As the night drunkenly carried on for George, Clover pushed her alcohol aside in order to remain in a stable mindset. It's not that she minded getting piss drunk, it's just that she knew she had no where to go afterwards. Being both female and drunk was unfortunately not the best combination to be walking around at night with no destination. And her stubborn Slytherin ego refused to let her drag herself back to the Leaky Cauldron in a moment of weakness, even if it was her only option. So, she sat there sobering up as she watched George do quite the opposite.
"I'm not usually the one to say this, but...," Clover's eyes widened at the 7 empty pint glasses lined up in front of George, lightly taking the one he was drinking out of his hand, "Maybe you should slow down there."
George pouted when he noticed the cup in his hand was gone, looking over at her curiously, "Don't think I could handle myself?"
She scoffed and pointed at him, "The green undertone of your cheeks seems to think so."
"Well rest assured, I am quite good at handling my-," he cut off his own sentence and abruptly brought a hand up to his lips, his chest heaving as if he were going to throw up all the contents of alcohol from his body.
Clover's eyes went wide at seeing how his body started lurching towards her, "George Weasley I swear on Salazar Slytherin that if you spew your bloody vomit on me I'll..."
She stood up from her seat in a panic, preparing for the worst, as her eyes flurried back and forth while trying to think of how to finish her empty threat, "I'll...I'll...,"
"You'll what?" George's body language returned back to normal and a smirk was now dancing on his face.
"Eugh, you git! I should've known you were joking," Clover breathed out a sigh of relief as she sat back down in her seat and rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Well, I don't run a world renown joke shop for nothing," he winked at her before his drunk mind let his eyes trail down her body dramatically, "Plus, if I was spewing anything on you it most certainly would not be vomit."
Normally Clover would have walked away from a man who made at comment like that to her, but as she looked at the boy next to her with that snarky smirk on his face, she couldn't help but copy his expression. Whether it was the alcohol or the way she so effortlessly bantered with him, Clover found herself wanting to stay and continue the conversation with him. She didn't know why, but somehow she felt safe around him, as if for the first time in her life she finally held higher standards for a man other than the one she called her best friend.
"You're repulsive when you're drunk," she rolled her eyes again and shook her head as her lips edged upwards.
The ginger boy leaned in closer to her until his mouth was practically pressed against her ear, "And how do you know I'm not repulsive all the time?"
A red tint begrudgingly forced its way onto Clover's cheeks at the feeling of his warm breath hitting her neck. She laughed, in an attempt to push down the coloring of her face, and turned her head towards his, completely disregarding the close proximity they were in. She opened her mouth to speak when her eyes locked onto his, his face not even centimeters away from hers. And for a moment, they just stared at each other. Her eyes explored the pools of darkened honey staring back at her, her body shifting uncomfortably at how intense they were looking at each other. She should have looked away, but Clover had always been a curious girl. And right now she was hooked on the mystery before her, not understanding how brown eyes could dance so beautifully, yet look so sad.
"I think," George slurred out with a slight smile on his face, his eyes not breaking from hers, "I think our eyes are shagging right now."
That's all it took, just one joke to snap her out of the trance she fell into. Clover narrowed her eyes and devilishly brought her face threateningly closer to his, "Well, get a good look. Because that's the closest you'll ever get to shagging me."
They both chuckled under their breaths until the moment was interrupted by a voice booming through the crowd of people.
"George!" Someone shouted until it slipped through the wildly dancing bodies and sounded out again, "Thank Merlin, there you are."
Clover and George turned their heads to see a panting Ginny Weasley shoving people out of the way in order to get to where they were. The blonde haired girl noticed how effortlessly the younger girl made her way through the crowd, not phased one bit by the bar scene around her. It was almost as if she had done it many times before.
"Ginny!" George drunkenly exclaimed while dramatically throwing his hands in the air. She walked over as her eyes flickered between her brother and the familiar girl, her staring only interrupted when her brother's arms wrapped around her, "To what do I owe the presence of my amazing, lovely baby sister, Ginevra Weasley?"
"I came to take you and your drunk arse home," Ginny chuckled while shrugging George's arms off of her, her eyes widening at how many empty glasses were in front of him, "Merlin, George. You're lucky I did come and find you, you'd probably be singing to high heaven otherwise."
Clover's head tilted curiously as she heard that first sentence escape from the younger redhead's mouth. The small girl's face was flushing with worry and concern, yet also looked at him as if she was used to this. As if she was used to finding George drunk beyond belief and having to come and find him. And as she stared at the emotions crossing Ginny's face, she couldn't help but wonder why.
He poked her in the cheek and pointed at her with a pout on his face, "I'll have you know that I have a lovely voice."
"Go on, then," Clover cheekily added in from her seat, laughing at the drunk boy's antics, "Let's hear it."
