Suck it up Buttercup [Open]

[katie]

✄ --- STUCK IN THIS WHIRLWIND ---

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MY LIFE'S BEEN SPINNING ROUND MY HEAD[/center]

Shadows lined the streets of Hogsmeade, curling across the main road, slipping between the few patches of light from the flickering street lamps. The cool spring air settled over the little village, chilling further as the sun continued to set, waves of golds and pinks fading across the skyline. It would have been pretty, something to marvel at even, if there wasn’t such a dreadful weight in the air. Katie Bell strained her neck, peering over several rooftops, she could see the last hints of light streaming down over the silhouettes, falling on an empty road. The streets were abandoned, save for a person scurrying from building to building here and there, and the occasional rustle in the alleyway. But quite frankly whatever was out there did not seem too interested in her and therefore she decided not to fixate on it.

Boots scuffled against the gritty road, kicking pebbles here and there, falling heavily, leaving only a series of thud, thud, thud behind her. The usual bounce in her step was missing, and as she had been informed, numerous times, had been for a little while now. She tired to put it back in, snatch it up and beat it into her shoes, but it just wasn’t quite working. The heaviness was not only in the air, but inside her, threatening to smother her light. If she could…she’d rid herself of it. After all, she, Katie, was not one to let anything get her down for long. She believed that being happy was a choice, make a decision, feel it, be it. Done. And yet this time she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her heart wasn’t in it. Her heart ached. Her heart was a weight dragging her down, down, down.

The only thing left to do was drowned it in alcohol. She had never been a big drinker but in times of need everybody had their day. Today just happened to Katie’s, things just kept piling up one on top of another setting a huge dead weight on her shoulders, bringing her usually happy mood down. It wasn’t all just one thing it was everything at once, work, this new secret task force that was supposed to be doing all this good but didn’t seem to be doing anything at the moment, and then the final straw had been laid just that morning in the form of a letter from her best friend Alicia. It had said there old good for nothing friend Angelina was back in town, probably to mess up all the work they had accomplished with George and to hurt everyone once again.

The thoughts all just seemed to creep up on her as she walked. “Pull yourself together, Katie!” Katie bit down on her lip in thought, eyes screwing up calming herself. Katie patted her hands together momentarily, as if to hear something else in the air, to shatter the dead silence around her. “Come on what would everybody say if they saw you like this? What would Fred say?” She didn’t often think about Fred any more but at a moment like this his memory just seemed to be the one thing that would sober her up. “He’d say…suck it up buttercup.” A laugh threatened to strangle her the instant the thought crossed her mind and tumbled out of her mouth—no door between her brain and tongue apparently. She looked around realizing how crazy she must look talking to her self and laughing at nothing. Still, it felt good to laugh, to expel the air from her lungs and out into the open, around her. A little weight lifted.

Shuffling feet had carried down the road further, past Zonks, Honeydukes, all the way to the door of the Three Broomsticks. While place was crowded as usual as she opened the door but it still wasn’t hard to find a table in one of the far corners away from most people. She might have had a moment where her spirits had lifted but she wasn’t ready for company yet. She was still to hurt, to confused about what to do, to angry. Well maybe angry wasn’t the word she was past angry she was infuriated. She downed a firewiskey at the thought and glared down at the small engraved glass as the fiery substance trickled down her throat. She singled for another one from the bartender. Before he got there though the chair across from her scraped on the floor as someone pulled it out. Her eyes flashed an intense green as she jerked her head up to glare at the person who dared to join her.

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[/blockquote]
( tagged ) Open
( words ) Seven-Seven-Two
( outfit ) coming soon
( lyrics ) coming home by new found glory[/size][/b]

[George Weasley]

Still alive but I'm barely breathin'
Just praying to a God that I don't believe in.

