I was starting to go insane, I just had to be.
I knew that being rescued by George was just a dream, it had to be. But the cold stone floor beneath me had began to soften, drawing me into its warm embrace. Somehow, my brain had even managed to imagine a fluffy comforter tucked around me, its material soft on my skin.
I groaned. I didn't want to wake up.
"Are you awake?" said voice of imaginary George whispered in my ear.
"Obviously not" I grumbled and rolled over to hit the snooze. I mean, if it was my dream, then George would have a snooze button. I felt around the air and found his nose, poking it gently.
My brain had somehow managed to perfectly recreate the texture of his skin. I continued to touch his face, shocked at how accurate the curve of his nose felt under my fingertips.
"You seem pretty awake to me" he laughed and grabbed my hand. He pulled gently, rolling me over to face him. I couldn't open my eyes though. It would be too painful if I did, actually seeing imaginary George, but knowing that it wasn't actually him. Just hearing his voice, feeling his skin, was enough to cause a pang in my heart.
At the same time, it felt nice to hear him again. It eased the pain, but yet again it also increased it double fold. It made me feel like I wasn't alone.
"Acelynne" George whispered, his voice nearer to my face this time. He was close enough that I could smell the peanut butter on his breath.
"George" I retorted in a matching voice, playful but serious at the same time. This scenario, even though I knew it false, was better than reality I was currently facing. At any time now, Alexi would be opening my cell and begin her daily torture routine.
I couldn't help but give up the fight and let myself open my eyes. Who would blame me for playing pretend?
"Finally" he smirked down at me. He was sitting beside me on the bed, his knees drawn up to his chest as he stared intently. "I was starting to wonder if I would ever get to see your eyes again."
I couldn't help but just lay there and stare up at him, letting a weak smile creep up onto my face. "How are you feeling?" he asked, concerned. He brought a hand to my forehead at my non-responsiveness. "You're not warm."
"I'm feeling fine" I smiled and pushed his hand away from my head, capturing it in between my own and holding on tightly. "I just don't want to wake up."
He smiled softly, tucking the covered in around my body. "If you don't want to, you're more than welcome to stay in this bed all day. Merlin knows, I'm sure you need the rest."
Imaginary George matched the sweetness of real George. "No, I don't want to wake up."
He furrowed his brows and drew his hand away from me slightly, looking even more concerned than when I hadn't spoken. "What are you talking about?"
"Shhhhh" I brought his hand to my mouth and kissed his finger tips lightly. "Don't talk. I just want to savour this moment. I don't want to think about what's going to happen once I open my eyes."
George laughed and shook his head. "Acelynne, this isn't a dream." I sat up too quickly, narrowing my eyes and pulling my hands away from him.
"Of course it is. No one knew where I was, therefore being rescued was impossibility. Now shush. This is the first good dream I've had in such a long time. Quite frankly, love, all of this talking is ruining it."
He stopped laughing and ran a hand through his hair. "It's not a dream" he said seriously and I rolled my eyes.
I shrugged and George shook his head, yet again. "You haven't exactly given me a reason to not think this is a dream."
George pressed his mouth into a thin line and gave me a disgruntled look. A wave of realization cross his face before he leaned in, pressing his mouth to mine.
The kiss felt different than the other ones I dreamt up. I had never thought that George could seem so... urgent. Without breaking the kiss, he carefully shifted his body so he was on top of me, ensuring not to place any weight on my body. His lips moved against mine in a frenzy, prying my lips apart with his tongue and tracing the edges of my teeth.
Without warning, he separated his mouth from mine and smiled down at me. "Do I ever do that in your dreams?" he questioned.
"Wouldn't you like to know" I teased. "What if, theoretically, if this wasn't a dream? How were you able to find me?"
"Theoretically, there's someone downstairs that will be able to explain that" he smiled and rolled off of me. He grabbed my hand and guiding me into an upright position.
"Are you saying that you have steamy, R-rated, dreams about me?"
"Not all of us are horny, teenage boys" I laughed and swung my legs to the end of my bed. George took each of my hands in his, supporting my weight as I attempted to stand up.
