Elusive // The Weasley Twins

40. Jealousy

"Lottie?"

    George didn't mean to sound so surprised at her appearance but he genuinely was shocked to see her. It had been days since she left the flat and not once did she bother trying to reach out or explain where she had gone.

    "Hi baby," Lottie stepped forward and greeted George with a kiss on the cheek. George was too stunned to say or do anything in return, but he did notice how dressed up she was, like she was ready for an evening out.

    He shook his head slightly right as Lottie reached for his hand, "Where have you been? It's been days."

    "I know, I know," Lottie sighed, scrunching up her face in guilt, "I'm sorry. Something came up at home and I just needed to be with family."

    George was having a very difficult time finding any truth in her words, "You went back to the states?"

    Lottie tilted her head slightly, her lips pulled back into a thin smile, "Is that so hard to believe?"

    Before George could answer, Hermione stepped forward with Ron still at her side. She shot George a questioning look, obviously not having expected to see Lottie as well, "Hey Lottie, are you coming with us tonight?" Hermione glanced at Lottie's dress of choice and George's palms became clammy.

    "Obviously," she grinned. "I saw the invite on the table before I left. There's no way I would miss a party at the famous Malfoy Mansion."

    "Manor," Hermione corrected. "Malfoy Manor."

    "Same thing," Lottie shrugged and squeezed George's hand excitedly. "Shall we go? It's getting pretty late, I'm sure that there's already tons of people there- oh I can't wait to meet all of your friends from Hogwarts. You have to introduce me to everyone."

    "Wait, Lottie-" George tried to get a word in but before he could even think about pulling her aside and talking to her privately, Ginny stepped out of the bathroom and added to the conversation.

    "Yeah, George is just going to pick up Setty and then we'll all go."

    George loved his sister, really. But sometimes he wished that she just wouldn't talk for once.

    "Setty?" Lottie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but the smile didn't falter once. George knew it was forced. "Can't she just meet us there?"

    "I mean-"

    "Come on, let's go!" Lottie let go of his hand to snake her arm through his instead and before George could do anything, Harry grabbed onto his arm and Ginny placed her hand on Lottie's shoulder. He looked up and saw that Hermione had her wand out, ready to apparate her and Ron to the party and he didn't have a choice but to follow along.

    After the battle that took place three years ago, the Malfoy family separated themselves from most of society. They used that time to rebuild their family and fix the problems that they had internally.

    Then Draco wanted to reach out personally and make amends with people that he had hurt. In his mind, the best way to do that was a party. He invited wizards from all over and it wasn't supposed to be an alumni party, but it was mostly people from Hogwarts who came because they were curious as to what the Malfoy's were getting up to.

    And then he decided he would make it a yearly thing.

    The group of them landed at the end of the large gravel driveway leading up to the manor. Thick hedges lined either side of the path and as they walked up towards the main entrance, George looked around and recognized quite a few people heading towards the party.