Fun fact: I didn't update yesterday because my body has a very extreme reaction to COVID vaccines, and I got my booster on Saturday (get vaccinated!). Anyway, here you are. Enjoy, leave a review, and fuck JKR!
Angelina awoke with a start, the dream she had been having immediately fading. She wiped her eyes with her clammy hands, picking the sleep out and flicking it off her fingers. She debated rolling over and trying to go back to sleep, but the cramps that weren't due for another week demanded an ibuprofen. Angelina got up, grateful that she (miraculously) wouldn't have to wash the sheets again this weekend.
"You sleep with socks on?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're wearing socks. You sleep with socks on?" George repeated. "What is wrong with you?" He turned back to his book.
"My feet get cold!" Angelina waited a couple beats. "You alright?"
"Been worse." George didn't even look up this time.
Angelina approached him cautiously and bent down to meet his eyes. "Have you been crying?"
George raised an eyebrow. "That obvious?"
"Oh yeah. You look like you either cried your heart out or haven't slept in two years. You have hair stuck to your face." She reached out and pulled a longer strand of George's unevenly cut hair off of his face. "What's wrong?"
"Had a bit of a breakdown last night. Nothing I can't handle."
"Were you alone?"
George swallowed. "'Course."
"You should have woken me, or at least Fred. Any one of us would have sat through it with you."
Angelina watched as George's lip began to quiver, but he bit it harder than had to be comfortable to stop it. He snapped his book shut. "Thanks. Means a lot," he muttered at the ground.
Angelina wanted to push, but she knew he wouldn't answer her questions. Instead, she wordlessly reached out and touched George's right temple, the one that wasn't a gaping hole. George knew what she was trying to say, and he nodded.
"Why don't you write Alice?" Angelina suggested. George had confided the story of their meeting to her.
George's face lit up. "Angelina Kaela Johnson, you are a Godsend."
"Glad you think so."
Alicia regretted her life. It was two days without sleeping now. She didn't feel that she was ready for this. At least George and Lee had experience. This was her first time.
George seemed colder to her than normal. Lee seemed unsurprised. If she was being totally honest, she knew it was bound to happen. Pressure did something to people, and she couldn't think of anyone who had more pressure on them than George.
She was really, truly exhausted. She had talked to Fred about not feeling it as much after day five, but she wasn't there yet. She still had three days to go until some of her problems faded. Sometimes, she could feel her blood pumping through her body as if she had those fever aches. Other times, she couldn't feel anything at all, and she had to bring her fingers to a pulse point to make sure she was still alive. She had washed the blood out of her shoes twice, which was both disgusting and a good reminder that she was, indeed, still living. She had never been properly hungry before, and the gnawing pain in her stomach hadn't left since hours into the mission. She still managed to keep going, however, probably only still functioning because of Lee's encouragement and her ever competitive spirit.
George was pacing the empty office. Alicia wanted to grab him and scream at him to stop moving, but she couldn't make noise. Anybody could walk past or through the door at any moment. The owner of the office, to every Ministry employee's knowledge, was quietly getting some work done. Alicia had no idea what sort of information George got from him. He wasn't anybody particularly special, just the head of a department that Alicia hadn't known existed until two hours prior. She didn't realize that the Ministry even remotely cared about the environment. Lee had explained to her that they didn't, it was just for show. George agreed. The things you learn when your friends' parents work for the Ministry.
Somebody knocked on the door. Alicia glanced at the unconscious form of David Jay slumped in his chair. She cleared her throat. "Come in."
A woman entered the room timidly. Immediately, Lee sprang to action, shutting the door and grabbing the woman in a chokehold. Alicia fully understood the panic in her eyes, but she attempted to ignore it. She casted a barrier to protect them, reasoning that it was probably unnecessary due to the giant "Knock Before Entering" nailed to the office door. She held the spell and sat down. She didn't like to watch this; she had too much empathy in her for this job. She knew George and Lee could handle the woman. Lee was a large man, and George was strong. She just needed to focus on keeping other people out of the room.
It took much longer than Alicia was expecting. Fred had told her that George took an average of three minutes to get the information he needed, and Alicia had found that to hold up. Now, however, Alicia was shaking with the effort of holding the barrier at its full power. She wished George would hurry up, but she couldn't do anything about it. She glanced over at him and found him dripping with sweat. Lee looked ready to drop the woman, who was now unconscious, to the floor and rush to keep George from hitting his head at any moment. Alicia braced herself for George to pass out.
Miraculously, George managed to stay upright for at least another five minutes. Alicia checked her watch. It had been twenty minutes since this woman walked into the office. Alicia was about to let the barrier go out of necessity when George collapsed.
Fred didn't know what he thought he was doing. Remus could see everything that he was doing. He was directly disobeying orders. His life would be hell if Remus found out about this.
Fred paced the hallway for a solid twenty minutes. He knew Matt was home. He always was on Friday nights. Didn't like large crowds. Loosely observed Sabbath. Didn't have class. Worked the night shift Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays.
When Fred gained the courage to ring the bell, he immediately wanted to leave. He stayed, standing tall to counteract how he felt.