"Well, you think I'm sexy, right?"
I rolled my eyes and released his hands, determined to stand on my own. "Extremely. In fact, it's taking all of my self-restraint to not jump your bones every single minute of the day."
"I knew it" he smiled. He grasped my hand again, leading me out of the room and towards a flight of stairs. I didn't take in my new surroundings, too busy starring at George. The boy who was actually in front of me and, in fact, not a dream.
"Look who's awake" George said as he pulled me into what seemed like a kitchen. The sight in front of me was enough of a shock to make me consider that I was dreaming, yet again. My father was sitting at a table, with Molly and Dumbledore, looking the exact same as when I left him in September. Plus, bit more grey hair and wrinkles.
"Dad? "I whispered and he pushed away from the table.
"Ace" he crossed the room quickly and wrapped his arms around me.
I pulled away from him and looked to the rest of the table. Dumbledore motioned for me to sit down and I did as told, suddenly thrown into a daze. How was he back? Why was he back? I mean, wasn't we still in danger?
"When did you get back?" I asked unblinkingly as I continued to stare at my father. "Why are you back? How did you find me?" Dumbledore raised his hand and I bit back all of the other questions I was dying to ask.
"Patience, Ms. Connors. Let your father explain where he was been." He waved a hand in my dad's direction, urging him to speak.
"Ace, firstly I want you to know that I didn't want to leave. And that I'm so sorry that I put you through all of this." His face filled with self-loathing and he drummed his fingers on the table. "If it wasn't for my decisions, this never would have happened to you."
"Albus is the one who first learned of the danger. We knew that I needed to go into hiding, but it was a risk. They have connections everywhere. I doubt there's a country in the world where they don't have a spy.
"So I didn't go anywhere. Albus offered to be my secret keeper, and I moved into a small apartment in downtown London. I didn't leave for months.
"I thought keeping you out of the loop was going to keep you safe. I missed you so much. I needed to see you, at least once, before I went back into hiding again. But by the time I got here, you had already been gone for half a week." He sighed and wiped his eyes, which were threatening to spill over. "I was too late."
"Don't blame yourself, Jacobson" Dumbledore reached over and patter his hand, offering him a handkerchief. "I was the one who couldn't spot a traitor in my own school. Crouch, and Antoine.... Perhaps I am losing my touch."
"Don't you be too harsh on yourself either, Albus" Molly tutted. "Without your help, who knows where we'd all be. And besides, you had enough to focus on with the Tournament. Everyone is safe and together, now, and we should all be grateful for that."
"But-" I interjected and looked around the table. "How did you find me?"
George chuckled and reached into his pocket. He flicked a folded piece of paper out onto the table towards me. "My sleight of hand is more useful that you would think" he winked, and I couldn't help but blush slightly.
"Swiped it from your back pocket before you got on the bus, just in case. When your dad and Dumbledore showed up at our front door and asked where you were...And that's when we called in the troops."
I bit my lip and turned to face Dumbledore and my father. "So when are you leaving again?"
"Well" Dumbledore smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose. "According to our inside sources, Jacobson and you are no longer a main concern now that Voldemort is alive and making plans that will effect us on a more... widespread level. Of course, it would be advisable that you stay in hiding until the end of the summer, at least. I see nothing wrong with you going to live with your father for the time being."
"Really?" I asked, dumbfounded. Dumbledore smiled and pushed away from the table.
"Really. Now that I have seen for myself that you are alive and well, I must be going." With a nod in each of our directions, he disapparated.
"I should be getting back to the apartment" my father stood up and gave Mrs. Weasley a friendly peck on the cheek. He looked at George and I, holding hands across the table, and smiled sadly. "Thank you for all of your help, Molly. I don't know what we would have done without you.
"Oh, don't you mind that, Jacobson." She waved dismissively.
"Acelynne, I assume that you will be wanting to say your good-byes." He pulled out a quill and a pen, than scribbled something down quickly before handing it to me. With a final glace in my direction, my dad disapparated, and left Mrs. Weasley, George, and I alone.
