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What Was Never Said
The next morning Chloe opened one eye and groaned. She didn't recognise the room she was in, and it felt as though there was a team of very tiny, but very violent kick boxers practicing in her head. Opening the other eye, she realised she was definitely in a room belonging to a Weasley twin, and by her powers of deduction she surmised it was Fred's room. A huge poster of the Chudley Cannons adorned the wall opposite the bed, and sunlight streamed in through the window. Combined with the brilliant orange of the players robes it seemed to burn her eyes out of their sockets.
"Ow," she said out loud, "ow, ow, ow."
She dragged herself out of bed, and used her Metamorphmagus skills to redo her hair and makeup. Conjuring herself a clean tee shirt, she changed, and looking in the mirror pronounced herself good enough to enter the flat.
"Morning Clo," Fred smirked, "you look surprisingly good this morning." Chloe joined him at the kitchen table, and laid her head against the surface.
"I don't feel it," she replied, her voice muffled, "I feel like shite. And it's not like I'm not used to drinking, I mean you should see the parties we used to have in training." She snapped her head up and Fred could see what little colour there had been in her face had gone. "Did I cry?" Fred nodded slowly, and Chloe dropped her head back onto the table. Fred wrapped his arm around her shoulders, squeezing them in sympathy.
At that moment, George appeared from his room, with a giggling Rachel in tow. At the sight of Chloe sat at his kitchen table, with his brother's arm across her shoulders George's face dropped, and his features rearranged themselves into a scowl. Rachel slipped herself into an empty chair, and flicked her wand at the radio, which turned itself on, tuned to a muggle station.
I cannot find a way to describe it
It's there inside; all I do is hide
I wish that it would just go away
What would you do, you do, if you knew
What would you do?
"So Clo, I meant to ask you, who's this guy you were telling me about between sobs last night?" Fred asked deliberately, knowing it would rile his brother. Chloe lifted her head off the table again in surprise.
"Who, Ben?" Fred nodded. "Ben's a guy I've kind of been seeing, that's all there is to say. Merlin, Fred Weasley do not start treating me like Ginny!" Seeing the expectant look on his face, she carried on. "Alright, his name's Ben Bones, he was the very first person I met at practicals, cause he was there to welcome me. He's a bit higher up than me, that's all."
"How old is he?" Rachel asked.
"He's twenty three." Chloe answered, oblivious to George glowering in the corner.
"Wow, an older man," Rachel breathed, "how exciting! But of course, I'm happy with my George aren't I?" she added.
"I should be going," Chloe said, "I'm moving into my house today, and I need to have a shower and all that."
"That's right; you and Tonks are moving in together right?" Chloe nodded.
"And Hermione and Ginny, it was decided yesterday. They're growing up, and we've got the room, we all get on well. Seemed like the obvious thing to do!" She got up from her seat. "Anyway, I'm off. Bit cold, innit?"
"Hang on." Fred said.
All the pain I thought I knew
All the thoughts lead back to you
Back to what was never said
Back and forth inside my head
I can't handle this confusion
I'm unable; come and take me away
"Here you go," Fred reappeared from his bedroom, holding a small bundle, "wear that home." Chloe took the bundle from him and shook it out; it was one of Mrs. Weasley's jumpers, navy blue with a large gold 'F' worked onto the front. Chloe laughed as she pulled it over her head.
"Cheers Fred." There was a loud crack as she disapparated.
"Alright, I'm going for a shower." Rachel said, and she too left the kitchen. She had barely made it into the bathroom before George turned on his brother.
"You slept with her, didn't you? I cannot believe you would do that!"
"Do what? Sleep with a girl that I'm friends with, that you haven't spoken to for a year?"
"No," George replied, cracking his knuckles, "sleep with Chloe."
"As it happens, I didn't sleep with her. Well, I slept with her but we did not have sex. She cried for a bit, we talked, and then she fell asleep. That was it. Not that it would have anything to do with you if I had slept with her. You're with Rachel now, remember?"
I feel like I am all alone
All by myself, I need to get around this
My words are cold, I don't want them to hurt you
If I show you, I don't think you'd understand
Cause no one understands
George's face slowly turned redder and redder, until he was almost purple.
"This has got nothing to do with my relationship with Rachel," he bit out, "it's a completely separate issue." Fred snorted. "It is. How would you like it if I slept with Angelina, knowing that you had had feelings for her in the past?"