[/size][/center]

The crisp sun was setting over the mountains to signal the end of yet another day. The coolness of the night would soon entrance and trap those who were left under the stars for yet another night of where anything and everything was possible. In many ways it was just the same as all the rest this summer had brought to the Wizarding World, and yet it was one that would always signify the post war Wizarding World. Since Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord those short years before, things had changed, and were supposed to have changed for the better. It was peace time all over Wizarding England for the first time in over a decade. It was supposed to be a time of glorified bliss; a time where there was no more hiding, no more lies, and no more misery.

“Yeah---errr---you’ve always been-err an old –codger Tom!” slurred a redheaded man as he was tossed by two burly looking men in the doorway of the Leaky Cauldron.

”Do yourself a favour and go home George—Sleep it off why don’t ya?” scowled the old bar owner as he shook his head as the dishevelled lump on the ground that was once George Weasley.

With another shake on his head, Tom and the two men turned and closed the door, leaving George alone on the rather quiet street of Diagon Alley.

“Yeah..who needs ya!” he hollered as he picked himself up, with what looked like to be a lot more effort than it should for a twenty two year old.

He made a half semi circle as he shuffled himself upright and then threw a bottle of empty Fire Whiskey he had knicked from the bar towards the door. With a resounding smash the bottle hit the door with surprising accuracy and spread everywhere around the entranceway. Instantly Tom was outside glaring at George ready to give him an earful. It didn’t take a sober George to know it was time to leave and he ill advisedly apparated out of trouble.

Whomever said a post war period was full of this glorified euphoria had serious issues for this was anything but blissful.

***

George didn’t often venture out from his flat on top of his joke shop. He usually spent most of his time sleeping or drinking the supply of alcohol he had left in his flat. Venturing outside his comfort zone always seemed to bring trouble whether it be the physical or the mental. Memories were never friendly to George. The sting of Fred’s death still haunted him at every turn. Even at home he could not hide from him but at least he had the solitude. He was over giving people the nice answers they were looking for when they asked how he was doing. How did they think he was doing? His best friend, brother, and partner in everything had been lost and they expected him to pick up where he had left off before the Battle of Hogwarts? Suddenly joking about didn’t really seem all that important. Why should he make others feel the jubilant elation of a smile when he couldn’t remember how to do it for himself? The only escape he felt he had left was a drunken stuper and the dreamless bliss of sleeping for twelve hours.

After nearly stumbling into the side of Zonkos, George half realized where he had landed. He scratched the side of his head, which had become a bit of a habit since losing his ear. In an odd way he could still feel it even though it had been long gone. Each time he did a memory of Fred took control over him. George stumbled forward, knowing that it would soon be too much. He needed a drink; he needed an escaped, and he needed it fast.

How he had actually managed to get inside the Three Broomsticks was an anomaly within itself. He bumped into a couple tables and people, waved a belligerent hello to people he had never even met and tried to get himself oriented enough to get a drink. It was then that he saw a familiar face hunched over a table. He felt his windpipe tighten as he knew instantly Katie Bell was in the vicinity. Not only had George tried to keep contact with his former friends and family to a complete minimum Katie was one who had never let George give up on her. If he was smarter and slightly more sober he would have turned around and left, but he needed a drink. He needed to forget.

Sliding not so smoothly into the chair beside the dark haired beauty George reached for the drink in Katie’s hands.

“Mind iffff I joooiiiiiin?” he grunted as he took the drink rather forcibly out of her small hands and downed it in one gulp.
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[katie]

✄ --- STUCK IN THIS WHIRLWIND ---

[/font][/color]
MY LIFE'S BEEN SPINNING ROUND MY HEAD[/center]

She failed to give a response to his rather slurred question instead responding with her own question. “Get kicked out of the Leaky Cauldron did we George?” she question glaring at him as she toyed with the empty glass he had yanked out of her hand. She supposed if she was the responsible young adult everyone would love her to be, she would scold George and tell him that drinking wouldn’t solve anything.

But then she was neither responsible nor a hypocrite since that was exactly what she was doing at the moment, drowning all her problem. She hadn’t really been planning on drinking all that much but well she could tell it was going to be a long night. She signaled for the bartender to bring more drinks she was about to ask George if he wanted another and chuckled to herself, of course he wanted another drink when wasn’t George drinking any more just another way he had changed.

