Minka's Tornado

Minka felt her mind sink slowly back to the real world. She had slept dreamlessly which she was perfectly okay with. She brought her hands up to rub her eyes, trying to wipe the grogginess from her mind.

"About time you woke up." A voice said close to her. She sat up quickly from
being startled, feeling her heart throb in her ears.

"Hey, it's okay. It's me." Her eyes focused and she saw Molly sitting on the side of the bed. She reached a hand out to put over Minka's hand. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to startle you."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours. You missed lunch, but I figured you should rest."

"Do you know what happened?"

"My son was likely not being a very good gentleman to you." Minka smiled and looked down at the sheets.

"I think it's me who isn't being very good to him, actually. I keep over reacting to things that really aren't his fault."

"Well, I don't know what has happened between you two. But you should know that George really cares about you. Even if he is a bit thick sometimes. Anyway, I just came up to see if you were alright." Molly patted Minka's hand.

"I'm fine, thank you. I think I need to go talk to George though."

"He's up in his room. Feel free to yell at him for the stupid things he does. Merlin knows he needs it." She patted her hand one last time and got up to leave.

Minka got up and brushed her hair, new tangles having formed from sleeping. She decided to change her clothes as well since the ones she was wearing were now wrinkled.

She went up a few floors to George's room. She took in a few steady breaths and then knocked lightly.

"I'm fine Mum. Stop checking on me!" She heard him yell. She opened the door to find George sitting on his bed. He was sitting next to…Minka.

Minka looked back and forth between her duplicate. He stood up quickly on his bed and quickly clicked the button on the device in his hand. The Minka on the bed disappeared like it had out in the field.

George's face was crimson, an uneasy half smile on his face. Minka simply stood there speechless, unsure what to do.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I was just…practicing."

"Practicing? What exactly?"

"Talking to you." Minka watched his adam's apple bob as he took a hard swallow.

"Well, at least I was still clothed." Minka walked in and shut the door behind her. George's face only seemed to grow more red. "I just wanted to come up and apologize."

"Apologize? For what? I'm the one who should." He sat back down on the bed and Minka followed suit to sit beside him. "I'm the one who pushed you away again. And then I proceeded to not only bring up bad memories but show you how I feel in the worst way possib-"

Minka quickly covered his mouth with her finger.

"I brought you something." She held out his present still wrapped up in her other hand. "I thought it would be best to give it to you in private."

One of his eyebrows shot up quizzically. Minka rolled her eyes.

"Nothing like that." Minka removed her hand from his face. He took the present from her hand and unwrapped it carefully.

He placed the wrapping to the side to admire his gift. It was a small glass Dream Catcher. On the centre of the lid was the letter 'F' etched into it.

"I don't know everything. And that's okay. But, it doesn't take a genius to see that you miss your brother. This Dream Catcher is about Fed. You simply write a memory you want to remember or even an event you wish you could have shared with him or want to share with him and place it in. And it will play out either exactly how it happened, or how Fred truly would have reacted." There was a silence as George held the little box.

"How?" He whispered.

"Just place an item that belonged to him inside before anything else, and it will forever hold his knowledge, his memories, his personality. Everything." Another long silence.

"Thank you…" His voice was hardly audible. That's when Minka noticed the tears in his eyes. They slowly began to make way down his cheeks. She reached out and wiped a few off with her fingers. He turned to her, his eyes glassy with tears. She brought both her hands up and continued to wipe at his face. He closed his eyes as she did. Once the tears were all gone, Minka kissed both his cheeks lightly. He opened his eyes then, seeing that they were completely clear now.

She then brought her lips to his slowly. She kissed him so lightly, she wasn't even sure they had even touched. She brought her head back slightly to look into his eyes. He still seemed to be stunned or off in some other world. And then he closed the space between them again, crushing his lips against hers.

He put the Dream Catcher to his side and then reached up to grab either side of her face. They stayed like that for a long time. Both of them just completely intent on each other. Minka felt like her heart was bursting with excitement. She hadn't realized how badly she had wanted this.

Her one hand moved through his hair, gripping every now and then. The other she had wrapped around him, trying to pull him closer. His hands seemed to continuously move from her face, to her shoulders, to her waist and then back again. He slowly began to kiss down her jaw and then to her neck. He whispered her name as he began to kiss her neck.

"Hey George! We're-oh god!" They broke apart quickly to see that Ginny had opened the door. "Sorry…um…oh I'm just going to leave." She quickly shut the door and her footsteps echoed as she made her way back upstairs.

They both sat there breathing heavily for a moment. They slowly looked back at each other and began to smile.

"Well that was…um."

"Very." Minka replied. George reached over and took one of her hands.

"So, where does this leave us?" He asked gently. Minka looked down at their intertwined hands and felt her heart swell with happiness again.

"I don't know. Maybe, just…try taking it slowly. For both our sakes."

