Haylie Elizabeth Potter

Chapter 14

*George's POV*

Fred came in late that night looking exhausted. I had never been jealous of how he loved Haylie I thought of her as family and a best friend and the extra twin we never had. But the fact the Fred would sneak out leaving me behind was upsetting considering we did everything together. Rarely were we apart but lately we have been. Haylie had become one of us that didn't bother me but the fact that Freddie was more concerned with Haylie was not a good sign. I figured I would talk to him in the morning since he was half a sleep when mum walked him up to our room. The room was eerily quiet without Haylie in the room. I just lay there for a few hours staring up at the ceiling and thinking about all of this.

A few hours later I heard the door creak open a little. It was quiet then there was the padding of bare feet across the floor. I turned silently to see who it was. Ginny was standing there crying. She fell onto Haylie's bed and wept. I climbed down from the top bunk and went and sat down on the bed startling Ginny a bit. I scooped her up in my arms. She was still young. She was only 8.

"I- I miss her!" She sobbed into my arms. she then buried her face in my shoulder. I made shushing sounds and stroked her hair.

"I miss her too. She will be home soon I'm sure." I reassured her. Naturally Ginny had our fiery red hair. She was the only girl to be born in  two generations. She and Haylie were the best of friends even though Ginny was younger, She was included in all of Haylie's plots. It was always interesting to see how the two got along together. Ginny would come in late at night if she couldn't sleep and she would crawl into the bed with Haylie. Haylie may have a different last name but she was defiantly our sister. She even had redish brown hair so she still fit in alright.

I sat there with Ginny in my arms as she slept. I remembered that first morning with Haylie. We had come running down stairs after waking Percy and Charlie and Bill. We ran into the kitchen (the safe house) and found a little girl sitting there. Fred and I had screeched to a stop too stunned to talk. We looked at each other and I remember our faces mirroring each others. We looked back at the little girl sitting at our kitchen table. Mum was cooking and she looked up. "Oh boys! your up!" She waited a second then we heard Bill and Charlie clomping down the stairs and Percy fallowing not far behind. I shared a grin with Fred and we ran into the kitchen further. We ran and grabbed a piece of toast each and quickly sat down at the table and pretended we had been eating the whole time.

Bill and Charlie rushed into the kitchen soaking wet and Percy came in covered in slimy goop. The little girl stifled a laugh making Mum look up. Fred and I burst into laughter at all of them walking into the kitchen. Dad chose that moment to walk into the room. He took one look at the boys and asked "What was is this morning?" trying to stifle a grin.

"Buckets of water." Bill and Charlie grumbled.

"Some sticky stuff." Percy whined causing Fred and I to laugh even harder than we already had been.

"Oh that was good!" I exclaimed

"Yeah you should have seen your faces!" Fred added on.

"Fred, George no more pranks this morning." Mum scolded. "We have a new member of the family."

Fred and I shared puzzled looks. Mum wasn't having another kid. And who was the little girl? She wasn't a cousin or anything I would have remembered her.

"Who could-" I started

"-Possibly be joining the family?" Fred finished.

"This is Haylie." Mum went to stand behind the chair that the little girl was sitting in. "Her parents aren't around anymore so she is going to live with us from now on. I want you all to take good care of her and make her feel welcome.  And no pranks!" She said sending pointed looks at Fred and I. We gave her innocent looks that she obviously saw right through I mean come on, The woman had lived with us since before we were born. And we had been pranking since age two. We liked being three because we could lift heavy things like buckets of water but we were still fast and small.