Chapter two is finally up
Chapter two is finally up. Umm...yeah enjoy!
Warnings for this chapter: Drinking. (I promise you from next chapter on the warning will be worse)
Couples: Hermione/ Ron
Review Corner:
Volcania Fire Princess: Than you so much for reviewing. It means alot. Umm...I want to know who you think is after George. I have hints in here on who it isnt and a small hint on who it could be. But I dont want to make it really noticeable so there will be twists. Yep. Thank you and I hope you reply again.
He was drinking too much
He is drinking too much. Ron gave a stressed look toward Hermione who just frowned as George downed his fifth shot of vodka. And she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at Ron who was giving her the glares that were supposed to be aimed at his brother. And she slipped in her seat feeling approaching disaster. It was the sound of glass breaking across marble that finally made her open her eyes as she prepares to see George passed out on the unforgiving rocky floor. Instead she finds Ron standing over George glaring at his older brother who is just staring at the whiskey splashing around the floor.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ron screamed at George so loud that other people stopped eating and stared at the table making Hermione feel mildly embarrassed.
"I was enjoying my dink." George slurred looking into Ron's eyes and smiling weakly.
"You are fucking drunk." Ron glared at his brother who just smiled again.
"Ron stop it." Hermione ordered hiding her blushing face from all the attention from surrounding tables.
"Hermione why the hell did you let him order a drink?" Ron now hissed at Hermione who blushed even darker with not only embarrassment but rage.
"Me? You are blaming me for him drinking?"
"You told him to have a drink. You told him to order Vodka."
"He wanted to know which drinks were the strongest. I didn't know he would actually order Vodka."
"You were the one who decided to go to a muggle bar." Ron pointed at Hermione with what he thought was aggression, who just glared at Ron in response, feeling smug about how ridiculous he looked pointing his finger at her like a child.
"This is half my life Ron. Why is it bad to enjoy 'muggle' places? This is how I grew up and excuse me that I wanted to share that with my boyfriend."
"You are always doing things like this. Go to the park, go to an amusement park, go to the circus, go to movies…" His voice grew louder with each word and the bartender eyed him cautiously. Hermione noticed.
"Shut up Ron, you are going to get us kicked out."
Thirty minutes later Ron and Hermione were helping George walk to his apartment. No one spoke except for George who suddenly decided to be really talkative. Ron kept glancing at Hermione who pointedly ignored his glances, holding her long heels in one hand and wrapping her free arm around George to make sure he didn't fall on his ass. Ron mentally kicked himself for destroying dinner, and for getting the three kicked out of his girlfriend's favorite restaurant and embarrassing her greatly. But honestly what waiter offers a drunken man more whiskey and George…he just accepted the drink with a snap of his hand. Both George and the waiter were just begging to be hit. And he felt better after he punched the waiter and yelled at him but it was short-lived. The owner came and kicked them out and he still remembers the jackass's words, "never thought a drunken guy would behave better than a sober one." And then Hermione was mad at him and George laughed at him and he started feeling guilty about causing such a scene. And now to add insult to injury, they had to walk because their car was stolen; and George was very heavy for his skinny ass. "Fred will love it when I tell him this story. He will die laughing." George spurts out again still laughing. And suddenly Hermione glanced at Ron, their eyes meeting in muted concern before Hermione remembered why she had ignored him in the first place.
"I can't believe you acted like that." She said with sadness and hurt in her voice. Her long hair had fallen out of the bun and fell around her shoulders, her puffy hair blended in with her red dress that was once very pretty and elegant and now looked worn out and faded. Ron had always been confused about her attachment to that dress. She had enough money to buy new clothes, and he even bought her new dresses but she always wore this one to nightly events.
"And Fred would call you retarded and a dork for your irresponsible actions, he would be so disappointed in you. Probably even start calling you Percy." George continued looking up at the sky.
"I'm sorry Hermione. It's just…"
"He loves you, you know that Ron. He was always secretly proud of you."
"You were mad and you had no reason to be."
She is mad at you right now; you are going to be in the doghouse tonight. Ron thought forlornly, avoiding Hermione's eyes guiltily. He still managed to keep aggression in his tone however as their argument continued.
"What do you mean I had no reason? That stupid waiter was trying to make my brother drink until he died."
