AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to 'Bring on the Rain' by
thecheesestandsalone, which you need to read before you read this.
And I'd like to thank
her very much for letting me write a sequel to it.
DISCLAIMER: None of this is mine. Katie, George, and everything else
belongs to JK Rowling.
***
BRING ON THE SUN
***
Jake often has this dream.
Every night, when he goes to bed, he dreads the dream coming. Mummy always says 'think happy thoughts' and he tries so hard to, but it is as though the fear of the dream pushes the happy thoughts away.
In his dream, he feels trapped. Something indescribable, something dark and gloomy and terrible, is heading for him and he can't get away. He can only stand, and wait, growing more and more afraid, as the something gets closer and closer. The something has never gotten him yet, he always wakes up first, sweating, scared, his heart pounding.
In the dream, he never knows what the something is. It has no recognisable shape, it is just there. When he wakes up he knows what it is. It is the thing that has made his Daddy and lots of his aunts and uncles go away. It is the thing that makes his grandma look at him sadly and it is the thing that makes Mummy cry when she thinks he's asleep.
It is what the adults call war.
Jake doesn't know what war is, he just knows that it is something awful. He has heard Mummy and Aunty Angelina talking about it when they don't think the children are listening. Sarah never is, because she is too young to understand, but Jake always tries to listen, because he wants to know. Mummy and Aunty Angelina talk about how the war is going. Jake is less concerned with how it is going that where it is going, and this is why he listens: he wants to find out if the war is coming to get them. The war is some vague force that eats people, that takes them away, like his Daddy.
He has woken up again because of the dream. It was worse than ever, this time - this time the war nearly got him. For a moment he clutches the teddy bear Grandma gave him, trying to be brave, but it is much harder to be brave in the dark. He knows that the only thing that can make the dream go away is Mummy, who never minds him coming to see her after he has had the dream. Holding his teddy bear, Jake slips out of bed and down the short corridor to Mummy's room. The door is half open, as usual, so he pushes it open.
Standing in the doorway, with light from the passage spilling into the room, Jake can see that Daddy is in the bed too. At first, he thinks this is still just a part of the dream. Then he realises that Daddy has gone to the war, so if Daddy is here now then the war must be coming here. The dream is going to come true.
Jake doesn't think he has ever been so scared.
***
George is awake instantly. He has always had good reflexes and these have only been honed by two months in the trenches of Scotland, the years of spying and guerrilla work for the Order of the Phoenix, and even, in those long ago days, roaming the Hogwarts corridors at night with his twin and Lee Jordan, always one step ahead of Filch and the professors.
He has not woken to what he was expecting. His unconscious mind has been expecting Death Eaters and curses, or, at the very least, to wake to the rough sheets and hard beds of the barracks near the trenches. It takes him several seconds to register the soft bed and the warm body he has been holding in his sleep: Katie. With the recognition comes the remembrance of why he is home, of what he has to tell her and what he has to do, and dread swamps him.
Pushing it away - it can wait till the morning - he looks up to see what has disturbed him. Standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the light from the passageway outside, is his son. He hasn't seen Jake for two months and already the boy seems to have grown and changed. He is clutching the old teddy bear he always sleeps with and is staring, wide-eyed, at his father.
"Jake," he whispers gently.
***
George's whisper, soft as it is, wakes Katie. Blinking, trying to gather together her senses, savouring the feeling of George's arms around her, she looks at Jake, who is standing in the doorway, and knows why he is here.
"Jake," she murmurs, extending one arm towards her son. "Did you have the dream again, honey?"
He nods, but does not come running, as he usually does, to burrow into bed beside her. Instead he remains in the doorway, awkwardly.
"D'you want to come and say hello to Daddy and tell us about it?" This is not quite the father/son reunion Katie has been hoping for for the last two months; poor Jake seems completely perplexed.
Slowly, Jake advances, and clambers onto Katie's side of the bed. She puts her arm round him as he climbs under the covers, his big brown eyes peering over her shoulder at George. "Hi, Daddy."
"Hey, trouble." Katie can hear the smile in George's voice as he reaches up to ruffle Jake's hair, the way he always does, then moves his arm down so he is holding them both.
Jake buries his face into Katie's neck and mutters something. "What was that?" she asks him, gently.
