Ernie had been to visit Hermione, and he stayed as long as Sophia had let him, reading to her, or talking to her or just sitting with her, trying not to stress her out too much. He didn’t even tell her that they were dating, because he hadn’t wanted to put more pressure on her. Now, he was back in the room, with a pile of books he’d bought from the book store about memory charms, trying to figure out if there was anything he could do to help.
He was tired of feeling this way, feeling like he was constantly losing his footing. If he’d had magic, her might be able to do something. He might be able to help rebuild the castle, he might have helped people at new years. He was tired of being useless. He didn’t look at the door when it pushed open, expecting to see Sally. But the voice was different.
He tried to look up at Ellie and smile, but it didn’t quite make it to his eyes. “Do you know how much running I’m going to have to do if I eat all of that?”