𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 ☼ 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆

↘︎ chapter sixty-one

61 | The anniversary

Marley Macmillan woke up the day before Christmas with a sudden strange feeling in her heart. She felt vibrant, motivated and strangely happy. She just couldn't wait to get into the day and try to be happy all day long. She felt the adrenaline in herself, and while with Ginny were getting ready for breakfast, Marley would break the old vase several times, which Kreacher liked a lot.

Their luggage from Hogwarts had arrived yesterday morning, and they were about to spend Christmas holidays at Grimmauld Place. And when Marley and Ginny left their room, they immediately came across Hermione, who was supposed to be skiing with her parents.

"Hey, Mione." greeted Marley. "You were supposed to go skiing, alright?"

"Yes, I was." she said. "Well, to tell the truth, skiing's not really my thing. So, I've come here for Christmas." There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold. "But don't tell Ron. I told him skiing's really good because he kept laughing so much. Anyway, I need to talk to Harry. Any idea where he might be?"

The two girls just shook their heads. Hermione just smiled. "By the way, happy anniversary!"

And she continued down the stairs, as Marley's smile grew on her face. That day was special for Marley, and she was glad, but she also wondered how exactly Hermione had remembered that date. Ginny looked at Marley in astonishment.

"Anniversary?" she said. "Oh, my God! Has it been a year already?"

"Yes, I cannot believe this." smiled Marley, her face flushed. "It's totally crazy. I still--"

Something hit Marley's head, hard enough to lose her balance, and as the two girls were next to the staircase, Marley began to fall down. Apparently, karma was back when Ginny had fallen earlier in the start of the school year. Sirius's mother began to scream again, and when Marley finally stopped falling, she lay on her back on the landing and just sat up. She saw there was a pretty big ball next to her.

"It was Fred." said George, looking at Marley.

"He's fucking lying. It was George." exclaimed Fred. Marley just stood up from the landing and for a moment her mood was ruined. But George came to her with the biggest smirk on his face and just hugged her. For a moment she was surprised.

"I'm not mad, if that's why you slaver." she said.

"No, don't tell me you forgot." he pulled back at glared at her.

"No! Of course I didn't." she said and now her voice was as quiet as whisper. "Happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary." he grinned again and she kissed him quickly. George seemed quite sad and unsatisfied from the quickest kiss in their dating history. But Marly chuckled and saw Ginny and Fred staring at them.

"You have--- have-- anniversary?!" shouted amazed Fred. "Dude, are you fucking kidding me?! A whole year passed. Oh my God... Marley, congratulations for managing to tolerate this shit for a whole year."

"But I do that for almost six so far." she said. "And to be honest, you're both hard to deal with. But I'm the best at this job and I can deal with you. Now, shut up."

Fred and George just exchanged a grin and Ginny was greeting Marley for the second time, when they saw how Tonks went to pull the curtains, hiding Walburga and the screams stopped.

"What is going on? You all seemed so happy." she said brightly.

"My brother and his girlfriend celebrates one year." immediately said Fred, grinning at Tonks, whose hair was again short and purple. On Tonks' face shone a big smile and she hugged Marley.