Just Like Magic (George Weasley)

Fifteen.

About a week after Harry arrived he had his hearing. He was gone when us kids woke up. He had left with Mr. Weasley early this morning to the Ministry early for Harry's hearing to see if he was going to be expelled from Hogwarts. I kept myself busy with cleaning all day.
   
When they got back, we all rushed Harry. He wasn't going to be expelled, and cleared of all charges. Most of the people agreed it was nothing more than a life threatening situation. I hugged him so tight, so proud of him and so happy for him. Fred, George, Ginny, and I started dancing in a circle around him chanting,"He got off! He got off! He got off!" This annoyed Mrs. Weasley so much, she yelled at them to stop, but we didn't.
   
Everyone was so happy for Harry, but Sirius seemed to get kind of cold. Probably because Harry had asked him that if he did get expelled if he could stay here with Sirius, and even though Sirius didn't tell Harry yes, we think that he liked that idea and even got used to it. I felt bad for Sirius for this, but also I didn't. Did he really think he and Harry were going to live together as outcasts or something? We all knew it was self defense and Harry wasn't really going to get expelled.
   
Over the next few days, Harry was actually excited to get out of here and get back to Hogwarts. Our school letters came a few days after Harry's hearing. A fourth year letter for Ginny, seventh year letters for the twins,  fifth year letters for Ron, Harry, and Hermione, a sixth year letter for me.
   
Ron dropped off our letters to us girls and then went to his and Harry's room. Hermione ripped her letter open at once and read it to herself.
   
“Merlin’s Beard,” She says, in total shock.
   
“What?” I ask, looking away from my letter for the first time. She puts her hand into the envelope and she takes the badge out and shows us her new Prefects badge. “Oh!” I exclaimed excitedly again, “How exciting! Congratulations!'' She hugs me tightly and I hug her back.
   
“Come on, let’s go see the boys,” Hermione says taking my hand and leading me out the door. “I’m sure Harry made Prefect as well, I mean he has to have made Prefect. It doesn’t make sense for anyone else in our house to be Prefect when Harry Potter is there.” She banged into the boys room and walked right up to them. The four boys were standing around looking at the letters. “Did you?” she asks reaching Harry, “Did you get-” She spots the badge in Harry’s hand and starts jumping again. “I knew it! Me too, Harry!!
   
“No you got it all wrong,” Said Harry, “It’s Ron’s, not mine.”
   
“It – what?” she asks, sounding confused.
   
“Ron’s Prefect, not me,” Harry tells her once more.
   
“Ron?” said Hermione, her jaw dropping. “But…are you sure? I mean –”
   
She turned red as Ron looked around at her with a defiant expression on his face. “It’s my name on the letter.”
   
“I…” said Hermione, looking thoroughly bewildered, “I…Well…Wow! Well done, Ron, that’s really–”
   
“Unexpected,” Said George nodding.
   
“No,” said Hermione, blushing harder than ever, “no, it’s not. Ron’s done loads of…he’s really…”
   
This conversation is getting so awkward now. It only got more awkward when Mrs. Weasley came into the room, and twins took it upon themselves to share the news that Ron had made Prefect and not Harry. She thought this was the most wonderful thing. She was so proud of her son, even told him that she'd get him a gift, whatever he wanted. He asked for a new broom.
   
Mrs. Weasley threw an impromptu party for the new Prefects where everyone else here that was a Prefect in their time at Hogwarts, like Bill and Lupin, shared stories about how great it was. Tonks made Harry feel better by saying she was never a Prefect, because she lacked the ability to control herself.  This whole Prefect thing seemed to be bothering Harry more than he was letting people think it was. I guess he really thought he would be a Prefect this year.
   
Fred and George were actually kind of rude to their brother, making fun of him every chance they got. Usually I don't mind them teasing Ron, because usually he deserves it, but this time Ron hadn't done anything to deserve it. I didn't like it.
   
I brought this up when I heard them making fun of Ron yet again at the party. "Why can't you be happy for him?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
   
George just smiles at me, "Oh, Penelope, can't you see that we are happy for him, and he knows that we are. He knows we're not being serious."
   
"Yeah," said Fred, "him being made Prefect was the best choice for George and I. Now we don't have to worry about detentions."
   
I shook my head at them, and I rolled my eyes. "You two are something else. I swear."
   
"Yeah," says George, nodding in agreement. "We are."
   
"But you love us anyway," says Fred, smirking.
   
