Wednesday Nov 19, evening - George Weasley/Katie Bell
Who: Katie Bell, George Weasley and introducing a new person...
What: Revelations about some common history, and a common future...
When: Weds. Nov 19th, evening
Where: Various fireplaces and parlours
George and Fred were finishing up closing duties for the day in the store and had just sent Verity home. George settled behind one of the matching desks and began crunching the numbers while Fred worked on containing one of the renegade Portable Swamps. It was really quite amazing how well they were doing, all things considered.
The business Floo crackled to life to his left and he looked over as the flames kept the person on hold on blue - after all, it was after business hours. However, usually if it were this late it was their mum, who always forgot to use the private line. He got up, sighing, and kneeled in front of the fireplace. When he stuck his head into the flames they automatically turned green as they switched off hold and put the call through. The face that greeted his was not that of their mum’s, though.
“Katie Bell!” George said cheerfully when he recognised his old teammate. “Long time, no Floo. Where you been, sugarlips?”
Katie gave him a look that managed to convey complete and utter convincement of his utter daftness, though the bags under her eyes took away from the overall effect.
“Oh, here and there,” she said. “Working, supporting a kid, you know, the usual.”
“A kid?” George asked, perplexed, then remembered. “Oh, yeah. You were five months gone when school ended last year, yeah? Nice one. I take it that it hatched, then?
Katie looked very unimpressed. “Yes, ‘it’ did. After a very long and painful labour that involved me pushing a small watermelon through a small tube. Really quite impressive, actually, too bad you missed it.”
“I’m sure I’ll survive,” George said. “So is this a social call, Katie? Not that I mind seeing you, of course, we had some good times, especially at some of those parties, but really, I’ve got numbers to finish computing and a bottle of Ogden’s Old that’s calling my name - after all, I promised Fred we’d split it. Maybe we could meet up for drinks, for old times sake? You can show me pictures of your sprog and I’ll tell you how cute it is.” His knees were starting to get sore, and he shifted a bit.
“Yeah, well, you’d better think she’s cute,” Katie said dryly.
“I feel like I’m missing some grand irony here, Kit-Kat,” George said, tipping his head a little. “Out with it before my knees become one with the floor here.”
“George, you are such an idiot sometimes,” Katie said. “You’re the father.”
A long pause of silence.
“…………………… I’m sorry, I think there was a problem with the transmission, care to say that again?”
“I said,” Katie said, voice growing terse and clipped, “that you. Are. The. Father.. You’re the dad, the papa, the biological donor of half of my baby’s bloodline.”
“Very funny, Kit-Kat,” George said, shaking his head. “No way. Look, if you want to talk, I’ll talk, but there’s no need to try to use your kid to get at me, we’re old friends.”
Katie sighed, exasperated. “Come on through, then, you deadbeat, and see her. Once you see her, you’ll believe me. For Merlin’s sake!”
George held up his hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll come through, but only for five minutes, and I’m not making any promises!” He stood up slowly and grabbed some floo powder, pausing to call out to Fred.
“Oi, Fred!”
Fred stuck his head in the office. “Yeah?”
“Katie Bell just gave me a booty call. I’ll be back in a bit, all right? Then we’ll work on that bottle.”
Fred grinned. “Go and get’em. Old Ogden’ll wait.”
“Cheers.” With a call for Katie’s flat and a toss of the powder, George stepped through and fell until he emerged in Katie’s parlour. He stood and dusted himself off with his wand.
“George,” Katie said quietly, standing off to his right. “Quiet, she’s sleeping.”
“She?” George asked, turning to Katie and looking her over. She looked like she’d aged a couple of years in the past few months. Tits were bigger, though, that was nice. “A little girl, congrats.”
“Thanks,” Katie said automatically. “Look, I’ll show her to you and then we can talk, because I don’t think you’ll believe me until you see her, and there’s no point in trying to explain things until then.”
George restrained from rolling his eyes. If Katie wanted to show off her baby, that was fine, he’d play along. He followed her to the bedroom that was, apparently, both Katie and the baby’s room.
“Go on,” Katie whispered, pointing to the crib. “Go and take a look at your daughter.”
