Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Leaving It All Behind (George Weasley)

I asked you fawns a couple of questions last night and I have to admit I wasn't too surprised with the answers I got. Overall, your favourite book and movie was Prisoner of Azkaban with Deathly Hallows coming in as a slightly distant second place. Honestly, I assumed PoA would be the most popular one and it was. Anyway, onto the one shot ~ 

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It wasn't often that the reserve allowed visitors to stay over. All the staff knew that it was more of a struggle to go through all the loopholes and signing all the documents that were needed to get permission someone to visit for a couple of hours. So who knew just how much more trouble someone had to face to have a guest for longer than a week? I could only wonder just how much trouble my mentor, Charlie Weasley, had gone through in order to get the staff to accept his request of having one of his brothers stay at the reserve for who knew how long. Although, maybe if you were one of the more senior members of staff, there were less loopholes to jump through and less documents to fill in? I certainly didn't ask – I was too busy to ask.

For an hour now I had been put to work by my mentor, helping him straighten up his cabin in time for his brother's arrival. Charlie had headed upstairs, sorting out the spare bedroom and left me to my own devices as I cleaned up downstairs. The man was messy – ridiculously so. At first, I'd assumed that it was messy because he was always ready to rush out at the drop of a hat. But, discovering the sheer number of bits and bobs scattered around the cabin, I'd changed my mind.

"How are you doing?" Charlie asked loudly, walking downstairs with old bedsheets in his arms.

I scowled slightly, tying a black bin bag and setting it down outside the cabin; we'd have to throw them all away later. "You have to be the only mentor using their mentee for such improper reasons."

"You'd think that, but at least I haven't made you come and pick me up when I'm drunk off my face," he called out cheerily, walking past me to wash the old bedsheets.

"A small blessing, I'm sure," I grumbled dryly. "You're supposed to be teaching me how to do my job but here you are taking advantage of me."

"Careful Mahmood," Charlie warned teasingly, walking into the front room with two glasses of pumpkin juice in his hand. I gratefully accepted one, listening as he admitted, "My brother is coming tomorrow, I wouldn't make such a fuss but Mum's a bit neurotic when it comes to cleaning."

"Or maybe all her sons are pigs like you." Charlie shook his head as I smiled around my glass. I settled down onto the armchair across from the sofa Charlie was sitting on. He crossed his legs at the ankle, setting them on the coffee table. "It might sound like I'm complaining; helping you do this means that I'm officially assisting my mentor. I'd pick this over dung duty any day."

"Believe me, anyone would."

There was a silence then, one I didn't feel the need to fill. Instead, I looked around the room and was satisfied with how clean it was. Salazar, were all Gryffindors pigs? Or was that just a Weasley thing? When the silence prolonged, I found my eyes shifting back towards my mentor, wondering just what it was that had him staring off into space and so clearly lost in his own thoughts. Was it my place to ask? Or was I supposed to just let him ponder in silence with brows furrowed and a frown on his face.

I cleared my throat softly, seeing if it was enough to have Charlie coming from his thoughts. It worked eventually, making him slowly shake his head and sigh. Finally looking back to me, Charlie offered me a hesitant smile, "Sorry, I don't think I'm the best company right now."

He hadn't been the best company – not for a couple of months at least. Not since he'd answered the call to help Hogwarts.

"Charlie," I started slowly, draining the last of my pumpkin juice and setting the empty glass on the coffee table. He looked at me then, holding my eyes and I almost backtracked, not wanting to ask in case what I thought was a simple question, actually meant something more to him. "Which of your brothers is coming then?"