The Healer | Part 2: The War

It gets worse

George

'I love you, Edith.'

Hell, the sight of her alive and unharmed was everything and more. How she had managed it, I had no idea and I didn't care. She was back, here in my arms where I knew she belonged.

I looked her earnestly in the eyes as I spoke. I wasn't letting her go another minute without knowing how I felt about her. She needed to know I loved her and that if she decided to stay, I would do everything in my power to keep her safe.

'George... I-' she hesitated, her eyes growing wet. Shit, I hoped I hadn't just traumatized her even more than she already was. It would have been better to tell her two nights ago like I'd wanted to.

'You don't have to say it back,' I told her gently.

'It's not that,' she said, her lower lip quivering. 'My sister's dead. My parents hate me. I just... I dunno what to do.'

My heart clenched. I had no idea what she was going through, only that it must be unbelievably painful.

'It was a cock up up, that's what it was,' Fred spoke up from the kitchen.

Damn, I'd quite forgotten he was there. Why couldn't he piss off? Couldn't he tell this was a private moment?

'Sorry?' She blinked, turning towards him.

'It was an unauthorized attack,' Fred went on. I grimaced and straightened up, but Edith tightened her grip on my hands, preventing me from getting too far away. I don't know if she even realized she'd done it. I smiled to myself and squeezed her hands, communicating to her that I wasn't going anywhere.

'Blimey, Edith, you're frozen!' I remarked. It was true, her hands were icy cold. She must have been outside all night long.

She didn't comment, but continued to look at Fred expectantly, waiting for him to go on. We had no idea how much she knew, the priority should be to fill her in on everything we knew.

'Dad was up at your house yesterday after we got wind of what happened,' Fred continued. 'There were Ministry wizards scheduled to investigate when you missed your hearing but he thinks they were under the Imperius Curse. They certainly weren't authorized to use the Cruciatus Curse on your parents or to murder your sister for information on your whereabouts.'

'But why?' She asked, her voice breaking. 'Do they do that to everyone who hasn't shown up to their hearing?'

'I can't say,' he shrugged. 'That's what the Ministry is trying to figure out. Meanwhile, they're trying to sweep this particular incident under the rug and make it look like an accident.'

'Dad's still up there,' I told her. 'At your house, as a representative for the Ministry. He'll come here later.'

'What's he doing at my house?' She asked.

'He's trying to work out what's happened,' I explained.

'Has he worked out anything so far? Has he spoken with my parents?' She asked, her voice rising a bit.

I looked at Fred. There were plenty of rumours and speculation, but we knew nothing for sure. There was no point in worrying her over nothing until we did know exactly what had happened.

'It's not looking good, Edith,' I told her. That wasn't a lie. None of this looked good, no matter what angle you looked at it. But I'd never lie to her.

Her eyes narrowed and I got the feeling she knew we were keeping something from her. She was clever enough and if we thought any different, we were stupid.

She let go of my hands abruptly and stepped back. I wanted nothing more than to snatch her hands back, I needed to be touching her, at least some small part of her. I knew she'd likely been through hell, but so had I. I didn't know if I would ever see her again.