Dearest Gia,
I know it's only been two weeks since we all left one another at King's Cross but I really miss you! Please can you come and spend some time with me this summer? It's been such lovely weather that we've spent most of it in the river - HB I know you're biting your lip at that image, stop it ;) - and it's just not been the same with just the three of us plus the annoying younger ones. I completely get that you want to see your parents after your scare last school year but you and I missed out on so much precious time together. So please reconsider?
I eagerly await your return Owl.
Fred x
Georgia felt herself blush at the kitchen table, the offer was extremely tempting and in a few weeks time Ruby would be turning 15 and they'd never spent a birthday apart since they'd known each other so folding the letter a little more neatly than her boyfriend had done so in the first place she placed it on the kitchen table and contemplated her options as she lifted a second piece of parchment and unfolded the next letter she'd also received that morning, the swirly handwriting a lot more neater on this one.
Hello Gia!
Hope you're well and enjoying your Summer, you got up to much? Things are great here in Devon, would be way more fun if you'd agreed to come stay with us again. We could have totally used your help last week, Harry gave Ron a number to call him at his Uncle's so we took him into the Muggle Village to use the public phone box. I've seen Mum use the house phone before but I'm not really sure how it all works and how the other person can hear you from so far away but I know there's no reason to shout... Might have forgot to tell Ron that though, whoops. Harry's Uncle was not happy! We could all hear him roaring on the other side but that didn't stop us egging Ron on to keep trying to talk to Harry hahaha.
But guess what, Fred hasn't shut up about you once! Can't wait to hear back from you
Roo xx
Georgia found herself howling with laughter at the letter from Ruby, she then looked at her landline phone and debated wether she should just phone Ruby and completely make herself more of a Muggle than a Muggle-born.
She heard the kitchen door open and turned round to see her feline best friend standing in the doorway meowing at her, she looked up at the kitchen clock and chuckled "Whoops munchkin did mummy forget to feed you?" She then pushed her chair back and went over to the cupboard that housed the cat food and proceeded to grab a pouch from it, opened it and decanted it into her bowl, Elphie tottered up to it and devoured it.
The brunette laughed and shook her head before returning to the table to decide wether to phone Ruby, write to Tilly or reply back to her best friends. Finally the idea of hearing Ruby's voice won out and she jumped out of her seat again, grabbing her Mums address book laying on the counter beside the landline phone knowing she had the Wilkins number written down for emergency reasons when she would stay with them during the summers. "Aha!" She said to no one and pushed herself up to sit on the bench, punching the number in and holding the receiver to her ear to listen.
As the phone rang for the third time she worried her bottom lip between her teeth realising that maybe Ruby wasn't even home. "Hello..." a deep man's voice finally responded.
"Um Hi, Mr Wilkins?"
"Speaking"
"Oh hello" Georgia sighed in relief that she'd got the correct number.
Ralph smiled as he recognised the accent "Ah hello Georgia, I'm guessing you're wanting to talk to Ruby?" He questioned and Georgia nodded, before realising he couldn't see her so internally kicking herself she responded "Y-Yes please, if she's free of course?" Georgia wasn't silly, she knew she was more likely on her way out the door to spend yet another day playing in Otter River with the twins, Ron and Ginny.
A little bit of movement could be heard before Ralph's voice could be heard calling for his daughter "Ruby! Phone for you!" That was then met with some more rustling and her friends voice could be heard sounding confused "Just take the phone and you'll find out" Ralph reasoned, so sighing the blonde witch took the phone "Ron, I thought we'd established this last week you and Muggle technology doesn't mix"
Georgia sniggered "Rooooo! It's not Ron, it's meeeeeee!" She couldn't help herself she now had a fit of giggles.
"Oh Gia! I'm sorry" Ruby chuckled, finding Georgia's laugh contagious. "This is a very nice surprise"
"I hope you don't mind me calling you"
"Not at all!" Ruby replied, "It's nice, no ones ever called me before"
"I got your letter and it sparked the idea" Georgia admitted, watching her cat flick one of the dogs treats back and forth across the kitchen floor with her paws. "I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Harry's, can't believe you let Ron make a fool of himself" she giggled.
"He does that most days without trying" the blonde laughed back and Georgia let out a sympathetic awww. "Are you sure you don't want to come and stay in Devon? Mums been asking after you"
Georgia bit her lip, hearing her best friends voice was lovely but she didn't like the fact that she was becoming this stubborn about her staying with her in Devon. So, composing herself and thanking her lucky stars that she'd hung around Fred and George for too long she quipped back with "Nah, I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of you seeing George lounging around shirtless" she felt herself blush, she also wouldn't mind seeing Fred that way either...
