Those Left Behind

Fourteen

Olivia sat on the couch wrapped in an old woven blanket, her eyes glued to the family clock. Since returning to The Burrow she had refused to move from her spot, despite Fleur's many attempts to convince her otherwise. The hands on the clock had remained pointed at SCHOOL, except for the few moments where Ginny and Molly's hands had switched to MORTAL PERIL, before snapping right back.  As long as none of the other hands fell to the floor, she knew that they were alive.

Fleur kept coming into the room periodically to bring her something to eat and drink, or to check the position of Bill's hand on the clock. Olivia reached over and grabbed her glass of water off the table, taking a small sip. When she went to put it back down, she lost her grip and it fell to the floor sending water and glass flying in all directions. The loud noise caused a frantic Fleur to come running.

"What happened?", she gasped, looking at the mess and then up at the clock.

"It just slipped. I'll clean it.", Olivia murmured climbing to her feet.

"No, sit back down. You need to rest.", Fleur insisted pulling out her wand. "Purifico.", as she uttered the spell the glass and water collected into a pile, before floating towards the rubbish bin in the kitchen. "I made a promise to take care of you and the babies, now lay down."

Olivia let out a huff, voicing her reluctance before following Fleur's order. She put her head on one of the throw pillows and then adjusted the blanket around herself. Fleur crouched down beside her and gently pet down her hair, humming a lullaby that Olivia didn't recognize. Slowly, her eyelids grew heavy and the world faded to black. The darkness slowly turned into what seemed like a dream but it was more like reliving a memory.

Olivia stood in the corridor outside The Room of Requirement, while members of Dumbledore's Army arrived one by one, walking past her and straight into the room. On the nearby wall, Fred leaned with his back against it, not saying a word. Although they were both waiting for George to arrive, they remained separate, unsure of how to be around each other when George wasn't there.

George and Olivia had only been seeing each other for a couple of months and Fred had been trying to keep his distance, but as Christmas break approached Olivia knew that would have to change, considering that George had invited her back to The Burrow. She took a deep breath before joining him against the wall, hoping that he would initiate the conversation from there.

"Waiting for George?", she asked, clearing her throat loudly. She cringed at her own question, knowing that the answer was obvious. Fred gave her a small grin and nodded. "Do you know what's taking him so long?", she whispered, determined to keep the conversation alive. 

"Isn't that something you should know? Considering how much time you spend together?", he mumbled, turning his whole body to face her.

"Is that a tone of jealousy that I detect?", she teased, tilting her head to the side.

"Jealousy? Definitely not.", he scoffed, taken back by her sudden boldness. "Perhaps just a bit of brotherly concern is all.", he added, narrowing his gaze.

"Concern? What for?"

"Look, if you tell anyone that we had this conversation, I'll deny it!  It's just that, George feels things deeper than most people do. And it may not seem like it, but he's fragile, and I don't want to see him get hurt. He's crazy about you and I know that if you wanted to, you could fucking destroy him.", he spit out, causing Olivia to recoil at the harshness of his words.

"Hurting George is the last thing that I want to do.", she tried to assure him, but he responded by crossing his arms stubbornly.

"That sounds sweet and all, but how can I trust you? I know nothing about you.", he pointed out, motioning towards her.