"Is the war coming?" he says, raising his head just slightly as he speaks.
"No, honey, no," says Katie, rubbing his back. "The war's not coming here."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." Katie can feel George's breath on the back on her neck; it is a feeling she's missed while he's been away.
"So Daddy hasn't come to save us from the war?"
"Oh, no, Jake. The war's all the way up in Scotland. It's a long long way away. Daddy's just here - actually, I don't know why Daddy's here." She twists her neck to look at her husband as best as she can. "Why are you here?"
"Because I missed you both," says George, which satisfies Jake, but Katie knows wars don't work like that. "I'll tell you in the morning," George whispers in her ear. Katie suddenly feels afraid: she hopes George hasn't gone AWOL or anything like that. In her experience, the Ministry does not send its soldiers home for the night.
No one says anything. In a few minutes, reassured, Jake is fast asleep again. Katie goes to lift him out and return him to his own bed, but George stops her. "Let him stay," he says, almost pleading. "Just for tonight."
"What's wrong, George?" she whispers, not wanting to wake Jake.
"I'll tell you in the morning," he says again, kissing the back of her head. "I stopped in at the Burrow on the way here. Mum and Dad will look after Jake tomorrow morning. Sarah's going to be there, too."
This does not ease Katie's fears in the least. "Am I going to like this?"
She hears George sigh. "Probably not."
Katie sighs, too, and looks at Jake's sleeping face. She wishes her fears could be assuaged as easily as his seem to be, but she has long since passed that point.
***
Jake is confused. First Daddy appears in the middle of the night, then Mum takes him off to see Grandma and Grandpa, which he usually loves. Grandma gives him lots of Chocolate Frogs and food, and Grandpa lets him play with his Muggle things. Sometimes he feels as though they're hiding something from him, but today he knows they are.
It is something to do with Daddy and the war. Sarah is here too, at the Burrow, which makes him think that maybe Uncle Fred is in it too. Uncle Fred is in the kitchen with Mummy and Grandma and Grandpa and they won't let him and Sarah in. They are spying through the crack in the door; at least, Jake is. He's trying to figure out what's happening. Mummy has said a couple of times, "What's going on?" but they won't answer her; Grandma just says, "You'd better get home, Katie." Katie is Mummy's real name, Jake knows. Why won't they tell Mummy either? Jake doesn't like this, he doesn't know what's going on but he knows it's something bad, probably worse even that the dream.
Jake starts as Mummy turns towards the door, but then Uncle Fred grabs her and gives her a big hug. This is not unusual in itself, but to Jake this is just another bad sign. "Goodbye, Katie," he says, very quietly: Jake can only just hear him. "Take care of yourself."
Mummy nods, and Jake scurries off to play with Sarah before she comes out. Mummy comes over to them, and Jake sees that she is crying. Something has happened to make Mummy cry - something really bad. It must be something to do with the war, maybe it is coming here, after all. Maybe that's why they won't talk about what's happening.
He doesn't want Mummy to go. He clings to her, trying to make her not cry. Mummy is holding him tightly, making funny noises, kind of like Jake makes when he's trying to be mad and not cry. He's scared. He thinks that if Mummy goes away now, the war will swallow her up.
"Jake," Mummy whispers, in a strange voice. "I've got to go now, okay? I've got to go and look after Daddy for a while. Grandma and Grandpa are going to look after you Sarah and I'll come and get you later."
"I don't want the war to get you, Mummy."
"It's not going to get me, Jake, I promise. The war's in Scotland, remember, honey? I will be back to pick you up later, all right?"
"All right," he says, reluctantly. He thinks he's going to cry now, too, and in a minute, he is. Soon Sarah is crying too, because she knows something bad is going on too, and because everyone else is crying. Grandma Weasley comes out and holds Jake and Sarah, and Mummy says, "Don't forget, Jake, Daddy and I both love you very, very much, all right?" and then she is gone.
***
Katie feels sick. Something is happening and George hasn't told her what it is. It's something that's making Fred act weirder than usual, and Arthur solemn, and Molly cry. She's left her son and her niece in tears, because they have picked up on the fear at the Burrow. She knows that nothing good is going to come from what George is going to tell her.
