The Healer | Part 3: The Survivors

A Very Bad Date

George

The anxiety that had been steadily building since I'd decided to return to England was gone. Edith was here, she was alright, at least she appeared so anyway. Her presence was more effective than the strongest calming draught.

She was definitely smaller than she had been the last time I'd held her, but she wasn't as small as I'd ever seen her. But it was still concerning, and I was sure we'd talk about it before long.

The anxiety was gone, but my lack of sleep was catching up with me.

'Where have you been, then?' Ginny and Charlie were in the sitting room when I returned to The Burrow. Charlie spoke the moment I came through the door.

'Looking for Edith,' I shrugged.

'Have you been out all night?' He asked, raising his eyebrows.

'Only because she wrote me an entire novel I had to read before I saw her,' I told him.

'Ah,' he smirked and winked.

'Did you find her?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah, she's still living in London,' I told her.

'Really?' She asked.

'Yeah, her programme runs straight through the summer,' I replied.

'You know, that does sound familiar,' she mused. I shot her a death glare. I could have strangled her.

'I'm off to bed,' I walked past them towards the stairs.

'Wait!' Ginny called. 'How did it go?'

'Oh c'mon, Ginny,' Charlie scoffed. 'He's grinning like an idiot, how do you think it went?'

I said nothing, but continued to smile to myself as I climbed the stairs.

After showering and changing my clothes, I tucked myself into Percy's bed. All I could think about was how nice it felt to hold her again. It was fresh in my mind again and it was all I wanted. My arms felt empty as I pulled the blankets over me. She belonged in my arms, and even though we hadn't slept together in ages, in that moment, her absence felt like a gaping hole.

I would marry her one day, I knew that for sure now. The way she ran down the steps towards me and clung to me with tears streaming down her face was all I needed to be sure. She was still in. She was still mine.

It had been oddly healing seeing her walking away from me that day. Unlike after the battle, when she'd run as fast as she could without looking back, today she'd been reluctant and had looked back several times with a cheeky grin before she disappeared up the staircase. It had taken everything I had not to chase her and carry her away.

The memory of her soft, warm body was enough for the time being. I would see her again in a few hours. Maybe the Leaky Cauldron wasn't completely out of the question for tonight. I'd prefer that to her dormitory.

I was asleep almost instantly.

Edith

I couldn't focus on the rest of my classes that day. My mind was racing, I could hardly believe what had just happened. I checked the notebook several times throughout the day to make very sure that my letters had indeed disappeared. It had been real. I thought I could still smell the scent of gunpowder and pine on my uniform.

I worked furiously through my lunch break to catch up on my homework for the next day. I was already behind and I knew I wouldn't want to do any work by the time I came back tonight.

We brewed a Blood-Replenishing Solution in Potions that afternoon, something I had already done before. The St Mungo's Potions room was much brighter than the dungeons at Hogwarts. For one, it was on the top floor as opposed to the dungeons, and there were windows letting in daylight and that we were allowed to open to let in fresh air. The walls were painted a sterile white colour, almost making me wish I had brought sunglasses to class.