Lover ; George Weasley

Fifty-seven

"He was right about one thing."

George looked at me as I left the bathroom.

"Henry?"

"Not the real Henry." I said. "The fake one who showed up at my office."

George nodded slowly.

"What was he right about?"

"There is an opening position at Hogwarts." I said and leaned against the piece of wall that separated the kitchen from the hallway. "They needs a teacher for DADA."

George chuckled and turned towards me.

"Did you look into that while on the toilet?"

"Not on the—" I let out a small laugh. "...I asked Malcolm earlier if he knew if that position was open and he said that it is. No one has applied for it yet."

I folded my arms over my chest and bit down on my lip as I waited for George to encourage me to apply.

I needed some encouragement to know that it wasn't absolutely crazy that I still went for it.

"And you're thinking about applying?" He asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

I shrugged.

"I have no experience with teaching."

"No... but neither did most of the teachers when they first applied." He said. "If you apply, they'll invite you to a chat, test you in how much you know about the subject and if they think you're a great fit, the job is yours."

I sighed heavily, averting my eyes towards the window in the kitchen.

The kids were all sitting at the table. Fred was doing his homework so that it was ready tomorrow morning when school started after the weekend, Elsie was doing her homework too and Roxi and Leah were drawing.

I looked at George again and he held out his hand. When I grabbed it, he pulled me closer to him, sneaking an arm behind my back.

"I know you're scared of being away from the girls in case anything happens throughout the day..."

"I'll be in Scotland every single day."

"You will." He nodded. "But if anything happens, which won't be the case, you can just get off school grounds and then apparate. And when they have to start Hogwarts, you get to see them everyday because you teach there."

I wrapped an arm around his neck, smiling as I pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"I'll apply."

"Yeah?" He smiled. "Good. It's your dream and you deserve to pursue it."

I pressed a kiss to his neck before I stepped back and turned towards the kids.

I couldn't help but smile as they all sat there. Fred and Elsie helped each other with their homework and Leah was very excited about showing Roxanne her drawing.

"Look." I told George. "Leah looks comfortable, doesn't she?"

George looked at her and a small smile spread on his face.

"She does. I think she's starting to like me. She hugged me earlier, you know..."

"She did?" I raised my eyebrows and looked at him. He hummed, smiling at me and I looked back at my youngest daughter. "She realises she can trust you."

I could feel George's eyes on me and when I looked at him, he was smiling. He looked so happy, but then again... so was I.

As I reached up to run my hand over his cheek, my phone started ringing again.

I sighed.

"How much do you want to bet that that's Malcolm?" I asked and George chuckled, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me close.

He slid his hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone, looking at it before showing it to me.

"Looks like you were right."

With an annoyed sigh, I answered the call and pressed the phone to my ear, keeping my eyes on George who flicked his wand at the food and made it cook itself.

"Hi Malcolm."

"They found Jeremy."

He sounded out of breath as he spoke. It sounded like he was walking at a quick pace.

"What?"

"They've arrested him." He told me. "I'm at the ministry. I have to speak to the head of aurors about his arrest."

I turned around and walked out of the kitchen and into George's room, closing the door behind me.

"You're joking..." I breathed. "...they've got him?"

"He's been doing it again to other kids. He no longer had access to our girls so he—" Malcolm sighed. "Point is that he's been arrested and he can't hurt any children ever again. They'll have justice. Leah will have justice."

"Oh god..." I breathed and sat down on the bed, hiding my face with my hand as I felt myself getting emotional.

"This is good, Dahlia... he's getting what he deserves."

"But what about Leah?" I asked. "I am thrilled that Jeremy is getting locked up, but Leah is still going to have to struggle with this. Even if Jeremy got his soul sucked out, it doesn't help Leah in any way. Even if her brain doesn't remember it, her body will."

I heard Malcolm inhaled sharply.

"I should've known he was doing this." He said while the door to George's room opened, George walking in to check on me. "Now that I know, I see all the signs but I didn't before."

I sat up straight.

"What signs?"

"He was single, not interested in any type of relationships but he was still way too interested in children. He showered them in gifts when he was here and he always wanted to be around them." He took a deep breath. "I know it will take a long time for Leah to be okay again and she might not ever learn to trust men but he can't hurt her anymore."

George sat down next to me and I could tell by his expression that something was upsetting me.

"I'm sorry that he hurt our daughter, Dahlia." Malcolm said. "I'm sorry for not noticing. I'm sorry for leaving them with him and I'm sorry for always choosing alcoholic or my work..."

"Malcolm—"

"I'm also sorry for ever hurting you. All the times I hurt you. Every time I manipulated you and hit you. Fuck... I shouldn't have done that — I know that now. I'm in therapy. I'm trying to get better. I want to be better. I get that it's too late to save whatever we had but I want the girls to grow up and be able to trust me and talk to me. If I continue this behaviour, I'll lose them like I lost you."

I sighed.

He sounded genuine.

"I'm also sorry for punching your boyfriend. I'm working on accepting that you've moved on — that you love someone else now, and I'm trying to accept that the girls will have a stepfather."

"I'm happy to hear you're trying to better yourself." I said. "You'll always be their dad... you know that, they know that. They love you."

"Yeah." He breathed.

"Do you need me to come down to the ministry?"

"No, it's fine. I'll update you later."

"Okay." I breathed. "I'll see you."

I hung up the phone, then took a deep breath and looked at George who looked curious. A small smile spread on my face and I felt myself tear up but from pure happiness.

"The aurors have arrested Jeremy."