LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

3 | Birthdays

"Hey Joey, Mum made pancakes and I thought you might like som-" George said, stopping in his tracks as he looked up to see the girl standing against the wall and looking out the window into the meadow beyond. "you're... up."

She didn't talk for the first three days.

She didn't do much of anything, really. Joey woke up the next morning to find that someone had carried her to George's bed after she had fallen asleep on the floor. Even after they tended to him and he was able to sleep up there again, they hadn't bothered to move her. She just sat there and blankly stared at the wall.

She started talking again the same day she first accepted food.

It wasn't much. Hermione had brought in breakfast for George while he was still bedridden, same as usual, and had a small side dish that she would offer for Joey. After initially failing to acknowledge her words, or even her presence, she was on her way out when Joey finally croaked out an "okay". 

But it never did get her out of Fred and George's bedroom.

Joey turned her head away from the window to where George stood, still staring at her in awe, a smile spreading across his face. She nodded, slowly walking over towards him.

"Harry's birthday party is today," she stated, and George nodded.

"Everyone's going to be here today." he confirmed.

"I want to go," Joey said. "has everyone else already finished eating? Or can I eat downstairs with them?"

"You want to?" he asked, his smile growing, and she nodded. 

"I think it'll be good for me," she agreed, "to get outside. To see everyone."

"Everyone misses you, Joey," George said. "come on, let's get you downstairs."

George had been doing much better since losing his ear in the battle. Lysandra had patched him up, along with a few healing spells, and while he was still bandaged up, he was back to moving around and being in his good spirits. 

"Look who wanted to come say hello," George said as he led the girl into the kitchen and set the plate of pancakes on the counter in front of her chair.

Joey looked around the room nervously to see everyone's smiling faces, and heard a surprised gasp from Mrs. Weasley, who was entering the room with little Penelope right behind her.

"Joey!" Molly exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "So good to see you out of bed, dearie."

"Hi, Molly," Joey said with a tired smile, looking then at the little girl who ran over and wrapped herself around her legs.

"Joey!" Penelope exclaimed.

"Hi there!" she said, pulling the little girl into her arms and giving her a tight hug and kiss on the top of the head. 

"That reminds me," Molly said, taking Penelope. "we've got a surprise for you waiting outside with Charlie."

"Okay," Joey said, nodding, and she slowly walked outside to where a small group of people were gathered. Charlie, Ginny, Tonks, and...

Nicolette.

The sound of the front door opening and shutting interrupted whatever conversation they were having, their heads all turning towards where Joey stood. As soon as the two girls locked eyes, Nicolette dropped the wand she held in her hands and bolted over, pulling Joey into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Joey," she panted, holding her as close as possible. "Joey, I'm so glad to see you're alright. Sandra told me about your dad, honey I'm so sorry."

"It's so good to see you," Joey choked out, tears pricking her eyes. "Is Monty...?" 

"He's still at home back in the U.S." she said. "He heads back over here when school starts."

"And Arden's still back with your aunt and uncle," another voice said, and Joey turned around to see Tonks's younger brother, Rowan, come out of the house. "but until then, I hope I suffice." he said, pulling her into a tight hug.

"When did you guys get here?" Joey asked the pair, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders.

"Last night," Rowan said while Nicole said "this morning,"

"Where's the birthday boy?" Joey asked then, and Rowan gestured back towards the house.

"He's up in Ron's room," he said. "they're getting ready for the big party today."

Since it was Harry's seventeenth birthday, and the group had also been preparing for Bill and Fleur's wedding, they had decided to throw him a birthday party in the tent they had set up outside. Molly had made the food, along with help from Nicole's little sister Elisabeth, and everyone would spend the day with the ones they loved most. When Joey had been spending all of her time back upstairs, George would spend a lot of time talking about how they had been preparing for it. Aside from party details, he would also tell the girl all of the ideas they had for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes once this war was over and everything could finally go back to normal.

"Joey, why don't you head back upstairs and get ready for the party, and we'll meet you back here when you're done?" Nicole asked, eyeing the t-shirt and pajama pants still adorning the girl's frame.

"Yeah," she said, nodding and slowly looking down at the attire. "yeah, I'll be back," she told them, running back inside the house and up the flights of stairs to reach Fred and George's bedroom, where her trunk sat with all of her things.

Opening it up, Joey found a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which she quickly pulled on before looking at herself in the mirror. Her usually unruly curly hair was even more of a mess and her face looked as if she hadn't slept in days. 

Which, for the record, there was a good chance that she hadn't. 

After running a brush through her hair, Joey left the bedroom, coming face to face with Harry, Ron and Hermione as they made their way downstairs. When Harry's eyes landed on Joey, he met her eyes with a grim smile as he nodded softly.

"Joey," he said. "how... how are you feeling?"

"I'm..." she trailed off, looking for the correct words. "feeling. How are you?"

"Spectacular," he said in a tone that spoke the complete opposite.

"By the way, happy birthday," she told him with a smile, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Joey," he said. 

"How's everything going for the party?" Hermione questioned.

"Everything's almost ready, I think," Joey explained. "I believe they're ready to start as soon as you get downstairs."

"There he is!" everyone chorused as the four teenagers stepped outside into the sunlight and made their way over to the tent where everyone was waiting. "Happy birthday Harry!"

"Thank you," he said with a smile, "truly, everyone, thank you so much for being here. I know this isn't entirely the circumstances we want to find ourselves in, but I hope that today we can enjoy ourselves."

Lupin raised the glass he was holding, a bit of butterbeer sloshing from the top. "To Harry,"

George stepped next to Joey then with a glass of butterbeer in each hand, handing her one as everyone began to raise theirs in turn.

"To Harry,"