A New Home
'Are you guys sure this is a good idea?' asked Charlie, unsure, gazing at Percy and George. Both of them seemed distressed, but he was sure their unhappiness both came from different things. Ginny nodded.
'Hundred percent!' she grinned, showing a thumbs-up. Her face was light and cheerful, she seemed awfully proud of herself. Charlie nervously laughed, not believing her sister even for a second.
'Don't sweat too much mate, what's the worst thing that could happen?' Ron joined in, patting Charlie's back.
'George murdering Percy,' the older brother said almost immediately, and the three burst out laughing.
'Are you ready, sweethearts?' Molly peeked out from the kitchen, her expression happy and excited, yet also worried and kind of gloomy. George and Percy turned towards her, and tried to hide their disapproval with a smile. Of course, the discourage was still visible. However, Molly didn't seem to notice as she almost pushed the two through the hall towards the entrance. Arthur was behind, a proud dad-smile on his face.
'Have fun, my boys!' he called after them. As they got outside, the door got immediately shut behind them, their luggage and bags already waiting for them outside.
Just then, George gave out a long sigh and took as many things as he could.
'Do you have the papers?' he asked. Percy looked at him as his eyes widened.
'I-I thought you had them...' he muttered. George groaned, put down everything then knocked on the Burrow's door.
'MUM! WE DON'T HAVE THE PAPERS!' he shouted inside so loud, Percy had to cover his ears. The door slightly opened, and a hand reached to hand them everything. George almost tore it from the person, and threw them at his older brother, 'You know these important stuff more than I do,' George pointed out, as he lifted their stuff once again. Percy nodded quietly, then ran his eyes along the documents.
'It's in London...' he said, 'Do we have a car?' George shook his head, 'Then we need to go by train,'
'Or we could just Apparate?' the younger Weasley suggested.
'Absolutely not. Do you even know where you'd need to Apparate?' Percy raised his eyebrows, and was surprised how cocky his answer came out. George rolled his eyes.
'Fine, then where's the closest train station?'
'Honiton,' George's eyes widened.
'That's an hour from here!'
'Well, you've been there, haven't you?'
'Yea?'
'We can Apparate there!' George blinked.
'Oh,' Percy sighed, then put the remaining things in his lap. Seconds later he disappeared, George quickly followed.
The train station was loud, full of people. The two found a bench nearby their train's stop, and that's where they packed down.
'When's the train coming?' George leaned in to see the paper in Percy's hand. The older Weasley pointed at the time and George groaned, 'Another hour? I'm going to die,' he whined. Percy hummed, absent-minded. He opened one of the bags and took out a thick book.
After a few minutes George looked towards his big brother again.
'What are you reading Perce?' he asked out of pure boredom. Perce showed him the cover, which said "Love after Death". George furrowed his eyebrows,
'What is this? Some freaky romance novel?'
'No, it's about a bittersweet tragedy of an endless circle of mind-torturing feeling of love and obsession,' the older Weasley slightly smiled, feeling George moving away from him.
'You're creepy,' exclaimed George. Percy slightly giggled.
The station looked a lot like King Cross's station. It was slightly smaller, but the colors, and the building style was quite similar. And obviously, the people. A lot of shouting from children, the argues of young pairs, the complaining of elderly people, the constant watching of the guards. And of course, the amount of people who were there all needed their personal space, so they all kept pushing each other, which resulted in a lot of arguments between complete strangers, therefore loads of drama occurred. George thought of it as kind of amusing while Percy was purely disgusted. He preferred to read, rather than to watch people unfold during these fights. But at least he understood why there were so many guards around. Some of these controversies did seem like they'd end badly if it weren't for the people around.
One particular argument stood out, because there was also a kid between. The child's mother and a man bumped into each other, and the guy was furious. The lady was trying to protest calmly, but then the guy raised his hand and that's where it began to go downhill.
Percy saw George jumping up from his seat and rushing towards the scene, pushing the man away before he could hit the poor woman.
'Oi! The fuck is wrong with you?!' he shouted, gaining people's attention. The woman was already on the ground, her kid hugging her, while bawling their eyes out. The man however didn't seem scared at all, in fact, he looked angrier than before.
'The hell are you? What do ya have to do with us, aye?' he growled, getting ready to fight. George didn't seem threatened, but rather more determined.
'How dare you try to hit a woman?' his hands formed into fists, face reddening with every word.
'She pushed me!'
'No, she did not! Maybe you should watch where you're going with your fat, big arse!' now that seemed to really anger the man, since a moment later, his fist was already in George's face. Percy's eyes widened.
'Someone needs to get the guards!' he shouted. This statement snapped the people out of their shock, and many rushed in different directions just to call one. Roughly half a minute later a man dressed in dark clothes appeared, and got the guy of off his brother.
'What do you think you're doing?' the guard growled, holding the guy, while putting him in handcuffs. Percy went over to George, who was sitting on the ground, holding his head.
'Oh my sweet Merlin, are you alright?!' he asked, looking panicked. The younger Weasley looked up and suddenly Percy himself wanted to beat the living crap out of that guy. His brother's face was bruised, nose red and bleeding. He growled.
'Yea, I'm fine. No need to worry,' he replied, smugly. The woman from earlier rushed to his side and gave him an ice pack he got from one of the nearby machines.
'Thank you sir! Without you, I'd probably be in the hospital by now,' she grinned.
'Sure, any time. No lady should be hurt by such assholes,' George said, his tone soft compared to how he talked to Percy. The kid hugged him, still weeping.
'Thank you for protecting my mama,' he murmured into his ear. George smiled.
'Of course kid,' he gave him a thumbs up.
