Just Like Magic (George Weasley)

Twenty-One.

School with George wasn't fun. It felt like the life was dragged out of Hogwarts, and I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Joshua felt that way, too. George's birthday passed about a week after he left and I didn't send him so much of a note saying Happy Birthday. I had nothing left to say to him as far as I was concerned.
   
It was the middle of April when Joshua asked me to talk to him alone, so we went for a walk around the school after dinner.
   
"Penelope," says Joshua's voice, he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. I turned on my Big Sister Mode so fast.
   
"What's up Bud?" I ask as we walk.
   
"Are you going to break up with George because he left school?"
   
"What?" I ask, a chuckle in my voice, "Absolutely not, kid. I'm just angry at him, but we're still together. Why would you think that I would do that?"
   
"Because I've been writing to him since he left, and he said you haven't written to him at all. Not even on his birthday. It made me worry. I don't want you to break up with him. He's my friend. I don't want to lose him."
   
I can feel my heart aching at his words. "Awe, Buddy, don't you worry. I was angry at him for leaving, I was. I can't even lie about that. But I still love him, so much that I know I don't want to break up with him. I didn't write to him on his birthday because I was still mad, but I'll write to him tonight, okay?"
   
"Okay," he says, nodding.
   
"I know you two are close," I say, draping my arm over his shoulders. "I know you must miss him as much as I do."
   
"I do miss him," he admits. "I love you, but he is like the older brother I never had."
   
"I know, kid, I know. And I love that you two are so close. Really, I do. George tells me all the time how much he enjoys hanging out with you. He adores you, really he does. If he and I ever broke up you don't have to worry about losing him. He'd still be there for you. I know he would. You're never going to lose him, ever, okay?"
   
"Okay," he says, his tone soft again.
   
"I love you, kid," I say, kissing the top of his head, pulling him into a half hug.
   
"I love you, too," he says, hugging me back.
   
I wrote to George that night. I told him I was sorry for how I acted, that I missed him, and that I still loved him. But I didn't hear back from him for a few days, but when I did I knew why. He sent back a very long letter. Telling me how happy he was to hear from me, that he also loved me too and how much he missed me. He also told me what he and Fred have been up to at their shop. It was nice to hear from him. It made my heart full, but it also made me sad too because I missed him so much.
   
I felt like such a bitch for going off on him, but I also don't regret it. But I will admit I could have found a better way to express to him how I was feeling at that moment. Getting angry at George didn't solve anything.
   
No one was more happy about this than Joshua. He was beyond happy, and I was glad about that. I didn't like that he was worried about my relationship for me. It was sweet of him to worry, but he's twelve, he doesn't need to be worried about George and I like that.
   
Fred and George had sure left their legacy at Hogwarts, that was for sure. Umbridge couldn’t figure out how to get rid of their swamp. Eventually it was just blocked off, and Filch had to assist other students around it so they could get to class.
   
Other trouble makers would set off stink bombs and someone even sent a Niffler into her office, and it destroyed her office looking for shiny things, and tried to gnaw her stubby little fingers off to get to her rings. Even Peeves was taking Fred’s last words to heart, he was terrorizing Umbridge. He would cackle loudly and blow loud raspberries after she spoke to him. He didn’t care what she said, he wasn’t going to stop. Us students loved it.
   
April and May came and went in another blur of a month. I kept busy helping Ron, Harry, and Hermione study for their O.W.L.’s and Joshua for his first year final exams next month to even notice the days turning into weeks around me. The last weekend of May, however, Hermione had convinced me to watch the Gryffindor VS Ravenclaw Quidditch game with her because it was the last game of the year. I do love Quidditch after all.
   
Watching Angelina play the last game of the season made me wonder if she missed Fred as much as I miss George. Harry and Hermione were pulled away by Hagrid during the game and when they returned they didn’t look happy at all, and they told me what happened. He took them to the forbidden forest and we met his half-giant, half brother, Gwap, who he asked them to take care of, they told me all about it when they came back.
   
Final Exams were coming up, and I was happy to get them over with. I had passed my apparition test back in April, and since I am 17 now I can finally do magic outside of school. I felt like I was finally an adult. Or I will be, in just one more year.
   
I finished my Transfiguration exam quickly, I had studied very hard for and I knew all of the material. I missed George like crazy. I missed the look in his kind, brown eyes whenever he saw me walk into the room, and I miss the sweet smile that accompanied those eyes. I miss the sound of his super contagious laugh. I miss his wacky personality that always kept me on my toes. I just miss him, and I hope the joke shop is doing well for him and Fred. That’s what’s been the hardest. I don’t know how business is doing for them, so I don’t know if I should actually be worried about him or if I shouldn’t.
   
Even though they said that he would, I convinced him not to write to me anymore. Umbridge is watching the mail, and I know she'd just love it if I received a letter from Fred and George after what they did before they left.
   
I went up to the library after the exam and spent the rest of the night there studying, and I stayed there alone until I decided it was time for bed. The next morning Harry was alone and he looked so sad at breakfast, I watched as he ate, he ate slowly, and it took him a while to finish. When he did he got up and walked over to me, and he asked to talk to me alone. We went for a walk. We made it all the way to the Black Lake when he started talking finally.
   
He told me everything that happened last night. How he and a few others went to the Department of Mysteries, because Voldemort made him think he had kidnapped my father. When I asked why they didn't have me come, too, he said it was because they needed to leave quickly and they didn't have time to look for me, otherwise they would have.
   
