The Adopted Weasley

13~ Coping

Christmas and New Years passed and Grace still wasn't speaking or really acting like she knew what was going on around her. A few times a day she would eat if George handed her some food, but that was it.

Lee had taken to doing his homework in the hospital wing with her while she blankly stared at a wall or occasionally had a nightmare and would cry for a while.

Watching her cry was the hardest part, she wouldn't let anyone touch her and she couldn't seem to hear anyone talking.

Honestly? Lee was at a breaking point. He truly loved Grace and seeing her like this was extremely hard. He had been looking forward to having her by his side to ring in the new year, and then she wasn't.

That, along with schoolwork, worrying about his parents as they were both against Voldermort, his best friends had basically lost their younger sister.

And Merlin did he miss her smile, the dimples on her cheeks, and how her nose scrunched up when she was confused or excited. He missed seeing her run up and hug him after a spur of the moment, unofficial, Quidditch game, windswept hair everywhere, and rosy cheeks.

He talked to her a lot.

"You should've seen the prank we pulled yesterday, dung bombs in every classroom. Your brothers are making a good bit of money selling their products. Of course, the money that they won in the bet was fake, which sucks. But hey, it's working right now, they'll have enough to buy a shop by next year I reckon. Won't that be amazing? You can work with us next summer, Merlin knows they'll need help. And you've come up with a lot of the ideas, so really, it's your shop too."

Occasionally, she'd smile, and try to say something, but of course, didn't. Madame Pomfrey said that was a good sign, and that she was getting better.

Lee just wanted to hear her voice again.

Balancing his schedule hadn't been hard, run to see Grace in the morning, eat breakfast with her, Fred, and George, classes, lunch, classes, dinner, homework in the hospital wing.

His parents had been checking on him often, understandably worried. But he had assured them that he was fine, and he was.

When Grace came out of her safety bubble, Lee would be waiting.

. . .

Neville felt like the world was crumbling around him. He had started hanging out with Grace right before Lee and the twins got there for their nightly homework since they did dinner in the great hall. Talking to her was the only time he felt safe and calm. More often than not, it was homework related.

"Do I swish my wand first, or point for this one? And then for potions should I crush the mandrake leaves, or tear them?"

There was silence for several minutes, then Neville spoke again, his voice cracking.

"Grace, I really don't understand this stuff. I need... I need your help, I need my best friend. Even if... even if you never helped me with this stuff again, I don't care. Just please, wake up."

Lee slowly walked in from where he had been listening in the doorway, Neville had buried his face in his hands and was crying. Slowly, Lee put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"She'll pull through, I know she will."

Neville just nodded, not saying anything and Lee sighed.

"How about I help you with some of that homework?"

. . .

Lee had become like an older brother to Neville, and he found that he honestly enjoyed it. Doing homework together and just talking to each other.

The biggest problem was helping Cedric.

"She actually was helping, I was passing everything with flying colors." Cedric said while they were struggling through a chapter. "She just knew how to explain it."

"She's not dead, stop talking about her in the past tense." Fred snapped.

"Sorry, Merlin. Sensitive much?"

Fred started to say something but decided against it and started studying again.

February passed, then March, the second task, and Grace still wasn't back, she was getting better, but it was hard to see the progress.

That's when Charlie realized their stupidity.