"So…we can't do that again?" He asked, stroking a thumb across her lips.

"Oh, we can do that all over again for as long as you want. But, we're both pretty fragile in the emotions department. I say we keep that part light hearted and…fun for now. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do. I've never dated anyone who'd rather focus on the physical part as opposed to the emotional part." He leaned in and kissed her cheek and continued to kiss down to her neck.

"We're not exactly in a normal situation, are we?" He pulled away slowly and looked into her eyes.

"Your ex comes into town and harasses you and mine comes back into town and tries to get over her ex fiancee by trying again with me. Happens all the time right?" Minka rolled her eyes and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"I'm going to go see if I can get something to eat."

"Okay. I've got to step out for a bit. Something I need to go do. I'll be back in time for dinner."

Minka nodded and he pulled her in for one last kiss.

"Thank you again."

…..

Minka felt the strange feeling of vertigo the next morning as she began to wake up. It was like quick jolts bouncing her body up and down. She groaned and quickly brought a hand to her head.

As her mind began to set back into reality, she realized it wasn't vertigo, but something-or rather someone-jumping on the bed.

She turned over to look up and rubbed her eyes. George was bouncing up and down, causing the bed to wine and creek in protest.

"What are you doing?" She grumbled. She turned back over and shut her eyes tight.

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Get up!"

"George! Come on! Aren't you a little old for this?" She felt herself laugh as she turned back around.

"How can anyone be too old for Christmas?" He flopped down onto the bed. He began to shake her back and forth wildly.

"Oh my god! Okay!" She pushed him, causing him to rock back. He hopped off her bed and ran up the stairs. Faintly, she could hear him yelling wake up again. She could hear Charlie yelling at him. She rolled her eyes and made her way down the stairs.

She was suddenly overwhelmed by all the delicious smells filling her nostrils. Molly was cooking away in the kitchen. Spoons and spatulas floated in the air, hovering over different pots and pans.

"Happy Christmas, dear." Molly came over and gave Minka a hug.

"Happy Christmas. It smells wonderful." Minka sat at the table as different dishes came floating over, settling nicely in a neat order. Arthur was already sitting at the table, looking ready to jump into the food.

Several footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, voices accompanying them. George had Ginny on his back, attempting to piggy back her. He teetered back and forth several times, getting in the way of the floating plates. Ginny was laughing away as she attempted to steady herself on his back.

"This was much easier when you were four." George muttered in a strained voice. He walked over to the table and plopped her down into one of the chairs.

"Not my fault you don't keep in shape."

The table filled with several red headed bed heads as the last of the food was finally set. Molly hugged everyone before she went and took her own seat.

As soon as she sat down everyone dug into the food, all the while chatting heartily about past Christmases and hinting at each other's presents.

Once breakfast was finally done, they all headed over to the sitting area where the Christmas tree glowed with pride.

Minka stood at the edge of the room and watched as everyone exchanged one present or another. She felt a hand touch her elbow. She turned to see Ron.

"Thank you. For giving us our brother back. It's all we could have asked for." He surprised her even more by hugging her tightly.

"You're welcome but, I really don't think I did much." He pulled away and looked at her quizzically.

"Trust me, you really have made a difference. We haven't spent Christmas with him in a long time. We've also never seem him smile so much. Hell, we haven't seen Mum smile so much."

Minka turned to look at Molly. She was sitting on the couch next to Arthur, watching her children open their different presents. Her face had nothing but pure joy.

Ron patted her shoulder gently and then went to go join Hermione on the floor by the tree. She handed him a small gift box as he did.

George came up to her a few minutes later and handed her a gift.

"Here." He kissed her on the forehead and then stepped back, waiting for her to open it. She figured this is what he had to go out and get yesterday.

She unwrapped it slowly, being careful with it as it felt heavy and fragile. It was glass cylinder as tall as a spray can but a bit thicker. George reached his hand out and tapped the top of the cylinder three times. There was a small pop within the glass and then colours began to appear. Soon, a tiny rainbow tornado began to swirl around inside the glass.

"I knew how much you liked the one from the Pigment Puffs. I figured I would try and make you your own less dangerous version."

"George it's-it's beautiful. Thank you." She looked up at him to see him smile.

"I'm glad you like it." She closed the bit of space between them and kissed him gently.

"I love it." She said softly.

They went to sit down on the floor together, Minka's tornado whirling away in front of her. Molly handed both Minka and George their own gifts from her and Arthur.

George had been given a homemade knitted scarf while Minka had been given a homemade knitted beanie. She absolutely loved it.

"How'd she even manage to make this for me?" She asked George.

"My mum practically breathes knitting and sewing around Christmas. She probably started it the moment you arrived." He began to pull slightly at his new scarf around his neck, the itch from the fabric already starting.

"So, glad you came home for Christmas?" She asked him as the hot chocolate began to float around the room to be served to everyone. He leaned in and kissed her.

"It's better than I could have imagined."