Cored

Chapter 47: Falling

They went upstairs only to change into their pajamas before sleeping on the couch, knowing full well the nightmares would be worse that night. Crawley had to wake Katherine up twice, but each time he managed to do it before they got too bad. The next day, only coffee and food could pull them from the couch. Instead, they watched movies on the little screen, Nestor curled up on Katherine's shoulder.

After a while, though, they started watching their own movies. Katherine pushed her memories into Crawley's head and read his in return. She showed him the day George had taken her to the Burrow the first time, Mark throwing a beer in his face, the water fight with Arthur and Molly, and her holding her new wand. She even showed him the run up to the memory he had seen of her and George fighting, from the moment she left the Ministry to them walking out to the forest. In turn, he showed her his sorting at Illvermorny, the dorms decorated like the rainforest, him blocking what would have been the winning goal right before the snitch was caught as keeper for the Wampus Quidditch team. She particularly loved watching him beam when he found out he had been placed in the Major Investigations Department. She let him see the Christmas she had spent in the hospital with her mom, he remembered the scene in the flower shop when his mother's memory had been erased.

The fire crackled in the background as they traded the images back and forth, but Katherine kept tucking more blankets around herself.

"You really do nest, don't you Katiebird?"

"My mom always said the same thing," she said with a small smile. "I don't know how people ever sit without one."

He laughed, looking at her legs draped over him, covered in a patchwork smattering of no fewer than three blankets. "No one could sit with you and not have a blanket."

She rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the couch. Crawley was sitting upright, watching as she chewed on her cheek.

"How do you sleep like that?" she said. "You can't be comfortable."

"I've slept in way weirder places," Crawley laughed, putting his head back.

She scrunched her nose and thought while she pulled her hair up into a bun, careful not to disturb Nestor. Then, with a tilt of her head, she sent a surge of magic into the couch and stood to move the table out of the way.

"Pull the lever on the side," she said. Crawley raised an eyebrow but looked down and found what she was talking about. When he pulled on it, the couch reclined, and a footrest popped out. "That should be better," she decided with a nod before curling herself back into her blanket pile.

He just chuckled and shook his head, holding his arm out for her to settle into.

"Okay," he said, sinking into the couch, "now I want to hear about this birthday party that wasn't on your actual birthday."

Katherine pushed the memory out, letting him see the flowers and the gazebo and the cake, all of the smiling Weasley's around the table. He smiled when he watched her dance with Arthur.

"They really love you," he muttered as the memory faded.

She didn't answer, just closed her eyes and burrowed into his chest.

"Do you think you'll go back? To England?" he asked.

"We'd have to leave Idaho."

"I mean, after all this. When you're safe or we have a more long-term plan. Would you want to go back there?"

"If we get to a point where I can go freely, I could really live anywhere and just use the doors to go back and forth. I could live in Iowa but eat dinner at the Burrow every night." She paused, keeping her eyes down. "Or go to New York for pizza."