Chapter 74 – The Unexpected

OoO

"George?" Fred called out in their flat. After bumping into Guinevere, George had stormed out and apparated home. But George was nowhere in sight, he just heard the door of his room close with a bang as Lee apparated in the living room next to him.

"So, how is he?" Lee asked, looking at the hallway.

"Don't know, locked himself in his room." Then Fred turned to the hallway and yelled. "Like a freaking 8-year-old!" Fred sighed and walked to the couch, conjuring a bottle of fire whiskey in his hand. Lee sat down on the armchair across from him. He poured three glasses and handed one to Lee. They both chugged it down. As the burning in his throat cleared, he said. "Well, that was unexpected."

"You don't have to tell me." Lee huffed and leaned back.

"So, you didn't know?" Fred inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not. I haven't heard from her since the battle." Lee frowned.

"Sorry, I thought you might've known something."

"No, I haven't. I wish I had." He rubbed his hand over his face. "I would've never taken you there, if I knew."

"Yeah." Fred looked down at the empty glass in his hand. "Why do you think she was here? Is she just visiting Andy?"

"Maybe. I know she visited Andy in the past. But if it was just a visit, why would she go to a karaoke bar with Harry? She would've spent all of her time with her and Teddy. That's how Charlie explained it last year, remember. I didn't know she was so close to Harry."

"I know they have written letters to each other, but not to what extent."

"You know that kiss wasn't anything, right? Just a spur of the moment thing."

"I don't know. It looked like that, but you also saw how close the two were..."

They were silent for a few minutes. Then Lee put his glass on the table and stood up, Fred looked up at him in surprise. "I better get going. I don't think George is going to come out. I'll see you on Monday, let George process everything. But Fred... I don't know what you two are going to do about Jenny, but I'm going to meet up with her."

"Yeah, course." Fred nodded as he rose from the couch, frowning slightly. "Don't worry about us. Maybe Harry can give us some information tomorrow at the burrow."

Lee clapped Fred's back before he disappeared from the flat. Fred downed the glass he had poured for George before he walked up to George's door, he knocked and waited, but no response came. He sighed and went to his own room.

OoO

The next morning, George didn't say much. He just got up late, showered, got dressed. As he drank a cup of tea as he muttered. "Morning." while he read the newspaper. Fred knew when he didn't want to talk about it, so he let him be for now. They floo'd over to the burrow earlier than they normally did. And Fred thought, that George wanted to question Harry or maybe Bill and Fleur, or Charlie if he was coming over.

Fred stepped out of the floor after George and followed him to the kitchen. George leaned down to kiss their mother.

"Hey, mum." He said quietly and went to sit down, staring out the window. She frowned when she looked from George to Fred. He just shook his head to her, saying to not ask any questions.

"Morning, mum." Fred kissed her cheek. "It smells delicious."

"Thank you." She smiled, but her worried eyes flickered to George.

Silence filled the air as Fred took a seat next to George. After a while it became uncomfortable, so Fred cleared his throat. "Who else is here?"

"You're the first ones. Dad is tinkering away in the shed; the others should arrive in about twenty minutes. You're here early."

"We were up early." Fred shrugged. Their mum nodded with a little frown as she stirred in her pot, the silence fell again. It was only broken when their dad appeared in the doorway five minutes later. His enthusiasm radiated off him when he saw the twins, and he excitedly started talking about a muggle TV he was fixing up. He was so transfixed on the details that he didn't notice that George never reacted or said anything. The next one to arrive was Ron, who sat down with already a bread roll in his hand. Percy came in with his nose in a folder from work and sat down at the other end of the table. Ginny came in with her hair flapping behind her and she jumped into a conversation with Ron about last night's game. Then Bill and Fleur entered the kitchen with Victoire already running up to her grandmother. When everyone sat down, Fred asked, after a glance to his twin.

"Are Charlie and Bash coming? It's the first Sunday of the month."

"No, they had an emergency at the reserve. I got the owl last night. We'll see them next month." Their mum said as she levitated glasses to the table. "Is Hermione coming, dear?"

"She had to work till at least noon, she'll come over later, though." He answered.

"I'll just keep a plate warm for her then." She smiled, and Fred couldn't help but admire his mum. She turned to Ron. "When is Harry coming, Ron?"

Fred saw George look away from the window for the first time since they sat down as he turned to their younger brother. Ron, who has already begun on his second roll, shrugged. "Dunno." He said with a full mouth. He swallowed quickly from his mother's glare. "Let me just text him."

"Marvellous." Their dad beamed and stood up to look over his son's shoulder.

"Since when do you have a cell phone, and Harry for that matter?" Their mum asked.

"Harry got one over a month ago." He said as he wrote down on the cell. "He usually uses it to contact me or Hermione. But I think he's seeing someone; he's been calling and texting someone a lot."

"Really?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, don't know who, and haven't asked. It just says G."

"You looked?" Their mum frowned unapprovingly.

"Just at his caller ID." He said in a panic. "Ah, wait he texted back." He pressed another button as he read it aloud. "Can't come today, something came up with Teddy. Tell everyone my regards, I'll come next week."