George puffed his chest out as if he were accepting her challenge and was about to open his mouth when a pleading voice sounded out first.
"Please, no," the barman spoke out playfully with a serious undertone to his voice, "I've heard it all too many times before."
Both Ginny and Clover chuckled under their breaths and George crossed his arms over his chest and huffed into defeat. The younger Weasley rolled her eyes before swooping an arm around George's torso and yanking him up from his seat. After he was standing up, she paid for the drinks lined up on the bar top and. Her arm once again found itself supporting George's stance as Clover prepared to wish the two farewell. What she failed to realize was that Ginny was raised by the Molly Weasley, she knew better than to leave Clover alone in a pub at night.
"Are you coming, then?" Ginny glanced at Clover with an eyebrow raised and her head gesturing towards the exit.
"What do you mean?" Clover stared back at the two sibling in front of her, not understanding why they were asking her to leave.
George, whose body was slumped down onto Ginny's shoulders, laughed out in his fogged up state of mind and explained, "You're a pretty girl, can't leave you in a pub all alone. A big, bad man will swoop you right up."
Clover shook her head and smiled politely at the pair, knowing that they didn't understand. She wasn't scared of big, bad men, not anymore at least. She had grown up having to deal with them all on her own, and shield them away from Linny at the same time. It had always been that way, and even though Linny was gone, that was one part of her life that hadn't changed. She could handle ill-mannered people quite fine by herself, she didn't need help. But of course, how could they know that?
"I'll be fine," she waved them off with a look of sincerity on her face, "Don't worry about me."
Ginny eyed her carefully. Her face, despite her being younger than Clover, looked mature beyond her years as she stared down the blonde girl sitting alone. Clover could sense Ginny's discomfort and disbelief in her response, this fact furthered by the gesture the redhead spoke next.
"At least help me carry this sod to the nearest floo connection, yeah?" She spoke out in a voice that was more of a command rather than a question, not leaving any room for Clover to deny her.
Clover was impressed by way she held herself, as if she wasn't just an 18 year old girl, and gave into her wish. She meekly pulled out her wallet and went to pay for her tab only to be swatted away by the barman. The blonde gratefully smiled at him, knowing she didn't have much left to spend, and quickly turned to swoop an arm around the other side of George. The two girls guided George through the crowd of wildly dancing people until they were out into the fresh, night air. They dragged him, quite literally since he began to doze off on their way there, to the nearest floo port, and because of Ginny's insistence, Clover found herself transporting into The Burrow.
They carefully dropped George onto the couch and he immediately curled up so his entire body could fit on it and fell asleep. Ginny breathed out a sigh of relief and fell into a nearby armchair. Clover eye's flickered around awkwardly until she was invited to take the seat next to Ginny.
"Thanks for helping me with him," Ginny broke the silence that filled the room as she looked over at Clover and chuckled under her breath, "Usually he doesn't fall asleep while walking home. I'm not quite sure how I would've managed to get him here without you."
"Usually?" Clover couldn't help herself from asking the question thats been on her mind since Ginny walked into the pub, "This happens a lot?"
The redhead nodded gently and looked at the sleeping boy across from them, "Whenever Angelina has quidditch practice and can't stay the night he usually ends up at the pub."
"And you come and get him every time?" Clover guided the conversation along, pretending as if she knew who Angelina was and why it mattered when she had practice or not.
"I know I don't have to," Ginny looked down at her hands and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, "But I worry he might get too carried away with distracting himself one day. And if I don't look after him, than no one will, himself included."
Clover watched as the strong, commanding girl pulled her legs up to her chest and faded into a smaller, frailer looking state. Her heart sunk in her chest when it dawned on her that Ginny was barely an adult, barely 18 years old and she was burdened with making sure her older brother took care of himself. Her insides shook anxiously as she caught a glimpse of her younger sister in the ginger besides her; a girl whose childhood was taken away from her too early on.
"That's kind of you, Ginny," Clover genuinely spoke as she looked over at the girl next to her, continuing on with a piece of advice that hit a little too close to home for her liking, "But, you shouldn't place that responsibility all on yourself. If you're always taking care of George, who's taking care of you?"
Ginny looked as if she wanted to speak, but her mouth shut close and she rested her chin on her knees. Clover listened as the younger girl let out a frustrated sigh.
"Aren't you supposed to be at Hogwarts now?" Clover decided to take the pressure off of her last question, trying to make her voice soft and inviting.
Ginny looked over and her and shook her head, "I left Hogwarts early after I signed a contract with the Holyhead Harpies."
"You must be one hell of a seeker to get signed so young," Clover responded with a playful smile on her face, trying to get Ginny to warm up to her, "I should've known, though, you whipped Slytherin's arse last time I watched a match. Put those sexist prats to shame. I mean honestly, what were they trying to accomplish by not allowing girls on the team?"
