grief /ɡriːf/
Noun: intense emotional pain, especially caused by someone's death
That's the official definition I found in the dictionary in the library of 12 Grimmauld Place. I snooped around there a lot when the twins were busy with Merlin knows what and I had some free time. I had created my own definition though. One that hit home way more.
Grief is the sorrow you experience when losing someone you care about and can only be healed by people you care about.
I dealt with the loss of my mother on my own. I spent a couple of months with different parts of my family who couldn't take care of me (I didn't even know most of them) and then I went to Hogwarts. Throughout that period, I was just a sixteen-year-old girl who had just lost her mother. I dealt with it on my own, and maybe that's why I had never really processed it. During my time at Hogwarts, I slowly started to accept the loss of my family and that wasn't because of the time that went by. People always claim that loss eases when time passes, but I do not agree. Loss eases when you find new reasons to be happy. I found a different family and that's what healed the grief.
Cedric's death was no different. It had torn me apart in a way that I hadn't expected, yet as the month of July passed, I was able to settle it in my head. I had come to terms with it and even though thinking about him still made me sad, I wouldn't cry anymore. I would think about his laugh and his smirk and I would smile, because I was glad that I had been able to be a part of his life. And that had nothing to do with time.
As I said, grief can only be healed by people you care about, and there was no better place than the Weasley household. I refer to it as a place, but quite honestly, it's more of a feeling. The Weasleys made me feel like I had a family and like I had been part of that family all along. I absolutely adored them and almost every minute of the day I would spend with one of them.
I went to work with Arthur once, because I wanted to see what the Ministry looked like. I got some weird looks, but it was one of the best days I had ever had. I helped Molly cook very often. She had to tell me at least ten times to call her Molly before I quit calling her Mrs Weasley. I loved to cook, but I never knew until now. I never really cooked before in my life, but Molly told me all her tips and tricks and we had the best time. The rest of the family didn't mind either, because I would bake something at least twice a week. Ginny had become like a sister to me, or a best friend. I talked to her and Hermione about basically everything and every night before we went to bed, we would have a little girl-talk. I wasn't super close with Ron, but we talked often and I liked him. I really wanted him and Hermione to get together, but she told me that that would never ever happen.
And of course there was Fred. He was the best thing ever. Almost every morning, we would eat breakfast together and he'd tell me all about his plans for the day. Most of the times that would include doing something Molly wouldn't like, but the twins didn't care at all. We spent a lot of time together, but I totally didn't mind. I'd often helped them with ideas they were working on. Since they had gotten the money from Harry, they had been working on new ideas non-stop. It was a good thing that the book I got him for his birthday had unlimited pages, because he must have filled over a hundred by now. He carried it everywhere, which made me quite happy.
And of course I couldn't forget about George. Besides Fred, I obviously knew him the best, but at school we hadn't hung out all that often outside of our friend group. It was nice to grow closer to him and I knew that Fred was very grateful that we got along so well.
The three of us (well, mostly the twins) invented new things every day and it was my favourite part of the day, even though choosing between that and cooking with Molly was a very difficult choice.
The twins were insanely creative and they came up with the weirdest, but most brilliant stuff, but not all of their ideas were very practical. I couldn't do much to help them as I was nowhere near as inventive and absolutely mad as they were, but sometimes I could help them with practicality issues. It was nice to feel useful in my own way. Now the joke shop was an actual concept in the future, maybe I could do this for the rest of my life, if Fred didn't grow sick of me at least. It was still their shop and it would always be their shop, but maybe I could support them behind the scenes.
My birthday had finally come around and even though I hadn't told anyone about it, everyone knew. Fred was the only one in the house who knew my birthday, so he must have told everyone.
I woke up with a breakfast in bed. Fred literally woke Hermione and Ginny up and kicked them out of the room. I gave him a lecture about that, but I couldn't stay angry for long as I saw what he had prepared. He had gotten croissants from the baker, he had made fresh orange juice and he had even cooked me eggs with bacon. Judging by the slightly burned bacon, he actually cooked it himself.
He got into bed with me and we ate his breakfast. He had done this all for me and that made me feel so special.
"I like this birthday already", I said and put the tray away. I pulled him towards me by his collar and kissed him. He kissed me back and rested his hand on my waist. I tugged on his hair slightly. The twins had recently gotten a haircut and it looked really good. It was a lot shorter than before and they looked way older and even more handsome.
"I love you", I whispered as we broke apart.
"I love you too. And you are going to love me even more when you open this gift", he said and got out a little gift box.
"Thank you", I said as he handed it to me. I untied the ribbon and slowly opened the box. Inside was a little card, which I took out.
Y/N Y/L/N
Official Mastermind of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
"If you still don't know what you want to do when you graduate, maybe you could work with George and I", he said and looked a little insecure.
"If you want that", he added.
"Are you serious?" I asked and smiled brightly. I would absolutely love that.
