Fred's Chapter // George Weasley

4

She immediately clamped up and her face fell. She was used to getting other people to talk, but she herself would shut down if someone asked her to do the same.

Her eyes widened and she looked away. "Enough about me. We're here for you. What did you want to talk about?"

He noted her behavior and his mind spiraled. She was obviously hiding something, or pushing something down that she didn't want to be revealed. He changed the subject for now though.

"I can't look in a mirror." He said quickly and she turned to him and listened intently. "I see him every time. And I hate going down to the shop because seeing the jokes and the pranks reminds me of him. And I hate seeing those pictures because it reminds me of when we were together. And I hate doing new things without him because it feels like I'm moving on and I don't want to."

He finished his rant while catching his breath. It had all just spilled out over his tongue before he could stop it. He hadn't told anyone that. Ever.

He was nervous about how she would react. He was afraid she would find him pathetic or weird. Instead, when he looked at her, he saw her smiling warmly and it relieved him immensely. He continued with her silence.

"I can't believe he's gone. I wake up some days and expect him to be in his room or making breakfast in the kitchen and then I'm faced with reality and it's like my heart breaks all over again."

She squeezed his hands, which he didn't realize she was still holding, and he smiled at her. She made him feel so safe, so understood, and he loved every part of it. She wiped his cheek to take away the tears he didn't realize had been falling and smiled.

"You're so strong, George. I know it." She said quietly and sighed. She realized then that she wanted to tell him. She wanted him to know so that he wouldn't feel alone anymore.

"When I was seventeen, it was the middle of the war and we hadn't really seen anything, being in America and all. Until one night my entire world crashed." She grabbed onto his hands and locked eyes with him. "Voldemort wanted my father and other members of the Moki tribe to join him. We didn't want to because we praise ourselves on staying neutral and keeping to ourselves. It's what saved us during colonization and the first wizarding war."

George's eyes widened as he listened to May. "You were affected by the war? I thought it never reached America."

May shook her head. "He did it in secret. Gathering forces around the world. Our tribe refused him and he...destroyed us." She sighed and let a few tears fall. It had been years since she talked about it, and suddenly it was like she was in George's position. "Voldemort went on a killing spree and killed most of our tribe. Men, women, and children alike. My father is very prominent in the community and he targeted him personally."

George could tell it was getting harder for her to speak so he scooted closer to her and held her hands tighter, urging her to continue. He wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about her and more.

"One night when we were sleeping, deatheaters attacked our home. There were so many of them. We hid my two little brothers in a closet and the four of us, me, my mother, my father, and my brother Kai went to fight them off. Somehow in all the chaos we lost each other and the house was on fire. I was the closest to the closet so instead of looking for the others I fled with my two little brothers and got out of the house as fast as I could. My mother and father were waiting for us outside." Her tears were falling harder now and George didn't know what to do. He had never seen anything less than a smile on her face and it hurt him to see her like this.

"Kai was still inside and...and he didn't make it out. He died in the fire." She looked up at George and locked eyes with him. "Kai was my twin brother, George. I had a twin just like you. That's why I understand it so much."