Harry Potter: An Alternate Universe

22) Second Family

Year: Graduated 1997
House: Hufflepuff
Gender: F
Love Interest: George Weasley

The Weaselys have always been like your second family, before and after the war. You hung out over the summer every year since you were nine, and became friends with the twins and Percy in elementary school. You hung out with them for all the years you attended Hogwarts, drifting apart from Percy, and becoming an older sibling to Ron and Ginny.

Your parents were friends first; your mother and Arthur worked in the same Ministry department. Your father left, wanting nothing to do with you or your mother at age 6, and your mother died two years after you graduated. She was killed at the very building she worked in, after they found out she was Muggleborn.

By complete accident, you became a Potioneer, without knowing what you wanted to pursues after Hogwarts. Fred and George recruited you one summer to test some of the potions they made, some of which you corrected and adjusted to make safer. One press conference later with the joke shop owners, your name made it to a column in The Daily Prophet, as the young witch who helped make the brand so successful.

The Ministry offered you a prestigious job in a new department; The Department of Experimental Potions and Spells. It branched off the department Arthur was now retired from, and you became head of it immediately. A decision made by the Minister, Kingsley, who knew you from fighting in the war together, and trusted you more than anyone else who applied for the position. It would be hard work, but you were more than ready for the challenge.

This only added to the reason to celebrate at Christmas dinner, sitting at the Burrow. There was Christmas to celebrate of course, but also Arthur's retirement. You all toast to him, to your new career, and to being together for the holidays.

Bill, Fleur, and their daughter Victoire were there. It was their daughter's first Christmas. Percy brought his fiancée Audrey, Ron had Hermione, and Ginny had Harry with Teddy. You've never seen the house so full. Some of you pushed yourselves upstairs, or even sat and talked in the stairwells. You, George, Charlie, Hermione, Ron, and Harry squeezed into George's old room.

"A bit cramped, isn't it?," said Charlie. He sat on the floor against one of the twin beds, until he stood up to go excuse himself. Harry and Ron talked about Auror training you had asked about, and Hermione brought up her apprenticeship at the Ministry. You found it adorable, the way they kept holding the other's hand, even while talking. Harry seemed comfortable enough in his own skin, more of himself than ever since the end of the war.

That went for everyone there, although Mrs. Weasley cried when she handed a plate to George and accidentally called him Fred. The war was further and further behind, and some of the wounds it caused were beginning to heal.

"I think I'm gonna go check on Teddy," said Harry. Ron and Hermione followed him out of the room. Voices from downstairs carried their way up to the room, muffled by the closed door.

"Christmas here reminds me of him," George said, gloomily. You instinctively rubbed his back.

"You've been doing so well. It's normal to miss him now and again."

"The thing is, if I don't think of him for a second, it feels like his memory has gone to waste. As if... ugh...." His face was buried in his hands, muttering to himself incomprehensibly.

"Hey, George. It's alright." You lifted him closer to you so his head rested on your chest. His breathing was heavy, heavy from holding back his tears. They subside, and you run your fingers through his fire-red hair.

"I don't want to forget him."

"You won't," you promised. "I was even thinking down the road, if we were to ever have a son, I'd like to name him Fred."

"You would?" His voice was so full of hope.

"Absolutely. And if it was a girl, her name would be Dolores."

"Oh, shut it you-." He attacked you playfully, and you rolled over in laughter. You lied down on the bed, looking up at his sudden dumb-founded expression.

"What is it?," you asked.

"You want us to have a kid?" His words were slow and carefully placed.

"Well yeah, some time from now." Your cheeks burned under his gaze.

"(Y/n), I..."

"Oh, there's my bloody wand!" Ron pushed his way into the room, picking up his wand off the opposite bed. He then looked between you and George. "Sorry you two. I'll be going now." He shuffled away, closing the door behind him.

"What a git," George scoffed.

"I love your family."

"'Your', (y/n)? I believe you meant to say 'our'."

Hope you enjoyed. Writing about George is a delight.

I'll try to get up-to-date with the stories.

Happy Christmas Eve's eve!!