Twitch
Summary: Somewhat AU: Takes place all during the year following the final Battle of Hogwarts. George is having serious difficulties dealing with Fred's death. Will Cassandra Orcal be his salvation or will their relationship crash and burn? (it's better than the summary makes it sound, really). Couples: George/OC, with some slight Fred/Hermione. Takes some things from both the book-and-movieverse.
XWarningX: I do not own the Harry Potter universe (which makes me sad), but if you come across a character's name that you don't recognize, such as Cassandra Orcal and her family, Shepherd Swan, Velveeta Lynch, or Leif Valdemar, than those are mine, so no touchy. And the plot is mine, too, so please, ask me or something if you want to borrow an idea or whatever. Thank-you. ^_^
Prologue -- Blade
May 31st, 1998:
The bathroom was littered with empty fire whiskey bottles and drained antihistamine potion capsules. George Weasley very nearly broke his neck after stepping on one or the other as he had stood drunkenly up from the tiled floor. He stumbled his way over to the bathroom sink, bracing to steady himself on the edges of the counter it was built into.
The red-haired boy looked at his reflection in the mirror without really focusing on it, his blue eyes dulled and his face absolutely pallid from illness and depression. He let his gaze travel father down his shirtless torso and miraculously noticed that he was beginning to appear emaciated around the middle. Days of not eating and very little sleep were taking their toll on him.
It was just the way he wanted it to be.
George brought his eyes back to the mirror, taking a hand and rubbing it hard down his face. As he did this, he inspected the once vibrant thatch of hair now subdued to a gingerish-gray and was growing long and scraggly; the dark circles painted under the eye sockets his blue orbs seemed to have sunken into; the long nose that protruded out of his face and threatened to whack people across their cheek if they weren't careful; the cracked lips that had not seen a drop of water in days; the stubbly chin and jaw line that had both always been a tad bigger and stronger than his twin brother's had – "had" being the operative word here… And last, the white bandage stuck to the side of his skull to hide the hideous, gaping hole where his right ear had been at one point.
His fingers releasing their hold on his aforementioned chin, George somberly flicked a stare down on the counter-space where a stainless-steel blade attached with a handle lay glinting up at him innocently. It was the Muggle razor blade he'd bought (with some difficulty) only yesterday, just after the funeral of Fred Weasley – his best friend, his mentor, his partner-in-crime-and-business.
It had finally all boiled down to this…
George reached his left hand out to touch the blade's handle, but did nothing more. It was wooden, painted black with gold accents and a polished finish to make it all smooth and easier for a person, non-magical or otherwise, to hold.
George eyed the blade heavily, in his mind wandering over the events of the past month. The final battle of the Second War on May 2nd (which now seemed like a lifetime ago) and the funerals held in following weeks. Nymphadora Tonks (just Tonks or she would have killed you) and her husband, Remus Lupin, were buried together on the same day, May tenth. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody's body, which had disappeared after he had been killed in the Battle over Little Whinging, had never been recovered and his crazy, fake eyeball had been buried in an unknown area of forest by Harry Potter, the Wizarding Hero, the Boy Who Lived, and Voldemort's Doom. It was a sad thought, but, even though the old Auror was honorably mentioned along with others whose bodies were never found, he didn't receive a funeral.
Shepherd Swan, the school sweetheart of Harry Potter's dead godfather, Sirius Black (killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange), had been stuck down by her own brother, a Death Eater. She repaid in kind, however, and took him with her in death. She was buried two days after Tonks and Lupin, on the twelfth.
There were more burials in between the four he cared about the most, of course, but there was no way he could remember everyone who died. He somehow would've liked to, he thought at some unimportant time. That way, even if he had not known them, he could silently thank them and tell them good-bye.
Oh, he knew he wasn't the only one broken up over everything, no, no, no. He knew Harry, despite everything he had done to bring about the death of the most dangerous Dark Wizard of their time, would most likely feel as if he was the cause of all the deaths, or at least guilty he could not prevent at least a few. No matter how many assurances he got telling him that it was not his fault, that shit happens in war, he would still probably blame himself for years to come. He'll always look back and wonder, "Why? Why couldn't I have helped him or her…?"
Harry Potter's best friend and sister-at-heart, Hermione Granger, had sat beside him at most of the funerals and had bawled her eyes out during every, single one of them. She would do this while crying into the shoulder of George's own little brother, Ronald Weasley, whom she was now deeply involved with. Ron, though he remained steadfast for his girlfriend sake for the duration of most of the heart-wrenching ceremonies, finally lost himself when it was at last Fred's time to go.
The entire Weasley clan was seated in the front row seats as guests of honor. All of them had fought in the precedent battle, even little Ginny, the youngest child and only daughter to be born into the family for a few generations. And whose heart was intimately entwined with Harry Potter's for now and forever more. Mrs. Weasley, still shaken from her own encounter with Bellatrix, in which she came out victorious, slaughtered the bitch with a Killing Curse. George saw his mother in a whole new light after witnessing that spectacle. She, however, insisted to everyone that she'd forever remain scarred. She had never liked killing anyone and never would. George loved her for that.
The rest of the family came out of the war relatively unharmed. The only permanent injuries were the scratches and claw marks all over Bill Weasley's, one of the oldest of the Weasley boys, other than Charlie, face, which he received from an untransformed werewolf by the name of Fenrir Grayback over a year ago now. Luckily, he escaped that unfortunate quarrel with his life and only a few were-wolfish tendencies. And he had a loving wife to take care of him in Fleur Weasley, formally Delacour.
Of course, George's ear figured into the mix, as well. He had lost it by his own former potions professor, Severus Snape, during the Battle over Little Whinging. And now, no matter what Harry told him about Snape being a good and brave man deep down and that the ear-thing had been an accident, George vowed that he would never forgive that greasy-haired git. He had only disliked the man before, but things were in a whole different Quidditch field from this moment on. It wasn't important that the bastard was now dead, too, and would be buried sometime on June first.
Speaking of Quidditch, the whole, former Gryffindor team was there as well. Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell had all once played with Harry, George, and Fred on the same squad. It was hard to see him leave so suddenly for them, too. Even Oliver was tearing up.
The one student taking it the hardest, however, had to be Lee Jordan, the twin's mutual friend. He always had his face in his hands and, when he did show it, he appeared to have not gone to bed in days. He walked out when it was Fred's turn. George figured that the dark-skinned boy could just not handle the fact that he and Fred would never pull another prank together again. George's heart went out to him.
And that didn't even account for the hundreds of others that George didn't know or had not thought of who may have lost their loved ones in battle. He had heard the Creevey's lost their oldest son, Colin, whom was an acquaintance of Harry's, when he was told to leave the grounds before the fighting on the account of being underage, but he had snuck back and gotten himself killed. The poor mite. It was all just one, big, horrible sob-fest.
And, then there was Cassandra Orcal…
A/N: Well, there you have it. The first of a three-part prologue. I'm sorry to leave all of you with a cliffhanger, but, believe me, if I'd left everything together, this would've been one loooong chapter. :3 As for who exactly Cassandra Orcal and Shepherd Swan are, you'll find out as the story goes on. Thanks for reading and leave nice reviews, please. ^_^