Learn to Love Again | George Weasley

24. Hard to Breathe

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trigger warning:
alcohol use as a coping mechanism
and description of a panic attack
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May 2, 1999

It was a pleasantly warm May morning, though George wouldn't have known that thanks to his habit of sleeping in well past the time any responsible adult would these days.

The dark purple drapes on his window were drawn closed, making his room pitch black despite the bright and beautiful late spring weather London had been having. It must have been some sort of record for the least amount of rain in the last ten years, but again, George wouldn't know that.

It was some time between three or four in the morning when George finally passed out, whether it was from his alcohol consumption or his utter exhaustion was up for debate. But after only a few restless hours of sleep, a bright blue light suddenly burst into George's room causing him to sit bolt upright in bed.

His head was pounding from the second he opened his eyes, and he had a hard time adjusting to the light as he squinted at the patronus floating in the center of his bedroom.

"Fleur has gone into labor, we're on our way to St. Mungo's now!" Bill's excited voice filled the dark room.

George suddenly got a sinking feeling of dread in his stomach. He really did not want to sit in a waiting room at the hospital for hours surrounded by his family, especially when he hadn't spoken to many of them since his birthday. They would all be giddy and excitedly waiting for his niece or nephew to be born and he was not in the mood for it.

But he knew a similar patronus would be arriving at Verity's flat at any moment to wake up Charlie as well. As much as George wanted to resist, he knew he would end up being dragged there kicking and screaming by his older brother. Family always came first to Charlie, even though it annoyed George to no end.

The horrible headache he woke up with wouldn't be subsiding anytime soon, George knew that. Over time he thought his body would get used to his hangovers, as if his brain would somehow adjust to his constant state of drunkenness, but that was never the case. He always felt like shit then next day, but would keep drinking anyway. Begrudgingly, he decided to kick the quilt off his body and trudge his way to the bathroom across the hall despite the overwhelming feeling of his skull was being crushed.

As always, he made sure to avoid his reflection on his way to turn on the shower to allow the water to warm up. He left the mirror uncovered mostly for Charlie's sake, but even after all this time any glance at himself was still too much to handle emotionally, so he did his best to keep avoiding it. George hopped in the shower where he had turned the water way too hot in an attempt to wash away his hangover in vain.

After getting dressed in the only clean t-shirt and pair of jeans he could find, he still didn't feel any better than he had when he woke up, if anything he felt slightly worse. As he brushed his damp hair away from his eyes, he wondered if he should just flee the country instead of facing his family. Starting a new life with a new identity would probably be easier than dealing with several Weasleys who were both happy for Bill and Fleur as well as acting concerned for George at the same time.

In the end he decided it would be best to just bite the bullet and make his way to the hospital before anyone in the family decided to hunt him down.

-

When he arrived in the waiting room of the maternity ward at St. Mungo's, he was surprised to see that only his parents and Eloise were there. He knew Eloise had most likely come at the same time as Bill and Fleur, but he expected at least one of his siblings to be there already and began feeling slightly annoyed that he rushed down here for nothing.