Junoesque ✿George Weasley✿

71.

The twins and Blair arrived at The Burrow bearing many gifts for the family. Blair was glad that it didn't snow in Otter St. Catchpole, otherwise she wouldn't have made it from the fence and through the long grass that surrounded The Burrow. The twins were carrying the heaviest of the presents and were barely making it through the field. They complained about not being able to apparate closer to the house rather than at the fence that took ten minutes to walk from. They gave Blair the smallest bags but they were still heavy for her weak arms that struggled to lift even the Fever Fudge boxes at the shop.

"Why did we get Dad an entire collection of Muggle films again?" George groaned and finally broke through the thick, tall grass that even reached past his and Fred's heads.

"Because he's been asking for them for ages," Blair replied and dropped the bags with a sigh, letting Ginny embrace her excitedly.

"It feels like ages since I've last seen you!" Ginny cheered but then gasped once she pulled back and got a glimpse of Blair's fading bruises. "What happened to your neck?! Oh Merlin, it looks awful!"

"Always the charmer, Ginerva," Fred muttered as he walked past and greeted Bill and Charlie that were on the front porch. Ginny glared over her shoulder at him before turning back to Blair, her expression riddled with concern and worry for the collar of darkness around her neck.

"I'll explain later. It was an Order mission," she dismissed it and forced Ginny back towards the house, dragging the bags along and up the stairs of the porch.

They entered into the first room that just so happened to be living room and were greeted by the rest of the Weasley family. Harry had settled into one of the armchairs and was talking avidly with Arthur, but stood up when he saw the three enter cheerfully. He tried to make it look like he wasn't staring at Blair's gruesome throat and shook hands with the twins. Ron wasn't observant enough to know that most of the family were avoiding mentioning the wounds and dramatically cried,

"Holy Hufflepuff, Blair! Did you get chocked by a giant or something?!"

"Ronald Weasley! I did not raise you to be sorude!" Molly scolded and reared her hand back against her son's shoulder. She lookedtowards Blair with a sympathetic look and rushed over to put her hand gently onher arm. "It's look a lot better, Blair. Don't listen to him."

"Itsfine, Mrs Weasley. I know it looks bad, but it's healing well," Blair reassuredand noticed how many eyes were trained on her throat. "It happened on an Ordermission. Fred had some injuries as well, so it wasn't just me."

"You know what? Let's do some festive things rather than dive into all of our cuts and bruises," Fred butted in, the mentioning of his name being the cue to clear the air and try to change the subject. He could see that Blair was tired of people pointing out the bruises and didn't want a big deal to be made out of the already handled situation (well she thought it was handled, anyway). He could also see that George was getting concerned again and contradicting his previous thoughts of the bruises healing nicely. Fred could tell that George was ready to take Blair upstairs and wrap her up in layers of bandages.

"Freddie's right! We still need a Christmas tree!" Arthur stood up and adjusted his trousers in the classic Dad style. "Charlie, could you come with me to the tree nursery? I think I'll need someone to help carry it."

"Sure thing, Dad," Charlie nodded and it initiatedthe movement from the tense atmosphere and into a much light-hearted one.

Blair looked over at Fred with a look of gratitude and nodded at him. In return, Fred shot an understanding wink before moving into the kitchen where Bill was sorting out bottles of Butterbeer for everyone. Ron shyly sat back in his armchair after pointing obliviously at Blair's neck and went to open his mouth to apologise, but received a punch to the arm from Ginny who plonked on the sofa next to him.