Long Lost Home • Fred Weasley

4.

"You okay, Emi?" George inquired. 
"Yeah, I am." she quaked, turning around to show George she was actually smiling.
He sat down next to her, placing his hand onto hers.
"I loved hanging out with Joshua. I'm still gutted he wasn't a wizard though."
"Yeah, me too. I would have loved to be at school with him. A big brother to watch over me."

George squeezed her hand and as always, she put her head on his shoulder.
"They still haven't found him, have they?" he asked carefully.
"No, I got a call a few days back. Someone thought they had seen him. Turned out it was just someone else." she sighed.  "I miss him."
George nodded.
"I couldn't bare missing any of my siblings. I can imagine how hard it must be for you." he said softly. "But I'm sure they will find him eventually, Emilia."

"It's been almost ten years, George. I don't know." she whispered, whiping her tears away as she kept looking at the picture.
"I last saw his face when he was almost eighteen. If he comes back he will be an adult. I don't even know if someone will recognise him."

George held her close, as Emilia let out her tears. He wished life was a bit easier for her. He wished he could do something to let her forget all her worries. But they were so big, she couldn't forget them that easily.

"I-uh, I talked to Fred." he said after a while.
"Please, I don't wanna talk about him right now." she groaned. "He's a pain in the ass."

George snickered.
"Yeah, that can be. I wasn't going to talk about what happened anyway." he laughed.
"What I wanted to say is that you can start tomorrow. In the shop, I mean. Just do the whole shift with us two. I think Lee will come help us out for an hour or two, since the mondays are still our bussiest days."
Emilia raised an eyebrow when she heard Lee his name.
"Whenever he's around you can't even focus, man." she laughed.
"Hey, I can't help he's so good looking." he said to his defense. Emilia couldn't disagree with that. "And the fact that I get to kiss him every day makes it even better."

"That's why I don't get why you're so distracted by him when you're working." Emilia bounced back at him. She had now sat up, curious at his answer.
"Well, I don't know. I guess he just looks good being a busy worker." he blushed, rolling his eyes as she laughed.
"You're really have to ask him to be your actual boyfriend soon though, Georgie.." she said, smirking at him.

"Oh, shut up." he said, standing up and walking away. "I'm never cheering you up again!"
"Wait, George." she said, standing up to follow him out of the room. She grabbed his hand and when he turned around, she actually saw a bit of fear in his eyes.
"Are you-"
she stopped her sentence and pulled him back into their room. She closed the door and looked at him.

"I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it." she remarked.
He shrugged, walking over to his drawer and started doing something she couldn't see.
"Are you scared to commit to it, George?" she asked.
"No, that's not it. I'm scared of what the world will think."

"But everybody knows already, right? I mean, you don't really keep it a secret anymore."
Emilia climbed onto the bed and made him look at her.
"My parents don't." he murmured, biting his lip softly to keep away the tears.
"Oh." she sighed, pulling him down to her.

She placed a kiss on the side of his head, just above his ear, and took a deep breath.
"I didn't know it was a difficult topic for you, George. If I knew I wouldn't have made jokes about it. But in all honesty, I think your parents are the most accepting people out there. Whenever I stayed at your house, I got accepted so quickly. And they know I'm not straight either."
He smiled slightly and nodded.
"I'm just scared they don't think I'm their strong boy anymore."
She snorted and looked at him.
"Honey, look at you. You're a giant and even more now that you got those damn abs everywhere. I don't know what you did to do that. But trust me, especially your mother will always see you as the strong son she always had. Whether you like boys or girls or.. it doesn't matter who you like. That won't change anything."
He smiled, sincere this time.