Magic Works is my first fanfiction ever...
and english is not my first language...
so keep up with me please...
Prologue
She was crying, like never before, she didn't like to cry, but given the circumstances she needed to…
Tania was just 26 years old, she wasn't a big deal of a pretty woman, but she was alright, or that was what she thought, but after tonight she wasn't so sure anymore…
She married when she was 20 and was already pregnant with her husband's kid, she loved him… and he loved her… after tonight that was doubtful too…
She sobbed and kicked the photo album she was looking at before.
Her short dark blond hair was a messy disaster, her face red and swollen and her eyes puffy and full of tears, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sobbed harder… She was not supposed to be crying over a man… even if that man was her husband…
The green of her eyes seemed to be brighter than usual… that happened whenever she felt something strong… right now; anger…
She stood and went to the bathroom, splashed her face with water and sniffled, her nose red and her cheeks blushed…
She heard a knock on the door of the house…
Stepping out of the master bedroom she walked down the spiral stairs, she kept walking down until she reached the first floor… and went to the door… she opened not caring whoever was on the other side…
"For Merlin's beard!" she heard her sister in law yell…
Ginny… lovely Ginny, she was a redhead just like the rest of her brothers, she had the same brown eyes her mother had, the same brown eyes George had…
"Ginny…" Tania mumbled feeling tired, she had been crying the whole day.
"Where's George?" she asked stepping in the house while taking off her coat, she was looking around frantically…
"Out…" was all Tania replied.
"Out? Where? Why isn't he here with you?" she demanded.
"Because we had a fight…" she answered again.
She stopped and glanced at the other girl… like she couldn't believe what she heard…
"Look Ginny… I'm kind of tired… George took Fred to your mother's…" Tania said dismissingly with her hand…
Fred was Tania and George's son; he was 5 years old and had the same red hair his father has, but the eyes of the mother… he was as funny and nice as the father, he was a natural prankster and her grandma loved him dearly…
"That's good… seems like you fancy company…" Ginny said sweetly and sat next to Tania.
They stayed in silence for a while and after a moment Ginny spoke…
"What's been happening here?"
1
Redheads and coffee…
Tania was a college student; she was accepted with a full scholarship to Royal Holloway University, she loved the castle-like place… She had a small flat near the building and loved to go to Bingfield Street, near King Cross' Station, there was a small cafeteria there were she used to read all the time…
She was finishing her last semester in college, majoring in Interior's Design and she got to admit she was pretty good at it… she started working as a waitress in the small cafeteria she loved…
She had short and, dark blond hair with a thick fringe, she had green eyes, and she was pretty tall and plump, not fat, not skinny…
With 19 years she was alone, single, and not a record with relationships, she had not social skills of any kind, though she didn't seem to be looking for it…
She loved peace and silence, to have control over everything in her life; she didn't like surprises but loved to laugh nonetheless… too mature for her own good…
That's why until today she wouldn't understand how the hell did she ended up married with someone like George…?
George was taller than her, he had broad shoulders and a taut muscled arms and legs, he had blazing red hair, his nose was big, his lips thin, his eyes were a warm brown color, but frozen at the same time, he had a boyish expression and a mischievous smile that never seemed to appear enough…
He used to love pranks and explosions, noises and people laughing, he used to love inventing, and creating… he used to love his and his twin brother's shop… he used to love his and his twin brother's room, full of parchments with drawings of oncoming inventions, full of marks, dirtiness, and the smell of ink and gunpowder… he used to love having dinner with his big family and prank his mother with the help of his inseparable twin brother… he used to love the mischief expression on his face…
Now he hated all of it…
After his twin brother's death, he started hating all the things that reminded him of Fred's face, Fred's antics, Fred himself…
He even hated his own reflection in the mirror…
Fred died in a war… and he was close to die too… in the end he just lost an ear…
George and Fred, the infamous Weasley twins… the pranksters, saviors of so many students back in Hogwarts… now there was no more twins… just George… a lopsided boy…
His family overcame the tragic death of Fred… but he had a painful daily reminder of his brother... his own face…
At first nobody seemed to notice… because nobody had the courage to look him in the eyes, all of them too pained to see Fred's face in George's… He started to neglect himself, his appearance just wearing whatever he found on the floor of his bedroom…
With 19 years old; George looked like a beggar, he walked like a zombie and his eyes frozen in time…
George is part of the magic world… he and his whole family are wizards and witches… and that's how Fred died… in the Magic War…
Even now six months later people were trying to collect the pieces, but he… he couldn't… just waking up in the morning and seeing the twin bed next to his was like watching him die again…
So, one day… someone noticed… his little sister… Ginny… she was in the back yard talking with her boyfriend; Harry… he was unusually quiet after the war, for he thought all of it was his fault…
She was about to say something when she heard the door open, the two of them turned to look and they did the same upon seeing George, they lowered their eyes…Ginny could only glance at his feet… he was barefooted and it was freezing outside…
She frowned and ever so slowly glanced up…
"George…" she whispered, Harry took her hand and did the same, and both of them looked with pained expressions at the man that was walking on the snow with bared feet…
He was wearing a flimsy red t-shirt and thin sweatpants, his shoulders slumped and his eyes on the snow in front of him…
Ginny stood and noticed how the bones on his back seemed more noticeable… she put a hand over her mouth to stifle a moan… she was utterly sad…
How did they let him come to this?
Harry noticed all of it and put a hand on her shoulder and tried an approach…
"George?" he asked trying to sound cheering.
George stopped and turned his head a bit to let him know he heard him…
"It's freezing… you should put some socks and boots…" Harry said not knowing what else to say.
