history obliterates every picture it paints [louis]

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All Georgie wanted was to get back to school. Life wouldn’t be confusing there. There wouldn’t be any parents who were raised from the dead, and she would be able to see Louis and Max all the time, not just when the orphanage allowed her to. Eventually she’d have to go to see the counselor, especially with everything that had happened in the past month, but Georgie was trying not to think about that inevitable meeting. Before she told Madam Macmillan about her parents’ not-dead status, there was a boatload of other people she had to tell first. The headmaster, the head of house, and probably the school nurse all made her list. But most importantly, Georgie had to tell her friends.

Sitting in an otherwise empty compartment with her knees tucked up to her chest, Georgie tried to think of the best way to explain everything that had happened. Considering she was still trying to process that information herself, the task was fairly difficult. She didn’t want her friends feeling betrayed like she had felt, but there really was no other way to go about telling the truth. Georgie sighed. This sucked.

@louis

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It had been quite a summer of revelations for Louis Weasley; he had (he hoped) helped his sister start to see the light again after Ethan's death, he had discovered the werewolf who attacked his dad nearly thirty years ago was, he had seen his best friend break his wrist doing dangerous stunts (he was okay in the end at least), and he had started a...something with one of his other best friends, Georgiana Linley.  Just thinking about her gave Louis a warm and happy feeling as he and Dom bade farewell to their parents and boarded the Hogwarts Express.  Dom immediately found her group of friends, but Louis didn't mind; he trekked by himself lugging his trunk and the cage that housed his owl Frodo, who was sleeping with his head under his white wing, down the hallway in search of Georgie.

Finally, he found the pretty blonde sitting by herself in a compartment near the back of the train.  He tried to open the door smoothly to announce his presence, but he had not inherited the veela grace, which resulted in him stumbling in the room, Frodo hooting indignantly as he was jostled from his sleep.  "I'm here!" he announced, grinning sheepishly.  He set Frodo's cage down on an empty seat and hoisted his trunk up in the rafters.  Sitting back down facing Georgie, he smiled again; a different smile though, one filled with care and an innocent sweetness.  "Sorry for the racket, you know how clumsy I can be," he said with a laugh.  Searching Georgies' face, his smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of concern.  "Everything alright?  You look troubled," he asked her worriedly.

@georgiana

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Georgie looked up when Louis stumbled into the compartment. Honestly, there was no one that she’d rather see right now. Even though his smile didn’t make the pit in her stomach disappear, it did add some warmth around the edges, so she didn’t feel like there was a black hole inside of her, just something missing. It was an improvement, albeit a small one. She nodded mutely when Louis apologized for being loud in his entrance, but couldn’t manage any sort of reassuring words. She wasn’t sure she could manage any words.

As soon as Louis asked her if she was alright, Georgie’s lip began to tremble. When he said that she looked troubled, she couldn’t hold it back anymore. She burst into tears and buried her face in her knees. “My parents are alive.” She managed to gasp out in between sobs. “They’re alive, and they left me, and I don’t know what I did wrong.” Georgie looked up at Louis, tear stains on her face. “I had to have done something wrong.” She whimpered. “Or they wouldn’t have left me.” And they had. They had left for five and a half years. “Why did they leave me, Louis?”

@louis

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Louis knew that in Georgie's relatively short life, she had been through far more than any person should ever be put through.  Losing her parents, being sent to live in an orphanage in England, away from everything she knew and loved.  He can't imagine how difficult it must have been for her; but he had never pitied her, because he knew better than that.  But this news?  This even Louis didn't realize was a remote possibility on why Georgie was so upset.  He sat down beside her and gathered his sobbing...girlfriend, yes, she was his girlfriend, into his lap and held her. He just wanted her to know that he was there for her, and he was never going to leave her.  

