George sat at his desk in the top room of Weasley Wizard Wheezes; his face was pressed against the rough wood of the table, and he was staring longingly out of the window.
It wasn't just as simple as him missing Fred, he did miss Fred, but that wasn't it.
He was cold even though it was nearly summer; he heard whispering even though it was silent, he felt lonely even though Charlie was outside heading towards the shop... wait, Charlie was heading towards the shop.
George sat up right and nearly fell out of his chair in his rush to get to the window seat. His sock snagged on a nail sticking out of a floor board but he soldiered on anyway, landing heavily against the glass; if it weren't a thick pane, he surely would have crashed straight through it.
He watched as his brother wandered slowly down the cobbled road, his hands in his pockets, He looked up to the shop, and George ducked instinctively, but the dragon keeper did not continue towards his brother's workplace, he instead went to the pub opposite, the pub that George had spent far too much time in since the death of his twin. George arched an eyebrow quizzically at this, he knew Charlie liked a drink at the pub as much as the next guy, but he didn't even know Charlie was in England, he thought to maybe call his mother and ask her if she was aware of his presence, but then thought better of it. If Charlie had come to England but purposely not told his mother, there must have been a pretty good reason, if this was the case, then it would probably be a bad idea mentioning it to Molly.
George slumped against the cold glass again and considered going across the road,but again he thought better of it, he didn't want to interrupt whatever his brother was doing.
He and Fred had always idolised Charlie. Their brother had gotten in trouble constantly in school, and yet had still been Quidditch captain and had gotten pretty good results in his school work, he'd then gone on to do a terrifying and amazing job, much cooler then Bill's. Charlie was the ultimate Gryffindor; he was tough and brave and could make anyone laugh...
But what did George really know about Charlie? Not much now he thought about it.
He knew he lived in Romania, he knew that he worked with dragons; he knew that he loved Quidditch; he knew... well that was it really. There was one other thing he knew about Charlie, he knew that he'd taken Fred's death a lot harder than most people thought. Charlie's way of mourning was to go away for a while, seeing that Charlie already lived away, the family hadn't really realised, but George had.
People said that when someone close dies, you kind of blank out everything that happens around you, but George had experienced the opposite. The days had been going by in blurs, but there were moments, little random things that stuck for some reason. The moments that gleamed importance in George's mind were the times when the post would come, and it wasn't from Charlie. Before the war he had actually been quite good at replying to mail, even if the letters had been quick and vague, at least they had been something. When Fred died and the war ended, it took him weeks to reply, there was no news from him and that worried George far more than his mother's compulsive cleaning had.
George couldn't help but think that his brother lonely.
The redhead jumped as the klaxon-coocoo-clock (Weasley Wizard Wheezes patent pending) sounded in the office, it was four o'clock, that meant he'd been at the window for nearly an hour and a half. In that time it had started raining, wonderful British summer weather.
Movement behind the water blurred windows caught George's eye and he watched closely as the pub door opened, a large black umbrella sprung open obscuring those holding it, and two pairs of legs dashed across to the shelter of another shop. The feet stood close together for a few minutes, and George rolled his eyes, obviously it was a couple sucking face. There was then a flicker and the umbrella and one of its occupants were gone, leaving one person stood in the rain.
It was Charlie. The redhead put his hands to his hair and twisted it around, mixing rain water into his thick locks, he then ran towards the building George was watching him from.
The younger brother got up from the window seat and straightened his very crumpled shirt; there wasn't much he could do about his appearance before Charlie got there, but that wasn't what was concerning George, he'd looked rougher after the war, and he was sure he didn't look that bad now.
He didn't know Charlie was seeing someone, not that it was a bad thing, George was actually quite happy for him, but he'd never known Charlie to have a girlfriend, he'd always had that cool bachelor persona instead.
"George!" Charlie yelled from the shop below, and the Weasley in question left his thoughts in the office as he began down the tall spiralling staircase; he made his way through the storage room and out into the main shop.
Charlie was poking at a toy ferris wheel that was turning slowly, each basket holding a different kind of sickness inducing sweet,
"Hey" George said approaching him,
"Hi" he replied, turning to him with a large smile on his face,
George embraced his brother with a large hug and Charlie's face dropped immediately,
"How you doing?" he asked as his brother finally let go,
"I'm okay" George shrugged,
"Okay... now tell me how you really are"
"I've been better" he admitted.