She has Apparated home and appeared in the middle of the living room. George has had a bath and a shave while she's been gone, both of which he desperately needed, and he's waiting for her on the couch, wearing jeans and the blue shirt she bought him for his last birthday.
"What's going on?" she demands. She is angry, scared, desperate. "George, please tell me what's going on," she pleads, looking at him. "Something's going on, I know it is, and everyone seems to know except me."
"Katie, come here. Please." George holds out his arms and she lets him wrap her in them, in the familiar, warm embrace. "I've got something to tell you."
"I noticed."
George is silent for a minute. "Do you remember the day we got married?" he asks, suddenly, reminiscently.
"Of course," says Katie, startled. It had been six years ago. She'd been 19, George had been 20. 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure' her mother had said. They'd done the first part, but not the second. At the time, they'd felt that maybe they wouldn't have the leisure to repent. They'd made it alive this far, despite the war raging around them, and she hadn't regretted a minute of it.
"That was the best decision we ever made," George whispers, kissing her hair. "And do you remember when Jake was born?"
"Yes," says Katie, wondering where all this was going. Jake had been born barely a year after the wedding. They certainly hadn't planned to have a child so soon - not until the war was over, at least. Her mother had said 'You're just a pair of babies yourselves - what did you want to go and get pregnant for?' She'd just looked at them pityingly when Katie said that she hadn't wanted to get pregnant, but now she was, and she was happy. It had been Molly Weasley who'd talked Katie through her pregnancy, Molly who'd told her what to expect at the birth, Molly who'd been there for them when they were raising Jake, barely coping with the war, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and George's spy work for the Order, let alone with a new baby. Her own mother hadn't been interested, but then, her own mother was a Muggle and the gulf between them had grown since Katie started at Hogwarts.
"I love you both so much." George is hugging her, holding her as tightly as she held Jake a few minutes ago. "You know that, don't you?"
"Of course I know that, and I love you and Jake too, more than anything else." This conversation is doing nothing to soothe Katie's fears, or explain what's going on.
George is silent again, and Katie waits, anxiously, feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathes. She's missed this, these last few months, while he's been away. He sighs.
"You know what we're fighting for - what we're doing at Hogwarts. Pushing the Death Eaters back, knocking them out one by one, getting closer and closer to the castle."
"Yes."
"Well, we're nearly there. We're nearly at the castle. One wing's made it onto the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid was working to get another group around the lake. The Death Eaters are down to a skeleton army and it won't be long until we're at the castle itself."
"And?"
"And there are Death Eaters holed up inside the castle. The worst and most dangerous of the lot. Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Evan Rosier - the ones who are controlling everything and sending their minions out to die. The ones who took over when Voldemort was killed. We know they're there; the only wards around the castle that are still in force are the anti-Apparition ones. You can't Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts grounds, as my dear sister-in-law Hermione would say. Now, that's worked for Lestrange and company for months, because no one can get in to get at them. But now, it works for us. They're trapped. They can't Apparate out and they can't get out past our forces. We know the wards are still up, Flitwick's been running tests ever since we got close enough to find out."
This sounds like fairly good news, so far, to Katie, but she knows there is something George hasn't told her yet, something that is going to explain what is happening.
He sighs again. "We've got to knock those leaders out. Kill them, get them in secure custody - whatever. We need to reclaim the castle and get it up and running again, and we need them out of the way for ever, so they can't raise up a new army of Death Eaters and try to finish what they're started. To do that, we're going to have to go in."
"Into Hogwarts?"
"Yes. We've formed three teams. Fred, Filch, McGonagall and I will lead the first team. We've got to get into the castle and begin to hunt them down, but they've been in there for months and we don't know what they've been up to. We know they're evil and they've killed so many people that a few more won't make any difference to them. There could be blocks, barricades, Dark Magic of all kinds all over the place."
"What are you trying to tell me, George?" Katie asks quietly, looking at her husband. He looks scared, and she doesn't think he's afraid of her.
"I'm trying to tell you that we don't know what we'll be facing inside the castle. Once we're in, we can't Apparate out again. There's a possibility that this could be a suicide mission."
Katie feels sick. The leaders of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry's military commanders have sent her husband home to say goodbye, because he might be about to die. Her mind isn't working straight and she can only imagine how he must feel. She swears. "Why you?" she demands. "You've got a wife and child. So does Fred. McGonagall's old and Filch is a Squib, for goodness sake!"