"I don't know Georgie," he whispered into her hair, closing his eyes and sighing softly.  He thought about what his reaction would be if he thought his parents were dead, and discovered they were actually alive.  Betrayal, anger, sadness were the first that came to mind.  He squeezed her tighter and tried to think of any reason why parents would leave their children.  "Maybe...maybe their lives were threatened and they had to go into hiding.  Maybe your life was threatened unless they left," he murmured the first thing he could think of.  It was no excuse either way, but anything he could do to make her happy again, he would.

@georgiana

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There was something about being held that made everything better. It didn’t chase the demons away, but it did protect her from them. Demons could batter Louis down all day long, but they’d never get through him, because he was Louis, good guy and lion heart extraordinaire. Whenever they touched her, though, it was an explosion of insecurities and self-loathing. Georgie hated that she needed protecting, but she wasn’t strong enough to deal with it all, especially not today, so she let herself be held. She laid her head against Louis’s chest, heard his kick-drum heart and wondered how on earth that heart belonged, at least a little bit, to her.

Louis didn’t know why any of this had happened either, and Georgie supposed that made her feel better. He gave a hypothetical story that was eerily similar to the one her mother had told her in the coffee shop, and Georgie flinched. “It’s still my life, though.” She whispered. “I should have been given the choice. They should have told me.” Georgie took a shaky breath, considered straightening her limbs out, and then decided that she was more comfortable curled into a ball, sitting on Louis’s lap. “Because now I can’t even be happy that they’re back, because I was finally finding a way to cope with the fact that they were never coming back.” She had fallen in love, she had made friends, she had even accepted Max’s mom as her replacement mother when she needed one. “It’s like I was painting a picture and they just came in and smudged their hands through the paint and ruined it all.” It was a sad, sad thing when all a girl could think of her parents was that they were ruinous.

@louis

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Louis didn’t say anything for a little while and just ran his fingers through Georgie’s hair as the train hurtled on until Hogwarts. He was glad that it was just the two of them; Zac liked to sit with his siblings during the train ride since he saw so little of them during the year, and Max was most likely with Jamie. He would have had to ask them to leave if they had been there; to him it was clear Georgie did not want to talk about her parents with just anyone, and the train was the time she had chosen to talk to him about it. There was no need for anyone else to know just yet, not until Georgie was ready. “I think that if your parents are coming forward for you now, they must regret what happened and how they handled things. Maybe if they could turn back time, they would,” he murmured into her hair. “But people shouldn’t meddle with time; horrible things could happen. Including you never existing, or being accidentally killed off,” he warned. He knew that all of the Time Turners were now gone, destroyed by the Ministry, but he had read about what happened to people who tried to fix the past – it never worked in their favor.

“Have you…does anyone else know besides Lance?” he asked her quietly. He knew Georgie would spend time with Max over the summers, but didn’t know the concrete timeline of what she had done after she’d left Shell Cottage; they’d been in touch of course, but Louis understood now why it was not as much as he initially expected.


@georgiana

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Georgie was trying to force herself to calm down; eventually the Trolley Witch was going to be coming around, asking them if they wanted Pumpkin Pasties or anything equally sweet. She didn’t want a stranger opening the door to her compartment and finding her crying on Louis’s lap. That would be humiliating. Forcing herself wasn’t really working, but Georgie definitely was calmed by Louis running his fingers gently through her hair; there weren’t any knots in it, because she had wanted to look as put-together as possible to hide how un-put-together she was inside, but the sensation was still nice. She listened to what he had to say, and hated a little that he was right. She knew that her mother regretted leaving, but somehow, that didn’t make it any easier to accept that she had come back. “I would never undo what happened to me.” Georgie whispered when Louis was done. “Not because I don’t want not to exist, but because I don’t want to continue to exist in a world where I can’t be with you.” There. It was appropriately sappy for the mood in the carriage, and definitely sappier than Georgie would have ever dared to get with anyone else around, or even with Louis if she hadn’t been so emotionally wrung out. Louis was one of the two people in the world she called her friend, and was therefore one of her best friends. And it was scary, to love your best friend, because there was always the ‘what if’ that kept you from wanting to ruin your friendship. But at some point, that hadn’t mattered as much as needing to know what it would be like to say that she loved Louis Weasley. She was even getting to the point where she could think the word love without flinching, though being able to say it was a long ways off.