I rolled my eyes at them again, but I couldn’t hide my smile. I did love them. I really did. They were certainly unlikely anyone else I ever met, and I loved them for it, honestly. We didn't exactly know the kind of environment that we were going into at Hogwarts this year. We weren't nervous to go back to school but the unknown wasn't very comforting.
   
That night Mad-Eye Moody gave Harry a photo of the original Order of the Phoenix. Nearly everyone in the photo was now dead except for a few people, including his parents. Harry didn’t like having this photo, because Mad-Eye went through it and told him how they all died. He thought that it was quite disturbing.
   
About a week later, I was called into the kitchen by my dad. I came running down. I saw my little brother and his dad were here. I was surprised to see them. Lupin was with them, and I assumed he was the one who brought them here.
   
"Joshua," I said with a sigh and I ran to him and pulled him into a long, big hug. "What are you doing here kid?"
   
"He's here because of this," says Lupin, and he hands me a letter, a Hogwarts letter with my brother's name on it, saying he'd been accepted.
   
"What is this?" I ask even though I know exactly what it is. "How is this possible? I got my magic from my dad, not mum. How can he be a wizard, too?"
   
"He got it from me," my ex-stepdad says, sounding sheepish. "I am a squib. My and my siblings all are."
   
"How come you never said anything?" I ask, looking at him.
   
"Because my family were killed by Death Eaters during the first war. So you can imagine how I felt knowing you were the daughter of Sirius Black. I thought it was better that you didn't know, in case Sirius decided to come after you for whatever reason. Now I know that I was wrong. I'm sorry that I never said anything. Joshua has never shown any signs of having magical ability. I thought he was going to be like me."
   
"What house were your family in at Hogwarts?" I ask, suddenly curious.
   
"We had some in all of the Houses, except for Slytherin, but I believe they were mostly in Gryffindor."
   
"Looks like my mum had a type then," I joke, my dad chuckled at it.
   
"Yes, it seems she did," my stepdad jokes back. "Well, Remus has just taken us to Diagon Alley, gotten him all of his things. He will be staying here where he's safe until he goes to school. I assume you will take good care of him."
   
"Of course I will," I assure him, nodding. He won't leave my side until we get there. I promise."
   
"Thank you," he nods, smiling a bit. "See you soon, Buddy. I can't wait to hear all about your time at school. You write to me as much as you want."
   
"I will," Joshua assures his dad and then he leaves, leaving his son and only child behind with us.
   
"Come on, Joshua. I'll show you around," I tell him, taking his hand and leading him to the stairs.
   
"So this is where you've been all summer?" He asks as we start up the stairs.
   
"Yes," I say, nodding, "I've been here, with my dad."
   
We reached the bedroom where I stayed with the other girls. "Who is this?" Hermione asked as we entered the room. Ron and Harry were here too.
   
"This is my little brother Joshua. He's just gotten his Hogwarts letter. His dad also has magic in his family too."
   
"Oh how exciting!" Hermione exclaims, "You’re going to love Hogwarts, Joshua, it's the best."
   
She was a bit much for my brother, I could tell when his eyes widened.
   
"Excuse him, he's a bit shy," I explain. "Joshua, this is Hermione, if you make it into Gryffindor she will be one of your Prefects, Ron over there is the other one, too. And I know you know Harry already. And this is Ron's sister, Ginny."
   
"Hello," he says softly.
   
"Come on, let's introduce you to Fred and George, you'll love them. They're great," I take his hand again leading him out of the room. We headed upstairs where the twins were working on their newest joke shop product.
   
I knocked on the door before I opened it. "Guys, say hello to my little brother, this is Joshua. This is Fred and George, they're also in Gryffindor House. I know they're identical but you'll be able to tell them apart soon enough. George is also my boyfriend."
   
George perks up, smiling wide. "Hi there, Joshua. I'm George, this is Fred. Your sister had told us so much about you."
   
"Hi," says Joshua, shyly.
   
I take over, because I know Joshua isn't going to say anymore. "Joshua just got his Hogwarts letter. His dad is a squib. Who knew."
   
"Oh wow," says George, who was still smiling. "That's exciting."
   
"Very exciting," I agree, "I can't wait to show him around."
   
"You're a lucky kid, Joshua," says George, who was smiling again, "You've got an amazing big sister."

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Here's part 15!

I felt bad that she wasn't with her brother a lot. I don't know why but I just did.

So I thought of a way they could be together more in the story.

-Emily Winchester.