Once I can breathe steady again I look into those beautiful brown eyes that I love to get lost in and I begin to tear up. I covered my mouth with my hand while I cried, still sitting in his dresser "Savannah," he says, softly, and he pulls me into a hug, "What's wrong, darling?"
I sob, "We shouldn't have done that."
"Savannah, why does it matter?" He asks, rubbing my back with his large hands, "We love each other, we have for years now. Why must we fight it? Because of the Dark Lord? Because your going on a trip with your brother and you don't know how long you'll be gone? I don't care. What we have transcends all of that. The only way I'm going to ever let you go is if you die. And I hate to think about that, I do, but it's the truth."
I push him off of me, saying, "Please stop it, George. You don't understand what you're talking about."
He gets a bit angry with me, his tone becomes cold, "Then explain it to me. Where are you going with Harry? What are you guys doing? Tell me, Savannah, help me understand."
"I can't do that!" I say, a bit louder than I wanted to.
"Well then how can you expect me to understand if you won't tell me anything?" He asks, shouting back. "You want me to just give up on us and move on from you but you haven't given me good enough reason."
"So Death Eaters kidnapping you and torturing you to get me isn't a good enough reason for you? The less you know the safer you are. Why can't you understand that? God you're so stubborn!" I am off the dresser now, putting my dress back right, "look, George, I'm leaving tomorrow for I don't know how long. I don't want our last conversation to be a fight. I let my feelings get the best of me, I did, and I'm sorry. I love you more than anything, I do, that's why I broke up with you. But we can't get back together. Not right now. Wait for me, don't wait for me. I don’t care anymore. You're going to do whatever you want to when it comes to that."
"I'm sorry for shouting," he says finally. "I just miss you, is all. And it's just so unfair that we can't be together and I'm just expected to act like you and I never even happened."
"It's completely unfair. I agree." I say, shrugging, "but I'm also expected to act like we never happened either, too, you know."
"Well, at least we got to, um, have some fun one last time before you left."
"Yeah," I nod and look down at my feet, "it was nice."
"Will you, ugh, save me a dance tonight?"
I nod my head yes to him, "Yeah, I will."
George went outside again as I fixed up my hair a bit. When I went down to the wedding again, I had finally found the courage to take off the promise ring. I was stupid for still wearing it. It put it into my trunk, with the other jewelry George has given me, and the box of Chocolate Frogs he gave me.
I grabbed a glass of champagne and downed it, and it wasn't hard to convince the bride and groom to do a shot of fire whiskey with me either. I was getting drunk. I needed to. I'd hate myself tomorrow for it but right now that wasn't my problem, it was a future me problem.
I kept my distance from George. I didn't have the strength to deal with him right now. But when he came asking for that dance I promised him I didn't say no. Of course he picked a slow song. Then a large and silver Lynx came running across the field. Someone sent a message. George and I started running, following it all the way back to the tent where everyone was. It stopped in the middle of the dance floor and spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
“The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.”
Everything seemed to be fuzzy and slow. Harry and Hermione jumped from their seats and drew their wands, and George next to me did the same, so I copied them. Harry and Hermione threw themselves into panic mode when we heard somebody scream. Guests started to Disapparate around us, which meant one thing: the protection charms on the Burrow were now broken.
I turn to look at George. “Get out of here, now! Go find Fred and your family and stay together! I have to help get Harry out of here!” I tell him, my voice frantic.
He nods, not putting up any kind of protest to this, “Stay safe, okay? I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I tell him and then we separate after one very quick hug and then I am at Hermione and Harry’s side. I grabbed onto Harry’s arm, and his other one was holding onto Hermione’s hand, keeping us all together as Hermione was screaming Ron’s name in a panic trying to find him as we made our way across the dancefloor. It took us a second, but we did find Ron, and he got hold of Hermione and suddenly everything was black as we were rushing through time and space.
When I could see light again, I saw we were at a very busy street that was swarming with Muggles. “Where are we?” asked Ron. I had that same question.
“Tottenham Court Road,” panted Hermione, “Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you boys to change.”
We did as she asked and we started walking. "Guys," I say, as I stumble to keep myself upright as I walk. "I made a mistake today."
"What did you do, Savannah?" Asks Harry, sounding like he's just asking to appease me.
"I had sex with George," I admit to them.
