SCARLET HAZE ; george weasley

𝙸. 𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝚂𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙰𝚈𝚂,𝙶𝙾𝙴𝚂

She slipped out of her room, gently closing the door behind her and began walking down the long hallway that opened into her families dining room. Her younger sister , who just happened to turn eleven the previous month, sat at the table along with her parents. Her heart dropped as she noticed the cream colored envelope sitting on the knitted placeholder in front of her. Despite the heart wrenching feeling growing in her, she put on a smile and gave him a shoulder squeeze and a kiss on the cheek as she passed her, letting a quiet "congratulations." Slip out of her mouth. Her eyes lit up at her words and she flashed her a crooked-toothed smile as if those were the words she was waiting to hear.

To hide her disappointment even further, Stevie pulled her chair away from the table and took a seat. She gave her parents a toothy smile and happily asked, " So, what's for dinner?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, a look exchanged between her parents and a confused one from Stevie. She was wondering why anyone wasn't saying anything.

" Just tell her, the suspense is killing me!" Simones tiny voice rang out.

Stevie looked over to her, her face red with excitement, " Tell me what?"

Mari let out a sigh and with a swish of the wand she kept tucked in her boot, an envelope, similar to Simones ,flew from the kitchen counter and landed neatly on the place mat in front of Stevie. Her eyes became wide as she read the front of it, she re-read it a dozen times just to make sure it was real and not a fluke. She picked it up and examined it over and over again, feeling the scratchy parchment, and finally she opened it. Her eyes welled with tears, her heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest from the amount of love and exhilaration she was feeling.

But just like that, the feeling was gone as anxiety flowed in, " I can't go." She stated, setting the envelope down gently and folding her hands in her lap.

" What do you mean, you can't go?" Her father questioned, " Stevie, you've been waiting for this letter for years."

"Which is exactly why I can't go," She took a deep breath, " I'm too far behind, I'll never be able to catch up with the kids in my year."

Mari met her eyes, pride gleaming in them, " Stevie, I can help you, we have a month before school even starts, I'll get you there."

" The letter says that I will be expected to start in my fifth year, there's no way." Stevie pushed herself away from the table and stood up, she grabbed the envelope and pushed her chair in as she began walking back down the hall, " I'll be in my room if you need me."

Stevie laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling and hugging the envelope close to her chest. The pillow beneath her head soaked in tears as she had spent the last hour silently crying. This was her dream for years, she thought it would fade away and she would live her life comfortably as a writer or teacher or something incredibly mundane. But here she was at the age of fifteen, nearly sixteen, longing for the chance to join her sister at Hogwarts. And now the opportunity was right in her hands, literally, and she couldn't find a single reason to go.

Sadie had told her countless times how hard her fifth year was, how she nearly failed her exams and barely made it to her sixth year. Now, Stevie was expected to be thrown into the year that made her perfectly capable sister feel less than.

" Stevie?" A voice spoke from behind her closed door.

She pushed herself into a sitting position and slid the envelope under her pillow before calling out "Come in."

The door swung open and there she was in all of her radiant glory. Her outfit was wrinkle free, hair slicked back into a perfect ponytail, nails meticulously manicured. Sadie was perfect in every sense of the word.

Stevie let out a squeal and jumped off the bed, nearly knocking her sister over as she attacked her with a hug, her arms wrapping tightly around the older girl.

"Hello to you too." Sadie laughed, returning the hug.

The two of them stood like that for a moment, Stevie wouldn't have held on for so long if it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't seen Sadie since Christmas break  the year prior. An opportunity to intern at the ministry of magic had presented itself and Sadie would've been stupid not to take it. That's what Stevie told herself, but she had hoped everyday that Sadie would just appear at her door, leaving the internship to spend the summer with her sister before she graduated and moved to London forever.

"What are you doing here? I thought your internship ended as school started." Stevie pulled away, looking up at her sister, " Not that I don't want you here, of course."

"Well," Sadie stepped back and straightened out her skirt, " Mum got your letter last night and immediately told me about it, got on the first flight so I could to congratulate you!"

" First of all, you've been gone way too long, I heard that accent and it wasn't a southern one," She drew in a breath, " And I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing, cause I'm not going."

Sadie's jaw dropped, " What do you mean you're not going?"

" I've missed too much, there's no point."

The older girl shook her head, " I'm sorry, but I can't accept that."

" Sadie—"

" No, Stevie— you have been waiting for this opportunity your whole life. And now you're just gonna throw it away because you think it might be a little hard?" Sadie tilted her head and stared at her younger sister, waiting for an answer.

" Well, I-I—,"

" Exactly," Sadie placed her hands onto Stevie's shoulders and gave them a squeeze, " You have to go, I wouldn't want to spend my seventh year with anyone else. And at the end of the term, if you think you can't handle two more, then you can return to Texas and start homeschooling again."

Stevie thought over her offer. It would just be one year, surely she could handle that. And it would be an experience only a select few would ever get to experience. She wasn't saying yes because of Sadie, she was saying yes because she needed this experience.

Who was she kidding, she was saying yes because of Sadie. She needed her there. The one person who she looked up to her entire life wouldn't want to spend her last year at Hogwarts without her. How could she say no?

"Fine. I'll go."