Chapter 26
Not much happened at the Burrow after George had woken up a few days prior to the current moment. Mainly everything seemed to be exactly the same as it had been before he'd even left – the only slight difference being that Hermione would occasionally moan at Ron for something, usually something idiotic or something about him being ignorant, although this wasn't much similar to the normal situation. But other than that, it was the completely and utterly the same. George had begun to worry about Ashley again, even though it had only been 3 days at the most since he himself had woken up.
He probably shouldn't have been worrying as much as he was - considering Ashley had been through a lot more that he had, including extensive use of Crucio, whereas George had only had that used against him once and had then had Sectumsempra cast at him a separate time, which was what had led to him currently having a large bandage placed in a diagonal line from his shoulder to the bottom of his stomach – even though his mother had healed it as best as possible, apparently he still needed a bandage over it, which didn't make much sense to him at all, but he figured it best not to argue with his mother when she was still slightly annoyed with him for leaving the house and going to find Ashley anyway. But what else did she expect him to do? Sit at home and wait for someone else to find her? That's not the type of thing George would do. Ever. He looked down at the bandage, poking at it and then wincing at the sharp, shooting pain that went through his chest.
'George, stop poking the bandage' Harry said, not looking up from where he was sitting with Teddy, reading him a story from "The Tales Of Beedle The Bard" - most probably the tale of the three brothers, Harry, Hermione and Ron seemed to prefer that one more than the other tales, for reasons unbeknownst to all other members of the family.
'It's just really really tempting' George joked, to which Harry laughed slightly and shook his head, a few seconds later Ginny walked in, then immediately walked over to Harry, causing Teddy to look from the book and up at Ginny, giving her gappy smile.
'Harry! We need to go! We're already late!'
'We're not late, love' Harry said 'It's only just turned 7'
'and we were supposed to be there for 7!' she argued
'No, we're supposed to be there for 7:30' Harry said, causing Ginny to remain quiet for a moment,
'…shut up' she said, then stalked out again.
'Where you goin'?' George asked, causing Teddy's head to swivel around to see where the new noise had come from
'Honestly? I have absolutely no bloody idea. I just know we're meeting Neville, Luna, Seamus and Dean somewhere, but I didn't even know that until today.'
'Who's looking after Teddy then?'
'Ron, apparently' Harry said, before looking around 'Think he escaped though, he never actually agreed to it, Ginny just kinda forced him … I reckon he's gone out somewhere with Hermione' he smiled
'Why am I not surprised?' George smirked 'Though if Ron doesn't show I'll look after him, I could use the company. Even if it is from a one year old who isn't able to speak or walk'
'An awesome one year old' Harry corrected, smiling 'And he can talk, it just so happens that he talks incoherent babble'
'He's allowed I guess' George smiled 'I forgot how easy being one was. That kid doesn't have to worry about anything, other than learning to talk'
'I know' Harry said, 'I think Ginny's starting to think he's never going to talk, but I'm sure he will. And I have absolutely no doubt that his first words to her will be "shut up"'
'Ah, most probably … think those might have been my first words to Perce, actually' George smiled, as his little sister walked back into the room
'What were you two talking about?' she asked, smirking slightly
'Nothing much' George shrugged
'Just about George watching Teddy if Ron doesn't show up'
'Well, at this point it looks like he isn't' Ginny said 'Honestly, he is such an unreliable git'
'Surely you figured that out a while ago?' George asked
'Well … yes' Ginny said, smiling 'Anyway, Harry, we need to go!' Ginny said
'But - ' Harry began to argue, but was cut off by Ginny glaring 'Fine, we'll go' he sighed in defeat
'Whipped much?' George whispered to Harry as he walked past, earning him a glare. Ginny took Teddy off Harry and handed him to George, causing Harry to look confusedly at Ginny
'You know I could have handed the baby over, right?'
'Well too late now' Ginny said, then turned to face George 'Right – don't do anything stupid, would you? I don't want to come back to half the house blown up or Teddy with a black eye, extra limbs, less limbs or anything else, right?'
'So much faith' George smirked 'You realise I have looked after children before? I'm not a complete moron'
'I'll believe that when I see it' Ginny smirked 'Anyway, we're going – see you later'
'Alright – see you' George replied, then waited until Ginny and Harry were gone before walking over to the sofa and sitting down on it, Teddy sitting up right on his knee
'So … what do I do with you for the next few hours' George said, causing random noises that were supposed to be words come out of Teddy's mouth 'Great plan' he said sarcastically, making Teddy giggle.
-oOo-
'Well … look at that' Ginny said when she walked into the Burrow a few hours later
'Why am I not surprised?' Harry said, looking down at an asleep George holding an equally asleep Teddy, 'What should we do? We can't leave them here'
'We can leave George' Ginny smiled, 'You can just pick up Teddy?'