"He probably didn't know he was drunk."
"The first time Fred was drunk he threw up on everything in our house. For two weeks our apartment smelt like vomit and alcohol." George piped in cheerfully, trying to insert himself back into the 'conversation'. He was promptly ignored.
"This isn't drunk. No one knows he is drunk?" Ron sarcastically says.
"He was a mean drunk too, yelled at me over nothing." George sighs looking sad.
"I don't know okay. It's just an idea." It was Hermione's turn to avoid Ron's heated gaze. The aggressor in the argument continually switched between the two of them.
"He knew he was drunk, he just wanted to get more money out of us."
"When he comes home everything will be good again." George smiled dreamily.
"God damn it George. Shut up, shut up, shut up! No one wants to hear you talking about Fred all the time. He is not coming home. Do you hear me? He is never going to come home and the sooner you accept that the sooner you can move on with your life." Ron turned red with anger and let go of Fred, leaving poor Hermione to hold him up by herself. She strained under his weight, but George was partially standing now and stared at Ron like a kicked dog.
"But he has to come home. We have a business together; I can't keep working by myself. And we have an apartment together. He told me he would never leave me. He has to come back."
"He's cant. He's…" Ron suddenly cut himself off, the rage draining off his face with the flush, leaving his skin almost sickly-looking as he gazed sadly at his disoriented and delusional brother.
"He isn't coming back for a long time but he will come back. Don't listen to Ron." Hermione calmly said before turning to Ron and gave him a silent look that clearly stated: "shut up before you make things worse."
"Hermione I can't do this anymore. We have to tell him." Ron came over and slipped George's arm over his shoulder, grabbing his limp brother around the waist to help Hermione carry him. They continued their conversation as if George wasn't there.
"Not now Ron lets just get George home."
"He should know…"
"What, know what? What is going on?" George asked looking from Hermione to Ron who both immediately looked away.
"You know where Fred is don't you? Why won't you tell me where he is?" The drunken mans eyes welled up with tears. And neither his friend nor brother could stand to look at him in the eye.
"We just can't George." Hermione replies shooting Ron another glare.
"You know. You know and you've been keeping me in the dark. He is my twin; I have every right to see my brother." He screamed, his words slurring and his face a tapestry of hurt and anger. And both Hermione and Ron let him go afraid that he will attack them but instead George just ran away, moving quickly despite his stumble.
"Shit, George, George come back." Ron screamed at George as he tried to keep up with his surprisingly nimble, but drunk brother.
"Great going Ron." Hermione spat as she started to run in the direction George disappeared. Ron was behind her calling his brother's name, but after an hour they both gave up and just hoped that George finds his way home. Hermione was preoccupied with worry about George's safety. Ron was just afraid of facing Hermione's wrath.
George stumbled as he ran though alleyways and alleyways trying to find his street and wondered idly why he didn't bring his wand to the bar. If he had his wand he would be home by now, safe and warm under heavy blankets. But no, he left it at home, and instead he was drunk, lost, and scared. George felt his knees buckling and suddenly nausea set in and he felt the urgent need to throw up and throw up now. And he was dizzy, very dizzy. And suddenly he found himself on the dirty floor, his body lying in filth and rat feces, and he threw up. George tasted the decomposing fish and vodka as it came up his throat and landed with a splash on the ground. The motion and smell made him gag and threw up and shook as he emptied his stomach contents onto the concrete, collapsing on the floor next to the refuse. He dragged his legs close to his chest, looking and feeling about as helpless as an adult fetus. And George felt so tired, so worn, that he just wanted to sleep right then and there. But then he heard something moving in the distance and he froze up. He could hear the trash being stomped on, heard the pounds of large footsteps. In a daze George recognized enough to know it couldn't be a rat, or a cat or dog either, the footsteps were far too long. Then he heard harsh breathing as if something saw him and was really excited about it. Suddenly George felt every muscle in his body tightening, his breathing became harsher and faster, and he struggled to open his eyes. To at least see what terror was coming to meet him.
It was the low sound of a chuckle that finally made him open his eyes. It's probably some muggle mugger who got lucky coming across the sorry excuse George was right now. And the guy is getting too close now and George suddenly remembers the phone messages and finally started to connect that it might not be Fred on the phone but someone else, someone who is out to hurt him. And then the footsteps stop and somebody kneeled down close to him and George opened his eyes. Expecting some awful, ugly muggle leering down at him. It took a moment for it to register for George that the man in front of him was not a muggle at all. It was Lee.