"Because no one knows the castle better than we do." George takes a deep breath. "Once we've gone in, we'll have four days. If we're not out within the four days, the second team will be sent in. Lee and Remus Lupin and Snape are in charge of that team. In another four days, in comes the third team. Professor Vector, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione. If we all fail, then everyone who's left will storm the castle and hope for the best." George's voice is quiet, resigned. Katie thinks wildly, madly of the Chudley Cannons and their motto: 'Let's all just cross our fingers and hope for the best.' That is not the sort of motto that works in war.
She holds him tightly and fiercely. She doesn't try to argue: she knows why he is doing this, she knows there is no one better to do what he is going to do. This battle is not about individuals, it is about the safety of the whole Wizarding world. Jake doesn't know what peace is. There is no choice but to fight.
***
George looks at Katie, at the look in her eyes. He doesn't know how he can bear to leave her behind this afternoon. She has been the rock in his life since he was a teenager, and they've come a long way together. For a moment, he thinks of pulling out of the mission, but he knows that's not an option. He knows Katie - she knows he has to go, she will make him. He couldn't live with himself if he let the others go, possibly to their deaths, and he stayed home.
He's not afraid of death. He's afraid of leaving Katie and Jake and Fred and everyone else he loves behind and going somewhere they're not. Holding Katie, breathing in the familiar smell of soap and shampoo, he wishes that things could have been different for them. They never had a chance, not really.
George knows that he might not die. He and Fred, Filch and McGonagall might just march into the castle in two days from now with the soldiers that have been appointed for the mission, capture Lestrange and the others and walk out again. There's a possibility it might be that easy. But then again, of course, it might not.
He tries to believe that he will make it out of the castle alive. If he does, the Wizarding world will be at peace for the first time in seven years. He'll take Katie and Jake on holiday, to the beach, and Jake can play in the sea and they'll get to know each other as a family again. They'll have brothers and sisters for Jake who'll all go to Hogwarts, and their children will never know the fear of war.
He hopes.
George kisses his wife, and tries to believe that it is all going to work out all right.
***
Katie watches her husband sleep with much the same emotions as she watches her son sleep. She feels swamped by an irresistible of tide of love, hope, happiness, tenderness, affection, wonder. In this case, she doesn't feel wonder that this is something she has helped create, because goodness knows she had nothing to do with George's existence, but simple wonder that he is alive, that he has made it through.
It has been a long week, waiting without news from the front, spending most of her time with Angelina as they tried to remain strong for Jake and Sarah.
George, Fred and McGonagall have made it out alive with most of their team. Lee, Lupin and Snape, who also went in, have made it out as well. Argus Filch and the six soldiers who lost their lives in the final stage of the Battle for Hogwarts will be forever commemorated as heroes and will never be forgotten. Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor, was one of those soldiers: Katie is selfishly glad that it wasn't George who died, but she knows he will grieve for Dean later, they both will. At the moment, it is time for relief that he and Fred are alive, that Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier and the others have been captured and will face punishment for their hideous crimes, although no punishment could ever make up for what the Wizarding world has been through.
They are at peace now. Katie feels wonder at this, too, as she watches George sleep. She has almost forgotten what peace is.
She has had a battle of her own just to get him home tonight. The Ministry wanted him and Fred at St Mungo's; Molly wanted them at the Burrow. There is nothing physically wrong with the twins that a few simple potions, lots of rest and plenty of tender loving care won't fix and there are people more in need of beds of the hospital. Katie and Angelina have won the right to take 'their boys' home because they are married to them; Molly has won the consolation prize of having her grandchildren to stay for a few nights.
Katie has offered to sleep in Jake's bed tonight to let George have a proper sleep. He insisted that he'd sleep better with her, and so here she is, watching him. Usually, she would sleep with his arms wrapped around her, her back against his chest. Tonight, wanting to hold him, too, she is facing him. It's not that comfortable - their legs are intertwined and one of her arms is going numb - but she has him here again, this time for good. They have the rest of their lives ahead of them.
