AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

Complex Constellations

AlwaysPadfoot

"Go away."

Bill winced and retracted his hand from where it was hovering, barely a centimetre from the twins' door. He debated if it was worth even trying to talk to George.

He'd locked everyone out — including Fred. That being said, who could blame him after Mum had yelled so loud it had stirred the ghoul four floors above? Bill wasn't sure whether to be impressed or horrified that his thirteen-year-old brother had driven their dad's flying Ford Angela somewhere in the middle of the night and lived to tell the tale.

Of course, George wouldn't tell anyone where he'd been and Mum had been less than pleased about that.

Boy, had Bill picked the wrong weekend to visit.

Inhaling deeply, Bill unlocked the door with a wave of his hand and slipped inside. As he pressed the door closed behind him, George lifted his head from his pillow and glared at him.

"I said go away, Bill," George said, his eyes narrowed. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

Bill had expected a fight, but he'd told himself he wasn't going to rise to it — that he'd stay level-headed. So instead of responding, the older Weasley crossed the room and sat opposite George on Fred's unmade bed. The sulking boy's eyes never left him as he moved and Bill could tell that his brother was upset. His brown eyes were red-rimmed and his cheeks were stained with tears.

"I'm not here to yell, or to talk," Bill said calmly. "Just here to keep you company."

"I don't want company," George huffed.

"Tough shit."

Eyes widening ever so slightly, George masked his surprise by returning to scowling at Bill and dropped his face back into his pillow without a word in response.

Bill's patience has always been a virtue. He could wait out his little brother on a really bad day so today would be easy peasy. He twisted so suddenly the bedsprings creaked beneath him. Bill lay back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head, and exhaled loudly. Staring up at the ceiling, Bill soon found the odd sensation that he was being watched creeping across his skin. In his peripheral vision, he could see George peering out over his arm at him.

It had barely been five minutes. Bill tried his best not to look smug as he turned his head to his brother.

"I'm not your enemy; Mum's not sent me to gather information. If you did want to talk, I swear down that I won't breathe a word to anyone," Bill said.

George searched his face for any reason not to trust him and then he sat up, not quite meeting Bill's eye.

"I followed my constellation."

Bill sucked in a low breath. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but he knew that George admitting he'd tried to find his soulmate was not something that had crossed his mind.

"Oh, and did you find her?" Bill asked.

George winced.

"I found... I—I think I did it wrong." The younger Weasley wasn't looking at Bill at all. "I definitely did it wrong."

"You followed the brightest constellation?" Bill said.

George nodded. "Yeah, but—"

"And it sort of glowed in the sky?"

"Yeah," George replied.

"You didn't do it wrong then," Bill said firmly.

He hesitated, not sure whether to press for information or just wait for George to give it to him. His younger brother put his face in his hands and sucked a shaky breath, clearly conflicted. Bill was about to tell him it was okay, to tell him if Mum knew he was searching for his soulmate then she might have been more understanding, when George looked up with tears in his eyes.

"You don't understand. Fred, he found Angelina the day we started Hogwarts. Me? I found a scruffy little Irish boy with a black eye."

Bill cocked his head to the side.

"So?"

"So?! My soulmates a boy!" George retorted.

"So what? For Charlie, there's no constellation brighter than any other. The boy's committed to chasing dragons for the rest of his life, not relationships. And Ginny? She always tells me the stars are so much brighter when she sleeps over at Luna's," Bill said. "George, people are not all the same, and this? It isn't something to cry about; it's something to explore."

"But—"

Bill held his hand up to interrupt him. "George, sexuality is confusing. If you come to the conclusion that you don't like boys, then maybe this Irish boy is your platonic soulmate."

"Platonic?" George sniffed, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Like destined to be best friends forever, no romance," Bill responded before he moved to sit beside George, pulling his younger brother into a hug. "Just.. this isn't something you have to figure out in one night, or one week, or even a year, George."

The younger boy wrapped his arms around Bill and hurried his face against his shirt.

"Thank you," George mumbled.

"No problem, little brother," Bill said softly, holding George tight.

Bill wondered whether, if he hadn't been here, George would have told anyone where he'd been — what he'd discovered. But as he sat with his brother, holding him close, Bill was glad he'd come home to visit.

Comps and Prompts

Romance Awareness: Day 15 - Each soulmate pair has a constellation, and the constellation that you perceive to be the brightest is pointing towards where your soulmate is.

LiM: Family — Bill/George

IHC: 600. Creature — Ghoul

365: 192. Location — The Burrow

SC — Days of the Year — August 12 2018 - Middle Child's Day: Write about a middle child

WC — Disney Challenge — C3. Michael and Jane Banks - Write about mischievous children.

WC — CYB — P1. GeorgeSeamus

WC — Sophie's Shelf — 14. GeorgeSeamus

Word Count: 878