright to destroy the tormenting painting by setting it to aflame whilst she was asleep, since it was an oil-based art.

“Ron, Harry, Ginny…” Remus started, almost startling everybody, “We’re afraid, we’ve got some bad news for you.”

This caught the three teenagers’ attention. But before their ex-professor could continue, Mrs Weasley broke into sobs, seeking an embrace from her husband.

“Mum, what is it?” asked Ron, concern etched in his voice. The question only made his mother’s sobs louder.

“It’s… It’s Hermione, Ron,” replied Arthur Weasley, patting his wife on the shoulder.

Ginny gasped aloud and since Ron had immediately gone all pale and quiet at the sound of the name, Harry thought it was his turn to say something. “What about her, Mr Weasley? Is she alright?” he asked, though looking at Remus.

Harry was presented a familiar, beautifully carved wooden stick in response by Remus, but it was Ron who took it, stroking it lovingly as he looked up for more explanation, dread in his appearance.

“We couldn’t save them, Ron. It happened all of a sudden,” started Remus, but Ron just continued looking at him, his expression almost blank. The only sound that emitted from the table was the sobs coming from Molly Weasley.

Each of the Order members gave their reckonings of the tragic event that happened last night. All through the explanation, Harry had his eyes on the shaking mother on the other end of the table.

She could have told him. She could have told him last night…

There was a sense of dire that surrounded the dining room as everyone finished giving their accounts. The silence was terrible. But it seemed, most of the people on the table were directing most of their apprehensive looks at Ron who throughout the whole conversation had kept quiet.

Harry found that he could not look at him. For some reason, the idea of looking at his redheaded best friend seated right next to him scared him. Hermione, dead. Not just dead, she was tortured mercilessly by those bastards. And it was all because of him. She would be up and alive if she hadn’t been close to Harry Potter.

The sound of a dragging chair broke the loud silence. It was Ron. He had stood up and left straight to his room upstairs. Mrs Weasley who apparently had stopped crying watched her son with red, blotchy eyes.

The next distraction came from George Weasley as he coughed aloud, bringing all the attention to him. “Well, we have said what there is left to say,” said Bill.

“How can you just say that, Bill!” Ginny’s shriek stunned everyone on the table. Harry noticed tears had collected in her eyes. She was crying. “You know what Hermione means to Ron. She’s the one, Bill. And there you go, ‘We have said what is left to say.’ How insensitive can you get!”

“Ginevra,” warned her father.

“Dad, you know what this means, don’t you? Ron will be alone all his life. It’s part of the curse. All us Weasleys know that. I thought you especially will know that. So how can your eldest son be so casual about his own brother’s disastrous hereafter!”

“I-I’m sorry, Gin. I was just trying to start up a conversation,” Bill claimed, looking most apologetic.

The young girl huffed, stomping away from the crowded table, muttering, “Way to start a conversation.”

As she left, Arthur Weasley heaved a heavy sigh, and rested his head in his hands. Time by time, the room cleared off, until the only remaining people were Harry and Charlie Weasley.

The desire to voice out his curiosity burnt inside him. What was that all about? What curse was Ginny talking about? He wanted to know so badly, but he felt that if he wanted to know more about it, he had to do it privately, as it seems like it was a private family matter.

Charlie who was starring at his fists on the table let out a sigh, shaking his head. “Poor Ron…”

Not standing the confusion any longer, Harry asked, “Why were you people so worried about him? I mean.., I know the bloke loves her loads and all, but what was Ginny on about just now?”

The Weasley brother merely turned his head at him before running a freckled hand through his short amber hair. “Harry, we Weasleys are cursed men from the start. The whole lot of us, we’re known as the blood traitors. I think you already know that.”

“But –“

“It’s not because of our financial status… I mean, yeah well, not only the financial part, but there’s another major curse put upon us.”

Harry looked at him to continue on; curious to know about this supposed untold information.

“It’s love. I know it sounds cliche. But yeah, love it is. That’s the Weasley curse. It can be both a miracle, and yet can be a catastrophe at the same time. We Weasley men love only once, Harry. It doesn’t happen again and again like some people could. When a Weasley found his one true love, he either lives with them throughout the rest of his life or be alone his entire life. Our hearts are cursed to love only one in a lifetime. That’s why we Weasleys marry only the one we love truly. But the worst part of the curse is when the love is unrequited or death before marriage. A Weasley man can go as far as insanity if either one happens to their loved one. We -“

“What will happen to my best friend then, Charlie? Will he be alright?”

“He will never be alright, Harry. Try as he might, the memories of Hermione will haunt him for the rest of his life. He’ll bleed, and hurt. It’s all part of the Weasley curse.”

xxx

He could not believe it. His best friends… One dead, whilst the other was better dead than alive. A soul-less and grieving Ron was the last thing he needed right now. Curse you Tom Riddle. May you rot in hell!

He cracked open the wooden door to the room he shared with Ron as quietly as possible. There he found his friend, sitting by the window looking up to the bright noon. The sun was as bright as ever, but the atmosphere in the room felt as it was enveloped in total utter darkness.

“Ron…” he called timidly.

He was shocked to find a trace of blood flowing down his friend’s nostrils. He was already hurting. When Charlie said Ron would bleed, he honestly did not think he meant it literally.

Clutched in Ron’s hand were the picture of the girl he’d only love and her wand. At the sight, Harry’s heart felt for his love-deprived friend. How could this happen to him?

“I love her, Harry.”

It was a mere statement ; a simple four word statement which stabbed Harry straight into his heart. The guilt he felt from those words was overwhelming.

“I’m sorry, Ron.” Ron just simply shook his head.

In all honesty, Harry was unsure how to act in front of his best friend anymore. Ron had been so impassive since the conversation earlier that morning. It was a side of Ron which really terrified Harry. Ron was always full of life, but to see him so dead inside spooked him.

It was a sudden sob which forced Harry out of his reverie.

“I didn’t even get to tell her.”

“She loved you, Ron,” Harry replied as he made a grab onto the nearest towel in the room. The blood flowing from Ron’s nose was now dripping.

Gingerly, he helped wiped the blood off his inert friend. But the next thing he knew, Ron dropped down to the ground wailing in pain.

“It hurts. It hurts so bad,” the redhead said in between gasps as he clutched the left side of his chest. For a moment there, Harry thought it was something he did, but as Ron continued wailing, he found that the scene frightened him. Ron was now struggling for breathe.

“HERMIONEEEEE!!!!!!!”

Rushing straight to the door to run out for help, Harry found that Ron’s parents including the twins were just about to knock. “Mr Weasley, it’s Ron! He seems like he’s in a fit!”

Arthur Weasley nodded solemnly before sprinting into the room. As he took his whimpering son off the floor, he uttered softly to himself, “It has begun.”

THE END