stardust ⋮ george weasley

ninety-three :

N I N E T Y - T H R E E

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On the Sunday after her meeting with Bill, Adeline was preparing herself to visit her family's home for the second time since her family's death. Even though she had been back there once to take care of her parents business on the Muggle end, Adeline still dreaded having to visit the home. Having George, however, was made her feel more prepared to take on seeing it again.

As Adeline hooked her arm with his, George teased, "You need to get your Apparation license one of these days."

"You know bloody well that I'm taking the test in March!" She shot back as she smacked him on the shoulder with her free hand. "And I can do it well enough. I haven't splinched the past few times I've tried."

"And I'm incredibly proud. It is nice to not stitch you up every time you do."

George began to laugh when Adeline elbowed him in the side. "Let's apparate before we get into another argument over my apparition abilities. Do you remember the picture I showed you?"

He nodded, and Adeline braced herself. She had always hated the feeling of Apparition, which was part of the reason she struggled getting to the destination she wanted to. She would become

Even with the pictures she had shown him, George still wasn't prepared for the magnitude of Adeline's family estate. To George, the mansion almost resembled a castle. The enormous home was built with dark gray stones and walls were covered with ivy. Large windows covered the front of the house, but because of the darkness George couldn't see on the inside. Despite the fact that no one was living in the home anymore, the gardens surrounding the estate were still immaculate.

Adeline answered his question about the state of the gardens before he even had to ask it. "The gardeners still come here, along with the rest of the staff."

"You have staff?"

"What? Do you think my parents were getting out in the gardens themselves?" Adeline joked. "The one thing I made sure to do with the house after my parents died was that I kept on all the staff. I set aside a small part of the inheritance to keep them on for at least six months, or whenever they can find a new job. I didn't want them be suddenly out of an income for reasons out of their control. None of them deserve that."

George felt a sudden surge of affection towards his girlfriend and her compassion, and he kissed the side of her head. "C'mon, Addie. Let's go take a look inside."

They walked up to the large front door, and George looked at Adeline and asked, "Do you have a key?"

"Shit," Adeline cursed. "I don't have a key anymore."

George's eyebrows furrowed together, and he looked confused as he gestured to the wand in her hand. "Wait, do you even need a key?"

Adeline let out a loud sigh of defeat, then held up her and wand and muttered, "Alohamora."

George hadn't seen Adeline's family home, besides the time he had showed up in her living room the summer before seventh year. The inside of the house looked nearly as perfect as the outside, if not more. All the furniture and decor were some of the fanciest George had ever seen, and it was in pristine condition. From the elaborate chandelier-like light structure that hung from the ceiling to the ornate white couches, not a single thing had a spec of dust or dirt. George imagined this was what the inside of the house of someone like the Malfoy's looked like.

But, it looked like it hadn't been lived in. There was no sense of home. To George, it almost looked like a museum or a palace. Not a place where people actually lived. It made George appreciate the Burrow even more than he already did. Despite its messiness and how not everything always matched, the Burrow would always be home to George.