𝖳𝖮𝖴𝖢𝖧 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖲𝖳𝖠𝖱𝖲 | 𝖦𝖤𝖮𝖱𝖦𝖤 𝖶𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖫𝖤𝖸

26

CHRISTMAS

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"But what happened?" I asked George, completely gobsmacked.

The ginger sniffled and grabbed the blanket tighter against his trembling body.

"George!" my mum appeared behind us, "What happened, dear?"

He sighed and lowered his eyes to his shoes. 

"Before coming here for dinner, Fred and I let a little prank for Ron ready at home, but when we came back, it was mum the one who found it. It was a little and innocent one, I swear! But she was already pissed off so she simply told us that she didn't want to see us for the rest of the week. She literally said it was our business to find where we would stay."

"Oh, my fucking god," my mum took a deep breath, taking her thumb and her index to the bridge of her nose. "Forgive me, George, but your mother is a bitch."

"And where's Fred?" 

"He went to his girlfriend's house, she offered me to stay there as well and I genuinely thank her and love her so much but...I always feel more comfortable around you," he murmured, sounding a bit shy, something not usual in him, "You make me feel safe."

My heart shrank at his words. He felt safe with me, I was his safe space.

My poor Georgie. 

"Come in, let's go," I tangled his arm with mine and made him come to the living room where the fireplace was, "You're not gonna stay there, freezing."

"Hang on, I'm gonna bring you some hot chocolate and some dry clothes," my mum quickly went upstairs, leaving us two alone with the sound of the fire crackling and the wind whistling against the window.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Willow," he whispered. 

"There's nothing to thank for, mate. My house is your house, we are best friends for a reason," I guaranteed him while sitting by his side on the floor, next to the fireplace.

"I still don't understand why she was so crossed. I know she doesn't like our pranks but I swear to Merlin the only thing we did was putting a little fire salamander in his pyjama and it was tiny. We have done way worse than that and she never reacted like this."

"There's no excuse for her to treat you two like that."

"I think it had to do with today's dinner. She is so used to have people agreeing with her about us being unbearable that having your mum standing for us disconcerted her."

My mum came back and gave George one of the jumpers she had made for him, a pair of clean jeans that he had left here the last time he stayed and warm socks.

Being still by the fireplace, he rested his head on my lap, letting me play with the soft strands of his ginger hair that had the yellowish light from the fire reflecting on them. George's breathing was unhurried and he closed his eyes as I started dimly humming the song that was still playing on my mum's gramophone. 

"I'm gonna leave you two alone, okay?" my mother whispered, coming towards us with a wholesome smile on her face as she left a brief kiss on my forehead and another on George's. "Don't go to sleep too late. I love you, you two."

I nodded, telling her I loved her as well and watching her go upstairs back to her room. My eyes moved back to George and I couldn't help but caress very softly his cheek. His pale skin reflected the fire gaining a golden hue and showing the hidden freckles that usually were blended with his normal pale tone, his eyelashes almost touched the higher part of his cheekbones, his perfect nose with that beautiful bump stood out with a certain royal and aristocratic touch and his lips were starting to recover their rosy and vivid colour after getting slightly warmer.