I'll Catch You (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Reconciliation

When I woke up, I was alone. It was probably about seven in the morning, time to get up for class, and Laura wasn't screaming in my ear and telling me to wake up.

Something was wrong. A memory tugged at my brain, straining for me to remember something of the utmost importance.


Did I really say those things to Kelly, Laura and Hermione? What had gotten into me? Was I a dunce? No I was just a bitch, they were right about me. And I was selfish too, especially when it came to George. Shit, shit, double shit.


"Nice move" Pavarti walked into the room, her long braid swinging down her back and stopping at her arse. "Really, I didn't think you had it in you."


"Shut the hell up Pavarti." I jumped up and changed quickly into my uniform. I could fix this. I just had to apologize and explain what happened, even though I wasn't so sure what happened myself. 


"Think what you want, but when two of your roommates decide not to sleep in the same room as you, I think the damage is permanent." She grabbed her bag and stalked out of the room, looking down her nose at me. 


Kelly and Laura had to be in the Great Hall, stuffing their faces like usual. I would meet them down there and say I'm sorry, then go find George and try and patch things up. Sound's easy enough I guess. 


Why would I say such horrid things to the people that I love! They should know that I don't actually feel that way about them because Kelly is not a slag, Laura is not a prude and Hermione isn't a HUGE snob. More like a tiny snob that has her moderate moments. I screwed up, time for me to pick up the pieces.


Without putting on makeup and simply running a brush through my hair, I ran out of the door and down the steps. I could get there in time to make everything better.... I hope they didn't hate me by now-


"Ooof" I fell to the floor and landed on my arse but also somehow managing to smack my elbow on the floor with a thud. I looked up and was staring at George, just the boy I wanted to see. Well maybe I could fix things with him first. He held out a hand to pick me up off the floor but didn't look at me, staring down at his socked feet instead.


"George! I was looking for you... well I'm looking for a lot of people but you are one of them!" Merlin, I was rambling. Someone stop me right now before I had to stick my foot in my mouth. He slid his eyes over to my face but didn't show any recognition of me. "I came to say that I am sorry for yesterday. Ginny explain everything to me and besides... you should be able to do whatever you what with whoever you want because we aren't dating anymore." My voice had gone high pitched as I wiped off my skirt.


"What are you trying to say, Acelynne?" he sounded tired, his usually pale complexion was now betrayed by dark rings that formed around his eyes, which were blood-shot. I took a deep breath, trying to muster up everything thing that I had to say to him.


"I never got over you" I finally spit out at him. I expected a look of joy from him, because according to Ginny he felt the exact same way. Instead he shook his head and rocked back and forth on heels.


"Me neither" he sighed but darted his gaze around the room as if he was following a fly that had gotten trapped inside. "But this isn't going to happen. Clearly there's something weird going on with you. You never would have said such horrible things to your best friends."


My heart deflated and sunk to the bottom of my stomach like a rock. He didn't want to want me. They told him everything thing that I had said and he changed his mind. Maybe he was right, I had changed. What the hell was wrong with me?


I was going crazy. Hearing voices in my head, sudden mood swings, manipulating and using people to make myself feel better... I actually thought that I like Ramsey but maybe I tricked myself into it. 


"Besides, why would we get back together when we haven't even addressed why we broke up in the first place?" I shook my head and backed away from him. His eyes were a steely kind of cold that pierced my already popped heart. 

"You have to believe me when I tell you, that I literally can't tell you, and I'm so sorry. I think I'm going crazy. My friends hate me... YOU HATE ME... I just want everything to be right again." He looked at me with pitied eyes and stepped in as if he was going to give me a hug, but I jumped out of his reach.


"..... you think I hate you?" his voice was just a whisper as he took another step towards me, his head cocked to the side.


"Well... yeah. Why shouldn't you hate me? It's my fault we broke up! I rebounded with Ramsey, and was absolutely horrible to my friends." My hands flew up to my hair, pulling on the roots roughly with shaking fists. I turned so I was leaning into the wall, my back to George.


"Everyone should hate me." I slammed the side of my fist into the wall and wiped a tear from my cheek.


"Acelynne you are a lot of things. Clumsy, hard headed, feisty-"


"Well now that we have cleared up the painfully obvious" Couldn't he just go away and leave me here to grieve over the best thing that I ever had? I didn't need him to tell me how horrible I was. 


"But you are also caring and funny and beautiful. Nobody hates you" he spun me around and held me by my trembling shoulders. "I could never, ever in a million years hate you."


"But I couldn't tell you because of that stupid spell he put on me" I could barely hear my own voice as I watched Georges eyes grow wide. I wasn't really focusing on the words coming out of my mouth, it didn't really matter now.


