Blue moon ; George Weasley

Twenty-six

It was in the middle of the night when Esme was awoken by the sound of rough footsteps making their way down the hallway.

Esme squinted her eyes at her bedroom door before turning over, yawning into the room.

She could hear hushed voices in the hallway and her brother was one of them. He seemed upset.

Esme sat up, running a hand through her hair before she rubbed her face. She looked around her room, noticing how dark it still was outside.

That was when she realised it was the middle of the night. Her eyes went to the alarm clock on her nightstand and when she saw that it was just five in the morning, she crawled out of bed, wanting to see what was happening just outside of her bedroom door.

She didn't reach it before it opened, revealing her father, her brother standing behind him.

"Dad?" Esme asked and folded her arms over her chest. "What's happening?"

David sighed, rubbing his beard. He looked back at Ethan, then looked at his daughter again.

"Arthur Weasley is in the hospital." David said, and Esme's eyes widened.

She didn't respond. She didn't know how to. She just stared at her father and her brother, waiting for either one of them to add something to that.

Then the twins jumped to Esme's mind. Did they know? Were they okay? How bad was it?

Esme's eyes dropped to the floor as she tried to imagine their faces as they were told their father was in the hospital.

"What— why—"

"He was attacked." Ethan said and Esme's head shot up.

"Ethan!" David snapped at his son. "I told you. She doesn't need to know that."

"Attacked?" Esme asked. "By who? Is he okay? Is he alive?"

Dad sighed.

"We don't know. The last I heard was that he was still alive but I don't know if he's stable or not." He told her. "His children and wife are all aware and I thought you might like to go in the morning."

Esme didn't want to go in the morning. How could she possibly go to sleep again after being told this?

Mr Weasley was in the hospital.

She suddenly felt wide awake and not the slightest bit exhausted. She needed to get dressed and go now.

"Tomorrow?" Esme asked. "No, I—"

"Esme, you can't be going now." Her dad said, shaking his head as he leaned against the doorframe. "It's five in the morning and you have only had four hours. You need a few more hours and after breakfast, we can go."

Esme nodded and said goodnight to her family. Her father shut the door and then she rushed to her dresser.

She changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, put her hair back into a bun. She found her glasses, put them on the bridge of her nose and hurried out of her room.

"Esme?!" David called as she hurried down the stairs and almost fell over her own feet.

She was in such a rush that she completely forgot to put the picture of her mother down.

She pulled into a pair of shoes before walking down the hallway as her father emerged from the living room.

"You're not going right now." He said when he realised what she was doing.

"Dad, it's Arthur! Fred and George's dad! I can't just— I can't go back to sleep knowing that he was attacked!"

David placed his hands on Esme's shoulders, trying to calm her down.