Malignant ••• George Weasley

Chapter 35 - Cut and Run

Juna felt like a duck treading water. Calm and graceful on the surface, but just underneath, she was kicking wildly just to stop herself from drowning.
She paced in her living room, the only sound coming from her bare feet as they tracked the hardwood floor repeatedly. Her mind was awash with negative thoughts, thoughts she had no interest in being aware of but they just kept coming.
Why was George with his ex? Why were they so close? Why did he do that when he knew Juna would be arriving at any moment? Did he even care about her? Why did Fred let her walk in to see that? In fact, why has Fred been acting so strangely lately?

Usually when Juna and George have a disagreement or she gets upset, he will immediately come see if she is ok. The minutes were ticking by and he had not made contact or randomly showed up at her flat like he usually does.
Juna rolled her eyes at herself. Of course he wouldn't show up here, not after last time when she had fired curses at him. She closed her eyes at the embarrassment of the memory, it's a wonder George ever wanted anything to do with her at all.

"This is probably a good thing, we never would have worked anyway." She said to herself, trying to convince her heart it was the truth.

Juna was suddenly feeling very physically and mentally drained, both from training at the MIU earlier in the day and now from thinking about this. She sat with a huff onto the couch, letting it envelop her in its warm and cozy fabric.

Just then, her intercom crackled to life.
"Er... hello? Juna are you there?" A woman's voice came through the speaker.
"How do you use this thing... so fancy." They mumbled.

Juna reluctantly got off the couch and pressed the button by the elevator.
"Who is this?" She spoke into it.

"Oh hi! It's Hermione, Hermione Granger! Friend of the twins. I stayed here a little while a go." She rambled.

Juna couldn't help but smile to herself. Of course she remembered, Hermione and her friends are the first people to ever show real kindness and companionship to her.
"Sure, Hermione. Come on up."

She pressed the button to let Hermione onto her floor and went back to the couch, wondering what on earth she could want.
The elevator doors slid open after a minute and the bushy haired Hermione stepped out.

"Hey Juna, mind if I come in?"

"Of course not. Come in." She waved absent-mindedly from the couch.

Slightly awkwardly, Hermione sat down on the couch a little ways away from her.
"How are you?"

Juna turned to look at her straight on.
"Did someone send you here?"

Her face dropped slightly at the blunt question as she looked down at her hands.
"Well see... I had the day off work and I went by the twins' shop to see Ron and I bumped into George out on the street. He looked rather stricken, like something awful had just happened."

Juna remained emotionless as Hermione continued.
"So I asked him what happened and he said his ex - Ara, had shown up out of the blue. He said you had seen her in the office with him and stormed off and he didn't know what to do."
She finished breathless.

"So you came here?"

"Well yes, George hinted at wanting to see if you were ok but didn't want to show up when you were angry. So I just sort of... asked where you lived and said I'd come."

"And he gave you my address? Just like that?"

Hermione looked guilty.
"Yeah... I'm sorry Juna, I shouldn't have butted in like this. It's none of my business."

Hurriedly she got up to leave. Juna sighed and rubbed her eyes.
"Wait, Hermione. You don't have to go, if you want to you can, but some company could be nice."