Falling For

He apparated me right into the entrance of an old house. It was dark and gloomy, and it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the new light scheme. A door opened beside us and George tugged me out of the way, a short, stout woman appearing with the same bright red hair that my boyfriend had. Her eyes swept over me and she beamed.

"You must be Mignon! I'm sorry you have to see us like this," she tutted "this isn't our house. We're having a summer vacation." She bustled around outside the doorway so I could see her nice plump frame in full. "Fred and George has told me so much about you. Well, more the latter really but you get what I mean. I'm Molly." She greeted with another smile, opening her arms for a lovely hug.

"Of course." I grinned, accepting her offer and finding solace in her warm arms. "Nice to meet you."

"I didn't know you were coming." She told us as she pulled away. George's face fell blank before he headed towards the stairs. "George didn't even mention it." Her voice turned sharp and I grimaced instantly.

"She can just stay there while I go get that thing. I figured it'd be easier to just take her here, than come here and then go back and then go back out again." He argued softly at his mother. Her eyes flickered to me and when she caught my cautious stare she reared back into her nice attitude.

"Arthur!" She backed back into that doorway from which she came. "Go talk to your son!"

"Which one?" A voice deadpanned and then chuckled at his own joke. A taller man appeared, balding but red-headed. He noticed me and straightened up.

"You must be Mignon!" He bent to take my hand and shake it. I nodded pleasantly and he gave me a soft smile. "I'm sorry you have to see us like this, this isn't really our house. We're having a summer vacation."

"That's quite alright." I smiled at him. "I'll just stand here while George goes and gets his stuff. I won't be a bother, I promise." He let go of my hand and shook his head.

"No, you're quite welcome to look around. I'll just go have a word with that son of mine," he looked directly at George who didn't look all that impressed with his parents, "and you can be on your way."

"No, I'm sorry." I cowered into the corner with my polite smile and looped my fingers together to stand quietly. He gave me a fleeting look and then quietly tip-toed up the stairs after his son. A door shut upstairs and another opened, a set of heavy feet clomped down. Then some shrieking sounded and then Molly groaned.

"Ronald Weasley! If you do not stop walking like a bloody elephant down the stairs I will hex your ears off, young man!" She stomped up the stairs with her wand in tow before Ron appeared, stopping in mid-step to look at me. "Shut up you wretched old witch!"

"Oh, hello Mignon." He looked shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I broke in to steal all your valuables." I blanked at him and he frowned in that goofy way of his before a smile broke through. The screaming stopped and I looked curiously towards the stairs.

"Oh, you're kidding." He leant back in laughter. "Waiting for George, are you?"

"Yep." I smiled. "He's taking me out on a date."

"That's nice of him." He rolled his eyes. "No idea where they're getting all their money lately."

"Every time I'm with him out in public he's always selling those jokes of theirs. They're doing pretty well for themselves, I must." I smiled. "I'm pretty proud."

"Do you want a drink?" Ron asked as he started back towards what I assumed was the kitchen. I thought about it for a second before nodding, hesitantly following him into the dank looking room.

There sitting at the table was a scraggily old guy that I recognised as last years Defence Against Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody, and Harry Potter himself. I felt my breath expand in my throat and my eye twitched, and as Ron greeted Harry with a grunt I inched back into the entry with wide eyes.

I think the main reason I had a minor panic attack was the fact that Harry Potter tied everything back to Cedric. I had been doing well in my quest to not think of my dead friend. I had packed all my Hufflepuff things back in my trunk to stop my brain from thinking about anything to do with him. I barely answered any owls my friends sent to avoid the conversation and I refused to let my mother read me the morning paper.

"Are you all right with water, Mignon?" Ron asked from the kitchen. "Wait, where'd she go?"

No one spoke and Ron's head soon turned around the corner.

"Water?"

"Water's great." I nodded, looking at my fingers before shutting my eyes and thinking of other things.

"Y'right, Min?" He must have noticed how scrunched up my face was. I wrung my hands in attempt to calm myself down but all the feelings that I had compressed over the summer burst out of my throat in a sob that made Ron pale like the moon that had begun to brighten in the sky outside. "Oh Merlin, ummm…" He stood awkwardly while I cried like a child at the mere thought of my friend lying lifeless on the quidditch pitch.

"Min?" George was bouncing down the stairs with a skip in his step until he saw me sobbing like a baby that had lost her toy. He was soon wrapped around me, asking me what was wrong until he finally pieced it all together. "I think we're gonna go."

"I think you should stay." I heard Harry's voice over all others. Mr and Mrs Weasley had met at the bottom of the stairs, watching their son's girlfriend break down in a damp corner of their 'summer vacation' house. "Does she know the whole story?"

"We've never talked about it…" I felt George's body stiffen and a few more footsteps came down the stairs. "It has honestly never came up in conversation."

"Whole story?" I looked up, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. They narrowed. "What?"

Molly looked a little flustered.

"Are you over 17, darling?" She asked me quietly. She watched as I nodded and she looked at her husband. "Well, we can't stop her." I looked at the five of them. George squeezed me gently and I bit my lip. "How about you come sit in the dining room with us and we'll explain it all to you, sweetheart."