Minka's Story

"I met Killian at a party my friends and I went to about a year ago. He was sweet, charming, everything he's not. As the night went on, I felt myself starting to like him a lot. We went on a few dates and it was crazy how much I wanted to be around him and speak to him. But I figured this is what falling in love is like.'

'I moved in with him about a month after we started seeing each other. I had never done anything impulsively in my life before so I found it exciting. It was after we moved in together that he started showing what he really was."

"And what was that?"

"Violent, hurtful, ill-tempered, selfish. I tried to keep him happy because all I wanted was to please him. A big part of me was wondering why I was putting up with all of this, but I couldn't bring myself to leave him. It came to a point where he would get physical and…I always had bruises. But I would stay.'

'This one day, I came home to him with another girl in our bed. She had bruises too and she looked terrified, like she didn't want to be there. For the first time, I got angry at him for treating me horribly. Instead of being apologetic or guilty, he just got angry back.'

'I pretended everything was okay because I didn't want him to get any angrier. A few days later, I went to visit my parents for a week in Australia because they had finally settled into their new home. He gave me a necklace as a way of apologizing-or so he said.'

'I told them everything that had happened and they urged me to get out of there. But I resisted their pleas; I even got mad that they wanted me to leave. My father got suspicious, knowing this wasn't normal of me. He finally asked me 'if I hit your mother, what would you say?' and I told him 'I'd tell her to leave you.' But I just couldn't see the problem when it came to Killian.'

'My father made this potion and made me drink it. I wound up throwing up horribly over and over. My necklace began to burn my skin. It was a potion that would cause all current magic being compelled on the person to be rejected.'

'…It turns out Killian had been slipping a potion into my meals that would make me want to stay with him. The fact that I couldn't stop throwing up for a while meant he had been using it for a very long time. Possibly the entire time we were together.'

'It hit me almost instantly that everything Killian was doing was wrong. I came back home while he was at work and took all my things. Without a word I just…left."

Minka fell silent, letting everything she said sink in for George. He was now sitting back in the chair, his one hand rubbing back and forth over his mouth. He stared at her without seeing, everything slowly being absorbed.

He removed his hand from his face and then finally seemed to focus. He leaned forward slowly.

"Minka-"

"Please, don't apologize for what happened. I thank you for wanting to but I just…I don't want pity for it." He reached out and held her hand.

"It's not pity, Minka. I wanted to apologize for not beating him even harder." Minka let out a laugh, she quickly stopped but couldn't help but continue to smile. "This…certainly explains a lot." He added.

"I'm just afraid of my own feelings. I don't trust the way I feel about people, whether they're my own or not. If I reject people and tell them no then I know it's me who is making the choice, not someone else."

"So that's why you didn't want to be with me all this time?"

"Well, no. Killian was threatening your life. He said he'd kill you if I didn't stay away." George's eyes flared with anger. He took in a deep, agitated breathe. He wiped away his anger and looked at her with caution.

"He's still controlling you then. You didn't reject me because those were your feelings; you did it because that's what he wanted." Minka felt her heart sink and her stomach turn.

"Oh…shit." She muttered.

"Hey, it's okay. Now that I know everything, you have to know that I'm not going anywhere. I don't care about his threats and I certainly don't care about what he wants. And besides, he won't be bugging you anymore. If he does come around, he'll get a lot worse than what happened today."

"Thank you, George." He gave a small smile and then stood up. Minka stood up with him.

"You should get some rest. You going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine." He went to reach out and give her a hug but she flinched back. "Sorry. It's not you - I just…after what happened tonight I-"

"No it's okay. I get it." Minka knew he obviously wouldn't hurt her if he hugged her. It was just the idea of such close proximity to someone after the night's events and diving into her past made her uneasy.

"Well, Goodnight Minka."

"Goodnight."

He closed the door behind him, leaving Minka to her privacy.

….

She awoke the next morning to find Molly already up and cooking breakfast. Minka had gotten dressed before she came down and realized it was unnecessary as she saw Molly in her old knitted house coat.

"Morning dear. Take a seat, breakfast is almost ready."

Minka sat at the table, wowed by how much food was already on the table.

"This is wonderful Mrs. Weasley. Thank you." She brought the last of it over and Minka began to put piles of food onto her plate.

"Glad to see you have an appetite. Take as much as you like. I'll go get Arthur and George." She made her way up the stairs as Minka began to scarf down the large meal.

George came down in a pair of white and blue striped pajamas. His father followed him in a pair of brown ones and a flopped hat with a puff ball on the end. George went to sit next to Minka, letting out a giant yawn.

"Nice " Minka uttered through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Nice mouth. Syrup the new lipstick?" He watched with amusement as Minka wiped her face with her napkin. "How'd you sleep?"

Minka swallowed her food before she answered. "As well as someone can under these circumstances."

They ate dinner with his parents without bringing up what had happened the night before. It was peaceful and Minka felt herself relaxing more and more every minute.

Later in the afternoon, George and Minka were sent upstairs so Molly could clean the main floor before everyone arrived. They found themselves playing wizard's chest on the floor of George's room as they waited.

"So, why London of all places to move?" George asked.

"It's where I was originally from. Now that it was safer to be in London since the war, it just felt the safest overall. I guess it would have been smarter to go somewhere completely new. But I just wanted to be somewhere at least a little familiar…queen to D five…and check mate." Minka felt herself grin as she watched George's face fall in defeat.

"I feel hustled."

They could hear the commotion of people arriving downstairs as they began to pack up their game. They headed down to see that Charlie, Bill and Fleur had arrived.