George stepped up to the crib edge and suddenly his mouth went dry and a deep pit formed in the bottom of his stomach. The baby in the crib had a shock of Weasley red hair and already a sprinkling of freckles visible across her nose.
“Oh,” George said quietly, feeling a bit stupid and humbled and a bit nauseous. There was no doubt about it - this baby was definitely a Weasley, especially with hair and a face like that. He felt Katie step up beside him.
“Her name is Tegan,” she murmured, gazing down at the small form in the blankets. “Pretty much everyone calls her Ding-Dong, but…” she trailed off.
“Ding-Dong Bell?” George asked, shaking his head a little. “That’s horrid, Kit-Kat. Brilliant, but terrible.”
“Not much worse than Kit-Kat,” she pointed out.
“So… she’s really mine, then?” George asked, staring down at Tegan.
“It’s not like I slept with any of your brothers!” Katie hissed. “So yeah, she is. Definitely yours. It was that one party, you remember?”
George nodded. “Yeah… Well, most of it, I remember. I remember you and me sneaking off into a closet…”
“And here’s the result of that,” Katie said. “Your daughter.” She reached down and pulled the blankets back to give George a better view.
“Wow,” he said, reaching out a finger to stroke her cheek. “She’s so tiny.”
“Yeah, and she’s two and a half months old, too. Only going to get bigger.” She gazed at her daughter affectionately, then reached out to touch George’s arm. “Back to the parlour,” she murmured. “So we can talk.”
George nodded and took another look at Tegan before following Katie back to the living room.
“So,” he said awkwardly. “What do you do, then? I mean, this place…”
Katie looked around. “Yeah, home sweet home. It’s swell,” she said dryly, sitting down in a beat-up armchair. “I work nights as an after-hours cleaning lady and my mum watches her at night while I work. That gives me time with her during the day.”
George nodded and squirmed a bit in his seat, feeling bad - a rather unusual feeling for him. “So… I feel like a right arse now.” In truth, his mind was still reeling from the thought that he really was a father. He’d gone from confirmed bachelor to a dad in about ten minutes flat and he didn’t know how much he liked the idea. He’d wanted to be a dad someday, sure, but not right now. He wanted to get the most out of his youth and live it up, see as many birds as he could before one of them managed to convince him to settle down and start a brood.
“Yeah, well, I’m a single working mum and I’ve got to get ready for my shift,” Katie said, putting her hair up in a ponytail. “And my mum will be home soon. I just thought you should know. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to be a gold-digger or something, since your business is doing so well and all. But, I mean, she’s your kid, and things haven’t been easy.”
“Right,” George said slowly. “Look, this is all a lot to take in… but, I mean, I want to do the right thing by her. She’s just a kid and didn’t ask to be involved in all this or brought around, I’m not going to punish her or anything. I… I’m willing to be her dad. I can take her occasionally or something, help out…”
“You don’t have to,” Katie said, clearly looking uncomfortable with the idea of George handling a baby. “She’s a pretty special kid, but you don’t have to be involved. I know you didn’t ask for this.”
“Yeah, well, luv, you didn’t ask for it either,” George said, running his hand through his hair. “So let me help to raise her. She deserves to have a dad, too.”
“What, you think that I plan on staying single?” She definitely didn’t sound impressed.
“No,” George said, realising he’d blundered. “I didn’t mean that, I just thought…”
“Right. Well… we should ease into this, George,” Katie said. “If you really want to be her dad, then you’ll agree to that - visiting here, supervised, and then we can maybe go from there.”
George opened his mouth to protest on principle, then nodded, realising she was probably. Besides, he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth again. “Yeah. Right, okay.” He pushed to his feet. “Look, before I go, is there anything you need right now? Nappies? Um, onesies?”
“Oh god, a crate of nappies would be a lifesaver. And I mean a crate,” she stood and shook her head. “Good lord, she puts out more than she takes in, I swear.”
George laughed a little at that. “Yeah, they do that, don’t they? Sure, I can get you some nappies. I don’t know what kind you need, but look,” he said, pulling out a leather drawstring purse that clearly had far too much money in it. He dug out a handful of gold and counted out twenty-five pieces. “Twenty-five galleons,” he said. “Get her some nappies.”
