Lover ; George Weasley

Seventy-eight

Focusing on work was hard.

It was straight up impossible. How was I supposed to focus on paperwork when George wasn't giving me one single call, when he wasn't texting me, apologising, when he wasn't telling me that he didn't mean to break up with me.

For every hour that passed, I started to feel less and less hopeful about the situation.

George broke up with me and we weren't getting back together.

We were supposed to go to Legoland with our kids for the weekend.

The kids.

My eyes widened at the thought of Fred and Roxi, and I leaned back in my chair, sighing heavily.

Roxi had trust issues and were always scared that I wouldn't come back whenever I left, and Fred had just warmed up to me.

They were both going to hate me.

"Fuck." I cursed, running my fingers through my hair.

I bit down on my lip while my eyes dropped to the bottom drawer in my desk. I leaned down to open it and grabbed the old photograph I had hidden down there.

I looked at it and I felt a big lump form in my throat.

She looked so happy in that picture. It was taken the day she graduated Hogwarts.

I was so proud of my older sister. I wanted to be like her. I wanted her to be proud of me and here I am, messing up my only good relationship.

The photograph moved.

It was in black and white and it showed just how dark her hair was.

She smiled brightly at the camera before closing one eye due to the sun, her eyes moving to the person behind the camera.

I always knew that it had been her boyfriend who took the picture but I never remembered him because I had blocked out so many things from my childhood.

Though I remembered that our parents hated him and that they couldn't know that she snuck him into the house.

I promised to not tell, and I never did.

I folded the picture of my sister and stood up, stuffing it into my pocket before leaving the office, making sure that I had my phone and my wand with me.

I made my way down towards Bill's office, making sure to let him know that I was heading out for a moment but that I'd be back.

I knocked on the door and not even a second later, the door swung open, revealing Bill who sat at his desk, his wand in his hand.

He looked at me and waited for me to speak.

"Would it be alright if I went out for a couple of hours?" I asked. "I'll be back by noon and finish up my work... I just— I have some things I need to—"

"Dahlia." He chuckled. "Sure. I trust you."

"Thanks."

He looked at me when he saw my expression, then stood up.

"Do you need to talk about anything?"

I leaned against the doorway and folded my arms over my chest as I shrugged.

"I've already got a therapist, you know..."

Bill chuckled and walked around his desk to lean on it.

"I've talked to George."

"Oh..."

"Ever since our brother died, I'm the one he talks to when he's upset." He told me. "Even as a thirty-four year old man, he still comes to me to talk, so he told me what happened yesterday."

I looked down at the floor. I had no idea what to say. I didn't know if talking to my boss about it was such a good idea... also because he's George's older brother.

"It's fine." I breathed. "We don't need to discuss it. I'm actually okay with him dumping me and all... couldn't be better."

I cleared my throat and pushed myself away from the doorway, looking at Bill.

"I'll get going then."

I made my way back down the hallway, hurrying out of Gringotts and into the streets of Diagon Alley.

I inhaled sharply as I looked towards George's shop which was almost right in front of Gringotts.

Though instead of walking in there and talking to him, I apparated out of there and to the place where I wanted to visit.

My sister's grave.

She was buried at a graveyard near home, in Carlisle. She would have absolutely hated being buried here in the town where our parents had raised us, but mum was the one with a say.

She would have rather been buried with her boyfriend. She joked about it before the war. Told me that if they died, I had to bury her with him.

She meant it as a joke, but it happened... they both died.

I sat down in front of Nadine's grave, folding my legs as I stared at the words written in the tombstone.

Only her name.

My parents hadn't even bothered with anything else.

I wanted to change that. I wanted to get her a new stone, but they were expensive.

"I hate you, you know that?" I scoffed, staring at her name. "You died on me."

She was the only escape I had. I was able to visit her but then she died and all I had whenever I wasn't at Hogwarts, was that home full of darkness and terror.

I picked at the grass, chewing on my lip until I tasted blood.

"I cut mum out of my life." I said. "But it's hard. I've always wanted her to be the mother I needed her to be and she can't... I know now that cutting her out was the best thing to do, but I just miss her so much and I don't know why. How did you do it so easily? You turned eighteen and then you just left. How did you do it?..."

I chuckled.

"I'm talking to a stone."

I ran my hands over my face, taking a deep breath, until I heard a certain voice.

"Oh Dahlia."

Mum...

"Are you alright?" She asked, sounding sweet as she approached. "You don't look well."

I looked down at the ground, pressing my lips together to try and keep myself from bursting into tears.

"C'mere." She crouched down and I let her pull me into her embrace, something she had never done before.

She tried to hug Nadine once. It was when she left.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Mum whispered as she stroke my hair, and not even a second later, I burst into tears.

I knew this was her way of manipulating me, but she gave me exactly what I had always needed and wanted.

A simple hug from my mother.

"I'm so sorry." I cried. I didn't know what I was apologising for but I kept repeating it as I cried.

"It's okay." My mum assured me. "I'm here. You're gonna be okay."