Enough is Enough
She walked through the apartment, her face scrunched in discomfort as the smell washed over her. Hermione looked around the room, trying to find a space that was not covered in trash to place the shopping she had brought. Her heart plunged as she looked at him – his body slumped across the floor, feet elevated on the couch.
"George?" She called, emptying her arms of bags and rushing to his side. His eyes were closed but she saw a steady rise and fall coming from his chest that calmed her. "George, wake up." She shook his shoulders and sighed when he grunted for her to 'eff off'. Hermione looked down at the remaining Weasley twin with sympathy. She had seen how he had distanced himself from his family, and what effect that had on them. She would often find Ron sitting in the twins' old room, looking at a photo of them with tears in his eyes.
"Ron, what are you doing in here?" She asked as she walked across the box covered room. He looked up at her light a child caught in the act of something naughty.
"Just looking," He sighed, his red-rimmed eyes returning to the smiling photograph of his brothers. "Hermione…"
"I know," she said quickly, his didn't have to explain his feeling to her. She understood.
"It's like we lost them both." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sighed:
"I know."
She wanted to help, in any way she could.
"I know it hurts," She said suddenly, sitting beside George and jolting him awake. He looked at her like she was crazy, with a confused look that only comes when you've just woken up. "I've been there," Hermione continued, her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him, "I know your pain. I know it hurts, and I know you don't want to talk about it." George groaned as he attempted to roll over and go back to sleep.
"Sometimes, not talking about things makes them easier to overcome – but not these things!" She sighed as she threw a pillow at him. He grunted again and sat up, giving her a huge death stare. "You can't just walk away from your life because it got too hard."
"Hermione, enough!"
"No, George! I have had enough of watching your family suffer more than they should. They don't hear from you in days, meaning they have no way of knowing if you're alive or dead. That's not okay! And it's not fair to them." Hermione was breathing hard as she finished ranting. George was staring at her, his eyes looking between hers, trying to understand why she was doing this? "George, I care for you. You may not see it, but Harry, and me… we're Weasleys now. Family."
Hermione followed George as he stood and made his way to the kitchen.
"The only way to survive this, to come out of this even a little bit the same man you started is to try; to talk, to listen, to breathe, to hurt, to live, to understand, and to remember."
"Hermione –"
"Trust me, I know what I'm on about."
"Please, you don't know what it's like…" George clutched his stomach as he leant again the counter, tears forming in his eyes. "It's not just… him… I lost – it's half of me!" She watched as he fell, and caught him – leaving them both on the floor. She held him, listened to his tears.
"Let us know! Help us understand!"
"I know that what I'm saying is hard to hear, and I know that you would rather me leave you here until one day you pass out – from drinking, not eating, or sleeping – and never wake up. But I'm not about to give up on you! I will not give up on you – like you seem to have. All you have to do is breathe, eat, sleep, wake up, and do it all over again until one day, it's just not as hard anymore."
They sat on the floor of the kitchen for what seemed like eternity. Finally the tears subsided and George looked at Hermione.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
A/N: Words - 711
School of Prompts - Family (Genre)
Tv Quote - "Breathe, eat, sleep, wake up, and do it all over again until one day, it's just not as hard anymore." - Elena Gilbert, The Vampire Diaries
