𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 ; 𝒹.𝒽

forty-five

Aurora was woken up by Molly sitting at the edge of the couch with a cup of tea.

"Good morning, dear," she kindly said, handing Aurora the cup of tea.

She sat up and took it, "Thanks, Molly."

"As happy as I am to see your darling face, why are you here?"

"George and I got into a fight," she grumbled, her mood quickly turning sour at the thought of what happened the night before.

Molly looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, dear. There's breakfast on the table if you want to eat, feel free to join us."

Aurora took up her offer. She sat between Charlie and Ginny, biting into a piece of toast bitterly. Fred sat diagonal to her, shifting in his chair uncomfortably when Aurora shot him a look of what?

"I can go in another room if you don't want to see me, because, you know–"

"You don't remind me of George, Fred. His face is more punchable than yours."

"Really? I've always heard it was the other way around," he joked casually.

The front door opened, and Aurora rolled her eyes at the sight of George. He plopped down in the chair beside Fred and directly in front of Aurora. They glared at one another, "Don't you two start yelling," Molly warned.

"No, please do. I'd love to see it," Ginny said, her smile fading when her mother shot her a look.

"Can't you have breakfast at the St. Claires?"

"Can't you?" George asked.

"I was here first!"

"Technically I was here first considering this is the bloody home I grew up in!"

"But we like Aurora better," Fred spoke up.

George rolled his eyes, "Piss off and let me eat."

Breakfast was scarily quiet. Arthur kept peeking up at the two over his newspaper periodically waiting for the two to bite each other's head off.

But not a word was peeped. After they finished, Aurora said her goodbyes and apparated back to the St. Claires before George could protest. She got ready for the day and decided to pay Althena a visit.

"Gods, he's such a dick!"

Althena puffed out smoke, "Yeah, I got that the first 5 times you said it."

"There was no bloody reason for it! I just wanted him to hold me and go to sleep! But no! He had to go off and say all that shit."

"He's just scared, like the rest of us."

"That doesn't excuse him."

Althena nodded, "I know, I'm sorry."

"I think he knows he fucked up, too. But he's too bloody proud to say anything."

This sounds like another couple I knew. Just like your parents. Althena wanted to bring it up, but she didn't feel it was right to do so.

"What do you want me to do? Curse him?" she sarcastically asked.

Aurora shook her head, "I can do that by myself. I just want him to say sorry and mean it."

Althena sighed and brought an arm around Aurora, pulling Aurora into her. She rubbed her back, "I'm sorry, darling."

"Should've just stayed single."

"You don't mean that."

"I do."

"No you don't."

Aurora sighed in defeat, "Yeah, I don't."

Later that night, Aurora was the first to the bedroom they were staying at in the St. Claire Manor. She changed out of her clothes and into an oversized t-shirt, realizing it was George's once again, but she didn't care enough to change out of it. It was barely 24 hours since they touched or had a conversation that didn't involve fighting and she missed him. But she was not going to say that to him.

She crawled into bed and hugged the sheets close to her, hoping it would be enough to lull her to sleep. About an hour later, she heard the door open. She heard George's footsteps still before he moved further into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

She peaked one eye open to see him, watching him move into the bathroom to shower. Minutes later, he walked out in just a pair of sweatpants. She closed her eye again and pretended to be asleep.

Aurora felt the bed dip, George crawling under the sheets as far away from her as possible. She sighed lightly, keeping her back to him.

George laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling before turning to her curled up form. She slept like that when she was upset.

He felt guilty. He knew he was in the wrong. She was trying to be calm, for him. He knew Ginny would be okay. She had to go back to Hogwarts, it's not like she had a choice. He knew Aurora cared.

He scooted to her side, sliding his hands under her t-shirt and wrapping his arms around her frame, pressing his chest to her back. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, placing a kiss there.

"I'm sorry," he gently whispered to her.

Aurora's heart swelled at his touch and those two simple words. She knew he meant it.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you."