The Girl Who Hid | George Weasley

ch 16 : sunflowers

It was a Thursday, and you had just been released from the hospital wing early that morning. You tried to muster all your courage and remind yourself that you had nothing to be ashamed of because the way you were mistreated had nothing to do with you and everything to do with your classmates who had hurt you.

Susan was glad to see you out of the hospital wing again, saying how much she missed you in all of your shared classes.

Before you both left for your first class of the day, you made sure the bandage on your forehead was secure over your newly formed scar, not wanting any extra attention because of it. You adjusted your robes before Susan hooked her arm in yours and walked with you to Transfiguration class.

As you walked, you kept your head up and calmly made your way down the halls. You expected sneers, but you were shocked as students left you alone, smiled at you, or even greeted you.

You entered your class with Susan, and the room went from loud chatter to absolutely silent for a moment. You swallowed and bit your cheek but kept your head up. You took your seat and bent down to grab your textbook from your bag when Neville came up to you with a single sunflower. He smiled at you before setting it on your desk and wordlessly walking away. Following his lead, other students slowly came up to you with sunflowers of their own.

You blinked in confusion at first, but as students kept bringing them to you with gentle smiles, you too began to smile.

Sunflowers were your favorite.

Susan gripped your hand under the table and murmured, "They all chose to support you."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron entered the room soon after, and you saw the shock on their faces before they too brought their own sunflowers over. Staring at the pile of flowers in disbelief, Ron murmured, "Wow. I didn't expect so many to do it."

You grinned at the three of them and wondered, "You organized this?"

They nodded with hesitant smiles, but you jumped up and pulled all three of them into a hug. You backed away after a moment and cheered to the three of them and then to everyone, "Thank you. Thank you all. You're all too sweet."

As the three of them took their seats, you sat down next to Susan again. She tapped you softly, and you turned to her beaming. She carefully handed you a small box and grinned, "I made you something."

You quickly opened the box and gasped when you found a beautiful sunflower ring inside. You pulled it out and admired it while Susan chuckled, "Well, I was bored since you were in the hospital the past few days, and mum keeps telling me about all of her projects making jewelry for her clients. So, I decided to see if I had the same skill as her. Clearly, I don't because it looks so terrible."

It had a beautiful, intricate sunflower design around the band that looked professionally done. You ran your pointer finger over the beautiful figures. The metal was slightly warped, and the band was a bit boxy at spots, but its imperfections made it unique and personal. The ring felt like a symbol of the beauty to be found in imperfection.

You slipped the ring onto your finger, and it was slightly big. You grinned up at Susan and sighed, "This is the most beautiful ring I've ever seen. You absolutely do have her same talent. Oh, thank you!" You threw your arms around her and gave her a bone-crushing hug.