Lover ; George Weasley

Seven

"Do you like the stars?"

At the sound of George's voice, I looked at him, smiling softly.

We sat on the roof of his flat. It was late at night and we had eaten. He was a great cook and awesome company.

"I do." I nodded, the smile staying on my face as if it was glued on. I could feel George looking at my side profile, almost as if he was studying my features. "I was twelve when the war ended, you know... I always say I was thirteen but I was really twelve. It ended in May and I was born in October..."

I sighed.

"Anyway, I was twelve when the war ended. I wasn't allowed on school grounds during the battle. Along with my best friend, I was among the students who was put on the Hogwarts express to go home." I said. "I remember how happy I was that the war was over. Once it was announced that we won and the dark side lost... I was just so excited to see my family again. The three of them had been fighting and my grandparents were watching me."

I turned my head to look at George as he realised where I was going with it.

"When we arrived at Hogwarts, I ran into the Great Hall, hoping to see them all but uh... my mum was hugging my sister's body while crying for her to come back."

I chuckled, shaking my head.

"It's weird, don't you think?" I asked. "That one minute, a person is there... and the next one, they're gone."

George inhaled sharply and I frowned at his reaction as he looked up at the sky. That looked like it hurt.

"Did I say something?"

"No." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you want to know why my son is named Fred?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know. I assumed it was short for Frederic."

"No uh—" he bit the inside of his cheek as he stared up at the stars. "...I had a twin brother. Identical."

Oh...

"His name was Fred." He told me. "He was older than me by a couple of minutes and he never forgot to let me know that."

He let out a small chuckle as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"He was killed in an explosion during the battle."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said. "What was he like?"

"He was very outgoing." George explained to me. "Very goofy, which we both were... but he was also very protective. He was a more rough version of me. We spent all seven years at school, running around the hallways, playing pranks on teachers and students. Our favourite target was Filch. Fred was... well, he had a hard time seeing boundaries and that's what where we were different. He didn't know if the prank had gone too far while I always wanted to stop if I could see it end up horribly... but he was my best friend, and having him die was the scariest thing I've experienced because suddenly I was alone. I had never been without him before."

He looked at me and smiled when he saw I was already looking at him.

He reached out and twirled a strand of my hair around his finger before pushing it behind my ear.

"I'm sorry you lost your brother."

He smiled softly, running his fingers down my neck, eyes looking at something.

"I'm sorry you lost your sister." He said, letting his hand drop before his eyes flicked to mine. "Did I know her?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "She was from seventy-eight as well but she was in Ravenclaw. Nadine Willows..."

"Willows?" He questioned. "That's your sister?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

I mean, there were a few kids at school with that surname so it would make sense that he didn't just assume we were related.

"So you did know her?"

"Yeah." He breathed. "I think her and my brother had a thing for each other at one point."

Wait really?

"The world is small." I breathed, looking at his lips as I felt an urge to kiss him.

I hadn't been able to forgot how he had kissed me earlier when I first got here.

"Who's helping you with the shop?"

"My younger brother, Ron." He told me. "He used to work as an Auror but after two years, he quit to help me out. Though Rita Skeeter wrote about it, called Ron mentally ill and claimed the only reason he quit was because he was tired of standing in the shadow of his best friend, Harry."

I sighed.

"I can't stand Skeeter." I said, running a hand over my face. As we looked at each other, my phone then stared ringing, causing me to jump.

George gasped dramatically.

"Is this the call that gets you out of the date?" He joked while I found my phone to check who was calling.

As a mother, I can't exactly go out without my phone. If it's got anything to do with my girls, whoever's watching them has to be able to contact me.

Though the picture of the caller, revealed that it wasn't Inez calling me.

"Sorry." I breathed. "It's my husband."

I hung up the call and silenced my phone before I put it away again.

"You don't want to answer it?" George asked as I looked at him again.

I shook my head.

"He's probably just drunk."

"Is he drunk a lot?" He asked. "No wait... let me rephrase... does he call you a lot when he's drunk?"

I pulled my lips to one side as I looked out over Diagon Alley, feeling his eyes stay on me.

"Sometimes."

"Okay." He nodded. "Then I have another question."

"Yeah? Shoot."

"Do you still love him?" He asked. "Because if you do... I don't think us trying to date would be such a good idea."

I looked at him again.

"I've already had one woman in me and my kids life who ended up leaving and if you're still in love with your husband, I'd be too scared to continue this because if you leave as well, to be with him again... which would be understandable. I'm just— I don't want to bring anyone into our live for the person to leave again."

I smiled. It was cute how protective of his kids he was, but so was I of mine.

"I'm not in love with Malcolm anymore." I said and I meant it. "We've been separated for nine months but I fell out of love with him over a year ago."

Then my smile grew.

"What? You want to see if we have chemistry?"

"Oh, I know we have chemistry." He grinned. "But I do want to get to know you better and see what happens."

I bit down on my lip as I watched him.

"Then I hope you enjoy learning that I want to get to know you better too." I smiled. "I was a bit sceptical when you showed up at my office, mostly because I didn't really know you and I don't have the best experience with guys... but I have to be honest and say that I made the right decision saying yes to this date."