Lover ; George Weasley

Twenty-six

I dropped Elsie off at school, and Leah off with my mum, then I went to work. I tried to act like everything was fine – I didn't like having my colleagues knowing about everything that was happening in my life.

Malcolm was waiting for me when I got to my office. He was leaning against the wall next to my door, holding his jacket in his hand. He was staring into the air. He looked drained from energy, as if he hadn't slept for a hundred years. His eyes were bloodshot, face red.

"What're you doing here?"

His eyes landed on me and immediately he straightened up, pushing himself away from the wall. He didn't say anything at first, simply looked at me with his hurting eyes as I unlocked the door to my office.

"I went to the ministry." he said quietly, causing me to freeze for a moment before I looked up at him. He was now leaning his shoulder against the wall, looking down at me. "I talked to Shacklebolt."

"You don't talk to Shacklebolt." I frowned. "Y-You talk to–"

"He walked past just as I was pressing charges." he cut me off. "He caught sense of how serious it was and I talked to him instead."

I pushed open the door, gesturing for him to follow me inside. I closed the door behind us before I walked around my desk, placing my bag on it while I sat down in my chair.

Malcom stayed standing, holding tightly onto his jacket.

"I'm so sorry, Dahlia." he teared up and instantly raised a hand, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and his index finger. "I didn't know he was doing that..."

I looked down at the desk.

"It's my fault. I always made him watch them so I could drink. He ended up spending more time with them than I did. I used alcohol and I used sex and I'd rather be out than be home with my daughters. I'm sorry."

He walked closer and took a seat in the chair in front of my desk.

"I don't know where Jeremy is. No ones seen him after he fled the house." he said. "I should've killed him. Don't fucking care that he's my brother."

I kept looking at my desk until a pile of papers was thrown in front of me. I looked at Malcolm whose eyes flicked between the papers and my own eyes.

Then I picked up the pile and looked at them.

"I signed the papers." he said. "You're getting your divorce."

I looked at him again, completely shocked. I hadn't expected him to actually sign them. Not when he had put up such a struggle about it.

I scrolled through the pages to find his signature, but my eyes caught a familiar box which used to be unchecked, but now it was checked.

"You're giving me full custody?"

I looked at him again to see him nod.

"Plus, spouse maintenance."

"But... you said–"

"I know what I said." he sighed. "But you need to be able to provide for them. You're getting both child support and spouse maintenance."

He stood up, pushing the chair back while he threw on his jacket.

"What's the catch?" I asked, causing him to look at me. "This isn't you... you want what you want and you don't give it up."

He brushed his fingers through his hair.

"I still want to see them." he said. "You can have them most of the time. You're more fit at making decisions for and about them. You're better at protecting them. I just want to see them every other weekend."