The Healer | Part 2: The War

Discovery

Edith

George and Fred woke me up earlier the next day. I could tell they hadn't meant to and had been trying to be quiet, but they seemed to be quite incapable of doing so. It also probably didn't help that I was sleeping out in the open of the flat. I hastily dressed and had breakfast with them before they went down to the shop for the day.

I didn't want them to leave. I'd enjoyed the feeling of George holding me while we slept far more than I knew was appropriate for the nature of our relationship. His words from the night before kept repeating in my mind. Don't go, stay here with me. Sod America. After the last two days staying in the flat with him and Fred, his offer was incredibly tempting. Tempting enough to take him up on it, the only thing that made me stick to my plan was that I hadn't had any contact with my family since Saturday morning. I needed to tell them I was alright and perhaps urge my parents one final time to go into hiding now that the Ministry had fallen.

George had made me promise the night before to stay put until they'd gathered a bit more information. It would look suspicious if he didn't go in to the shop today, especially with Ministry wizards waiting to question him and Fred. He made me promise again while he got ready for work.

'Aren't you worried you'll be interrogated?' I asked nervously before they left. I didn't like the sound of it, but I knew it was inevitable. The wizards were already back outside the shop waiting for it to open.

'No,' George replied. 'I mean, it can't be worse than the old bat, can it?'

He lifted his left hand and indicated to the scars still there from Umbridge's detentions a year and a half ago. I reflexively looked down at my own hand where the marks had long faded.

'You'll be careful though, won't you?' I asked.

'Don't worry, I'll take care of my brother for you,' Fred winked at me. I felt my face flush.

'Seriously, Edith, it'll be fine,' George assured me. 'Even if they come looking for us, all they're really after is Harry Potter, and we've no clue where he is.'
'But your brother's with him,' I reminded him.

'Not according to the Ministry,' Fred said. 'We bewitched the ghoul that usually lives in our attic so he looks like Ron. According to the Ministry, Ron is at home, ill with Spattergroit.'

'Impressive,' I nodded. I made a mental note to look up Spattergroit in one of my Healing books after they left.

'They'll probably still want to speak to us,' George said. 'We just won't have much to tell them.'

I was still a little nervous for them when they left for the shop downstairs, dressed in matching jackets made out of dragon leather. Business certainly must have been good, I couldn't imagine dragon leather came very cheap.

I turned my attention to the sitting room after they were gone. It was still littered with food wrappers and other rubbish scattered around most surfaces. George and Fred must get a lot of takeaways. I picked up my wand again and started clearing that up. When that was done, I collected the breakfast dishes and washed them again. Then I peered into the freezer to see what I could make for supper.

I knew I would have to keep myself busy that day. Otherwise I would go mad with worry and fretting over if I'd made the right decision staying or not. George had reiterated again that morning how dangerous it was likely to be should I go out on my own. I knew it was, that was why I'd planned on getting out of the United Kingdom before all of this happened.

I knew I had probably missed my chance to get away safely. But I was having a hard time feeling upset about it. I had to admit, I had really enjoyed spending the last couple of days with George and learning more about him, his family, his business. It made my heart ache that we hadn't had much opportunity to do so while we were in school. Underneath the troublemaker, he was kind, funny, and generous. Why hadn't I been able to see that in school? I wasn't sure if it was better that I'd stayed here with him. It made me understand just what I'd missed out on and would continue to miss after I left. No one knew how long the war would go on for. He may move on before I would be able to come back.