Ron and Harry both chorus, "What?"
"You really shouldn't have done that, Savannah," says Hermione.
"When did that even happen?" Asks Ron, who then adds, "You two were with everyone else all night."
"Not all night," says Hermione, "I saw them head into the Burrow right after dinner. When everyone started dancing."
"He said that he wanted to say goodbye to me, since Ron told him we were leaving. And he gave me a box of Chocolate Frogs for my birthday and he was being all nice and sweet and he was talking all romantic telling me I was the one for him and that he was going to wait for me and that he didn’t see his future without me in it and then I got so caught up in my feelings that I kissed him and it escalated quickly. But as soon as it was over I knew I had made a big mistake. A really big mistake."
"You love him," says Hermione matter-of-factly, "don't beat yourself up about it. You just got caught up in the moment is all."
"I love him so much," I say, a smile on my lips. "I'm just so scared that I won't make it back to him. I'm not scared of the Dark Lord or his followers or anything like that. I'm just scared that I'll have to watch George fall in love with someone else as a ghost."
"George would choose you as a ghost over any living woman, Savannah," says Ron in an attempt to make me feel better.
"It just sucks. You know?" I say looking at both of them, "You're supposed to break up with some because you're not in love with them anymore, not because you're completely in love with them."
"Okay, we need to get her some water and sober her up, and quickly. We can't forget we're not of age in the Muggle world," Says Harry, talking about me like I'm not here.
"You and Ron need to change first," says Hermione.
I was grateful that I had switched my heels into more comfortable flats during the reception otherwise my feet would be killing me. She was right, the boys needed to change. They were still in their dressing robes and they were getting odd stares. At least Hermione and I were in dresses that could pass for Muggle clothes.
“Hermione,” started Ron, “We don’t have anything to change into.”
“Why didn’t I make sure I had the invisibility cloak on me,” said Harry, cursing his own stupidity. “All last year I kept it on me.”
“It’s okay, I’ve got the cloak,” said Hermione, “I’ve got clothes for both of you boys. Ah, this will do.” She led us down a side street then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway. She reached into her handbag, that seemed to be bewitched like mine was to hold more than it looked like it could. The boys looked at her like she was crazy as she pulled out clothes and the cloak. She explains that she’s been packing for a few days now, since we had all agreed to leave after the wedding and all.
“You’re amazing, you are,” beamed Ron, handing her his bundled up robes.
“Thank you,” said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag and told Harry to hurry and put the cloak on
Harry was worried about the others at the wedding, but we told him we couldn’t worry about that right now, that we had to get to safety for Harry and then we would worry about it. There were a group of men who were now catcalling Hermione and I from across the street, telling us to ditch the ginger and come hang out with them. We rolled our eyes and kept walking until we found an all-night diner and took seats at a booth. Hermione ordered us three cappuccinos now that Harry was underneath the cloak. A pair of burley men entered the café then and sat at a booth not far from ours, but we didn’t pay them much mind.
Ron suggests we get to the Leaky Cauldron, but Hermione and I shut it down saying that we can’t. Then he suggests we go to Fred and George’s and we shut that down too, saying we can’t go anywhere where anyone else could be because it would be putting them in danger. Especially since we don’t even know if Fred and George are still at the Burrow or if they went back to their flat above Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.
The two workmen made identical movements, and I felt the seat spot next to me rise as Harry stood up. Hermione and I drew our wands, Ron acted a few seconds late as to what was going on. They shot an unheard spell at us that we dodged and Harry yelled, “Stupefy!” undeath the cloak and it hit the taller, bigger, blonde Death Eater in the face. His companion cast another spell as his friend went down and it fired at Ron again and ropes were now tied around his body keeping him at bay. Harry sent him another stunning spell, but he missed and hit the waitress who collapsed on the floor.
“Expulso!” cried the Death Eater and the table in front of us flew up and hit Harry, slamming him into the wall.
I point my wand and shout, “Petrificus Totalus!” and the Death Eater falls forward on his face. Hermione started to tend to Ron, getting him out of the black ropes. She apologized that her hands were shaking. Once we were all on our feet again, we put the diner back together and obliviated the minds of the two Death Eaters and the Waitress so they wouldn’t remember what happened.