"I hope Teddy is alright." She said as she placed the pots on the table and wiped her hands on the apron.

"If it was something bad, we would know." Their dad sat reassuringly, patting her hand softly.

OoO

Everyone was eating, and Percy excruciating story about a Goblin at the ministry had finally ended. And Fred saw his opportunity to jump in.

"After that fascinating, and not at all boring story about Gerard the Goblin, I want to ask you something, Bill." He turned to his eldest brother. "I saw an old friend of Guinevere at Diagon Alley yesterday, and I was wondering if you've heard of her?"

Different reactions were seen on the people around him. For some reason, Ginny had stiffened, and a frown appeared on her face. George's fork stopped mid-air, hanging in front of his mouth as he looked to him. Ron was just eating like normal, apparently not having heard him. Their parents looked a little surprised at the question, Percy, except from his statement of the Goblin story, didn't react at all. Bill and Fleur shared a look, a suspicious look. But before anyone else could say anything Victoire piped up.

"Auntie Winnie!"

"Auntie Winnie?" The rest said in surprise, even George and Fred. None of them knew she had met her. They all turned their face to the married couple, who had guilt written across their faces.

"Remember when Victoire just turned one? We went to Romania to visit Charlie and Bash. Gwen was there."

"She was there?" George spoke up for the first time since they left the flat. Before the battle neither Fred nor George was silent for long, but after, it all changed. They both had moments that they had fallen silent, so it wasn't unusual for them to be quiet for a longer amount of time now. It was a while since it happened, but no one said anything about it.

"Yeah." Bill rubbed his neck and glanced to his wife. "She was visiting them for a few weeks."

"She was living with Cedric's parents in Australia." Fleur said. "She had the baby in Romania, a boy. She moved to Australia with Cedric's parents a month or two after she gave birth. When her son turned two, the two of them started to travel. They've been travelling ever since. They were staying in Romania for a couple of weeks before going to South Asia."

"How was she?"

"Good, I think." Bill said as he picked his daughter up and put her on his lap. "She talked a little about her son, and where they have been. But she looked good and in healthy spirits, considering."

Several nodded at that last one.

"Seeejaaaay." Victoire squealed and clapped her hands.

"What was that sweetie?" Their mum asked.

"CJ, that's her son. Victoire's a little amoureuse with him." Fleur chuckled.

"Way too young to be amoureuse with anyone." Bill huffed and everyone laughed.

"Maybe." Fleur shrugged with a smile. "But he looks so much like Cedric, he inherited Gwen's ability too. We've seen her and CJ three times since then, always in Romania. It's been half a year since I've seen her, but I write to her."

"Why didn't you tell me- us, I mean." George said, an edge to his voice, but only Fred heard that.

"She asked us not to, and we promised." Bill answered. "Besides we all knew she was okay. Charlie and Bash say as much when we see them, and we know they see or hear from her regularly. And Harry has written to her too."

"Have you heard from her lately? Do you know where she is now?" Fred asked.

"The last letter was from two, maybe three months ago. I think she was in Peru, or was it Chile?" She asked Bill.

"She was still in Peru but would be travelling to Chile in a few days."

"And that's the last you heard of her?"

"Yes, why?" Bill asked suspiciously, glancing from him to George.

"Just wondering, she is our friend, you know."

Ginny huffed a laugh. "A friend? Yeah, right. First, she breaks George's heart and then runs off with her best friend. Then she just leaves in the middle of the night, not to be heard of again."

"Ginerva!" Molly gasped loudly.

"You have no idea what she's been through." George rose from his seat angry. "It was all my fault we broke up, trust me. My own damn fault! And we all understood why she left. If she had not saved Fred that night, I would've probably disappeared too. She had just lost her husband, the father of her unborn child. I don't know what your problem is against her, but she has done nothing wrong." He turned to his mum. "Thanks for lunch, mum. I'll see you next week." And with that he left the room.

"I'm going to go talk to him. Can you tell Hermione I'm at the flat?" He asked Bill, who nodded, then he followed his twin again.

OoO

When Fred arrived in the flat, George was pacing in front of the coffee table. He kicked off his shoes as he asked. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright. First, I see her in a pub singing with Harry bloody Potter." He threw his hands in the air. "Then she kissed him. When she saw me, it looked like she wanted to flee the country. Again! Then I find out, Bill and Fleur have seen her multiple times over the past years, without telling us. So, no, I'm not alright."

"George." He placed his hands on his shoulders. "Breathe."

George stopped pacing and took in a few deep breaths. He opened his eyes, that were slightly wet. "Why didn't she come to see me?"

"I don't know, George. I don't know." George let himself fall on the coffee table and buried his head in his hands. Fred sat himself down next to him, one arm over his shoulders. "Lee's going to meet up with her, maybe he can figure out why she's here."

"I'm not sure I want to know. She doesn't even want to see us, Fred."

"You don't know that."

"If she did, she would be here." He said before standing up and walking away to the bathroom. Fred groaned in his hands before rubbed over his face in frustration.