Left Behind (A Fred & George fanfic)

9. Hogsmeade

"Please stay, at least think about it!"

George rushed down the stairs with a small backpack, muffling several things inside it along the way. Angelina was right behind him, her footsteps almost silent compared to his. George heard Angelina’s words, but didn’t comprehend them. His mind was set to a task, and one task only – he just didn’t process what his wife was trying to tell him.

Suddenly he stopped walking, causing a confused Angelina to walk into him. He dropped his bag on a little table at the end of the stairs and only took out his wallet. Angelina used this opportunity to take a hold off his wrist and faced him. Her voice was calm and steady when she spoke, but what she felt inside was the exact opposite: bewilderment, chaos, even a bit of desperation. Who knew what her husband was going to bring himself into now?

“If you leave now, I’m not going to come after you.”

George broke Angelina’s grip on his arm.

“I’ll be back soon.”

And with those words he disapparated, leaving a lonely Angelina behind.

Both Gavin and Athena jumped when they saw George coming in from the back of the store.

“Mr. Weasley! We didn’t expect you to be here today!” They said almost simultaneously.

Gavin and Athena were two siblings George had hired when he had bought the second venue for Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade. He barely managed to keep one shop running on his own, two locations would have been absolutely impossible – that’s why these two over-enthusiastic and ambitious (which reminded him a bit of a young Percy) 19 year old employees were walking around his store.

“Great job, keep it going.” George mumbled as he made his way to the store. Only a few people were inside; a young witch, who was probably in her twenties, stood on George’s left side, curiously looking at the little pink ‘WonderWitch’ bottles filled with love potion. In the right corner, at the front of the store, two old men with tangled grey beards laughed hysterically at the Muggle Magic Tricks – one of them had a black eye and held a plastic telescope with a scarlet boxing glove sticking out of the end in his hands. Some other witches and wizards were walking around the store, greeting George as he walked past them, but he only gave a little nod in return.

Walking through the little streets of Hogsmeade he could only think of one thing; Could it be real? Maybe he’d be able to talk to his brother one more time, one last time. Would he be able to say goodbye forever after that?

The time it took him to get to the great gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seemed short compared to all those years ago. He could still remember it as if it were yesterday, all the trips they’d made to visit Zonko’s, with or without the help of the one eyed crone’s hump.

Memories, expectations… George was already more than lost.

“George? Hello! What are you doing here?” George looked up when hearing the familiar voice and saw he had already entered the Hogwarts grounds. A surprised Neville Longbottom waved at him. Only then – by the look of professor Longbottom – did George realize that it was Tuesday, that there were classes all day long. He couldn’t just get his son and his nephew out of any class to ask them about the map, not even Binns would approve that.

“Hey, Neville.” George began. “I just, I wanted to talk to my son. But I just realized he’s probably in class right now.”

Neville thought for a moment, questioning the serious look on George’s face. “Is it urgent?”

Yes. Yes it’s urgent.

“No, not really.”

“In that case you can come with me to my office for a while, waiting for classes to be over. I was actually just heading there, I just came from the greenhouses, you see.” He hesitated. “I’ve got tea, if you like?”

George nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah, sure. Thank you, Neville.”

And together they walked up to the castle.

A long time ago, Neville was either dangling from the ceiling or falling from his broom and George was laughing at him. Both of them had changed a lot. Now George was the one who was a complete mess.