Good Girl || George Weasley

4

The rest of the day passes slowly as we all eagerly await the night to come so that we can start our bonfire. Of course, it doesn't pass without everyone poking fun at Fred for knocking me off my broom at least a few times, to which he just pouts and insists that it was an accident.

George, on the other hand, tries to act as my nurse all day, despite me telling him that I'm fine, which is true. I look worse than I feel, especially after Mrs. Weasley's miracle-working potion that took away all my pain. I honestly don't mind, though, because I like the attention from him. What I don't like is Charlie winking at me from across the room every time George even looks in my direction. I'm starting to regret telling him anything.

Finally, after we all help finish cleaning up after dinner, the sun begins to set.

"We should start setting up while there's still some light," Bill says, as we all sit in the living room. He looks directly at me from across the room as he begins standing up from his seat. "Katie, wanna help me start grabbing wood from the back?"

"Of course," I say, pushing myself off the couch, but George immediately grabs my waist from next to me and practically pulls me back down, standing up himself instead.

"She's hurt, remember?" he says, a little too quickly, "I'll help instead."

"George, I told you, I'm fine." I say firmly, standing up next to him and looking between him and Bill. "All three of us can go."

"Don't forget me!" Fred stands up from my other side, grinning widely despite the obvious tension in the room.

Bill looks between the three of us and shrugs. "Okay. Let's go."

We head outside and around to the back of the house, where there's plenty of old wood from all of the trees. The little forest area is still one of my favorite parts about staying at the Burrow, mostly because of all of the memories that I associate with it. Fred, George, and I used to climb some of the smaller trees, and we'd even race to see who could get the highest. But, of course, in typical us fashion, we were banned from doing so anymore after Ron tried to join us and Fred accidentally pushed him out of the tree. Thankfully, Ron wasn't hurt that badly, but Mrs. Weasley was still furious with us.

That also happened to be the same summer that we stole the Ford Anglia to go rescue Harry, but that's a whole story in itself.

There's a somewhat awkward silence as we start picking up logs to bring around to the front. I'm not able to carry as many as the boys are at once, but I still make a decent dent in the pile. After a few trips back and forth, George and Fred are in the front, while Bill and I are alone in the back. I watch as he picks up a large log with ease, holding it on his shoulder.

"Alright, Clearwater?" he asks when he notices me watching.

"Alright," I reply, grabbing a significantly smaller log and clutching it against my chest, being careful not to bump it against my still-tender bruises. Maybe George had a point in not wanting me to help, but I'd never admit that, especially to him. Plus, I can't help but feel like there was something more to his eagerness to take my place.

Bill offers me a smile as we start walking back up to the front, and we run into Fred and George by the side of the house, who are laughing loudly about something.

"I think we're good for now," Bill says, "We can always grab some more later, if we need to."

Fred salutes him. "Aye, aye, Captain."

I grin and roll my eyes, shaking my head at George, whose eyes flit to Bill momentarily before meeting mine again. He smiles gently at me, holding out his arms.