Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

The next few days everyone was quieter than usual. Moody’s death still didn’t seem real, but it hung over us like a dark cloud. In about a week, Bill and Fleur would be getting married here so Mrs. Weasley had us all busy with cleaning and getting things ready.

One morning while George and I were de-gnoming the garden, I decided I better talk to him about my plan to go with Harry.

“George” I said, standing up and brushing my hands off on my pants.

“Yes?” he looked up at me.

“I um…I need to talk to you about something.”

He slowly stood up “What? What is it?”

I bit my lip then sighed and said “I think I’m going with Harry when he leaves.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Harry is going to leave soon in search of some…things…that could destroy Voldemort. Ron and Hermione are planning on going, and I promised them I would go too.”

I couldn’t read George’s face; it seemed there were too many emotions in his features.

“I know about Harry’s plan. What I didn’t know was that you were going too. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“Because I knew you would try to stop me.” I said quietly.

“Of course I’d try to stop you! Are you mad?! You can’t go with them!” He was angry again as I knew he would be.

“And why not?! Why can’t I help my friends?”

“Because- Because it’s too dangerous! Who knows what could happen to you! Do you even know where you’re going?!”

“No, but Hermione has some ideas and-“

“Oh, yeah, Hermione has some ideas. I don’t care about her ideas! How will I know where you are?”

“I guess…you won’t really.”

He pressed his hand to his forehead. “No, you can’t go, I won’t let you!”

“You won’t let me?! Why is it you who always gets to decide? It’s my life! I want to help Harry, so I’m going to. You never let-“

“Is that what this is about?!” he cut me off “You didn’t get to be a part of the ‘main action’ yet and you feel left out?”

“No! That’s not what this is about! Harry’s my friend too. You’ve been helping him out all this time, haven’t you? I need to do my part now.”

“Haven’t you done your part? You’ve fought Death Eaters. Twice actually, so shouldn’t you be set?”

“No, I’m not ‘set.’ It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve fought Death Eaters because this isn’t even close to being over yet”

He just looked at me for a minute.

“Please” I pleaded “Don’t try to stop me. Harry needs us, all of us.”

“Okay” he said finally. “Okay, I know it’s your life. But you are my life, so please be careful.”

“George, I-“ I stopped, I felt like I was going to cry again.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright” he pulled me against him “I’m sorry. I just can’t…I can’t bear the thought of being away from you after all of this.”

“I’m sorry too. But I promise I’ll come back.” I said, smiling up at him.

“Promise me you’ll come back alive.” He said quietly, with a small smile.

I felt my heart lurch because I knew that even though he said it in a joking manner, there was an edge behind the words. There was the very real danger that I might not.

“I promise I’ll come back alive.” I said quietly, but my smile was gone.

After that, we went back to work in silence, but I knew it would come up again before I left.

George’s POV:

After Caroline and I had finished in the garden, I went to my room and found Fred lying on his bed in there.

“She’s leaving,” I said as I sat on my bed.

“Who?” he asked.

“Caroline”

He sat up. “What are you talking about? Where is she going?”

“She’s going with Harry, Ron, and Hermione on whatever mission they’ve been planning.”

“She’s going?! Why didn’t she tell us?”

I shrugged “She just told me today, and we fought about it.”

He nodded “I figured.”

“Well can you blame me? We may not know what Harry’s planning on doing, but we know it’s going to be dangerous.”

“You can’t protect her forever. We knew from the beginning she wanted to be a part of this.”

“I know,” I sighed.

“She knows how to take care of herself. Sometimes I think maybe we need her more than she needs us.”

I lay back on my bed and muttered “Tell me about it.”