The war is over and now it is time for life to continue. It won't be the life they imagined when they were at school, but it will be a life they have earned and one they will live together. Finally closing her eyes, Katie thinks that there could be no better kind of life.
***
BRING ON THE SUN
***
Jake often has this dream.
Every night, when he goes to bed, he dreads the dream coming. Mummy always says 'think happy thoughts' and he tries so hard to, but it is as though the fear of the dream pushes the happy thoughts away.
In his dream, he feels trapped. Something indescribable, something dark and gloomy and terrible, is heading for him and he can't get away. He can only stand, and wait, growing more and more afraid, as the something gets closer and closer. The something has never gotten him yet, he always wakes up first, sweating, scared, his heart pounding.
In the dream, he never knows what the something is. It has no recognisable shape, it is just there. When he wakes up he knows what it is. It is the thing that has made his Daddy and lots of his aunts and uncles go away. It is the thing that makes his grandma look at him sadly and it is the thing that makes Mummy cry when she thinks he's asleep.
It is what the adults call war.
Jake doesn't know what war is, he just knows that it is something awful. He has heard Mummy and Aunty Angelina talking about it when they don't think the children are listening. Sarah never is, because she is too young to understand, but Jake always tries to listen, because he wants to know. Mummy and Aunty Angelina talk about how the war is going. Jake is less concerned with how it is going that where it is going, and this is why he listens: he wants to find out if the war is coming to get them. The war is some vague force that eats people, that takes them away, like his Daddy.
He has woken up again because of the dream. It was worse than ever, this time - this time the war nearly got him. For a moment he clutches the teddy bear Grandma gave him, trying to be brave, but it is much harder to be brave in the dark. He knows that the only thing that can make the dream go away is Mummy, who never minds him coming to see her after he has had the dream. Holding his teddy bear, Jake slips out of bed and down the short corridor to Mummy's room. The door is half open, as usual, so he pushes it open.
Standing in the doorway, with light from the passage spilling into the room, Jake can see that Daddy is in the bed too. At first, he thinks this is still just a part of the dream. Then he realises that Daddy has gone to the war, so if Daddy is here now then the war must be coming here. The dream is going to come true.
Jake doesn't think he has ever been so scared.
***
George is awake instantly. He has always had good reflexes and these have only been honed by two months in the trenches of Scotland, the years of spying and guerrilla work for the Order of the Phoenix, and even, in those long ago days, roaming the Hogwarts corridors at night with his twin and Lee Jordan, always one step ahead of Filch and the professors.
He has not woken to what he was expecting. His unconscious mind has been expecting Death Eaters and curses, or, at the very least, to wake to the rough sheets and hard beds of the barracks near the trenches. It takes him several seconds to register the soft bed and the warm body he has been holding in his sleep: Katie. With the recognition comes the remembrance of why he is home, of what he has to tell her and what he has to do, and dread swamps him.
Pushing it away - it can wait till the morning - he looks up to see what has disturbed him. Standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the light from the passageway outside, is his son. He hasn't seen Jake for two months and already the boy seems to have grown and changed. He is clutching the old teddy bear he always sleeps with and is staring, wide-eyed, at his father.
"Jake," he whispers gently.
***
George's whisper, soft as it is, wakes Katie. Blinking, trying to gather together her senses, savouring the feeling of George's arms around her, she looks at Jake, who is standing in the doorway, and knows why he is here.
"Jake," she murmurs, extending one arm towards her son. "Did you have the dream again, honey?"
He nods, but does not come running, as he usually does, to burrow into bed beside her. Instead he remains in the doorway, awkwardly.
"D'you want to come and say hello to Daddy and tell us about it?" This is not quite the father/son reunion Katie has been hoping for for the last two months; poor Jake seems completely perplexed.
Slowly, Jake advances, and clambers onto Katie's side of the bed. She puts her arm round him as he climbs under the covers, his big brown eyes peering over her shoulder at George. "Hi, Daddy."
"Hey, trouble." Katie can hear the smile in George's voice as he reaches up to ruffle Jake's hair, the way he always does, then moves his arm down so he is holding them both.
Jake buries his face into Katie's neck and mutters something. "What was that?" she asks him, gently.
"Is the war coming?" he says, raising his head just slightly as he speaks.
