Shit, I'm Falling For A Weasley || George Weasley

Chapter Twenty Three - In which my patronus outs me

The dark sky illuminates the empty Hall, echoing the emotional daze I found myself in after my conversation with Dumbledore. Since he lifted the memory charm, I've been getting dreams, snippets of a life I barely recognise as my own. Following his advice about not looking at them in absolutes but being kinder to the young child who made the choices any frightened child would. It has not been easy, especially considering the nightmares have only become worse. Finding George after the meeting, I mumbled a quick goodnight before heading up to my room. For the first night in a long time, I slept alone and allowed the memories to take me on the journey I needed to go on. 

Stirring the hot chocolate with one hand and holding the Daily Prophet in the other, I try to avoid the stare of my guardian. It's been a few days since that meeting and I know he's upset about my choice. In a perfect world, it would have been easy to go to Severus, speak to him about the lost memories and what actually happened that night. But he kept the lie for so long, it's almost as if he's convinced himself of that truth too. 

Glancing around the Hall, I meet the eyes of an approaching Fred Weasley. Accompanied with his sister, they both take a seat opposite me. A small smile is all I manage to give them as they continue their conversation about the usefulness of bowties. 

"Muggles love it!" Fred exclaims as his sister raises her eyebrows at him impassively. 

"Exactly," she retorts, rolling her eyes. "The only people who would buy it are people like Dad," she continues grabbing a goblet for herself. Fred shakes his head at her, turning to see if anyone else had entered the Hall. 

"Lily here would buy it," Fred says offhandedly, but I don't react to their conversation. My mind is too worked up about the recent echo of a memory that got triggered with the mention of a bowtie. Something that involved dressing up a small animal to go to a party. Or perhaps it was a wedding? 

"Come on, we're going to be late," Ginny mutters, tapping me on my head. Blinking at her, she gestures to the door, nodding at me. "DA meeting?" 

"Oh yeah," I say, my voice barely a whisper. Fred gives me an odd look, but doesn't say a word. 

"I've got to wait for the boys, so I'll catch up later," he says instead with another look at the entrance. I have no idea where my boyfriend is, but truth be told, I'm glad that we have some space right now. Dealing with a life altering revelation has been difficult enough, to add worrying about George would be too much. 

Without another word, Ginny and I walk towards the Room of Requirement, only to be met with a silver stag charging at us. My eyes widen as I pull Ginny in front of me to avoid getting trampled. The stag hops over us and dances across the ceiling, but it's the look I get from Ginny Weasley for using her as a shield that makes me smile properly for the first time in a week. 

***

"Expecto patrondus!" I exclaim causing my wand to shake and a weird green mist to appear that has an odd smell. I frown, frustrated at my lack in ability to conjure up anything better than some mist. Silvery animals jump all around the room, but in my corner there's no activity at all. Even if I end up remembering the spell properly, there's that whole problem of finding a memory good enough to think about. 

"Well that was better than the time you almost caused poor Neville to shrink," Ginny states in a matter-of-factly tone. 

"I'm trying!" I exclaim as Ginny raises her eyebrows at me. 

"How about you stop pretending you don't know the spell and actually say it?" Ginny says reproachfully and I purse my lips together. There's only so many times that you can say the spell wrong before your best friend realises that you're avoiding it.