Ruby snorted with laughter on the other side, knowing full well that Georgia would get more enjoyment out of seeing Fred shirtless, "When you've been best friends with George as long as I have seeing him shirtless loses the desired effect, I've seen more of that boy than I care to admit"
"As long as they haven't grown..."
The silence that fell over the pair of them was deafening before Ruby let out another snort "Do you mean height, Gia or... something else?" and Georgia felt herself go beetroot red as she hid her face, despite there being no one else around.
"Shut up you know what I meant!"
"I'm not sure I do" Ruby giggled teasingly.
"Right well, moving on" Georgia interrupted, quickly changing the subject before she embarrassed herself anymore.
"Oh no no no let's carry on, I'll be honest I thought Ron making a fool of himself was funny but hearing you squirm is actually even more entertaining, if that's possible" Ruby teased and Georgia rolled her eyes, she was used to being the butt of the jokes between her friends, some would call it banter so she just let it slide.
She wound the cord of the phone around her fingers in an attempt to bring her cheeks back to a normal colour "So... good summer?" The brunette soon asked, desperately wanting to hear it vocally rather then reading the words off a letter.
"Summer has been amazing so far" Ruby gushed, happy to divulge the details. "I've practiced some quidditch in the fields at the Burrow with the boys and splashed about in the Otter River when it's gotten too hot. Took a trip into the Muggle village which has been the highlight by far" she gave a little laugh remembering how funny it had been watching Ron get flustered. As she went on to explain her many days spent at the Burrow helping to de-gnome the garden and teaching Ginny some real Quidditch moves Georgia couldn't help but miss her friends even more. Especially one in particular.
"Sounds like you've had fun" Georgia replied, keeping the hint of sadness from her voice that she hadn't been there to enjoy it. But spending time with her parents was important to her, she didn't want them to drift apart because she spent most of the year at Hogwarts and so little time at home. "You got anything planned for today?" She asked.
"Mums making a roast dinner later today so Fred and George are coming by and we're going to hang out in the tree house. What have you been up to?"
"Oh you know, this and that" Georgia didn't want to bore her with her time spent helping out on the farm.
"Riveting" She could hear the smirk in Ruby's voice and she smiled.
"Haven't had as much fun as you have, you don't need to hear about it" As Georgia spoke she could hear noises in the background behind Ruby.
"Speak of the devils!" Ruby sounded excited about something. That's when she heard it. The distinct tones of Fred and George. There was some rustling as the receiver was covered with a hand and then she faintly heard Ruby saying her name before the sound returned to normal.
"Oh I'll let you go then" Georgia sighed.
"Hold on!" Her friend called out, a little too loudly. "Someone wants to say hello"
"Oh?" She asked but didn't receive a reply. Instead there was more rustling and she let out a giggle as she caught Ruby warning the mystery speaker that there was no need to do a Ron and yell, that indoor voices were quite sufficient.
"Hello?" The voice of Fred asked, sounding apprehensive.
Georgia didn't quite understand it but suddenly she felt a lot less empty, it was almost like hearing Fred's voice had been the missing piece of the puzzle - but that wasn't possible, was it? The only person Fred had ever felt like that with was George.
"Hey trouble!" She sighed out dreamily not caring if she'd be teased about it.
"G-Gia?" Fred asked, once his brain had caught up with what was happening and who was on the other end of the phone.
"Surprise!" She grinned back "Roo gave me the idea when she mentioned what you evil people did to Ron" she tutted and was ready to lecture him but something stopped her, probably the fact that it was the summer holidays and he'd just tell her to take a break for the couple of months they were away from school so she closed her mouth and bit her tongue, literally, causing her to squeak and stick it out to check the damage.
"HB, what happened?" Fred asked, he sounded concerned almost instantly and Georgia found herself blushing "I-I bit my tongue that's all no damage done, thankfully" and she could have sworn she heard Fred relax at that and it made her heart swell some more.
As the silence fell over them she found herself twisting the cord around her fingers some more, careful not to cut off the blood supply. It was a comfortable silence and she was glad of that, sometimes the twins were too loud and she found herself getting multiple headaches at school by just being in their and Lee's presence.
"So! You taught Ginny some Quidditch moves I hear" she soon said when she realised she was missing hearing Fred's voice.
