CHERRY, george weasley

042, he's not cedric!

THE MORE BABY JAY CRIED, the more Cerise was ready to leave him at an orphanage. Since losing Cedric Diggory, life for her had been hard. She have barely eaten, she hadn't slept — If she did sleep, she would wake in the middle of the night due to a nightmare, and not sleep again.

She hadn't heard anything off Cho for the past week, which annoyed her a lot. Don't get her wrong, she loved her nephew, but Jay was Cho's son, he wanted his mother, not his aunt. He was a week old, he needed his mother.

Loralei entered Cerise's room, much to the Diggory's dismay. "Get up," she said, "Have a shower, I'll take Jay with me downstairs."

Cerise gave her a weird look. "Why?"

Loralei smirked, "Because," she said, picking Jay up and beginning to leave Cerise's bedroom, "the Weasley's are arriving today, with Hermione."

Cerise felt a smile appear on her face. "The Weasley's?" She repeated. Loralei grinned and nodded. This was the first time Cerise had smiled all summer. "George is coming? When?"

"About twenty minutes," Loralei shrugged. "We were the lucky ones that got to be here from the beginning of summer, despite HeadQuarters still undergoing some... work, but it's completely hidden and safe now. The Weasley's are arriving today, and Merlin knows Molly will be non-stop feeding you once I tell her you haven't eaten. Also, she will be making us clean."

Cerise looked down at her body and sighed. Loralei was right. Molly was going to non-stop feed her, and that was because she had not eaten properly since Cedric... She looked ill. She sighed. "Can you just... be careful with Jay? He's been crying a lot for his mum lately."

Loralei frowned. "Still no word off Cho?"

Cerise shook her head sadly. Loralei sighed, and closed the bedroom door behind her. Cerise was lucky to have a shower in her bedroom, so she quickly stripped and stood in the shower. She wasn't going to lie — The hot water felt so good trickling down her back.

REMUS LOOKED AT LORALEI and frowned as he saw Jay, fast asleep. They had been in silence for at least ten minutes now. He took the baby out of Loralei's arms, and placed him in a cot they had downstairs for him. He looked at Loralei, who began to make three cups of hot chocolate. "How is she?" Remus asked.

Loralei shook her head. "Awful," she said, "Although, I did see her smile when I told her the Weasley's were coming today. She's actually in the shower right now."

Remus smiled sadly. "Have any of you heard from Josephine?" He asked, "I've wrote a letter to her a lot of times, I've had no response every time."

Loralei shook her head. "I know Cerise had one, it was her saying she's very busy but she will see her very soon with a surprise."

Remus accepted the hot chocolate off Loralei as they heard the sound of footsteps coming downstairs. They gave each other a surprised look once they saw Cerise enter the kitchen. She still looked ill, but her hair wasn't greasy anymore and she smelled like mint toothpaste and vanilla bodywash.

Remus pulled her into a tight hug. "You'll be eating today," he told her as Sirius entered the kitchen, "Molly is coming, and you know what she's like."

Sirius rubbed his eyes a few times before blinking twice. "Good lord," he said, "Well, hello, Cerise." He smiled, pulling her into a hug. "It's nice to see you up and about."

Loralei handed Cerise a hot chocolate as Sirius made his own coffee. "Since when do you like coffee?" Loralei asked in confusion.

Sirius drank some of his coffee, immediately spitting it back out. "I don't," he said, shrugging. "I just wanted to seem more manly."

Remus snorted. "You're more of a girl than Loralei and Cerise combined," he stated, "Coffee isn't going to make you seem more manly."

Sirius sighed in frustration as Josephine appeared, and she brought... Elijah? Cerise looked at them both in confusion as Loralei immediately launched herself into Elijah's arms.

"What is going on?" Cerise asked, eyes wide.

Josephine looked at Elijah, who nodded at her. "Sit," she said, "You too, Loralei."

Remus and Sirius left the kitchen as Josephine sat opposite her daughter with Elijah next to her. "Honey," she said, "At the start of summer, Elijah turned up to our house."

"I — I went looking for you," he said quietly, "When I got home to my parents, I told them about Lee."

Cerise gave him a sad look. She knew what his parents were like. Loralei, however, didn't. Seeing Loralei's confused look, Elijah frowned, "They kicked me out."

Josephine placed a hand on Elijah's shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I had nowhere to go, and then I remembered the letter you gave to me on the last day of school, before I left... You wrote your address down, in case of emergencies."

Elijah fought back the tears.

"I let him stay," Josephine said, seeing the look on Elijah's face. She knew he wouldn't be able to continue. "Two days ago, his parents were found dead. He needed a legal guardian, otherwise he would be taken into care..."

Cerise felt as if all of the air had been knocked out of her. She should be happy that Elijah finally had a loving, supportive family. But, she wasn't. Josephine and Amos were trying to replace Cedric. They thought of Elijah as a replacement.

"Your father and I decided it best to adopt him," Josephine said.

Loralei looked at Cerise worriedly. She was unusually quiet. The kitchen was so tense, and they were so wrapped up in their conversation, that they didn't notice Remus, Sirius, Hermione, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks and the Weasley's standing in the corner.

"I'm happy that he has a loving and supportive family now," Cerise said, looking straight at her mother. "But you do realise he is not Cedric. Nothing is going to bring him back. Cedric's dead, mum."

Loralei frowned, and covered her face. She knew Cerise was due a mental breakdown, she hasn't properly had one since Cedric died. She just wished it was because of different circumstances.

"I know he's dead," Josephine said, "And Elijah isn't a replacement for Cedric. I thought you'd be happy about this."

"I don't think we should be here for this," George muttered quietly as everyone shuffled quietly out of the kitchen. Loralei spotted them, and instantly followed.

Cerise scoffed, wiping away her tears. "Happy?" She repeated, "How can I be happy? My brother is dead and you're out here adopting Elijah because you think it'll cure the loneliness our family has been feeling since Cedric died. You think replacing Cedric is going to magically fix our family? Dad doesn't visit me, he blames me for Cedric's death — Y'know, I had a letter from him calling me a disappointment and saying his death was my fault."

Josephine frowned. "You don't even bother either, I know a part of you blames me, too, because I knew something was wrong, I tried to make Dumbledore stop the maze, I know I should've tried harder, mum. Dad told me that in the letter he sent, and I get it. I do get why you adopted him, but I don't want a new brother, I want my old one back."

Elijah wiped away his tears as soon as Cerise started bawling her eyes out. He was quick to pull her into his arms. He knew she didn't mean anything she said, he knew she was just hurting. Josephine, however, just shook her head and walked out.

Josephine spotted the Weasley's, and gave Molly a small smile. "Good luck dealing with her," Josephine said, and then, she left.