If You'll Have Me | George Weasley

Chapter 29

GINNY had been skipping rocks on the water as Hermione watched each failed attempt. The grass was still wet from the rain, but Ginny stood barefoot in the water, silently giving up on rock skipping as Elle approaches them on the shore.

"All done? You were doing so well." Eleanor grins, to which Ginny playfully swats at her shoulder.

"I'm not even trying." Ginny laughs, though the frustration on her face hinted that she had tried and failed.

"Then try. Hermione looks like she's going to explode."

"Because she isn't doing it right." Hermione finally says, like she'd been painfully withholding her criticism. "You've got to throw it flat."

Ginny groans, finally surrendering to her sleepiness, and takes it upon herself to sit upon the shore, despite the ground beneath her being wet.

This too looked like it could be a painting; This image of the girl with fire-red hair, sitting where the mist hung low on the water, her back turned to the painter wielding the brush. It was among the many things that Eleanor had saved a mental image of, just so that she could someday capture these moments in acrylic or oil paints, the same way that the Weasley's did with their moving photographs.

"I want to do something today. Just the three of us." Eleanor says, causing Ginny to turn her head, ruining the still image of what could've been made of acrylic.

"Alright." Ginny replies, not inquiring any further about what might have happened the night before.

Eleanor looks to the tree line where the morning mist hung low, fighting the sting in her eyes as she felt Ginny's gaze on her. She knew exactly what she was thinking—Wondering—But Elle could not bring herself to mention their argument in the shop when George could hardly bring himself to look at her.

"I heard there was a victory for the Pride of Portree. Was it an exciting game?" Ginny asks, grabbing a fistful of grass.

Elle didn't care much for Quidditch, though she loved the fireworks and drinks in between. She merely shrugs and folds her arms over her chest. "The most exciting part was that we saw Elijah from the city. The tall guy with dark hair."

"I remember him!" Hermione says, lifting a hand to her mouth. "He was there?"

Eleanor nods, thinking back to that night in the city where George had gotten angry that he stopped her from stepping into the street. Though the details of that night were foggy, she saw the dislike in George's eyes very clearly when they ran into him at the game.

"Is everything alright?" Ginny asks in a low voice, still turned over her shoulder, looking up at Elle with her eyebrows knitted together.

She didn't notice that her face had fallen slightly, and responds by taking a seat beside Ginny, not caring that the ground beneath them was damp with rain, or that her feet were bare and dirty with mud. The water in front of them was still, and she stares merely at the small rocks that laid beneath the surface. It felt better to bask in the silence than to answer her.

"I think that we should all go to the Leaky Cauldron tonight. Tom was saying they'll be getting a big shipment of Firewhisky." Ginny says after a moment, causing Hermione to turn around with her eyebrows raised. "It can be just us three later tonight, okay? But I think that we should go out one more time before you leave. All of us."

She was a true Gryffindor, for sure; Stubborn like her mother and firm when she spoke, and this was one of the moments where Eleanor knew that she wouldn't take no for an answer. She likely knew of the situation, or had an idea of it, and did not agree with Elle's decision to avoid him. Eleanor did not feel like arguing with her.