"No, honey, no," says Katie, rubbing his back. "The war's not coming here."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." Katie can feel George's breath on the back on her neck; it is a feeling she's missed while he's been away.
"So Daddy hasn't come to save us from the war?"
"Oh, no, Jake. The war's all the way up in Scotland. It's a long long way away. Daddy's just here - actually, I don't know why Daddy's here." She twists her neck to look at her husband as best as she can. "Why are you here?"
"Because I missed you both," says George, which satisfies Jake, but Katie knows wars don't work like that. "I'll tell you in the morning," George whispers in her ear. Katie suddenly feels afraid: she hopes George hasn't gone AWOL or anything like that. In her experience, the Ministry does not send its soldiers home for the night.
No one says anything. In a few minutes, reassured, Jake is fast asleep again. Katie goes to lift him out and return him to his own bed, but George stops her. "Let him stay," he says, almost pleading. "Just for tonight."
"What's wrong, George?" she whispers, not wanting to wake Jake.
"I'll tell you in the morning," he says again, kissing the back of her head. "I stopped in at the Burrow on the way here. Mum and Dad will look after Jake tomorrow morning. Sarah's going to be there, too."
This does not ease Katie's fears in the least. "Am I going to like this?"
She hears George sigh. "Probably not."
Katie sighs, too, and looks at Jake's sleeping face. She wishes her fears could be assuaged as easily as his seem to be, but she has long since passed that point.
***
Jake is confused. First Daddy appears in the middle of the night, then Mum takes him off to see Grandma and Grandpa, which he usually loves. Grandma gives him lots of Chocolate Frogs and food, and Grandpa lets him play with his Muggle things. Sometimes he feels as though they're hiding something from him, but today he knows they are.
It is something to do with Daddy and the war. Sarah is here too, at the Burrow, which makes him think that maybe Uncle Fred is in it too. Uncle Fred is in the kitchen with Mummy and Grandma and Grandpa and they won't let him and Sarah in. They are spying through the crack in the door; at least, Jake is. He's trying to figure out what's happening. Mummy has said a couple of times, "What's going on?" but they won't answer her; Grandma just says, "You'd better get home, Katie." Katie is Mummy's real name, Jake knows. Why won't they tell Mummy either? Jake doesn't like this, he doesn't know what's going on but he knows it's something bad, probably worse even that the dream.
Jake starts as Mummy turns towards the door, but then Uncle Fred grabs her and gives her a big hug. This is not unusual in itself, but to Jake this is just another bad sign. "Goodbye, Katie," he says, very quietly: Jake can only just hear him. "Take care of yourself."
Mummy nods, and Jake scurries off to play with Sarah before she comes out. Mummy comes over to them, and Jake sees that she is crying. Something has happened to make Mummy cry - something really bad. It must be something to do with the war, maybe it is coming here, after all. Maybe that's why they won't talk about what's happening.
He doesn't want Mummy to go. He clings to her, trying to make her not cry. Mummy is holding him tightly, making funny noises, kind of like Jake makes when he's trying to be mad and not cry. He's scared. He thinks that if Mummy goes away now, the war will swallow her up.
"Jake," Mummy whispers, in a strange voice. "I've got to go now, okay? I've got to go and look after Daddy for a while. Grandma and Grandpa are going to look after you Sarah and I'll come and get you later."
"I don't want the war to get you, Mummy."
"It's not going to get me, Jake, I promise. The war's in Scotland, remember, honey? I will be back to pick you up later, all right?"
"All right," he says, reluctantly. He thinks he's going to cry now, too, and in a minute, he is. Soon Sarah is crying too, because she knows something bad is going on too, and because everyone else is crying. Grandma Weasley comes out and holds Jake and Sarah, and Mummy says, "Don't forget, Jake, Daddy and I both love you very, very much, all right?" and then she is gone.
***
Katie feels sick. Something is happening and George hasn't told her what it is. It's something that's making Fred act weirder than usual, and Arthur solemn, and Molly cry. She's left her son and her niece in tears, because they have picked up on the fear at the Burrow. She knows that nothing good is going to come from what George is going to tell her.
She has Apparated home and appeared in the middle of the living room. George has had a bath and a shave while she's been gone, both of which he desperately needed, and he's waiting for her on the couch, wearing jeans and the blue shirt she bought him for his last birthday.