Katie accepted the gold, staring at it. She hadn’t seen that much money all together in quite some time. “Wow. Yes. I will… Thank you.”
“Good,” George said. “And, I’d really like to see her again, soon. And you, of course. Um. Maybe we can plan sometime…”
“I’ll floo you,” she said. “Probably a weekend. Those are best, obviously.”
“Right,” George said. “The business is pretty busy on the weekends, but I’m sure Fred can handle the shop. I mean, the kid - Tegan, I mean, she’s important.
“Oh,” Katie said. “Well, I mean, afternoons can be good, too.”
George shook his head. “No, it’s okay, we’ll work something out. I want to see her; we’ll figure out a balance.”
“Yeah, and she should see you; you’re her dad.”
“Yeah, I am,” he said quietly. “It's just kinda weird to think that I'm a father. I mean, I'm like the least responsible person ever.”
“Yeah, I know,” Katie said, shaking her head.
“But... I'm still here, you know? I've had to be responsible with the store, Gods know Fred is hopeless when it comes to books... or money... so if I can do that and not put us under, I hope I can handle being a dad... I mean, I think I can. I should be able to.”
“Well, you’ve got no choice now,” she said, shaking her head and laughing a little. “Yeah, you'll be good, I know you will...”
“Thanks,” George said. “Gods, I hope so. But then, my mum'll kill me if I'm not, so…” Oh, gods, how was he going to tell his mother?
“Yeah, well, I should go get ready for work, and you need to go back to your store,” she said pointedly. “It was good to see you, though. Next time hopefully Tegan will be awake.”
“Yeah,” George said. “Good to see you, too, Katie. And I’m sorry I’ve not been around. I’m gonna try to fix that, okay?” He stepped over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder. “Don’t hesitate to Firecall me, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding.
George stepped into the fireplace and landed on the floor of his office.
Fred looked up. “I finished the books. Ready for that nightcap, then?”
George stood up and brushed himself off.
“You have no idea, Fred,” he groaned. “Pour me a tall one, I’ve got some interesting news to tell you…”
What: Revelations about some common history, and a common future...
When: Weds. Nov 19th, evening
Where: Various fireplaces and parlours
George and Fred were finishing up closing duties for the day in the store and had just sent Verity home. George settled behind one of the matching desks and began crunching the numbers while Fred worked on containing one of the renegade Portable Swamps. It was really quite amazing how well they were doing, all things considered.
The business Floo crackled to life to his left and he looked over as the flames kept the person on hold on blue - after all, it was after business hours. However, usually if it were this late it was their mum, who always forgot to use the private line. He got up, sighing, and kneeled in front of the fireplace. When he stuck his head into the flames they automatically turned green as they switched off hold and put the call through. The face that greeted his was not that of their mum’s, though.
“Katie Bell!” George said cheerfully when he recognised his old teammate. “Long time, no Floo. Where you been, sugarlips?”
Katie gave him a look that managed to convey complete and utter convincement of his utter daftness, though the bags under her eyes took away from the overall effect.
“Oh, here and there,” she said. “Working, supporting a kid, you know, the usual.”
“A kid?” George asked, perplexed, then remembered. “Oh, yeah. You were five months gone when school ended last year, yeah? Nice one. I take it that it hatched, then?
Katie looked very unimpressed. “Yes, ‘it’ did. After a very long and painful labour that involved me pushing a small watermelon through a small tube. Really quite impressive, actually, too bad you missed it.”
“I’m sure I’ll survive,” George said. “So is this a social call, Katie? Not that I mind seeing you, of course, we had some good times, especially at some of those parties, but really, I’ve got numbers to finish computing and a bottle of Ogden’s Old that’s calling my name - after all, I promised Fred we’d split it. Maybe we could meet up for drinks, for old times sake? You can show me pictures of your sprog and I’ll tell you how cute it is.” His knees were starting to get sore, and he shifted a bit.
“Yeah, well, you’d better think she’s cute,” Katie said dryly.
“I feel like I’m missing some grand irony here, Kit-Kat,” George said, tipping his head a little. “Out with it before my knees become one with the floor here.”
