The headache Josie woke up with the next morning was the worst she'd ever experienced, paired with the swelling around he eyes and the dryness in her throat, she was miserable. What roused her from her place on the couch was the clanking from the kitchen and the warm scent of food cooking. Wiping her still damp cheeks on her sleeves and stumbling blindly into the kitchen, Josie ignored the hands that took her elbow as she entered the door way.
"Did you wake her?" Andrea's voice broke the thick silence, the tall women turning from her place at the stove to watch the two teenagers. "No, she was already up." Paxton replied, holding Josie steady as she teetered back and forth. "Josephine, would you like to take a shower and borrow some clothes?" She barely responded to her aunt's question, only nodding once and allowing Paxton to lead her up the stairs and into the guest bathroom. She watched as he fetched a set of clothes and turned on the warm water, waiting until he left to move.
Sluggishly she peeled away her clothes and inspected her body, sighing at the bruises forming on her ribcage from fighting with her aunt, the older woman's strong grip digging into her skin as she fought desperately against it. The warm water stung the few cuts she had received from yesterday. Blisters on her feet open from walking endless flights of stairs, skin peeled from her fingers from game anxiety, and cuts from shrapnel at the pub burned as she scrubbed at herself. She stood there for a long while, trying to wash away all the bad memories and pain, so long Paxton knocked on the door to tell her lunch had been sitting on the table for a few minutes. She dressed quickly, the clothes swallowing her. They were blatantly her cousins, the long sleeves of the shirt covering her hands and the shorts brushing her knees as she walked down the stairs and into the warmth of the kitchen.
She took a place near the wall, pressing her side against it for comfort as she watched Andrea pile food onto a plate and placed it in front of her before doing the same for Paxton and herself. Despite the emptiness that settled in her stomach, Josie didn't feel hungry, but she ate anyway. The warm, hearty hash burned her tongue and the saltiness of the sausage stung the sore; it was at least something real that Josie could feel. She ate twice her fill, the motion comforting, before her father and Emmanuel entered the kitchen. She hasn't noticed her bracelet glowing around her wrist until she saw Andre's illuminating rough hands.
Stumbling as she got up, Josie immediately at her father's side. Her tea spread across the table, the cup forgotten as all voices hushed in wait. "What happened? Is everyone alright?" she quickly asked, fingers knit into her father's sweater. "Good to know she hasn't read the Prophet." Emmanual commented, handing the paper to his wife as he sat at the table. "Everyone is fine, your mother is at home with the neighbors, no-one was killed, and it was all handled." Andre said softly, wrapping the shaking girl in one arm as he set his bag on the ground near the door. Josie looked expectantly up at him, her lips pressed in a hard line as she waited. "I saw Arthur, they're fine. Everyone is fine." The rush of relief that flooded her nearly knocked her to the floor, tense muscles that had held her up releasing and causing her to collapse into her father's side. Helping her to her seat again, Andre answered the question that lingered on Josie's lips. "I'll send an owl after breakfast to see if we can get together with them before the end of the week."
By dinner that night they received an owl back, the large ball of feather slamming into the glass of the Lefay's front window as they were setting the table. "See mom, told you we shouldn't have to clean that window every week." Paxton joked as he opened the window and scooped up the owl to untie the letter from its foot. "You're lucky Kraken didn't break it." Andre commented as the bird landed on his shoulder, and drank from the glass of water he held for it. "Andre that bird is getting old." Andrea sighed as she inspected the window for cracks, her brow furrowed in frustration. "He's not much older than I am." "Exactly." Andre tossed a pillow at the woman that scampered into the kitchen, the pillow instead catching Josie in the side as she ran to read the letter at her father's side. "What does it say?" she asked, raising a brow at the ink splatter across the bottom of the paper. "You can go tomorrow evening, but only for a while. I'm going with you though." He added as her face lit up, Josie throwing her arms around her father's neck and squeezing him tightly.
Josie was asleep as soon as she walked into her bedroom when they got home that night, and she was up as soon as her mother's tea began to brew the next morning. Her entire day was spent in jitters, cup after cup stained with hot chocolate sitting in the sink until her father walked in the door from running errands. Andre didn't need to say anything before Josie was at his side, already dressed hours earlier and bouncing to go. They two quickly headed out the door, stopping in her mother's studio to say goodbye before they continued on to the Weasley house.
Josie's fingers could barely keep themselves still as she followed her father up the path, gripping the light knit of her sweater and picking at the skin around her fingers until it broke. She picked up the pace as the top shingles of the house came into view, watching the house appear as they moved closer. A smile crept onto her lips as Josie looked over the crooked house with its many chimneys. The Weasley family definitely lived in this strange house that seemed to be bursting at the seams and the warmth and oddity that emanated from it relaxed her nerves enough to keep her breathing normally.
As soon as her sneakers past the small sign that read "The Burrow", clatter rang out from the house in front of her. The door swung open with a call of her name before she could step into the garden, and she was instantly picked up and crushed in an embrace. Her father's laughter rumbled from behind her, the sound muffled by the arms wrapped around her and he name was called by two gruff voices as she was held tighter than she's ever been held before.
