Secrets Unknown
Chapter Five: "Losing both of you"
George awoke from a dreamless sleep in his own bed, light streaming in through the gaps in his curtains. He groaned and turned away from the light, facing Fred's bed in the process. His stomach gave a lurch as he realised there was someone sleeping in it, their form under the covers small but distinguishable as a human being and not a pile of clothes. George sat up and his head span. He put a hand to his forehead to steady himself and swung his whole body around, his feet landing lightly on the floor. As soon as he was sure he wasn't going to fall over once standing, he stood up and walked over to his twin's bed. He could see immediately who it was from the jet-black hair that was covering not only the person's face but the entire pillow as well.
"Angelina?" George said her name softly and she rolled over immediately and looked up at him.
"You're awake," she remarked as she sat up, arranging her hair into a more acceptable fashion.
"So are you," George pointed out as he went back to his own bed and sat down, pulling his feet under the covers to warm them after the chill of the bare floorboards.
Angelina nodded, "I've been awake for a while. Your mother was worried about you," she told George, watching him closely.
George wracked his brain for any memories of the previous night but none came to mind, "why?" he asked Angelina in puzzlement.
Angelina yawned and pulled her covers up to her chin, "she found you passed out in the bathroom last night," she said, looking at him strangely as though worried why he couldn't remember this.
George groaned. All he could remember was throwing up a lot then passing out from sheer exhaustion.
"My throat hurts," he remarked, massaging his Adams apple tenderly.
"I'm not surprised," Angelina told him as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and padding softly over to where a suitcase full of clothes was sitting on the other side of the room. As she started to pull off her shirt George averted his eyes.
"Whoa," he muttered as he looked determinedly at the wall.
Angelina pulled on another shirt and turned around apologetically, "I'm sorry," she said guiltily. She was quiet for a moment before speaking again, "I guess I'm just used to changing in front of Fred," she said softly, her cheeks flushing a little.
George nodded, "it's okay," he told her, "don't worry about it." The silence in the room was deafening before George thought of something to say. "Uh," he started, "why are you here?"
"What?" Angelina asked him, mind obviously somewhere else. "Oh!" she said as she realised what George had just asked her. "Hermione phoned from your dad's old telephone and said that you'd been found indisposed in the bathroom so I offered to come back and stay with you."
George nodded, "oh, okay then," he said after a moment. He turned away from Angelina once again as she continued to dress then got out of bed himself. Looking down he noticed for the first time that he was wearing his pyjamas. "Um..." he started.
Angelina looked up from the belt she was buckling, "what?" she asked him.
"How did I...I mean, I swear I wasn't...where are my clothes?" he asked finally as Angelina quirked her eyebrow.
"Over there," she said, pointing to where they hung over the back of the desk chair.
"How did I end up in my pyjamas?" he asked her suspiciously.
"It's not like you don't have anything I haven't seen before," Angelina answered nonchalantly, rummaging around in her suitcase for a pair of shoes.
"You undressed me?" George began incredulously and Angelina shook her head.
"You were like that when I got here. Sorry to disappoint you," she said with a small smile and George could see she was desperately trying to make jokes about their current situation to cover up her true feelings at that moment.
"I guess I wouldn't have anything you hadn't seen before," George murmured and Angelina looked up at him, eyes filling up with tears.
"No," she agreed softly, turning back to her suitcase and zipping it up, "I guess you wouldn't. Heading towards the door she turned back to George, "come down to breakfast. You need to eat something."
George nodded and followed her to the door, closing it behind her and turning back towards where his clothes lay.
When he emerged into the kitchen five minutes later his mother enveloped him in a hug so vicious that it nearly broke some valuable bones.
"I thought you had..." his mother sobbed into his shoulder as he comforted her awkwardly.
"I'm okay, mum," he told her, trying to ignore the looks he was getting from everybody else at the table.
Mrs Weasley finally let her son out of the back-breaking hug but held him firmly by the shoulder at arms length. "I couldn't take losing both of you, you hear me?" she hissed, tears streaming down her face. George nodded numbly as his mother let him go and he sat down at the table next to Ginny who busied herself with her porridge.
George looked around at everyone then down at the plate his mother had just put in front of him, fuming silently over everybody's stupid reactions. Valiantly restraining himself from screaming at them all, he merely attacked his meal with a very large bite which he only just managed to get down.
Everyone was a little subdued over breakfast. George couldn't tell whether it was because it looked like he had killed himself in the bathroom or if it was still due to Fred's death but he had a feeling it didn't have too much to do with the latter.
After breakfast George excused himself from the table and headed back upstairs. Realising that he had nothing to do but sit on his bed and think about what he had read in Fred's journal the night before he decided to have a shower and forget about the diary for the time being. George made his way into the small bathroom on the same floor as his bedroom, grabbing a towel from the linen closet on the way. Locking the door behind him, George pulled off his shirt and let his pants drop to the floor, puddling around his feet. Kicking the clothes out of the way George stood in front of the full-length mirror, completely naked and looked himself over. Although at first glance he and his brother were completely identical, George had always seen the differences, as had his family and friends. George squinted and stared at his reflection, willing himself to look exactly like his brother. George grinned widely to resemble the happy-go-lucky person he thought Fred was but the smile was forced and extremely false. Sighing, George climbed into the shower and turned on the water, letting arm water cascade all over his body. He tried not to think about the diary but the more he tried not to think about it, the more he wanted to lock his door and read the entire, disturbing thing.
I see that you have found my diary, George. It had said. It targeted him directly, willing him to read about his brother's mind, teasing him until he succumbed to it.
George let himself get lost in his thoughts as the water ran over his skin, engulfing his senses in the warmth, allowing him to be more relaxed than he had been in days. George closed his eyes and smiled slightly at the feeling of warmth but opened them suddenly when he heard someone knocking on the door.
"Other people want a shower too!" came his sisters irritated voice from behind the door.
"In a minute!" George yelled back, annoyed that his concentration had been broken. With a sigh, he turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower, searching for a towel. Rubbing himself down briefly to get all the water droplets off his slick body George then wrapped the towel around himself and opened the door, grabbing his clothes on the way out.
"Thankyou," Ginny said impatiently, pushing past her brother into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.
George smiled slightly to himself. At least Ginny was acting the same as she always had. He wandered back to his room; towel still wrapped around his lower half. Opening his bedroom door he closed it carefully behind him, 'accidentally' shooting the bolt across so that if someone wanted to come in, he would hear then trying to door first. George quickly dressed then pulled the shoebox out from under his twin's bed only to find the diary gone. Panicking slightly, George looked around the room for it and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it perched on his desk. Heart thumping, he crossed the room and grabbed the diary before settling himself on his bed. Closing his eyes briefly, George worked up the courage to open the book, so small yet so full of undesirable secrets. George opened the diary and turned to the third page where he was before. Taking a deep breath, George began to read.
The chapters are short, I know, but I don't want them too be too lengthy so that I can fit many chapters in instead of just a couple. The diary entries haven't really started yet but they will soon and they will be quite troubling considering the original nature of the Weasley twins everyone loves so much. Please review! I won't update unless I get reviews so tell your friends, tell your family, tell your goldfish, I want reviews!!!