The Haunting of Judith Wagner{George Weasley}

Chapter Forty One

"Judith what did you see?" Fred asked kneeling down by her side waiting for the woman to say something. "Judith, come on say something.

She had been silent for the past five minutes and everyone was beginning to worry wondering what Judith had witnessed while sleeping.

Suddenly, Judith rose to her feet, her hands shaking at her side.

"Judith?" George called to her trying to break the traumatized trance she had entered.

"Is she..." Arthur began wondering if the woman had been possessed like her brother.

"I have to get out of here!" Judith said finally breaking her silence.

"Judith, you don't have to go anywhere!" George told her.

She turned to him. "Yes...yes I do. Because if I stay around you all...I...I don't want to end up hurting you all."

"Why would you hurt us?" George said. "You wouldn't, Judith, you-"

"It wouldn't be me! But she would be in my body." Judith cried.

"Who? Who would be in your body?" George questioned. Judith didn't answer as she swallowed and looked down to her feet. "Judith?!"

"It's Bellatrix."

The Weasley household fell silent, the Weasley children looked to Molly who stared at Judith in complete horror. Never did Molly Weasley ever want to hear that name uttered in her presence, let alone deal with the ghastly woman every again.

"You understand now why I have to leave." Judith said reading everyone's facial expressions. "It would be stupid for me to stay...if she's following what you-know-who did to my brother, then she's going to try to come after me and I...I can't have anything happen to you all because of me."

"You can't leave." George said with a pained voice. "We can help you if you stay here."

"No you can't-" Judith shook her head. "You can't, every time I sleep now, I find myself becoming an open host. It's dangerous."

"It's dangerous if you go out there on your own and become possessed, at least if you're around us, we can help you." Ginny spoke up. "We can't just let you wander out there, not with your brother out there. It's a recipe for disaster. You're staying here."

"Yeah, even if we have to put a Full Body Bind curse on you." George smiled at Judith.

"I really don't think this is a good idea." she tried to reason with the family to let her go.

"Well, it looks like you're outnumbered." Arthur added.

Fred sat down beside her. "I'll see what I can do on my end to make sure that she can't get to you Judith."

To make sure that she wouldn't leave, Judith handed her wand over to the Weasley family, but she still wasn't comfortable staying in the household as Bellatrix's face continued to flood her vision every time she closed her eyes. She refused to fall back asleep, sitting outside allowing the cool night air to keep her awake.

George stepped outside with his hands in his pockets and then took the empty spot beside her.

He heard her yawn and watched as she tried to hide her tiredness but it was obvious. He felt horrible for Judith, it seemed the woman couldn't catch a break and the last thing he wanted was for Judith to get into a weak state of mind. Happy thoughts were what kept her from being vulnerable to the spirits, like an internal patronus.

"I'm sorry." Judith said to him.

"You're apologizing to me for what?"

"For bringing all this stress upon your family."

"Are you kidding, Judith? You do realize this is the happiest my family has been in awhile."

"I know, they're happy about Fred, but it's the rest that comes with it."

"You don't have to apologize for that Judith, it's not your fault. You didn't have control over any of this. You really need to stop being so hard on yourself."

"I just want this all to be over with." Judith said as she began crying. "I don't mind Fred being able to contact me, but the rest...it's just too much. I feel like I'm going to lose my mind or worse, my life."

"Don't talk like that." George said sternly.

"But it's entirely possible, if Bellatrix gets a hold of me to do her bidding, I much rather be dead than have her use me as a puppet. It would be my hands covered in-"

"Stop!" George said loudly. "Just stop!"

Judith went quiet.

"Nothing like that is going to happen to you, Judith. I...I won't let it happen I promise."

"You can't promise something like that Ge-"

"I can try!"

She was taken back by his tone, unsure of what to say to him. Never had she seen the Weasley twins in such a serious light through school, so it was always felt so weird and out of place when she saw either one of them without a smile on their face.

"Sorry,' George said quickly, "I didn't mean to yell."

He moved closer to her, and slowly reached a hand out towards her face. She watched him as his hand wiped away several of the remaining tears on her face.

Her skin felt like it was on fire wherever his fingers touched.

In a moment, their eyes locked and neither one of them dared to look away.