The Black Sheep | George Weasley

Sixty

Lyra bought a book on battle wounds and medical attention. She even went and bought muggle battle medical books. She read them and took notes after her homework and normal studying.

She found herself enfolding herself into her studies and work to keep her mind off Uncle Ted and Montgomery. Maybe she could save someone next time if she studied hard enough.

Andromeda started cooking and cleaning like a mad woman to distract her brain. The whole family formed their own coping mechanisms. Lyra hardly ate, meal breaks meant less time studying and she needed to keep her brain filled to the brim with information.

Unfortunately, George was often forgotten and she forgot about date night or to respond to his letters. When she did reply, it was brief.

One Saturday night, the front doorbell rang. She was in the kitchen, studying, so she got up and went and answered it.

She didn't expect to find George. He gave a small smile and gave her a kiss before walking past her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

He sighed heavily. "You forgot again, didn't you?"

Fuck. They were going to watch a Muggle movie. She felt bad about missing the last date night and suggested it.

"What? No!" She lied. "You go sit in the living room, Andromeda just knitted a new blanket. I'll go make some popcorn."

"Extra butter?"

"Extra butter." She grinned. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her book and set it on the counter, she put a charm on it to read out loud. She went under the counter to grab the a metal stovetop popcorn popper. She listened as she added the kernels and added the oil. She liked extra oil. She turned the stove on and closed the lid. As she followed along with the words, she heard it pop behind her. She lazily turned the handle as she listened.

"Are you serious?" George groaned.

Lyra stood up straight and looked back at him with wide eyes. She waved her wand to make the voice stop reading. She gave a small laugh. "I'm sorry."

"You can't go one evening without reading?"

"No, I can!" She closed her book. "Tonight will just be about us."

When the popcorn was done, she put it in a large bowl and joined him on the couch, she curled up beside him and he draped the blanket over them.

A muggle movie was starting, Casper The Friendly Ghost, staring Christina Ricci (not that they knew who that was).

"That's not what a ghost looks like!" George cackled.

It was nice just watching the movie with George and turning her brain off. She leaned against him and felt his fingertips running against her hip absentmindedly. She found her mind drifting back to how she could be studying. How she could be preparing. She tried to turn it off but it was hard. She decided thinking about some medical facts couldn't harm anything. But then she daydreamed about her vocabulary words and was flinched out of it by George's laughter. She felt awful that she was still thinking about work. What was wrong with her? The coping mechanism was really harming her social life. When was the last time she sent a letter to her friends? Louisa and Eddy didn't count.

"Where's Andromeda? Or Tonks?" George finally asked.

"Oh, they went out to eat. I decided to stay behind." She answered.

"So you did forget about our date." He sighed disappointedly.

"I'm so sorry, George. It's just... I've been sucked into my work." She wrapped her arm around his midsection.