"Josie!" Fred and George both called as they wrapped her in their arms, lips daringly close to her cheeks and their bodies flush against her. "Don't suffocate our guests!" the loud voice or who Josie recognized as Mrs. Weasley called out from behind them, the twins breaking apart around her as the three turned to the doorway. Mrs. Weasley was both intimidating and motherly all at once, stern eyes and wild red hair framing the warm smile she gave as she moved forward to pull Josie into a gentle hug. "It's a pleasure to meet you dear, we've heard so much about you." she said before smiling up at Josie's father as he came up behind his daughter. "I'm not sure if I should be honored or worried." Josie said with a soft laugh, glancing at the twins who smiled deviously back at her. "All good things of course." They said together, winking at her behind Mrs. Weasley's back.
All Josie wanted was to wrap her arms around them, check every inch of them to make sure they were okay, kiss them both until her lips were sore and never let them go. Her eyes began to well with tears as she looked at them, her father's voice speaking to their mother lingering in the background as her mind wandered back to that night; what all could have happened, what all did happen, what all she didn't do. George locked eyes with her, his brow furrowing instantly and his hand moving to grab her behind his mother's back. Mrs. Weasley turned with a start, Josie nearly jumping out of her skin.
"Oh! I've forgotten the bread in the oven! You two come inside and have some tea." She said as she moved towards the door, skirts swinging. "Mums made the entire kitchen for dinner; you'd think the family was over." Fred said with a laugh, earning a glare over her shoulder from Mrs. Weasley. Josie's father followed behind her, head barely missing the light hanging in the entrance. Josie tried to join him, but she barely made it in the doorway before Fred was pulling her back by the hand. "Wait." He said with a sly grin, George moving to lean in the doorway and call to his mother who was now bustling in the kitchen. "We're going to show Josie around outside before it gets dark." He called to his mother, who's bustling stopped just long enough for her to yell back. "No funny business!"
Josie was immediately pulled through the garden and around the back of the house. Josie didn't argue as she was lifted over the back gate by Fred and lead into the grove of trees behind their house, barely having time to read the sign for the orchard before she was pulled into it. "What are we doing?" she asked as she laughed, following them until she could no longer look behind her and see the Burrow. "Getting you alone." They said together, smiling as they stopped. The three stood in silence for a moment, looking at each other, before all of them seemed to not be able to stand it any longer. Once again their arms were around her, hers around their necks with her toes almost off the ground and their lips on her cheeks.
They stood like that for a long time, until Josie turned and took Georges jaw between her shaking fingers and kissed him so deeply her tear stained cheeks pressed against his. His arms were around her waist as she kissed him enough to turn her lips dark, turning as soon as they parted to do the same to Fred. Fingers in his hair, she kissed him until she pulled back for air and the three of them crumpled into laughter. "You two need to stop growing." Josie joked to break the ice, nudging Fred's arm and flushing at the firm muscle that met her fingers. "You just saw us." George laughed, sitting down against a tree and tugging her down into his lap. Josie shrieked softly, settling herself between his legs as Fred sat in front of her and pulled her legs into his lap. "You still look bigger than you did then." She replied, fixing the pink bow clipped into her hair, the ribbon askew from their embraces. "You're taller too." "We think." "Hard to tell." "At least compared to your dad you're taller."
"I am?" she asked, looking up at them. "Yeah, you come to your dads shoulder now." Fred said, running his fingers over the rips in her jeans to brush against her skin. She shuddered, trying to find the words to ask what she wanted of them. "Are you okay?" she asked softly, looking between the two of them. "Of course-" "-why wouldn't we be?" they asked, furrowing their brows at her. "I mean after…." "Josie we're fine. Not a scratch on us." Fred said, leaning forward and taking her hands from inside the pink knit of her sweater. "Are you alright? Dad wouldn't tell us anything." George added, brushing her hair behind her ear to kiss her temple. "We, uh, had a run in with Death Eaters." She said softly, looking down to flick an imaginary speck from the white ruffled of her shirt.
She felt George stiffen behind her, Fred's fingers tightening around hers. "What happened?" they asked together. Josie sighed before shifting to lean back against George as she roughly re-told the happenings on her side of that night, from sitting with Charlie at the match, to eating dinner with her family, to the Death Eaters at the pub, all the way to her breakdown that night at her aunt's house. By the end she was in tears once again, and she was instantly shifted to so both of the twins could hold her and kiss her cheeks as her sobs died down. The twins ran their fingers through her hair and over her arms until she looked up, eyes still blurry.
"You're alright now, everyone's fine." Fred said reassuringly, kissing her briefly before nuzzling her nose with his. "But what's going to happen now…what does it all mean?" she muttered to herself. "It means we're still here-""-and we're still together." They barely snuck in another set of kisses before Mrs. Weasley's voice drifted through the trees and the three teenagers dusted themselves off to go meet for dinner.