Thea allowed Jax to approach the door first. While she didn't exactly like his overprotective and stereotypical masculine behaviour, she felt that it was the lesser of the two evils. The thing about your best friend being there for your lowest point is that they see you at your lowest point. Jax had worried about her ever since, and this protective—this overprotective-behaviour made it easier on him.
The door opened, and Thea felt butterflies in her stomach as George appeared. She shoved the butterflies down, trying to ignore them to focus on the conversation.
"Can I help you?" George asked.
"We're sorry to intrude," said Jax, "but could we come in?"
"I'm actually closed." George moved to close the door.
"It's important." Jax stopped the door with his foot, and the two of them stared each other down.
Thea sighed and stepped to the side, so that George could see her.
George blinked at her. "Thea. I wasn't sure you were coming back." But he had apparently hoped she would, and that was enough.
"You offered to help me before. Does that offer still stand?"
George glanced over at Jax before focusing back on Thea and nodded. "Yeah, of course, it does. Come on in." He stepped aside so that both Thea and Jax could go in. "I'll contact Ron and see if I can get Ron and Harry here." He turned to head upstairs.
Thea shook her head. "I actually need to talk to Hermione."
Jax tapped Thea on the arm. "You should talk to Aurors."
Thea turned to look at him. "I told you-I don't want to get Aurors involved."
"I'll see if I can get all three of them here," said George with a shrug. "You can decide if you want to talk to Ron and Harry after they get here." And he headed upstairs.
Thea shook her head. "It's bad enough that I have to break my vow to talk to Hermione...I don't want any more people involved in this than have to be."
"You don't necessarily have to talk to them, but I'd prefer they come," said Jax. "You can make the decision whether or not to talk to them later like George said."
Thea shook her head again and paced away toward the shelves of merchandise. She didn't care about the latest version of extendable ears, but it allowed her the excuse to get away from Jax for a moment. Then she spotted some of the skiving snack boxes that had been so popular during their seventh year. She smiled at the memory.
There had been an understanding in Ravenclaw house that skiving snack boxes were allowed only if they were being used in Umbridge's class. If it was found that a Ravenclaw student used them in another class, the student would be given detention, lose 50 points from their house, and their stock of snack boxes would be confiscated. Needless to say, not one Ravenclaw used them outside of Umbridge's class.
"What are those? Skiving snack boxes?" Jax grinned. "I remember those. If I remember correctly, you preferred the fainting fancies."
Thea rolled her eyes. "That's only because I wasn't strong enough to carry you down to the hospital wing if you were to take them."
"Oh, yeah," said Jax vaguely. "Hey, why didn't we ever get into trouble for it?"
Thea looked over at him. "Really? You don't remember? First of all, we were the ones who made the rule that the snack boxes were allowed for use in Umbridge's class, and second, we did get in trouble with Umbridge." She shook her head. "I swear if I didn't know you were a Ravenclaw..."
Jax's gaze shot over to her. "Hey, I'm smart." He shook his head. "And we only got in trouble that once."
"That's because I kept transfiguring her quills. She threatened to expel us, but I had the highest test scores in our year and the entire Ravenclaw house to back me up. She couldn't expel us all."
Jax shook his head. "She really was awful. Please copy the assigned text four times for maximum retention," he said, imitating her, and Thea couldn't help laughing.
"And no magic," Thea said with another giggle before composing herself at least somewhat. "I think on some level she really did think that copying the textbook would be beneficial."
"You should laugh more often."
Thea turned at the voice to find George standing there, his hands in his pockets.
"You have a nice laugh."
"Oh, um..." She glanced over at the shelves. "We just saw your skiving snack boxes, and we were reminiscing about how we used them in Umbridge's class."
"Somehow I didn't take you for the type that would take those," George said quietly.
"I wasn't." Thea's voice was soft as she met his gaze. "But Umbridge was an exception. We even had a rule in Ravenclaw house-the snack boxes were allowed in her classes only. If they would have been used in any other classes, the consequences would have been severe. As far as I know, no Ravenclaws ever used them in any other classes."
"That's right," said George, tilting his head. "You caught Fred and me setting off our Wildfire Whizbangs that year when we were trying to mess with Umbridge. I thought for sure we were done—in detention for the rest of the year, but you just told us to give her hell."
"You didn't tell me about that," said Jax.
Thea shrugged. "It didn't really seem important at the time."
The bells on the door clanged.
"I'm telling you..." Ron cut off when Hermione elbowed him, but Thea was pretty sure it was just more of what Ron had been going on about when he had been in the shop earlier.
It wasn't just Ron and Harry that had come with Hermione, but a small red-haired witch was with them as well. Apparently, this hadn't been part of the plan as George asked, "Ginny, what are you doing here?"
"Did you really think I wasn't coming?" Ginny asked him. "What, am I an owl just meant to deliver the message?"
George shook his head at that. "That's my sister, Ginny, as I'm sure you've gathered, and I believe you've met or at least know of my brother Ron, Hermione, and Harry," he said, pointing them out. "And this is Thea and Jax," he added for everyone else's benefit. "Shall we then?" he asked, before leading them all upstairs. He opened the door to reveal an explosion of colour, not unlike the store downstairs. Thea had to blink to avoid being nearly blinded by all the colour. The living room, dining room combo sported two white couches with blue and orange pillows and orange corner tables and more orange chairs around an oval-shaped table.