She felt so helpless justing sitting by day after day, waiting for some part of the old George to come back, watching as everyone tip toed around him not wanting to upset him. In truth...the pain was slowly killing him inside, a dark stain growing bigger and bigger, threatening to fade the old George away all together and she didn’t know how to stop it.

Because if she was being truthful and she usually tried to be, Katie couldn’t quite imagine what George must be going through. She liked to think she could sympathize or empathize or whatever it was that was the appropriate reaction (she never could get the two straight). After all, she had loved ones, she loved people, some people more than others, but love was love, right? Different kinds—love for friends, love for families, love—but underneath it all, it was just love. There was no need to define it—it was just inherent. To define it would be to demean it—it was indefinable. Or at least, that’s what Katie decided. So. In that, in the idea of loving someone and worrying about their safety, she could understand. She did understand. But to lose the other half of you how did one ever get over that.

What he needed was a little light and it was bad luck that she was fresh out of that, but maybe she could muster a little up, just for him. “Sorry George I’m just not my self tonight. You’ll get no cheering up from me tonight. Better just have another drink.” She said sliding one of the drinks the bartender had set down on the table towards him before downing her own before he could try and steal hers also.

She slammed it down on the table when she was done and flashed him a lop sided grin, as if the muscles just couldn’t manage to life both sides of her lips. She flopped her elbow onto the table, cheek in hand staring at George. “Are we going to need more of these?” she said twirling the now empty shot glass in her opposite hand, “Because from the way your looking you’ve already had your fair share tonight. And If I have to carry you home because you passed out on me I will make sure you have a couple bruises to remember the night by.” She managed at least a small smile at that. She would never truly bruise her friend but the thought of her trying to get the much taller heavier man home was a rather funny picture and brought a true smile to her face it even reached up to her eyes for the first time in the last couple of days.

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[/blockquote]
( tagged ) George; Open
( words ) Six-Two-Four
( outfit ) coming soon
( lyrics ) coming home by new found glory[/size][/b]

[George Weasley]

Still alive but I'm barely breathin'
Just praying to a God that I don't believe in.

[/size][/center]

It was a rare sight to see George Weasley out and about the town. He had spent much of the two years since the Battle of Hogwarts alone in his flat. To anyone who had known George growing up this was completely abnormal and almost scary behaviour for he had always been the kind of guy to be right in the center of everything going on. Of course, he wasn’t alone in this venture. He always had his brother to play off of, but that was beyond a possibility now. Everything had been changed by war. The splendours that were supposed to have come after defeating Voldemort seemed understated and trivial to the redheaded twenty two year old who found himself questioning each and every decision he and his brother had every made leading up to that fateful day in June.

The Three Broomsticks was always a popular hangout place for the younger group of people. George had almost forgotten how often a familiar face would pop up to have a drink. Seeing Katie there was not a surprise in any way, though the state she was in was if one was unfamiliar to what had gone on these past few years. The thought had bypassed George that he was not the only one affected by the atrocities of losing a loved one. Pain was rife and very relevant amongst everyone…George couldn’t see the hurt because he was too far drowning in his own.

He rolled his eyes at Katie’s comment, “ I would never get kicked out of anywhere,” he snapped, “I left.”

It was as if Katie was prompting George to make some kind of witty retort. He did not have the enegy for it. His mind was wrapped so much around itself that it couldn’t do the one thing it had left to hold onto sanity with; humour.

If George wasn’t so intoxicated he would have seen the dullness in his old friends eyes, the deep circles caused by lack of sleep and the general exhaustion that emulated through every bit of her being. She looked as if she was on her last string. She was holding onto something that she could not see and she was holding on for dear life, just like George. Except, he could never understand that---Katie did not lose a brother; she did not have her life come crashing down in an instant. No, it was George alone who had to face that and alone was just how he would do it if he had his way.