"We all have" Charlie agreed,
"You look like you're doing well" George then answered back, a little quicker than he had meant to; he almost sounded accusatory,
Charlie stared at him for a moment,
"Sorry, that's not what I meant... I just... how do you do it Charlie? Fred is gone and you still manage a smile, how do you do it?"
"I miss him too" Charlie retaliated,
"Again, not what I meant. I want... I want to be happy too, like you I mean, I want to be happy again" George answered.
"It took a long time for me to get better, you... well you lost your other half George, there's no other way of looking at it, it's going to take a long time to heal from",
"I need... help Charlie"
The elder sibling couldn't ignore the pleading tone in his brothers voice, "Okay" he nodded, "Pack a bag, bring plenty of jumpers, and I'll pick you up in the morning",
"What? Where are we going?" George asked, now confused,
"Romania, obviously" Charlie answered, before turning on his heel and leaving the shop,
Well, that had all been decided rather quickly.
0o0o0
The next morning George sat outside the shop, a full suitcase under him. He wasn't too sure what he was actually expecting, but Charlie had said to ready, so here George was, ready.
He kicked at a large loose cobble and frowned when it rolled too far away for him to kick it again; as he considered standing to retrieve it, sure he would likely kick it out of reach again, there was a crack like thunder and his brother stood in front of him,
"Ready to go?" he asked as George stood,
"Yeah" he sighed, picking up his small suitcase.
Charlie nodded "Come on then" he said starting down the road slowly, "We'll pop to the shop first and grab some food, I'm not exactly stocked up for feeding three",
George paused, "Three?" he questioned, the smallest of smiles slipping into his face,
"Oh... yeah" Charlie replied, pushing his hands into his pockets. George was even shocked to catch what he thought was a blush spreading across his brothers face, "That's something we've got to go over before we get to my place".
"Yeah?" George asked, almost teasing in his manner,
"I'm seeing someone"
His brother smirked, "I know".
Charlie froze, "What?! How?" he asked, his face bright red now,
"I kind of saw you? Yesterday outside the pub... I mean I wasn't like watching in a weird way, and I didn't really see that much... but when I saw you under that umbrella it wasn't hard to guess what you were doing" George replied,
"Oh" the dragon keeper said, scratching the back of his head nervously, "So... you're okay with that right?"
"What? Are you kidding me? I'm over the moon for you! I always kind of thought you were lonely, so I'm glad" he smiled, "Even if it does revoke your famous chronic bachelor status".
"Thanks" Charlie said with an awkward cough, before breaking off eye contact and trailing towards the shop,
George rolled his eyes and followed, sometimes he thought he must be the only Weasley who didn't get socially awkward, and that was saying something.
0o0o0
George wiped his brow with the back of his hand, his forehead heavy with sweat. He sighed and leant heavily on his spade, the blade of which was stuck firmly in some drying dung.
The sun was setting on the end of his first week in Romania, and he had to admit, it was beautiful.
George had asked his brother many times, just how long would he be staying in Romania, and how much of that time would be spent shovelling dung? Needless to say, Charlie had been more than vague in his reply.
As he looked to the sky, that glowed orange as if burning with dragon fire, he saw two silhouettes on the hill above him.
One was undoubtedly Charlie, tall, broad and with a posture that could only be described as 'Weasley-casual'.
The other silhouette however, George could not place; it was shorter and far more slender, George could tell that their clothes were dark, but their hair was pale and short, catching the light from the setting sun.
Of course the identity of this unknown person was revealed when Charlie snaked his arms around their hips and pulled them into a kiss. The figure pulled away after a moment and turned, but Charlie tapped the figures arse before they could step away. His companion didn't find that particularly funny apparently, as they spun around again and waved their finger very accusingly at him, but Charlie just grabbed them instead and dipped them, kissing them again.
George watched the exchange and couldn't help but smile.
The couple on the hill finally parted ways again and Charlie began down towards his brother,
"How's it going?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of him,
"Alright" George nodded, "Say, was that-" he nodded towards the hill, a teasing smile on his face,
The elder brother looked up and blushed lightly, "Oh yeah, it was" he admitted.
"It's kind of weird seeing you all embarrassed" George said with a bright beam as he lifted his spade, flinging some solid dung into a wheel barrow,
"And I didn't think I'd see a proper smile out of you for a least another week" Charlie countered,
His brother paused and looked at him, "Touché".
