In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 5: Dark Matter

Chapter 247: The Name of the Game

GEORGE:

The world was well and truly ending.

It had been hurtling toward destruction for years. Decades, even. In the taxi, when Lucy had introduced herself with a fictional name, Fred and I had introduced ourselves by our middle names, but they were more than that. We were named after our uncles who had died in the first war. We were Fred Gideon and George Fabian. I was George Fabian Weasley, always half and never whole. Always second and never first. Second twin, second war. Second, second. The brokenness of the world stretched far beyond me, stretched far beyond the moment the fear of losing Lucy was suddenly a tangible reality rather than just a shadow always lurking in the darkest corners of my imagination.

Maybe the world had been ending since the day it was created. After all, the basilisk had been living under the school since its inception. Maybe the whole wizarding world had always been doomed to fall.

I would let it fall if it meant I could keep the people I loved close and safe.

But that wasn't a choice I had. Ron and Lucy and Harry and Hermione were leaving Merlin-knew-when to go Merlin-knew-where and do Merlin-knew-what. I knew I'd do everything in my power to either stop them or join them, but, well, Lucy had always been one step of me. One step ahead of everyone. She saw possibilities where the rest of us didn't. She anticipated problems the rest of us never considered. Lucy had spent her entire life overcoming obstacles, and as much as I didn't want to become just another obstacle for her to clear out of her way, I couldn't just let her go either.

At the same time, if they really were going to leave, far be it from me to be a hindrance when I could be a helper.

"What do you need?" I asked Lucy during our lunch break that day.

She looked up from her salad, surprised. "What?"

"You've been looking contemplative all day," I continued, "and I'm guessing that's because you're thinking about your little... what should I call it? Journey? Quest? Race? Treasure hunt? Vacation?"

"Vacation?" she repeated with a snort.

"Well, yes, any time you're not at school is a vacation," Fred remarked. "I'm personally very pleased with the fact that I'm going to be on vacation for the rest of my life."

"You can call it a quest, if you're insisting on naming it," Lucy said, smiling a bit.

"Right, so what do you need for your quest?" I asked. "Anything you need from us is yours. If you need supplies from anywhere in Diagon Alley or Muggle London, just say the word and we can go on a little shopping trip. And your magical prowess far surpasses ours at this point, but if there are any spells that we happen to know that you don't, say the word and we can reinstate the little magical lessons we used to give you."

Lucy's smile widened even as her eyes got sadder. "I love you. You know, I never learned how to do an Undetectable Extension Charm. Reckon you could teach me?"

"It would be an honor, our brave questing Cub," Fred replied.

I nodded emphatically. "Good thinking. Comes in handy for a lot, not just bags. I'm surprised we never got around to teaching you that one. We can work on that tonight."

"What about the Mario Kart Daydream Charm?" Lucy asked.

"Wouldn't you rather prepare to save the world?" Fred replied.

Lucy looked disappointed as she fell silent.

"Tell you what," I said. "We keep working on the Daydream Charm every night before we fall asleep in the hopes that one of us has a usable dream. You've said before that Mario Kart has a way of helping you forget everything else in the world. You can prepare all you want during the day, you don't have to help us in the shop if you'd rather focus more on preparation now that you've told us, but every night until you... until you leave... we devote ourselves wholly to that damn Mario Kart Daydream Charm. Deal?"