Amortentia- A George Weasley and Adrian Pucey Love Triangle

37. The Donor

Fred and I stand in front of the Burrow. He carries my suitcase; it was too heavy for me as it is basically full of half my closet. I had haphazardly thrown my things in, not really packing anything in particular.

I pause. I don't know if I can go in. I don't know how George will react; he had given me the cold shoulder at lunch the other day. Was he still upset with me? Fred had said that this would be a surprise to them all. I think he meant it as a way to calm my nerves, but it only made it worse.

He throws the door open and screams, "The favorite Weasley is home! Where is everybody? Mum? I'm starving!"

The house is quiet. The living room is empty. A pile of dirty plates sits in the sink, being washed by magic. "Where are they? It's six in the morning, they can't have gone anywhere." I say, mostly to myself.

I move to look at Mrs. Weasley's clock. Small spoons with carved names name the places where each member of the family is. Home, home, home, home. Everyone is home with the exception of Percy. He's at work already, of course he is.

"Weasley family! I'm home! Was no one worried anout me?" Fred shouts.

Suddenly, there's a response. "We're trying to sleep you dimwit!" Someone says, somewhere between a scream and a yawn.

"Come downstairs, I've got something that will wake all of you up." He shouts. He looks to me and winks, giving me a thumbs up.

"What could you possibly have brought that is so damn special." I hear. George's voice hits my ears like a slap in the face. I turn away; I shouldn't have come. "Mira?" He asks.

I turn back around and try to smile. "Hey." I say. George swallows and nods to me.

"I'm glad you're here. I've been meaning to talk to you."

•Robert POV•

I sit at my desk, triple-checking the math I had done all morning. I couldn't afford a single error. Six grams of steel, three of salt, seven of lead. The math all checks out, yet we had yielded no gold.

How am I supposed to tell Mr. Smith this? Only two weeks at the job, and I ruined an entire project. I was meant to yield six grams of gold; it didn't even need to hold any energy. I couldn't. I had just barely moved up to the actual experiments, and I had failed my first task.

With my head bowed in shame, I walk over to his office. I knock twice, and the door flies open.

"Ah Robert, my boy. Come in. How did your transfiguration go?" Mr. Smith asks. He was a kind old man, with lines near his eyes which came from years of smiling.

"Sir, I'm so sorry. I couldn't do it. I had ran my calculations thrice and I couldn't even find a problem. I can do it again, if you'd like." I say quickly.

Suddenly, the old man bursts into laughter. I feel myself get red from embarassment. I already felt bad enough, did he have to laugh in my face? "That was a test, Mr. Irfan. And I am pleased to say you passed with flying colors. We know you're great at crunching the numbers, we just wanted to see how you handled failure. You handle it by trying again. All great scientists do."

I feel elated; my failure was somehow actually a success. A success celebrated by the most important man in my department. I can't wait to tell Mira. Mira. So beautiful, so kind. Merlin, what she did to me this morning... I shouldn't think about that now, I've got to focus on work.

I realize I haven't answered my boss. "Well sir, I had quite the panic during your test." I retort, to which we both laugh.

"Robert, since you have passed and shown the Ministry an exemplary record, I have a proposition for you." He says. "Anne, can you please bring in our guest?"