"Yeah, I discussed it with George and he loves the idea. I mean, you don't have to, but-" I pulled him by his collar again and pressed my lips on his.
"I would love to", I said.
"I hoped you would say that", he said and hugged me. I loved him so much.
"There's another thing in there", he said and pointed at the box. I took it and inside was a silver necklace with a little blue pendant on it. It was glowing brightly, as if there was a little light inside.
"It starts glowing when you feel happy, and it doesn't when you're sad. I thought you would like that", he said and put it around my neck.
"Now I know when you're sad, so I can cheer you up. I think you're happy right now", he said as he stroked the brightly shining pendant.
"Very much so", I said. "And you were right."
"About what?"
"I do love you even more, if that's possible."
He pushed me down on the bed gently and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer.
Unfortunately, that blissful moment was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Fred? Y/N? Can you come down? Everyone wants to wish you a happy birthday, darling!" Molly shouted from the other side of the door.
"Damn, mother", Fred said and rolled his eyes.
"We'll be there in a minute", I shouted back. I chuckled and climbed out of my bed.
"Come on, I need to get changed. Get out", I said and opened the door.
"Are you sure I can't stay?" Fred asked with a smirk and twirled a strand of my hair around his finger.
"Frederick Weasel, get your arse out of this room", I said. He smirked, shrugged his shoulders and left. He was unbelievable, unbelievably amazing.
I quickly changed into some clothes and combed my hair. I looked into the mirror and smiled. I was glowing and that was all because of Fred.
I made my way downstairs and was immediately greeted by a lot of warm hugs from a lot of lovely people.
"Happy birthday, sweetie!" Molly said and hugged me tightly.
"Thank you so much, Molly."
"I made your favourite for lunch, lasagna!"
"Happy birthday sister-in-law", George said and hugged me as well. He had started calling me that since the beginning of summer, which kind of weirded me out.
"Here you go", he said and gave me a little gift. I did not have time to open it, because Hermione had already given me hers and pulled me into a hug. Next followed Arthur, then Ginny, Ron and finally Sirius. I was a bit overwhelmed by all the gifts I received. I never got many gifts, just one from my mum.
"Remus and Tonks will be back for supper, darling, they had some business to take care of", Molly said as she squeezed my shoulder.
"Thank you so much everyone", I said and put the stack of gifts on the table. I opened them one by one and the pendant on my necklace got a little brighter every time. I felt so loved around these people and it was the best feeling in the world.
Molly got me an apron with my name on it and a copy of some of my favourite recipes from the Weasley's cookbook. She had a cookbook that was passed through generations of Weasleys and I was mesmerized by it. She let me read it, even though Fred told me that she allowed almost no one to read it. This was such a special gift and I had to thank her again later today.
Hermione got me a beautiful short dress that I couldn't wait to wear. It was greyish-blue and flowy and had some lace detailing at the shoulders. It was stunning.
"The first time I haven't chosen a book as a gift", she joked.
Ginny got me a gorgeous charm bracelet and a matching hairpin. It was something I absolutely loved and it warmed my heart to know that even though we had just become close friends, she knew me so well already.
Ron got me a bunch of sweets. He told me that a way to a woman's heart is through the stomach and he was quite right about that. George got me the first prototype of our newest invention: the Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs, which were fireworks beyond your wildest dreams. I wasn't sure if they were safe to use yet, because we hadn't tested them out, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Arthur had given me a new set of quills, because I had told him once that I needed a new one. It was so nice that he remembered that. Lastly, Sirius gave me a magical chess set. He told me that every witch as clever as me should be able to play chess and he promised me he would teach me how to play. I had talked to him regularly in the past month, because he always had the best stories to tell. I wasn't quite sure if all of them were true, but I didn't care. An imagination that large at his age was something to admire.
I stored all my gifts away and went looking for Molly to help her prepare lunch. I found her in the kitchen, as usual. She had just put the lasagna in the oven.
"Anything I can help you with?" I asked.
"Oh, no dear! Today you're not doing anything! It's your special day!" She said and wiped the worktop.
"I just wanted to thank you again, Molly. The gift was amazing. And thank you for taking me in the way you did. I needed a home and you've given me the best one possible." Molly put down the cloth and walked up to me. She was smiling brightly and I was sure that I saw her eyes get glassy for a second.
"Oh, dear, you're most welcome! You're like a daughter to me already. And I am the one who should be grateful! I have never seen Fred this happy before. You two are perfect for each other. I could see that from the first look you gave each other at the platform."
I pulled her into a hug and sighed. I was so lucky to have someone like her.
"Before I forget, Dumbledore will arrive shortly", Molly said.
"Dumbledore? Is he coming for me?"
"Yes, he most certainly is. You're not underage anymore, so he's giving you access to your parents' vault", she said. Right, my parents' money ...
"It'll be alright, darling. We're here for you, okay?"
I nodded. I knew they were.