Daisy Potter and the Wedding (Book 8, Harry Potter ff)

Chapter 22 - Take It Away

I was woken the next morning by the sounds of movement below us, indicating the waking-up of the Gryffindor boys to get ready for breakfast. Fred and George stirred on either side of me, mumbling, and I felt their arms tighten around me.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." I whispered, smoothing back their hair from their foreheads. "You don't have to go to class today. We can just stay right here."

"O-okay..." George murmured, and Fred curled tighter into my side.

"Go back to sleep, Georgie..." I kissed George's forehead, "Freddie..." I kissed Fred's, pulling the blanket further up over us.

But as the twins drifted back off, I lay awake staring up at the ceiling. These boys were broken. It was way worse than I'd thought. They'd literally screamed and cried when I'd only fallen a few feet to the ground, thinking I'd died... did they really believe I was dead, or were they just afraid of the possibility that I was?

I mean, I'd faced my fair share of death in my lifetime. My parents, Amy, Terry, Harry... and three of those had ACTUALLY died. I wasn't trying to one-up the twins or pretend I was better than them, but how was I able to cope with my trauma so much better?

Was it because of how recent the 'loss' was? But I 'lost' Harry at the same time, and I wasn't like this. Maybe it would kick in if I saw Fred or George lying there unconscious.

But I couldn't recall ever reacting like they had to anything. I knew that my trauma due to the events of the past two years had been manifesting in the form of presenting myself as an object; sometimes I'd try to resolve conflicts by disassociating and trying to persuade the twins to take out their frustrations on me sexually. Of course, every time they'd recognise what it was and coax me down from my state, never once giving in. And I was always grateful for that.

Obviously this was a result of the trauma Riddle and Floppy had given me; they'd treated me like an object so sometimes I would believe I was one. But this was only sexual trauma - I had trauma from torture as well, but we didn't need to get into that - why didn't I have a response to death? Or maybe I did. I just didn't know it yet?

But that leads back to the question - why were Fred and George's responses so bad?

Maybe it was because they'd never experienced a loss that big before? Maybe because I'm an angel, and my presence had been keeping them magically reined to me or something? Maybe they're more mentally sensitive than the average person? Maybe -

"Daisy...?"

"Hmm?" I looked to the side. Fred's eyelashes were fluttering open. His warm brown eyes were unfocused for a second, then connected with mine and cleared. "Fred... everything's okay, baby. You just go back to sleep, now, alright? Everything's gonna be okay..."

"Daisy..." Fred reached out for me, gently brushing a strand of hair behind my ear and letting his thumb drift softly across my cheek. His eyes moved across my face, full of a sort of intensity that made my heart race. "I'm in love with you."

I giggled quietly. "I know that, silly."

"No, Daze..." Fred whispered. "I'm in love with you, that's why it hurts so bad... that's why IT hurt so bad."

George stirred on the other side of me. He mumbled something incoherent and stuck his face back under my arm.

"You're the only one I've ever loved. Ever since you came to Hogwarts..." Fred continued quietly. "For the first few years, it was just a friendship love... then as we got older I started to notice you in a more... attracted sense, I suppose. And by the end of fourth year, that was it, I'd sealed my sentence by messing around with you and letting my thoughts run wild. I've been in love with you ever since. You're all I've ever known. And I can't lose you. Because then..." Fred took a deep breath. "Because then I'd have lost everything."