the painter // george weasley //

3

The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898

"Mum!" Ginny yelled as she flooed into the living room, "MUM!" She ran to the kitchen, Molly dropped the pot she was holding, the sound of it hitting the floor silenced the kitchen. The trio was over for dinner and all their eyes went wide when Ginny came sprinting in.

"What?!" Molly asked in fear, "Is George okay?"

"Oh! Yeah." Ginny shook her head, "He's fine. We had dinner and he fell asleep before I left, but that's not what I'm trying to tell you. Its Olive!"

"What about her?" Ron asked

"She knew someone, someone at the battle."

"How? She's American.."

"Theodore Proud, Tom was telling me about him. I saw Olive at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, and she mentioned that she knew how the families she's worked with, she knew how they felt."

"Oh, poor girl.." Molly sighed, cleaning up the pot of food off the floor.

"I asked Tom if he knew Olive well, and he said she comes in every other night, but he knew her before she came here. He said he knew her friend Theo, he was an American Auror who came after Dumbledore died."

"Makes sense.." Percy spoke, "The Magical Congress of the United States of America was very loyal to him, after what he did in the first war with Grindelwald."

"Yeah, they sent about 10 aurors over at the beginning of last year." Arthur added, "What was the name again, Ginny?"

"Theodore Proud?"

"Proud.. Proud.." Arthur repeated, "Theo! Yeah, I met him once through Kingsley. They technically weren't allowed to join private organizations so that's why they weren't apart of the Order, but they did work alongside with Tonks and Kingsley on some missions." Arthur sighed, "He was young, Fred and George's age, i think. Just got certified as an auror just that Christmas.."

"You guys remember those wizards who were crowded in the great hall a few people down from Fred?"

"The ones who were in those black robes and the weird badges?" Harry asked

"Yeah, those were the American aurors. Just after you guys brought Fred's body in, I saw them come in with his. Overheard them talking about how they had get him back to America, to his fiancée.."

"He was engaged?" Molly said, sadly, "I wonder if Olive knew her too?"

"That's probably how she got into the portraits," Percy said, "Maybe she made that girl a portrait."

"I wonder why she didn't tell us, at our meeting?" Hermione told the group

"That is not our story to know." Molly pointed her finger at them all, "and you will not ask her about it, she is giving her time to help us. Do you understand? When she is here, you don't ask about her friend."

"Yes, mum."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So, Ginny.. How's George?"

January 1998

The two of them were sitting on the floor of their bedroom, eating pizza. Theo was set to leave the next morning for London.

"This is the best pizza, I've ever had." Theo mumbled

"So good."