Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

10. Empty Nest

September 1998

Ginny left for her final year at Hogwarts on Tuesday morning and Molly had been dreading it for the last sixteen years. From the day her and Arthur first took Bill to Platform 9 ¾ she knew one day all of her children would be finished with school and blazing their own trails in life as adults, not needing her help for every little thing anymore.

But expecting the inevitable never made it any easier. Letting her youngest child cross through the platform between 9 and 10 for the final time was quite emotional for her, but with Fred's loss it only hit her harder.

Matters weren't helped by the fact that Ginny had already practically had one foot out the door as she was planning on moving in with Harry immediately upon finishing school. Many tears were shed as Ginny boarded the train for the final time. Arthur did his best to comfort his wife, reminding her that their children would never truly leave them, no matter how far they went. Even Fred was still with them in their hearts.

With Molly's increasing sense of uselessness in her empty home, she decided she wanted to start having as many family dinners as possible. It was difficult to work around everyone's differing schedules, but most of the Weasley children were more than willing to come to the Burrow at least once or twice a month.

However, George wasn't really interested. If it wasn't for his desire to make his mother happy he'd be content only returning to his childhood home for the holidays. But even if he really wanted to avoid it, living with Charlie meant he would never be able to.

Ever since moving back from Romania, Charlie was enthusiastic about any excuse to spend more time with his family. It was a nice sentiment and Molly was thrilled that her second oldest always seemed keen to see her, but the whole thing annoyed George who would much rather keep to himself.

Due to Charlie's excitement, he and George were the first to arrive at the Burrow that evening. They were so early their father hadn't even returned home from work yet. The brothers had left Verity in charge of closing the store when Charlie's constant checking of the time began to annoy George.

Upon entering the home, the boys were greeted by the delicious smell of their mother's cooking. If there was one thing George missed about living at the Burrow, it was having a home cooked meal every night. Charlie and George were both quite hopeless in the kitchen, they usually ended up eating noodles or sandwiches for most of their meals.

Though Charlie had just recently mastered making cheese toasties and was quite proud of their expanding rolodex of meals, nothing they ever made came close to what their mother could whip up.

"Oh, hello dears! I wasn't expecting you for another half hour." Molly said with a tone of excitement in her voice as they entered the kitchen.

"Charlie just couldn't wait to get home to his mummy, right?" George said sarcastically.

Molly whacked George's arm lightly with the wooden spoon she was holding in response to his comment before pulling them both into a tight hug. Despite the boys towering over their mother, she gave the most suffocating hugs. Looks were deceiving when it came to Molly, she was quite strong for her stature

"There's no shame in a man loving his mother, George." Charlie chuckled, wrapping an arm around his mother.

"I do love mum, I just don't count down the seconds until the next time I can come home - no offense mum."

Molly released the boys from her grasp and rested her hand on the side of George's face, "And for that you get to help me peel potatoes."

George sighed and reached around to his back pocket for his wand when Molly raised a hand to stop him, "No dear, no magic." she said with an innocent smile.