Katie ordered shots and George was not about to neglect it. This was the one way Katie understood the new George Weasley and in a sense he had always been easier to deal with when with the young brunette. They hurt together even if they were unaware of the anomaly.

“Sorry George I’m just not my self tonight. You’ll get no cheering up from me tonight. Better just have another drink.”

He watched as she downed her shot as if the glass was filled with water. He shook his head and his lip twitched as a shadow of where his smile once lay emerged for a brief moment before it was consumed with the flat line emotion he usually wore.

“Good,” he said as he reached drunkenly for the other shot, “Because I’m not myself tonight either.”

He downed it with ease, taking in the numbing warmness of forgetfulness. The two of them had changed so much since Hogwarts but it was in these brief exchanges that one could see a ghost of what was. They were still very much children who had lost the time they needed to mature. A lot had been taken from them in such a short time but it was how they dealt with it that made all the difference. George was gone and at times people wondered if he wanted it to be that way. He didn’t know if one could really go on living now. What he was doing wasn’t what one would really call living. He was going through the motions as he mourned the half of him that died while the other half slowly died away as well.

Katie made a remark that snapped George back to the present. Her cheek was in her hand as she flashed him a sloppy smile that made him think back to the old days. This was one of the reasons why he hated being with those he knew so intimately. There was no escaping the memory of him no matter how lost he became.

“I’m still standing aren’t I?” he grunted, “I think that means the night’s still young.”

He waved his hand dramatically over to the bartender, indicating more shots to be brought to the table, “Keep them coming if you know what’s good for you buddy!” he snapped as his head spun back to the table and Katie.

“So,” he said as he drunkenly looked Katie up and down, “ Judging from your abusive ultimatum I’m guessing Lee didn’t send you down here to pick me up and cart me back home—what are you doing here?”

Lee was like George’s annoying mother, except not even his real mother went to the length the dreadlocked man went to nowadays. No matter what George did he could not shake the kid and most of the times he ran on his last nerves despite the fact he was only doing what was best for his friend.

The shots arrived to the table once more and he picked his up instantly. He raised it to Katie, waiting for her response. George wasn’t one to normally ask questions but then again this night was already a bit of a rare occurrence for the distraught young man. He had already consumed about five too many and that was when one could see the most unexpected things out of George. Sometimes, if they were lucky a glimpse of the real George would emerge even if it was only for a brief second.[/blockquote][/size]

[katie]

Jun 22, 2011 10:05:03 GMT -5 @katie said:

✄ --- STUCK IN THIS WHIRLWIND ---

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MY LIFE'S BEEN SPINNING ROUND MY HEAD[/center]

Katie answered George’s eye rolling with her own. She didn’t believe that he had just left the Leaky Cauldron. “You always were a bad lier George but we will pretend I believe you and that you just left he Leaky Cauldron to come to the Three Broomsticks.”

She could not however refute his statement as to not being himself tonight. George hadn’t been himself for two years. It wasn’t like that had all of the sudden changed and he had gone back to the old George she and everybody else had loved. If that had been the case she would have most likely been drinking alone tonight. As much as she wanted the old George back she was glad she wasn’t drinking alone.

She heard herself making another comment but felt like it was coming from someone else completely. Even his answer seemed to take a minute to register.

“Still standing!” she said laughing mockingly at him “No George actually your sitting and I wouldn’t suggest standing if I was you because by the ruckus you caused bashing into table when you came in your not very steady on your feet. I don’t particularly want you bumping into my table and ending up with some spilt drink all over me.” Then for some odd reason feeling a bit reckless maybe she added with smirk, “You are right on one point he night is still young hopefully you can keep up with me on the drinks old friend.”

She heard George tell the bartender to keep the shots coming and sighed to herself. She knew she would regret all of this tomorrow when she had to pull herself out of bed to make the early shift at the hospital. Being hungover and working was not an experience that Katie usually liked to participate in. The job already gave her a headache she didn’t really want to think about having to go there already with one. She shoved the thought out of her mind though, she would beat herself up in the morning over it, might as well enjoy it now.