The younger girl seemed to relax as she heard Clover's joking tone and her shoulders physically dipped from the release of tension. She chuckled under her breath and decided to strike up a different conversation, "So why were you at the pub tonight?"
The blonde haired girl looked over at the ginger and couldn't bring herself to tell Ginny that her reason was a good as her brother's. She couldn't exactly blurt out that she just needed a distraction from the pitiful excuse that was her life. So instead, she focused on the one problem area in her life.
"Got fired from my job," Clover responded out with a scoff and chuckled when she continued, "Apparently threatening men who make inappropriate advances towards you isn't how a customer should be treated."
"Fucking pigs," Ginny snorted under her breath and was about to continue when George's voice snapped her back to attention, her heart crushing at the words coming out of his mouth.
"Freddie," George whimpered in his sleep, the two girls' eyes widening as he called out. His body began to writhe around and he repeatedly called Fred's name out loud, his voice sounding pleading and raw.
"Fuck," Ginny scrambled onto her feat and sat down right in front of the couch George was laying on. She grabbed his hand and started whispering to him, "George, hey wake up. It's okay, George, I'm right here."
"Freddie, d-don't go," George cried out, Clover watching at Ginny's body froze up at the words he was saying.
And once again, she saw this strong girl crumble in front of her, a tear rolling down Ginny's face as she pleaded with her brother, "G-George, wake up. It's just a nightmare, that's all."
For a second, envy jolted through Clover's body. Nobody was ever there to hold her when she was crying in the middle of the night. Nobody comforted her when her nightmares were banging around her head. But she shook those thoughts out of her head as Ginny's gaze crossed hers briefly, her face torn between feeling pain and wanting to comfort George. And in Clover's mind, it was absolutely heartbreaking seeing how Ginny's body tensed up every time Fred's name was called.
So, she slowly walked over to Ginny and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Why don't you try and get some rest? I'll stay with him."
"N-no, I couldn't ask you to do that," Ginny stuttered out as she rubbed her free hand through George's hair, "It's okay, this happens sometimes. I'll stay."
"Ginny," Clover spoke a little more strongly this time, knowing that the girl wouldn't leave unless she was forced, "Go get some sleep."
"I-I can't. You barely know us, I don't expect you to-,"
"Nobody deserves to have to sit through this, Ginny," Clover crouched down to the girl's level and gave her a pointed look, giving her no more room for arguing, "George wasn't the only one that lost Fred, don't you forget that."
In defeat, Ginny hung her head low and nodded. She murmured a thank you before escaping up the stairs and going into her room. Clover looked over at George, who was still shifting about while crying out Fred's name, and sat down in front of his head.
"Please, Freddie," he cried out again, a broken whimper escaping his lips immediately afterwards. It would've broken Clover's heart if she wasn't so used to going through this herself.
She placed a hand on his cheek and whispered calmly, "George."
His hand snapped up to grab onto hers, his fingers intertwining with her smaller ones. Clover tensed up at his touch, but soon found herself holding onto him tighter than he was to her. Because even if it was just for a night, she thought that having a hand to hold was better than nothing at all. She wished she had someone there for her during her own episodes, and she never would've dared missing an opportunity to provide that for someone else.
She opened her bag and sighed at the last vial of dreamless sleep potion that she was saving for a night that she had particularly bad dreams. But Clover was used to not getting any sleep anyways, so there was no harm in wasting her last vial on someone else who could definitely use it. She flicked open the cap and poured it into George's mouth, closing it with her hand until he swallowed it. A moment later, his writhing stilled, yet his hand still stayed tightly wrapped around hers.
She ran her free hand through his hair, examining the tired features of the boy who she knew was missing half of himself. He looked fragile, his over 6 ft stature not meaning anything as he curled up into a helpless heap. She remembered all the times she saw George running around Hogwarts, planning his next big adventure with Fred. And even when they got in trouble, he always had that stupid, mischievous grin plastered on his face.
But now, it was as if that boy didn't exist. His lips were naturally curved downwards as he slept and his smile lines were nonexistent. And when she truly thought about it, the more she started to believe that she was right. That boy didn't exist. Because George Weasley wasn't George Weasley anymore, just a shell of the boy he used to be.
"What has this world done to you?" Clover sadly whispered as her free hand dropped into her lap.
Her head fell back onto the couch that she was leaning on and she forcefully closed her eyes, hoping that her own nightmares didn't eat her alive tonight. And with his hand in hers, Clover fell asleep the way she always had; just trying not to succumb to the darkness.
——————————————————————————
AUTHORS NOTE:
Can we just talk about how Ginny most definitely took on that roll of taking care of George after Fred died.
FUCK JOANNE FOR KILLING OFF FRED