"Lay him over here!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, clearing room on the couch beside George. Bill brought Sirius body over and laid it down gently onto the cushions before being pushed away by Mrs. Weasley. Remus moved to the other side of the cushion, a look of terror on his scarred face as he gazed down at his best friend. I moved my eyes from them and sought out Harry's.
Ron had his arm around his best friend, gently supporting him as he stared at Sirius.
"What happened?" He finally managed to choke out.
Bill lifted his head from his hands and looked up from the chair he had sunk into. "I saw it all," he said, his voice emotionless. "Moody and Sirius were the first to get attacked-he was right, they went for the strongest Auror's first." He went on, his voice unnatural. Fleur moved over to his chair and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, tears falling down her cheeks as she held onto him. "They were brilliant, dodging every spell he sent at them, but then, he hit Sirius with some spell-it was blue flames-and he fell forward on his broom unconscious. Moody moved to get him, but You-Know-Who hit him with Av-with the killing curse." His voice broke and he wiped the tears out of his eyes angrily.
"I couldn't get to him, I was too far out. I managed to get Sirius, but I couldn't find Moody, we couldn't go back-we had a half a dozen of them on our own tales-" He stopped, unable to continue.
"Of course you couldn't have done anything more." Remus said quietly, brushing back Sirius hair as Mrs. Weasley cast healing charms over his body. "Thank you for saving him…" His voice broke as well and Tonks was suddenly by his side, holding him tightly as he fought back tears.
"Will he be alright?" Harry whispered hoarsely.
"I thinks so, I've managed to stop the bleeding." Mrs. Weasley replied, stepping away from Sirius and over to Mr. Weasley. Bill got up from his chair and walked over to a cabinet at the corner of the room, opening it and grabbing out a bottle of butterbeer along with fourteen glasses. He poured some of the drink into each of them before floating them over to us. I grabbed mine in shaky hands, tears once again streaming down my face.
"To Mad Eye." Bill said, holding his glass up. We all raised our glasses and repeated him. I gulped the searing liquid down, thankful for its burn.
"How did I miss a drink?" A quiet, hoarse voice asked from the couch. I started and turned to see Sirius slowly sitting up on the couch, a faint grin on his face. He looked around at the solemn expression all around and his grin faded.
"What happened?"
3{}o{}o{}3
We told Sirius about Moody, and he blamed himself of course. We all told him that was silly, he couldn't have done anything, but he didn't believe it. So now we had both Harry and Sirius blaming themselves for everything. Harry even tried to leave, after all we had done to save him he tried to leave the house. Needless to say we didn't even let him get out of the door. Once we had him back into the room we sat down and discussed what had happened. Of all people it was Fleur who asked the clear question.
"Yes, and zat eez all very good," She snapped, from her position of Bill's lap. "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."
She glared around at all of us, tear still streaming down her perfect face. Nobody said anything- what could we? It was obvious, someone had clearly let something slip. I moved towards the couch with George, searching for his comfort with out thought. He stiffened when I lay my hand on his shoulder, a frown crossing his handsome features.
"No," Harry said loudly, breaking the awful silence. His voice seemed to almost be amplified."I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault. We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."
It was even quieter after his speech. I agreed whole heartedly with him, no one here would betray him. We'd die first, just like he'd die for each of us. We had a loyalty to each other that most people would never know.
"Well said, Harry," Fred piped unexpectedly, looking at him admiringly.
"Yeah, 'ear, 'ear," George said, with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched. A small smile lit my own face and I ran my hand along George's shoulders gently.
"You think I'm a fool?" Harry said suddenly. I looked up and saw Harry staring at Remus.
"No, I think you're like James," he replied, a faint smile on his lips. "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."
"You truly are your fathers son." Sirius said softly. Harry grew pale at his words, his hand twitched upward slightly but he managed to hide the movement. Ron and I were the only ones to notice it. We caught each other's gaze and a look of knowing passed between us. Harry made some excuse and headed for the door. I let go of George's shoulder, leaning down and giving him a quick peck on the head before following both Ron and Harry out the door.
3{}o{}o{}3
"Mrs. Weasley, where has George gone?" I asked, helping her gather the cups from the firewhiskey. Ron and Harry were in Ron's room, probably getting ready for bed. The rest of the order had gone to their respective homes, except for Sirius who was staying in Percy's old room.