George and I stood up, and looked at Mrs. Weasley in unison. She rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, you two. I'll allow it, THIS TIME" she narrowed her eyes at us, but a smile remained on her lips as she left the room.
George's arms were suddenly wrapped around my body, closing the gap between us.
"Acelynne, I'm so glad your back.... I was so worried that we wouldn't find you in time." You could hear the pain in his voice as I leaned into him. He took a step back, keeping me close but hardly actually touching me.
"I'm not made of glass, you know." I leaned in, giving him a squeeze. My muscles ached, but it was better than I had felt in weeks.
"Ace" he brought a hand to my face. "I don't think you understand how badly you were hurt. We could hardly recognize you with all of the damage, and blood. But you refused to go to St. Mungos, so we did what we could here." He ran a finger down the side of my face. I'd yet to look in the mirror but something told me that I looked probably looked like a completely different person than when I first left the house. "And then you slept for three days. You didn't roll over, or move, or snore....
"I do not snore!" I protected and George laughed lightly.
"Sure you don't" he patted the top of my head and pulled me towards the base of the stairs. "I'll be right back. Tonks found your stuff during the raid, I'll just go get it."
I crossed my arms over my stomach and watched as George darted up the stairs. I brushed the hair out of my face and something moved in my periphery, causing me to freeze nervously.
Taking a deep breath, I turned around and was relieved to find a mirror, and not death eater. I was surprised to find that I didn't look half bad. It looked like someone had scrubbed me down with a washcloth while I was asleep and brushed my hair out so it wasn't so tangled.
The only major difference was the thin white line that ran from my eyebrow to the bottom of my ear, a place that Alexi had hit me with the sword spell.
I also wasn't in my own clothes. Those were definitely unsalvageable. I was in a thick green long sleeved shirt that had to be George's and a pair of flannel pyjama pants that could have been Ginny's.
George jumped back down the steps and landed beside me with a thump, carrying my trunk with him "This scar" I said in shock, tracing the line over and over. He swallowed deeply.
"It's not the only one." He gestured to my stomach.
Slowly I raised my shirt, and revealed much thicker scars that ran across my abdomen and up to my rib cage. "It's hideous."
"Actually, I think they look pretty badass" he said tracing each of the scars with a finger tip. and putting down my trunk.
"Sure" I rolled my eyes. "You have to say that to make me feel better."
He chuckled and pulled my hair back so he could see my facial scar a bit better. "You're right. They're horrible, so bad that I feel that we may need to break up" I pushed him and he stumbled back, grabbing onto me and taking me with him.
"Not a chance. You're stuck with me. No matter how ugly I must be." He bent down and pressed his forehead against mine.
"Damn, and I thought I could finally get away from you" he snapped his fingers and waggled his eyebrows at me. "You know, I'm sure my mum won't mind if you stay for the rest of the summer..."
"As much as I'd love to.... I think its best if I just go and stay with my dad. Do you think you could visit me sometime?" I looked at him hopefully and he squeezed my waist in approval. He let go, and picked up my trunk, leading me into the living room and to the fireplace.
"A heard a centaurs couldn't keep me away" he concluded and handed me a handful of FLOO powder. "Now, get going. I want to make a good impression on your dad, and I can't do that if you get home late."
Mrs. Weasley passed by us, snickering under her breath. "Young love" her tone made me think that she was talking to herself rather than us. I made to step into the fireplace, and he grabbed my wrist. He smiled sheepishly and let go.
"You know, I think, that we should work on this separation thing if we are going to survive the summer" I told him, only half joking. At Hogwarts, we got to see each other every single day. And then I moved in with him. The mere idea of being in a different room than him was enough to cause me sadness.
"Yeah I guess your right" he said sadly.
With a final glance around the house and a peck on the cheek from George, I threw the powder into the fire and stepped in, shouting out the street number, and was plunked down in my fathers fireplace.
Before I could get my bearings, someone fell out of the fire and onto me, laughing as they did. George pushed his lips onto mine without warning, and then sprung up and threw some more power into the fire. I stared at him from the floor, dazed at his unexpected affection.
"We can work on this separation thing starting now" he said, laughing that tell-tale Weasley laugh, and stepping into the fire.