"Yeah…" he breathed out, but kept on walking…
Ginny saw him with eyes full of tears…
After that she talked to her father, he reckoned they neglected him just because all of them were too pained…
So, one morning; Arthur… the father… told George to prepare himself because they were going for a walk…
George not so excited about it accepted and changed into something he found on the floor of his bedroom… they went out and apparated at King Cross' Station… they walked about for a while and came upon a small cafeteria…
His father walked to the bar at the end of the place with his son in tow…
Tania who was drying some cups noticed the two redheads entering the place and smiled, she liked different people… this city was like everyone was the same… like robots…
"Hello, what can I bring you?" she asked the older man, for the other was looking down and seemed lost in thought.
"Hello!" he exclaimed overly enthusiastic. "I'd love to read the menu!" he was so excited that she had to frown.
"Okay… uh… here's the menu… let me know when you're ready…" she said walking inside the kitchenette… were there was the cooker; a tall and good looking young man, named Oliver, he was gay, but didn't look like one…
"I see redheads!" he whispered. "Bad news!" he quietly yelled.
"Why?" Tania asked looking confused.
"Redheads are known to be wild and dangerous…" he whispered again.
"Hahaha!" she laughed hard, she loved to laugh.
"Oh, boy! He's looking through the glass, you dumbass!" he said while busying himself with something else.
She stopped and looked through the glass and her green eyes collided with the warm, frozen brown eyes… She came out with a blush and trying to ignore the look he was giving her.
"Can I take your order now?" she asked the older man.
"Yes! Please! I want a blackberry cake!" he half yelled. "And a cup of hot chocolate!" he smiled warmly at her and she smiled.
"And for you, sir?" she asked turning towards George.
He seemed to come out of his thoughts and saw the menu lightly…
"Strawberries… uh… something with strawberries…" he mumbled, his voice seemed sore, like that one from a sleeping man…
"We have Strawberry cake and Cheesecake with strawberries… I prefer the cheesecake… but you tell me…" She asked while keeping a smile, as if she knew how much he was enjoying the show…
"The cheesecake then… and a cup of coffee… black, no sugar…" he said clearing his throat…
Arthur was surprised to see the change… so he figured George just needed to go out… far from everything that reminded him of Fred…
But was even more amused when he noticed that George was gone looking the girl moving around preparing their order… he looked at her as if testing her…
A new song started playing on the radio and Arthur's blue eyes widened when he saw his son smiling upon hearing her singing…
"I'll be there for you through it all… even if saving you sends me to heaven…" she singed in a quieted voice, barely audible…
She turned with the coffee and the chocolate and handed them to the men… she looked up and saw the older one looking to the younger one, who was smirking at her… she didn't understood so she walked to the other end to fetch the cakes…
George followed her with his eyes and when she bent down to grab the dishes he stood on the stool to get a better view of her…
"George!" his father whispered harshly while hitting him on the head.
"What?" George whispered too putting a hand over his offended head.
She returned and handed them the dishes and smiled…
"There you go…" she said not looking George in the eyes…
From behind, Oliver came through the door looking strangely masculine and frowning…
"Tania, darling… there are dishes to be washed…" he said pointing his thumb to the door.
She nodded and walked to the back…
It was almost funny to see how the smirk on George's face disappeared…
"I'll be the one serving you now…" Oliver smiled.
"I think I prefer Tania, darling taking my order…" George said not believing his ears, well… not believing his ear… was he actually joking… it had been a long time since the last time he did that…
Oliver gaped at him…
"She's washing the dishes, sir…" Oliver politely said.
Arthur was too busy trying to digest the idea of George joking again, after so long…
George nodded looking through the glass, he felt ashamed, and lame… he didn't understand what he was doing…
"Do you happen to know the name of this song?" he asked Oliver idly.
"Uh… I believe is Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus…" Oliver replied confused.
"Ok… whatever…" of course he wouldn't know anything about muggle music.
They finished their food and when Arthur, paid for the goods, was astounded when George asked him to leave some money for him, he wanted to stay…
George asked for another coffee…
After a while the cafeteria started to fill with people and so Tania came out to tend all the tables…
He followed her with his eyes, observing her every move, and so far he was amazed with himself, he could already distinguish the true smiles from the fake ones… she was like light, her smile was relaxing and he kept forgetting all his troubles and pain, whenever she'd look at him she'd blush and turn to tend someone else…
He noticed the clock; 6:00 p.m. the cafeteria was emptying now, she was cleaning the tables and he was observing her as usual…
"I'm going to call the police…" a voice behind him said.
George turned and saw Oliver standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Why?" George asked confused.
"Stalking…" Oliver said lifting an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry… is she your… girlfriend…" he was jealous already such a beautiful smile for such an idiot man…
"No… she is a girl and she is a friend… you are creeping her out…" he said.
"Why?" George asked again.
"Come on! You've been here for 4 hours already! Just drinking coffee… cheap bastard…" Oliver mumbled.
"What should I order to keep you happy?" George joked again.
Oliver snorted, he didn't trust the redhead, but he got to admit he was not that bad.
"Okay, okay… since she is your friend… won't you introduce her to me?" George asked shyly…
"I don't even know you…" Oliver said skeptically…
"My name is George Weasley… the other man was my father; Arthur… what else do you need to know?" he almost pleaded.
"You are so funny aren't you?" Oliver mocked.
They stared at each other as if testing waters, George dared him to ask something else, but Oliver just thought that this redhead was not that bad of a person…
"Tania!" he called her not taking his eyes away from George. "Come here, darling…" he said again.
George frowned at the nickname but ignored it…
Tania approached the man and Oliver spoke again…
"Tania… this is George Weasley…" he said pointing to the grinning lopsided boy.
Tania looked from Oliver to George and smiled a bit…
"Nice to meet you… I'm Tania Arce…"
Thanx for reading :)