087.

[hexuality]

[ video ]

Mad as it is, I've always been fond of these weekends.

[Ginny smiles, looking up from the very full plate of breakfast that her mother's pulled together. Sausages, eggs, tomatoes, toast, everything. It's the most she's had to eat in days considering how anxious she's been, but she can't say no to Molly Weasley, can she?]

And not just because Mum's around to cook for us. I suppose you learn to appreciate them when you've been here for a bit, since it's not just running into friends from home but friends you've met here, too. So if we know each other and you're wandering around, come say hello, won't you? I'll be rather cross if you don't.

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[feorge]

[ He would, indeed, as his lazy grin might just confirm. ]

Hullo, love. Still terrorising this hole, then? Better have done, or I'll be rather cross myself.

[ The Weasley Way™ of asking after her without all the weepies and the bogeys. If this is the only way they'll see each other again, Fred'll be damned if he spends it moping about the place. ]

[hexuality]

Well, we wouldn't want that, would we? That'd leave the City to blame me for the mess you leave behind and I'd rather not.

[She puffs out her chest in a rather Percyish way, though the grin tugging at her lips is as Twinnish as ever.]

Can't have that. I'm a fine, upstanding citizen now. I run a business and everything.

[She's fine. Percy is still here with her and sometimes she's still a little lonely even then, but that's the way of the City. And she's still fine.]

[feorge]

Bloody Hell. Damn near respectable, this one. S'not that bar of yours, is it? Else Mum'll fry you up next.

[ It's enough, at least. Fred saw her older, then, but now he's seeing her grown, and - fine. She's fine. ('While it isn't perfect, we've gotten closer to better;' he remembers that. Maybe this is proof enough for him to believe it, too.) ]

[hexuality]

Keep your voice down, Freddie, or I'll Silence you myself.

[Said as sweetly as ever, naturally.]

It's Cinna's shop, actually. He and Angela have gone home and they left the whole thing to me, so I'm managing it as best I can. Been a learning experience, I can tell you that much—and while I'd much rather Quidditch than clothes, I can't say I hate it, either.

[Percy's helped her with the management of things. Though she'll have to do a lot of it on her own this month since he's in the hospital. How in Merlin's name is she supposed to break that news to Fred?]

[feorge]

I'd pay good gold to see any tosser tell you you can't do both. You spare any time in your terribly dignified schedule to make it onto the pitch?

WOW WRONG ICON

[hexuality]

Any spare moment I have. You know I'd go mental without it, especially lately.

[She pauses, then adds in a more even tone,]

Percy's landed himself in hospital.

OUR BIG BROTHER IS IN THE HOSPITAL :DDDb

[feorge]

[ Fred, for his part, just purses his lips and stares a little, observing the state of her for - signs, maybe, clues, a signal of how severe it is, anything. A muscle jumps in his jaw, teeth gritting for a just a moment before he bites out, short: ]

What happened?

sobbing

[hexuality]

The City happened.

[Still even, still careful. Ginny's gotten better at schooling her expression, smoothening out her tone, keeping her temper and emotions in check. She's had to. But how can she tell Fred that the City let a mad circus through its gates? That it kidnapped citizens and put them on display? That they tore out Percy's heart and left him alive so they could see how a man can live without one? (A mockery, she knows now, of what he'd done to their family. Disgusting.)]

He's recovering, though. Don't worry. The worst of it's over.

[feorge]

Don't give me that shite, the worst of it's been fucking over.

[ He snaps without really meaning to, an unbidden nod to that very same flame. Of course she gives him nothing, because there's really nothing to be done, is there? Fred wasn't there for it, won't even be there to see the end of it (again, he thinks, won't be there again), so telling him won't change a thing. Won't fix what's been broken, and he would laugh at that, how there's always something bloody broken, if he weren't busy seething.

But he calms himself, inhales deeply and goes right back to clenching his jaw shut. Taking it out on Gin will get them nowhere, he knows, and Fred doesn't want to be angry, much as he does so excel at it. He doesn't want to keep fighting. It's been over for them, long since. He knows that one in the stillness of his heart.

A beat, a swallow; he tries again, lighter this time, half-hearted jest, but he's trying. ]

Don't s'pose I can go visit him, or have I got to break into the hospital? I've really no scruples against the latter, might even be a bit of fun.

[hexuality]

Don't you dare take that tone with me, Fred Weasley.

[Why do they always fight at the worst possible moments? She sucks in a breath through her teeth and closes her eyes, reaches for calm. Pointless. Useless. Move on, move forward, that's what she's had to be good at and this is the best time to do it. She waits for him to speak first, and when he does, the subtle shift in his tone is enough to ease the tight coil in her chest and she even flashes a small smile.

How far they've come.]

You can visit him. Probably should, in all honesty, given what he must be thinking. You know how the prat feels about what he did to the family; I'd say seeing family'll help.