"Who?"


"Dumbledore, he put a spell on me so I couldn't say anything about my dad. He was spying on the Death Eaters and is in hiding now because they found him out. That's why I couldn't go to Hogsmead." Wait what? Did I really just say that out loud? No it's not possible...


"Wait, okay start over, slower and from the beginning."

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"I'm sorry" I was kneeling on the ground quite dramatically as Kelly, Laura and Hermione sat on my bed with impatient looks on their faces. The silence had been awkward when I invited them to this meeting and obviously I was trying to break it with my unnecessary theatrical skills. "Could you ever think about forgiving me?"


"Really Ace, I don't think that you being on the ground is necessary" Hermione chastised as she held out a hand for me to get up, which I refused. At least she used my pet-name, which was a start.


"I'm not getting off of the ground until you FORGIVE ME!" I dropped onto my hands and crawled towards them. "I don't know what happened... I have a few possibilities though. Would you like to hear them?" They all rolled their eyes at me but nodded.


"One, I have gone completely mad, bonkers, around the bend. In which case you may admit me into St. Mungo's at once. Two, I ate some bad trifle at dinner and it effected me in such a horrendous way that I took it out on you guys. Three, I was momentarily possessed by Moaning Myrtle who had sensed my despair from the other side of the castle. Four, I have a severe case of dragon pox from which I will never recover from. And finally, I was overwhelmed with emotions due to a certain ginger and was completely out of my head. I know you guys may hate me and you have all the right to do so but you should know that I didn't mean any of it because I love you more than chocolate pancakes." I collapsed onto my back on the hard floor and closed my eyes, waiting for the rejection to come.


"Of course we forgive you!" Kelly was the first one to break. "I think we kind of over-reacted too... I mean if something like that were to happen to any of us I think we should allow them a good three hours of un-punishable bitchiness before we take anything they say seriously." I jumped from the floor and tackled them down onto the bed, resisting the urge to kiss them.


"Ace, we will forgive you but I don't think we can if you accidentally strangle us" Laura managed to croak out before I rolled over and got off of them. "Now, down to more important business..." she gave me a mischievous smile and drummed her fingers together like a muggle villain off of the telly.


"Are you and George back together?" Hermione asked, her voice just below a squeal. I stuck out my hand and flipped it side to side, causing her to raise her eyebrows at me. "What is that supposed to mean!"


"It means, kind of. We are now talking to each other again and I think I am going to go and talk to Dumbledore this afternoon to figure everything out."


"Why are you going to talk to the headmaster about your love life...? I don't thinks within him realm of responsibilities." Kelly pulled her hair back into a bun and I rolled my eyes at her.


I lowered my voice just above a whisper. "My dad's a death eater." They let out an audible gasp but I continued. "Well I thought he was but it turned out that he was working for the good guys and was really just under cover... But that's been blown. Now he's is in hiding and that's why I wasn't allowed to go to Hogsmead and stuff because Dumbledore thought they might try to get to him through me."


"Makes sense" Hermione said and Kelly and Laura glared at her, shushing noises escaping from their lips.


"Anyways, that's what George and I broke up over, because I couldn't tell him. Dumbledore put some sort of spell over me so I couldn't tell anyone but I just told George about two hours ago..." I still wasn't able to figure that part out. Why couldn't I tell George before but I told him now as easily as if I was telling him that it was twelve o'clock. Even Hermione looked slightly puzzled at this and scratched her head. Kelly and Laura shrugged and leaned over, giving me an understanding hug.


"Oh Ace, I feel so bad now! Going all of these months without having anyone to talk to about all of this craziness must have been hell!" They squeezed until I felt as if my eyes were about to be popped out of my head and they let go.


My friends seemed to form a protective circle around me as we sat there in my room in another spout of silence. Laura had put a hand on my back and was running her knuckles over my shoulders in a comforting way. Kelly was braiding my hair, stroking it like a mother would do on one of those muggle telly shows. Hermione was sitting by my feet with a hand on my ankle, starring absentmindedly out the window. I could feel tears prickling at my eyes, for once not in sadness but in complete joy.


Life wasn't perfect but things were looking up.



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Dumbledore's office matched his personality perfectly. It was complex but not overwhelming, the little gizmos twirling around in their glass boxes hypnotically. A beautiful Phoenix was sitting on its perch, gazing around the room with little interest and turning its deep eyes to George and I every once in a while.


"I needed to ask you-" Dumbledore nodded and cut me off, being the scatterbrained man he was.


