(6 months later)
Healing is fascinating, it's part of what drew Sophie to her healer career.
She first began to notice other people's healing after the war, the battle anniversary memorial years ago. At that time, Sophie felt stuck, as if she could never truly heal.
Sophie, on a regular basis, surrounds herself with patient's that are "lost causes" with no expectancy to heal from the spell damage they suffered. In many ways, Sophie identified with them, in her inability to heal.
That damn Creevey article blew up her world 6 months ago, and it felt catastrophic at first. In hindsight, it allowed her to truly begin her healing process. And she noticed small changes in herself, allowing herself to grow as an individual.
The Creevy article allowed her to build her relationship with her family again. It took 3 months until Sophie truly felt like she could face her mom, dad and older brother and the reunion was bitter sweet. There were multiple tears shed, hugs and catching up to be had. And slowly but surely, she began to feel apart of her family again. Their relationship was nowhere near perfect, but the opportunity to regularly see her mom and dad for a meal on a Tuesday night was one of the highlights of her week.
Her already strong relationships with the "9-ers" grew. Experiencing the backlash and exposure from the article was essentially another trauma they all had to navigate together. And while their small chosen family still suffered from some of the repercussions of the Creevy article, they also were bonded together more.
And most unexpectedly, a relationship with Fred Weasley blossomed. It started slowly, in friendship. They found themselves regularly getting together on Monday nights at her flat after her work shift, swapping stories over take-away that Fred brought from the Leeky.
The man she once regretted saving in her darkest moments of pain slowly morphed into one of her greatest confidants.
It apparently was not a surprise to anyone (except to Sophie herself) when he kissed her on one of those random Monday night's in August. And it surprised no one but Sophie when he asked to take their relationship to the next level. But that, that is a story for another day.
OOO
She successfully avoided meeting Fred's family for 6 months after their initial meeting before she agreed to meet them. She had not even met George since their unfortunate interaction at the exclusive ministry party back in April. The fact that she had yet to meet George again was apparently another frequent talking point between the brothers.
Fred's family was important to him, and Sophie had become an important fixture in his life. And while he didn't want to force so much change on her, he had wanted her to meet his family since the day he met. He wanted to introduce his hero to his family.
In reality, it's amazing she was able to avoid it for 6 months.
With every step up to the front door she felt like it was a mistake, but Fred's loose smile and hand in hers put her at some ease. And her fears melted when Mrs. Weasley practically pushed Fred out of the way, pulling her into a hug.
"Oi, what am I rubbish?" Fred whined good naturally. But the women promptly ignored him.
"Thank you, dear" she whispered into her hair. And just held her. And Sophie wouldn't admit this out loud, but she needed a hug from a mother, any mother. She was not a hugger by nature, but something just felt right about a mother's hug.
"Mum, let the girl breathe! At least treat her to dinner first!" Fred joked.
"Oh, hush you!" She lightly swatted at Fred. And turning back to Sophie she said "Dear, dinner will be out back, everyone is so excited to meet you!"
She froze for a split moment. Because, if memory serves her correctly "everyone" was probably close to 20 people.
Fred, gently resting a hand on her shoulders, instantly calmed her and brought her back into reality. And in a low tone he stated "you'll do great Sophie. No one here can actually hate you and there will be pot pie."
With a deep breath she let him lead her to the backyard, with her still taking in her surroundings of the Burrow. Him pulling her close as they went.
She spotted George first, mainly because he is identical to Fred. And because he crushed her in another hug. Just as they did that first night they met. Sophie felt like she reached her max allotment of hugs for the month pretty quickly into this visit at the Weasley home, and she still had more of them to meet.
"Thank you" he whispered in her ear and then shot her an award winning Weasley twin smile. And loudly exclaimed "Well, Ms. James, your hugging skills have improved! Lucky for my brother!"
Sophie just smiled back softly at him, eyes darting around the yard. She could tell each of the Weasley's wanted to come talk to her, but something was stopping them at that moment.
Whatever that something was, Sophie was grateful to it. If she had to assume, Fred had given them a warning to go on easy on her.
Or perhaps it was her initial reluctance to meet them, perhaps they did not want to scare her off.
Sophie wasn't sure how to break the tension she felt internally. Fred, close to her side, observing her. She reached to her shoulders subconsciously to rub them gently and noticed a quick flash of a frown on Fred's face as she did. When she looked around the back yard, she knew exactly how to dissipate the tension.
"So" Sophie stated loudly, looking at Fred, "that one's yours?" she pointed to his niece, Dominique who was toddling after her sister.
Fred barked out a laugh and pulled her into a hug, George gwaffed into his drink and the tension the other Weasley's felt instantly melted away.
In Fred's arms, she felt safe. She felt herself continuing to heal.
She was beginning to feel like Sophie James, 22 years old, a healer, loyal friend, lover of pineapple on pizza and (though she will admit only to him) the personal hero of Fred Weasley.
OOO
A/N: Thank you for your support, reviews and reading this story! There are so many ways Fred and Sophie (and the other Weasley's) relationship can continue to develop and I might revisit it in the future. For now, this is where I am leaving Sophie (and Fred). Thank you again for all your support!