"Yeah! She's a wicked little flyer" Georgia could hear the joy in his voice and knew he'd have a big smile on his face, the kind that lit up his whole face. "It was just some small moves, the kind she won't hurt herself doing, but don't go telling our mum because she'd ground us all"
She shook her head with amusement, twisting the cord back the other way from her finger, "Your devious behaviour is safe with me Freddie" she teased.
"Knew there was a reason I kept you around" he replied playfully. "I sent you an owl by the way"
"I got it this morning so I haven't had a chance to reply but I really miss you too. It's felt like the longest two weeks of my life" she sighed before she sensed the unanswered question that was going to come next. "And before you say it no, I've already told Roo I need to spend time with my parents"
"But Gia..."
"No" she stood her ground, clutching the cord of the phone tightly in her fist. "I'm not like the rest of you, I'm halved down the middle, I belong in both the Muggle and the magical world. And unfortunately my parents don't fully understand my magical life because they're not a part of it and they never will be so I have to make an effort. I need to spend my summer reconnecting with them"
"I get it" Fred said softly, "Family is important and it must be difficult not being able to tell them everything because they wouldn't get it. But please will you at least consider joining us for the final week so we can all head to the station and Hogwarts together?"
Georgia wasn't sure how much further her insides could melt but they did at hearing him being so empathetic about her reasons. "I promise to think about it"
"Thank you, George says hello by the way"
"HELLO GEORGE" she yelled hoping the younger twin would hear her.
"I think Ruby's getting impatient now so I should go"
Her heart felt heavy at those words, she didn't want to let him go just yet but knew she'd have to because she'd be racking up a phone bill for her parents. "Don't keep the whirlwind waiting or you'll have a full blown tornado on your hands" she giggled.
"I'll not tell her you said that" he chuckled back. "Write soon?" He asked.
"Everyday" Georgia promised knowing that wasn't very realistic and that it would be every few days at least by the time their replies reached one another. "Bye Fred"
"Bye Honeybadger"
There was some rustling and Ruby's voice appeared back on the line, "What did you say that he's not telling me?"
"Bye Roo, gotta go, speak soon, mwah" she quickly rushed out in one breath before placing the receiver back onto its holder and cutting the call.
Georgia lent back against the wall and sighed happily to herself but she was very quickly pulled out of her day dreams by Connie and Elphie fighting over the treat Elphie had been batting around on the floor so shaking her head she got down off the counter and went to break the fight up, that was another reason she wanted to be home the animals were forgetting her and by the looks of things the bond Connie and Elphie had when the feline was very new to their home was also slowly fading so it felt even more important that she was home if only to get that bond back.
After sorting the animals out and making sure they were back on friendly terms she went looking for something to do, but before she could get far her Dad had poked his head round the door and requested her help out in the fields. With a smile she grabbed her boots and headed outside. Things had been none stop for her after that and it was a few days before she got round to writing replies to her friends, but she didn't feel bad for making them wait because she knew they knew she was okay after their phone call.
But as she now had some time to sit down and pen some replies she did so
Hi Freddie,
Sorry it's taken me a few days to reply, I had to help dad and then also help the animals bond again - don't ask - it was so nice to speak to you on the phone, see Muggle technology isn't all bad is it?
So I've been thinking about your request and it's been bought to my attention that Roo's birthday is coming up in a few short weeks and I was wondering what you two had gotten planned to do for it? As I'm thinking I could maybe get the Knight Bus to Devon and spend 24 hours with you guys, help her celebrate turning 15, and then come back to Wales, how does that sound? But shush, it's a surprise so keep your lips zipped Weasley, OK?!
I am really missing your mum's cooking I've got to be honest, could you maybe include some delights in your return letter - provided the owl doesn't eat them in transit of course!
I await your owl back
From,
Gia x
She then folded that up and addressed it to her boyfriend before taking another piece of parchment and writing the following
Hey Roo!
Sorry it's taken me a few days to reply, I had to help dad and then also help the animals bond again - don't ask - it was so nice to speak to you on the phone. I missed hearing your voice and thanks for letting me talk to Fred, how has he been?
What else have you gotten up to these last few days? Started to look like a prune from spending all that time in Otter River yet? Been meaner to Ron?
I'm starting to miss Honeydukes sweets, think you could send a stash in your reply, provided the owl doesn't eat any in transit of course!
Send my love to your parents and the Weasley's and I'm looking forward to hearing back from you.
Much love,
Gia xx
She then folded that up, addressed it to her best friend and then called Ziggy over and attached the two letters to his leg, told him where to fly off to gave him his treats and then sent him flying hoping it wouldn't be too long before they arrived and she got replies.
