A George Weasely Romance

Author's note: I'm really sorry that this chapter is so small. the next one should be up sooner however, and should be longer. enjoy!

Chapter 6

Katara had recovered quicker than expected. The twins couldn’t wait to show her around the castle and introduce her to there fantastic inventions. Of course they had told her of them in their letters, but seeing them in action was much better. Katara had smiled and laughed with them, joked and even helped them out with a couple of dead end ideas. But despite her attempts to pretend everything was alright, the twins saw right through her. They would never say anything about it though, just pretend along with her.

They had also noticed the strange behaviour she seemed to have adopted. When they touched her, she would sometimes jump and pull away, shielding herself with her arms, as if they were going to hit her. Even when they first hugged her, she went as rigid as a board, and began to shake uncontrollably, muttering something about being cold, but turned down George’s offer of his jumper.

Her face would smile, but her eyes would remain dead, and the twins were running out of ideas on how to properly cheer her up.

After a while she began to be more comfortable and relaxed around them. She would hug them back and even joined in with their sex jokes and innuendoes.

One day in the early hours of the morning, the twins planned an attack. When Katara was asleep in the Hospital Wing, they crept in. Unfortunately for them, Katara’s senses were trained to alert her at all times, even when she was sleeping. She had decided to play along however, but when she felt them put their hands under her covers she panicked. Even though she was comfortable with them, she wasn’t that comfortable. What had happened next she was definitely not ready for. Laughter burst from her mouth as she was relentlessly tickled. One twin would hold her down while they other attacked every sensitive spot in her body, obviously within reason.

It was George who was the attacker first, and Katara was face down at this point, trying to wriggle away from the clutches of the twins. George wasn’t paying attention to where his hands were going, and when he accidentally pulled her top up to reveal a large area of her back, what he saw made him stop his tickling and hug Katara so tightly she thought she was going to suffocate.

“George?” Fred asked rather annoyed that he wasn’t going with the plan. He just looked at his brother with fear in his eyes and Fred dropped the subject.

He however cornered his brother later in the evening and learned that Katara had scars all over her back, like whip marks, scratches, and what looked like Japanese characters. But what had caught his attention most was the scar that ran up her spine, and George guessed it continued all the way up.

When the twins brought it up, Katara closed off immediately, disappearing back to her bed in the Hospital Wing.

When they got the chance to sit together in silence, they would lean their heads on her shoulders, and wait for her to open up, but she never did.

“I can’t take this much more Fred. I can’t pretend everything is alright anymore, because it’s not! Why won’t she talk to us? Doesn’t she trust us?” George blew up one night while they sat in their dormitory. Katara had just disappeared again.

“I feel the same, but we can’t force her into telling us. It’s not fair on her. We just need to be patient. And if we put pressure on her, we’re just going to push her away, and I know you don’t want that. And who knows, maybe after Arashi has finally been cremated, she’ll start to open up.” Fred had been trying to keep everything calm between the three. He was as worried as George was, but knew Katara enough to know she would eventually tell them. And he knew George knew that too, that he just wished things were different.

“Maybe…” George muttered.

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The day of Arashi’s funeral finally came. There wasn’t much of a turn out. Dumbledore, Katara, and the Weasley’s had shown up. Harry and Hermione had accompanied Ron, saying that even though they hadn’t met Arashi, they had heard how great he was, and wanted to pay their respects. Katara had been very grateful at how nice they were being.

The rain fell on the crowd, perfectly depicting the feeling in Katara’s heart. It bounced off the ground causing puddles to form in areas. Katara couldn’t help but think that maybe they sky was crying to.

The time had come. Katara was handed a torch, its flames floating around lazily. Dumbledore took the stand and talked about Arashi: all the great things he had accomplished like school and bringing up Katara in their parents stead, how he had been so strong and caring in his life, brave and daring, and even hilariously fun company. Katara hiccoughed. He talked of a couple of stories he remembered of him at school, the trouble he had got into, and some people laughed. Dumbledore then turned to Katara signalling the time of Arashi’s cremation.

She stepped slowly but surely towards the body. On approaching him, she saw his face, so peaceful and pale. All this time she had pretended he was asleep, that the next day he would be awake again. This was closure, it was what she needed to end the torment, the false hope… but she found herself hesitating, as if to give him more time in case he really was asleep. His eyes however remained shut. She looked over his body, taking in every detail of him for the last time, and quietly whispered:

“Why did you have to go where I couldn’t follow…” and she lit the wooden stand holding her brother’s body. She watched as the flames licked at his clothes, singed his hair, and soon she couldn’t see anything but fire. She watched as her whole life disappeared up in smoke, watched as the flames danced; taunting her, stealing away all that remained of Arashi’s body. It soared into the sky, further and further away from her reach, and dispersed into the air.

And she cried.

She stayed standing there, forgetting everyone around her, sorely focused on the heart wrenching scene before her. Tears fell from her eyes, silently signifying her loss.

“Why?-”

As the flames began to die down she noticed the breaking voice of Arthur Weasley as he tried to speak of his fondness for Arashi through tears. They had been so close. Arthur was always so excited when Arashi bought him muggle things, and showed him how to work them. Katara remembered the happiness it brought to her brother’s eyes.

She grew weak at the knees and sat down on the ground. Everyone watched intently as she fought back the urge to scream until her voice broke and wouldn’t work any more, refrained from running away, stopped herself from giving up and just dying right there and then. She felt she could.

George looked at Katara as the wizard priest went on with the sermon. She was a mess. Her eyes were red and had bags under them, her outfit was all twisted and looked like it had been buttoned wrong, and her hair was sticking up in places.

And her eyes. He felt his insides knot as he looked at her eyes. Even from where he was sitting, he could see the hollow space where a spark of life used to be. All that was left was an expanse of black, and nothing, and they emitted death.

He wanted to run up to her and hold her tight, tell her that everything would be ok and he would do everything in his power to make her feel right again. He would do anything to see a real smile on her face. Rage started to build up as he cursed Arashi’s killer.

The funeral was over, and everyone walked up to the remains of Arashi, saying their goodbyes, and placing flowers down. They would turn to Katara and say how sorry they were, or how things would get better with time. And she would just sit their, staring at the glowing embers and ashes, wishing things were different.

Fred and George waited until they were last. When they paid their respects, they sat next to Katara and hugged her tightly, devastated at how things had turned out and how their closest friend in the whole world was sitting, broken in front of them, and they were powerless to help her.

Katara appreciated their company and snuggled between them, hiding her face from the world. And she cried the hardest she had ever cried in her life.