“I didn’t know how to put it in a letter.” Georgie told Louis miserably. It had been part of the reason she hadn’t told him until now, and why Max was still left in the dark. “It sounds crazy enough just saying it, and I think if I had sent that letter to Max, she probably would have just thought it was a prank or something.” Georgie paused, and tried to figure out a way to continue with what she was going to say without sounding even sappier than she already was. “I just…I wanted to tell you first.” In a way, it felt like a betrayal to Max to say that her parents returned, because Max’s parents were her parents in a lot of ways. They bought her gifts for Christmas and gave her chocolate on her birthday after she told them she didn’t want a cake. There was no betraying Louis, though. There never was.

@louis

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Louis smiled and held her tighter as she told him she didn’t want to live in a world where they couldn’t be together. “The feelings mutual Georgie,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head lightly. “I would never, ever leave you voluntarily, you know that right?” he asked her, tilting her head so they were looking at each other. “I want you to know that I plan on treating you well. If you ever think I’m doing something bad, or weird, tell me. Aside from now, now is a time we can be soppy and adorable with each other,” he said with a smile, trying to make her laugh. He had definitely never felt this way about someone before; he for one felt lucky it was one of his best friends that made him feel this way. He knew his Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had started off as best friends too; they made it work and seem to be in love more than ever. If they can make it work, anyone can. 

“Everyones’ stories are different, but we’re Louisiana. We can face anything as long as we’re together right?” he told her confidently as she confessed he was the first she had told. He wondered briefly what would happen if Maxima walked in right now; probably a load of confusion as to why her friends were sitting this close to each other. They hadn’t discussed how they were going to tell Max about their new relationship; he hadn’t even told his parents yet - just Dominique and Victoire. And Teddy, but that was because he was in the room when Vic was asking him about it. He felt excited to go public with Georgie; his sisters had all seemed to like her when she stayed over the summer, which was big for him. He just wasn’t sure how his friends would react, and that made him nervous.

@georgiana

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It was good to know that someone wouldn't leave her. Deep down, Georgie knew that her parents hadn't exactly left her voluntarily - they had been under duress, and that changed the way they reacted. Still, knowing that there was someone who wouldn't leave even if she asked him to was deeply comforting, in a way it probably wouldn't have been if she hadn't been abandoned before. "I know." Georgie whispered, and it was the truth. It was the truth the way she knew that she loved him was the truth, the way that teenagers knew truths that adults wouldn't accept. "Trust me, just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean I'm going to stop being honest." She laughed. Georgie was never afraid to give people a piece of her mind, and that wasn't going to stop because Louis was now more special to her than most people. "But I believe you. I know that you're going to try to be your best for me, and I'm going to try to be my best for you." That was what love was supposed to do - make you better.

"We're Louisiana." She repeated firmly. They had their own day and everything. They were together, official, even if few people knew about it. Georgie hated that so much of her was now so much of Louis, and vice versa, but it was comfortable, too. "To the Sorting Feast do we part." She said, trying to pull another laugh out of the both of them after such serious subject matter. Obviously they would reunite later, but once they were at Hogwarts, they would have to peel away to their respective house tables. Georgie wasn't looking forward to the parting - it was nice, sitting so close to Louis, knowing that neither of them were bothered by the proximity of the company. Maybe they weren't forever, or maybe they were, but Georgie would just be happy for moments like these - together.

