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Dear Nadeleine,
I hope you are doing well since I've last talked to you. Mother said to me about her plans with Papa and Gabrielle arriving at my flat a few days ago. I hope Lucien and Benjamin are feel safe at your temporary home. Once you graduate from Hogwarts, you can come live with me before getting own place. I'm doing rather well here at Gringotts, if wondering. I met William, a boy who is a curse breaker. He is quite charming, but my English is still not best, so he sometimes cannot understand me. He is handsome too, and Veela charms don't seem to effect him more. Like you and George Weasley, I would say. Anyway, I will stop goggling over the boy through letters. I hope to see you, sister.
With love,
Fleur
I looked up from Fleur's letter with a questioning look on my face; I examined the dining table filled with the usual members sat at the table eating breakfast. Like the past few meals, I sat next to Sirius, and now Benjamin had taken his place on my left. I folded up the letter and put it in my pants pocket as I finished my breakfast. As people slowly flowed out of the room, I couldn't get the name of the boy Fleur had described in her letter out of my head. I didn't know anyone named William, but his name struck a different part of my body — my gut feeling. And this time, it was telling me something strange.
A clatter of bowls and silverware brought me back, and I looked over at the sink to see the Weasley's mother cleaning up the mess of breakfast. I stood up from the now-empty table and walked over to the women. I cleared my throat to gain her attention, and she turned around from scrubbing a grease-stained pan.
Once she saw me, her face dropped, "hello." Her tone came out cold, unlike the other times I had heard her speak. She held out her hand, and I stumbled to give her my plate with the silverware on top.
"Thank you," I muttered, and she turned back around to continue the dishes. "Excuse me? You are the Weasley's mother, am I wrong?" I asked, and she nodded, her back remaining to face me. "May I ask you something?" I spoke again—another nod.
"Do you know anyone named William?" I asked, and she stopped working at the pan for a moment before resuming.
"My son," she said, and I froze in place.
"Out of pure curiosity, what does he do for a living?"
She sighed and turned around, dropping the pan back into the sink. "Why do you want to know?"
"Well, George mentioned his other brothers a few times, but I don't recognize the name William from the three older brothers he told me about," I recovered.
"We call him Bill, and he is a curse-breaker for Gringotts. Now, do you have any other interrogations to give me, or can I continue my cleaning?" She snapped, and I shook my head. She was about to turn around when another thing came to mind.
"Pardon me, but one more thing," she turned back around with a huff. "I truly adore your son, Madame. And I'm sorry if I ever brought off the intention that I don't care about him."
She stared at me for a moment or two before finally speaking, "if your affection is true, then tell him yourself." She turned back around, and I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"Thank you for listening, Madame," I rushed out and walked out of the room in a hurry. I dashed up the stairs and stopped at Fred and George's room. I knocked without a thought, and Fred answered with an expecting look.
"I need to talk to George," I told him, and he sighed.
"Fine, but expect me to come back soon because I can't annoy Ron alone for long without getting kicked out," he said as he walked past me. I closed the door behind me and saw George sitting on one of the two small beds with a pencil tucked behind his ear and a clipboard flowing with papers by his side, surly for ordering supplies for their Skiving Snackboxes.
His face had no emotion, and his arms were crossed as they had been a few days ago. I hesitantly sat down next to him with a sigh. "I'm sorry —"
"Don't," he cut me off, and I looked at him. "If you never wanted to be in a relationship, then why did you kiss me again last year? Or why did you continue writing to me?"
"I didn't want to reject you the way I did a few days ago, George. But we don't know what'll happen in the next few years. A war is about to erupt, and that's one of the worst times to start a relationship. I didn't want anything confirmed to cause less sorrow if something were to happen," I explained.
"If you truly care about me, about us, then a war shouldn't be able to stop you from admitting your feelings," he added, and I bit my lip.
"I like you, George. Very much, but if something were to happen and —"
"Then we best savor the moments we have. We don't know what'll happen, so it'll be better if we accept what we are rather than trying to avoid it," he said and uncrossed his arms, his face softening.
I wanted to argue, but I had no reasons on my side. I kept trying to speak, but I couldn't think of anything. George interrupted my attempts by placing my chin between his fingers and kissing my bottom lip. I smiled and brought him back for another kiss.
Then the door opened, and in walked Fred as we broke apart. "Great, you two made up. Now quit that."
***
"Hurry up, everyone! Come on! Come on!" Mrs. Weasley called and gestured small groups of two or three into the fireplace of Grimmauld Place. Once Harry, Ron, and Hermione used the floo powder network Mrs. Weasley pushed Fred and George into the fireplace.
"We can fit another," George stated.
"Yes, come on, Nadeleine," Fred ushered me over as George grabbed floo powder. I glanced at Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who were the only ones left. Ginny had a scowl on her face while Mrs. Weasley looked disapproving. I ran over to George's side, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Diagon Alley!" he threw the floo powder on the ground, and we were engulfed in flames. Soon to be spat out in Diagon Alley, the place where Hogwarts students got their supplies.
"Magnificent!" I exclaimed, trying to catch every detail as we walked to our first shop — Flourish and Blotts. George grinned at how excited I looked to be walking into a book store.
"What a beautiful place!" I said as we began looking for books.
George and I were looking for our Charms books when I blurted out, "I don't think your mother likes me very much."
"She doesn't like most," George joked and scanned across the different books, starting with S.
"I'm serious, George. I already knew your sister didn't like me, but it's worse when it's your boyfriend's mother," I said as he grabbed two copies of The Standard Book of Spells, Year 7.
"You consider me your boyfriend?" He teased, and we moved on to our other books.
"George," I warned.
"My mother is a very stubborn woman, Nadeleine. I don't think having a jokester try to talk to her about it is going to work," he argued.
"I'm just asking if there would be anything about me that would make her and Ginny hate me so much."
"Ginny gets mad at people for no apparent reason, so I can't answer that one. But my mother is usually an open book when it comes to her dislikes, but this is the one I don't know either," he replied, and I sighed.
"Well, you're good help," I muttered.
"And besides, it's not like you'll have to see her every day," he reasoned.
