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Ron stepped out of the fire hunched over and panting. It wasn't that he disliked running, he just didn't enjoy continuous running like he had been doing for over forty minutes. He wasn't used to moving so fast for such long periods of time, he used to be when he was training for Quidditch and also trying to impress Hermione, although his efforts failed miserably. Whatever he tried to do in school was to no avail, she still treated him the same, all the way to their seventh year, that was when things finally changed.
"You okay there Grandma?" George asked as he leant against the doorframe smirking at Ron as he glared up at him as he regained his breath.
"Shut up." Ron replied breathlessly. Straightening his back he stood up, took a few deep breaths and slowed his heart rate down. Flicking his wand he sent his water bottle flying into his hand and he took a long sip before lowering it and sending it back into the other room with another flick of his wand. Stuffing his wand back into his pocket he took a step towards George, no longer glaring.
"Did you get it?" George asked, barely able to contain his apparent excitement. He had waited for the less than a minute while Ron drank and recovered, but he couldn't wait any longer.
"Of course I bloody did." Ron replied, grinning at him, and raising his eyebrow as George smiled and turned, leading Ron into the kitchen. They were in George and Fred's flat, where they used to live together before it all happened. After spending the entire morning repairing and cleaning and replacing the basic furniture and everything they could see, they had split up around mainly England to find certain objects that George required.
It was weird for him to be here without Fred and it was weird for Ron to be here at all, he had only visited once or twice, so wasn't super familiar with the layout at first. But after saving George from a sudden appearance of a pit in the hallway and a minor encounter with the cupboard and an assortment of other things, Ron was pretty familiar with the place, especially after scrubbing it for over an hour.
After being woken up by George and discovering that he had overslept they decided they would get this job done. George had been intending to do it for a few days now, and Ron wanted to get out of the house and also needed an excuse for not being in bed with Hermione when she woke up. George still didn't want Ron to tell anyone about his nightmares, especially now he was no longer getting them, for now at least.
Ron had apparated straight to the kitchen and written a hurried note for Hermione and stuck it to the cereal box while George grabbed him a change of clothes from his room before apparating into the kitchen. George was sure that his apparating probably woke up Hermione, but they were gone before he could find out and she wouldn't know anyway so no harm done.
"Did you get the…" Ron started but stopped once he laid his eyes on the kitchen table, it was covered in all the objects they had been retrieving over the past few hours. It was well past the afternoon by now, but neither of them wore a watch and they were too busy to look outside the window whilst outside, and they had spent most of their time apparating from building to building. Ron had no idea that the afternoon return date he had promised Hermione was already well over, and the sun was already down, the moon was high in the sky as it was almost 10 PM.
"That's everything." George said, pulling a chair back and dropping into it, like Ron he too was exhausted, but unlike Ron he was mentally exhausted. He had given Ron all the hard jobs, to test him and also so he didn't have to do them himself.
"Everything you remember." Ron replied smirking at George as he sat down on the kitchen bench, letting his long legs dangle to the floor as he leant his head against the cupboard. It had been a while since he was this relaxed. After about 6km of running all of the tension from his body had been released. He liked having something to do, something that he could do and do it well, even it was just for today. He loved bounding up the steps, sprinting down the hallways and sliding around the corners.
"That's true." George replied. He had been waiting for Ron to arrive for the last 20 minutes and was getting more and more nervous by the second. The last thing he had him retrieve was probably the second hardest thing to get to, he needed some advanced magic to get past the series of doors and trials to get to it, and a small part of George worried that Ron wouldn't be able to.
"Anything else we need to do?" Ron asked as his eyes swept the room looking for anything out of place. He didn't really want to go back to the Burrow not just yet, he liked it here. Everything felt different, less concrete like anything outside these walls was possible. While he was running and apparating and firing off spell after spell he could pretend that Fred was alive, that they were all alive, that life was relatively simple for once. Every object that George sent him to retrieve he had found and that made him feel like he had achieved something finally. Lately he felt like there was nothing he could do, nothing that made it better, that made any of this better.
"Not really, it's…" George started, then looked down at his watch and his eyes widened, "It's almost 10!"
"What?" Ron exclaimed, he had promised Hermione he would be home in the afternoon, the afternoon was long gone and so was the evening it was night time now, she would be heading to bed soon, they all would be.
"No wonder I'm starving." George said a smile growing on his face as he stood up. "There's a nice Muggle place we could go to. Apparate close by and its only about a 10 minute walk?" He had only been there once or twice and both times without Fred, he couldn't go to any of their regular spots he just couldn't, not tonight. Maybe in a few months, but right now he couldn't handle it.
"Sure." Ron replied sliding off the bench and taking a step towards George. He placed his hand on his and shut his eyes. Opening them, he found himself outside in the dark surrounded by trees, with a cool breeze cooling him down. Without another word they took off, George a few steps ahead of Ron weaving in and out of trees, going off the path every few steps and then passing by shop after shop filled with people.
"What?" Ron asked as George came to a stop in the middle of the pavement. There was nobody around them, this whole street was deserted, it was just them and a few closed shops.
"You… should… you definitely… yeah..." George muttered, watching Ron with such sudden intensity Ron was a little startled, he had no idea what caused this sudden change in George's demeanour and why he felt like he was being examined.
"Spit it out." Ron said cutting George off. George appeared deep in thought, and looked as though it pained him to say whatever he was thinking of saying.
"If you wanted to, I mean if you didn't want to go to back to school with Hermione or go straight to the Ministry with Harry or whatever, if you wanted to I would, I was.." George rambled, sounding very unlike George, he never spoke like this, not when he was angry or happy or excited, this was something new, and emotion that Ron had never seen on his brother before. George was nervous.
"Get straight to it." Ron said cutting George off again, not able to withstand any more of his rambling. He wanted the old George back and this rambling wasn't helping, it made George seem vulnerable, which Ron knew to be true, but in his eyes his brothers were invincible, that was until the Battle. While away with Harry he had worried about his family endlessly, but part of him deep down inside knew they would be fine, they were tough enough, they could handle it. But then they couldn't, and that made him feel sick. He wanted George to become the brother he once was, full of laughter and happiness, pranking and teasing and joking.
"Join me." George said simply. He wasn't able to look directly at Ron, so decided to focus on a point just above his head.
"Join you?" Ron asked, not entirely sure what his brother was asking of him. He knew that whatever it was was serious due to the expression on George's face but that was all he could tell.
"In the business." George answered, his eyes meeting Ron's as he smiled at him, his expression hopeful. Ron kept his expression neutral as he gulped, his whole future would ultimately rest on his decision, but he didn't even consider the other option, he already knew what he was going to say. He guessed he had known all along.
XX