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Louis leaned down and kissed her for real this time, right on the lips. “Good, cause you’ll find I am very hard to get rid of,” he said, half-jokingly. His sisters used to kid that they tried getting rid of him when he was small but he always found his way back to them, usually with a new bruise or scratch that they’d have to explain away to their parents. They were never seriously trying to lose him though; he knew they loved him too much to do that. “Aw well maybe we can break tradition and you can come sit at the Gryffindor table with me,” he joked at her Sorting Feast quip. Of course it’d be a little odd to see a Hufflepuff sitting at the Gryffindor table, not cheering when a first year gets into Gryffindor, and clapping wildly when a Hufflepuff is Sorted. There might be a few strange looks.

“So...do you want to tell me about what happened?” he asked her softly. He knew he was asking a lot; he couldn’t imagine what Georgie must have felt when she saw her mother again. Probably that she had seen a ghost, but when she realized it was real? Louis couldn’t even fathom it. “What about Lance, how has he been dealing with this?” he asked, mentioning her brother. At least she had a sibling to be able to work this through if he knew; this was definitely something he didn’t want her going through alone. While she had him, he had never been in her exact situation, while Lance was. There would be times it would be easier for her to talk to him than Louis, and he was prepared to accept that.

@georgiana

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Georgie felt like she was being warmed from the inside out when Louis kissed her, on the lips this time. Of all the things that there were to get used to when it came to being in a relationship with Louis, the kissing was the easiest part. His lips were always warm and soft and sure – there was no question there, in whether or not he loved her or she loved him. The dreaded l word was getting easier and easier to think, and Georgie was afraid that soon it was going to slip out of her mouth and into the air, where she couldn’t take it back. Louis would let her take it back if she wanted to, though, because Louis was not only her boyfriend – he was her friend, no modifiers, and that meant he forgave her mistakes, even if they were good ones. “I would never want to get rid of you.” She said with a smile.

“I don’t think your friends would be happy with me if we did that.” Georgie said, smile fading slightly. “I’ve been consuming quite a bit of your time lately, between the week we spent together in summer and the train ride…You need time to spend with them.” Being in a relationship was no good if you couldn’t spend time with the other people you loved, after all. Georgie didn’t have as many friends as Louis did, but she still wanted to be able to spend time with Max.

Georgie bit her lip when Louis asked her to explain what happened. “I saw a woman in Diagon Alley about a month ago, who I thought looked like my mother. I didn’t really think anything of it, because I saw them everywhere I went for a long while.” She had been so desperate to believe that they weren’t dead that Georgie had seen them in every crowd when she first came to England. “And then, a week or so later…She was just there. My mother, I mean. And she told me that she was alive, and my father was alive, and why they had left, and that they’re going to try to be our parents again…” She trailed off. “Lance seems to be taking it better than me.” Georgie doubted her brother would say anything if he was hurting, though – he wanted to protect her even more than Louis did.

@louis

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Louis shrugged nonchalantly. “I mean there are plenty of couples that are part Gryffindor part Huffepuff, Gryffinpuff if you will. Specifically I can think of Jamie Greyback and my cousin Harper...but Harper’s graduated now, so maybe bad example. Still, now it’s not like you have to date someone in your house. Look at my sister, Victoire. Her boyfriend Teddy was a Hufflepuff and she was in Slytherin,” he reasoned. Still, he begrudgingly supposed it would be good for them to have a little time apart, though with what Georgie was going through, he didn’t want to leave her side. “Or you can go sit with Max,” he said with a chuckle. Georgie was far closer to Max than he was; he liked her quite a bit but their friendship just would never get to the same level as his and Georgie’s or hers and Georgies. Really their common denominator was Georgiana Linley.

He frowned slightly as he listened to her story about the woman in Diagon Alley. “I just...I don’t understand. Has she promised to explain everything to you?” he asked, almost sounding demanding. If his parents disappeared for years and randomly reemerged in his life, he’d be sure to get a lengthy detailed explanation before anything else happened. “Have you seen your father yet, or just your mother?” he asked, then realized he was asking a lot of questions and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t imagine what this must be like for you. Please, shut me up if you think I’m asking too much of you,” he said, feeling bad for being so nosy.

