A/N: I'm sorry about the super slow updates, I've had homework to do every night (I know it's a stupid excuse but it's true) I'll try and upload more frequently I promise! :(
Also , has anyone read the new Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan? I'm in love, would 100% recommend his books if you haven't read them.
Chapter 18
And so the school year continued fairly normally. Things were changing gradually around the students, but the change was so slow, nobody noticed anything too strange.
Back at the Burrow, however, it was a bit more noticeable.
Every day after work, Fred and George would drop in at the Burrow to pick up Roxanne and to visit their parents. With every visit, the stranger the family acted. Until finally, things reached a whole new level of bad.
George stepped through the front door when his mother opened it and, after giving her a quick hug, continued into the living room. There sat a young girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, with dark ginger-black hair and a freckled face. She was contentedly reading the Daily Prophet when George stopped in the doorway.
"Mum," he called over his shoulder, "Who's this?"
At this, the young girl leapt to her feet and ran over to George, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Mum!"
"What are you yelling about-" Fred began as he joined his twin, "Who's that?"
"Erm-" George shook his head cluelessly and carefully removed himself from the little girl's grasp. Mrs Weasley bustled into the room behind her sons and also looked curiously at the girl.
"Now, how did you get here?" Mrs Weasley asked, looking the girl up and down.
"What do you mean?" The girl back away to the edge of the room, "Is this some mean prank?"
"Prank?" Fred repeated blankly, "Who are you?"
"Stop joking around!" The girl's voice was filled with panic as she stared at the adults.
"We aren't joking around!" George said, "You shouldn't be here!"
"Of course I should! You left me here this morning before you went to work!"
"Why would we do that?" George asked.
"Well, it's not like you could take me with you!"
"But-"
"Dad, I know you own a joke shop but this is ridiculous!"
"Dad?"
"Yes, dad!" The girl was shouting now, her face tinted pink, "I'm your daughter, Roxanne!"
"But I don't have- oh."
Fred looked at George, completely astounded, "You know who this is?"
"Y-yes," George stuttered, his face blanching, "I think so."
"George, dear," Mrs Weasley interrupted gently, "Who is this girl?"
"She's my daughter, I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah, me and Angie-"
"Angie? Angelina?"
"Yeah. She has a brother. I think. He's at Hogwarts."
"Mate, you're going loopy," Fred said, "There's no way you'd be able to keep that from me."
"You weren't there." George's gaze was fixed on the window sill as though he wasn't really living in the same time as his family.
"George," Fred took a step towards his brother, "George, can you name a single day where I haven't been by your side? Can you think of a day where I wasn't there? Where else would I have been?"
"You… you were dead. For twenty years, Fred. You were dead!"
"George!" Mrs Weasley took a step forward too but Fred put his arm out to stop his mother.
"George, neither of us are old enough to- oh my god," he stopped, "You're right. I- I died! We have kids."
"Boys!" Mrs Weasley forced past Fred's arm and looked at the twins, "You've only just left Hogw- oh."
George bent down and wrapped his arms strongly around his daughter. He muttered apologies into her ear, tears streaming down his face. When he hugged Roxanne, she felt real, not just an image as she had when she had first wrapped her arms around him. George knew this time that he was holding someone he loved, not a soulless figure.
Because that was how it felt before. When the unknown little girl had run up to her father, George didn't feel like he was embracing a living human. Instead, it was as though he was grasping the corpse of something trying to live.
"That was weird," Fred muttered quietly, "It was like the past twenty-one years had just-"
"Not happened," Mrs Weasley finished, "None of it."