Sparks Fly || A George Weasley Story

Year 4: Here and There

I sat on my bed, my potions textbook open in my lap as I tied my hair back away from my face as I read up on what it offered about Mugwort. It was very general information like that it helped you sleep, promoted lucid dreaming, and of course all the different potions it could be used in. None of this was really news to me, but I thought I'd read over it as a bit of a refresher before I looked in the rest of my books. I thought that it would be a good idea to get all of my notes together before I started on my essay. 

Mouse was curled up at the end of my bed, purring as he kneaded at the blanket, and as I looked up at him from the tattered page of my book I couldn't help but think about when I'd first brought him home. An older woman in town had a litter of kittens and I'd begged Amaryllis to let me bring one home. She'd finally given in, laughing as she rested her hand on her round stomach as Gardenia was close to being born at that point. I'd only been about five at the time, but I still remember when I saw him. 

He was one of the biggest kittens, all fluffy grey fur and yellow eyes that peered out at me as he licked his little pink nose. I'd fallen in love with him in that moment and I didn't even need to look at the rest of them. I'd scooped him up and carried him home that afternoon, sharing the milk from my cereal with him when Amaryllis wasn't looking. 

He was about nine now and ten pounds heavier than he had been, but I still loved him just as much as I had that day, and I hoped that he loved me too. I reached out and ran my finger along his nose bridge and scratched behind his ears while Butterscotch chirped from his cage.

"Oh, be quiet you overstuffed pigeon," I laughed, sitting aside my textbook and getting out of bed so that I could drop a few treats into his cage. He hated being in there, but I couldn't let him out at night because he had a tendency to open the window and leave. 

I'd thought that Amaryllis was going to kill me the first time it happened.

And the second.

And the third... 

I am not the most watchful owl parent. 

I heard the thud of Mouse jumping off the bed and soon enough he was brushing up against my leg and chattering at me. I kneeled down, my knees cracking as I did so, and I kissed him on the forehead. He slammed his head into my mouth as he demanded another. Of course, I gave him the kiss, right on his pink nose and he licked my nose in return. 

"Why thank you, kind sir," I laughed, "Are you hungry?"

He meowed right in my face, his breath smelling very strongly of fish, before slamming his face into my nose and meowing again. 

"I should have known, when are you not hungry," I shook my head, heading for the door. 

Before I could open it though, it was thrown open and I had to jump back to avoid having it hit me. Mouse ran out the door, already on his way to the food bowl at the mention of the word hungry. I looked around the door to see Amaryllis peeking into my room and Gardenia peeking out the bathroom with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth while she tried to listen in on what her mum might have to tell me. 

"Am I interrupting something," She asked, looking at all of the books and parchment laid around on my bed. 

"No, mum. Do you need something?" I asked, hoping that she didn't want me to help clean or something. I just got back home, and I was trying to relax before I went to sleep. 

"Yeah, can I come in?" She asked, a smile spreading across her face with one hand tucked behind her back. 

"Yeah, sure," I shrugged, motioning for her to take a seat on the bed.