Competition: George Weasley Love Story

16. badger

HERMIONE AND RON HAD CALLED A SECRETIVE MEETING AT HOG'S HEAD. The place was dark and dusty and reeked of whiskey. Ellie snarled her nose at the smell; since she had swore it off, the smell absolutely disgusted her.

Ellie and Isla sat down on a table between Fred and George as Hermione called the meeting. She began her speech as to why she had asked everyone to come to his dusty place, but kept getting talked over. "Hey!" Ellie yelled loudly. The room felt quiet as Hermione finished her speech. She began explaining that they needed to prepare themselves for the return of You-Know-Who. Harry, whom of all the students at Hogwarts, had the most interaction with dark magic, stepped in and began to explain how it was much different from school when you are actually up against Voldemort or one of his goons.

Across the room, a blonde Hufflepuff boy Ellie immediately recognized as Zacharias Smith began retaliating against everything Hermione and Harry said. Ellie rolled her eyes, remembering him immediately as the only Hufflepuff that ever got on Eva's nerves; she always used to say she never understood why Zacharias was sorted into that house. Ellie snickered slightly to herself remembering her sister's words.

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Eva Blake got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Eva's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how she got murdered." Zacharias continued to rant. All eyes in the room fell on Ellie.

"Enough, Zacharias." George hissed, protective of his fiancé. Ellie loved George but she could defend herself quite well on her own.

"Excuse me?" She stood up, walking over to Zacharias. "What did you say?"

"Watch her mate, I already got a taste of her medicine." Seamus joked. He and Ellie were in good terms now; Ellie apologizing for her outburst and Seamus apologizing for what he said.

Zacharias immediately shut up, noticing Ellie's clenched fists. She nodded, realizing that she had got her point across, sitting back down between Isla and George.

All students, including Zacharias, joined the organization, dubbed Dumbledore's Army and Harry agreed to be teacher. The group made their way back to the castle, Hermione beaming with how well the meeting went. All they needed now was a spot to practice.

•

They say that the room of requirement only reveals itself to those who need it most and it did just that for Dumbledore's Army. The old magical castle had it's quirks and secrets; but one thing was for certain, the castle always stood in opposition to darkness.

Today's lesson, Harry was teaching the group how to cast expecto patronum. As he gave his instructions, he told everyone to think of their best memories and use all that good energy towards casting the charm.

Ellie watched in amazement around the room as animals of all shapes and forms appeared as each person learned the charm. George winked at her, thinking of all his good memories with Fred, Eva and Ellie. Thinking of the night she said yes to marrying him. "Expecto patronum!" He called, casting a magpie; the patronus identical to his twin's. The pair smiled at each other.

Ellie's heart sunk. She had plenty of good memories with Fred and George and was overwhelmingly happy at this point in her life; but was this enough to cast this charm? Enough without Eva? Would her patronus match Ellie's if she was still here?

"Your turn, Ellie!" Harry smiled, proud of his students. Ellie gulped and held her wand up in the air; even though Eva was gone, she thought of all the good memories she shared with her twin and tried to block out the bad ones surrounding her death. She tried to think of all the good times with Fred and George; she tried to think solely of her relationship with George thus far. While all these memories were happy, they weren't enough. She sighed in defeat after saying the charm, noticing nothing had came from her wand.

George rubbed the small of her back in reassurance, unsure of what to say. He knew why she couldn't cast it: most of her happy memories died with her twin.

Isla squeezed Ellie's hand and smiled, "How bout I try next? Then you can have another go." Ellie smiled, agreeing with Isla. She watched as Isla closed her eyes tightly, pointing her wand into the air.

"Expecto patronum." Her small voice said, suddenly a snowy owl shot from her wand. Ellie smiled, proud, and admired Isla's patronus.

"What did you think of?" Ellie inquired.

"You, Ellie. I have my best memories with you." Isla smiled, admiring her patronus. Ellie's mouth fell open, she loved that little girl but she had no idea how important she was to Isla.

"Try again, love." George whispered.

Ellie closed her eyes and pointed her wand to the sky. She thought about the Burrow, Eva's smile, George's lips on hers and how much she loved him, Fred's booming laugh, Arthur's hugs, Molly's baking, Ginny.. Hermione.. Ron... Harry... and finally: Isla. She thought of that sweet little girl whom she had grown to love so much. "Expecto patronum." She said firmly.

Out came a badger. George smiled warmly as he seen the animal appear from Ellie's wand, knowing exactly why it was there. While George was the love of her life, the badger was the house animal of Hufflepuff; where her other half, Eva, and Isla, the girl who had helped fill the void after Eva's death, were sorted. He knew exactly why she produced this patronus, just as his and Fred's had matched.

Ellie smiled proudly at her future husband, knowing exactly what Eva's patronus would've been had she still been here.