"What's going on?" she demands. She is angry, scared, desperate. "George, please tell me what's going on," she pleads, looking at him. "Something's going on, I know it is, and everyone seems to know except me."
"Katie, come here. Please." George holds out his arms and she lets him wrap her in them, in the familiar, warm embrace. "I've got something to tell you."
"I noticed."
George is silent for a minute. "Do you remember the day we got married?" he asks, suddenly, reminiscently.
"Of course," says Katie, startled. It had been six years ago. She'd been 19, George had been 20. 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure' her mother had said. They'd done the first part, but not the second. At the time, they'd felt that maybe they wouldn't have the leisure to repent. They'd made it alive this far, despite the war raging around them, and she hadn't regretted a minute of it.
"That was the best decision we ever made," George whispers, kissing her hair. "And do you remember when Jake was born?"
"Yes," says Katie, wondering where all this was going. Jake had been born barely a year after the wedding. They certainly hadn't planned to have a child so soon - not until the war was over, at least. Her mother had said 'You're just a pair of babies yourselves - what did you want to go and get pregnant for?' She'd just looked at them pityingly when Katie said that she hadn't wanted to get pregnant, but now she was, and she was happy. It had been Molly Weasley who'd talked Katie through her pregnancy, Molly who'd told her what to expect at the birth, Molly who'd been there for them when they were raising Jake, barely coping with the war, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and George's spy work for the Order, let alone with a new baby. Her own mother hadn't been interested, but then, her own mother was a Muggle and the gulf between them had grown since Katie started at Hogwarts.
"I love you both so much." George is hugging her, holding her as tightly as she held Jake a few minutes ago. "You know that, don't you?"
"Of course I know that, and I love you and Jake too, more than anything else." This conversation is doing nothing to soothe Katie's fears, or explain what's going on.
George is silent again, and Katie waits, anxiously, feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathes. She's missed this, these last few months, while he's been away. He sighs.
"You know what we're fighting for - what we're doing at Hogwarts. Pushing the Death Eaters back, knocking them out one by one, getting closer and closer to the castle."
"Yes."
"Well, we're nearly there. We're nearly at the castle. One wing's made it onto the Quidditch pitch, Hagrid was working to get another group around the lake. The Death Eaters are down to a skeleton army and it won't be long until we're at the castle itself."
"And?"
"And there are Death Eaters holed up inside the castle. The worst and most dangerous of the lot. Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Evan Rosier - the ones who are controlling everything and sending their minions out to die. The ones who took over when Voldemort was killed. We know they're there; the only wards around the castle that are still in force are the anti-Apparition ones. You can't Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts grounds, as my dear sister-in-law Hermione would say. Now, that's worked for Lestrange and company for months, because no one can get in to get at them. But now, it works for us. They're trapped. They can't Apparate out and they can't get out past our forces. We know the wards are still up, Flitwick's been running tests ever since we got close enough to find out."
This sounds like fairly good news, so far, to Katie, but she knows there is something George hasn't told her yet, something that is going to explain what is happening.
He sighs again. "We've got to knock those leaders out. Kill them, get them in secure custody - whatever. We need to reclaim the castle and get it up and running again, and we need them out of the way for ever, so they can't raise up a new army of Death Eaters and try to finish what they're started. To do that, we're going to have to go in."
"Into Hogwarts?"
"Yes. We've formed three teams. Fred, Filch, McGonagall and I will lead the first team. We've got to get into the castle and begin to hunt them down, but they've been in there for months and we don't know what they've been up to. We know they're evil and they've killed so many people that a few more won't make any difference to them. There could be blocks, barricades, Dark Magic of all kinds all over the place."
"What are you trying to tell me, George?" Katie asks quietly, looking at her husband. He looks scared, and she doesn't think he's afraid of her.
"I'm trying to tell you that we don't know what we'll be facing inside the castle. Once we're in, we can't Apparate out again. There's a possibility that this could be a suicide mission."
Katie feels sick. The leaders of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry's military commanders have sent her husband home to say goodbye, because he might be about to die. Her mind isn't working straight and she can only imagine how he must feel. She swears. "Why you?" she demands. "You've got a wife and child. So does Fred. McGonagall's old and Filch is a Squib, for goodness sake!"
