It's Better If You Do

While George was gathering his pajamas, Bellamy was rifling through her trunk, pulling out a few mismatched pairs of shoes in her search. She pulled out another worn-looking, leather-bound book from the bottom and settled down onto her cot, crossing her legs underneath her after she had kicked off the flattest pair of shoes she owned. He glanced over her, clutching his pajamas as he watched her pull her hair from the bun, having her long, dark brown hair tumble down over one shoulder. Bellamy let out a heavy sigh as she looked down at the book before closing it.

“I’ve figured out my schedule for the days when we work,” she said sharply and George crossed his arms over his chest, sitting down on his bed as he continue to watch Bellamy.

“I’m listening,” he said expectantly.

“Well…in the mornings, until lunch, I’ll work out in the front of the store. I figure it’s busy enough that you three will need it,” she said as she folded her hands over the book in her lap. “Then after lunch, I’ll go into the backroom and work on potions and whatnot until about an hour or two before the shop closes, where I’ll start making dinner. That way, once the shop is closed everyone will get to eat dinner immediately.” George struggled to keep a cheeky smile off his lips, but failed.

“You’ve got things all compartmentalized then,” he said, earning a slightly scolding look from Bellamy. She pursed her lips for a moment before closing her eyes and letting out air through her nose as if she was fighting the impulse to get angry.

“Unless you want me to wait until ten at night to fix your dinners…” She let her voice trail off as she opened her eyes and gave him a hard stare. However, when she saw the look of absolute horror on George’s face, she fought of a wicked grin. “It’s settled then. That’s how my days at least will go here.” She stared at George for a moment and noticed that he was fighting off laughter. “You may be able to spend your days with no sort of structure and schedule…but that sort of thing doesn’t work well for me. If I don’t think things out, I’d probably end up making potions and baking all day.” George finally let out the laughter he was holding in and Bellamy pouted slightly at his laughter. She gave him a sour look before opening her book hastily and looking down at it. George tried to get his laughter under control when he noticed the angry shade of pink painting the tops of her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Bells,” he said, his laughter slowly dying off. Once he saw the venomous look she gave him from the corners of her eyes, he made note never to make any nicknames for her. “You just reminded me of my brother Percy, is all.” Bellamy looked over at him for a moment, cutting her eyes at him in suspicion.

“You’ve mentioned brothers and one sister, George, but never a brother named Percy,” she said softly. George’s expression fell slowly and Bellamy quickly knew she should probably have avoided bringing it up if he had forgotten to mention a sibling.

“Oh…well…” was all George managed to say, looking down at the hardwood flooring beneath his feet. Bellamy stared at him for a moment trying to think of something to at least change the topic. There was a good reason he had forgotten Percy, one that she didn’t wish to make George uncomfortable by pressing him to know.

“You know that sleeping draught I made yesterday,” she said softly, staring intently at him. George glanced up to her for a moment, merely nodding, before returning his gaze to his shows. “I’ve decided that you like my chocolate cupcakes so much, I’m going to figure out a recipe to make them miniature and put the sleeping draught in them. After extensive testing, I’m sure they’ll be ready for the shop.” He remained quiet, his jaw set and his brow furrowed. “Though,” Bellamy started with a wry smile, “if I model them after my chocolate cupcakes, you may be tempted to eat them all yourself.” George let out a chuckle despite himself and looked up at Bellamy, shaking his head.

“You’re right. Perhaps lollipops would be a better fit,” he said, before suddenly growing thoughtful and shrugging a bit. “Though…if I ate them all, it would be a ruddy good excuse not to have to go in to work. I could just sleep all day.” Bellamy shook her head as she watched George, turning her eyes back to the pages of the book as she laughed lightly.

“You might want to get a head start on that shower, George. I expect Fred and Rose will be back sometime soon and today it’ll probably be Fred that’ll need a cold shower,” she said with a smirk, her eyes glued to the pages. George merely chuckled a bit before walking into the shower, closing the door and locking it behind him.

Halfway through the short shower, he heard soft humming coming from the flat and knew that it was not Ryuiss. He smiled a bit before turning off the shower and quickly dressing. The humming stopped slowly, after progressively getting quieter and quieter until it finally died off altogether. When he opened the door, he smiled widely at the sight of Bellamy sleeping, curled up on her small, powder blue cot on top of the covers. Her book lay open beside her, the pages worn around the edges and looked like they had been dog-eared more than once, then folded back into place.

George let out a soft chuckle as he dog-eared the page she was on and closed it, placing on the top of her closed trunk. He looked back to her, noticing how her blistered hands were stretched out limply in front of her. He heaved a sigh and walked back into the bathroom, running a hand through his damp hair. He pulled open the cabinet under the sink and rifled around the items until he found gauze and bandages. Shutting the cabinet, he walked over to Bellamy’s cot and crouched beside it.

He took extra caution to wrap the gauze under the bandage, over each and every blister. He was no nurse, so he wasn’t sure if I’d help the blisters or not, but at least they’d be covered up while she slept. And since she was such a deep sleeper, she wouldn’t be able know for sure who put the bandages on. He gave a small smile as he tied off the last bandage, taking her hands in his and turning them over to make sure he had covered everything. He nodded once to himself and gently placed her hands back where they were. George noticed they were quite rough, not quite calloused, but were indicative of someone who washed their hands constantly. His mum’s were just like them, since she frequently cooked and gardened and needed to wash them.

She let out a great sigh and George suddenly realized that he had been staring intently at her while she slept. He went to right himself and get to bed, suddenly realizing how tired he felt when she stirred and he found himself frozen to the spot, staring wide-eyed at her. He hoped that she wouldn’t catch him watching her sleep. It would just be one more thing she would get angry at him with.

“Merci beaucoup pour le vin, Bernice. Il est divine,*” Bellamy murmured as she tucked her hands under her head, turning over so that she faced George’s bed. He let out a small chuckle at the nonsense of what she just said and shook his head before standing. She shivered a bit and he realized the windows were still open and they were letting in a brisk draft. He walked over to them and tried to close them as quietly as possible, but a few of them let out high pitched screeches in their frames as he closed them. He winced a bit every time and would glance over his shoulder to make sure that Bellamy was still sleeping. It seemed nothing would wake her, because he managed to close all the windows without making her move once.

He grinned in victory as he tip-toed over to his bed, leaving just one lamp on for whenever Fred and Rose decided to show up, and walked over to Bellamy. George gently eased the blankets from under her sleeping form and pulled them up over Bellamy, tucking her in securely. He gave her the smallest bit of a smile when she pulled the sheets under her chin, a pleasant sort of look coming over her face as she settled further into her fluffy looking pillow.

“Bon nuit, Bellamy**,” he whispered before leaning forward and brushing a tendril of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Her face twitched into a wider smile before George slowly pulled away and walked over to his bed. He sat down on it for a moment staring hard at Bellamy before laying down on his side and pulling the blankets over him. He closed his eyes and eventually fell asleep, knowing that he’d probably just be woken up again when Fred and Rose got back. He was a bit of a light sleeper. Maybe since he had slept on the ground the night before, he hoped that he’d be able to sleep through whatever ruckus Fred and Rose brought whenever they got back to the flat.