Sparks Fly || A George Weasley Story

Year 4: Diagonally

I stumbled out of my fireplace, my eyes darting around to see if Amaryllis had woken up yet. I didn't see anyone at first, the house seemed to be completely still, which only set me more on edge. From here, I could see that the kitchen was empty, which was a good sign that my mum wasn't up yet. Had she been awake, she would have seen Butterscotch on the windowsill with our Hogwarts letters, and she would've started making a bigger-than-normal breakfast so Gardenia wasn't tempted to ask for anything else while we were out. 

"Juniper, why are you in the fireplace?" Gardenia asked, from the doorway where she was rubbing her eyes and fiddling with the belt of her dressing gown.

"JUNIPER CLEMONTE!" Amaryllis's voice thundered through the whole house, and I couldn't quite tell where she was. 

I didn't have to look around for long, though, because before I could even take another breath, she was in the kitchen. Her blue eyes were swimming with relief, but the anger in her voice and on her face made my heart pound. I had a feeling that this was going to be the worst talking-to, I'd ever gotten.

I cowered away from her threatening presence, unsure of whether or not I should try to explain myself before she started shouting, because when she started, it was going to be a while before she would want to see my side of things. 

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" She asked, her voice frantic as she gripped my shoulders with a frightening strength, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? ANSWER ME!"

"I went with the twins and Ron to go rescue Harry," I answered, looking down at my feet.

I'd never seen Amaryllis like this. Rosemary used to sneak out all the time to hang out with her then boyfriend, and now husband, and she'd never flipped out like this. Sure, she shouted and grounded Rosemary, who always found a way out through bribing me, but I'd never seen this look in her eyes. It wasn't anger at all. It was panic and relief all at once. And I was more than a little confusing.

"THE TWINS, AGAIN? IF I HEAR THAT THEY'VE GOTTEN YOU TO DO SOMETHING OUT OF CHARACTER AGAIN, I'M GOING TO FORBID YOU FROM SEEING THEM FOREVER! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?" She asked, and I could tell that she didn't care if I saw the twins again. She had been scared of something else, but I couldn't think of a reason that she would have been so scared about any of this.

"It's not like they made me go. I decided to go on my own." I said, trying to keep calm in hopes it would transfer over to her. 

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" She shook her head, "You know that I try to give you space and freedom now that you're getting older, but you still have to keep me in the loop, especially if you're leaving the house, no matter what time of day or night it may be."

"We were in a rush. They had Harry locked up in his bedroom, they even had bars on his windows and they were starving him! I was just so worried about him, mum! I couldn't not go with them." I explained. 

Any fight she seemed to have in her argument faded away as I told her that. The look on her face told me that she didn't know what to say. Merlin, what do you say when one of your children has been missing all night and then they show up covered head to toe in soot and tell you that they had to go and rescue a friend from such terrible conditions. I didn't even know what to say next, and I was there.

"Juniper, you still could have written a note or something. I've turned the house upside down looking for you this morning. I was afraid that..." Her voice faded off as tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head, "Nevermind, what I thought."

She let me go and turned away from me, now looking in the direction of Gardenia who was still stood in the doorway. 

"Mum, what did you think happened?" I asked, confused and wanting more answers as to why I had been screamed at in such a way.