Falling For

As George was carried inside, my insides collapsed and I nearly started to cry. The only reason my face remained dry was that I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Nothing came, and although my entire being ached whenever I saw a drop of blood reach the floor, I could not cry. Instead, as he was lowered onto the couch, all I could do was watch the soft light from a lamp nearby illuminate his face just so much that I could see the oozing mess that was the side of his face. Ginny gasped beside me and I covered my mouth, watching the sticky blood slide over his already red neck and face.

As soon as Molly leant over to attempt to staunch the rivers of blood that escaped my love, Harry was dragged away by the old Hogwart’s professor that had accompanied George. The burly gatekeeper followed, all three of them yelling at each other in the kitchen while I stood in horror near the back of the lounge. Ginny took my free hand and I shut my eyes, still covering my mouth while I gritted my teeth in pain.

“Oh George…” I forced out nearly in a dry sob, barely opening my eyes to look down on him as the blood was cleared away, although it still flaked over his now-too-small faux Harry jacket. Fighting all my doubts, which included me running away to my mothers for the rest of my life, my eyes trailed to the bloody mess that was now his ear.

It had been completely severed, I realised quietly to myself, causing another dry sob to escape. All I could think of was that he promised me he wouldn’t get hurt, and there he was; lying on the lounge of his childhood home leaking his life source with no idea of when it was going to stop. Molly was muttering spells over him, trying everything she could remember to stop the flow of the seeping liquid. When she leant back, her efforts had paid off as the blood had finally been staunched. Now he just lay back there, pale-faced and broken; everything I hoped he wouldn’t be.

“It won’t grow back.” muttered Molly, tensing her jaw at her failure. “It’s impossible to grow something back if it was caused by Dark Magic.” She looked up at her daughter, then to me, and her bottom lip jutted out just in time to find us before she hid her head once again. Ginny let go of me to go tend to her mother, who had curled up near George’s now almost clean face.

“He’s alive, mum.” Ginny whispered to the older redhead, causing my stomach to clench. I reached down and gingerly ran my fingers up and down his arm, not wanting to say anything too early on. He was still unconscious, the loss of blood something that would not keep you awake for too long.

Something in the corner of my eye caused me to snap my head to my right, where Harry was helping Hagrid through the tall yet thin doorway.

“How is he?” He asked after letting go of the giant, my fingers still worriedly running up my boyfriends arm. Mrs Weasley looked up at him, pursing her mouth in thought.

“I can’t make it grow back, not when it’s been removed by Dark Magic. But it could have been so much worse…” she faltered, Ginny closing her eyes beside her “he could have died.”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded his head, looking over the lifeless body of his best friend’s older brother. “Thank God.” I zoned out for a moment, turning my emotions to the better after I realised that he was alive, and so was I. A crash in the kitchen awoke me and I jumped, leaning away from George to see Arthur Weasley in the kitchen, absolutely screaming at the newly arrived Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“I’ll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I’ve seen my son, now back off if you know what’s good for you!” Skimming passed the tall, dark man, Mr Weasley appeared in the lounge room; pale-faced but okay, his glasses lopsidedly laying on his face. Fred was behind him, also unscathed. I breathed a sigh of relief, my mouth stretching into a thin line as I watched them stop at the sight of the boy on the couch.

“Oh Arthur! Oh thank goodness!” Mrs Weasley had begun to cry, tears dribbling down her aging face. Arthur dropped to his knees in front of his son, and Fred was instantly beside me behind the sofa. He was quiet, not knowing what to say about the sudden predicament we had all found ourselves in.

I let out another dry sob at the relief I felt for Fred’s safety, letting him put his arm around my shoulders to pull me in. I leant on his chest, heart beating horrifically fast as my fists curled into balls around my face. George began to shift in his position, causing us both to jump.

“How are you feeling, Georgie?” Mrs Weasley whispered. His fingers twitched, finally rousing himself fully to grope for the side of his face.

“Saint-like.” He murmured and my stomach fell. Fred let go of me, leaning on the couch to look down at his mother, his face nothing more than terrified. I had never seen him like this before; it was horrible.

“What’s wrong with him?” He asked his mother, his eyes wide. “Is his mind affected?”

I shut my eyes, trying not to think about that possibility.

“Saint-like.” George repeated, fighting his eyes open to look up at his tittering brother. “You see… I’m holy. Holey, Fred, get it?”

It was silent for a moment before my hand found my face as Mrs Weasley sobbed harder, Fred’s pale face regaining some of its pinkish colour. My chest shook with a quiet laughter, the joy seeping through my pores as I realised that his humour was not at all affected.

“Pathetic.” Fred muttered at his brother. “Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you for holey?” He was still smiling all the same, staring down at his grinning counterpart.

“Ah, well, at least you’ll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, mum.” He told his mother, whose face was wet with tears. This only made her cry harder, causing him to look away, back up to Fred and then me. “Oh, hello.”

“Hi.” I smiled down at him, leaning over to take his hand.

“Don’t look too excited.” He mocked me and I sighed, patting his hand gently. “Now you can tell people you’re dating an amputee.”

“Oh, George.” I reeled back, slightly taken aback but I laughed all the same, Fred smiling beside me. I grinned at his white face, eyes softening as I kissed the back of his hand.

He looked passed me to see Harry Potter, who was standing awkwardly in the corner. “Hi Harry. You are Harry, right?”

“Yeah, I am.” He moved towards us, making my grip on George’s hand tighter. He didn’t even notice.

“Well, at least we got you back okay.” He nodded at the dark haired boy, whose face remained placid. “So, why aren’t Ron and Bill huddled around my sickbed?” He asked his mother, whose face fell.

“They’re not back yet, George.” She told him and his face fell, hand also falling from mine. Mine balled back into a fist and I placed it against my mouth, looking at him with quiet eyes. I chewed my lip and looked up at Fred, who looked down at me with the same tired face that I had. His arm was back around my shoulders and he squeezed me closer while I rubbed my sore eyes.

The twins talked with their parents for a while, and I curled under the second twins arm, noticing that Harry and Ginny had left a long time ago. It was just me and the four Weasleys, leaving me to chew my lip as they mumbled things to each other. It wasn’t at all weird; it was just quiet, almost cold.

My sweater did nothing for me anymore, body almost frozen under a sheet of warm material. My jaw tightened and I realised in that moment that I could no longer, like my sweater, rely on anyone to tell me it was going to be okay, because in reality it really wasn’t.