Mrs. Weasley took the glasses from me and set them in the sink. "I think he's in his bedroom with Fred." She answered, cleaning out the glasses.
"They didn't go back to their flat?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
Mrs. Weasley saw right through my act. "No, he's up in his room." She paused for a second, glancing at me before returning her gaze to the glasses. "I'm sure he'd enjoy a visit."
Was she giving me permission to go with George? Wow, I didn't see that coming. I smiled, unable to help myself, and gave her a tight hug.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley." I said before turning and running up the stairs. I went to Ginny and my bedroom and got dressed into my pajamas. It was knee length yellow t shirt with spaghetti straps, and a pair of white cotton shorts. They were extremely comfortable, and didn't look bad. I hoped George wouldn't refuse the request I was about to ask him. I was worried, I didn't want him to think me to forward, but I was more worried by the way he had been avoiding me all night. Hopefully I could entice him into letting me sleep in his and Fred's room tonight. I didn't want to let him out of my sight, not after all that had happened tonight. I didn't want to go to bed without knowing that he was safe, and I was worried that the only way I'd know it for sure was if I held onto him. I was guaranteed to have nightmares tonight-that much was unavoidable-but at least if he was there I wouldn't have to worry about the horrors that the dark can make you feel. I'd know he was alright.
I reached the door to George and Fred's room far quicker than I had anticipated, and I found myself stalling outside their door. What if he did say no? What would I do then?
Well, I told myself, I couldn't very well stand here all night. So I stepped forward and knocked on the door. Fred's voice answered, telling me I could come in. I turned the knob in my hand, shocked at how hard I found that simple act, and pushed the door open. I saw Fred first, because his bed was against the far wall, George's bed was up against the wall with the door, so I'd have to walk into the room to see him. Fred glanced at me from where he was sitting on his bed. His eyes widened and then he rolled over, pulling a blanket over his shoulders and waving his wand in the air. I took another step into the room and turned towards George, feeling terrified and hopeful.
"Hi, George." I said quietly, shuffling my feet awkwardly. He was lying down on his bed, on top of the covers with his hands behind his bandaged head. Upon seeing and hearing me he sat up quickly, knocking his pillow over the edge in his hurry. I rushed forward without thought and grabbed it up off the floor, handing it back to him tentatively. He took it, his eyes on our hands. I looked at his face, hoping to see some sign of encouragement in it, but I found none.
"Hermione," He said in acknowledgment, setting his pillow behind him. He was wearing a luck of the Irish faded shirt, one that looked old and comfortable and blue plaid pajama pants, worn and soft looking. A smile threatened to lift my lips at the mismatched pajama's, but I didn't think it would be appropriate.
"Could I sleep here with you tonight?" I asked, blurting the question out accidentally. My hand flew to my mouth in surprise and I flushed before glancing over and noticing with much relief that Fred wasn't paying attention to us.
"What?" George asked, sounding thoroughly surprised. I lowered my eyes and shuffled my feet again, feeling awkward and self conscious.
"Could I sleep with you? I don't want to be alone." I said again, though it was hardly more than a whisper.
"Don't you sleep with Ginny?" he asked, sounding confused.
"Yes," I said, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. He didn't want me, I shouldn't have come. "I just wanted-Sorry, I'll leave…" I said, deciding against explaining, why embarrasses myself any further? "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
I turned around, intending to walk out the door and return to my own room, but a hand stopped me. I turned around to see George looking at me, his hand holding my arm firmly.
"You can stay if you really want too." He said, looking as though he expected me to walk out the door anyway. A grin spread across my features and I felt myself relax. I was by his side in half a step, already sitting on the bed before he could remove his hand from my arm. I grabbed him in a crushing hug, pulling him as close as I could.
"Thank you." I whispered in his ear. He didn't respond for a moment, but then he lifted his arms and gently held me. It felt so good to have his arms around me that I nearly cried. I resisted the urge to though, and just held him a little tighter. He broke the hug off a moment later, pulling the covers back and sliding under them. I did the same, fixing the pillow he gave me before laying down.
George was lying on his back looking slightly anxious as I lowered myself down beside him. I pulled the covers up around my shoulders and then scooted up closer to him. I wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned my head into the crook of his shoulder. He held still for a moment but then he wrapped a gentle arm around my shoulders. I sighed contentedly and snuggled into him, feeling safe at last.
A/N: Just a reminder, Fred is going to make it, I won't be killing him.