Fixing the Broken

By: LivvyWriter

Summary- POST WAR. After a routine rounding up of death eaters, Alicia finally allows herself to lose it. Losing Katie had taken different tolls on different people. For Alicia, who has also lost her entire family, it takes a heavy one and the only one there to help her off the ledge, quite literally, is George Weasley..

I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend,
You could cut ties with all the lies, that you've been living in,
And if you do not want to see me again, I would understand,
I would understand,
I would understand...

"LEASH WATCH OUT!" Fred screamed as he saw the green streak fly towards the unaware girl. Alicia ducked just in time and then sent a grateful smile towards him. He nodded and then turned back around just in time to drop on the ground and let a spell fly over him.

He jumped back up, yelled Stupefy and watched briefly as the death eater fell to the ground. He heard two shouts at the same time, but quickly ducked. The two death eaters that had sent the killing spell at him had been hit with each others spell, and were now lifeless on the ground.

Glancing around quickly, Fred watched as George jumped behind a tree as a spell blasted towards him.

"Fred! Stop standing around and-.." George ducked and shouted Stupefy but the death eater dodged it. "..and help me get this blasted man!"

Fred laughed loudly and ran to George's side. "Sorry mate, I mean I was just wondering what to do since I got all five, five, of my death eaters." He grabbed George's hand and yanked him down as a spell darted towards them.

"Oh shut up! Yours must have been pansies.." George shouted "LANGLOCK!", causing the death eater's tongue to glue itself to the top of his mouth. The death eater got a furious look on his face and prepared to try something else, but Fred yelled "LEVICORPUS!", and the death eater became suspended in the air by his ankles.

"I'll take this.." George jerked the wand from the death eater and then muttered the binding spell.

"Fred, where's Alicia?" He looked around worriedly for the familiar blonde.

"She's up there!" Fred pointed towards the roof. George looked up and immediately spotted Alicia fighting wandless with a rather large, hairy man.

"God Almighty.." George breathed.

"What are you 'God Almighty-ing' about? 'Licia can take that man single handedly." Fred sent a curious look towards the other red head.

"Oh I know she can, but she's afraid of heights. And Fred, that is one hell of a height."

Fred's brown eyes took in the eighteen story building and his mouth made an "Ooo".

"So, should we, you know, go up there?" Fred took turns looking from Alicia, to his brother, to the three unconscious death eaters, and the five dead ones.

"I don't think we'll have to." George replied as he saw Alicia deck the man in the jaw, sending him flying over the side of the roof. They watched as he shot towards the ground.

"Should we save him?" Fred asked.

"I dunno, your pick this time."

"Hmm..I suppose we should, it's another one for questioning."

They heard a thud, and saw the man lying on the ground.

"Too late." Remarked George.

"Yeah, woops." Fred chuckled.

"Let's get the dead and alive ones back to headquarters. I'll get the dead ones." George moved towards the man on the sidewalk first.

"George you got the dead ones last timmme!" Fred complained, a hint of a whine to his voice.

"Come on bro, you can handle the rascals." He smiled.

"Georgerick Weasley, it's your turn." Fred literally put his foot down.

"One, my name is not the equivalent to yours, Fredrick. It's just George-.."

"Or Georgie to some people.." Fred muttered under his breath.

"..and I'm going to be a wonderful brother and not pummel you for remark.."

"I still think it's only fair if you take them in this time." Fred crossed his arms stubbornly.

They both hated taking the alive death eaters back to headquarters. There seemed to be a never-ending pile of paperwork for them, not to mention that the person who brought them in would have to question them. Questioning the remaining death eaters was a hassle and waste of time due to the fact that most of them would rather die than become known as a traitor.

"Well I'm older." George started towards the dead death eaters.

"Well I'm taller!" Fred rose to his full height of 6'4, a quarter of an inch taller than his twin.

"Damn mate, you definitely win now." George laughed lightly.

"Bastardo sarcástico." Fred grumbled

"Calling me a sarcastic bastard in Spanish isn't going to help your case. And also, seeing as my girlfriend is the one on top of the skyscraper, I win." George smiled at his brother as he used the Placement Charm to send the dead death eaters to the Auror headquarters.

Fred scowled at George before he apparated away with the death eaters.

Now George was left with Alicia, who was still on the roof. She was like a toy figure all the way up there. He could make out the expression of fear in her navy eyes. That seemed quite strange to George considering that he could barely make out where she was, let alone notice the expression in her eyes. Maybe he couldn't see the fear; maybe he could just sense it.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "LEASH! COME DOWN, THE JOB IS OVER!"

He saw her look towards him and he saw, or maybe he sensed, a look in her eyes that he recognized.

"Common Leash, apparate down to me." He yelled.

"Come down to me Leash." He said to him self quietly.

'I can't..' Alicia's familiar voice filled George's mind.

'What do you mean you can't!" He yelled to her, completely ignoring the fact that her voice was actually in his head.

'I just can't Georgie. It's too much..'

This was beginning to scare George. He knew things had been hell for Alicia lately. Losing one of their best friends and all of her family (with the exception of one older brother) in the war had cracked Alicia, but he thought that things had been getting better for her. He thought that he and Fred had helped her through the worst of it.

It had hit George and Fred as hard as a hammer when Katie had died. It had hit Angelina, Lee, and Alicia like a wrecking ball.