“George, you are such an idiot sometimes,” Katie said. “You’re the father.”
A long pause of silence.
“…………………… I’m sorry, I think there was a problem with the transmission, care to say that again?”
“I said,” Katie said, voice growing terse and clipped, “that you. Are. The. Father.. You’re the dad, the papa, the biological donor of half of my baby’s bloodline.”
“Very funny, Kit-Kat,” George said, shaking his head. “No way. Look, if you want to talk, I’ll talk, but there’s no need to try to use your kid to get at me, we’re old friends.”
Katie sighed, exasperated. “Come on through, then, you deadbeat, and see her. Once you see her, you’ll believe me. For Merlin’s sake!”
George held up his hands. “Fine, fine, I’ll come through, but only for five minutes, and I’m not making any promises!” He stood up slowly and grabbed some floo powder, pausing to call out to Fred.
“Oi, Fred!”
Fred stuck his head in the office. “Yeah?”
“Katie Bell just gave me a booty call. I’ll be back in a bit, all right? Then we’ll work on that bottle.”
Fred grinned. “Go and get’em. Old Ogden’ll wait.”
“Cheers.” With a call for Katie’s flat and a toss of the powder, George stepped through and fell until he emerged in Katie’s parlour. He stood and dusted himself off with his wand.
“George,” Katie said quietly, standing off to his right. “Quiet, she’s sleeping.”
“She?” George asked, turning to Katie and looking her over. She looked like she’d aged a couple of years in the past few months. Tits were bigger, though, that was nice. “A little girl, congrats.”
“Thanks,” Katie said automatically. “Look, I’ll show her to you and then we can talk, because I don’t think you’ll believe me until you see her, and there’s no point in trying to explain things until then.”
George restrained from rolling his eyes. If Katie wanted to show off her baby, that was fine, he’d play along. He followed her to the bedroom that was, apparently, both Katie and the baby’s room.
“Go on,” Katie whispered, pointing to the crib. “Go and take a look at your daughter.”
George stepped up to the crib edge and suddenly his mouth went dry and a deep pit formed in the bottom of his stomach. The baby in the crib had a shock of Weasley red hair and already a sprinkling of freckles visible across her nose.
“Oh,” George said quietly, feeling a bit stupid and humbled and a bit nauseous. There was no doubt about it - this baby was definitely a Weasley, especially with hair and a face like that. He felt Katie step up beside him.
“Her name is Tegan,” she murmured, gazing down at the small form in the blankets. “Pretty much everyone calls her Ding-Dong, but…” she trailed off.
“Ding-Dong Bell?” George asked, shaking his head a little. “That’s horrid, Kit-Kat. Brilliant, but terrible.”
“Not much worse than Kit-Kat,” she pointed out.
“So… she’s really mine, then?” George asked, staring down at Tegan.
“It’s not like I slept with any of your brothers!” Katie hissed. “So yeah, she is. Definitely yours. It was that one party, you remember?”
George nodded. “Yeah… Well, most of it, I remember. I remember you and me sneaking off into a closet…”
“And here’s the result of that,” Katie said. “Your daughter.” She reached down and pulled the blankets back to give George a better view.
“Wow,” he said, reaching out a finger to stroke her cheek. “She’s so tiny.”
“Yeah, and she’s two and a half months old, too. Only going to get bigger.” She gazed at her daughter affectionately, then reached out to touch George’s arm. “Back to the parlour,” she murmured. “So we can talk.”
George nodded and took another look at Tegan before following Katie back to the living room.
“So,” he said awkwardly. “What do you do, then? I mean, this place…”
Katie looked around. “Yeah, home sweet home. It’s swell,” she said dryly, sitting down in a beat-up armchair. “I work nights as an after-hours cleaning lady and my mum watches her at night while I work. That gives me time with her during the day.”
George nodded and squirmed a bit in his seat, feeling bad - a rather unusual feeling for him. “So… I feel like a right arse now.” In truth, his mind was still reeling from the thought that he really was a father. He’d gone from confirmed bachelor to a dad in about ten minutes flat and he didn’t know how much he liked the idea. He’d wanted to be a dad someday, sure, but not right now. He wanted to get the most out of his youth and live it up, see as many birds as he could before one of them managed to convince him to settle down and start a brood.
