Elusive // The Weasley Twins

60. Lost

Hermione managed to get Cosette settled on the couch. Ron made her a cup of tea as Bill and Fleur sat across from her.

All of them were thinking the same thing, but none of them knew how to bring it up.

A stolen ring shouldn't have called for the use of an unforgivable curse.

"Where is she?" Cosette finally asked, raising her hand to wipe her eyes. She noticed the dried blood on the back of her hand but the pain from the cut had subsided. There were more important things to worry about.

"Setty, I say this because I care about you and I don't want anything to happen to you," Hermione eyed her cautiously, "You can't perform the Cruciatus Curse on Lottie. I understand that you hate her and she stole Fred's ring, but those curses are illegal and unforgivable. Bill obviously isn't going to press charges, but Lottie will unless you kill her with it and that's an entirely different conversation-"

"You can't kill Lottie," Ron finished Hermione's sentence, leaning against the armrest on the opposing couch. Hermione was the only one who felt comfortable enough to sit with Cosette at this time, even though her wand was still on the floor surrounded by glass.

But this was about so much more than a ring. Yes, the ring was what set off her emotions, but Cosette was more worried about George and she needed her friends to understand her thought process.

"It's not just the ring," Cosette told them all. "Lottie's insane."

Ron sighed, tired of the bitterness between them that they've all had to endure. "She's not-"

"She's been slipping George Amortentia," Cosette interjected before Ron could tell her that she was wrong.

"Amortentia?" Hermione repeated. "How do you know?"

Cosette rubbed her hands over her face, trying to figure out the best way to go about this conversation. "The whole reason I showed up yesterday morning was because I had a feeling something wasn't right with George. There was no way he would have just let Lottie move in. He was ready to break up with her. He was going to break up with her, he told me himself."

Hermione and Ron exchange a look, probably wondering how they weren't able to notice George's change in behaviour.

"And I was right," Cosette told them. "I basically kidnapped George and locked him in a room until the potion wore off."

Bill snorted, "I'm sorry, you kidnapped him?"

"It was the best plan I could come up with in short notice," she defended herself, not wanting to come across as crazy as she knew Lottie to be. "The potion wore off, but that wasn't all she did to him. He was wearing this ring that took control of his mind. He was angry and distant and when I tried to take it off of him, it burned me, but George was able to take it off. As soon as it was away from him, he was back to normal."

"Are you telling us that she brainwashed him?" Hermione asked for clarification and Cosette furiously nodded.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "She's fucking psycho and I knew something was off about her since day one, but all of this just proves how fucked up she is."

"So where is he now?" Bill asked and Cosette hummed in response, turning her head towards him. "George? Where is he?"

"Well I thought he was here," she answered honestly. Cosette had no idea where George was and clearly he hadn't been at the flat. Not a good sign. The panic started to sink in again, "We need to find him, he's probably with Lottie and what if-"