'Oh, can I?' Harry said,
'Yes, you can' she smiled, to which Harry shook his head whilst smiling, but still picked up Teddy all the same.
'I still can't believe we're just going to leave him here'
'Well, it won't make any difference. Mum and Dad are probably asleep, Ron and Hermione are somewhere, We're both here, Charlie's asleep and that's it … unless Ashley wakes up; but even if she does I doubt he'd be bothered about her finding him on the sofa – he'd probably pull her on top of him' she smirked
'I'd argue, but I have a feeling you're right there' Harry replied, smiling
'Well I'm always right, aren't I? So there'd be no point in arguing' she grinned
'Sure you are, Ginny, sure you are' Harry said, before Ginny grabbed his free hand and the two of them walked upstairs.
-oOo-
'Shit' George muttered when he had woken up, rubbing his eyes as he realised he was sitting on the sofa, 'What the fuck? Why am I down here?' he muttered to himself, before remembering Teddy. He then noticed that Teddy was gone. 'Please say Harry and Ginny got him' he murmured
'Yes, we did' Ginny said loudly, before popping up from behind he sofa
'SHIT' George yelled, jumping up from the sofa in surprise 'Don't do that, Gin!'
'Sorry, George … but you should be expecting it really, you and Fr-' she then stopped in the middle of the sentence, blinking hard before continuing 'You and Ashley used to do it to me and Ron all the time' she said, trying to smile
'Yeah' George said, ignoring her mistake the first time, he then walked over to her and hugged her
'So, how're you and Harry doing?'
'Pretty good, it is quite difficult with a bloody baby.'
'Obviously' George laughed 'You two have only been together properly for a few months and you have to look after a baby, it's not going to be easy, I'm not even sure I could do it now and I'm 20'
'Please, if Ashley was pregnant right now I'm sure you'd be fine'
'Not really. We're not exactly together'
'Please! If you two aren't together by next month I will give you 10 galleons!'
'Deal' George said, solemnly
'Why don't you think you'll end up together?'
'Because we're obviously not meant to. If we were, then we'd be together. There'd be no pretty boy trying to steal her, no weird guy kidnapping her, no arguments...it just wouldn't be like this'
'You can't exactly compare yourself to Cedric' Ginny began 'You mean way more to her than he does, you always have, obviously … or she would have gone out with him instead of you. And the 'weird kidnapper' was a Death Eater, they're not exactly normal anyway, they just want to kill people all the time, and they were Voldemort's followers, they don't really plan to break up people's relationships. AND Arguments happen between couples practically all the time, if they didn't then it wouldn't be a proper relationship, you need to argue sometimes. Just give it time, George, I'm sure you'll be together in no time.'
'Yeah, sure' George muttered
'If I ended up with 'the boy who lived' I'm almost positive you can end up with the girl who's been your best friend for 15 years – you're closer to her than anyone'
'Exactly, best friend. I'm in the friend zone'
'You're not in the freaking friend zone, you've never been in the friend zone, George'
'How am I not?! She's never-'
'Did she ever snog Fred when we were at Hogwarts? Or did she ever snog Fred outside of Hogwarts, for that matter?'
'Well … no, but-'
'And when she slept over, did she ever say she wanted to sleep in Fred's bed, or did she just get into your bed?'
'Well, technically she always got in my-'
'Did she ever 'accidentally' hold your hand when she was scared?'
'...a few tim-'
'And has she ever mentioned to you anything about wanting Fred, Harry, Ron, Oliver, Cedric or anyone else?'
'Well there was once she mentioned Ced-'
'And how long ago did she fancy him?'
'Erm...second y-'
'So she was 12.' Ginny said, raising her eyebrows 'You can't really count that. So, to sum up – she's snogged you, slept in your bed, she's tried to hold your hand before and she's never mentioned any other guy when she was with you? And you still think you're in the friend zone?'
'Well -'
'Fred was in the friend zone, Harry and Ron are in the friend zone, Oliver is in the friend zone, Cedric is in the friend zone. George, pretty much everyone she's ever met is in the friend zone. You are not in the friend zone, girls don't snog the friend zone guy, they cry to the friend zone guy when their boyfriend breaks up with them.'
'But-'
'George!' Ginny said loudly 'Listen to me! You are not in the friend zone! She loves you, you moron! She doesn't love Cedric or anyone else, .you.'
'Whatever' George muttered, then walked away.
'Arse' Ginny said after him, making him chuckle slightly.
So I guess this is kind of a filler chapter. Cause why not? :D
Erm...I don't have much else to say, but thanks for all the reviews, dudes, it means a lot to know people actually like my writing :3