"George, you are too much." Lee said looking disgusted as he helped his friend up.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I got lost." George spoke slowly around the rotten bile that still covered the inside of his mouth.
"I can tell. Well come on lets get you home." Lee says looking around to make sure no one was around before he took out his wand. And before Lee whispers a spell George passed out, letting Lee catch him with his spare arm. And in another second they were gone, completely unaware that someone else was in the alley that day.
George woke very slowly. His head thrummed a heartbeat like a church-bell, his head ached like murder. And the sparse light coming though the blinds gave him even more of a headache. George slowly put together his thoughts and found he couldn't remember how he got home or why he felt like he hadn't drunk any water in a month or why he felt like staying in bed all day. The only thought he allowed to register was that he never wanted to get drunk ever again. And a knock against what he assumed was a door caught his attention as he tried to remember who he ran into yesterday. He didn't want to talk. He knew his headache would become worse. And in his silence the person behind the door decided to come in anyway and George tries to smile at Lee but even smiling made his headache worsen.
Lee smiled knowingly, offering two small pills to George who looked at them in confusion.
"It's a muggle medicine called Aspirin. It will help the headache." Lee offers before handing George glass of water and watched as he took them.
"Why is everyone using muggle stuff? Aren't we wizards?"
"Sometimes it isn't bad to use muggle stuff, especially if it is cheaper than potions." Lee replied smiling kindly before looking up at the clock across from the bed. And so did George.
"Shit, I have to work in twenty minutes!" George screamed then regretted it immediately as his headache spiked.
"Hey, take it easy. You are not going to work today." Lee replies sitting down on the bed beside George.
"What?"
"I put a closed sign on the door already. Today you are going to take it easy." Lee replies again patting George's leg before standing up.
"Unfortunately, I cant just close the shop and take care of you. I have to go to work now too. But if you like I can come back after work," Lee allowed a little of his desire to see George again seep into his question, but as George shook his head no Lee frowned in disappointment, "okay, then I got your mail for you, its on the counter. Oh and you have a lot of phone messages you ought to check."
"Thanks Lee you didn't have to get my mail for me."
"That's not all, I also made you breakfast, it's in the oven."
"Thanks."
"Bye George."
"Bye." George replies before rolling over and pressing his face in his pillows. He slept for a little bit before waking up again and feeling a little bit better and got up to prepare for the long day. He used the dirty bathroom that he was always expecting to get some kind of disease from, but luckily nothing squirmed out of the filth to bite him yet. George scowled as he walked into the living room and frowned. Lee is insane. The whole room was covered in balloons and some type of thick papery tubes from corner to corner. There was a cake on the counter and a present there as well. And he had a mix of cards, some from the mailman and some from owls. He could smell the sweet aroma of pancakes being kept warm in the oven and he didn't even realize how hungry he was until he wolfed down every one. And smiling a little he picked up the first wizard card and chuckled as he heard his mother's voice wishing him a happy birthday, promising to visit him in a month. He picked up another and another all from friends, past and present, and from the family. He smiled as he put the cards in a drawer and started to walk away when he noticed that he missed one. And he picked it up smiling as he looked to find out who it is from only to find out that there is no name or address or even a signature. He couldn't describe it but he felt excited and he ripped the envelope open and pulled out the letter without hesitance and opened it up to find eight words written in big black makers.
Happy Birthday George. I will always love you
George stared at the note for a while before sitting it carefully on the counter and walked over to the phone. What he saw confused him. He had one hundred and eight messages on his phone. And he felt himself holding his breath gingerly as he listened to the messages although already guessing what he will find. He only made it to twenty messages before he got mad. Twenty messages of just breathing pissed him off. What is worse is that whoever it was used the whole message while they continued just to breath heavily into the receiver. And without thinking he deleted all the messages expecting every message to be the same.
George stifled another yawns as he thought about taking a nap when something in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. It was the a pile of papers piled near the door. He picked up his foot to find another pile of letters, the ones from yesterday, and picked them up idly. He shuffled lazily though them, skimming the addresses and names; bills, parents, blah, and finally he found it, the envelope without a return name or address. And without a second wasted he ripped it open.