Lee couldn't take the memories of he and his fiancee' haunting him everywhere that they had spent time together, and he was currently residing in Australia, a place that he and Katie had never been to. From the letters that they all received, these six months since the end of the war had been healing to him. He claimed that he was getting by, and that his new job at the Australian Ministry kept him busy. He would always put at the end of the letter that he still missed Katie more than ever, and he hadn't even noticed if there was another female working at the ministry.

It hit Angelina like fire. She was mad at the world and took it out on many walls and dressers. She blamed herself and Katie. She had just recently forgiven Katie for dying on her, but had yet to forgive herself. Alicia had been the only one to get through to Angelina. Angelina then leaned on Alicia for a good part of the six months. Fred eventually took her place and Alicia was weaned out.

Alicia walked around with a brave face, offering a smile to everyone that needed one. No one but George would've guessed that inside of Alicia she was falling apart bit by bit. He helped her by being there. By refusing to leave and always offering a shoulder to cry on, he not only became closer to Alicia then he'd ever been, he became her other half. The one she needed..

It only took him a second to realize that he better get his ass up there. He apparated quickly. Appearing behind her, he called her name softly.

"Alicia.."

She jumped slightly as his voice floated towards her. She turned around and gave him a watery smile.

"Don't worry George, I wasn't going to jump." She said, as if she was reading his mind.

"I wasn't worried, you kidding me?" He smiled weakly. "Well okay maybe I was worried. But just a little. And it would help me to stop worrying if you would kind of step away from that ledge there. It's enough to make anyone fret."

He watched as she took a few baby steps towards him.

"Are you okay Leash? I mean, I have to admit that you scared me with those creepy mind message things." He stepped a little closer and grabbed both her arms and pulled her gently towards him and further away from the wall. She looked bewildered.

"What mind messages George?" She rubbed her bare arms as a gust of wind flew across their bodies and twisted her hair in a cyclone of blonde tresses.

Without giving it a second thought, he slipped off his black jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled gratefully, her eyes waiting for an answer.

"You don't remember? When I was yelling for you, you told me you couldn't, and you called me Georgie and told me that it was too much." His eyes got the glazed look of confusion.

"No George, i remember. But I never said that to you, or sent it to you telepathically. I just thought it to myself, and you, you just picked it up. You heard me, and I wasn't even saying anything.." A few tears gathered in her navy eyes. She walked the two feet in between them and hugged him firmly around his waist.

His reflexes kicked in and he wrapped his arms around her. She kept her head in his chest and snuffled.

"It's okay Leash.." He found quickly that he wasn't the bit scared by the ability to have heard her thoughts. It shocked him, but it almost seemed natural to him. Like he'd been doing it his entire life, and in a way, George felt like he understood why he understood her so profoundly.

He really was her other half.

"Regardless of how I heard it, I still heard it. I heard you giving up. Maybe not aloud, but inside of your self I felt you giving up. Leash, how am I going to help you through this if you don't want to get even get through?" He said these words softly and firmly, with passion and fervor.

She pulled away abruptly and stared up into George's eyes. He felt the warmth of her body no longer near him and rejection overtook his emotions.

"You don't understand." She wiped away a mass of tears and continued to look coldly into his eyes.

"Yes I do Alicia. I understand more than anyone, I understand you more than anyone." He grabbed her shoulders lightly. She pulled away once more.

"If you understand me so well then why don't you see that I don't want to be in a world that does this to people? That takes away everything that means something to you and leaves you to sweep up the pieces. And if you don't have a broom then you have to do it by your self, with your hands. And by the time you're done with the pieces your hands are bleeding. You actually think that maybe you're going to bleed to death your bleeding so profusely. And isn't that just so ironic? That you've spent the last few months picking up what they left behind in a million shards, and now to pay the price for that, you're dying inside of yourself. I don't want to live in a world where happiness only happens for a cruel price. I just can't take it George. I just can't take it." She backed up slowly.

"Yes you can Leash! Oh God yes you can. You have me, you have a broom. Damn it you have a freakin' vacuum cleaner!" He made a mental note to himself to remember what he was saying so he could laugh later. "That's the whole reason I'm here. To put you back together! To fix you!"

"FOR GOD SAKES GEORGE, I DON'T WANT TO BE PUT BACK TOGETHER! I want to stay broken, I want to stay broken.." She slowly sunk to the ground, her head in her hands and her knees brought up to her chest.

He kneeled gently to her level.

"Leash, you can't stay broken. I need you. I need you to need me. I need you to lean on me, and I need you to trust me when I say I'll try my hardest to not let you get broken again. I can't promise you, because God knows that no one can promise that. But I give you my word, my word, that I'll do everything I can to never let anyone break you the way you're broken now."

She lifted her head up and met his eyes.

"If I become unbroken I can be broken again. It could all happen once more, and George, I can't go through that again." He inched closer, slowly at first and then quicker when he realized that she wasn't going to back away.

"I love you. I love you so utterly and completely, and seeing you broken makes me broken. It makes me like the shards on the ground. And I need you to be picked up and put together before I can begin to heal. I'll help you heal; you just have to trust me. Can you do that?" He brought her into his embrace.

She pulled away briefly and whispered, almost inaudibly, "Yes, I can."

George pulled her back into his arms.

'Fred will be glad he chose the murdering convicts..' George thought, and he smiled softly into her hair.

ReviewsPrequel or Sequel (and just pure joy on my behalf)

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