Harry said that we needed to get to Grimmauld Place, and the three of us gasped. He said it was the only place where we wouldn’t be seen and no one we knew would be there. We tried to protest this, but we couldn’t. We knew he was right. So, we all apparated to Number 12, Grimmauld Place together. We found the jinxes that were laid out for Professor Snape as soon as we got to the house, but since we weren’t Snape they didn’t bother us. This place sure hadn’t changed much since we last saw it, it was eerie, dark, and still full of cobwebs.
Ron said he didn’t want to be alone, so we all slept in the family room in sleeping bags that Hermione had brought with her. It was nice until we woke up and didn’t know where Harry was. I woke to Hermione shaking me awake, telling me they needed to find Harry. We all started running around the house, frantically looking for our friend. In about five minutes, Hermione yelled she had found him upstairs.
I went into the kitchen, where I found Ron now sitting at the table. I sat down with him, and the awkward silence filled the air. Ron and I are friends, but we’ve never actually been alone in a room together. It was odd. He was certainly a talkative guy, but right now I guess he didn’t want to be, and neither did I, honestly.
Hermione and Harry are in the kitchen, yelling that they think that they have found out who R.A.B. is, Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius’s little brother. He was a Death Eater and he was killed by them, so it makes sense. I can’t believe we never looked into Regulus, considering that he had the first and last initials of R.A.B., but there was only one person who could tell us if we were right about this. Kreacher, the awful house elf that Harry inherited from Sirius when he died.
We got the story out of Kreacher by having to force him to tell us. Harry asked if Kreacher knew anything about the locket, and where it might be. Kreacher said Mundungus took it and that he was upset that he could never fulfil Master Regulus’s orders, that’s when we had to get that story out of him too.
Regulus had been with the Death Eaters for a year when he came to Kreacher and told him the Dark Lord needed an elf and that he had volunteered Kreacher for the task and that it was an honor. This made Kreacher excited. He knew what he was doing was important. Voldemort made him drink the potion at the cave where Harry and Dumbledore went the night that Dumbledore died, and Voldemort left Kreacher on the ground thinking he was dead. Regulus called him back, and he went home. Then Regulus and Kreacher went back to the cave a few weeks later now that Kreacher knew where the locket was and Regulus drank the potion this time and made Kreacher take the real locket and replace it with the fake and told him to destroy it. Regulus died a week later.
Harry told Kreacher to find Mundungus and bring him to the house, he even gave him the fake locket to remind him of Regulus. He assured Kreacher that we were going to finish what Master Regulus had started, and with a crack, Kreacher vanished.
Three days went by and there was no sign of Kreacher, we did get a visitor though. It was Lupin, of all people. Hermione and Ron put down their wands but Harry and I kept our guard up. “Prove yourself!” Harry demanded. Lupin smiled.
“I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder’s Map, husband of Nymphadora, who you know as Tonks, and I taught one of you how to produce a Patronus, that take the form of a Stag.”
“Oh, alright,” says Harry, “But I had to check, didn’t I?”
“Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, I quite agree that you did. Ron, Hermione, you should be quite so quick to lower your defenses.”
We all ran over to him, and I gave him a big hug, and we traveled into the kitchen and sat at the table. Lupin started asking the questions on his mind. He wanted to know what happened after we left the Burrow, so we told him what happened at the café. He was surprised that the Death Eaters had found us that quickly. Then we asked my dad after we left the Burrow.
Thanks to Kingsley’s warning most of the guests were able to Apparate out of the wedding before it got too bad. It didn’t matter if they were Death Eaters or Ministry people, because they were basically the same people now at this point.
No one got hurt, once they realized Harry wasn’t there they left. He assured us that Ron’s family was safe, and that Tonks was safe too at her parent’s house, but then he went into the fact that the Death Eaters were there to get Harry for questioning about Dumbledore’s death. He then told us that the Death Eaters are now using their high positions at the Ministry to go after Muggle-born witches and Wizards, saying that they got their magic by stealing it from others, which was obviously impossible and not true at all.
Ron then declared that he would say that Hermione was his cousin, and that he would teach her his family tree and everything, but she said it didn’t matter since they were off and on the run with Harry, but she was grateful for the help. We all felt sickened and angry at this.
Then Lupin changed the subject again
“I’ll understand if you can’t confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission?”
“He did,” Harry replied, “and they are all in on it and they’re coming with me.”
“Can you confide in me what the mission is?”
