If You'll Have Me | George Weasley

Chapter 28

IT WAS RAINING WHEN SHE WOKE UP, and she was wrapped in the heavy blankets that she borrowed from the Burrow's living room. It was odd for the house to be so quiet in the morning, for the sound of George's soft snoring to be gone from the room. She did not go to bed with him in his flat, and he was not here in Percy's room, and though there had been plenty of mornings without him by her side, this one felt more lonely somehow.

When she rose, Eleanor found herself walking upstairs instead of down to the living room. She wanted to see Ginny, Hermione, and insist on doing something today—Just the three of them—So that she could get her mind off of last night.

But when she enters their room, neither of them is in bed. The only thing that indicated they had been there was the unmade sheets on Ginny's bed and the book that was sprawled across Hermione's. They must've been downstairs, or down at the creek watching the rain send ripples across the water.

Mrs. Weasley was sat at the dining table when Eleanor walked down the stairs. Arthur was nowhere to be found, and neither were the girls, but a charmed pair of knitting needles wielded away at a clump of yarn beside her. She does not notice Eleanor right away, but when the stairs creak as she reaches the bottom step, Molly looks up from her newspaper with a startled look on her face. "Oh, good morning dear!"

"Good morning." Eleanor says, not quite sure what to say given that their interactions had always been brief. "Do you mind if I make some tea?"

But just as she asks, the pot begins to brew itself, and she remembers how often she forgot that nearly everything in this house had been charmed.

"Come have a seat." Molly pulls out the chair beside her. "I apologize for the mess. I'm not used to having such quiet mornings like this."

Eleanor obliges, hardly bothered by the clutter in the kitchen. "Your house has always been lovely to me, even despite the newspaper that's messying up the table." She teases.

"Well, we're lucky to have you." Molly smiles. "How's the shop coming along? The boys don't want us in there until they've finished the place."

"Oh, it's coming along nicely." Eleanor lies. There were still boxes and sample products littering every inch of the shop. "I'm sure they'll have it done soon."

Mrs. Weasley presses her lips into a thin line, like she did not quite believe the white lie Elle had come up with. She, out of everyone, knew her sons the best. She knew that they handled things messily, slowly, and disorganized.

"I was just sorting through more of those photo albums, if you'd like to take a look." Molly nods to the thick book in front of her and rises from the table to retrieve Elle's cup of tea.

All of the Weasley's photographs held a great amount of sentiment, even though Eleanor hadn't known them up until a few months ago. Each snapshot looked genuine, a nostalgic glimpse of a moment that she only wished she'd known the story behind. There was one photo of a young Ron, sat between his two older brothers as, what looked to be Fred, held a very young Ginny. All of their hair matched, sat in bright red messes upon their heads, and each wide toothed grin tugged at her heart a bit. She'd always wished that she had a sibling.

On the next page, there was a photograph of a young Molly and Arthur, who was planting a kiss upon her cheek as she held a bouquet of wildflowers in her hand. She wore a rather plain, white dress that looked to have a layer of crotchet upon it. It hardly looked to be a wedding gown, but it was beautiful regardless. It suited her and the glow of the sun behind them, setting just above the field that they stood in.

"This was our wedding day." Molly comes up behind Eleanor and places a mug in front of her. "We eloped just outside of this house, actually."

"It seemed like a lovely wedding. You looked beautiful." Elle tells her, and she meant it. This is what she preferred, not an extravagant location or gown. She adored the simplicity, and the smiles on their faces in the photo, like all that they needed was right beside them. "Can I ask you something?"