LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

24 | Worry

If you had told Joey over the summer that she would've hardly been able to recognize herself by February, she might've laughed in your face. While things were beginning to seem grim, she always saw herself as stronger than that. She didn't understand how one could lose themselves until the night it actually began to happen to her.

From the night in the dungeons, she still nursed a black eye, as well as a prolonged headache that never quite seemed to fade after the concussion she earned from hitting her head against the wall. She skipped meals every now and then, not wanting to leave the Room of Requirement if she didn't have to, so she was much skinnier than she had been after spending a summer at the Burrow with all of Molly's cooking. Aberforth had food that a couple DA members would smuggle back and forth, but it wasn't much.

"Joey," Monty said, grabbing her attention. "come on, we're going to go grab some lunch quick before heading to Transfiguration."

"Coming," she said in the solemn tone she found herself using more and more the last few days, finally turning away from the mirror and grabbing her bag, following Monty and Nicolette out the door.

Hogwarts had officially lost every piece that made the school into what it was. Students now travelled in packs with their heads downs, rather than chasing each other down the halls laughing like they used to. The paintings now seemed almost bare, the once-loud and lively figures inside them hidden away to avoid seeing the Death Eaters patrolling the halls. Even the ghosts seemed to fade away, no longer causing mayhem throughout the corridors. Merlin knows the last time they saw Peeves floating about. Even he seemed nowhere to be found.

Thankfully, there was also no sign of either the Carrows or Professor Snape when they entered the Great Hall. Instead, Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall sat at the staff table, chatting and watching the students before them with solemn expressions. The trio found seats at what was usually the Ravenclaw table, in the area Monty had sat during the Opening and Closing Feasts each year since he arrived.

Grabbing two sandwiches off the plate, Joey couldn't help but to start shoveling them down. In the few days since detention with Carrow, she hadn't been out of the Room of Requirement much, feeling too sick to move from her concussion, even after Padma's Healing Charms. Thankfully, Neville had been able to go back and forth from Ab's to get the food he'd provided to keep the group from starving, even if it wasn't much more edible than simply eating the stones that made up the walls surrounding them.

"Merlin, Joey, slow down." Nicolette said with a chuckle. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"Sorry," she said around a mouthful of food, finishing the first sandwich.

"Just don't eat too much too quic-" Nicolette started, but was cut off by the screech of an owl flying into the Great Hall, and a letter being dropped onto the plate in front of Joey.

"Who's that from?" Monty asked as the girl eyed the familiar handwriting.

"George," Joey said, picking up the letter and the second sandwich and hurrying out of the Great Hall towards the nearest girls' lavatory, leaving her friends behind at the Ravenclaw table.

Munching on the sandwich held in one hand and opening the letter with the other, Joey quickly pulled out the piece of parchment, seeing George's messy handwriting scrawled across it.

J,

Haven't heard from you in a few days. Hope all is well. The others want to know how the numbers are coming along.

I'll be at the meeting place in 3 days if you'd like to meet me. A few of the others are coming along to bring supplies for the group. We want to keep helping as much as we can.

Please let me know if you're able to meet. I'll see you soon.

Love always,

G.

Finishing the sandwich, Joey folded up the letter, shoving it into the pocket of her robes and turning back to face the bathroom mirror, catching sight once again of the black eye and the various cuts sporting her face.

As much as she wanted to see George, Joey couldn't let him see her like that.

Heading back into the Great Hall, she found Monty and Nicolette still sitting at the Ravenclaw table, Nic cheering Monty on as he was chugging a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Well?" Nic asked as Monty finished the glass, and Joey took her seat.

Joey shrugged. "Not much. A couple of the others are bringing supplies to Ab's in three days. Wanted us to make sure we knew."

"Sure you don't want to come to Ab's?" Tommy asked as Rowan and Monty opened Ariana's painting up to reveal the passage.

I shook my head. "I'm just going to stay here this time."

"Alright, party pooper," Tommy teased. "we'll be back soon."

As the boys disappeared, I pulled out my Transfiguration essay from my bag, grabbing a quill and ink to work on it, sitting on my sleeping bag. I had made pretty good progress when I heard people begin to come back with supplies, and I felt a figure looming over where I sat.

"Alright Tommy, what now?" I asked with a smirk, looking up and feeling my smile fade as I saw George standing over me.

"Merlin's beard, Joey, what happened to your face?" George asked, crouching down and cupping my face in his hands.

"I-it was an accident," I said nervously, turning towards the wall so he couldn't see me.

"Joey, come on," George pleaded. "I've already seen Montague, Tommy, Rowan, Seamus and Neville. All of you got hurt in an accident?"

I nodded. "Arden and Nicolette, too. Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

"And what did this accident entail?" he asked gently, sitting behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Not wanting to torture first years," I muttered.

"What was that?" George asked, and I finally turned around so he could get a better look at my face, seeing George wince as he took in the black eye.

"Carrow's lesson for the day was practicing the Cruciatus Curse on first years." I explained. "Neville stopped the lesson right before Goyle was about to practice it on a tiny Ravenclaw girl, refusing to do it. We joined him, and he gave us detention for disrupting his lesson and refusing to comply with his practices. So he shackled us to the wall in his office down in the dungeons and practiced the curse on us, himself."

"Joey..." George trailed off, leaning forward and kissing my forehead gently.

"Classes are the only thing we leave for these days," I told him, "it's required. Otherwise, we're pretty much just in here. Sometimes the library."

Hearing the bell tower chime in the distance, indicating the time, Neville shut the lights out in the Room of Requirement, leaving us in darkness.

"Don't go," I pleaded with him. "will you stay here tonight?"

"Of course I will," he said. "I have to make sure my girl's alright. Here," he said, laying down on the sleeping bag and opening his arms. "come lay down,"

With a smile, I laid down next to him, laying my head on his chest, feeling it rise and fall until it slowly lured me to sleep.