The morning sunlight slowly crept across the room, my eyes slowly began to open before I rolled over and shielded them from the penetrating sun. As I rolled I became aware of a hand that had been thrown over my upper body. Needless to say as I rolled towards the center of the bed, the hand came in contact with my breast. My eyes quickly became wide and my head turned to the offending body beside me. George's eyes were still closed, his cheeks were stained with dried tears, his breathing was slow and steady.

I gently and carefully removed his hand and got out of bed. I padded bare foot out of his room and into the living room. Grabbing my wand off the coffee table I placed it near my temple and place my thoughts for Jo.

Nothing.

I repeated my thought and sent it through, a cold feeling came over me.

Nothing.

She blocked me. My best friend, since I was little, has completely deserted me. "She Blocked me." I whispered to the empty room. Throwing myself on the couch I let out a large sigh. My eyes journeyed to the door of George's room, and then darted to the front door of the apartment. Without a second thought I ran for the door.

Wand in hand and barefooted, I ran. I ran straight down Diagon Alley in the early dawn wanting to escape, needing to get back to Scotland, Hogwarts, and comfortable security as soon as possible. But my ability to do so was becoming clearer in my head. It wasn't until I had torn through the Leaky Cauldron and was standing in the middle of Charring Cross Road, then is suddenly struck me.

Walking South on Charring Cross, my mind became filled with thoughts of mortality, our lack there of, and what it would mean if everything I ever knew was ripped from my hands. Thoughts consumed me as I turned down another street and started walking towards a park area. The benches were empty, no one was around. The buildings around the square dwarfed my menial existence. I softly closed my eyes to allow the pictures in my head to clarify. Nothing in that moment mattered, not my schoolwork, my family, my self respect. I just needed to live. I fell asleep on that park bench in the middle of Leicester Square.

I stumbled through the Leaky Cauldron at 2 o'clock that afternoon. Tom looked up from his vigilant drying and watched me walk through to the back. I hung my head as I walked down Diagon Alley. Witches and Wizards stopped and stared as I made my way back to the darkest building in the Alley. I slowly turned the doorknob and walked into the deserted storefront.

Products lined the multitude of shelves around me. Dust had settled on all the boxes, displays had toppled over. The store was a mess, other then the straight path to the back stairs. I began to let the curiosity get the best of me, I climbed up the stairs to the cash register, with my hand resting on the two pillars beside me I took in the ambiance of the scene in front of me. Millions of products, I could only imagine the shop before the war. Children would be bustling about gawking at the inventions on the shelves. I stepped back down, and started to look at the boxes. I didn't know what most of them were, the product names made no sense to me. I came across a cage, the sales tag described the contents as pygmy puffs, I got on my tip toes to peer inside. Brightly coloured puffballs were was piled in the corner, with a quick poke of my finger the pile toppled and all movement ceased. The occupants of the cage had obviously left this world long ago. Feeling a new wave of melancholy, I slowly made my way up to the flat.

George was still in the bedroom, I took a quick peek inside to make sure he was doing okay. The image I saw before my eyes was the saddest scene I had ever witnessed. George sat on the side of his bed, face red from the tears he had been crying, stress showing in his features.

"Where were you?" He suddenly asked, his voice cracking from lack of use.

"I… I… just went out, I needed some air." I'm sure it wouldn't have been completely appropriate to tell him I ran from my fear.

"Don't leave again." He practically shouted at me. I turned my back to leave, angry that anyone would speak to me in that way, but I held back my retort, the man was in pain. He was emotionally detached from all he did. It was a mental state, he couldn't help it. I told myself over and over again as I grabbed one of my potions books. Sitting down I intently transfixed my eyes on the chapter in front of me. I must have read the same sentence over and over again. Not able to get George attitude out of my mind. Finally I plucked up the courage. I confidently walked towards his bedroom. Rehearsing the line I would deliver momentarily, much to his chagrin I would suspect.

I entered the room, still feeling the surge of excitement as I finally stood up for myself. George was lying on his side, back towards me.

"DON'T EVER, EVER, SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN." I quickly turned on my heel and exited his room. High from my stunt, I sat back down on the couch. Movement could be heard from Georges Room. Within seconds he was tower over me.

"Finally, spoke your mind little Ravenclaw?" He spat, making sure I was securely in his shadow, "How'd that feel? Feeling proud? I didn't ask you to be here, don't really want you here. If you're not going to live in my house by my rules then fucking leave."

I stood up, making him stand erect, although he was still looking down at me. I looked right into his eyes, "If you don't want me here, then why was I in your bed? Why was your arm around me and why are you upset that I left this morning? Don't fucking tell me to leave, when you make it quite apparent you want me here."

George backed up. He sunk into a nearby chair and stared at me, the gears in his head were spinning behind his eyes. He took a deep breath, and started picking at the arm of the chair.

"I don't know what I want right now, I'm not going to off myself, but I don't feel like I should exist. I asked you to be here when Jo said she wanted out." His revelations astounded me, he asked me here? I was a choice of George Weasley, a man I had no social interaction with? In his time of need he thought of the quiet, over-analyzing Ravenclaw that would give him a dirty look when I saw him at Hogwarts. What the hell is going on? He continued,

"You were the only person who never told me what you thought I wanted to hear on the day of the funeral. You were the only person who would even look at me while we were sitting at that table and the only person who didn't actually know who I was. Beth, I need someone around me to keep me company. But it can't be someone who knew me with him."

His speech caught me completely off guard. Not to mention the complete change of his persona. Sounds like I'm going to be here for a while.