A/N: Caleb is Elizabeth's twin. He's not really a boyish character—he's more of a sensitive type, which you don't find much in my generation! xD
Disclaimer: Iay On'tday Ownay.
Caleb Weasley
Cage
He'd had a bird once.
He reflected on this fact as he sat staring out of his almost-cell.
The bird had been named Beetle, after the Tales of Beetle and Bard, and he'd loved it to death—literally. He put it in a golden cage (also literally) and over-fed it one day.
He'd never let the thing out.
It made him sad, actually—Beetle never got to see the light of day, or tweet with his little bird friends outside.
Cale wasn't a boy for fairy tales, much—he preferred real life. But the bird had seemed like a fairy tale, to him.
It had had the perfect life: A loving owner, food and comfort, and someone's finger to nip when he was annoyed.
But in truth, the life had been nothing more than an enclosed bubble—a cage.
It was odd, how these things come back to us at the most appropriate moments.
Caleb Weasley was twenty-two, unemployed, girlfriendless, nearly friendless, and moneyless. He still lived at his parents' house near the Burrow.
It embarrassed him, actually. He'd pretend, sometimes, that he had a stylish flat in London with a bunch of mates, and they had girls sleeping over every night.
He pretended, other times, that he and Roxy—the sister with whom he was closest with, though Lizzie was his twin—shared a house, that Rox's husband (who was now rarely busy and spent every waking minute with his family) and he were the best of friends, and that he was "Cool Uncle Cale", the one that George wanted to be like.
No, Cale wasn't a boy for fairy tales, and so as he sat, staring out the window of his cell-like room, alone.
Abruptly, he stood. He made a decision. He opened the door to his room and looked out at the hallway. He went down the stairs and kissed his mother's wrinkling cheek. Then he left the house, Apparated to his friend's, and said, "Let's go somewhere."