"Because no one knows the castle better than we do." George takes a deep breath. "Once we've gone in, we'll have four days. If we're not out within the four days, the second team will be sent in. Lee and Remus Lupin and Snape are in charge of that team. In another four days, in comes the third team. Professor Vector, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione. If we all fail, then everyone who's left will storm the castle and hope for the best." George's voice is quiet, resigned. Katie thinks wildly, madly of the Chudley Cannons and their motto: 'Let's all just cross our fingers and hope for the best.' That is not the sort of motto that works in war.
She holds him tightly and fiercely. She doesn't try to argue: she knows why he is doing this, she knows there is no one better to do what he is going to do. This battle is not about individuals, it is about the safety of the whole Wizarding world. Jake doesn't know what peace is. There is no choice but to fight.
***
George looks at Katie, at the look in her eyes. He doesn't know how he can bear to leave her behind this afternoon. She has been the rock in his life since he was a teenager, and they've come a long way together. For a moment, he thinks of pulling out of the mission, but he knows that's not an option. He knows Katie - she knows he has to go, she will make him. He couldn't live with himself if he let the others go, possibly to their deaths, and he stayed home.
He's not afraid of death. He's afraid of leaving Katie and Jake and Fred and everyone else he loves behind and going somewhere they're not. Holding Katie, breathing in the familiar smell of soap and shampoo, he wishes that things could have been different for them. They never had a chance, not really.
George knows that he might not die. He and Fred, Filch and McGonagall might just march into the castle in two days from now with the soldiers that have been appointed for the mission, capture Lestrange and the others and walk out again. There's a possibility it might be that easy. But then again, of course, it might not.
He tries to believe that he will make it out of the castle alive. If he does, the Wizarding world will be at peace for the first time in seven years. He'll take Katie and Jake on holiday, to the beach, and Jake can play in the sea and they'll get to know each other as a family again. They'll have brothers and sisters for Jake who'll all go to Hogwarts, and their children will never know the fear of war.
He hopes.
George kisses his wife, and tries to believe that it is all going to work out all right.
***
Katie watches her husband sleep with much the same emotions as she watches her son sleep. She feels swamped by an irresistible of tide of love, hope, happiness, tenderness, affection, wonder. In this case, she doesn't feel wonder that this is something she has helped create, because goodness knows she had nothing to do with George's existence, but simple wonder that he is alive, that he has made it through.
It has been a long week, waiting without news from the front, spending most of her time with Angelina as they tried to remain strong for Jake and Sarah.
George, Fred and McGonagall have made it out alive with most of their team. Lee, Lupin and Snape, who also went in, have made it out as well. Argus Filch and the six soldiers who lost their lives in the final stage of the Battle for Hogwarts will be forever commemorated as heroes and will never be forgotten. Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor, was one of those soldiers: Katie is selfishly glad that it wasn't George who died, but she knows he will grieve for Dean later, they both will. At the moment, it is time for relief that he and Fred are alive, that Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier and the others have been captured and will face punishment for their hideous crimes, although no punishment could ever make up for what the Wizarding world has been through.
They are at peace now. Katie feels wonder at this, too, as she watches George sleep. She has almost forgotten what peace is.
She has had a battle of her own just to get him home tonight. The Ministry wanted him and Fred at St Mungo's; Molly wanted them at the Burrow. There is nothing physically wrong with the twins that a few simple potions, lots of rest and plenty of tender loving care won't fix and there are people more in need of beds of the hospital. Katie and Angelina have won the right to take 'their boys' home because they are married to them; Molly has won the consolation prize of having her grandchildren to stay for a few nights.
Katie has offered to sleep in Jake's bed tonight to let George have a proper sleep. He insisted that he'd sleep better with her, and so here she is, watching him. Usually, she would sleep with his arms wrapped around her, her back against his chest. Tonight, wanting to hold him, too, she is facing him. It's not that comfortable - their legs are intertwined and one of her arms is going numb - but she has him here again, this time for good. They have the rest of their lives ahead of them.
The war is over and now it is time for life to continue. It won't be the life they imagined when they were at school, but it will be a life they have earned and one they will live together. Finally closing her eyes, Katie thinks that there could be no better kind of life.