the gentle moon / george weasley

she looked at him for comfort, and found it

The next morning, August woke up to Professor Lupin casting a spell over her, a spell that Madam Pomfrey usually uses to heal her wounds and then feeling the weight of a blanket covering her body. When she opened her eyes, he was walking out of the room. She wouldn't ever bring this up to him, but she could tell he was crying when he left.

...

August was standing in the field in front of the Forbidden Forest watching the shadows in the distance fade into the fog or become hidden by the rows and rows of trees. She sees a black wolf, one that looks like Jet, running between the trees. It stops, looking at her. It looks so free, out there. She has always wondered what it would be like to just completely transform into a wolf and run away. Usually during her darkest of times, she tells herself no one would even notice if she was gone.

She'd convince herself that her mother would be glad that she no longer had to look after August, and that Professor Mcgonagall would sleep better knowing that a werewolf was no longer a student at Hogwarts. But then she thinks of George, and she can't even think of any reason for him to want her gone because he only sees her as August and nothing more. He doesn't see the wolf in her eyes, he doesn't even know there's one inside her. With George in mind, she recalls Mcgonagall hugging her after one of her first moons at Hogwarts and telling her she will always be there for her.

Then she thinks of how her mother would never stop looking for August if she did leave. That her mother would find a way to transform into a wolf herself if it meant spending more time with August, because Jade was the first person to look into August's eyes and see her true love in them.

Jade saw only brightness and happiness in August's eyes, and she continued to see them after she was bitten. Because August is Jade's life, and if Jade's love was strong enough to break the curse in August's body, she would give up her life to free August in that instant. Only until Jade is holding her child and knows she is safe does she feel relieved.

"What are you thinking of?" George said coming up behind her, his voice seemed nasally, like something was blocking his nose.

"What it might be like to live out there." She tells him

"I assume it's cold." He smiles, giving her his sweater. "You haven't dressed up?"

August looked over at George and then noticed his costume. He was wearing all black, with a fake platypus bill tied to his face. He had all these fake gold necklaces around his neck and hanging out of his pockets.

"I'm a niffler!" He smiles, pulling at a necklace on his neck

"I can see that." August beamed, "I was gonna go change, I just needed a break."

"Let's go then." George laughed, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to the castle, "You're going to catch another cold, staying out here."

August was back in her dorm, leaning over the sink to be closer to the mirror while Angelina was standing behind her asking her if she needed help with her eyeliner.

"Your hands are too shaky," Angelina sighed, "you're going to poke an eye out like that. Here, just give it to me." She grabbed the eyeliner from August, and turned the girl around to face her, "Now look up." August held in a laugh as she faced Angelina, because she was dressed like a cowboy, like the ones in the American muggle films. In the corner of the room, there was one of those hobby horse toys. The ones with horse heads on a stick.

Angelina was dragging gold eyeliner down the scar under August's eye. Outlining all the scars on her face, so the pink was hidden with the glittery gold.