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

In The Orchard: A Reprise

The cruel irony of it all was that, while time had crawled by so painfully slow when we were in hiding, it flew by at a break-neck speed once we had arrived at Aunt Muriels. Our days were filled with playing catch-up in the business and information that the Order had been preoccupied with in our stay. When we weren't learning about the Order, or Harry, I tucked myself in the back of Muriel's home with Fred and George to help them fulfill postal orders for their shop. While the physical shop in Diagon Alley was out of commission, they had somehow managed to create a secretive supply chain to keep the business running via post.

Somebody please explain to me how these boys only managed to earn themselves three O.W.Ls?

At the end of our long days, regardless of how overwhelming all of it may be, I thankful that I was able to crawl into bed beside George, knowing that he was okay... And that was where I was when I awoke with a start, George shaking me gently by the shoulders. "Ace" he whispered, his lips on my ears.

I groaned, opening a single eye to peer at him through the darkness. "Wake up" he whispered softly.

I pulled myself into a sitting position faster than my brain was ready for. "Is everything ok?"

He chuckled, pulling the blanket off of me. "Everything is fine, love" he pecked me on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes, unable to share his understanding tone at such an ungodly hour. "Then why am I awake?" I yawned, stretching my arms above my head.

"It's a surprise." I could hear the smile in his voice as he grabbed my hands and pulled me upright. "Get dressed and meet me downstairs." With that, he scampered from the room like a mischievous child.

I stared down at the bedsheets, considering for a moment that I could simply roll myself up and go back to sleep. But then again, half of the appeal of sleep nowadays was that George was beside me like a human teddy-bear. With a groan of defeat, I pulled myself away from the sirens song of the bed and slid out of my pyjamas. Rummaging through my bag, I found a pair of joggers and stole one of George's jumpers from his pile of clothes on the floor. If he was going to be waking me up at this hour, he was going to have to accept me the way I was.

I snuck down the stairs, praying that I wouldn't hit too big of a creak in the floorboards, and felt my way to the kitchen in the dark. From through the windows I could see that perhaps it wasn't as late as I had initially thought, the slight glimmer of dawn creeping up on the horizon. From the window of the kitchen door, I could see George standing on the back porch. As I approached, I noted the bag he had slung over his shoulders.

"Good morning" he smiled, leaning down and pecking me on the lips. "Ready for a little sunrise picnic?"

I took his hand and looked up at him. "Of course." It was still too early to find proper words. I allowed him to pull me back towards the familiar paths of the Orchard. He found our spot without falter, traversing the rows of trees and roots with ease. Our space amongst the trees was quiet, untouched by time and conflict that had fallen between us. The smell of apple-blossoms in bloom filled the early spring air.

"M'lady" George laid out the blanket for me and I took a seat, happily. He sat down next to me, opening up the basket and laying out a small spread of fruit, bread, and cheese. "Thank you for joining me" he said, taking an unnecessarily large bite of bread.

"Did I have much of a choice?" I popped a grape in my mouth.

"Nope" he smirked, taking his eyes off of me and glancing towards the horizon once more. "But I figured that besides sleeping, we haven't actually gotten a lot of quality time alone together." He was right, when we weren't sleeping, we were either in the presence of Fred, Ginny, his parents, or my dad. I swear I could feel Molly's eyes constantly on us, even when she physically wasn't in the room. She had resigned to my presence, and while she wasn't as hostile as anticipated, she was definitely sceptical.