The Haunting of Judith Wagner{George Weasley}

Chapter Thirty Nine

"You know, I should probably head back to the tea shop." Judith said to George when he joined her sitting in the Burrow living room. "I mean, Alma must think I'm dead or that I've gone completely mad and-"

"I spoke with Alma." George told her.

She glanced over at him. "You did? What did she say? What did you say? Was she mad? Upset?"

George chuckled. "No, she wasn't mad or upset. She was concerned for you when you didn't show up, but I explained the situation-"

"Oh no.." Judith groaned, " please don't tell me, you told her I was possessed by the Dark Lord and now I'm hunting down my brother who-"

"No." He laughed louder. "I didn't share any of those details. I said that you needed to take a leave of absence from work to sort things out. She said she completely understood and would relay the message to your boss. Does that sound okay to you?"

"Uh yes, actually. It does."

"Good."

"Thank you." she said. "I...work completely slipped my mind. I'm surprised they didn't think of firing me."

"I don't think they would fire you, even if they wanted to."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because...well I think you really know your teas and without you at the shop they...anyways.." George fumbled with his words making Judith giggle.

"Thank you, " she replied. "I think."

The two suddenly jumped as something behind them fell and broke on the floor.

They turned around, Judith saw Fred standing by the broken flower vase with an innocent look, but then he made a weird face.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Attempting to whistle. Bugger! You can't whistle when you're dead!"  he kept trying to whistle as he walked around.

Judith shook her head and looked at George who was waiting for her to explain.

"Your brother is trying to whistle." she sighed rubbing her forehead.

George grinned until Molly walked in and noted the broken vase on the floor.

"It was Fred!" Judith and George said quickly.

Molly opened her mouth to argue, but stopped herself for a moment. Under normal circumstances she would scold them for saying such a horrible lie, but the fact was, it was entirely possible that Fred had been the one to break the vase.

She wasn't sure how she was supposed to go about scolding him.

"Fred!" the mother called out while Judith and George watched her. " I am very thrilled that you are able to move things and touch things, dear, but can we be a bit more careful with the glassware?"

Something broke in the kitchen.

"FRED!"

Molly left the room and Judith saw Fred run outside. She shook her head before looking to George who was watching her.

"What?" she asked growing slightly nervous under his gaze.

"I just...I wish I could see what you see."

"You think that...but I mean...it's not the greatest thing. So far, Fred is the only spirit that hasn't really freaked me out. Even seeing the others in Limbo...it's frightening."

"What's so scary about it? Was anyone bad there?"

"No. No one bad. But the only person I knew...well somewhat was Fred. So, being around a lot of people I don't know makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. Socially awkward? Doesn't matter if the people are dead or alive? Why do you think I only hung around Renna all the time. She was pretty much the first and only friend I made while at Hogwarts. We became so close because...Merlin this is going to sound so pathetic on my behalf, but I really depended on her. She brought me out my shell no matter how hard I tried."

"Every time I saw you in school, you had a bright smile on your face and you were laughing...or yelling in the quidditch stands that doesn't sound like someone hiding in their shell."

"That's because I had Renna. I felt comfortable being loud and silly around her. After I lost her...I just went back to being the hermit I was destined to be. The only people I interacted with were my grandparents, Nathaniel, and co-workers at the tea shop. I would go to work, to my grandparents house and then back home. That's it."

"So you enjoy a smaller circle, that doesn't make you pathetic by any means, Judith. Just means you don't need much to have fun." George smiled. "You can have fun all on your own."

"Well thank you for trying to make my life not sound as sad as it is."

"I don't think your life is sad, Judith. I just think you've had a lot of sad things happen in your life. But I think you're strong, to get up everyday and have a smile on your face. To go through all of this...I don't know what I would do if I was able to see and hear Fred's spirit."

"I know exactly what you would be doing if you could." Judith mused.

"And what's that?"

"What you two always do.." 

Something else broke somewhere in the house. 

"Get into trouble."