He also mentioned that Bellatrix Lestrange had struck my father and he fell through a veil and died. My ears started ringing. I couldn't hear anything else that he said after he said that my father was dead. That explained why he looked so sad this morning.
   
Once Harry stopped talking, I just stared at him. "H-he's dead?"
   
"Yes," he says, nodding, "I'm sorry, Penelope. He's gone."
   
"N-no," I say, quickly, my voice was shaking. "He can't be."
   
"I'm sorry," he says again. I can tell he's on the verge of breaking as well.
   
"I hardly knew him," I say, and I am in tears now. "We got one Summer together. This isn't fair."
   
"I know, it's not fair for either of us. But I'm here if you need to talk."
   
"Thank you," I say as I wipe my eyes.
   
We went up to the Hospital Wing then, to visit with the others. Ginny broke her ankle, Neville got kicked in the mouth and got a busted lip, Ron's mind went loopy from one of the rooms, and Hermione got concussion from falling and hitting her head. The only ones who didn't get hurt were Harry and Luna Lovegood.
   
What they had done last night was the big news front page of the Daily Prophet. I hadn't read it yet. Luna sat by Hermione’s bed as she read us the article in the Daily Prophet.
   
“They were very complimentary about you and Dumbledore in the article, Harry,” said Hermione as she finished reading it. “I notice they didn’t mention the fact that it was them doing all the ridiculing and slandering though. Well, anyways, what’s going on in school, you guys?” She asked, looking at Harry, Luna, and I.
   
“Well, Flitwick was able to get rid of Fred and George’s swamp,” says Harry, “He did it in about three seconds, but he left a little bit underneath a window roped off. It’s kind of like a little monument to them.”
   
“Everything seems to have settled right back down again,” says Luna not looking up from her magazine.
   
“It looks like Firenze and Trelawney are both going to share the Divination duties,” says Harry, and shrugs, “The subject is still a waste of time if you ask me.”
   
“How can you say that when we just discovered that there are actual prophecies out there?” Asks Hermione.
   
“Did you ever find out what the Prophecy even said?” Ron asks, looking at Harry.
   
“No, it got too far away for me to hear it,” he says, and I don’t think he’s telling the truth, either, judging from his reaction to that question. “Yeah well, Voldemort never got to hear what was on it either, so I guess that’s a plus."
   
Harry left soon after that to visit Hagrid, because he had just gotten back as well, I left to get some lunch around midday, even though I wasn't hungry.
   
"Even though You-Know-Who is back, It sounds like the world just got that much safer," I heard Pansy Parkinson say during lunch, "did you hear Sirius Black is dead?"
   
My heart starts pounding in my chest.
   
"Is he really?" A girl whose name I don't know asked.
   
"Yeah. They finally got him," says Pansy, "It's about time."
   
Tears were threatening my eyes again. This was worse than all the other times my dad was mentioned in the paper. Now I have to pretend that I'm happy that he's dead, or that it has no effect on me at all. It hurt worse than anything I have ever felt before.
   
I tried my best to drown out the conversations but it was hard. That night I finally broke down and I told Nadine everything. Now that my dad is dead, it's not such a big secret anymore. She was surprised I didn't tell her sooner, but she understood why I didn't.
   
The last one to leave the hospital wing was Hermione, she left three days before the end of term, and we got to eat the final feast together the night before we left. When we crossed over between platforms 9  and 10, we were met by some people we never expected to see.
   
There was Mad-Eye, looking quite sinister with his bowler hat pulled down to cover his magical eye. Tonks stood just behind him, bright bubblegum pink hair gleaming in the sunlight, wearing a heavily patched pair of jeans, with a bright purple t-shirt. Next to her was Lupin and then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were next to them. And then there was a real surprise, Fred and George, who were both wearing brand-new jackets in some lurid green scaly material.
   
Joshua ran to George and the two of them hugged tight. It made me smile. I hugged Lupin first, and I told him I was sorry to hear about what happened to my dad, and he said the same for me, too. "At least we still have each other, right?"
   
"Of course," he says, and he gives me a good squeeze.
   
"I love you," I say, not even thinking about it.
   
"I love you, too, kid," he says and he kisses the top of my head and we hug for another moment before he lets me go.
   
I turned and saw George was looking in my direction, smiling. I started to tear up at the sight of him. I haven't seen him in months, and seeing him soon after losing my father like this is making me emotional. I am crying as I reach him.
   
He holds me tight and let's me cry, "There, there, love. Let it out, it's alright," he says softly, one of his large hands patting my hair. "I'm right here."
   
I squeeze him tight, wanting to get somehow closer to him, if that was even possible. He let me cry as long as I needed to. When I stopped I looked up at George, and he wiped the tears off of my face with a smile on his. My hands cup his face and I pull him down into our first kiss in months. He ends up picking me up off my feet, holding me in the air as we kissed.
   
When I pulled back from his lips, I placed my hand onto his face with a smile on mine and I said, "I missed you."
   
"I missed you, too," he says, putting back onto the ground. I looked over at Fred, and I started to get emotional again. Not so much that I started crying, but my heart just felt so full. I missed Fred about just as much as I missed George.
   
"Freddie," I say and I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tight. I could tell he wasn't expecting me to hug him, since I'm not usually a hugger unless it's someone like George, or Remus, but right now I just wanted to hug Fred. So I did.
   
"Awe," says Fred as he hugs me back, "I missed you too, Penelope."

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Here's part 21!

I decided against her going to the Department of Mysteries with them because it would have been too sad for me.

This story has alreadn been sad enough I didn't want to add more.

-Emily Winchester.