Yellow - {Fred Weasley}

Chapter 18

"They should be back by now," Mrs. Weasley fretted, wringing her hands together. Ginny, Fleur, and myself were sitting in the kitchen at the Burrow with her. "I mean seriously," she added, pacing back and forth. The three of us watched her, our heads turning to follow her motions in unison. She was right, but she probably shouldn't have been saying things like that.

I spared a weary glance at the Weasley clock. All hands pointed to mortal peril. I sighed heavily. It's been that way for months now. "Oh! There's someone now!" Mrs. Weasley hurried outside without another word.

The three of us in the kitchen shared a look. Who was coming back and who wasn't? None of us wanted the answer to that.

"Harry dear! I'm so glad - what's happened?" Mrs. Weasley's voice carried into the house from the garden. Ginny was out of her chair and out the door in a minute. Fleur and I shared a nervous glance. One of our boys was back. Where were the others?

"I'm sure they're fine," Fleur murmured quietly. I could tell she was saying that to make both of us feel better. "I think so too," I added, giving her a tight smile. I know Ginny and Mrs. Weasley aren't too fond of her, but I quite like Fleur.

Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek and we both jumped up and ran outside. I gasped and put a hand over my mouth. I felt sick to my stomach. Uncle Remus and George had arrived, both covered in blood. George was leaning heavily on Uncle Remus, so I knew it must've been him who was hurt. Oh, Fred's gonna be so upset...

George removed his hand from the side of his head and I got really dizzy and heard a loud buzzing. Though it was dark outside, things got even darker.

 "Jade?!" I blinked and saw Ginny and Harry leaning over me. It was brighter - we were inside, I soon realised - and I was lying on a bed. "What's going on?" I mumbled, slurring my words a bit. "Just... lie back down, it's okay," Ginny said, gently pushing me back down on the bed.

"Where's Fred?" I asked, struggling against her hold as I tried to look around. She shook her head sympathetically. "He's not back yet, I'm sorry." I groaned and stopped struggling. "How's George?" 

"He's fine, just a little out of it," Harry replied quickly. His attention was caught by someone else appearing. Ginny had to restrain me again and glared at Harry until he noticed. "Oh, sorry -uh... it's just Hermione."

I sighed and stopped struggling again. "He should've been back by now," I whispered darkly. I turned my head away from them and stared blankly at the ceiling. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ginny move to put her hand on my leg. She stopped herself with a small shake of her head. I closed my eyes so I didn't have to see their fearful expressions. It wasn't concern for those of us that were injured or sick - it was the fear that their other loved ones wouldn't return home.

The door swung open and Mrs. Weasley let out a great cry of relief. I didn't open my eyes but I didn't need to. 

"George?!" I heard him rush into the guest room that was connected to the living room. 

Ginny and Harry both let out sighs of relief at the sound of his voice. I wanted to let out my own sigh of relief, but I was so drained mentally and physically. The stress of him being gone like that was really taking its toll.

"Of all the ear related humour in the world and you go for 'holey'," I heard him tease. I could practically hear his eyes rolling. "You're pathetic." He and George started giggling to themselves and they fell quiet. Now we were just waiting on Bill, Moody, and Alex. Originally, Fleur was going to go with Bill but he managed to get her to stay. Instead, Alex went with him. Chandler had offered to go, but they decided Alex would be a better fit for the job. They had something better for Chandler, they said.