If You'll Have Me | George Weasley

Prologue

It had to have been the hottest day of the year. 90 degrees, she remembered overhearing on the television, and even the glass of water on her beside table had begun to sweat. Beads of condensation had gathered on the rim and glimmered ever so slightly as she lifted it to her lips, drinking quickly in attempt to cool herself down.

Her mother, Liliane, calls some incoherent sentence to her from downstairs, and runs frantically about in her heels against the hardwood. She was notorious for packing last minute, and was scrambling to gather anything that she may have forgotten for their trip.

They were to be heading to Rome for the summer, celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in no fashion other than extravagant. They had expensive taste, whether they liked to admit it or not, and the capital of Italy was one of the few places that they hadn't visited. It was a necessity, as her father had said the night before. How ridiculous.

They were built on old money, but her mother claimed that their fortune derived from hard work. Eleanor knew, though, that the root of their wealth came from the generations of talented witches and wizards that came before them. Not because her parents worked hard. They hardly ever lifted a finger without a complaint waiting to follow.

A gentle knock comes from her open door, startling her, and she turns to find her father filling the doorway to her bedroom. He stood at 6'1, and was a rather wide man with broad shoulders and ashy blonde hair as he called it, sitting atop of his head and chin. He just didn't want to admit that it was slowly turning grey with his age.

David Wright could've been an extraordinary wizard, had he tried. Had he not cared so much about riches and luxury. He had a rather ordinary job and worked with rather ordinary people, but sheerly out of boredom. Because it became tedious sitting upon money that he didn't work for. However, he had an epiphany, one day, and decided that he wanted a challenge. As if being a support staff in the ministry was a challenge.

"Are you almost ready to go?" He asks, leaning against the frame, and Eleanor nods, refusing to turn her head in his direction as she shoves the last of her belongings into her trunk.

No, she wasn't going to Rome with them. She'd be damned if she were to spend an entire summer listening to her mother gushing about the decadency of the wine from the vineyards, and oh, how much more fragrant the flavor was when in Italy. All wine was the same.

"You'll love it there, you know. Arthur is one of my dearest friends. He's got lots of kids, too. Around your age, I think." He says, his tone sounding a bit too promising, and she lets a partial laugh escape her lips.

She turns to him, fidgeting idly with the necklace upon her chest, just to do something with her restless hands. "Don't worry about me. I just want you and mum to have a good trip. I'll be fine."

"That's my girl." He smiles, pulling her into his side to give her an awkward hug. He hardly knew how to coddle her, but regardless, she accepts the gesture. He was trying, at least. "I'll go put your things in the car, and if you may, go help your mother? She's running mad down there. Something about a lost earring." He lets out a deep breath as he shakes his head, and she solemnly complies, following him down the hall and to the curved stairs that led to the foyer.

"Rome awaits!" His voice booms happily throughout the immense space of their home, and her mother laughs distantly, still scrambling for that lost earring that surely, she would never find.

While Italy awaited them, the Burrow awaited her. And from what her father had described, it was what she was in desperate need of. A break away from the mind numbing ignorance and avarice. To be around people her own age. To have a change of scenery and to not be surrounded by these bland, white walls, which were decorated in such hideous paintings that she never quite understood why her mother bought them. Perhaps just to make a dent in the money that they hadn't earned.

And while her father begins to pack the car with their luggage and trunks, her and her mother tear apart the bedroom one last time, searching aimlessly for the diamond stud a few moments before ceasing hope, and leaving it behind in the room that sat in ruins.

They leave a few minutes after, utilizing an enchantment spell that Arthur had taught her father to make the car take flight, and headed off to Ottery St Catchpole. A small village where just on the outskirts, Mr. Weasley, and the rest of his family resided. The Burrow.

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A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this little prologue! I'm exhausted at the moment and I wrote this really quick so if there's any grammatical issues, don't be afraid to let me know! This story is going to be inspired by my experiences from shifting, however, not everything that I write has exactly happened in my DR.

I can't say how soon chapter 1 will be posted, but if the response is good, I'll try to post it as soon as I can. I love you guys so much. Thank you for all of the support on here and my tiktok. Take care of yourselves 🖤

~ kaits