"I find it is much better to let out ones feelings instead of keeping them all pent up inside. Without openness, chaos ensues" he stroked his beard and pushed his glasses up his profusely crooked nose. Peering up at me over the rims, I continued on.


"Why can I now talk about my dad, why not before? Did the spell wear off?" He chuckled a tiny bit and popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth.


"The way that the spell works Ms. Connors, is that you must be one hundred percent sure of the person you are going to tell. If you self doubt for only a second then you are unable to say a word. So it appears that you must have found some people that you truly trust." To my surprise, George reached over and grabbed my shaking hand from under the table.


"Before we discuss this matter any further, Arthur and Molly Weasley are about to arrive very shortly. They also must be involved in this conversation."


With that comment, the door popped open only to reveal a stocky, red faced man and a stout woman, both gingers who were obviously George's parents. "Albus!" Molly said as she plopped herself onto one of the chairs that he had summoned up for the couple. "What have the boys done now?" she asked, casting a glance at her son.


"I assure you Molly, the boys have done nothing as of late...to my knowledge" George went red and I realised he had yet to drop my hand. "This is a matter pertaining to the Order." The Weasley's faces dropped but they didn't interrupt the man behind the desk.


"As you both know, Mr. Connors was being used as a spy for us so we could gain some insight to the remaining death-eaters affairs." He took a moment to look at my face, probably trying to read my mind or something. "Well this is Acelynne Connors, Jacobson's daughter."


"So you are the infamous Acelynne?!" Mr. Weasley gawked at me, probably at my age, and began to speak at rapid fire. "I hear that your friends have muggle grandparents... could you please explain the process of dentures?"


"Arthur! Please lay off of the poor girl!" Mrs. Weasley hit her husband on the arm with her purse and turned to smile at me. "Nice to meet you my dear, at last." She turned to Dumbledore. "But I don't see the need for us to be here Albus..."


"Jacobson has gone missing, and the school year is coming to a close. Ms. Connors, being under-aged, simply can't live by herself and is likely just as much at risk as her father. I believe, seeing as you have confidently raised seven wonderful children," he winked at George "I would like to ask you a personal favour by taking in Ms. Connors at least for a short time until we can find more appropriate living arrangements for her. That is if it's no imposition to you."


"Imposition? Never! Acelynne is welcome into our home any time!" Mrs. Weasley put a comforting hand on my shoulder and I couldn't help but smile. She was everything I had imagined in a mother, not that I had anything to compare to.


"Do we have any leads about her father?" Mr. Weasley went back to being all business and Dumbledore shook his head.


"I think that this discussion is now only for the adult's ears" he said and George and I got the hint, even though George was technically of wizarding age now. We walked out of the office and down the spiralling stairs quickly, his hand refusing to let go of mine.


"I'm sorry" he said, his eyes filled with some sort of emotion that I couldn't exactly read. Was it guilt?


"So am I" I said with a shaking voice. After I explained everything to him yesterday, he had ran up to his dorm room. I thought that he couldn't handle it and had given up on me. I opened my mouth to say something but instead George crushed his lips down on mine, catching the words in my throat.


I don't know how long we stayed like that, me stretched up onto my tip toes so I could reach him, and him crouched down a tiny bit to meet me in the middle, his hands sneaking up the back of my robes and caressing the bare skin. The sound of sliding stone was enough to make us jump apart, glowing with happiness, and face George's parents.


"Well Acelynne, it appears that you will be staying with us over the summer holidays, or until your father is found. We couldn't be happier to have you" Mrs. Weasley purposely ignored our bright blush and messed up hair. She was young once too, and she did have seven children, after all.


"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Weasley" I said and she scooped me up into a tight, motherly hug. Mr. Weasley put a hand on my shoulder and smiled then turned and gave George a stern look.


"Be careful, you two" he said, leaving me a bit confused. Dear Merlin was he trying to give us the talk?! Oh, no we didn't need that... Merlin I'm only fifteen! "About the death-eaters I mean." He turned a bit red, probably reading my panic stricken face.


"Don't worry Dad, we will" George smiled at him and Mrs. Weasley finally let go of me. Man, that woman is a hugger. 


"Then, we will be seeing you at platform 9 ¾" she gave her son a hug, then turned away and walked down the corridor, looking around nostalgically. She took her husband's hand lovingly and they disappeared around the corner.


"They are so in love" I murmured and George put an arm around my waist. "I never had a chance to see any of that parental lovey-dovey stuff growing up." I shook my head, trying to get the melancholy thoughts away from me. I had George back. I was happy. "I really like your parents."


"And I think they really like you" he said and began to lead me back up to the common room.