"You all remember Minka. She'll be staying with us for the holidays." George re-introduced her. Harry and Ginny arrived next and Minka stood back to watch the family all greet each other.

"So, my brother shows up with an extra date and here I am without any." Charlie said, standing beside her.

"I'm not an extra date. Just a friend."

"If that's your story." Minka looked up at him and then back at the crowd, laughing to herself. Ron, Hermione and Percy arrived soon after and then it was Angelina's turn.

She gave George a kiss much too long for being in front of his family. Minka held her laughter back as his face flushed a tomato red. He re-introduced Angelina to everyone. When it came time to introduce Minka, he stuttered.

"This is um…uh, well-"

"Minka, my date. Honestly, George. I can't believe you've already forgotten her." Charlie interjected, putting an arm around Minka. She felt herself tense at his touch, but tried to keep a straight face.

"Hi Minka, so good to see you a-…uh for the first time." Angelina winked as she shook her hand. Angelina realized that she would have to explain how she knew Minka, and she didn't want to spoil her present to George.

Angelina moved on to talking to someone else and Minka took this opportunity to look up at Charlie with raised eyebrows.

"For the sake of keeping George out of hot water only." Charlie held his hands out to show innocence.

"Okay, fine. But if you even try and sneak into my room we are so over Charlie Weasley." She whispered, adding in a wink. Charlie smiled in response. He leaned in close to her.

"Also maybe to try and get George jealous. We're all secretly pulling for you." He kissed her cheek quickly and then walked over to Bill. Minka watched as he walked away and then caught George's eye. He seemed relieved, but at the same time he still looked tense about something.

She spent most of the night with Charlie who she remembered to be very interesting to talk to. Later in the night-to Molly's protest-a game of Quidditch broke out in the backyard.

Minka sat out the first round, leaving her to stand next to Fleur and Angelina.

"So, how long have you and Charlie been together?"

"Oh…not long." She kept her eye on the field, attempting not to make eye contact. They were eventually called onto the field to play, Angelina much more hesitant. They decided to have a girls v.s boys match. Minka was completely okay with that because that meant Ginny was on their team, and she was the only professional player in the bunch. Minka and George were put on as Chasers despite George being a Beater in school. Ginny pretty much played the game single-handedly and was actually getting the girls in the lead.

At one point, Hermione managed to get the ball and accidently flung it across the cornfield, attempting to throw it to Minka. Minka chased after it as fast as she could.

She was shoved by George while flying, causing her to break out in a fit of laughter.

"You can try old man!"

"Old man!? I'm the same age as yo-" A bludger came from nowhere and hit the side of George's broom. He lost control for a moment and went crashing to the ground.

"YES!" Came a shout. Minka grabbed the quaffle and turned around. She saw Ginny with Fleur's bat in her hand. She raised it in the air cheering at her hit. Minka threw the quaffle back to them and sailed to the ground to find George.

"George?" She walked through the field a little bit and found where he had landed, but he wasn't there. "Aww George, it's okay! I won't make fun of you! I can't say the same for your sister though." She turned round and round attempting to find him, thinking he probably already flew off.

"George?" She called once more.

"BOO!" Minka jumped at the sudden shout and screamed. She swung her broom. It collided with the side of George's face, sending him to the ground.

"Oh my god…I am so sorry!" She bent down beside him as he held his cheek.

"Remind me to never sneak up on you ever again!" He spit and a bit of blood came out.

"Oh god, you're bleeding." Minka shoved his hand out of the way and saw that the side of his lip had split slightly but that was the only damage. She pulled out a tissue from her pocket and began to wipe at his lip. "It's not too bad."

"I better not be missing teeth."

"No, just your pride." She finished cleaning up the last of the blood with a smile on her face. George quickly picked up a handful of snow and shoved it into the side of her face.

"I will let that slide, due to your injury." Minka said as she wiped her own face off. They walked back to the field, throwing odd snowballs at each other as they went. They came back into the field to see everyone was on the ground.

"What happened? We heard you scream." Hermione asked walking over to them.

"Oh, I saw George's face."

"Oooh, brutal." Charlie commented as he cringed.

"Still better than yours." George retorted at Charlie.

"Hot chocolate's ready!" Molly called from the house. They all slowly walked into the house, George and Minka last.

"I really am sorry about hitting you."

"It's okay. It was more of a shock than anything. I didn't realize you had such a mean swing."

Minka looked up at him and smiled, which he returned. She looked forward to see Angelina looking behind her at them, her face filled with confusion.

"I'm going to go find Charlie."

"Hey yeah, what's with that?"

"It's called saving your ass." Minka whispered and departed from his side.

Everyone was scattered around the living room by the fire with their own mug of hot chocolate. Most of the couples were cozied up together somewhere on a couch or on the floor speaking quietly. Minka and Charlie just sat next to each other awkwardly.

"It's like being stuck on a couple's retreat or something."

"No kidding." She muttered back. She looked over to see Angelina and George smiling at each other, exchanging light kisses every once and a while. Minka looked down at her mug, feeling her stomach knot.

"You really like him don't you?" Charlie spoke softly so no one else could hear them.

"Oh…no. We're just um…"

"Friends?" Minka nodded and looked back up at them.

"Yep. Just friends." She felt herself not being able to watch them anymore and set her mug down. "I'm heading to bed. Goodnight, Charlie."

"'Night, Minka." She got up without another word and headed for the staircase, unbeknownst to her that George was watching her as she ascended.