Chapter 12: George
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter or His Dark Materials.
For his entire life George had never experienced being an individual. He was a twin, a half of a pair. A package deal. But George was okay with that, he had Circe, he had Fred and he had Eris. And they were completely worth giving up that sense of being independent. When Eris had settled George had been genuinely happy for his brother. Although both had joked for years about never wanting their daemon's to settle, George knew that Fred was anxious about it. His twin, his better, but less handsome half had always been worried that when their daemon's settled it would cause a rift between the two. It had happened to twins before. Their daemon's were so different that the twins relationship became degraded to the point of no longer holding that special connection. That feeling that you were never alone because you had one person that would always understand and care about you. Besides your daemon of course. But Fred had no intention of allowing this to happen. When Eris settled George showered her with praise and eased Fred's worries. They were still twins! They were still one soul in four bodies.
When George was thirteen he could no longer pretend that he and Fred weren't separate people. Locking himself in the Astronomy classroom he glared at his daemon. "You have to change Circe, you have to change right now." he demanded.
Circe practically hissed at her human. Hackles raised she snarled, "You know as well as I that shifting isn't going to happen George. This is what we are, you'll just have to get used to it!"
"I can't! You were supposed to be a ferret like Eris! We were supposed to go on and continue like it's always been. How can we be the twins if our daemon's aren't even the same?"
"You'll still be twins, but you have to accept that you're brothers. You're not the same person...Am I really that disgusting?"
George deflated, "Of course not Circe! I just-it's just,"
The Coyote's ears raised hopefully as she balefully looked at her human from across the room.
George finally opened his arms and Circe crashed into his body trembling. "We're okay George. We're us, we're us. Fred will understand."
And Fred did understand. When George and Circe entered the common room, his brother lit up with surprise and joy, "Finally joined the men did you mate?" he called out. Eris chattered happily jumping up to rest on Circe's head. As George settled down next to the fire he sighed contentedly. Things hadn't changed. He and Fred were still twins, and even better they were brothers.