It didn't take long for Thea to fill Jax in, and soon they were all running to try to avoid the blast that would be coming, many of them disapparating as soon as they made their way out of the Department of Mysteries. They would all be meeting up at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters.
Over the coming hours, things seemed to settle down, although a few things became clear. First, Orrin had escaped. One of his followers had apparently gotten him up and out of the ministry. While some of the Elite had been captured, just as many had escaped, which meant that Thea could not go back to work. Jax had stopped at her apartment, briefly, and had found threats painted on her walls.
One of the order did turn out to be somewhat familiar with healing, and aside from doing a little spell work to repair some broken ribs, they determined that Thea just needed to rest to heal from her ordeal at the Elite headquarters.
After giving her a few days to rest and recover, George went to her, looking for answers. At this point in time, Thea was mostly willing to give them.
"Okay, so Fred is back, because you figured out how to reverse the dais, Orrin stole the information after torturing you and tried to bring You Know Who back, so you switched who would be brought back by the spell?" George asked.
Thea nodded. "Yes, that's essentially it," she told him.
"So why Fred?" he asked her. "You've lost people, too-you could have brought back one of your parents or Jax's parents, but instead, you brought my brother back."
Thea bit her lip. "To be honest, he was the first person I thought of, and yes I could have brought back one of my parents or one of Jax's parents, but they're together wherever they are. If I had brought one back, I would have been separating them, and I know that's not what they would want."
George nodded. "Well, whatever your reasoning, thank you." For a moment, they sat in a silence that was both comforting and awkward, and then George spoke again. "So you're off to Cambridge...both you and Fred?"
"Well, the Elite is after us both, and I need to know more about what I just did," Thea explained. "I figured out the way to bring someone back, but I didn't have time to examine all the repercussions of bringing him back. Death is supposed to be final, and for all I know, I've torn a hole in the fabric of reality by bringing him back."
"And if it has...you'll just send him back?" George asked, not liking this at all.
"Only if I have to," said Thea. "Mostly, I just want to make sure I can repair the damage...if there is any."
George wanted to ask if he could go with them...he had only just gotten his brother back, and now it felt like he needed to give him up, and he had only just found Thea, who he had been interested in, but now things were complicated. She had brought his brother back to life, and she may have to send him back somehow if bringing him here in the first place had poked a hole in reality, and on top of that, she and Fred were heading off to Cambridge in a few days, so she could figure that out. And what if, after spending time with Fred, she decided that she liked Fred better than him?
Thea leaned in to kiss him briefly before pulling back. "Send me owls," she told him softly, "and you can come visit, but you know that you have to stay in London-between your store and helping Harry and Ron with their investigation, but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten our agreement or even that I want to forget our agreement. I meant what I said, and I still do. I want to get to know you. I'm interested in you, not your brother. My interest in your brother is purely scientific."
George leaned in to kiss her again, not like the brief kisses she had given him when she had kissed him, but he took his time, wrapping an arm around her and tangling his other hand in her hair. It may have been silly, but he wanted her to remember this when she was in Cambridge with his brother. It wasn't that he thought she was lying-he didn't. But he and Fred had always been very alike, and after Fred had died, George had gotten darker, less cheerful, while Fred (if the last few days were any indication) was very much the same as before. He had always been louder, more outspoken and boisterous, and George was afraid that when push came to shove, Thea would prefer his brother's more flamboyant personality.
"You know, I've never been a fan of flashy," Thea said quietly after he had released her. He still had his arm around her, but he wasn't looking at her; he was lost in his own thoughts. He looked over at her now though that she spoke.
"I've always been more attracted to quiet, more serious types," she said softly. "So stop worrying."
George wasn't sure he could stop worrying entirely, but for now, he was reassured. Together, they sat in silence until it was time for one last dinner at Grimmauld Place with the entire group before they split off to go their separate ways. For the moment, George was content.