our little secret | d.m. ✓

13│george

CHAPTER 13: george

Elaine got sent home right after what happened in the courtyard. She was in complete shock. Everyone thought it was just because of her seeing him die, but that was not the case. Elaine was feeling very responsible for his death and couldn't stop thinking that it was all her fault. A few days after she came home, the rest of the family came home too. Her older brothers teased her all the time about her relationship with Draco, but not as much. She didn't mind them, she was used to them teasing her about all sorts of stuff so this wasn't unusual.

She sat herself down by the piano playing a sad melody. Putting all her feelings into the song and letting her tears fall. They fall onto her fingers and onto the keys. When she's done, she breaks. The tears fall faster than before and a loud sob comes out of her lungs. Ginny runs over to her, trying to calm her down, but it doesn't help. She calls for their mother who comes in a hurry. They place her on the sofa and she falls asleep, exhausted.

"My dear, child," Molly sighs heavily and moves some hair away from her face.

Ginny wraps a blanket around her sister, "Do you think she'll get better soon?"

"I don't know, Ginny. I don't know."

They both look at Elaine. Even in her sleep, she looks like she's in pain. Her mind never lets her rest. She's become scared of sleeping because every time she closes her eyes, she sees that man dying or Sirius or Dumbledore. She sees all of them dying. One each night. So instead she sits downstairs reading. Either inside or outside. This night she sat down by George on the sofa. He had gotten hurt yesterday night when he came home after a mission to get Potter. Elaine felt so guilty for it happening to him since she is a part of his army. She was going to just read, but she felt like talking to someone. Even though he couldn't hear her or answer her. She just needed to get it off her chest.

Elaine sat by the sofa where he lay in the living room for many nights after that. She told him everything. About how much she didn't feel like she was a part of the family because of her house, how she started dating Draco, she tells him about some of their dates they had and then it came to the Christmas break where she got the mark. She told him she had to help Draco mend the cabinet, but that she knew nothing about killing Dumbledore until after he was dead. Elaine takes a deep breath after she had told him about the death of Dumbledore.

She looked down at her brother again and saw a tear running down his cheek. She got up from the sofa in a rush. No, I thought he was asleep. No, no, no... she kept saying it over and over in her head, tears running down her face fast. Her heart started to beat faster and she couldn't control her breathing. George got up from the sofa and embraced her. She tried to break away, but he just hugged her harder holding her close to his chest.

"Hss, I won't tell anyone. I promise. Just please, calm down, Ellie," he said with tears running down his face. He hated seeing his little sister like this. He always teased her together with Fred, but it was because he didn't know how to show her how much he loved her in another way. He never knew how much she was hurting inside and he beats himself mentally for that. And hearing about her getting the mark that Christmas when she disappeared, made him even more sad and angry. Angry that the Dark Lord brought his little sister into this war and made her fight against her family.

"I'm sorry--"

"Stop. This isn't your fault. He threatened you, didn't he?" George knew that Draco and her family must have been the reason for her doing it. That the Dark Lord must have threatened her with both his life and her family's life. There's no other way Elaine could have agreed to it. Especially after seeing her state after she told him about it. "That's why you got the Mark. To protect us?" she nods into his chest and he hugs her even harder. They stay like that for a few long minutes in a comfortable silence where only the soft sobs of Elaine could be heard. Then they lay back down on the sofa, Elaine falling asleep almost instantly as she was so exhausted. George doesn't fall asleep until he made sure she was alright.

"I'm sorry, for everything, Elli. I hope you know that I love you more than you think. I should have told you that more..." he closes his eyes and falls asleep with a single tear falling down his face.

The next day, Molly comes down and sees the picture unfolding in front of her. She smiles at the two of them and goes to the kitchen to make breakfast as quietly as she can. When breakfast was almost done, Ron and Fred came running down the stairs yelling and making a lot of sounds. Molly whispers shouted at the two, but there was no use. Both Elaine and George woke up with a start. Elaine got up in a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. Her brother got up too and grabbed her arm fast as he saw her Mark appearing under her sweater. She smiles at him and hugs him. He's surprised at first but hugs her back. He brings her back down and starts to tickle her.

"George!" she yells in between laughs. She tries to hit him and wriggle away, but he's got a hand wrapped around her. Fred laughs at them and then he joins the mini fight they have, starting to tickle her too. "No," she giggles. "Not you too!" All three of them laugh together and smile from ear to ear. Everyone else comes downstairs wondering what is going on. When they see the big smile on Elaine's face, they can't help but smile themselves. They hadn't seen her that happy in a long time and the one who deserved a great laugh and smiles more than anyone was Elaine. Especially after everything that has happened. The twins stop, feeling exhausted. She gets up in a sitting position, a smile still plastered on her face.

"God, I hate you both."

"Aww, we hate you too!" they both say in unison. Molly comes and hits them both on the head for that remark before smiling at them. Elaine laughs at them. Thank you, George. Thank you for lifting a large burden off my shoulders. It helped more than I thought, and I wish I told you earlier...