0o0o0
George woke to voices in the kitchen and he sat up quickly much to the protest of his muscles. It wasn't uncommon for him to wake up to voices, well, one voice in particular: Fred calling out to him.
He checked his watch on the bedside table, it read eight o'clock. That was peculiar, he'd been staying with Charlie for ten days now and the latest he'd ever been woken up was six. He stood tiredly from the bed and left the guest room slowly, peering into the kitchen from his doorway.
It seemed that Charlie's girlfriend was visiting, as his brother wasn't alone in the kitchen.
'Visiting' was a very diplomatic way of saying that they were kissing vigorously of course, and George wouldn't have minded, if it weren't for the fact that his brother's girlfriend seemed to be topless.
He couldn't see much of her, but what he could see, was her bare back, were Romanian girls known for being very...err...civil?
The couple stopped and both sighed softly,
George then felt his face drain of blood as 'she' turned towards the fridge.
Draco Malfoy stood shirtless in his brother's kitchen,
"Omelettes?" the blond asked opening the fridge door,
"Sounds good to me" Charlie smiled, moving to stand behind the Malfoy and wind an arm around his waist, "What omelette type things do I have in my fridge?"
"Eggs" Draco started, pulling out the bowl,
"Good start" the redhead laughed taking it from him and placing it on the side before he eagerly went back to holding Draco. He then placed a soft series of kisses to the blond's shoulder,
He made a small sound of appreciation, "Ham, mushrooms, and leeks" he concluded after a moment,
"No cheese?"
"No"
Charlie frowned, "I wanted cheese"
"I think I have some" Draco said, turning his head to look back at the other wizard,
"Really?" he asked, his eyebrow arching,
"Yes" the blond replied, "Believe it or not, I do eat cheese"
"And it's the regular sort? Not the fancy blue stuff?"
"Yes, the 'regular' sort" he laughed, "I'll just pop home and get it"
"Okay, I'll start on yours while you're gone, leek and mushroom yeah?"
"Please"
"And I'll get George up too"
Draco paused, biting his lip, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I told you before; he knows about us and he said he was happy for me"
The other man didn't seem too convinced, "Okay, I'll be just a minute" he said with a begrudging nod, heading out of the house quickly, and pulling on one of Charlie's jackets as he left.
George hid in his room as the blond passed. He then left the guest room when he was sure the Malfoy was gone and padded slowly to the kitchen, "What on earth are you thinking?!" he shouted,
Charlie jumped and turned, pan in one hand and an un-cracked egg in the other, "Omelettes?"
"No! With Malfoy?! You're dating Malfoy?!"
The man looked confused, "You said you knew!"
"I thought you had a girlfriend; I didn't see who you were kissing the other day. I just assumed you had a girlfriend!"
The silence between the brothers was thick.
"Oh, well... no" Charlie said quietly, turning back to the stove,
"Clearly" George said rolling his eyes, "Is that really all you have to say?"
"Look George, it's not a big deal, he makes me happy" the elder said, cracking the egg into the pan, "Now, what do you want in your omelette? We have ham, leeks, mushrooms and my boyfriend's bringing cheese from his place",
George remained quiet, pouting in the kitchen doorway,
"Well?" Charlie snapped, looking over his shoulder.
"Ham and cheese" he murmured,
"Right".
At that moment the front door opened and George turned,
"Good morning" Draco said, still holding the door handle in one hand, and a block of cheese in the other,
"Morning Mal- Draco... good morning Draco" he said, correcting himself for Charlie's sake, and giving a begrudging smile,
The blond nodded and unzipped his borrowed jacket, revealing his bare chest; once the garment was hung away, he closed the door and headed once more into the kitchen.
George looked down to his own naked chest, and spoke after some amount of awkward silence, "Maybe I should put a shirt on, it's a bit weird when it's three guys walking around shirtless, even if two of them are gay", he was trying his best to make light of the situation, but mostly he was just worried he was being offensive.
Draco blushed and looked down, but the joke seemed to leave Charlie un-phased,
"Your omelette's ready babe" he then said, turfing the food onto a plate, and handing it to the man, "Yours will only be a few minutes George" he said, looking to his brother,
"Thanks" he nodded, before heading quickly to his room to find something to wear.