The sound of an incoming train echoed through the station, and the woman looked up, panicked.
'Oh dear, that's our train! I'll leave the ice pack. I'm sorry I can't treat you with anything!' the lady apologized. George shook his head.
'No need ma'am, I'm glad I could help,' he said, politely. The mother smiled, then grabbed her kid's hand.
'Come on sweetie or we'll miss our train!' the kid waved a last goodbye, before they both disappeared into the crowd. George looked satisfied with himself, however Percy still looked distressed.
'Are you sure you're alright?' he asked once again.
'Yes Percy, for the hundredth time, I'm fine!' George suddenly snapped. Percy's eyes widened, and he looked like he was about to cry. George didn't notice he got angry so fast.
'O-okay...' he muttered, looking apologetic, then helped himself back to their spot. An elderly couple looked at him with a hint of pity in their eyes.
'When's that fucking train coming?' George growled, jumping down onto the bench.
'Uhm... Another fifteen minutes,' Percy replied, softly.
'Great... Why did I agree on this?' the younger brother asked from himself, burying his face in his hands. Percy sighed sadly, busying himself with his book again.
The train arrived, and both of them got up. George saw a crew-member and went up to them.
'How long until we get to London?' the lady turned around and smiled.
'Around ten hours darling,' the Weasley paled. Without even saying goodbye, he turned around and left. George sat in the cabin the two got, then buried his face into his hands. Percy looked up from his book and slightly raised his eyebrows.
'So, what did they say?' he asked. George shook his head.
'10 hours...' the older brother's eyes widened.
'Oh...'
'What am I going to do for 10 whole hours?!' George cried out, suddenly feeling angry again. He looked at Percy, 'Don't you have some normal books with you?' he asked. The older brother looked at his bags, and thought about the things he put in.
'I don't really know your preferred type of books,' he muttered, embarrassed.
'I dunno, something to do with Pranks, or some cool adventure book?' it was really brief, but for Percy, it was just enough. He pulled out two books from one of his bags, then gave it to his brother.
'These two are the ones I've thought of,' he muttered shyly. George took them without much hope but then his eyes widened, and he looked quite interested.
'They sound cool,' he commented.
'I mean... You can borrow them if you'd like...' Percy suggested timidly. George nodded.
'Yea, I think I will,' he murmured, then opened one of them titled "the History of Destruction Magic and how to cast them" and began to read.
The 10 hours quickly passed, and Percy woke up at the knocking of the crew. He looked up and smiled to see his brother so deep into now the other book called "Matt and Heather: the forest of magic" he cleared his throat to gain his brother's attention.
'George, we're here,' he said, and his brother gazed up at him, slowly sighing.
'Okay, do you know where we have to go?' Percy shook his head, slightly embarrassed.
'No, but I'm sure we'll get there somehow,' George nodded, too tired to argue. He grabbed most of the bags and began to head out. Percy took the rest, and the crew helped him get down from the train. He sighed, as he finally got to breath in some fresh air.
George looked towards him, clearing his throat.
'So, where do we go?' the lights were already on, lighting the street. The moon was already shining, hundreds of stars dancing on the pitch-black sky.
'Uhm, let me ask,' he muttered, then searched for a nearby person. A man was sitting in a taxi, and Percy decided to ask him.
'Sir, excuse me? I'm looking for this location,' Percy showed him the paper, and the guy nodded, 'Where do we have to go?'
'I live in the same flat as you do!' the guy grinned, 'You must be the new neighbor!' Percy slightly smiled.
'Yes, I am!'
'The name's Tom Middlepool, I'm a taxi driver as you can see!' Tom reached his hand out for Percy to shake it.
'Percy Weasley, pleasure to meet you,' they shook hands. George approached the two.
'So? How do we get there?' he asked from Percy.
'And who is he?' asked Tom.
'Oh, well he's my brother, George!'
'His flatmate,'George growled, correcting him. Tom's face darkened for a moment, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by happiness.
'Glad to meet ya! Pack in and I'll take you there. It's on me! Take it as a gift from ya new neighbor,' the two nodded and Tom drove them to their new home, while pointing out different, important buildings, basically doing a tour. Percy listened, interested while George in the backseat didn't look amused.
By the time they arrived, he was moments away from falling asleep. He got woken up by Tom's loud exclaim.
'Finally, home!' he grinned, as he got out. Tom helped Percy out of the car, and also assisted in bringing their things. The problems started when they found out how high they lived.
'Wait... On the second floor?' Tom turned towards them, and Percy nodded,
'Oh dear, that's no good. This house is so old, there isn't an elevator, only stairs. How are you going to get up?' the older redhead paled, and bowed his head down.
'I-I'm not sure, I'll figure it out somehow...' he muttered, looking despaired.
'Well, for now, I'll help you up,' Tom said, picking up the Weasley in bridal style, 'But after that, I'm not sure what how you'll be able to move up and down. I wish we'd have an elevator...' Tom helped Percy up, George close behind, not even bothered by what was happening, only bringing his brother's wheelchair. After that, they got their stuff up, and finally, it was time to see what their new home was like.
Their door number was 233, a strong, wooden entrance. It was very pretty. The inside however, was even better. There was a thick and long hallway, leading to a living room and a kitchen. There were the two rooms on the right, the bathroom and washing room on the left.There was also a small pantry. The furniture looked just fine, however the shelves in the kitchen didn't seem too steady, which bothered George to no end.
Tom said goodbye shortly after he helped carrying the stuff in, and the two began to pack out. There was already furniture inside, so they just had to get out their own, personal things.
They didn't speak for the rest of the night but maybe it was for the better. Both fell asleep shortly after they packed out.
Tomorrow is another day