“No I was not sent by Lee to cart your ass home like some misbehaving school boy even if that is what you act like sometimes. I’m not your mother George and neither is Lee, he’s your best friend cut him a little slack sometimes. Your not always the easiest to keep up with.” She knew she sounded a bit harsh but she had been friends with Lee too and she knew he was now burdened with the obligation of annoying protective best friends. She hoped one day that George would someday appreciate what he was doing for him but for now if he would just cut him a little slack sometimes she would feel like she had at least helped her other friend out a little bit.

Just then though the bartender appeared with drinks and George downed his instantly. She was glad at that maybe he wouldn’t comment on what she had just said. It wasn’t likely going to put him in a good mood but she hated tiptoeing around him all the time. Sometimes things she kept pent up around George just tended to spill out.

So while he was downing his drink she decided she would answer his question she had planned on just ignoring it completely but decided that maybe if she answered it he would just forget her earlier comment or at least not comment on it.

She put on a fake smile as she answered, “Why does anyone go to the bar, George? To drink away all their problems of course. And my problems just keep seeming to pile up one on top of another,” she added a shrug to her comment as if to show it was no big deal.

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[/blockquote]
( tagged ) George, Open
( words ) Six-Four-Seven
( outfit ) coming soon
( lyrics ) coming home by new found glory[/size][/b][/quote]

[George Weasley]

Still alive but I'm barely breathin'
Just praying to a God that I don't believe in.

[/size][/center]

To the people who truly knew George there was little he could hide from them. No matter how radically he changed, underneath all the layers the same kid still cried out from within. He would always be that guy deep down; it was only now that one realized how far that old guy was being pushed down to make room for the more destructive version. George shook his head and waved his hand absently at an invisible fly in front of his face. On some level he was thankful for Katie to leave his lies at bay. She had always been one who was more accepting of them than his other close friends who forced question upon question on him until he was forced to tell some figment of the truth to get them off his back. He had pretty much memorized what each different person needed to hear to leave him alone. Lee, for example, just needed the hope that George would get up and get back to an old routine, while Alicia wanted an explanation as to why he was feeling ‘fine’. With Katie, however, he found that a blunt and to the point answer was all that was needed. There was no explanation, little sugar coating, and little coaxing. At times it was a breath of fresh air for the red head, but really all he truly wanted was to be left alone most of the time.

Katie’s bright smile and joyful tune always seemed to fill a room with a sort of energy that could never be matched by anyone. It was practically infectious, but for some reason George had become immune to it over the last couple of years. Lately, everything that once gave him joy had the ability to make him hate everything that had happened to him. He hated the memories; all he wanted to do was forget.

“You are right on one point he night is still young hopefully you can keep up with me on the drinks old friend.”

He wiped his nose and sniffled slightly but did not once crack a smile. He looked over Katie at the scene around them. Most people were here with friends, having a great night with drinks and jokes and laughter. It was a far cry to the pity party they were having at their table, but again, all of this seemed trivial to George. He was there to drink and forget, not to find company. That was just an unwanted bonus.

“Yeah, whatever,” he said stiffly, “ I’ve been drinking since noon. So I think you already lose.”

The joking tone that would have usually gone along with such a comment was forgotten as more shots came to the table. He didn’t know how much abuse Katie could take but by the looks of things it was quite a lot. She was still around wasn’t she? After two years she hadn’t been scared off; neither had most people. It seemed like the only way to be left alone was for George to cut them out and he had tried. The few who remained were those who had refused no for an answer.

He grabbed another shot as the conversation took a sharp turn. The frustration was plain as Katie’s words hit him with honesty most people were scared to use around George. He grabbed a shot with a dark, unforgiving look in his eye and downed another quickly. He shook his head but the darkness never left his face.

“Last time I checked I didn’t ask for a guilt trip lecture Katie, so keep it to yourself why don’t you. No one asked you lot to bugger at my every move so if you don’t like what I do no one is asking you to keep bugging me. I sure as hell don’t need your help.”