George took a deep breath before he entered the kitchen a few minutes later. He walked in confidently and sat next to Draco without blinking an eye; he nodded to the blond and smiled softly at the smile he got in reply.
"Georgie" Charlie beamed putting an omelette down in front of him,
"Thanks" he replied,
"And now I will be making for myself, the king of omelettes!" the eldest Weasley announced, wiggling his eyebrows and expertly spinning his pan around his finger.
Draco and George both laughed as they ate, and Charlie smiled warmly at the both of them. He then placed his pan on the stove once more and grabbed another egg, only to be distracted by a loud knock at the front,
Charlie sighed and turned off the heat on the stove, putting down the egg and going to answer the front door, leaving Draco and George sat together, alone.
"So, has Charlie been hard on you for the past week?" Draco asked after a minute of silence,
"Huh? Oh yeah, kind of, I kind of feel like I've just been doing the parts of his job he doesn't want to do" he replied,
"Either way, he seems to think you're getting better" the blond said placing his fork and knife together perfectly over the now empty plate.
"Better? There's nothing wrong with me" the Weasley said suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing together,
Draco paused and seemed to consider his next words very carefully, "It's not my place to say, and you can choose to ignore me, shout at me even, but George, I've got to say, you're not well".
George was baffled, "What are you talking about?"
"I know that we didn't experience the same thing, but I went through similar feelings during and after the war" Draco paused, waiting to see if the redhead would cut him off, "I was made to do things during the war. If I hadn't have done them, my mother would have been... or I would be could've…" he trailed off again, looking down at the table top, "Then afterwards I got really low, I lost a lot of weight, and I felt like I was being haunted...do you feel like that? I mean, Charlie said you'd lost a lot of weight-"
George looked down to his body and considered it for a second, he supposed that had indeed slimmed down, he hadn't really been keeping to the usual Weasley appetite,
"-have you felt 'haunted'?" Draco asked, his expression very serious.
George bit his lip and thought again for a moment, he couldn't believe he was even thinking of admitting to this, especially to Draco Malfoy but- "Sometimes I hear voices... just whispers beside me" he gestured to where his ear used to be, "And sometimes, I could just swear that it's... that it's Fred",
"I'm sorry" Draco frowned,
"It's okay" George said, nodding sadly.
The two fell silent again,
"How did you-?" George began, before pausing suddenly and reconsidering even thinking the question,
The blond wanted him to go on though, "How did I what?"
"How did you get better?" the Weasley asked.
"Well, it sounds extremely cheesy but-" Draco smiled softly, "I met Charlie",
"Ahh" George replied, almost rolling his eyes,
"I know it sounds ridiculous, but meeting Charlie and letting him in was like suddenly sharing a great weight",
"So what? You saying I need to get laid?" George joked,
Now it was Draco's turn to roll his eyes, "No, I'm just saying that you need to find someone you can talk to and be close to without worrying about being judged. Someone who can listen to you and show you some care",
"You know... a cheesy and ridiculous as that sounds, you may be onto something" George nodded,
"I'm glad you think so" the blond said with a laugh,
"But I swear, if it doesn't work, I'm holding you personally responsible, Malfoy!" he teased,
"I'll watch my back, Weasley".
As Charlie walked back into the kitchen, he wondered what on earth he'd missed that so was funny.
0o0o0
"Post!" Charlie called, walking into the living room with a large handful of letters in his grip.
George had gone home not long after the morning he met Draco as Charlie's boyfriend, and it had since been nearly a month,
"There's a few for you babe" the redhead said, leaning over the back of the sofa and pecking Draco's cheek with a kiss,
The blond closed his book and reached for the letters. He skipped past the thick one he knew to be from his mother and the much thinner one that was clearly from his father, until finally he found himself puzzled by the last envelope in hand. He didn't recognise the handwriting and he certainly wasn't expecting any other mail.
With slender fingers he opened the letter and read it quietly,
"Do you remember Angelina Johnson?" Draco suddenly asked, looking over to Charlie who had come to sit next to him,
"Err yeah. I think she went out with Fred for a while. Why?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow,
"Her and George as dating" the Slytherin replied casually, putting down the letter and going to the kitchen,
"Wait... what?" Charlie asked, snatching for the letter.
A.N- This is a reedit and reupload, because I was working on the final chapter, don't worry if it seems familiar!