@georgiana

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Georgie didn’t like the term Gryffinpuff. Huffledor sounded much better, and that way, the Gryffindors wouldn’t go getting big egos because their name came first in the portmanteau. Either way, the point that Louis made was a valid one. Georgie hadn’t known that Max’s older sister was dating anyone, let alone someone related to Louis, but then again, there was no real reason for her to know. She was friends with Max, not with Jamie. Georgie wasn’t really into sticking her nose into other people’s relationships, anyways, until it got in the way of her being with her friends. Since Louis and Max were her only friends, and Georgie couldn’t see Max being in a relationship with anyone anytime soon, Georgie was largely out of the loop when it came to who was dating whom in Hogwarts. “I’ll just sit at my own table.” Georgie asserted quietly. She didn’t mind eating alone, really, and maybe she could try to make a friend in Hufflepuff or something. (Ha! As If that would actually happen.)

“She already tried to explain everything.” Georgie said quietly. “But you can’t just explain away five years of absence with an hour of conversation.” It was hard to explain away five years of life with any amount of conversation, really, but the time she had gotten with her mother wasn’t nearly enough. Granted, that had been partly Georgie’s fault, but she couldn’t pretend that any amount of conversation could have sanded away the broken edges of her heart. “I haven’t seen him yet, no. I guess I won’t until Christmas.” Georgie said. She wondered what he looked like now – had her father grown a beard? Was his hair graying at the temples? Were his laughter lines drowned by frown lines? Georgie didn’t know. “It’s fine, Louis.” Georgie sighed. “It’s just so weird, and it feels so wrong, and I…I don’t know why I’m not happier.” This was what she had dreamed about for the past five years, and now that the dream was reality, nothing seemed right.

@louis

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Louis just smiled and chuckled into her hair as she mentioned she’d just sit at her own table. “When are you going to realize, Georgie, that you never have to be alone anymore?” he said softly, tilting her face so she was looking up at him. “Never,” he repeated and kissed her gently. He rested his arms around her back and looked out the window - it was getting dark, and they’d arrive at Hogwarts soon.

“I think...I think that no amount of explaining will ever be enough Georgie, and it’s okay to feel like that,” he said suddenly, referring to her parents. “You feel hurt and abandoned by them; your mother saying she’s sorry is just not enough. Which makes sense, and honestly it’s not enough. But I think the decision you have to make is whether or not you want to reestablish a relationship with her. If you do, then I think over time you can learn to either forgive her, or move past this,” he told her, gesturing to nothing in particular. “It’s your choice though Georgie, and I think your mum realizes that. Why not send her an owl or something. Just talk about mundane things, like what you had for breakfast, or classes. You don’t have to get into anything deep like your friendships - or relationships - until when and if you’re ready,” he explained, hoping he made sense.

@georgiana


ooc: THERES MY LOUISIANA.  Want to wrap this puppy up?

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Georgie couldn’t help but sniffle a little when Louis said that she never had to be alone anymore. It was such a simple thing to say, but it was what Georgie needed to hear. She wasn’t ever going to be shipped across an ocean again, or be alone again, because Louis wouldn’t let her. She accepted his kiss with a soft sigh, and then leaned her head against his shoulder. Crying was so exhausting.

“I’m not going to send her an owl.” Georgie replied stubbornly. “But if she sends me one, I’ll respond, I guess.” Georgie had mastered the art of being passive-aggressive through writing, so maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but rubbing salt in her mother’s wounds sounded like something that would actually help make Georgie feel better. That was what the smoothie had been about, at least a little bit. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin, Louis. She knows about you and Max, but barely, and she thinks that we’re just friends.” There was so much wrong with what her mother did and didn’t know about her life, and Georgie was frustrating herself just thinking about what it would take to build their relationship up again. Georgie yawned. She was really tired, she realized. “Are you a good pillow, Louis? I could really use a nap.” The train wasn’t the ideal place to sleep, but Georgie didn’t care – everything looked better after you woke up from a nap.

@louis