It wasn't Matt who answered the door, and Fred was crushed. "We're not—Oh. Fred." It was Jamie, Matt's overbearing roommate that Fred, quite frankly, despised. She didn't even make an effort to hide her sneer. "What brings you here?"
"I want to talk to Matt."
Jamie smiled sweetly. Fred was reminded of Umbridge. He swallowed hard to quell the nausea. "He's not home, honey."
Fred's jaw dropped. "But—"
"Fred?" Fred had never been so glad to hear Matt's voice.
"Matt! Hey!"
"Fred was just leaving," Jamie said through gritted teeth. "He has to go take care of his twin."
"No! I mean, I've got time." Fred inwardly cursed himself for raising his voice.
Jamie was smoldering. "I thought you said it was a mistake to come."
"Why don't we go grab a coffee?" Matt offered, shoving Jamie out of the way. "Let me grab my shoes."
Before Jamie could say a word, Matt was shutting the door behind him. Immediately his smile faded. "It's been a little while. I've been worried."
"I'm alright."
Matt didn't seem convinced. "Anywhere you want to go?"
"Chip stand or something is all I've got the money for on me," Fred confessed. "I was more thinking Jamie wouldn't be home."
Matt laughed breathily. "Yeah, sorry about her."
"This is why you don't move in with people based on newspaper ads."
"This is why you move in with people before marriage," Matt muttered. Realizing what he'd said, he clasped a hand over his mouth. "Shit, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."
Fred didn't have to be able to see his face to know his cheeks were scarlett. "It's cool."
Matt's hand brushed against Fred's as they crossed a street. They knew they couldn't hold hands in public, so this had been their substitution. "McDonald's?" Matt said, pretending nothing had happened.
"Sounds perfect."
When they arrived, Fred was glad to see it was empty, aside from a couple of people around Fred's age that looked like they really didn't want to be there. Fred couldn't blame them. He nudged Matt. "What are you getting?"
"I already ate supper. I was going to get a coffee and an ice cream."
"It is 8 pm."
"I like coffee!"
Fred just shook his head. "I'm paying."
"No you're not. You're also going to eat enough for an army. Boyfriend's orders." Fred immediately wrapped his arms around himself. He knew that Matt would notice. He didn't even register that Matt had called them boyfriends. "What do you want?"
"I don't know. I've never been here before."
"You've never been to a McDonald's?"
Fred shook his head. "Never went out to eat as a kid. They just started to build one within an hour of my village like a month ago."
"That's when you know you've made it," Matt chuckled. "You go grab a table. I'll handle your order."
George wasn't impressed. He had spent years training for this, only to pass out his second mission. Pride would truly be the death of him if he pulled a stunt like that again. That was, if Remus didn't kill him first.
"Can anybody explain to me why the hell this mission was aborted?" Remus said sternly. To his left, Lee looked like a child being scolded.
"I got overzealous," George mumbled.
"What was that? Speak up."
George cleared his throat. "The girl was a Death Eater. I thought I could do the thing we talked about."
"You what?"
"I tried the thing. The one Dumbledore said he wanted to find out if it was possible. Then I passed out."
"George, may I speak to you privately?"
Lee patted him on the shoulder, a silent "don't die", and left the room as quickly as possible.
"You remember what I said about trying to connect to other Death Eaters?"
"To gain my footing first."
"Exactly. And would you consider yourself to be grounded enough, strong enough, or accustomed to the situation enough to attempt something like that?"
George shook his head. "It was uncalled for. I'm sorry."
"Never again. Do you understand me?"
George nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Are you willing to accept the necessary punishment?"
George gulped. "Yes, sir."
"So, what did he say?"
"We went to a McDonald's and talked."
"And?" Angelina had always been overly invested in Fred's love life ever since they went to the Yule Ball together. They had spent most of the night talking about guys at Hogwarts, laughing and exchanging bad date stories. She had confided her crush in Fred that night, and he had kept his lips sealed for years. Somehow, their conversation had evolved into an almost obnoxious overprotectiveness over each other, as long as an interest in the other's love life. Besides, Angelina had always liked Matt. She had been the first of his friend group to meet him.
"We're gonna give it another shot. Fuck Remus' orders."
"Yeah! Fuck him!"
"Fuck who?"
Angelina watched Fred's face light up. "You're alive!" he said, surprised.
"Yeah?" George glanced at Angelina for clarification.
"Lee made it sound like you were going to be killed."
George shook his head. "What a shocker. Dramatic fucker." He sat down next to Fred and rested his head on his twin's shoulder. "How's you guys' week been?"
"Fred is back with Matt," Angelina blurted out.
George's eyebrows shot up faster than Angelina thought possible. "Oh?"
Fred nodded sheepishly. "I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. We're going to take it easy for a little bit."
"Does Remus know?"
"No, and you cannot tell him."
"Freddie, I love you, but—"
"I mean it. If he finds out, it'll come from me."
George tilted his head, as if to say "fair enough". "And how was your week, Angelina?"
"Oh, spectacular. I went to the dentist. It was so much fun. Didn't nearly vomit all over the dentist nurse person or anything. You know my gag reflex is a demon."
George's cheeks flushed, and Angelina realized what she had said. She clasped a hand over her mouth. Fred burst out laughing.
"I didn't mean like that! Stop laughing, Frederick!"