George gestured for everyone to sit at the table. Although Thea imagined that the couches would be more comfortable, there was more room at the table for all of them.
"So, I understand that Thea had wanted to speak with me?" Hermione stood behind one of the chairs-Ron and Jax were already sitting, and Harry was about to sit.
"I did," Thea managed. She still had doubts about this-it was as if everything had spun out of control, but then, the only thing she knew to do was this.
Hermione nodded. "George, is there somewhere Thea and I can talk?"
George gestured down the hallway. Thea's gaze stayed on George for a moment-there was something about that room-before she followed Hermione down the hall.
The room was more subdued than the riotous and bold colours of the living room and dining room, although there were still touches of the orange in the orange couch and bright paintings on the walls. Hermione sat down on the couch, next to a long dark dresser, leaving Thea to sit on the bed. "So, what's going on?"
Thea opted not to sit, but instead paced the room, trying to find the courage to say what she needed to say. Finally, she sighed and turned to Hermione. "You know where I work. You know that I'm an Unspeakable." Finally, she sat down on the edge of the bed, her back straight, but she couldn't help fidgeting.
"So, you know that I didn't make this decision lightly," Thea continued. "But something happened today, and I can't keep my vow. I have to tell someone what I saw." And then she did. Thea told Hermione everything, starting with the letter from Jax about the expo, then about what she had witnessed with the house-elf and the dais.
Hermione was a good listener-she nodded and reacted in all the right places, but when Thea had finished telling the story, Hermione bit her lip. "Thea, I appreciate the position you're in, but I can't do anything about this on my own. You need to tell Ron and Harry what you told me."
It made sense, logically, that she would have to tell some Aurors. She knew that was why Jax wanted them here-he knew that there wasn't much that Hermione could do, but that didn't make it easy for her to break her vow again.
"I'll help you," Hermione continued, "but we need more information, and I'm not the best person to handle this. I'll help, I promise, but we need Ron and Harry."
Thea nodded. There was no other choice.
She stood again to pace the room as Hermione went to get Ron and Harry. She had a feeling she knew what was making George sad about the room now.
"So, what is this all about?" Ron asked as he, Hermione, and Harry came inside. "George and Jax wouldn't tell us anything."
Thea turned to face them. "What this is all about is the murder of a house-elf and an experiment to reverse death." And then she told them the same as she had told Hermione.
Once she had finished, Ron sat back on the bed; Harry and Hermione were on the couch. None of them spoke for a moment, but then it was Harry who broke the silence. "I appreciate the position you're in, but there's not really anything we can do."
Thea's heart dropped. It had been bad enough that she had broken her vow to tell Hermione, and then Hermione had said she couldn't do anything, but now even Aurors were telling her the same?
"We can question the other Unspeakables," Harry continued, "but given what you've said about them, it doesn't sound as if that will do us any good." Harry paused, and Thea could tell he was hesitant to say what came next. "Can you get us into the expo?" he asked finally.
Thea shook her head. "Not the three of you, but I think I can get George in."
Ron frowned up at her. "Why George?" And then he grinned. "You just want him to be the one to go because you like him." Clearly, he had not forgotten about the teacups earlier that afternoon.
Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry looked away trying not to grin. "Ronald!" Hermione accused him, before turning to Thea. "Why do you think you can get George in, and not the rest of us?"
Thea tried to keep her face neutral, though it was hard not to react to Ron's comment. "Because Liam is looking for an investor. He's already told me that that's the only way I can be involved-if I find an investor. Plus," Thea said softly, knowing she would have to tread lightly here, "he lost a twin in the war. Liam will think he can take him for all he's got."
"No. Absolutely not," said Ron abruptly, but before he could say anything else, Thea spoke up again.
"I know that it's a painful issue," she began, but Ron jumped up before she could finish.
"No, you don't," he told her, his fists clenched. "You didn't watch your brother die," he all but spat out at her. "You didn't watch him fall in the aftermath of an explosion, stare into his blank eyes, and know he would never wake up again."
His eyes were flashing and angry, and Thea said nothing.
"So, don't talk to me about painful," he added in a whisper, grief evident in his eyes.
It was a lot—those grieving and flashing eyes, something that only a person who had lost someone would understand. Thea blinked rapidly a few times, trying to keep from crying at the feelings it evoked. "No," Thea said softly. "I didn't watch my brother die. I watched my parents die, murdered by someone I thought I could trust." She swallowed, still struggling not to break down. It might have been eight years earlier, before the war had even started, but it still hurt. "I don't know what it's like to lose a brother, but I do know what it's like to lose someone, so I don't make this request lightly. And I know that George is still hurting-there just isn't another way. If George goes with me to the expo, Liam will be so blinded by his greed that he'll tell us anything we want to know. I at least have to ask."
"Ron, I think she's right," Hermione said gently, coming over to squeeze Ron's shoulder. "We at least need to let her ask him."
Ron shrugged her off. "No. How can you be on her side?"
Hermione shook her head. "I'm not. I just think it should be George's choice, not any of ours."