"All ready then?" Angelina asked, as she shut the back door behind her.
Her braids were pulled up in a ponytail today. She was wearing George's favorite pair of jeans that hugged her ass just right and an a faded AC/DC shirt. The clothes reminded him of when they were in school, and she'd go out to the pitch with him and Fred dressed in her Muggle clothes. The twins had always found it a bit odd, but as he'd gotten older, he'd learned to enjoy the tight jeans and fitted t-shirts.
In answer, George tossed her a broomstick.
They'd decided that they'd take the kids up for a little flight today since the weather was so nice. For the past few days, it had been windy and rainy, and the dreary weather had reflected the mood of everyone in the house. Freddy had been more combative and Roxanne more mischievous. When the weather had finally broken, George and Angelina had decided that they all needed to get out for the day and have some fun.
Little Roxanne was jumping from one leg to another. This would be her first time flying. Angelina had braided her hair into three different sections so it wouldn't be so wind swept by the time they got back. Poor Freddy wasn't so lucky. They'd have to detangle his hair when they got back since it wasn't long enough to braid or pull back.
"Come here, Freddy. Meet you up there," she said, once she'd settled their son on the front of the broom. In a blink, Angelina and Freddy were in the air, becoming smaller and smaller by the second.
Roxanne watched them, wide eyed and mouth hanging open.
"You ready?" he asked, a hint of laughter present in his voice.
"Not fall right?" she said, looking up at him with those big brown eyes of hers.
George bent down and tucked her under the chin. "No, sweetheart, Daddy wouldn't let you fall."
With that, he picked her up and settled her on the broom in front of him. Once he made sure that she was holding on tightly to the broom, he kicked off the ground. They started to float steadily higher into the air. Roxanne was staring at the ground that was disappearing below them. George nudged her shoulder with his forearm.
"Look up," he said.
She did, and her eyes went from saucers to plates.
"Wow," she said.
"Pretty cool, right?" he said. "You ready to get moving?"
She nodded then, sending him a grin that mirrored his own.
Several meters above them, he could see Angelina and Freddy racing through the air, and hear Freddy's excited whoops. Leaning forward, he guided the broom higher, gaining some speed. He could hear Roxanne giggling as the wind slapped their faces.
"See Mummy!" Roxanne said, pointing excitedly.
Sure enough, Angelina was looping through the air in figure eights just above them. It reminded George of the drills Oliver used to have the Chasers run on the pitch. The girls would take turns flying in a figure eight while the other two banked in into the turn. It was supposed to teach them coordination or teamwork or some shit like that. Seeing her flying those figure eights again sent a sad little chill down his spine.
Angelina had never been given the chance to go pro like Ginny had. When she'd graduated, she'd immediately gotten a job at the Ministry as she trained for try outs and worked on her technique. George knew because he and Fred had helped her train, sending Bludger after Bludger her way. Once they'd accidentally knocked her off her broom and had to take her to St. Mungo's to be treated for a concussion. However, when Katie had been cursed, Angelina had stopped training regularly in favor of visiting their friend. George couldn't blame her there. That was when the war really started to heat up, and Fred, the loud mouth, had let it slip to her about the Order. Of course, she'd wanted to join and most of her free time was taken up by Order meetings and passing information to Muggle families. George really couldn't say he minded that either. They'd spent a lot of their days together back then.
The Battle of Hogwarts had been the nail in the coffin of her pro ambitions, as it had so many other things. She'd been dueling Yaxley in the Great Hall. Everything during that time seemed like a blur to him. Fred's death had been too raw, like an exposed nerve. He must have seen her at some point, but he didn't recall it now. All he knows is what Katie and Alicia told him afterwards, and Angelina herself later on. Yaxley ended up blasting her into a wall, and some way or another, she'd landed on some debris that had pressed into her spine the wrong way. After the Battle, she'd spent months in St. Mungo's recovering.
George didn't know how she'd handled it; he'd been too lost in his own grief at the time to check in on anyone else. It wasn't until they reconnected a couple years after the battle that he even knew she'd been injured. It had nearly shocked the piss out of when he'd asked her about going pro and she'd given him an odd look and said that if she had, she wouldn't be walking right now. The Healers said one more major injury to her spine, and she'd lose the use of her legs.
It was a morbid thing to remember now, especially considering he was supposed to be having fun with his family and Angelina seemed perfectly content with the life she led.
"What took you so long?" Angelina asked as she banked in next to them. Freddy was still giggling like mad.
George grinned. "Just letting you get warmed up."
"Oh, really?" she said. "Race you to the tree at the end of the field and back."
"Alright," George said, a challenge gleaming in his eye.
"You're gonna lose," Freddy said.
"Nuh-uh!" Roxanne huffed.
With one last playful glance at each other, George and Angelina were off, thoughts of wars, injuries, and pro Quidditch forgotten.