All the hurt and the anger lined the tired face of the man who was once George Weasley. He was a figment of who he used to be and it was times like this when his moods swung as fast as a girl during her special time that it was quite evident.

“I came here to drink,” he said, “You can stay or go…makes no difference to me.”

It seemed that Katie, however, was there for much of the same reasons as George was. She let him know that she was not here to make friends either. The hurt from the war was clear cut on the faces of those who went through it but George was a blind man walking. He didn’t see it, nor did he want to.

He pushed a drink across the table at Katie, “ I guess I’m going to have company tonight. You might as well attempt to catch up.”

There was a hint of the old George for a brief second as he slid the drink across the table but it was instantly washed away the moment one looked at his face. The ghost of Fred haunted George and the lines on his face could never hide the true agony he was in. [/blockquote]

[katie]

✄ --- STUCK IN THIS WHIRLWIND ---

[/font][/color]
MY LIFE'S BEEN SPINNING ROUND MY HEAD[/center]

Hurt lines were etched permanently into George’s face she realized as she examined him. It wasn’t really much of a surprise. She had them, and she was sure that almost everyone else in the room had them too. Sometimes pain ran so deep that you dug yourself into a hole you couldn’t get out of, which was what George had done. The old George would surface occasionally when it wasn’t being watched carefully but it was only glimpse now. It left those who believed in him with some hope but mostly it just left them with pain, and grasping for more.

No smile was cracked at her half hearted attempt at a joke, though she hadn’t really expected one. Well if joking wasn’t going to work tonight, she might as well just keep going with the barbs. She knew George hated it, and she was positive it was going to piss him off but then she was past caring now. The boy needed to be smacked upside the head with the truth sometimes. No one else ever seemed to do it so it was always left for Katie to be the bad guy. Of course that meant she usually got the brunt of George’s anger too but she had grown stronger and had found out she could take out pretty much anything people dished out. So with a quite sigh and a mumbled, “Might as well suck it up, buttercup.” to give herself some extra courage. She downed a drink and fixed George with a hard piercing gaze.

“Waiting till noon to start drinking are we now. What is that so people can’t complain about your drinking because after all an alcoholic starts drinking the minute they wake up right?” she said a sarcastically. “But we won’t talk about your drinking tonight, I’m sure Lee lectures you enough on that and as you know I’ve never been one who likes losing, actually I hate it, so I’m going to have to start drinking if I want to keep up. So if I lectured you on drinking I’d be a hypocrite, and I’d hate to be one of those,” she said without even the slight hint of a smile. She was being completely truthful her since she did hate losing and was at times a sore loser, she would definitely have to find a way to catch up.

As soon as the darkness lit up George’s face she knew she wasn’t getting off easy for her scorching remark but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him get the last word. Katie might have in her younger days backed down from a fight but she had gotten used to standing up for herself and nowadays she didn’t back down from a fight. So with a dark look of her own she answered his statement, “Last time I checked nobody asks for a guilt trip lecture. There not exactly pleasant, I think normal people try to avoid them. But sometimes you have to beat someone over the head a million times before it sinks in.”

She sighed then letting the anger slip out of her. She still couldn’t stay angry for long, after all she hadn’t lost herself completely like George had suppressing her true self the way he did till it was battered and crushed beyond recognition. She might be a little battered but she was still the old sweet Katie she had always been, but now she wasn’t beyond throwing a pity party for herself, or letting her anger run loose.

“I’m indeed her to stay. Someone has to make your night an even bigger hell than it all ready is.” she said a dangerous smile on her face that reached mischievously up to her eyes as she took her drink in hand and downed it in one gulp. “First however, I plan on making up ground on all this drinking.”

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[/blockquote]
( tagged ) George Weasley, Open
( words ) Six-Six-Five
( outfit ) coming soon
( lyrics ) Coming Home by New Found Glory[/size][/b]