In that moment, it didn’t matter to Ernie that he was shirtless and maybe a little sweaty, he reached forward toward Megan, pulling her into a bit of a hug. He wished he’d done more, he wished he’d been able to fully protect all of his friends. There was a part of Ernie that felt like he should have done more, even though he knew there wasn’t anything.
“I know,” Ernie said softly, sighing a bit. “You’d make it through, Meggy, you’re stronger than you think you are, I promise.” He chewed his lip a bit.
“I can still feel it too, you know. And… It sucks. Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have bothered coming back, but I needed NEWTs and everyone else was coming back and..” Ernie just sighed again, and ran his hand through his hair, “I’m glad we’re all here together, we all understand.”