Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

The school had divided into either Supporting Gryffindor or Supporting Slytherin for the first match of the year. In the morning Sylvia dressed in red and gold and bounded downstairs, past Harry and a sick looking Ron, to breakfast where Fred and George were eating breakfast in their quidditch uniforms. She ruffled both of their hair before squeezing in between them.

“Ready boys?” she asked.

“Of course we are.” George replied. “How could you ask that?”

Sylvia smiled and poured myself coffee, then took a piece of toast off of George’s plate and taking a bite.

George frowned at her. “That’s rude. I need my energy.”

Sylvia shrugged and washed the toast down with coffee. Alicia, Angelina and Katie Bell walked by with their brooms on their shoulders.

“You love birds are making me sick.” Fred announced, shuffling his eggs around his plate. “It’s cute, but that only goes so far.”

Red crept up George’s neck as Sylvia shot back, “Says the guy who was being fed by his girlfriend just last night.”

“Angelina is not my girlfriend.”

“Mhmm. I’m going to be watching with Ginny and Hermione.” Sylvia picked up her coffee and her toast. She kissed Fred on the cheek, then George. “Good luck, guys.”

“We won’t need it!” Fred called after her as she walked away. She waved over her shoulder.

Sylvia sat down with Ginny and Hermione. “What the hell did you do to George?” Ginny asked. “His face matches his hair.”

Sylvia frowned. “I gave him a kiss on the cheek. For luck.”

Hermione gave an irritating little sigh, and then stood. “Come on. We should start walking down.”

Sylvia glanced back over at the twins, but they were now walking out to the pitch with their broomsticks in one hand and their beater’s bats slung over their shoulders. Fred saying something while George stared at the ground, neck still red. Sylvia frowned slightly.

Matilda walked by with her friends. The other two girls wore silver pins in the shape of crowns, which read, Weasley is Our King. Matilda locked eyes with her sister, communicating some sort of a warning.

“That cannot be good.” Sylvia said.

~*~

The song was awful.

When Harry finally caught the snitch, Sylvia jumped up and down screaming more because it would mean she wouldn’t have to listen anymore than because she was happy that Gryffindor won. Dancing, she hugged Luna, Hermione and Ginny.

“Oh my God!” Ginny screamed. Sylvia turned just in time to see a bludger hit Harry in the back, sending him flying.

“Bloody hell.” Sylvia muttered, watching Angelina help him up and Madame Hooch start to yell at Crabbe. The rest of the team started to congratulate Harry, while Draco stood in the middle of the field alone, looking absolutely livid.

Hermione gasped, a hand over her mouth.

The four girls looked down at the center of the pitch, where it appeared that Draco was taunting the Gryffindor team. Harry was holding George away from Malfoy while Angelina, Katie and Alicia held Fred back.

“What on Earth is he saying?” Ginny asked, leaning over the railing to observe her brothers.

Hermione let out a soft scream as Harry released George and they both ran at Draco. Sylvia jumped up on the railing next to Ginny and started yelling for George to stop, but she knew he couldn’t hear.

Christmas Eve tea was an interesting affair, dominated by Molly and Hermione talking about wedding plans and everyone retelling the same stories that they had all laughed at for years.

“And then there was the time Sylvia dumped all my things in the lake.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes at George. “You were asking for it.”

“I only told you that your sister was prettier. I didn’t actually mean it. I certainly didn’t ask for the giant bloody squid to start reading my books.”

Ron snorted into his pasta and Bill shook his head, an amused smile on his face. Sylvia looked at him, deadpan. “Hey, Georgie. That’s quite the hole you’ve got in your head. Sure you didn’t lose any brain matter?”

“Thanks, Syl. I was going to say that even with that big ugly scar on your face, you’re still prettier than Matilda, but you know, I can take it back if you’d like.”

“Nice, George.” Bill chuckled softly. “Real smooth. I’ll bet Syl has never heard a smoother line.”

Sylvia smiled sweetly. “I need you like I need a hole in my head.” she quipped.

George rolled his eyes. “Alright, I get it. Holes.”

A little down the table, Molly watched their banter nervously. She had noticed how Sylvia flinched when George commented on the scar. Hermione watched them and shook her head, Ginny sat in shock as her brother smiled and laughed. Fleur eyed Sylvia suspiciously but was more focused on convincing Victoire to eat her food and not throw it.

The male members of the table didn’t notice a thing.

~*~

The next morning Sylvia came downstairs in a pale grey Weasley sweater with a snowman stitched on the front. George looked up from his coffee and newspaper when he heard her, dressed in his own blue sweater with a snowman.

“Ah, I guess she’s into snowmen this year.”

Sylvia looked down at the snowman on her shirt with its red hat and pebble smile. “I think it’s cute.”

“Hm, well, we only have to wear them once a year. Coffee?”

“Please.”

He summoned a mug and filled it with the pot in front of him while Sylvia sat across from him and took the sports section of The Prophet.

“So rude.” George sighed.

“You weren’t reading these pages.” she replied mindlessly. She glanced at him. “Why are you up so early, anyway?”

He shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. Christmas cheer and all.”

“Yes.”

George watched her sip her coffee. “I’m sorry, by the way. For what I said last night about your scar.”

Sylvia glanced up at him. “Your mother made you apologize, didn’t she?”

“Well, I was going to anyway.”

She smiled. “It’s okay. you’re right. It’s big and ugly. But I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.”

“How did you get it?”

She looked away. “Bellatrix Black.”

George noticed her hands shaking and quickly reached to help her hold her coffee mug. “Syl, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have - “

“It’s alright.” she said quietly. “It’s just...your war was two years ago. Mine was two months ago.”

“You’re handling it better than I was, two months along.”

She watched his freckled hands over hers, one thumb painted scarlet covering his. “Do you remember when we thought the worst that could happen was getting kicked off the quidditch team?”

“Seems like three lifetimes ago.” he said quietly.

She looked up at him, and finally said what she had been thinking since he arrived the night before. “I’m sorry about Fred.”

He swallowed heavily. “Yeah. Me too. I...I know you weren’t as close as we were but...I’m sorry about Matilda.”

Her breath caught. “We were closer than you would think.”

Molly bustled in. “Oh, you’re both up. I’ll get some breakfast started. Thank you for the scarf, George. It’s lovely.”

“Merry Christmas, Mum.” George said, taking his hands away from Sylvia’s quickly and standing to kiss his mother on the cheek.

“I’m glad you like the sweater, Sylvia.” Molly said. “I thought the grey would go with your eyes.”

Sylvia smiled with watery eyes. “Yes. Thank you. Excuse me, uhm, bathroom.”

She stood and left quickly wiping her eyes. Behind her, George protested while Molly demanded, “What did you do now?”