She saw me when everyone else saw my brother. Losing him was hard on everyone. But for me, I lost my other half. The only person who knew my every secret, who knew everything about me was gone. I don't know how I could go on without him. I was broken in every sense of the word, and now even though it's been years since the last battle, it still hurts.
It was no longer Fred and George, now it was just George. It's still hard to think about, and it's difficult to accept this. My family made it worse than it should have been. They care and they do try to be careful with what they say but even the best of us make mistakes.
My mother makes it worse; when she looks at me her eyes aren't focused. I know what happens after I see that look but I choose to ignore it hoping that one day instead of it foreshadowing her usual comment, "How are you Fred?" it'll be me she asks the question, me George.
But even though she doesn't focus on what she says, it's after she says it she realizes her mistake. She'll sigh deeply, and then rush over and give me a tight hug. Trying to say sorry, but it never really works. It still hurts now, as much as it did before.
Yet, now when I look at my love, she sees me George, never Fred. She's the one who saved me from my nightmares. She's the one who picked me up off the ground when no one else could. She's the one who saw ME.
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The bell jingled happily over the shop's door as a dark haired woman walked in. She pushed her windswept hair from her face, and stepped further into the warm joke shop. She had never been in this store before but it was cold outside and she needed to find a place to escape the harsh weather. Casting a look out the window behind her, she made up her mind to look around and waste some time.
She made her way through the store, careful not to touch anything or knock anything over. She had to admit it was amazing. It was busy and there wasn't an empty shelf, on the contrary every shelf was full to bursting. Every where she turned there was something else to see.
After what had to be over an hour she spent there she made her way to the register. She found a handful of items she thought she would try out. So laying them on the counter, she went to pay. But there was no one there.
"Hello?" She said to the empty room around her, "Is anyone there, I'm ready to check out."
A muffled thud could be heard in the back room and soon someone entered from the staff door.
"Oh I didn't hear the bell back there, sorry if I kept you waiting." The man said, shaking some of his hair from his face. She gasped when she saw that there wasn't an ear on one side. There was just a hole where it should have been.
"This," he said, with something like a grin, "is nothing, you should see my brother, Bill. He's a sight for sore eyes."
"Ha, okay. I'm sorry if I was rude. It's not like me." The girl told him. "I'm Emily, Emily Stewart by the way. You must be….?"
He looked at her in a curious way but replied, "I'm George, George Weasley."
Realization dawned on Emily, "So you're the one who made this shop? It's brilliant! I've never seen anything like this. So wait I thought you made this store with you're brother, where is he?" She noticed her mistake too late, the light left his face and his mouth turned into a grimace. "Oh, no you don't have to tell me, I'm being rude again."
George didn't hear all that she said after she asked about Fred. He zoned out, went back into the shell he created. He nodded at Emily and started to ring up the items she wanted. "That'll be 11 galleons, and 2 sickles."
She handed him his money and took her bag. "Well I'm sure we might see each other again George, It was really nice meeting you. Have a nice day." She smiled and waved as she went back out into the harsh weather.
George shook his head, not many people talked to him anymore even his family. He stayed at the shop most of the time, occasionally visiting some family for dinner. But that was kept to a minimum, people started to look at him with pity and concern, the fact that he wasn't the life of the party now worrying others.
But the stranger who just entered the shop changed something. Maybe it was the look she gave him. It was full of curiosity about his shop, she looked happy too. Something he realized he hasn't felt in a long time. This Emily, she was something else. He just knew it.
Or maybe it was the fact that she made him feel something for the first time in years. She didn't notice it but before she mentioned his brother, he felt something other than grief and loss.
He felt hope.
Even with the short conversation he had with her, he couldn't help but recalling what she said. Well I'm sure we might see each other again George.
That short sentence awakened inside him something new to him in the last couple years and now he wanted more. He wanted to see her again. To talk to her more. He made is way back to the store room, his mind reeling.
The next time she came into his shop, he would be ready to actually talk to her, he wanted to know her better and he wasn't going to chase her away with his inner demons.
All these feelings awakened because for the first time in a long time, someone saw George.