“I can’t, Remus,” he says shaking his head no. “I’m sorry. If Dumbledore didn’t tell you I don’t think I can.”
“I was afraid of that answer,” he says, sighing. “But I thought I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to.”
Harry hesitated, like it was a very tempting offer. Hermione and I both gave him a puzzled look, and I finally spoke up. “What about Tonks?”
“What about her?” Lupin asks, looking at me.
“Well,” said Hermione, “you’re married! How does she feel about you going away with us?”
“Tonks will be perfectly safe at her parent’s,” Lupin assures us.
There was something inLupin tone; it was almost cold. “Lupin,” I start, “Is everything okay between you two?”
“Everything is fine, thank you,” he assures and then his face looks like he’s forcing himself to admit something unpleasant. “Tonks is going to have a baby.” There was a round of cheers and congratulations given to him, but Lupin's expression didn’t change. “So, do you accept my offer? Will four become five? I can’t believe that Dumbledore would ever disapprove.”
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry. I kept my eyes on Lupin, reading his expressions, as Harry spoke again. “Just to be clear, you want to leave Tonks at her parent’s house and come away with us?”
“She’ll be perfectly safe there,” he assures us, “They’ll look after her. Harry, I’m sure James would have wanted me to stick with you.”
“Well, I’m not,” Says Harry, swiftly. “I’m pretty sure that my father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your own kid."
Lupin's face drained of color. Ron stared around the room as though he had been bidden to memorize it, while Hermione’s eyes swiveled backwards and forward from Lupin to Harry. Lupin lets out a sigh, “You don’t understand.”
“Explain then,” I demand.
Lupin swallows hard. “I – I made a grave mistake marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgement and I have regretted it ever since.”
“I see,” says Harry.
I am now angry. I thought Lupin was better than this. “So you’re just going to dump her and the kid and run off with us? Is that it?”
“You don’t understand what I’ve done to them,” Lupin protests, “I should have never married her. I made her an outcast! You don’t know what the rest of the Wizarding community says about people like me. Her own family is disgusted by our marriage. And the child – the child.” Lupin actually seizes handfuls of his graying hair, “My kind shouldn’t breed! It could be like me, and if it’s not, it’s better off without a father of whom it must always be ashamed.”
I am awestruck by that. These words, it was ridiculous of him to say. Have I not proven to him that I love him? That I think he is an excellent father figure to me? Have I not shown him enough love as his Goddaughter that he thinks this way about having children and being in their lives? Tears well up in my eyes, and my breath hitches in my throat. At the sound of it Hermione takes my hand under the table and Harry rounds in on Lupin, “How could you say that when you know my sister looks to you like her father figure?”
“Savananh had 13 years without me in her life, and she’s better now because of it."
"I was never ashamed of having you as my Godfather, even though you never took me in after my parents died. I understood why, or at least I tried my best to. But you’re right, I am finally ashamed of having such a coward as my Godfather.”
I stand up then, wiping my eyes as I exit the kitchen and make my way upstairs. I slam the bedroom door and I start to bawl. I was so upset and disappointed in Lupin right now all I could do was just cry. For 13 years I didn’t even know the man, and then I had some idea in my head that he was a great man, I have defended him against multiple people multiple times, only to find out that I was wrong. That my judgement was off. I felt so stupid. How could the man who left his unborn child and pregnant wife be a good man?
I got myself so worked up, I actually got physically ill. I made it to the bathroom just in time to have my breakfast exit my body. I stayed there for a moment, listening to see if I can hear voices. I heard the door slam, and I figured Lupin had gone. A few moments later I was greeted by Hermione.
“Oh, Savannah,” she says and she is at my side on the ground. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” I say through a sniffle, “I went 13 years without him, I can do more.”
She hugs me, holding me tightly against her, running her hands through my hair.
_______________
Here's part 28
I know it kind of ended on as sad note.
I honestly love Lupin to death but I hated him for a minute the first time I read that scene.
-Emily Winchester.
YOU ARE READING
The Other Potter (George Weasley)
Fanfiction*Complete, finished story.* Daughter of James and Lily Potter. Goddaughter of Remus Lupin. Twin sister of Harry Potter. Girlfriend of George Weasley. Retelling of the Harry Potter Series from The Prisoner of Azkaban through The Deathly Hallows from...
