Better times are ahead, don't worry.
-
The next day was rough.
I got up, acted like everything was okay as I got the twins dressed and when they asked about George, I told them he had to get to work early.
I had to drop the twins off with Inez so she could take them to school and then I went to work, having dodged every question Inez threw at me about why George couldn't take them.
Then I went to work. I planted the presents for Leah in her dorm and managed to get a hold of her to wish her happy birthday.
The entire day, I felt like shit. My head was pounding and my unborn daughter was kicking like crazy. Sometimes she would push against my rib and that would hurt like hell.
When I went home, George was sitting outside against the front door, waiting for me.
I stopped, staring at him and he slowly looked up, his eyes meeting mine.
"What are you doing?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest. "Why are you sitting out here in the cold?"
"I didn't want to go inside incase you still don't want me in there."
I closed my eyes for a moment before approaching him and the door, pulling my keys from my pocket.
"Why didn't you use the floo system?" He asked.
"I went for a walk outside of school grounds. Decided to just apparate home." I said, fumbling with my keys to unlock the door.
George reached up to brush his hand along my arm and I stepped away, sighing.
"Please don't do that."
"Your hand..." he said. "What happened?"
I looked at him, then at my hand.
So maybe I didn't go straight home after work.
I shrugged.
"Took care of something."
"Dia... what did you do?" He asked and got to his feet, looking down at me as he slowly reached for my hand to take a closer look.
I refused to look at his face.
"Let's just say that she will no longer bother you, Freddie or Roxanne." I said. "She knows to stay away."
I turned the key in the door and pushed it open. I ripped my hand from his grip and walked in.
"You didn't punch her..." he said, following behind me, closing the front door. "...did you?"
I went to the kitchen to put my bag down, then took off my shoes and used my wand to move them out by the door.
I threw my jacket over the kitchen island before I looked at him.
"That woman has done enough shit to you and to two of our kids." I said. "Did you really think she could get away with kissing my husband?"
"You can't just punch people."
"You mean I can't punch Angelina?" I asked. "George, if you love her, just tell me."
My voice was full of spite.
George straightened up and sighed, watching me.
"I love you."
"Yeah, of course you do."
"Dia—"
"Did you make the appointment?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"We have to see her Tuesday next week." He said. "At noon. You don't have any classes there, do you?"
"Nope."
I went to walk away from him but George grabbed my wrist and I stopped. I turned to look at him as he now stood so close to me, staring down at my face, his expression soft.
"It's okay, really." I said. "If you go back to Angelina, your mother ends up getting the daughter-in-law she misses so much."
"Stop, Dia..." he cupped my face with both of his hands. "...I didn't kiss her back."
I tilted my head back and clenched my jaw as I stared up at his eyes.
"Prove it."
"How on earth do you want me to do that?"
I shrugged.
"I want to see it."
He let go of my face.
"You want to see it?"
"Let's go down to the ministry, ask Hermione if we can borrow the pensive and you can show me your memory of what happened."
"You mean bring Hermione into this?" He asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Well I want to see if you are telling the truth!" I raised my voice. "And I don't know if I trust you enough to take your word for it."
He sighed and dropped his hand to my waist, but I grabbed it and threw it off before I turned and walked away.
"Will you at least let me help you clean up your hand?" He asked as he followed me.
Once again he reached for me and I looked at him as he used his other hand to open the door out to the downstairs bathroom.
"It looks like it hurts."
I looked at him for a moment before sighing and looking down at it.
"It does."
He laced his fingers with mine as he led me out into the bathroom, gesturing for me to sit on the toilet seat.
He found a cloth and wetted it before he crouched down in front of me. He gently grabbed my hand and I kissed as the cloth came in contact with my knuckles.
"How many times did you punch her?" He asked, cleaning up the stained blood.
"I dunno... a few."
"You shouldn't be doing stuff like this. You're pregnant."
I scoffed.
"Yeah, I'm pregnant yet I'm the one who stands up to her."
He glanced at my face but didn't push it further. I hissed again when he pushed the cloth onto one of the small wounds that were deeper than the others.
"Did you give Leah her presents?" He asked, glancing at my face again.
"Yes." I breathed. "I put them in her dorm. I'm not sure she would've accepted them if I went up to her and gave her them."
"She's still upset?"
"She hates me." I said. "And it's all Malcolm's fault."
George put the cloth aside before he pulled out his wand and healed up the wounds on my knuckles.
I watched as the skin stretched out and stitched itself up until there was no longer a wound to be seen.
George then placed his hands on my knees and I sighed before placing my hands on his.
"I can take veritaserum if you really don't trust me."
I looked at his eyes, the way he stared at me. I shook my head and pushed his hands off.
"I want to see it with my own eyes."