"George, mate, are you listening to a word I'm saying? I DIDN'T SLEEP WITH HER!"
George threw himself into an empty chair, chewing over what his brother had said.
"It should have been my jumper she was wearing."
"What?" George hadn't meant to say that aloud.
"I said, it should have been my jumper she was wearing. It was so much easier when she wasn't around Fred, I could almost forget about her. Almost."
"Well, she might not be around that much," Fred said quietly, "she told me last night that she's been posted on a mission in Eastern Europe, tracking down Death Eaters."
"She's leaving again?" George asked.
"You know this is what she has to do," Fred replied, in a comforting tone, "this is all she's ever wanted to do. And she's really excited about it, her first mission as a qualified auror and all that."
"But she's been on missions before." George cried desperately.
"But never qualified. Don't you understand what this means to her? It's like; it's like when we opened the shop. We'd pulled pranks before, we'd invented stuff and sold it, but it was nothing compared to the shop, right?" George nodded.
"Speaking of the shop, we'd better get ready to open up." Fred added.
All the pain I thought I knew
All the thoughts lead back to you
Back to what was never said
Back and forth inside my head
I can't handle this confusion
I'm unable; come and take me away
Chloe pushed open the door to her parents' house, to hear the radio playing the same song that'd been on when she left the twins.
"Chloe? That you love?" Her mother called from upstairs.
"Yeah, it's me mum."
"Come up and finish packing your room up then sweetie, it's only the big stuff left now." Chloe stood in the hall for a moment longer, taking in the only place she'd ever called home, the place that would no longer be home as of this afternoon. But then again, in less than a week she was leaving for Eastern Europe on a mission anyway. She climbed the stairs, and found her mother on her hands and knees in her room, surrounded by boxes.
"Come on love, it's only these school books left to pack now. Will you need them all? Or do you want to leave some here?" Chloe smiled mischievously.
"You mean I'll be allowed back?" she asked, feigning disbelief. Mrs. Thomas frowned.
"Well, your father worked hard to convince me, and we've reached a compromise, that you're allowed back in twice a month, but no more!" She stood up and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "I know you're all grown up with your own job, your own house and everything, but this is still your home Clo. You can come back whenever you want, you know that."
"I know mum." Chloe replied, tightening her embrace.
I'm going nowhere (on and on and)
I'm getting nowhere (on and on and on)
Take me away
I'm going nowhere (on and off and off and on)
And off and on
Take me away
Break me away
Take me away
Chloe, Hermione and Ginny stood in the kitchen of their new house, while their mothers mopped their tears and their fathers looked proud.
"My little 'Mione," Dr. Granger said, sounding choked, "a nurse, with her own home at nineteen."
"I'm a Healer Dad, not a nurse! And I'm only training." Hermione corrected the man kindly.
After almost half an hour of promising that the girls would Floo both Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Thomas daily, and write to the Drs. Granger regularly, and a promise from Chloe that she would take good care of the younger girls, the parents finally left. When they were sure they weren't coming back the girls started dancing around the kitchen chanting,
"Our own house! Our own house!"
After they'd calmed down they sat in the living room with a mug of hot chocolate apiece, making small talk about people they knew.
"Well, Lavender Brown, you know, the one Ron went out with? She's now apparently engaged to Seamus and working as a model for Witch Weekly." Hermione said quietly.
"Engaged to Seamus 'Mione, you said it! She's with someone else, and Ron was terrified of her, remember?" Ginny replied kindly. "Well, Anastasia Voight, a Hufflepuff from my year was killed by Death Eaters yesterday. The sad thing is, they were apparently looking for her father, recruiting y'know? And Anastasia and her eleven year old brother were alone in the house so they just killed them instead."
"How awful!" Hermione squeaked, forgetting about Lavender Brown's modelling career.
"Um, what does Rachel do nowadays?" Chloe asked tentatively, at which Ginny and Hermione exchanged smirks.
"She works in Gladrags, in Diagon Alley." Hermione replied.
"And she thinks it's very important because clothes make people happy in times of stress." Ginny added, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh. Chloe's mouth fell open.
"Tell me she didn't actually say that?" She said, disbelievingly.
"Oh, I wish I could," Ginny gasped, between her laughter, "but she really did. I do not know what George sees in her, I really don't!"
"Well, she's really pretty." Chloe mumbled into her hot chocolate.
"She's not that pretty," Ginny retorted, "and she's nothing compared to you Clo."