“Yeah, well, I’m a single working mum and I’ve got to get ready for my shift,” Katie said, putting her hair up in a ponytail. “And my mum will be home soon. I just thought you should know. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to be a gold-digger or something, since your business is doing so well and all. But, I mean, she’s your kid, and things haven’t been easy.”
“Right,” George said slowly. “Look, this is all a lot to take in… but, I mean, I want to do the right thing by her. She’s just a kid and didn’t ask to be involved in all this or brought around, I’m not going to punish her or anything. I… I’m willing to be her dad. I can take her occasionally or something, help out…”
“You don’t have to,” Katie said, clearly looking uncomfortable with the idea of George handling a baby. “She’s a pretty special kid, but you don’t have to be involved. I know you didn’t ask for this.”
“Yeah, well, luv, you didn’t ask for it either,” George said, running his hand through his hair. “So let me help to raise her. She deserves to have a dad, too.”
“What, you think that I plan on staying single?” She definitely didn’t sound impressed.
“No,” George said, realising he’d blundered. “I didn’t mean that, I just thought…”
“Right. Well… we should ease into this, George,” Katie said. “If you really want to be her dad, then you’ll agree to that - visiting here, supervised, and then we can maybe go from there.”
George opened his mouth to protest on principle, then nodded, realising she was probably. Besides, he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth again. “Yeah. Right, okay.” He pushed to his feet. “Look, before I go, is there anything you need right now? Nappies? Um, onesies?”
“Oh god, a crate of nappies would be a lifesaver. And I mean a crate,” she stood and shook her head. “Good lord, she puts out more than she takes in, I swear.”
George laughed a little at that. “Yeah, they do that, don’t they? Sure, I can get you some nappies. I don’t know what kind you need, but look,” he said, pulling out a leather drawstring purse that clearly had far too much money in it. He dug out a handful of gold and counted out twenty-five pieces. “Twenty-five galleons,” he said. “Get her some nappies.”
Katie accepted the gold, staring at it. She hadn’t seen that much money all together in quite some time. “Wow. Yes. I will… Thank you.”
“Good,” George said. “And, I’d really like to see her again, soon. And you, of course. Um. Maybe we can plan sometime…”
“I’ll floo you,” she said. “Probably a weekend. Those are best, obviously.”
“Right,” George said. “The business is pretty busy on the weekends, but I’m sure Fred can handle the shop. I mean, the kid - Tegan, I mean, she’s important.
“Oh,” Katie said. “Well, I mean, afternoons can be good, too.”
George shook his head. “No, it’s okay, we’ll work something out. I want to see her; we’ll figure out a balance.”
“Yeah, and she should see you; you’re her dad.”
“Yeah, I am,” he said quietly. “It's just kinda weird to think that I'm a father. I mean, I'm like the least responsible person ever.”
“Yeah, I know,” Katie said, shaking her head.
“But... I'm still here, you know? I've had to be responsible with the store, Gods know Fred is hopeless when it comes to books... or money... so if I can do that and not put us under, I hope I can handle being a dad... I mean, I think I can. I should be able to.”
“Well, you’ve got no choice now,” she said, shaking her head and laughing a little. “Yeah, you'll be good, I know you will...”
“Thanks,” George said. “Gods, I hope so. But then, my mum'll kill me if I'm not, so…” Oh, gods, how was he going to tell his mother?
“Yeah, well, I should go get ready for work, and you need to go back to your store,” she said pointedly. “It was good to see you, though. Next time hopefully Tegan will be awake.”
“Yeah,” George said. “Good to see you, too, Katie. And I’m sorry I’ve not been around. I’m gonna try to fix that, okay?” He stepped over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder. “Don’t hesitate to Firecall me, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding.
George stepped into the fireplace and landed on the floor of his office.
Fred looked up. “I finished the books. Ready for that nightcap, then?”
George stood up and brushed himself off.
“You have no idea, Fred,” he groaned. “Pour me a tall one, I’ve got some interesting news to tell you…”