One and Only 2 ; George Weasley

132

"That was the last one." Badger sighed after he packed the last of the leftovers away. "Do you need any help?

"No need." I simply told him. I was doing the dishes. There was a lot but I didn't mind. I liked standing here.

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine." I assured him. "You can go put Ben to bed."

Badger nodded slightly at me and left the kitchen as Kathleen walked in. She sent me a soft smile before she grabbed a towel to dry the things I washed.

"I'm not going back in hiding."

"Lizzie." Kathleen frowned. "We're still in..."

"What? Danger?" I laughed, pure sarcasm in my voice. "We went into hiding to protect ourselves and then he killed my mother. Don't you see why? He is punishing me and Sebastian because we didn't surrender ourselves to him."

She didn't respond. We both kept washing the dishing, drying them and we just stayed in silence. I looked out of the window. Sebastian was smoking a cigarette in the driveway while talking to Emmett. I didn't even know my brother smoked. It was starting to get dark outside. It was late and it was probably also going to rain sometime tonight.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kathleen questioned. "You are right. Hiding isn't going to help when he decides to kill the people we care about and we can't hide every single person in our lives.... but, don't blame yourself. Your father— Adrian... might have killed your mum because he couldn't get you to join but that is not on you. That's on him and someday, he will pay for it."

"I hope you're right." I breathed. After we finished up in the kitchen, we walked into the living room together where George, Fred, Deanne and Lee stood. Well, George was really the only one standing. The three others were sitting on the sofa and George was standing by the window, looking out at the forest behind the house. He looked at me as I approached him, and open up one arm to wrap around me when I wrapped my own arms around him.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Don't you think the forest looks like the dark forest at Hogwarts?"

"I guess it does when it's dark outside." I told him. "But I don't think it's as dangerous."

"It probably isn't." He offered me a soft smile as he looked down at me and pushed some hair behind my ear. "Don't you wanna get some sleep? You've had a long day."

"I'm not really tired." I lied. I hated sleeping. It's been two weeks and every time I close my eyes, I see her. Every single time.

"Okay." George murmured, rubbing my arm gently. "I'll stay up with you."

I looked out at the forest again, the dark surrounding it. The door to the house opened and voices were heard in the hallway. Sebastian and Emmett. Steps were then heard on the staircase and the voices disappeared.

I never expected for something like this to happen. I knew that people were going to die in this war but I never expected for my mum to die too. I had only cried two times. The day I found out and today. Mostly I felt numb about the whole thing. I felt numb when I thought about the fact that I was never going to hug my mum again. I was never going to talk to her, never going to calm her down because she worried a lot. She was gone and nothing could change that.

On the first day, I cried. I cried and I didn't stop. I cried until I was dry of tears. George held me the entire time, he didn't say anything, he just held me and I fell asleep in his arms.

On the second day, I refused to eat. I stayed in bed and I took a whole lot of showers because I felt some kind of relief with the cold water hitting my face. That continued for a week.

On the ninth day, I tried to force myself out of the grieving. I forced myself to get up, I got downstairs and I went on about my day. Every time someone would try to talk to me about it, I'd shut it out, smile and shake my head but when I turned away, tears would emerge in my eyes, though I never let them fall.

On the eleventh day, I woke up in hope that it wasn't true. The pain was much worse and I felt like I was drowning. I just laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. When George woke up and saw me, he cuddled me, he cuddled me tightly and told me everything was going to be alright.

On the fourteenth day, we had a funeral. That was today. I had to hold a speech in church but I couldn't finish it. I broke down crying, I couldn't speak. Sebastian hurried up by my side and held me while he read my speech for me, tearing up as well. He carried out the casket along with  Bader, Uncle Alabaster, Uncle Marsh, Cousin Cliff and Cousin Roland. I had a rose. I threw it on the casket as it was lowered into the ground. Then I cried again but I tried to stop. I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to feel the way I did. I wanted it to stop. I wished I could push a button and all the feelings I experienced would disappear.

"I'm off to bed." it came from the doorway to the hallway. We all turned to see Badger standing there. "You can all stay if you'd like. I know Liz would be happy to have you here. Just don't stay up too late."

"Goodnight." I told him, offering him a small smile. He repaid it and nodded before walking out into the hallway to go upstairs.

"Do you remember when we were kids?" Deanne asked as she approached me, hugging me from the side. "Your mum bought a car and when she came to pick us up from school, we were both so excited."

"It was pink." I muttered. "An awful pink."