[10] one month post battle for hogwarts
George is here.
The thought resounds in her head, loudly, drowning out everything else. It's supposed to be a party, a celebration of 'life and rebuilding' on the completion of the repairs at school – according to Hermione when the other girl had dragged her through the Floo.
George looks…he looks awful. There is no way around it. His skin is palid and sallow, his eyes are dull. He sits in the corner of the room, hunched in a squashy armchair, nursing a bottle of Butterbeer like a lifeline. He looks haunting, sitting there without his twin. She remembers how they had both liked and hated that they'd never been separate from one another – not in their actions, not in their choice of lover. They had probably thought they never would.
Separated by death. It makes her stomach churn.
The last time she had seen him, it was in the week after the Battle. It had been terrible. He was so quiet, quieter than she had ever seen him, staring listlessly at the blank wall. He never said a word to her the entire time she was there. Did he hate her? She found herself thinking selfishly after she'd left. Did he blame her for what happened? Did he regret that they'd ever started this? And it was selfish to think like that, because George – he was grieving, he needed space, he was hurting and she had to be strong for him. Fred, she had pushed through the pang that came from thinking of him, Fred was gone, George and Halle only had each other now.
"Alright, Halle?" She turns away from the sight. Ron is watching her worriedly, eyes flicking between his best friend and the husk of his older brother.
Halle nods. If she speaks she might do something stupid.
Ron gives her a one-armed hug, warm and solid. In his arms, she watches Angelina cross the room to stand by her ex?-were they exes already?-boyfriend's side, the other girls handing patting his gently. She thinks of the times she was turned away from the Burrow door with half-hearted platitudes and grief-filled eyes.
Are Angelina and George still a thing? Without Fred, are they still a thing?
George doesn't move from his position, doesn't look at the other girl. Instead his eyes catch Halle's in the crowded room and she finds herself breaking away from Ron.
It doesn't matter, she thinks. If he needs me, it doesn't matter.