I loved you for the longest time now. I would have fantasies about you, about me, about us, and I'm sorry for that. I want to have you; I want to be able to kiss you, to hug you, to hold you close, to have sex with you. I can't…I know that and I know that I shouldn't have these feelings but I do. And I have to tell you that, please don't hate me. I wish you could love me too.
And George found himself smiling as he reread it again. And he laughs a little as he wonders if this is why Fred left. Because George knew it was Fred who had written these letters. Who else could it be? He sat it down next to the other one and threw all the mail off the desk and digging though them, looking for the envelope with no return address. He found three more and he felt excitement and elation race through him as he picked up the first one.
I miss you, I really do. I'm kind of mad that I can't talk to you for a long time because I miss you so much that it hurts. I must see you again. And I wonder do you miss me?
And George ripped open the next one.
So today the funniest thing happen this bitch comes into work and after finding out how much a cat was threw a fit, it was hilarious. Oh and in case you are wondering I took a job at a wizard's pet shop. You should have seen the fit she was throwing. Oh I wish you were there you would have found it downright comical. I can't explain it correctly but she ended up head first in a tank of chameleon fish. Priceless. I love my new job I only wish you are here too. I bet you are bored without your brother at work right? Either that or you are stressed out over the popularity of the business. Oh well, I am always thinking of you buddy.
And finally he opened the last one his heart pounding as he ripped the envelope open and smiled to himself.
Love, love, love. I love you George. I love your looks, I love your personality. I love you so much that I can't stand it. I feel like any minute I am going to do something stupid that will shatter our relationship and make you hate me. I can't do that, I cant do that to you. You deserve better than me. So I decided I can't tell you I love you but then I'm writing this note and I find myself laughing at myself and I hope you don't hate me for anything I did and will do. I love you and you are killing me and I have to stop it. I love you but I have to stop. I can't love you, I can't. But still I want to so bad and I am so ashamed with myself that I can't even tell you who I am. So just know no matter how bad life may seem you have someone who loves you and will always be there for you even if you never notice me. You have my eternal love.
Hermione frowned at the letter as she sat it down looking nervously at George who was smiling.
"Do you see?" He asked and Hermione just reread it once again as if it was a textbook.
"See what?"
"Fred left two months ago right?" He asks and waited for Hermione to nod before continuing, "Look at the date on that letter it January 21. Don't you see? He wrote this letter right before he ran away."
"I don't know what to say George." Hermione honestly replies, somewhere in the back of her mind, alarms were going off.
"While come on, this is probably the only real reason that I can see Fred running away. He loved me and couldn't deal with it anymore."
"How are you sure?" Hermione mutters.
"Sure of what?"
"Sure that this is from Fred?"
"While who else can it be from?"
"I'm sorry I just don't think that this is from Fred."
"Oh what do you know Hermione?" George asks rudely as he grabbed the note.
"He never liked you like this. You know that."
"Then why would he run away?"
"He didn't run away."
"Then where is he?"
"I…I have to leave now." Hermione said, abruptly standing up and starting to walk before stopping.
"George, please promise me that you don't read too much into these letters okay? And please, please clean up your apartment. Its beginning to get unlivable."
"Good bye Hermione." George replied coldly, still looking at the letters and Hermione stared, fear circulating though her body as she worried about the man before walking out of the apartment. And George heard the door open and close he smiled and looked once again at the letters once again.
"Fred you stupid idiot. If this is why you left home I am going to kick your ass when you come home. You know I wouldn't have cared. Honestly I wouldn't have cared. I love you Fred. Please just come home." George said quietly, almost religiously to the letters before carefully laying the letters in a perfect pile on the counter and heading back to sleep, his body exhausted from the excitement and disappointment. It's his brother and his twin isn't here but the letters at least gave him hope, hope that his brother might one day come back.
AN:
OK, please review. It just helps when you hear that people like your story and is interested in it. And if anyone wants to even guess who might be interested it will be cool. Anyone who gets it right will get a cookie. So come on. Oh and if anyone thinks this is twinest it isnt. I love the pairing but honestly for this story it will probably never happen unless people want it to and even then there is the smallest chance of that because of a certain fact that will come up in a upcoming chapter.